Embarrassing Foreigner Moments

Embarrassing Foreigner Moments

The Cell Phone

1. If you have ever gone to a foreign place you know that these little embarrassing moments are just bound to happen. Well, here it goes. Oh, let me add, this could have been 100% preventable if I knew anything about technology.  So my phone's 3G network hasn't been working on my smart phone.  Everyone elses seemed to be working just fine and it has been like this all week. So I finally had time to make it to the phone store to have them fix the problem for me.  I walk in and say "3G no work" and show them my phone.  The guys takes my phone and is trying to figure it out for about 5 minutes and then starts giggling. He hands my phone back to me and says "Turn on 3G button." and shows me how to turn it on.  So so stupid. I had accidentally turned off the button for my 3G network and have had to suffer without it all week. The phone guy was really nice but we both knew that I just had a stupid foreigner moment. I couldn't help but laugh and walked out of the store with my head hung low from my ignorance.  I'll be honest, I would've done the same thing back in the states.

Hot Pink Maddness

2.  To add to the hilarity that is my life. Just after the phone incident. I go around looking for new running shoes. I knew previously to this venture that it might be a bit challenging because Koreans have smaller feet than I do. It certainty doesn't help that there shoe size is different than ours in the US making my shoe size seem even bigger at 260mm. Okay, so here we go. I walk into the first store and I ask if they have any shoes in my size for women.  This guys looks at me like  "Are you serious? Your feet are that big?" Then he is showing me rows of shoes and saying shoe sizes that I didn't understand. I tried to look like I understood what he was saying but there was no way I was going to by shoes there, they were way to expensive. I leave the store and venture to another shoe store just down the street. Every time you walk into a store you are instantly greeted, and I asked if they had any shoes in my size.  The sales girl couldn't speak English, but we managed to figure it out with lots of pointing and hand gestures.  She was also surprised to find out what size shoe I wear (this known by a small giggle when I told her). I chose a pair of black shoes and she went to the back to find them.  She came back with a pair of hot pink shoes that were similar style. She made gestures that these were the only ones she could find still left in my size.  I had a decision to make. By the hot pink discount shoes or die! Well, that's what it felt like anyways. Since my run yesterday just about killed my feet. I decided to by them and am now a proud owner of  hot pink Adidas.

I know 2 posts in one day is a bit excessive. I probably won't happen to often don't worry:)

A Simple Week on the Island

 School Life

On the right is a picture of my school.  This is only part of the school but as you can see it is pretty big. There are over 1,300 elementry school students here and it is the biggest one in my city. I love walking up the school driveway with the kids to hear "Hello teacha Jenna!" I have to say 'hello' about 100 times by the time I make it to my office. The kids are often time sweeping or playing soccer. The grass is fake so it stays looking this nice all the time.

This week I didn't have any classes on Monday due to the typhoon and then the rest of the week I have had at least one class everyday that has been cancelled.  This is due to the 4th graders practising for Sports Day (similar to our track and field day). Then my 6th graders went on picnics this week. Leaving me with only one class to teach on this beautiful Friday.  It has been nice to get a lot of work done and get reorganized but I do miss seeing the kids all day long. Next week might be a rude awakening.

 Coffee Shops

It has been awhile since I have spent time at one of the hundreds of coffee shops that are in Seogwipo.  Korea has coffee shops about every 3 feet. They are everywhere and extremely popular. They are way more extreme about drinking coffee here than most people are in the US.

These are just some pictures I took at coffee shops. First, on the left, this is a picture of the different kinds of FRAPICCINOS, notice the spelling on the sign. It is just to cute, it is spelt in a way that is easier for Koreans to say. Second, the coffee cup on the right is just way to cute. I just had to take a picture of it. The coffee shops here have so much character and are fun to check out.



The everyday market.



Down by the harbor. Great Place to run.



Things I Love About Seogwipo Island Life    

1. Great view of the ocean from apartment                    

 2. easy access to the ocean                                            

 3. Refreshing ocean breeze                                              

4. Quite and peaceful

5. Easy to get everywhere on the island

6. The people are helpful

Typhoon Sanba



As many of you know, just yesterday we were hit with typhoon Sanba. It was a pretty bad storm with some very, very strong winds.  Thus, keeping us inside for the majority of the weekend.  The storm hit us badly on Sunday night. The scariest part of the typhoon was that you can't really see anything that is happening and can't really anticipate a whole lot either.  Since you can't see wind, and there aren't too many trees in the city it is hard to know how fast the winds are. All I know is that the wind was really loud and I could see sheets of rain coming down.  I have never experienced such load wind. I was watching a show on my computer and I couldn't even hear it right next to me.  Then in the night I woke up to my bed and the building shaking. Can you say rude awakening?  It was still storming in the morning and I still had to go to work.  School was cancelled for the kids but teachers were still expected to show up.  I was a bit nervous since it was still really windy and rainy.  I was able to find a taxi pretty quickly and made it to school without being swept away by the winds.  Back in MN we have "snow days" and in Korea you have "typhoon days."  I prefer snow days, since playing in the snow is fun. Playing in a typhoon is just deadly and not fun.


