home in 16 days!

True, that. I will return to Canadian soil for the briefest time, in 16 days. The weirdest thing about it all, is that in less than a month, I'll be back here in Ulsan.

Weirder still, there are two good friends that I won't see here for more than a month, because of the way that our vacations overlap (or, rather, don't) and believe it or not, I'm actually thinking more about how to work that out (so I can see them before I go), than the actual Canada trip. Sometimes I don't understand myself.

It will be a busy couple of weeks -- I am out of town this weekend (Busan!) and next weekend (Gwangju). And my evenings are full right now... in the best of ways. The last couple of evenings have been particularly lovely, as I was with a good friend each night, talking about stuff that matters.

Today's my first day back at school after summer vacation. I have one class.

I will start a knitting project this week for one of the male teachers, who's wife just had a baby... I don't know him that well, but he's been incredibly kind to me... but for now, time to have a coffee and kick back.

Nothing exciting, nothing profound. Sorry.

art and white jeans

2 things:

I have found a community of visual artists. I'm going to an opening on Wednesday. It is so funny how comfortable the community feels. It seems that some things are universal. I'm able to move within the canadian art community (theatre) with comfort - apparently a transferable skill!

Also, if anyone has the number for the style police, a male teacher with no previous offences is wearing white jeans today. With a blue and white vertically striped dress shirt (thicker stripes), thus achieving some sort of strange 1980's preppy look. Vintage, but not in a good way. Is that back? I hope not. I'm pretty sure mom threw away all the strange 1980's preppy looking clothing we had.

it's happening

I went for dinner tonight with a Korean friend. Her communicative English skills are quite good - however, she and I still work to communicate in either English or Korean. And for the first time, it was a more balanced communication -- I was able to understand Korean words that she was using (ie. jja-da/salty) and provide her with the English counterpart! This is the first time that (without a dictionary) I've gone out with a Korean friend and we've _both_ had our notebooks out, writing down vocab and structure stuff. Usually it's just me with the notebook -- or it's me and my Korean friend and a dictionary, where we will both learn a new word (ie. cinnamon/kye-pi). I cannot tell you how fantastic this feels, like all those hours I've spent studying and trying to learn this language are finally starting to bear fruit. I've been feeling on the cusp for a while now, vocab retention has been easier, reading a little more fluent. Grammar is making sense (a bit) and I can identify words and sometimes entire sentences in Korean spoken at native-speaker speed. If I can keep going on this roll, keep my confidence up, then soon (maybe) I will actually be able to have a meaningful conversation in Korean. Is this how babies feel when they move from the two-word phase to sentences?

Also of note - I wrote an entire email in Korean the other day! And it was grammatically correct! Woot! Next big step, I think, is to actually be able to read a (children's) book. Will let you know when that happens. I'm really proud of myself for this whole thing and I'm noticing too that because they know I am learning Korean, my teachers are MUCH more comfortable speaking with me in English.

Side effect: I make high-larious mistakes. I was trying to say: "You're kidding me!" and ended up saying "Don't eat the bread!" (there was no bread in sight) Also, "You must be cold, you have goosebumps." and I said " You are cold, you disgust me." Baby steps, baby steps.

the gym...

Ok. A few things about this. I have joined a gym. I feel terribly guilty if I don't go, because it is ACROSS THE ROAD FROM MY HOUSE. I see it every day when I come home. I see it from my apartment. I am always in its shadow, figuratively and literally. It is a looming shrine to my guilt, if I do not go. That said, it's quite the hopping little community.

First of all, the Konglish term for gym is "Health Club" (pron. hel-su ku-lub). So I now say that when I speak English too.

I have bonded with the following people over my gym membership (and also, worked out with them - although I like to work out alone, but people seem to want to work out together when they run into me so whatevs):

- my friend Ellie's boyfriend (oh- I know you from the health club!, he said upon our first meeting... I totally got props from him for that)
- an art teacher at my school (we go for dinner before or after sometimes -- and she drills me on Korean flashcards while we bike)
- the manager of the local WA Bar (that was weird, running into him, he wasn't wearing his glasses and everyone looks so different in the gym suits!!)
- Tom's co-teacher (she's supersweet, but I usually run into her as I'm leaving)
- another waygook teacher in my 'hood (ditto)

So I have my little bit of community going with this... and then... my art teacher friend has decided not to renew her membership b/c she lives in a different area of the city. Sadness! But alas, no time to weep because a politics teacher has taken up the mantle of "asking Katrina daily when she'll be at the gym." Which I must say, increases the guilt tenfold, as when I'm across the river, out of the looming shadow of my gym, I STILL can't escape it. But there is some nice, strange comfort in being part of a community, which is slowly, slowly happening.

AND the trainers are not afraid of me anymore!! Well, they don't avoid me (in Korea, trainers wander around, they're free of charge, and offer advice and assistance.) That, surely is the sign of being a member of a community (for a foreigner in this country) - when people no longer avoid you or are scared of you. When you're normal enough to them that they don't hide when they see you, or smile bashfully and look away. When they actually smile without fear. Make eye contact, bow, whatever. Baby steps, my friends, baby steps.

When I was in Toronto, I think I took community for granted. It's so much easier to establish when there's no communication barrier. The longer I'm here, the more I realize the importance of those friendly faces that I see randomly, that help to make the neighbourhood my home.

I think that's enough gooshyness for today.

I am constantly amazed...

... that I can have no idea what's going on around me most of the time (well, a lot of the time) and still find so much happiness and amusement in it all!

