Our EPIK Life in Buyeo

This blog post is well overdue, and I’m a little worried about the daunting task ahead of me here. It’s been way too long, and way too much has happened since my last post. I’d love to be able to document all of the details, but so much happens each day that it would be impossible.

The Teaching:

The teaching has been great so far. We're teaching middle school, which here is grades 7 - 9. It's been fun so far, but we're really now just getting into the thick of it. I have a tricky little set-up though. We both teach at multiple school (Julia 3, me 4), but my situation is a bit more hectic. Julia teaches out of the standard textbook at all of her schools, so she'll be making 3 lessons per week on average. I have two schools that I teach from story books (right now it's Cat in the Hat and Big Fat Cat and the Mustard Pie). For those schools, we read a few pages and then I make up random activities and games to have them practice reading and using some language from the text. I can be pretty creative and do what I want here, but I also have to discuss the lessons with my co-teachers (I have 7 total). At another school (which is a 45 minute bus ride away) it's a totally different situation. I have no co-teacher, and I teach the same 11 students for 3 periods in a row. It's considered extra-curricular. I can do WHATEVER I want. Right now we're remaking the music Video for 'Friday' by Rebecca Black. An absolutely awful song, but it's hilarious, and pretty simple and the kids are digging it. These kids are great, and I know I’ll have a lot of fun with them this year. They chose to be in this class, so they're well behaved and motivated. At my 4th school, I teach from the textbook, so I'll likely be stealing Julia's lessons and tweaking for my class sizes. At my main school I have 11 classes per week, and then 3 at each of the others. I'm technically 2 short of where I should be (22) at the moment, but I'm okay with that. :) All in all though, the teaching is going well! We're both learning lots and just taking it all in as it comes. We have some pretty funny things that happen all the time. We’re told we’re handsome / pretty, have long noses, ‘special hair’ (Julia), I was told I have big muscles. The kids are hilarious. Classroom management is the trickiest at my main school because my class sizes are more than double my next largest (they’re ~32 – 35 each). We’re still working on perfecting our lesson planning and trying to become quicker at it, but it will take time to test things out in the classroom and see what works (in general and in our particular situations). This will all come with time though.

Everything Else

We finally got gym memberships. We’re at Gangnam fitness (yes, Gangnam). It’s not a huge gym, but it’s got the basics and isn’t terribly busy. So far so good. It’s about a 10 minute walk from home. Only drawback so far, which we found out this morning, is that they’re not open on Sundays. Very disappointing! Instead of working out, we walked about 17.5km.

Right across from where we live is Busosaeng Mountain. It’s amazing up there. It’s a big park with trails and monuments and all sorts of stuff. It’s not a hill, but not a mountain. You can walk to the top in about 30 minutes or less. There’s lots of trail to keep busy in there and we’ll be spending a lot of time in the park this year. 

We found that we can go out on the roof of our building. This excite us because we’ll bring some basic gym stuff out there and do workouts. We can bring stuff like a skipping rope, kettlebell, maybe even a box for box jumps, and get in workouts more conveniently. 

We got our bank account last week. We just need to figure out how to send money home to Canada. We do have mortgage payments to make still! We’re with NH Bank. 

We got cell phone plans this past week also, pumped for that! We’re with SKT. 

On Friday we had a couch delivered. We ordered and paid for it ourselves. Julia is sleeping on it until the mattress shows up. After 3 weeks of sleeping on the floor, our bed frame arrived on Saturday, but no mattress just yet. Hopefully in a few days. 

We have 3 restaurants that are our favourites. One we go to for Bibimbap, one for Ssambap and one for Wallamssam.  They already know us well at all of these establishments. Meals are $6, $7 and $12 respectively.

Next weekend will be our first weekend vacation of sorts. We’re going to Seoul. We’re going to meet up with another couple from Tennessee that we met at orientation and hang out with them for part of the weekend. At some point we’ll meet up with John (Julia’s cousin) also, if he’s available. 

