Signs you've been in Korea for too long *chuckle chuckle*

I came across this thread on Waygook (Waygook is a meeting place for teachers to ask questions/get inspired/find lesson planning material/vent their frustrations/make friends with other teachers here in Korea. It's free! You just need to register). I found myself chuckling away in my teachers room and thought you might all enjoy the read.

If there are any other signs you may think of, or have found yourself doing/not doing, please do leave a comment, I'd love to hear from you :)

In no particular order...

>You remember the bottled beer "Nex"
>You remember when Makoli used to come in the white bottles.
>You remember when Busan was spelled Pusan and Jeju island was spelled Cheju Island
>You jump for joy when you get upgraded to Windows XP.
>You no longer laugh or take pictures of bad English. (unless it really is excessive)
>Your calves are amazing.
>You automatically say '여보세요' when asnwering your cell phone.
>You take buses everywhere.
>You've lost most of your manners.
>You have the ability to wing an entire lesson.
>You start waking up in the middle of the night to turn off your electric fan even though you tell yourself that you don't believe in fan death
>If someone even thinks of aiming a camera in your direction, you throw up peace signs.
>When the driving habits of Korea in general no longer frighten you.
>You pronounce Seoul "Suh-ool" instead of "Soul"
>Finding a lunch or dinner (heck even or breakfast) sorely lacking when there's only one plate with one dish on it
>You can fall asleep, standing up, on a bus
>You are unfazed by the 5 year old hanging out at the BBQ restaurant... at 11pm on a school night
>You get home tired from work on Monday, and upon taking off you jacket you catch yourself sighing a long "아이고".
>the ajoshi next to you burps and instead of feeling disgusted you ask him where that delicious galbi restaurant is.
>you start to refer to every man over 35 as 'ajoshi
>you use the word 'delicious' in describing every meal
>you use 'assah!' because, frankly, it really does the job
>you use rock/paper/scissors to mediate every dispute
>spit on the street with no shame
>every competition is cause to yell out "FIGHTING!"
>You update your co-teacher on schedule changes... or don't bother just for fun
>You blend in to the crowd enough to startle someone who thought you were a local
>You can greet well enough to be mistaken for a Korean person for a split second
>You enjoy scented toilet paper and warmed toilet seats
>You must say it's cold whenever it is cold
>You ask your students what happened on the last Running Man
>You think kimchi isn't so bad after all for breakfast
>You see a truck running a red light at 90 km/h in the city, causing an 80-year-old woman to jump out of the way, barely escaping with her life you think "Well..she should have looked."
>You know the exact length of one-ply toilet paper for any 'situation.'
>You go out of your way not to miss market day. How else will I get all my veggies for so cheap?
>you are used to drying your body with two tiny little towels
>you actually wear the gym clothes that your gym provides
>you always carry toilet paper, and stuff your pockets when you come across a roll
>you automatically check the walls for toilet paper outside public toilets before entering a stall
->you actually buy fresh fish from that adjosshi sitting on your street corner (that you used to think was a hygienic food nightmare waiting to happen)
>when you say "no", you automatically cross your whole arms and shake your head at the same time, even when you go back home to visit your family- who think you're completely nuts
>you are no longer scared of fish heads and tails, and are actually buying them and cooking them at home
And when you get back home:

*search for the button on the thermostat that turns on the hot water for showers
*reach over like a patient with a stroke tied down to hand money over with your right hand in a drive through
*say hello and half bow when walking into any store
*expect a smile and shrug to take care of almost any problem
*have no idea how to get the waiter's attention
*get dirty looks for standing 2 cm behind the guy ahead of you

Happy Friday everyone! Try to keep dry in this wet weather.

x CityGirl x

Gochangeup Fortress, Gochang

On Sunday, Farmboy and I (along with our new Saffa friend Lauren) went off to explore the Gochang-eupseong Fortress (고창읍성) in Gochang (Jeonbuk Province). It was a mere 40 minute bus ride from our town of Buan and cost W4600 each one way. We even had blue sky on Sunday(the first blue skies since being here) which added to the natural beauty of the fortress.

Geochang-eup was built during the early Joseon Dynasty. It is sometimes called Moyangseong, possibly because the Gochang area was called Moryangburi during the Baekje period.

It is surrounded by Bandeungsan, a guardian mountain to the east, and has three gates to the east, west and north, two floodgates, and a covering tower.

A stroll along the fortress walls brings you to a beautiful bamboo forest,. Standing in front of it you feel dwarfed by the sheer size of the natural shoots towering over you. It was eerily quiet around the bamboo forest, giving the area a mystical ambiance.