It's been another week of the same old-same old... another week has been taught, another week has been planned. Some words have been learned, and some have been forgotten. I have continued to gather more tiny pieces of information about those who exist primarily in Korean around me, in an effort to give my world (and their existance within it) some context.

I fear I was on the recieving end of a Korean-style Euro-Mullet yesterday at the hairdressers. Regardless, I'll happily return next month to get "ee centi" trimmed off, and a "sheympoo".

Knee is good, more stable than it's been in (possibly) a year and a half. Three cheers for self-imposed rehab! I can't tell you how weird it is not to be conscious of my knee when I'm walking - I don't think I realized that it was so uncomfortable (and sometimes painful!) when that was a part of my normal.

Next Tuesday is an English teachers' lunch meeting. I have promised to study Korean all weekend in preparation for it. This made them chuckle, but I think I also got my point across. If there is one thing I teach here in Korea, it is Canadian sarcasm. (My kids get it now, too! Har!)

There is studying to do and lesson prep to do... have a great weekend, and check facebook next week for some new photos! (the cookout, the beach, and probably this weekend, too)

a weekend away...

For those not in the know, I literally spent all of last week madly studying Korean in an attempt to become proficient by the weekend -- my weekend plans involved going away to Gyeongju for a couple of days with some folks I know.

So, things from this weekend (in no particular order):

1 - I was able to communicate in Korean in a casual conversation context! Well, kind of. (WOOT!)

2- I suspect there's a really cute, sweet Korean guy who speaks almost no English, who is sizing me up for marriage. (I could be wrong, but I just got that sense from some of the questions I was asked, such as "Do you like Korean guys?", "If you met a Korean guy you liked, would you marry him?", "If you married a Korean guy, would you want to live in Korea?" etc.)

3- I have learned and forgotten the Korean word for "sesame leaves" 4 separate times (that's right, on Thursday, Friday, Saturday AND Sunday) from 3 different people in 3 different locations (Friday and Sunday were the same friend, same location.)

4- I have mastered the Korean words for "pervert", "secret" and "illusion". Also: "innocent" and "cinnamon". Funny enough, these are the kind of words that you learn when you learn your Korean from bartenders. He, on the other hand, learned the following English words: "attrocious", "illusion", "vulva", "cinnamon" and "sesame leaves". (The bartender at the foreigners' bar is helping me learn Korean - so anytime I stop by for a beer it involves the two of us testing each other on vocabulary from last time and then chatting and giving each other new vocabulary, as it comes out of the conversation...)

5- I have been given a Korean name and I quite like it... the guys and Ellie have christened me Bae Ka-Yeon. I have been told by many (well, the four Koreans that I've told) that it's a really beautiful name... I think so too... woohooo!
I should note that I've been given Korean names before, but this one seems to fit the best - it's like my English name, and I think it's pretty...

6- In case you were wondering, it IS possible to study Korean for 5 hours straight, 3 days in a row. Without your head exploding.

7- Korean cookouts rock - for one, it's tradition that the guys do all the cooking. Second, um, can anyone say FRESH SHELLFISH and yummy-yummy galbi? That sure beats spidey-dogs and marshmallows!

8- When building a fire, all that technique I learned in my youth (you know, strategically placing newspaper, smaller branches and larger pieces of wood) is not important if you have a blowtorch.

9- Don't stand downwind of the person using the blowtorch. Unless you want to be covered in ash and other sooty particles. If that is the case, DO stand downwind.

10- The Korean card game Go Stop is much more complicated than I had ever suspected. Gah!

11- I suck at poker.

12- I really just have bad gambling luck. Any time there's money involved, I WILL lose.

13- After a long weekend, I'm SO happy to see my students!!

I can't tell you how frustrating it is to be standing with someone when you're both rendered mute by lack of language skills, but you want to communicate... so it's back to the Korean studying for me! But first, I'm going to take a quick nap.

who knew...

This week is a week for me scratching my head, smiling with wonder and saying "Who Knew??"

1- For example, who knew that when left alone with about 8 random teachers at my school, any and all communication with the other teachers would be done in Korean, English or Konglish (with absolutely NO assistance from the 2 English teachers here whatsoever...)

The who-knew in this case has nothing to do with the English teachers. It has everything to do with the amount of effort the other teachers have been making to communicate with me ~ and me with them ~ especially considering most of them speak very little English and my Korean is pretty sketchy :-) I think they're a bit surprised by the whole thing, too. I'm just happy that I understand what's going on!!

2- Who knew that there was another dong further north of Hogye, that I could accidentally find myself lost in at 10pm at night. When will I ever learn that shortcuts are usually not shortcuts and winding roads are not a good idea in unfamiliar and dark surroundings... I think I'll go back in the daylight...

3- Who knew how much fun it is just to screw around on my bike and tear up and down the local streets and trails etc... sometimes I get so into the fun of riding distances or commuting that I forget just to screw around and have a blast hotdogging, practicing technique or whatever else.

Really, it's been a quiet week - no kids - and I miss teaching. Long weekend starts tomorrow (that's right, Thursday and Friday off work.) All of the kids are on a field trip right now.

So lesson planning and Korean-learning and documentary-watching it's been!

a funny thing happened on the way to wherever...

Yesterday was a beautiful day, so of course I was itching to get on my bike and ride far, far away. With a friend, I set out to explore Ulsan a bit more - this time, to NamGu we went. (That's the southern section of the city). We pulled out the ol' Korean map and pinpointed our destination - a tiny symbol of a tree and a bench, chosen because it was the only remotely interesting/understandable thing in the area.

