Hong Kong: the cable car to Buddha

On our fourth day in Hong Kong, we took a cable car to Po Lin Monastery, better known as the place with the Big Buddha. The cable car ride took a while, maybe 20-30 minutes, and we went high up, over a mountain. The view was impressive when we could see. But it was already a cloudy and foggy day, so at a certain point, you couldn't see anything beyond your cable car except for white fog. It was pretty surreal. You felt totally suspended in space and time.

When we got to the Monastery, we couldn't even see the Big Buddha statue clearly, even after we walked up a lot of steps to get closer. It made the Buddha seem more mysterious. There was a temple there too, but we couldn't take pictures because monks were having a ceremony inside.

I wanted to post these pictures next because I thought that they turned out pretty cool. For some of them, I played with the art filters on my camera.

So just look at the pictures as a journey through the fog to the Buddha, and back again.

To see the pictures bigger, you can look at the photobucket album.

Man Mo Temple, Hong Kong

Hello, everyone. Sorry about the long break between entries. After you've lived in a place for a while, it starts losing its newness, and so I haven't been documenting South Korea much.

However, I just got back from an amazing vacation to Hong Kong. I took so many pictures that going through them is pretty overwhelming right now.

So I'm going to upload the pictures in pieces, and I'll start with a highlight from the trip. It was a Buddhist temple, Man Mo. The outside was bland and unassuming, but inside was breathtaking: all golds and reds, lanterns, Buddhas, statues, oranges and flowers. And incense burning, filling the whole place with its smoke and smell.

I'll let the pictures take over from here.

the spirals are incense sticks.

people leave offerings at the altar.

many visitors light incense sticks.

We visited other temples, and they were similar, but this one was my favorite. It was truly beautiful.

hello kitty cafe.

So, I don't have the energy right now for a long entry about my Chuseok break. (basically, a friend and I explored all over Seoul.)

So, I'll talk about that next time. This is just a short entry. The last day of the break, I went to Hongdae, a neighborhood in Seoul, to get my haircut at a Western-style haircut place. (Success!) And afterwards I found the Hello Kitty Cafe. 

I can hear you now. HELLO KITTY? 

Yes. One of the things I love about South Korea is that it LOVES everything cute. Everything here is cutesy and it's not just for little kids. So, while I am here, I might as well embrace it. And seriously, how can you not like Hello Kitty?! 

And the Hello Kitty Cafe was PINK OVERLOAD. In the best way. 

Behold it in all its glory:

Okay, I didn't take that many pictures, but you can tell it was pretty ridiculous. I didn't end up getting a drink there because the wait was too long (it's a popular place) but they draw Hello Kitty in the whipped cream. So. That is something to experience next time. Hooray. 

settling in.

my neighborhood, Sanbon, is surrounded by mountains.

Sanbon.

So, too much time has passed since my last update. I’m sorry.

I am alive and well.

It is easy to fall into a routine here and forget I’m on the other side of the world. Work takes up a lot of time. Some days I go to work, come home, relax for a couple hours, go to sleep, wake up and do it again.  I need to get better at time management.

another view of Sanbon. The clock tower in the back is where the subway station is.

I’ve become used to so many things here. I reach for chopsticks over forks or spoons. I am used to being a foreigner. I’m used to the subway.

In other ways, I’m still discovering things every day. Trying new foods, seeing Korean things I don’t understand. Like the other day there was a parade and a candle ceremony. What for? I don’t know. Yesterday I found a market a ten minute walk from my house. I had no idea it was there beforehand, and suddenly I was surrounded by lots of food and noise and strange smells. In addition to all the fruits and vegetables, there was a lot of fish and seafood there, so fresh some was still wiggling. So there are strange and surprising things that remind me I’m actually on the other side of the world.

Korean businesses are built on top of each other.

there are lots of English words mixed in with Korean around here.

I can buy anything I need at E-mart, a gigantic department store.

Some highlights from the past month:

- The school is going pretty well. My schedule has changed and I’m working less elementary hours which is nice. A new teacher came a few weeks ago so I’m no longer the new teacher. I’ve settled into the routine and I know what I’m doing for the most part. And I’ve been hanging out with some co-teachers a lot and it’s nice to have made friends.