The entrance fee for the fortress is W1000.

For more info here is a link to the official website (and its in English!)

Here is a map of the fortress and the surrounding area:

Get those tissues out!

A friend sent this link to me...it's absolutely incredible and I just had to share it. Enjoy!

First box by ship arrived!

We are thrilled to report that our airmail box (*sent from the post office at Incheon airport) arrived a little while ago. And we are so happy to announce that box number 1 (of 5 or 6 from what we can remember) that was sent by ship, arrived safe and sound.

Shipping items is a whole lot cheaper than sending them by airmail. It costs roughly W50 000 (+-$50) to send a 20kg box from South Korea to South Africa. Ok, it takes a whole lot longer but if you've got lots of clothes/books/extra stuff like stationary which I seemed to horde over there then it's the perfect way to get you stuff home!

We have been waiting about 3 months for this box, but it arrived safe and sound. Now it's just time for the other 5/6 to come!

**Airmail**sending stuff from South Korea to South Africa

A few weeks ago the first (*of many*) boxes arrived safe and sound in sunny South Africa. The only difference being that this particular box was sent via airmail (costing me an arm and a leg) from Incheon airport.

Now the reason for sending this box from Incheon is rather simple. Farmboy and I arrived at the airport  all rather excited to be finally heading back home after we had completed our contracts. Now, imagine our smiling  faces as we breeze through the ques due to the fact that we had already checked in on line the night before, and of course after organizing extra weight for both of our suitcases on Singapore Airlines (you can do this by either calling their help desk on +82 234 556 560 or sending then a very polite email at kr_feedback@singaporeair.com requesting more luggage space because you have been living in South Korea for a year bla bla bla). 

Now, the only thing we did not manage to do was weigh our suitcases. Big mistake. Farmboy managed to scrape through 30.5 kg's, but, unfortunately for me, my bag weighed a whopping 36 kg's. **If you are flying to or from the US or Canada, the above weight retrictions of 1 bag weighing 20kg's does not apply to you...not fair! But because we are flying to South Africa, our allowance was 1 bag of 20 kg's...later upgraded to 30kg's**.

From this it is quiet easy to work out that I was pretty over-weight EVEN with the extra 10 kg allowance. What can a girl do?? I asked the lady whether I might be able to pay for excess baggage, her answer "You are over-weight. No payment allowed". Well thanks for nothing Singapore. But after some awkward silences and me asking her what exactly I was supposed to do with my extra weight (*luckily she didn't ask to weigh my hand luggage or handbag or coat or laptop bag*) I found out that there was a Post Office at the airport.

To cut a long story short, Incheon Airport has a Post Office on the middle floor to help in these kind of situations. Because we had already gone through the hasstle of shipping 6 boxes home which we are indeed still waiting for 7 weeks down the line (*click here for more info on shipping boxes from South Korea to South Africa) and I had packed the **essentials** into my suitcase, I decided because I was prepared to pay for excess bagagge anyway, I would AirMail my extra 10 kg's. Easy enough, the procedure is exactly the same as shipping a box, only quite a bit more expensive:

1. Pick you box size from those available. (prices for the boxes range from W1 000 - W3 000)
2. Get a green form and fill in all your details
3. Tape up your box
4. Stand in the queue and get your box weighed and pay for it to be airmailed.

Easy Peasy.

And that was that. Well, not exactly, it did end up costing me W118 000 (+-$120) but that was still cheaper had I been made to pay for excess at a rate of $70 a kg. My box weighed 9...you do the math :)

And there you go. 2 weeks down the line and I had my box, safe and sound! Now here's to waiting for the rest of our boxes to arrive by ship.

A few **NB** sites...

{source}

Here are some sites that I wouldn't have been able to live without in South Korea:

Korail: booking train tickets to all over Korea, online using your debit card *you may need to use this site with Windows Explorer to ensure everything works properly. Just hover over "booking" and then click on "book online"...easy peasy!

Gmarket: online shopping at it's most fabulous!!!! You will never be bored deskwarming again! Click here for some help on making purchases. But be warned, it's addictive!

AdventureKorea: great site that organises trips to festivals and other cool things around Korea. A really great way to meet new friends and their prices aren't bad either! We visited the DMZ with them!

Magik Aroma: yummy South African style crunchies made to order and really lovely home made soaps by the wonderful Mila Meter! For those feeling like a little taste of home.

Waygook: HUGE FREE database storage site that has LOADS of lesson ideas, lesson plans, winter/summer camp ideas and other forums to chat about all sorts of stuff. All you need to do is create an account (it's for free yippee!) and you are a-for-away!