Now, I'm a bit of an optimist. One of those annoying "I see beauty in everything, really!" people. However, NamGu held little beauty. It was heavily, heavily industrialized. A coal plant, petrochemical plants, chemical processing plants and any other manner of heavy-polluting, ugly-looking, completely suspect complexes lined the roads on the way to the harbour. Ulsan has become such a successful little city by totally whoring itself to some of the biggest polluters in Asia, I suspect.

Needless to say, we bailed on the ride, and headed back into the city, more familiar turf. Back in the core of the city, we paused at a street corner to decide on a direction for our ride. I was just pulling out the map when a helpful Korean in his car explained to us in terrific English - "Go straight and then turn right!"

Korea rocks. I mean, how random is that. We don't even know what direction we want to go in, but a stranger in a car rolls on by, proactively solving our problem with complete confidence AND in English!

Clearly, we went straight and then right. Which took us to, well, a building with blaring K-pop and a whole bunch of Korean suits who started at us while we waited for the light to change. We really couldn't find what the helpful man thought we were looking for. Or, we didn't see anything that looked like it would be something we were looking for. So back across the river (towards home!) for some Indian food (!) and that oh-so-fun summer sport of boywatching on an outdoor patio...

Sigh. And another Sunday in Ulsan passes by... Friday will be further adventures in NamGu - I'm determined to find something pretty in that quarter of the city. Even if it kills me. Which, with that air quality, it just may.

One last note: my students are everywhere. As in, I am in the downtown for 1 hour, and see at least 25 of them. The downtown is NOT close to my little Hogye-dong. Yet, I walk down the street and hear "Oh! Katrina-teacher! Katrina-teacher, hello!" or "Oh! Katrina-seng! Katrina-seng, hello!" (same thing, but in Korean).

BUT for the next three days - ALL of the students in my middle school (all 1800 of them) are out of town on a field trip! That is three whole days of going wherever I want, doing whatever I please, and not having random behaviours and sightings reported back to me by my students in class or in the hallways... example: "Teacher! Shinae! What? Boy! Hat! Boyfriend?" - which translates to "Teacher, I saw you in Shinae? What were you doing? The boy wearing a hat (that you were with) - is he your boyfriend?"

Thong update

This is a quickie. The thong guy (as written about sometime in February?) has just gotten married! No one even knew he had a girlfriend. Hi-larity! I wonder if he did give his girlfriend a thong after all... and I really wonder why he was asking ME about it all. But whatevs.
By the way, he's the school administrator, and the conversation was taking place in his car, in LotteMart as well as in my apartment, as we were shopping for (of all things) a toaster oven and a vacuum cleaner.

Today I will introduce the kids to Peter Bjorn and John by way of the "English Radio Show" at my school. I expect it to go over like a lead balloon.

UPDATE: As expected, lead balloon. Pulled the song before we went to air and replaced with some Usher song, because the kids said (and I quote): "well, the teachers will like that song, but..."
It is official. I am old.

one more thing - about the korean language learnin'

See below for the long thingy I posted about 20 minutes ago.

But one more thing - about Korean language learnin'.

The new school year has brought many a new thing. New classes (I heart my new classes!), new lesson plans (mostly successful) and many, many new teachers.

About 1/3rd of the teachers in my school transfered in a couple of months ago. And can I just say, I'm loving it. I now actually hang out with the teachers! None of them are English teachers, and that's ok. We get by. Through my efforts in learning Korean, and their efforts in dredging up the English that they learned in school (they surprise themselves at their ability, I think, sometimes!), we manage to have fun. There's one teacher in particular who is an active learner and more fluent in English than the others (rest assured, dictionaries are still necessary!) that has been a real catalyst to this.

But all that stuff I said about not wanting to learn Korean for the teachers I work with, that's only applying to the 2/3rds that were at my school before, who made little effort to communicate with me. These new teachers, I want to learn Korean even more now than ever before, because I enjoy hanging out with them, and wish I could understand everything being said without pauses for summary, or shifts into English conversation... I know it's hokey, but there's something so nice and so normal about socializing with people from my workplace (in non-contrived situations.) I'm studying for a beginner proficiency test in October... I need to have a working vocab of approximately 800 (level 1) to 2000 (level 2) words. I think I can do it. I am aiming for level 2, but will be happy with level 1.

So. Other than wondering why the English teachers still (with the exception of 2) won't talk to me with other people around, the school situation is terrific, the Korean situation is terrific (if not still too slow!). But back to the English teachers. Why won't they talk to me if others are around to hear, when the non-English teachers, who have lower skill levels, will? If anyone can explain this to me, I'd like to know.

And, after being at my school for 8 months, the girl who studied in Australia has finally gathered the confidence to talk to me -- I've heard from her hagwon teachers that she's in my school but afraid to approach me (I'm scary, I know!), and today, she came by to visit with two of her friends. WOOOO! I think they'll come by to see me again soon. Progress is small, but one day, one day, people will not be afraid of speaking to me. (And conversely, I will not be afraid to speak to them in Korean!)

That is all for now. Really.

it's been a long time, but melbine inspired me to post

sorry it's been so long. I'm not even sure if anyone's still checking my blog. I blame facebook (and thanks for joining, mom, it does make things easier, even if you do have to see some pretty sketch photos of me)

this is a reprint of a comment that I posted on Melbine's blog (a patch of blue). Read her original post here: http://melbine.blogspot.com/

Comment starts here:

I'm going to be verbose here, sorry. It just struck a chord.