Random points:

-        We love rice cakes. Here they are not diet food, they are dessert, and they are fantastic.

-        Non-Koreans are few and far between. We’ve seen 4 – 5 in 3 weeks. 

-        We get 4 English channels on TV: Euro-Sport, BBC Knowledge, Nat Geo Wild, History Channel

-        We’re ever so slowly learning the bus system around here. We need to bus to our other schools, so we take the busses 3 days a week. 

-        We found an amazing network of bike paths that, when joined, we can travel all over the country! I want to plan a long distance trip.

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Settling in, in Buyeo

It’s been a few days and much has happened. It feels like it’s been a month already and we haven’t even officially started teaching! 

We’re in our new apartment. It’s (expletive) incredible. Brand new, amazing location, everything we could ask for and then some. We weren’t expecting the first place to be so bad, and we certainly weren’t expecting this place to be so friggin’ amazing. We got very lucky. It must have been a sight to see us carrying the big ole bike box from one apartment to the other (about 1.5km). That bike box travelled in 1 SUV, 2 Airplanes, 2 Busses, 1 Car and then by hand. It’s finally in its final resting place. I’m excited to get the bike built and get some riding in!

This week we’ll be getting a lot of stuff figured out with setting up our life here. First is the alien registration card, then bank accounts, cell phones, gym memberships and taekwondo classes. We need to buy a bunch of stuff for the apartment including a table, armoire, chairs, kitchen utensils, couch etc. A fridge, washing machine, bed and TV are provided and all will be brand new. So far we have a fridge. Our sleeps have been lackluster, but we are by no means complaining!

 

 

I had a welcome dinner with my school to kick off the new year and it was awesome. I love watching and learning. I drank a bunch of soju until I felt pretty comfortable. Korean drinking culture is great. People will walk up to you with a shot glass and bottle of something, give you the shot glass and pour you a drink. You drink and then return the favour. I did this a bunch and worked up the nerve to do it with the principal, vice principal and head of administration. I was told it made a very, very good first impression. The whole evening was awesome. I feel more like a part of this team, even though I can only speak to a handful of people (still more than Julia… which is totally minimal). 

We’re exploring our area and finding our favourite restaurants. So far Ssambap and bibimbap and great options for Julia, and I’m pretty open to anything. Yesterday I ate pork belly and larvae of some sort, but likely won’t make a habit of it. We also have a nice coffee shop right behind our place. We can walk there in roughly 1 minute, door to door. Dangerous. 

It’s true, wifi here is next level. Even in a rural area like ours, we can find it just about anywhere while walking down the street.

Korean Surprise - The 24 Hour Rollercoaster

We've heard numerous times that we should expect the unexpected here in Korea. That we'll find out about mandatory meetings, dinners etc at the very last minute. One of our lecturers last week in orientation calls this a 'Korean Surprise', and that is the norm, not the exception.

We left Orientation on Friday morning and the 24 hour period from the Thursday night before, to the Friday evening epitomized this phenomenon.

On Thursday evening we went out with two other couples to celebrate the successful completion of Orientation. We ended up at a random bar / restaurant and had a few drinks (Korean Beer and Soju). Side Note: Soju is the most consumed alcohol in the entire world, take that vodka! We had a great time, but the star of the evening was the owner of the place. He was THE most entertaining waiter / host you could imagine. In a previous life, he was also a comedian (we think, based on our minimal communication abilities) and he had a few performances for us, one of which was a spectacular ice cube / tong show. He was able to pick up ice cubes and throw them in the air, catch them with the tongs and then throw them into any glass on our table. At one point he threw an ice cube 4 feet across the table and landed it right in my shot glass of Soju. He then had one of the girls hold up a glass in front of her face, on angle facing him. He threw an ice cube in the air and head butted it right into the glass. This guy was definitely worth the price of admission. The entire bill was also only 28,000 WON (like $30 CAD). That was for 3 beers, 2 bottles of Soju and a Coca Cola. Not bad! Oh, and you are not allowed to tip.

