Pepero Day!

There is this neat little highly-commercialized holiday that falls on November 11 of each year in South Korea.  This holiday is Pepero Day.  Apparently the date (11/11) resembles four sticks of Pepero.  Sure it does.  As far as I am concerned, it is the most contrived holiday I've ever experienced (albeit a great excuse to eat candy!).

It is widely assumed that the Lotte company created this holiday, a fact which they deny, claiming they just promoted what they saw to be a trending increase in their snack sales around that time of the year.  Sounds like the same difference to me.  Anyway, the following are some images of downtown Daejeon during the most recent manifestation of this holiday.

"Mountain Hiking" or "The Day I Got Showed Up by a Bunch of Korean Senior Citizens"

Mountain hiking is a big deal in Korea.    Especially here in Daejeon, which is literally surrounded by mountains. I mean, a REALLY big deal.  As in,

"What are you doing this weekend?"

"Going to the mountains.  What are you doing?"

"Going to the mountains.  Didn't you do that last week?"

"Of course, same as you.  Would you like to go together?"

"Already going with someone else, but I'm going again next week, wanna go then?"

"Sure!

Apparently, Koreans don't do anything half-way.  This means that, in addition to frequenting the national parks religiously on a week-to-week basis, they all have their state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line, brightly-colored hiking gear.  This is a given, there is no getting around this requirement.  It's keeping up with the Joneses to the extreme.

So, as you can imagine, when I found myself at the base of Gyeryong mountain in Gyeryongsan National Park wearing only a pair of workout pants, running shoes, and a sweatshirt, I felt a tad underdressed for the occasion.  Thankfully, as a foreigner in Korea you quickly grow immune to the curious or bewildered stares you receive on a daily basis, so unacceptable wardrobe was the least of my worries.

Starting out, I was very confident in my climbing endurance.  After all, I had done plenty of hiking back home in the States.  The air was cool and crisp, and we were off at what I thought was a vigorous pace.  Just a little ways up the path, we came upon a group of Buddhist Temples, maintained exclusively by female monks.

They were beautiful works of architecture, filled with lanterns and and small crystals sponsored by well-meaning people in honor of loved ones who have passed on.

I also noticed a rather large number of cats wondering around the complex, but I did not find any reason for them.

After that bit of sight-seeing, it was time to continue up the trail.  It wasn't long before it started to get rather steep and rocky.  It was a challenge to navigate among the crevices and small boulders.  I felt my heart beating faster and faster, until it felt like it might beat out of my chest.  Still, our group leader, a middle-aged Korean woman, showed no signs of slowing down in the near future.  I was determined to keep up.  I started panting a little, and prayed that we would take a break soon.  That's when I was passed on the left side by two ajummas old enough to be my grandmothers brandishing hiking poles and heavy-duty boots.  After this happened a few more times, I finally accepted the fact that I was completely out of my league on this one.  Inspirational or humiliating?  You decide.

Visit to Pizza Hut, Korean Style

As most of you know, the first real job I ever had was working at the Buchanan Pizza Hut.  During my three and a half years working there, I served tables, answered phones, and occasionally assembled and baked pizzas.  Good times, good memories, and, rather than hating Pizza Hut pizza as a result, it has actually turned out to be one of my favorites.

So, anyway, I've really been enjoying trying new foods and new food establishments.  I've enthusiastically tried several variations of kimchi, kimbab, bibimbap, ramyeon, and a plethora of other foods whose names I do not know yet.  Even so, I found myself with a hankering for something a bit more like home.  I emailed Lindsey, and we made plans to meet after sundown on Saturday and find us some pizza.  Wondering along the commercial strip near my apartment, we tried to decide which parlor to try.  When we saw the recognizable Pizza Hut logo, we new our search had come to an end.  Of course!  A chain restaurant, it would surely be something familiar...right?

At first glance, we were right:  the dining room looked like Pizza Hut, it smelled of garlic and yeast like Pizza Hut, and it even had a salad bar.  Then we looked at the menu.

Not Pizza Hut.  Sure, there was pizza on the menu.  Black sesame pizza.  Bulgogi pizza. Shrimp Pizza.  Oh, my.  What to do?

We read through the English titles of the menu and finally saw "vegetarian pizza."  Hooray!  We ordered our pie happily, and then thought a trip to the salad bar might be a nice way to start the meal, and ordered that, too.  We really should have looked first.

The HORROR!

Fear Factor:  Korean Edition

There was almost nothing recognizable on the salad bar, aside from some iceberg lettuce.  What's this orange stuff here?  Does this have meat in it?  Oh dear, there are whole miniature fish in this.  Where's the tomato?!

We managed to be brave and try some of the safer looking items.  Wasn't half bad, really.  I was still really looking forward to that pizza coming out, though.  At long last, it arrived at our table.  A bit small for the price, perhaps, but it looked delicious!

A thing of beauty

We prayed a very thankful prayer, then I grabbed a slice and dug in.  Mmmmmmm!  That wonderful, delicious, amazingly satisfying flavor of....SWEET POTATO???

Noooooooooooooooooooo!