My own personal theory on bullies is to push back or to just ignore them... I'm far to stubborn to back down but it's just not worth my time to engage, so I tend to diffuse and walk away... in my past I worked with a fierce bully. I went head to head with her on issues that I felt warranted the confrontation, but on the smaller stuff, I walked away. She may not have liked me (at all), but she did respect me.

Trying to explain this kind of strategy to the kids (at my school, and kids I knew in Canada) though, who are bullied, that's not so easy.

Funny you wrote about this at this time - today I had two different kids talking to me about their bullying problems (being bullied).

One of the kids is a prime target in that he's really really small for his age - seriously tiny. His strategy is avoidance, he just avoids situations where he may be bullied. This means that some lunchtimes (when bullying is of course most common), he's hanging out in the teachers room with me or with other teachers... I understand that and although it's not always convenient, he's always welcome.

Surprisingly, the other kid is an incredibly popular young guy, athletic, an excellent student, super nice, classroom president and very popular with the ladies. These factors seem to make him a prime target for bullying - kids that are tough and jealous I think.

Bullying seems to be more about either group-think or self-confidence issues - and until the self-confidence of the "leading" bully is fixed, the bullying behaviour will continue (most likely into adulthood).

I don't know how to fix this with the kids, I wish I did. But in both cases, I think standing up to the bullies wouldn't really help so much, it would probably just aggravate the situation. And as the kids are dealing with each other on a daily basis, aggravation is the last thing that's needed.

In my mind, it all comes down to the parents' responsibilities in raising their kids. If you instill a healthy sense of self and develop healthy sense of confidence in your child then they're better able to deal with bully situations, and are less likely to be bullies. Both of these kids seem to have both, and have developed coping mechanisms, but it still hurts.

So I guess this goes out to all those korean parents with kids at my middle school reading your blog -- stop defining your kids' accomplishments (and self-worth) by comparison to other kids - while it's the easiest thing to do (ie. good job, you're at the top of your class - or bad job, there were other soccer players who were better) be a bit more creative. If kids are taught to value themselves through comparisons, they'll always bully, so they'll win by comparison or humiliate the opposition. And once they learn that they can get people to roll over by bullying them, they'll keep bullying - again, the easiest way, not the most creative way - to get things done.

Thanks for letting me vent. It's apples and oranges, but...

disclaimer 1 - I have no children
disclaimer 2 - I was not really ever bullied as a child, I would have none of that kind of bulls**t from a young age, and being from a small town, that kind of stuck.
disclaimer 3 - I _absolutely_ failed kid number 2 today, I had no idea what to say or do to make him feel better or help him resolve his problem. And I feel horribly about it. Any suggestions are really welcome. I'm out of my depth, in part because of disclaimer 2.

END COMMENT

Am I right? Am I wrong? And furthermore, as an adult in a world of kids, how can I help?
Seeing kids cry (or look like they're going to cry) sucks. It really, really, really sucks. And as someone who wears her emotions on her face, I know how vulnerable it feels to know you're showing that something hurt you - when that's the last thing you want to be doing. Please advise.

We fell off the face of the earth for three weeks...

... and ended up safely back in Ulsan, drinking Maxim coffee (it's like crack) and eating dog...

The things we discovered, saw and experienced in our adventures (in no particular order)

1 - Jess is now addicted to the sugary instant concoction that Korea passes off as coffee (Maxim Black and Maxim Gold)

2 - Anytime is the best candy of all time, anywhere! (Green tea candies are a close second)

3 - Meeting random people is a goodness. So is being stranded and delayed by fog (sometimes).

4 - Beds in Asia are hard.

5 - Jessica is still terrified of squat toilets even though she has been traveling throughout Korea and China for three weeks.

6 - Always carry Kleenex.

7 - Contrary to popular belief, pandas don't just wander the streets in China.

8 - The Great Wall sure is great! (and steep, dear lord is it steep)

9- Sometimes, when you order by pointing to the food on the table beside yours, you end up with wonderful, wonderful mutton!

10 - Jessica is queen of haggling. Katrina is too nice.

11 - Everything in China is really big, except for the stores, which are really small.

12 - The DMZ is a wonderful magical place, where butterflies make landmines go away.

13 - Koreans have to make everything supercute. Everything.

14 - The internet in China is effin' slow.

15 - Katrina's principal did not let Jess come to class with her, as he was afraid of mass pandemonium with the 1700 students in her school. Katrina's principal was probably wise in making this decision.

16 - Jessica and Katrina are beautiful. Or so say everyone in Korea and China. Including cab drivers, students and random other people.

17 - Asian babies and children are the cutest cutest cutest things ever!

18 - We love heated floors and heated subway seats.

19 - Everything in Korea is shiny.

20 - Nobody in Harbin speaks English or understands hand gestures.

21 - People candy way more than just apples in China, and the candied strawberries are delicious. So are the candied bananas...and the mystery fruit...really it was all good.

22 - Seoul shopping was made for Jessie...

23 - Beijing is cheap, from pumas to seven jeans to food and drink.

24 - Taking money out in China is nearly impossible, so we advise if you ever find a bank machine that accepts your card, jump on that shit and take as much money as possible!

25 - Making jokes about eating dogs is fun for the look of horror on dog lovers faces.

26 - following fireworks will lead you to Tiananmen Square at night.

27 - Lonley Planet phrase books suck...

that is all we can think of for now. we are off to enjoy some dog stew. xoxoxoxoxo

photos to follow...

all 1000...all 1000...sigh...

back to school

Back from vacation now, and I'm a little bit tired. It was all amazing. Will post photos soon.