- My school had Family Sports Day on Saturday. That is when the families and kids from our kindergarden all come in and compete in games. The school was split into red and white teams. I’ve never seen anything like it in the States but I thought it was really cool. And it is an example of how Korea is a collectivist society. Most of the games involved the parents AND kids and everyone got a turn. In one, the parents carried the kids on a sort of chariot around a cone, then set it down for the next people to go. In another, the kids got to run with a parachute flying behind them. There were piggy back rides, a tug of war and a relay race. I ran in the relay race. Everyone danced a lot, everyone got prizes, and overall it was cool to observe.

- About a month ago now, I went down to Jeonju to see Vanessa one last time before she went back to Canada. Jeonju is a small city and it’s famous for bibimbop, a noodle and vegetable dish, so we had some. At night, we went to a Korean dance club. I will say, Koreans are much better at dancing than Americans. I had a good time overall.

- I am borrowing a bike from a friend and have been biking with him to work and back. It’s really fun. It takes about a half hour.

- The song "Gangnam Style" is so big that walking down the street you’ll hear it playing four or five times from different places.

- Norabong or Korean Karaoke. I’ve gone a few times and it’s fun. You get a private room to sing in with your friends and the song book is huge and contains lots of English songs.

- The food continues to be delicious and I'm used to spicy food now. A lot of times I cook at home but eating out isn't too pricey either.

- I feel very rich after my first paycheck. It is paid in millions of won, so I'm a millionaire in Korean money! Ha. (Definitely not in American money though). Still, I have plenty of money now. 

- I'm sure there's more, there's just too much to talk about!

There are more pictures I didn't put in this post that can be found here. They are pretty old because I haven't snapped pictures in a while (that's why it looks so hot out). I'll try to post more often. 

The school.

It's time to talk about the school I am teaching at. And this is probably not the best time for me to talk about it, because right now, so many things are due, and it seems like a lot of work to me. But that’s partially because I’m not used to it, and once I get the hang of it, it will go much faster. But it’s also partially because I had the bad luck to come at an inconvenient time when things like semester reports, lesson plans and teaching philosophies (Oh my!) are due.

(Note: I’m going to not mention specific names for the school because this is a public blog.)

I started teaching on Monday two weeks ago and it was sort of like getting thrown in and having to swim or sink. The 3 days of training did help me get an idea of what to expect. I’ve just been doing the best I can and it’s been for the most part good…a little choppy. Some lessons go really well, a few don’t. Sometimes the kids in my class are challenging to me, other times they are just so smart and well behaved. I am still getting organized and still learning a lot -- it’s a process.

I teach Kindergarten in the morning. I have a homeroom kindergarten class. They are an extremely lively group of 12 six-year-olds. I’m still getting used to all their personalities. Oh, and they’re very cute. So, at 9:30 we have snack at 9:45 is morning circle with everyone.

I teach Phonics to them and two other classes in the morning, rotating with two other teachers. The other two classes are 7-year-olds and there’s a big difference between them and the 6-year-olds. They're fun. Phonics is a pretty easy subject to teach and the class times are only 40 minutes, so my mornings go pretty well usually.

THEN LUNCH! It’s provided by the school. It consists of rice, a meat or protein, a soup, kimchi, and another vegetable dish. It’s healthy and usually good. I can’t complain because it’s free.

Then I usually get a break period. I might teach a short class like journal writing or story telling to my homeroom, or a special class like science or art. Then I teach something called Theme. The theme changes every week. It’s something like ‘animals’ or ‘sports’. It’s up to the teachers to design their lessons for how to teach it. Since we have such free reign I have to really think about these lessons.

If you hadn't noticed, this school's kindergarten program is very structured. My kids only get gym time (20 minutes) two days a week.(!!!) I worked at a very structured American school before this (in after school, but I often subbed during the day) and this is even MORE structured. Part of me feels that these kids NEED things like play time and rest time. Play is such an important part of learning and developing! But the parents pay lots of money to have their very young kids in desks all morning. So...that's what we do. The education system here is intense.

After that, at 2:30 I switch to teaching elementary kids (who come from their regular schools). I teach two groups of kids every day. There are only about 6 kids in each class. I teach a book called Storytown, which is a very comprehensive class. It teaches phonics, grammar, reading, everything. I like these books but they take some getting used to. The kids in my first class are good. In the second, there are some disruptive boys so I really have to be ‘on’. They just joke around a lot so it can be hard to keep them on task. I’m never sure how that class will go. But that class is also really smart and funny. I haven’t made up my mind about how I feel about it.