Oh, we should have known better than to think Korea would have left that ole' standby Cheesy Bite pizza as is...oh no, it had to give it its own personal twist.  You live and learn.

Actually, that was probably the worst culture shock I have experienced since coming to Korea; such a shock, in fact, that I forgot how much I wanted regular pizza.  That is, until the craving turns up again with a vengeance.

First Week, DONE!

I just finished my first week of teaching here in Daejeon, South Korea!  It was exhausting, but also very fun.  Here's what my schedule looks like:

7:00     English Level 3
8:00     Break
10:00   English Level 3
11:00   Religion
12:00   Break
3:20     Phonics 1
4:05     Into Grammar 1
4:20     English Time A1
4:35     English Time A3
5:05     English Time B3
5:20     English Time B1
5:35     Into Grammar 2
6:05     English Time D2
6:20     English Time D3

It's almost like a university schedule in some ways, with random breaks throughout the day.  Fridays we only teach classes in the morning.

I already love my students.  They are so fun!  The junior classes are just like every other elementary and middle school class I've ever taught; kids are kids no matter where you go or what language they speak.  Something I am not used to, however, is teaching adults.  It is a completely new experience for me to be in charge of a class where I am the youngest person in the room.  Despite this, I've found it to be very rewarding to work with grown-up students.  You can have interesting conversations and be taught be them even as you are learning.  I have definitely taken advantage of conversation time to learn more about Korean culture, which I believe serves a dual purpose as the students must search for and practice new vocabulary as they try to answer my questions.  Another neat thing about the adults is their welcoming spirit and hospitality.  I have already had the opportunity to try several local treats due to the generosity one of my level three classes, and I have plans with a couple other students to take a mountain hiking trip soon!

It was an itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, yellow polka dot English Classroom!

The classrooms at the Daejeon Institute are small yet cozy, and I get my exercise climbing up four flights of stairs several times a day. In order to teach my Junior classes, I must travel to a second institute located in Kwanju, about a half hour bus ride away.

Apparently there was a miscommunication between the two.

So far I have been using my free time throughout the day to prepare for upcoming classes, call home, learn some Korean, and explore the city.  It's been cool.

Religion classes start up this week, more on that later!  Ciao for now!

It's Daejeon!!

Well, I arrived safe and sound in Daejeon, South Korea.  After that bus ride, which turned out to be only around an hour and half (bad information!), I spent another hour sitting in the bus refueling station waiting to be picked up by someone connected to the institute.

Not much to see.

At first I thought I had arrived earlier than expected and that was the reason no one was there yet, but as the minutes ticked on I began to suspect something else was the case.  I remembered someone in the SDA Academic Office had mentioned that if you ask a Korean to call a phone number for you on their cellphone they will do it, so I searched around for a likely target whom I could ask.  I spotted this friendly-looking ajumma (Korean word for a married, middle-aged or older woman) and made my walked over to her.  With my limited language skills I could only say "handepone?" and hope she got my drift.  To help my case I showed her the sheet of paper with the pastor's phone number.  She smiled widely and nodded her head vigorously, then proceeded to pull me to a nearby kiosk all the while chattering away in Korean (A moment of reflection:  do Americans do the same thing to foreigners who don't speak English?  Babble away as though the poor souls understand a word we say?)  She spoke to the man behind the counter, and he gave me a suspicious look.  Nonetheless, he pulled out his very impressive smartphone and dialed the number.  I don't know what was said, but I imagine it was something like "hey, I've got this foreign girl here looking really lost, are you going to come get her or what?"  After he talked for a moment or two, he handed me the phone.

Me:  Hello, Pastor?
Pastor: Ohhhh!  Lauohra!
Me:  Um, yes, hi...I'm at the bus station.
Pastor:  Ohhhh!  Eh, mmmm...we thought you are coming tomorrow!
Me:  Oh, ha, yeah...surprise!
Pastor:  Okay, okay, wait wait wait wait, okay?
Me:  Okay.

By this point, the man whose phone I was borrowing was impatiently holding out his hand for it to be returned to him.  I bowed and thanked him for his help, then went to wait by my luggage.  The ajumma must have decided I looked like I needed a friend (I did), and proceeded to adopt me for the rest of my time there.  It's funny how, even without any words, one can communicate with others rather effectively.  Even though I could barely pick out more than a word here or there, I understood that she thought I looked tired and should rest.  She pointed out a nice ledge just off the sidewalk upon which I could sit, and then scurried off.  She was soon back, however, with a newspaper which she spread out on the ledge so that I wouldn't get dirty!

As good as a LazyBoy any day, and more creative, too.

The adjumma continued to check on me periodically as I people watched, and eventually my ride pulled up to the curb.  The ajumma ran out to the driver (which turned out to be one of the church elders), and apparently scolded him for making me wait so long (or at least the exchange seemed a little heated).  Happy to finally be going somewhere, yet sad to say goodbye to my friend who had become very special to me in a very brief period of time, I smiled, bowed, and thanked her, then got into the car.

It was perhaps a strange way to begin my time in Daejeon, yet it somehow boded well for what will be my experience here in the future.