Today's the first day back at school - I am in the same desk, but none of the other teachers are... the wonderful teacher who sat beside me is now sadly at another school but they've moved an english teacher beside me... she's superfriendly and superhelpful, so I'm pretty happy about this development! About 1/3rd of the teachers are new - so it's going to be a fun and interesting adventure!

I'm a bit miffed that I'm not teaching today - we could have continued traveling today, tomorrow and Sunday - but such is life...

Last update for a couple of weeks...

As I'm leaving for Incheon Airport tomorrow morning, this will be my last post for a couple of weeks... will post about China et. al. upon my return.

Check out Liz's blog for info on Lunar New Year (this weekend)...

Also, the great knee saga is ongoing, it sounds like I've pulled my MCL - good news is that the ACL problems may have been caused by MCL problems, and once the MCL is fully healed, the ACL may be much better, too? Sigh. Korean doctors are very impressed by my knowledge of knee physiology and terminology. (in Korean, ACL is pronounced Ae-she-ell). I also got a mysterious shot of something in the hip today, from the doctor... it's my first time - in Korea every time you go to the doctor, they give you a mystery shot...

Happy news of the day, three Korean teachers were looking at my Korean notebooks yesterday and told me that my writing looks like a Korean wrote it - they didn't believe at first that it was me!! AND they have also decided that microsoft should include a "Katrina" korean font, because my hanguel handwriting is so nice! WOOOT!

Also, on the subject of THONGS, Rachel and I discovered yesterday that yes, they do sell thongs in Korea (there were many many thongs at "Sexy Cookie", a lingerie chain store) but that they appear to be more common for "sexy time" (as borat would say) than for regular everyday wear... because I know you were all dying to know.

free scarf to a good home

Like the title says - the colours are all wrong for the originally intended recipent, but I really like how this is knitting up so I plan to finish it - it will be a nice and long scarf, and it's 5 inches wide... 100% japanese wool, loosely knit... I would keep it myself, but the colours are all wrong for me, too. So, free scarf to a good home. Please email me (or post a comment) to let me know if you're interested...

Auntie Katrina answers your questions about Western culture...

Sometimes, it's part of my job to be an ambassador of Western Culture here in Korea, and this means answering people's questions, no matter how unusual... take today for example:

Q: Do you know the song, it is about thongs?

A: Yes, it's called "The Thong Song".

Q: Oh, I like that song. I looked up "thong" in the dictionary, it is like a bikini?

A: Kind of, yes... but thongs are, um, smaller.

Q: Do you know who sings that song?

A: No. Sorry, I can't remember.

Twenty minutes passes...

Q: I really like that song, "The Thong Song". Are thongs popular in Canada?

A: Yes, many girls have thongs. (I then explained Visible Panty Line and comfort reasons, but it's hard to write my explanation because it involved gestures too...)

Q: I looked on the internet at thongs. Do you have any thongs?

A: Yes, of course I do. (We were in my apartment at this point... I this close to opening my underwear drawer to show him a couple of my thongs)

Q: Oh. They are very popular in Canada and America?

A: Yes, they are. Are they popular in Korea?

Q: No. Well, not in my house. My mother and my sister - I have never seen any in my house.

A: Oh. Ok.

Q: So it is a good gift for a girlfriend?

A: Um, yes. (I really hope he wasn't referring to a girl who is his friend!)

Q: Do you know who sings that song?

A: I think it was Sisqo.

Now boys and girls, (if there's anyone reading this) I would love for you to hazard a guess as to who this person is that I was talking to, and what my relationship with them is. (And no, it's not Liz's former co-teacher)

5 busy days

that's all, 5 busy days until jess arrives and brings her special brand of fantastical sunshine to my corner of the world!

i am so so so excited! there's nothing quite like knowing that you'll be able to share your world with one of your best friends, even if it's only for a short while...

and have crazy adventures in a land where neither of us speak the language (woot! china!)

on the korean language front, I've been practicing my korean by chattering to cab drivers... it's a good thing! today's outlook is positively positive. (much better than yesterday's, when korean particles were driving me to tears) and I do have rachel to thank for the positivity - a great night last night with a great friend - we both needed the chill-out time.

but back to jess - 5 days until I pick her up in seoul! WOOT!

today - going to miryang with eunsil
tomorrow - blissful nothingness
friday - busan (haeundae) with rachel, then meeting with eunji for drinks
saturday - something with chris? and laundry
sunday - off to seoul and incheon airport!!

last day of school!

That pretty much sums it up - last day of school and all the rowdy enthusiasm that accompanies it. I have (sadly) found out that one of my favourite teachers will not be teaching English next year! Happy for him, pity party for me! In fact, most of the teachers I teach with will not be working with me again next year... :-( The middle school rotates the teachers through grades 1, 2 and 3 because (apparently) no one really wants to teach grade 3... (the Canadian grade 9... ). I will not get my new class schedule, nor will I know who I am teaching with, until the day I arrive back at school!!

I am ROASTING today - the elementary school classrooms were cranked to 24 degrees C, and I think the staff room here may be even warmer! All of this, and it's about (plus) 10 degrees C outside... I don't even need a jacket.

I have figured out my barometer for when it's time to leave Korea and come home. The day I actually understand this place, language and culture, is the day I'll pack my bags...

I have my answer!

I asked one of the korean teachers today, what I can to to make them more comfortable in talking to me, and he said two things of interest -- that it's not my problem, it's the other people's problem... and his advice to me was that I should learn more korean.

So, there you have it, ladies and gentlement... I have to get back to my korean hak-gyo program. Lesson 3 - WOOT!

Liz tagged me - I'm IT?