English speaking Church in Daejeon: need I say more. A great place to meet amazing people and where you will always feel welcome :)

*think that's it for now, any others you feel are just as important as those above please feel free to comment!*

Getting **Glasses** in Korea

One of the first things we noticed after arriving in Korea was the number of people wearing glasses. Hmmm we though, ok, maybe Koreans have really bad eye sight. But, then I started noticing some rather odd things.

Most of the glasses people were wearing, had no lenses! They were purely for show. Loads of loads of cool frames, with no lenses. Ingenious! Who doesn't think they look smarter with glasses (and now you don't have to walk around squinting because the strength of the lenses is too much for your eyes and you just want to look cool.

Well, here in Korea, you can get your eyes tested for free (yup! Cool hey!) so just in case you actually do need them; and the get yourself kitted out with some awesome new specs (minus the lenses if you wanna be part of the lenslessspectaclerevolution...your choice :)

All for the neat price of somehwere between W30 000 and 70 000 *depending on the frames you choose*. Neat hey :)

I got mine at a store in Seoul called "Alo", but there are eye wear shops on every corner here in Korea.

Feeling uber Korean right now :) But like they always say, if you can't beat 'em...join 'em!

P.S. Don't forget about our latest (and last...well at least that is here in Korea) giveaway! Just click here to answer one easy question and stand a chance of winning a super awesome package of Korean goodies! *see below for an idea of what will be in there!*

 

Tour of the *D*M*Z*

After the recent bombing of Yeonpyeong here in South Korea, tours to the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea had all been cancelled. That was up until a few weeks ago when tours to the DMZ were once again open to the public...yay for us as we had booked a tour withAdventureKorea and were holding thumbs that we would still be able to go. I mean a year living in Korea just wouldn't be complete without a trip there right :)

So this Sunday saw Farmboy and I up with the sparrows to make our way to Seoul (click here for booking train tickets in Korea*to join up with the rest of the tour group. The trip was really interesting and certainly gave us a look into life on the other side.

AdventureKorea were awesome, they picked us up from Hongik University Subway and the chartered bus, lunch and entrance fee's were all covered by the W41 000 fee! Not only did we have a really great cultural experience, but we met a really nice bunch of people too! Including some girls who live right close by to the armpit of Daejeon where we stay *thats the west most corner of this bustling metropolitan*

Here are some pictures...

Getting your **nails** done in Korea

Today marked a very special day for Citygirl here in Korea. It was "treat" day whereby Roxy and her awesome Texan buddy Christina,  headed off to get their nails done (something they swore to do every 2 weeks but have actually only done  so twice before).

Getting your nails done in Korea is really really cool, with loads of designs and colours to choose from and for only W15 000 a pop (about $15), it's not too bad :) Of course mine ended up being a little more,  owing to the fact that I just had to try the  "gradient" design  and I may have had a nail that needed fixing (they do this here too, super cool) ending up rounding off to W30 000. The cherry on the cake for me? Cashing in my "nail voucher" which Igot from Farmboy for my birthday...what an amazing boyfriend hey *:)*

We go to a great little nail bar at our local HomePlus supermarket, they seem to have them at every Lotte Mart & HomePlus...

Choosing the right colour can be a stressful process you see...

The "gradient" painting process :) *yes, it is a process involving layers and layers and sponges and sponges!*

But in the end...totally worth it!

So what are u waiting for! Go and treat yourself ~you deserve it!

"Hey Christina, how was my Texan rally girl impression??"

:)

**Christmas in Korea**

Another Christmas has come and gone...sniff sniff...and apart from an amazing bus ride experience on a' totally tinselled and christmas tree'd'  bus driven by Santa himself, Christmas in Korea was pretty uneventful.

I asked my Korean friends what plans they had to celebrate, and most of the responses were "Dinner with friends". A little bit different from the family filled holidays back home :)

To stop ourselves from getting too homesick this festive season, Farmboy and I headed to the streets to find our very own Christmas Tree...and here is what we found, filled with lots of love and homemade decorations...

**Sparkling Wine** Party

Saturday night found me and Sohee (my lovely Korean friend) heading out into the cold and darkness of Daejeon in search of a "Sparkling Wine" party we had been invited to.  2 buses, a taxi and a long walk later, we arrived at Ingi's (the wonderful host of the party) doorstep. What awaited us was  flowing bottles of Wine/Juice/Champagne/Home-mad Soju and the most delicious assortment of foods I have ever laid eyes upon! I now present to you....