After that, on most days I am done (at 4:20). On Wednesdays and Fridays though I teach a late class until 7pm…which kind of sucks, but so far there are only two kids in the class so it’s easy. Yeah...the hours are pretty long. 

There are 8 other English teachers there. They’re pretty nice and it’s a good mix of people. I don’t know everyone that well yet but everyone’s been helpful to me and I’m making new friends. Some have been there for a while, over a year. It seems like most people think that, complaints aside, it’s a good school to work at overall.

There’s a Korean co-teacher in every kindergarten room. They teach a Korean class and they help with lunch and kids who are hurt or sick…when the language barrier can be too much for small children.

Speaking of sick, I got sick. Yes! Already! In the summer heat! Just a cold though. I have to admit, I have not been handling stress that well. It has been a LOT and I get home so frazzled and tired. I feel like that’s why I got sick (in addition to there being lots of new germs here). Anyway, I found a yoga mat and I’m going to work on taking better care of myself. I’m in a foreign country after all.

Sometimes it feels like I’ve been here for much longer and other times I feel like I’ve just arrived. My apartment still feels temporary because I haven't gotten much for it yet.  At any rate I'll tell you how it goes. And I’ll try to have pictures in my next post. 

Adjusting to South Korea

 I’ve been in Korea for about 2 and a half weeks now and just want to talk about what the adjustment has been like. For the most part I have not been too overwhelmed with culture shock and I think it’s because I read about Korea beforehand and was not expecting it to be just like back home. I’ve just been noticing the oddities and taking it all in.

Things I’ve Been Adjusting To:

Taking your shoes off when you see that the floor steps up at the entrance of somewhere – a school, restaurant, hotel, whatever.

-Being one of the only non-Asian people in a crowd. There is no racial diversity here and I stick out like a sore thumb. I get a lot of curious looks. And kids sometimes say Hello. People know to speak English to me.

-Being able to say whatever without anyone overhearing. Yes, many Koreans know English but they cannot keep up quick fluent English spoken among native English speakers. We can have conversations in private…with tons of people around.

-And on the reverse side, not having a clue what people are saying the vast majority of the time. No overhearing conversations. Not knowing what signs and labels say beyond the pictures is becoming normal. Luckily, in the E-mart (giant grocery, etc store), some things are labeled in English.

-Gesturing, simplifying my English, using a few limited Korean words to get my point across.  Sometimes I am reduced to saying a few words very slowly with various hand movements and hoping people understand.

-That being said, it’s kind of amazing being able to talk to someone in limited English, Korean, gestures, smiles and laughing. It’s kind of beautiful that people from two vastly different cultures that are able to have a conversation like this. That's corny but whatever.

- NOT TIPPING! In South Korea you never tip for anything. You pay the exact amount it says. I could really get used to this.

-Umbrellas. Everywhere. In all kinds of weather. In the heat they are used as parasols. I might have to take this up myself if this heat continues. Also, in every shopping district you can buy umbrellas and slippers in seemingly every store.

-Everyone here looks so well dressed and put together including the men. (I’ve heard even men wear make up here). Not everyone, but most people dress very well.

-Getting used to the area where I live and work! The walk is familiar now, but on one of my first days, I managed to get lost on the walk from the subway station to work. I find it pretty funny now, but when I first arrived, everything was so overwhelming and strange. Korean streets can be a barrage of signs from businesses all stacked up on top of each other. It can be very confusing and disorienting.

-Seeing many American restaurants mixed in with Korean ones. I see just as many Starbucks and Duncan Donuts here as I did back home, and even more Baskin Robins. There’s McDonald’s, Burger King, even a Taco Bell opened up nearby. I can have Western food whenever I feel like it. I've even had pizza and it was very good. They have other international foods and chains here all around. I’m hooked on Danish drinking yogurt.

-New flavors for snack food, such as melon flavored everything and flavored milk. (I know you can get it flavored back home, but not EVERYWHERE like here. There is BLUEBERRY flavored milk and it is delicious).

Bobbing my head politely. When you meet someone, when you’re leaving, to say thank you, to be polite without having to speak. I have only been full out bowed to, as in, from the waist, 90-degree-angle, once, on a bus on Jeju, when the bus driver was (as I understand) introducing himself and asking us to buckle our seatbelts.