Ok, so I have to answer this question:

the top five songs i would play at my own funeral but i'll give you 10 instead.

joga - bjork -- preferably with fireworks exploding at appropriate times...

she makes me wanna die - tricky -- pretty chill song for a pretty chill occasion...

superstitious - stevie wonder -- just cuz

blue orchid - white stripes -- to get the party started a bit (after all that downer music)

weak become heroes - the streets -- I think it would go nicely with the tricky and bjork?

this charming man - the smiths

I can feel it - sloan -- just to bug a particular friend one more time...
OR underwhelmed - sloan -- because grammar and spelling are important but not as important as feelings, guys!

she's a star - james -- because I am one!
OR go to the bank - james -- best getting-ready song ever!

evil - interpol -- because it will probably still be stuck in my head, even after I shuffle off this mortal coil...

on and on - crash vegas

sleep over it (?) - controller.controller

get up - ciara -- my current favourite cycling song


is that 10? meh. don't read anything into the lyrics, or special meanings or anything - I just like these songs. I'm really a simpleton. If you asked me tomorrow I guarantee the list would be different...

-- EDIT 13/02/07--

RIGHT Liz pointed out that I need to tag people... so Melbine and Delphine, if you are reading this, the question is now yours to answer on your blogs...

Life in Korea, summed up in a 2 minute video clip

This made me laugh. This sums it up some days: Do you speak English?

Just imagine that the two guys are Korean.

On Friday, two English teachers that I have been teaching with FOR FIVE MONTHS told me that they are nervous and afraid to talk to me... (it came up in conversation - people aren't usually that direct!) so I've spent all weekend trying to figure out if it's me or if it's them, or if it's a combination of both... I can understand fear of native speakers, but it's not like I laugh or make them feel stupid (not intentionally).

Although funny enough, on Friday at school, I tried out a new Korean verb I've been working, the word for "to be cute", I put together my little sentence (on the fly! WOOT!) and the (non-English) teacher to whom I said "Cute blouse!" smiled at me, giggling, and said to another teacher passing by "Katrina blah blah blah "gyopda" and then they BOTH giggled! So, I spent the day trying to figure out if I used the word properly or not... I did, I pronounced it fine, I guess the idea of me speaking Korean is just _that_ funny. Ok, to me too... I have software that records me saying phrases to compare against native speaker samples, and it makes me giggle too...

But, I tell this story because it's by no means the first time this has happened, yet I continue to try to speak this language - and English teachers who are capable of (and have done) simultaneous translation for me (when I'm teaching...) are afraid to speak to me. I know it's not about level, but still... what am I doing that makes them so uncomfortable?

So please, watch the video! (and Liz, tell me if this isn't your life too!)

(Suggestions are welcome. Anyone with feedback is welcome to post about how uncomfortable I make people, or how intimidating I am, but constructive comments only, please!)

Also, to fledgling language learners out there, Declan's Korean HakGyo program is ROCKING my world... it's a lot of vocab in each lesson, but the grammar is great - well paced and well-explained... let me know if you're interested, I bought a license... (you have to be able to read/write hanguel to use the program - no romanizations)

Friends in high places

In the following post, I will address several seemingly unrelated issues. They'll tie together at the end, I promise.

Those who have traveled with me before are very aware of this - I am a relaxed traveller, but I do demand ice cream treats with some regularity.

Cut to Katrina extolling the virtues of Koreans... being a foreigner in Korea, I stand out like nobody's business. There is no way I would be mistaken for an ethnic Korean, ever. This means that sometimes, I'm an object of fascination, sometimes, I'm an object of rude stares, and often I'm an object upon which friendly Koreans want to practice their English...

Side note: my favourite, favourite thing is when a little kid gets a look of shock on their face and says something to their mom or dad like "waeguk saram" (foreign person) or "waeguk imnida" (she's a foreigner). Being the wiseass that I am, I jump back with equal shock and say "hanguk saram!" (korean person!) or "hanguk saram imnida!" And that REALLY shocks them, which make me and the Korean adults giggle ㅋㅋㅋ

Back to the story... I have now met a Korean university student who works at an ice cream shop, we are emailing back and forth... I also stop in to help with her English! (No, really, for the English, not for the ice cream!) How great is that! (It should be noted that we did not meet at the ice cream shop, but instead at a middle school I was teaching an English camp at). WOOT! Last night, rainbow sherbert! :-)

This country just gets better and better!

Back at school!

So, I'm back to my full-time schedule now. I was originally told that I had all week off, but s'all good... Funny enough, my full-time schedule is: I'm teaching 2 classes today, and 3 classes tomorrow. And next week, 5 on Monday, 4 on Tuesday and then I'm ... finished teaching until March 02.

I don't know how I'm going to make it through an entire month of regular classes (March) without dying. I have become quite accustomed to lazing around the house, doing whatever. Someone will be very happy to hear that her socks are (finally) finished... just in time to start on this year's birthday present...

For those who care, my Veronica Mars addiction is still in full swing, and now thanks to peekvid.com I am also addicted to House.

My back is sore today, too, but I think it's psychosomatic. Also yesterday I finally got my Chinese visa! WOOT! And picked up the plane tickets, you know what that means -- I'm actually going to China!! I am so so excited!

Also of note, today mom figured out how to call me on my cell phone from Canada. I have a funny feeling my world will never be the same again.

And to those in Korea reading this, my sister has formally announced her objection to being a packmule (apparently she wants to bring some clothes for herself and some toiletries for herself and stuff) so it's a fifty-fifty lottery as to whether you're receiving what you've requested! It's time to start plotting how to meet army boys in Seoul... (to get onto the base, of course!)