Party for a Purpose...in aid of Korea Women's Hot line

*S*p*a*r*k*l*i*n*g *W*i*n*e*

December 2010

Tae & hubby Ben :)

Our wonderful host Ingi and a fellow South African...

*Lovely ladies*

This was taken during "pass the parcel". When the music stopped, the person holding the parcel got to unwrap the package and then was either presented with treasure (a yummy chocolate dipped spoon) or horror (green chiles) *can you guess which one i got?!*

The Christmas tree Rosalie & her Present James :)

For more information about Korea Women's Hotline click here

Please vote for this wonderful charity on 10Magazines website *click here*

Korea…*where & what*

Thought I would do a  post on *where* exactly South Korea is and offer a few insights into life & the people here...

This is done with the help of Karl Lee Stratos...thanks so much for the great info!! Hope you don't mind me re-publishing your words :)

Seoul in 1950

Seoul today

Modern Korea is an amazing place. Look at the first picture above.  That's how Seoul looked in the early 1950s, when the Korean War broke out. Now, look at the second picture. That's how Seoul looks at this point. If you think about it, jumping from one of the poorest countries to one of the richest (GDP ranking 15th, 2010 August) in sixty years is not a natural phenomenon. People in Korea literally worked to death in order to climb out of poverty. For instance, when they were building factories for the Pohang Steel Company (POSCO - now one of the largest steel companies on earth), construction workers vowed that they would "bury themselves at the spot" unless they finish the task several times faster than what was "possible" (fortunately, they made it). Korea has exited the status of a developing country long ago, and today is one of the leaders in the electoronics (Samsung, LG) and car industry (Hyundai, Kia, Samsung), with cultural products ('dramas', movies, music, food) that are becoming ever more popular. It has successfully held the Olympics (1988), the World Cup (2002), and has just  hosted a G-20 Summit.

It should be clear that I very much admire these feats. However, in order to truly understand the context of modern Korea, one must understand the dark as well as the bright sides, to the ultimate purpose of overcoming them.

The Group Mentality

In schools in the United States, one can easily find a group of Korean students moving about themselves, talking among themselves, and gossiping within themselves. Even in Korea, the boundary between 'our team' and 'your team' is as clear as the DMZ.

At the very top level of abstraction, one finds that Korean people are simply extreme. Since Christianity (which happens to support a strict distinction between good and evil) was introduced in Korea, churches have overwhelmed all corners of the society, including village communities, social activities, and even politics. South Korea is one of the most fervent followers of capitalism, whereas North Korea is one of the few remaining countries still sticking to communism. Korean immigrants have a reputation for working their ass off and managing to become rich and prosperous. The congressmen in Korea are famous for their fist-fighting in the National Assembly.

The reason for such extreme-ness is complicated. First, one might consider the geographic position of the Korean peninsula; it is surrounded by countries whose size is much bigger. Historically, the dynasties in Korea have defended themselves against those in China, and imparted cultural influences oversea to Japan. While doing so, it had to keep an extreme stance towards its neighbors, because otherwise it would have been swept by other cultures and lost its identity. It is nearly a miracle that this small peninsula has succeeded in not only developing its own culture, but played a major role in balancing the forces of East Asia for millenia.

The biggest reason for the extreme-ness (though this geographic analysis is still closely relevant), however, is that there is simply no room in the society to afford not to be extreme.

A Society with No Room

It is not hard to see why everything in Korea is so 'urgent'. The nation has raced breathlessly to develop itself economically (often by sacrificing human rights and the low tiers of the social hierarchy). It is still divided in two halves, each of which is spending a lot of energy to stay alert on a potential conflict. Finally, it is a small land (more so because it's divided) with a lot of population, which is concentrated in even smaller areas.

Consequently, this feeling of 'no room' is pervasive in the society, which you can experience immediately in the streets, subways, and department stores. Every service is ever so quick, everyone is rushing to wherever he is heading, and the only thing a person can care to defend is himself and his family. All middle school students are competing fiercely for high school, all high school students are competing fiercely for college, all college students are competing fiercely for jobs, but few of them know why they do what they do.

What to Do

It takes time for a society to become truly advanced, because some aspects of a wealthy society (creativity, generosity, curiosity) cannot be obtained without a little 'laziness'. Korea has managed to develop itself incredibly fast economically, and now it's time for it to develop itself in other ways. In fact, this is already happening. As there is more wealth, people are starting to look at 'optional' areas such as the world peace, environment, and academic advancement. But there are several obstacles to overcome.