Friday morning began as it should have, as we expected. We loaded our luggage into our bus and set off for Cheonan with the other Chungnam Epik teachers (7 of us on the bus). We eventually arrived at the office of education for Chungnam province, and after another 30 - 40 minutes of sitting on the bus, confused as to why we weren't getting off, we were let off and met our co-teachers. After all of the luggage was unloaded and we exchanged pleasantries with our co-teachers, the insanity began. For the sake of not making this a novel, I'm going to switch to point form.

- We had a lot of luggage, and the bike box was a nightmare. We ended up putting it on the roof of Julia's co-teacher's (Anne) car. In the process, Julia cracked a bit of the plastic shield thing that goes around the top of the window (know what I mean?). Apparently it's not a big deal because the car is super old and it was only a tiny crack.

- We drove to Buyeo with my-coteacher (Jin) (about an hour and a half) and had a very nice chat. She speaks great English.

- They took us to our apartment and as we arrived, we got a call from Anne saying that she got a call from the office in Cheonan letting her know that we left three items behind. :( In all the confusion about the bike, we left our two carry on cases and my backpack behind in the parking lot. Anne ended up having to drive back the next day (yesterday) to pick these up.

- We checked out the apartment and it was a massive disappointment. Old, smell of smoke, things falling apart and disgustingly dirty. We only dropped off our luggage and then went out for lunch. They took us for bibimbap, and by chance, there were a number of teachers from our schools there, as well as Julia's principal. We sat on the floor and it was extremely uncomfortable. I'll hav eto work on my flexibility. They refused to let us pay.

- After lunch, we toured around. Met people at the Buyeo Office of Education and then went to my school. We met the ladies in the administration office, and they said they 'like me because I look nice'. Good to know. We met some other folks in another office (Human resources I think) and finally met my principal. This experience gets its own bullet point:

- My principal's office is MASSIVE. At least the size of a classroom. He has a big desk near the door, and a very large seating area, where they must have meetings. He greeted each other in Korean (he doesn't speak any English) and then sat down. There were two long rows of big comfortable arm chairs facing each other, with a row of coffee tables down the middle and his head chair at one end, just slightly elevated. We all sat down and Jin disappeared for a few minutes. Julia, Anne and another new Korean English teacher were also with us. It was mostly awkward silence, with some minor chit chat between Anne and the Principal. Eventually Jin came back with a tray of small bottled drinks. We each took one. I asked what it was and she said it was 'Korean Red Bull'. We each drank it in silence, then got up, shook hands again and left. The whole experience was absolutely hilarious.

 - We toured a bit more of my school and I got to see my office and classroom. I'm extremely excited!

- After this, we headed back to the apartment. Jin took us to pick up some cleaning supplies and then left us for a few hours.

- We cleaned for a couple hours, but the more we cleaned, the more we found bigger issues. The place was literally falling apart. Leaks in pipes, wallpaper peeling off everywhere, broken doors and cabinets, and that disgusting smell of smoke in the walls. We were seriously feeling ill. We decided that there was no way that we could live there, and were ready to go home if need be. Julia was quite upset and overwhelmed with everything.

- When Jin returned, we told her how we felt (as politely as possible) and she immediately started making phone calls to help fix the issue. She's new with the whole process of setting up new co-teachers, and she was the one that found this accommodation. We didn't know that at the time. She felt awful and was in tears herself. Other single teachers had lived there in the past with no issues, but it's gotten worse and worse over the years.

- In our contracts, the school is required to spend at least 400,000 WON on accommodation per EPIK teacher. In this case, they spent my 400,000 WON and were going to give Julia 400,000 WON as a housing allowance each month. We told her that we'd prefer to spend all 800,000 (or even more and we'd pay the difference) for a nicer place. It could even be smaller.

- She scrambled to find solutions and eventually got a hold of Anne who came over to the apartment to help. They discussed, as we say confused, and eventually went for dinner. This time it was Ssambap. Again sitting on the floor, and again they didn't let us pay, we even put cash out on the bill, well in advance. At dinner, they told us that they were going to put us in a hotel while they find us something new. We offered to pay, but they wouldn't let us.