And finally, saving some kick-ass news for last, I haven't had a knee problem in 20 days - that's right people, I'm almost at 3 weeks without incident! My knee is totally getting a gold star for being so well-behaved, this is a record here in Korea for me!

Sorry I dropped off the face of the universe...

I've been having internet problems. They are finally (almost) resolved. So I am sorry that I've dropped off the face of the universe...
On the upside, the serious lack of internet has meant time spent painting, knitting (someone will be happy to hear that I'm about 2 seconds away from being done their socks) and studying Korean. (I am now proud to say I speak at the same level as a three year old)

Here's a funny - you know when you're a kid and you're chasing your siblings around threatening a tickle attack, and you say "ticky, ticky, ticky"? The "chasing your siblings around threatening a tickle attack" sound is the same in Korean! Sweet!

Also, went to the newly renovated "Homever" (kind of like a Zellers but 1/2 groceries, 1/2 appliances, clothes and everything else under the sun but alarm clocks)... all I needed was an alarm clock (see last sentence), but was amazed by all the crazy amounts of waygook food they have! Whoa! I can now go no further than the Homever for all my nachos-salsa-and-cheese needs. However, it should be noted that it's still worth the trip to Costco... my co-workers are still teasing me about the green beans.

Oh, one more little thing... I signed my "request to renew" for my contract today. I haven't committed to a second year at my school yet, but I think I will. My evaluation was "excellent" on everything... The contract will be negotiated mid-June, but I will have the terms negotiated before then... it's not a for-sure thing, but it is a very likely thing, especially if I want to do my Masters when I come back to Canada... I really like my school, I have friends (most of whom are leaving, *sob*) and I do have a pretty sweet deal here...

Kimchi, kimchi, kimchi

I like kimchi. Kimchi is yummy.

This is my fridge. It is small and cute.This is the kimchi shelf of my fridge.

The plain white bag, that's the kimchi I made in Gwangju at the kimchi festival (I hope it's still good!)
The sealed kimchi bag, I won that at the kimchi festival in Gwangju. I had more kimchi, but I finished it. Luckily. Because the brown tuperware, that is from a local shop owner that I'm friendly with - she just surprised me today with a whole lot o'kimchi. I had to reorganize my fridge shelves to fit it in there.

This is the kimchi that she made and gave me... as well as the other two bags of kimchi.Jess, prepare yourself for a kimchi-eating odyssey because there is no way that I can eat all this kimchi in a month and live to tell about it.

Oh, and this is Angela and I posing with Kimchi at the Gwangju Kimchi Festival.

Off to the doctor's... (on my own!) Wish me luck.

... Back from the doctors, with much success (depending on how you define "success"). He's recommending another ACL recon for my poor knee (I had misunderstood about the patella tendon thingy, apparently) and has given me a referral to his "mentor". SOOO I think I'm going to join the local tai chi joint for classes starting tomorrow night, and amp up the exercises a bit. Sigh. There are mountains to climb in the spring and I damned well will be able to do it.

Lost!

No, not the t.v. show, this is about Katrina-the-cyclist. And how after school today, I decided to go exploring -- 1/2 an hour, I was going to give myself. An hour later, so absolutely confused and surrounded by nothing but mountains and farmers fields, I was so lost I actually started to worry a bit. That, and I was getting really sick of biking up and down mountain foothills, trying to find my way. Doubled back a bit, and I finally found a familiar sign... pointing to the Carrefour (department store), a few kilometers away. And in the right direction I went.

Lesson learned. Don't travel to parts unknown without phrasebook and a charged cell phone. Also, no camera, can't share the beautiful things I saw... (beautiful things are more beautiful when you have some idea of your actual location in relation to anything else familiar, by the way).

On the upside, students who saw me riding through their neighbourhoods (upon my return) now think I'm some amazing thing because my ride back was mostly no-hands...

Oh, and to those who don't believe my students are everywhere - today two different students came up and told me about their random "Katrina-sightings" -- one in Shinae (the old downtown) and one in Samsondong (the new downtown) -- both over 1/2 an hour by bus from my 'hood. I don't even remember when I was in Samsondong... I hope whenever I was there, I was behaving teacherly!

My Local Celebrity-ness.

Hee. I was in the Ulsan newspaper - colour photo - on Saturday. Why? Because I'm a non-Korean teaching an English Winter Camp through the school board. That's right, photographer and reporter showed up to my class on Friday morning. I was a bit, uh, shocked ...(could someone have warned me, I would have done something about my hair!)

But apparently everyone's pleased, my principal brought me the article today and congratulated me. Like I had anything to do with it! I was actually kind of cheesed about the whole thing, the kids lost their break because we had to do a "Katrina fakes teaching" photo shoot... and that's not really fair to them.

I don't really know what the article says, except that there are three of us waegooks (foreigners) teaching an English Camp and that it's fun and exciting for the kids. Right. I find it ironic that they came to my classroom - I'm teaching grammar and writing. Fun and excitement just oooozes. Well, I'd like to think it does, but I can be a bit delusional.

I'm a joiner!

Guess what? I found a stitch-and-bitch in Busan! And I can make the first meeting! I am so stoked - and yes, I am traveling at least one hour so I can sit in a Starbucks and knit with expats who I do not know. But you should be happy for me - you don't have to listen to me chat about my knitting anymore, I can talk to actual knitters about it!

The meeting is next Thursday afternoon, so I'll let you know how things go. (Or maybe I won't - and keep true to my above pledge to not speak of my knitting anymore...)