So, I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff, but those are some things that are sticking out right now. I just survived my first week of school. In a later post I’ll talk about it. I am so behind in posts.

Jeju Island

Alright, I finally have time for an update. Sorry for the delays. I haven’t had internet in my room, which has been frustrating. This post will be about my trip to Jeju. I’ll write another post about where I’m living now soon.

So, I went to Jeju Island with my friend Vanessa and her friend, Teresa and a few others who broke off from us after the ferry. I had a great time and am very glad that I was with friends who knew how to get around and speak some Korean. Jeju is a tropical island full of palm trees and interesting vegetation, mountains, beaches and rural farmers. It is known as the Hawaii of Korea. The Islanders were very nice to us tourists.

On Friday night, I went down to Mokpo via the high-speed KTX train, which took about 3 hours. I met my friends on the train. We stayed in a hotel and in the morning, got on the ferry. We saw jellyfish in the water which was really cool. The ferry took 5 hours and by the time we got to Jeju, the sky looked pretty overcast. We took a taxi to our hostel. The taxis are pretty cheap here and you don’t tip. It rained a little so we relaxed until the sky cleared, which thankfully didn’t take long. Then we went out in search of food by the beach. We found none! It was a pretty quiet rural area and we wandered miserable in the sun, but all we found were drink places. We came back to the hostel and the hostel owner drove us to a restaurant, which was very nice of him. We couldn’t find much to eat so we all had the miso stew, which I thought was delicious. In traditional Korean style, we had many side dishes and we sat on the floor. Then we decided to walk along the beach and we had some refreshing drinks as we watched the sun go down.

blue sea

Vanessa, Me, Teresa on the ferry

Jeju with storm clouds

view of our first hostel

dinner! yum.

refreshing drinks on the beach

the shoreline after sunset

The next day we went to the Manjanggul cave area with a new friend from the hostel, Carlee. First we did a hedge maze. It reminded us of Harry Potter or Alice in Wonderland and it was pretty fun. Then we went in the cave, which was really cool. There was 1km open to the public (I have to switch to the metric system here!), and we walked through and back. It was a cave that was formed by lava flowing a long, long time ago. There were interesting formations and it was a wide open tunnel the whole way. It was very cool in there compared to the hot heat. I was glad I had brought a sweater. Then we ate a snack, went back to the hostel for our stuff, and boarded a bus bound for Jeju city where we had lunch at Outback Steakhouse. They are everywhere in Korea! And it was almost exactly like back home, down to the delicious hot bread. The only differences I noticed was that my meat wasn’t done as much as I like it (they cooked it some more after I asked) and the mashed potatoes were just a smashed baked potato with cheese and bacon.

Then we went on to another town, Seogwipo for our next hostel. By that time was too late to see the waterfalls so we decided to go to the beach, but unfortunately the beach nearby was too rocky for swimming, so we were all a bit disappointed that night.

walking.

the maze.

this sign in the maze amused us.

"where am I?"

this phone booth looked like the traditional Jeju statue man. 

entrance to the cave

the cave

our second hostel

The next day, we got up and saw two waterfalls. They were both stunning. It was hot out and the sun drained us after walking around all morning, so we decided not to try to climb the mountain Halla-san as we had originally planned. We stopped at a visitor center there but were just too tired. I am sure that I’ll have the opportunity to climb a mountain again, but just maybe not when it’s brutally hot like it was on Jeju. That afternoon we got to our guest house in Jeju City. It was extremely nice. We headed out to the closest beach and spent a few hours enjoying the salty water and sunshine. Then we got back to the guest house and had some food delivered, and relaxed and played cards.

first waterfall

second waterfall

bibimbop for lunch

On Tuesday, we saw an outdoor art exhibition and went shopping a little. Then we boarded the ferry bound back to Mokpo. I wish my camera hadn’t run out of batteries because the views of the sunset were truly amazing. Also, two Korean college students came up to us and they spoke pretty good English, so we had a great conversation with them as we all asked questions about each other. Most Koreans I have talked to have been extremely nice and helpful.

After the ferry, I took a train back home. Overall it was a fun trip. I’m glad that I’ve seen Jeju.

note the Korean peace sign.

So these are just some of the pictures. It was just too time consuming to get them all on one post as I originally intended. To see the others you can see my flickr for the best ones and my photobucket album for the rest.