What a day!!

It's Sunday morning as I type this and we start school tomorrow (I'm very excited and a bit anxious). We've spent the past two nights in a nice hotel. We'll talk to Jin today and work to find a new place ASAP. We don't want to be a pain, and don't need anything fancy, just liveable.

That's all for now. We're extremely excited to be where we are and had a great day yesterday afternoon, exploring the city and eating at a restaurant. Being in a completely foreign country is an incredible learning experience. Just ordering food is an adventure. Luckily the people here are amazing. So kind. Especially our co-teachers. Jin and Anne are two of the sweetest ladies we've met.
 

On Korean Time

We've officially made it.

This will be our second full day at orientation, and we'll be kicking it off in a little over an hour with our medical check-up. Chest x-rays, blood test, vision test, height, weight etc. Fairly routine stuff. We've had to fast since last night at 10:00PM, with no water past midnight. We're in 'Class 5A', (out of 6 classes), which means we're one of the later groups to go, which ALSO means some people are already eating! We're both starving! No big deal. Lunch is at noon.

Meals have been decent. There's a big cafeteria on campus and we always have buffet style meals. Lots of kimchi, rice, some meat dishes, some veggies and salad. They also have a small selection of stuff that is reserved for vegetarians and vegans, so Julia's been enjoying that as well. There are a couple stores on campus with some very basic stuff. Nothing we'd really eat, so we're going to try and venture off campus when we get a chance and find some extra food somewhere.

Yesterday was pretty laid back. We had a campus tour in the morning, then lunch, followed by the official opening ceremonies. There were a couple traditional performances and a talk by a Canadian that has lived in South Korea for 17 years. His presentation was fantastic. After this we broke off into our individual classes and had a meeting. Part of orientation includes a lesson presentation in front of our peers, in groups of 3. Julia and I are in the same group and are with a girl that we actually had been in contact with on Facebook and had a chat with since we've been here. After this meeting we went back to the cafeteria and had dinner then came back to our room and pretty much just passed out.

Today will also include a couple lectures in the afternoon as well as Korean language lessons in the evening. We're both looking forward to learning the language so that day to day life here is a little easier! We know only the very basics right now.

I'll try to include photos when I can, but am more likely to just share them on Facebook and Instagram. 

Homeless and Unemployed

We just put the finishing touches on our house today. Fixing up a couple nail holes and taking out the last of our 'stuff'. We left a bottle of wine, keys and a welcome letter for our new tenant.

Even with a serious effort to purge of extra 'stuff', we still managed to almost completely fill up a 10' x 5' storage locker. The plan is to come home in X number of years and buy a 'tiny house'. We've done a lot of research and love the idea of living both clutter and mortgage free, so we'll have to really go through all of our stuff and decide what's important to keep, and what we simple THINK we need. The locker will cost us ~$120 per month, but we get 2 months free because we signed a year contract, plus we got a $300 credit from a $75 Groupon deal, so we don't actually pay anything for another 4 months or so.

We'll be living rent free over there and the rental income will nearly pay the mortgage, so we're pretty happy with the whole situation. Building equity back home while travelling and saving overseas is our best case scenario. Everything has finally come together. We signed up to take our TESOL course pretty much the same weekend that we moved into our new house, and so the idea to move overseas was a little daunting. It's been a bit of a hectic 6 months or so, but everything has seemingly fallen into place. We got lucky with a lot (Julia's parents bought our SUV and a lot of our furniture) and our house was rented quickly and was a better situation that we anticipated (mid month move in rather than March 1st). We were ready to have to pay the mortgage until as late as May 1st, as we were told that the rental market was tough right now.

Julia finished work a week ago and I finished this past Tuesday. Within the space of a week we both became unemployed, homeless and gave up both of our vehicles. It feels fantastic.

We each have 2 suitcases, a carry-on, personal item and of course I'm bringing a bicycle. That's it, and we couldn't be happier.