Since this blog post is about disastrous situations I thought I would add this. It has nothing to do with typhoons, but with fires.

This is the "Emergency Life Line" that is in the window in my apartment.  The rope and harness are in the gray box and I hook it up to the bar on the wall. They don't have fire alarms, just a life line. So if I start to feel heat, I better suit-up and shimmy down the building from the 8th floor. Good luck to me. Let's hope that I never have to use it.



Lesson Plans, Birthdays, and A Whole Lot of Rain

 "Jenna Teacher"

 Last week was the first week of teaching.  The first day/s were a bit awkward since I didn't know anyone or what I am doing.  The school I am at is really big and I get a bit lost going from my teaching classroom to my office.  Everyone at the school is really nice and I definitely feel like a celebrity walking around the hall. "Jenna Teacher...Hello!, Hi Jenna Teacher!"  It is so very cute.  All of the kids just stare at me as I am only 1 of 2 westerners in the school, we are pretty well known.  I teach about 475 students in the school and there is no way that I can remember all of their names. There is just no way.  I teach 6th, 4th and 3rd grade classes.  I would say that the younger kids are my favorite.  The 6th graders are punks and don't do anything. All in all, the week went okay. Besides Thursday, this was the biggest pile of crap day so far.  I felt like I couldn't do anything right but I am so lucky that my co-teacher is so gracious with me and my lack of teaching experience.  I have been very blessed to have the co-teacher that I have despite some communication issues. Our biggest challenge right now is trying to figure out a way to motivate these 6th graders to learn.  We both feel a bit lost on the matter.

Friday Night Adventure

Sept. 7, 2012 The Start to Birthday Weekend

After a week of school I really wanted to get out and explore more of Seogwipo.  I get home from school earlier than the others that live in my building so I waited, and I waited until I just couldn't wit any longer.  I just had to go.  I started walking and I came upon some of the most wonderful places in Seogwipo so far. For example, this bridge that you see on the left.  This is a bridge that goes from Jeju Island to another island just off the shore.  It is a small island with only a walking trail.  it was so beautiful there. I will become a frequent visitor I think. This is also down by the harbor with all of the fishing boats and many restaurants. Such a neat place minus the smell of fish :)

U-do Surprise

So, last weekend was my birthday.  I wanted to do something really fun for my birthday, as most people do.  Some other teachers wanted to go camping on U-do Island (pronounces OOO-dow, not you-do).  I thought I would make it easy and add a map of where I went (the white arrows).  The black arrow is the city I live in. 
  We had to take a ferry out to the island and then we rented ATVs for a few hours.  The island is really small and we drove around it in about 30 min or so.  It is basically a farm community and I think it's a place for day trips.  I compare it to the Duluth of MN. Nice place to go and hangout for a wee while.  Below is a picture of the most wonderful island shoreline.  It was quite magical. I would go there again.  For dinner we went to this place the was pirate themed.  I mean this place was decked out with skulls and crossbones everywhere.  It is a family business and the kids were running around.  They were the most welcoming family I think I am ever met.  They even sang happy birthday to me in English and brought me a pumpkin with toothpicks stuck in it to look like a cake with candles.  It was very sweet.   It was a great day on Saturday, perfect birthday.  We camped on the beach that night. Then at 3am Sunday morning the rains came in. They were relentless. I was sleeping in a pool of water and decided that I couldn't take it anymore.  Another girl and I decided to go into the public restroom and camp-out in there the rest of the night.  I must say that I will never forget that night.  And never again do I want to spend a night in a bathroom, let alone a public one.  Real nasty.  This other girl is a real camper.  She brought a camp stove and so we made some tea to help keep us warm.  If we had to be wet we might as well try to be warm. 

The next ferry didn't go out until 7:30am. We didn't want to miss that boat. There wasn't one dry spot on anybody or anything.  We had to walk across the island in the rain to get to the boat.  We are all just dripping wet the whole way home and extremely tired from the lack of sleep.  We waited at the bus stop in the cold rain for about 45min before the bus came to take us back home.  The bus ride was about an hour and there is no way that those bus seats will ever be dry again.  I think that we each had 12 gallons of water soaked on our bodies:)  Finally, we made it back and I get to my apartment building and the elevator is broken. Walking up those 8 flights of stairs wet was the perfect ending to my trip to U-do.  One day I will go back and attempt to camp on U-do again.  I can't let the weather win!