First of all, unification of the two Koreas is the most urgent issue. There are some people who think South and North Korea are two quite separate countries, so we need some clarification. There is only one Korea. Just as Germany was considered (more or less) one country when it was split in East and West, Korea should be regarded one country that is waiting to be reunited. There are many political forces involved to prevent this re-unification, but it must be done for Korea to go anywhere beyond the present state. Then the energy and money spent on defense can be redirected to more productive causes; the army conscription, which as seen is a major reason for many ailments of the society, can be reduced or even removed; and the relatives and families who are split across the peninsula can be united again. Rather than trying to prevent this from happening for national interests, other countries must support and collaborate with Korea to make it happen for humanitarian and, in a long run, economic reasons.

Given more time, we will observe that Korea will slowly morph into a truly advanced nation which is solid not just in economic and military power, but in humanitarian and cosmopolitan efforts.

Thanks again Mr Stratos for that great insight. Now my 2 cents :)

What has been said above is evident today even from my own limited, "Foreign" and therefore "outside" view of Korea.

Everyone is in a hurry, everyone feels, and therefore acts like they are in a race for something bigger and better, but always just out of reach. When I was chatting with one of my co-workers about her life's dream she said to me that she doesn't have one. She is a teacher now, and that means she has to be a Teacher for the rest of her life. She has no idea what other opportunities lie out there for her. I was chatting to her about what I wanted to be when I left Korea, and I said to her that I had no idea but that there are many options for me, even if I haven't studied in that particular field. I also chatted to her about the new trend of young people "Inventing their own jobs".  I was telling her that many of the most successful people today didn't even go to University. This amazed her, she told me that before she could even consider a job in her field of interest (facial massage) she feels like she needs to study extensively at Fancy Universities etc. I realized that when I get an idea of what I want to do with my life, it never even occurs to me that I need to study a whole degree for it. I just think that I will pick up the skills along the way, and do  short courses to help me get there.

What different mindsets...This goes back to Mr Stratos' point about the high school and University students here in South Korea. Most of them study loooonnnggg hours, and Im not just talking about cramming the night before a test. High School students here got to school from 08:30 until around 3pm. Then they head to Hagwons (Private Acadmies) to continue studying in subjects such as English, Maths, Music, etc. Most of them only get home at around 11pm, and thats 6 days a week. They are all gearing up for the Final Year exams, which determine who will get into the best Universities. So what happens to the students who don't get in? There aren't many options. Unless they can speak perfect English (unlikely as who wants to learn English anyway hey?) then options to go and work abroad are scarce. This means more and more jobs in Middle Management positions. BUT there are only so many of these jobs available. I have also heard rumors of tension existing between young, male Koreans and the young, male Foreigners who come over here to work as English Teachers. The Korean men feel that the Foreigners have it 'easy'. Coming over to Korea, getting paid a whole lotta money for doing very little. I don't blame them. There are also highly qualified Koreans who are battling to find jobs that pay as well as being a Native English Teacher. I'm just just surprised this animosity hasn't appeared sooner. And with more rumors that they will be phasing out us Native English teachers out, the Korean youth won't have to worry for much longer....

Anyway, thats my 2 cents about life here in Korea :) I  thought it would be cool to mention one or two things that shape the lifestyle of your average middle class Korean person. It really helps to have a vague understanding of this in order to help one come to grips with the everyday frustrations we have as a Foreigner (and to give my Granny and Gramps a little glimpse into the culture of Korea).

*the above is just mine and Mr Stratos' opinions, if you feel differently please leave a comment below, I'd love to hear from you*

Korean Style *Wedding* with pictures!

*We have done a post on Traditional Weddings here in Korea a couple of months ago (click here), but now we have pictures!*

This weekend Farmboy and I were invited to another of my co-workers weddings here in Daejeon. This time, the whole procedure was longer (not by much though, we were in and out and fed in 90 minutes!). Of course, having paid for our lunch, I mean, given our *cash* gift in exchange for  lunch tickets, had an obligatory picture with the bride along with each and every single other person in wedding party, we then took part in the extremely fast ceremony, all with the onlookers of the proceeding bridal party waiting in the wings to take their positions!

But as *different* as it was to the wedding we are used to back home, it was  really beautiful to see. Here are some pictures:

The Bride, Miran, looking gorgeous, while posing with Farmboy and myself

Traditional Korean Style Buffet: a lot of  "I'm not quiet sure what this is but it tastes good" kind of food.

The Wedding Room

The parents of the Bride and Groom in their Traditional wear

Family Photo!