Also, may be going to Daejeon this weekend, to hang out with a rock climbing club... see, look at me, being a "joiner"!

dialogue journals /or/ the awesomeness of my students!

I've just passed the 1/2 way mark with the first of 3 "winter camps" that I am teaching. This round there are 20 middle school students, about 13-14 years old, separated into two classes. I am teaching writing and grammar, two subjects which ALL students find incredibly interesting and fun (that was sarcasm).

My students are golden. I gave each of them a little notebook at the beginning of class, and I give them about 5-10 minutes in class to write in their journal. I then collect the journals, take them home, and write back... it's kind of a conversation (thus the name "dialogue journals") and they can write without fear of being told they're wrong about things, I will only correct global errors that are recurring. I love it! They are writing more and more each time - the progression in almost all students is noticable! Some students even ask to take the journals home because they want to write more than what they got to in class... that's right, they're actually volunteering for homework! And we're really getting the opportunity to develop relationships with each other through these journals. I can see why this is a popular method in North American ESL classrooms, to increase fluency and communicative comfort! It is so much easier to teach in a classroom when you're able to get to know your students like this. And they are voluntarily writing, some of them up to 1/2 a page a day! WOOT!

So I just wanted to share how wonderful my current batch of students are - an opinion that I feel I can offer validly because through this exercise we are getting to know each other outside the classroom too... I will be sad to see them go (in two days *sob*) but I hope that in our short class time, they were able to really experience English as something not just theoretical - it is an interactive means of communication between people.

I know this is cheesy, but it's things like this that really reaffirm my decision to come over here to teach for a while. I look forward to doing this exercise with my regular after-school conversation classes in the new year, too. The extra work this project creates for me is well-worth it - and fun!

oops...

Um, you know how I just proudly gushed about finishing Chris's hat, and how it's all superawesome because it's my first fair-isle style project? Well, all that pain and agony will have to be repeated, the hat is a shade too small and so I'm going to frog it all the way back to the earflaps (essentially, I'm starting over again). It will therefore be both my first and second fair-isle style project. Or does it just count as one project?
hrm.

(shhh! don't tell Chris - I told him that it would be hardly any work and that's a bold-faced lie, it will take me many many many hours of counting stitches and untwisting tangled yarn but I don't want to give him a hat that he won't wear, right?)

Aaaah, my knitting is truly my constant companion this month!!

If Na-Young's sweater doesn't fit, I swear to god I will scream. Knitting for people (surprise gifts) is not as easy as it looks - how do you nonchalantly attack someone's head with a tape measure to ensure accuracy?

On a different note, met more foreigners (and Koreans) tonight. One of the (newish) girls said that she's here to break through all the inequities (I'm paraphrasing) that we (women) deal with here - I'm not sure at all that it's any of my business to do such a thing though. As much as I'm a feminist and believe in equality for all, this isn't my culture to change. I am happy to speak about the issues if asked, but when not asked, I respect the culture as it stands.

To me, that sentiment is no different than a particular super-power government deciding to bring their own brand of democracy to the world. Change like that doesn't come from foreigners, it needs to come from the people who are the members of society -- who actually fully understand the constructs of the society. The Korean language is structured based on hiarchy and respect. There is no first person/second person/third person or plural in the verb conjugation. It's all about the hiarchy and where you fit in to it. To abolish hiarchy would be absolutely revolutionary in a linguistic sense, too, I think.

ringing in the new year with a bang

New Year's Eve has come and gone - 2007 seems to hold so much adventure and loads of promise! Spent New Year's Eve in Busan with Liz, Chris and a variety of others, partying late into the night. Check out Liz's blog for photos of the evening - I didn't really take any but Liz sure did!

Chris and I were still getting served at 5am, but decided to head on back to Ulsan, to watch the sun rise. And proceeded to fall asleep on the way home, both on the bus and in the cab. If there's one thing I wish I had taken a photo of, it was Chris at the bus terminal walking about 2 steps behind me and then POOF! he was gone -- he had decided to take a nap in some nearby bushes! Poor guy, I'm always telling tales of his misadventures (and never my own!) here...

I'm quite enjoying my 2-hours-a-day work schedule right now. Last night, went for tuna and stayed out until late into the night... met many wonderful Koreans, and was (sometimes) expected to act in a much more demure way than I ususally do. Y'all would laugh, because it's coming second nature to me now. Knowing when it's appropriate to sip my soju delicately, covering my mouth when I'm giggling, editing what I say and even how I react - and deferring to the males in the group. It drives me nuts, but I understand that it's important and don't even notice when I'm doing that kind of stuff anymore.

Tonight, off for the weekly foreign-teachers-pint-night at the local bar. It's a nice hump-day thing but I'm the only middle school teacher in the bunch, so I don't even want to mention my work schedule tonight (most hagwan teachers have a very full load during winter vacation!)

On the knitting front (because you all care SO much) I've finally finished Chris's hat, my first attempt at fair-isle style knitting (on double pointed needles, I was just asking for hell there) and am trucking quite quickly through the sweater I'm making my co-teacher. I am no longer afraid of the knitting store, and they are no longer afraid of me (wooo!).

Another haircut by the way, and this time, when I went in, the girls rushed to the counter and pulled out a phrase list that they had compiled -- I have to assume just to speak with me, as I'm really the only waygook in my 'hood, everyone else is on the other side of Hogye. SO sweet!

This country drives me nuts, any time I want to be frustrated with things, the niceness of everyone makes it impossible.

However, I still feel like, some days, my life is like a korean film without any english subtitles!