New Life in Seogwipo

Settling In

Well I am all settled in in Seogwipo City.  I have a cute little studio apartment and it's only a 20 min walk to school.  I am in a great location and I love that I am so close to the ocean.  I have really enjoyed walking around the city and getting to know what is around here.  One of my favorite things is the Everyday Market.  This is an outdoor market that is about a 10 min walk from my apt.  There are many vendors there selling all kinds of food and things. Veggies, fruit, candy, shoes, and lots of fish.  I must say that seeing/smelling dead fish everywhere is still creepy but I am starting to get a little more used to it.  I have seen some strange stuff though. I have bought a few things from the market because I was with one of the other teacher who can speak a bit of Korean, so I just let her do all the talking for me.  Then I wanted to go back on Friday and I couldn't get a hold of her so I thought I would be brave and try to buy things by myself.  I got there and was to scared to try to speak so I just walked around and left without purchasing anything.  I will have to get brave again soon before I run out of food:)

Tomorrow is my first day at school, so I am a bit nervous.  I have no idea what to expect.  I will be teaching 3rd, 4th and 6th graders.  I am teaching in the biggest school in the city with 52 classes.  There is one other foreign teacher there who has been teaching on the island for the past 7 years. Tomorrow will be an interesting day to say the least.

Today I went to church with a girl from my group.  We started talking yesterday and she found this church not to far from where we live.  There aren't any English churches on the island as far as we know.  So we went..and boy oh boy were we popular.  We were the main attraction. I don't think that they have ever had foreigners there before.  It was in a small town just outside of the city.  We get out of the taxi and everyone instantly is staring at us and smiling.  It was so funny. They were very friendly and they led us into the sanctuary and sat us down.  We didn't meet anyone that spoke English until the service had started and then this guy kept writing us notes to translate what was going on in the service in English.  It was pretty funny and then at the end of the service they introduced us to the congregation. It was a bit overwhelming because we all of a sudden heard out names and everyone turned to stare at us for a few minutes.  We didn't really know what to do but do a little bow and say hello.  Then, when service was dismissed everyone had to say hello and talk to us in Korean. We had no idea what they were saying but quickly there were two guys who knew English and translated for us.  They are truly the friendliest people.  They served lunch at the church as well so I had a chance to show off my "chop-stick skills."  I have gotten a lot better as it since I have been here but the noodles were so slippery so I received some instruction while eating. It was a comical site for the Koreans.
    One of the English speaking guys took us on a walk to show us the shoreline.  It was so breath taking.  I can't even describe how cool it was.  There are some pictures below of the view.  He also brought us to this place that looked like a green house but it was really a place with huge fish pools to store the fish after they have been caught from the sea. We also meet some guys who were just about to go snorkeling for fish to catch...with their hands!  To finish it off he brought us to his friends house we makes this rice/corn wine.  I don't really know what it was but it is supposed to be really good for your digestive system. It wasn't terrible but I won't volunteer to drink it again. It looked like milk and was real seedy/grainy.  All in all it was a great adventure and certainly a Sunday I don't think I will forget.

The Bathroom Surprise Game

This is what I like to call a Rocketship/spaceship toilet. It looks like a regular western style toilet but notice the button on the side.  I have do idea what most of them do but one button heats the seat (strange sensation), and one will hose you off.  Then you have the wonderful squaty-potty. What a treat it is to get to the bathroom and discover this.  Then there are always the normal toilets that we have back home as well but I figured everyone knows what those look like.  You never know what you are going to get so going to the bathroom can always be an adventure:)

Waterfall right by my apartment.

 Beautiful Sites

Great view at the park of the moon coming out. Lovely night.

Just a short walk from church and BOOM the ocean and an island! There were some snorkelers out there too fishing with their hands. They are really hard core.

 I would like this to be real motivating. We'll just have to see. I just think it's so funny to have a small outdoor gym on a walking trail.  I guess this is normal on Jeju.

Some more great stuff. i went out on a dock and there were lots of little crabs walking around. I have never seen a crab until now.

Sorry this is so long. I hope you all are doing well.  I am having a good time so far but I really need to learn Korean...quickly!

-Jenna

Orientation Update

Since I got here the weather has been non-stop rain and humidity.  It hasn't been to bed since we have been sitting in classes most days learning how to be teacher and what to expect as far are cultural norms go.  We finally had a break from all of the classroom lesson and had a field trip out in Gongju.  We went to a museum and learned about early Korean history.  To my dismay, it was the rainiest day yet.  It poured all day and most of the field trip was planned to be outside.  Needless to say, I/everyone was soaked from walking outside looking at tombs and going from place to place.  The rain was relentless, yet we were  still planning on going to a Buddhist  temple (which are normally on hill and I am assuming have great views).  Finally we heard word that they decided to cancel out trip to the temple and we got to work on our pottery longer.  It was the craziest day of extreme wetness. And of course everyday since then we have has beautiful days with little-zero rain.  Oh Korea, how you have a sense of humor.

We are painting ceramics out in the country.  We are learning from this lady who lives in a small village.  This was one of the highlight of the day because we were able to get out of the rain.  The woman had some very impressive works of art.

As you can see it was really wet from non-stop heavy rain.

To finish off orientation, we had a lesson in Taekwondo.  It is quite the workout. Let me tell you, 100 sweaty people in a non-air conditioned, humid gym working out is not something I want my nose to have to experience again. 
Do to the typhoon on Jeju, we got delayed on going to the island one day.  Needless to say, we finally made it and what a relief to be able to unpack and to explore my new home.  I will writing another update shortly about Seogwipo and my new life here.

-Jenna