Winter Vacation in Indonesia

Happy New Year!  I have so many things to tell you now, I just don’t know where to begin.  

The holidays were good, low key and we had a lot of time to explore Seoul.  Seoul is so large and  has so many interesting things to see and do that we will go back often. Our next adventure in Seoul is for our anniversary which is coming up in February.  I made dinner reservations for 2 at the Seoul tower.  The Seoul Tower is famous for it’s revolving dining room.  From it you can see the entire city in a single revolution.  Each reservation is made for 1.5 hours. Because we are a couple we will have special seating near the window, a bottle of champagne and a special anniversary cake that says, “I love you”.  This is especially sweet because our anniversary is on Valentines day.  Thats the future.

Ben and I just returned from a  9 day vacation on a small island resort in Indonesia. The name of the resort is Bunaken (island) Cha Cha.  I made the reservations for this wonderful holiday back in November before Ben was here in Korea.  I was taking a chance making the reservations that far in advance but it was even more of a risk, not really knowing anything about Indonesia, what to expect from the the resort and also the weather during January.  Each day I would look at the weather bug and it always said rain. Rain’s not unusual in the tropics, I’ve heard. (Especially in the rainy season, duh) I kept the faith, wrote a few e mails to the owner inquiring about the weather.  Sure enough, the weather was perfect everyday that we were there.  

We left for the airport on Thursday evening because the plane was scheduled for 10:30 am. Taking the earliest express bus to Incheon put us there at 9:30. That’s cutting it too close.

So we made a reservation to stay in the spa at the airport.  Spas in Korea are generally divided by gender. Men stay on one side and women on the other. The reason for this is that most people enjoy a hot bath before retiring and while Koreans are willing to bear it all to their fellow countrymen or countrywomen, they don’t mix during these sacred occasions.  Bathing is a big event in Korea.  Believe me when I say, they do this very well.  However, the beginning of our first vacation in awhile began with separate bedrooms. ugghh. 

Up the next day and off to Jakarta, Indonesia. This would prove to be an interesting evening as well, and another night in a hotel.  Jakarta is a hub for the rest of the islands and is very busy. While very busy shows productivity, here it merely emphasizes the lack of organization that exists in the airport. 

We arrived, picked up our luggage and finally found the hotel in the airport.  We were pleasantly surprised by the room.  At last, after 5 long months of sleeping on a very firm almost concrete mattress, I found myself sinking into the sheets. ahhh zzzzzzzzz This happened very quickly.

Breakfast was delicious! We ate and made it to our flight to Manado Island, where we found a taxi waiting for us. I’ve never traveled in a car with the steering wheel on the right.  I’d like to say  that the next 45 minutes was relaxing and enjoyable, but it was more like a game of chicken played with motor bikes, pedestrians, and other vehicles on a narrow dirt road all the way to the pier.  I was just happy to have arrived at the pier, and see our boat that was ready to take us to Bunaken Island and to the Bunaken Cha Cha resort.  

After all of this, we were pretty well ready for anything.   Instead we were welcomed by the owners, Raf, Reiko and Chico (the great dane).  There were several other staff members as well. 

We were given a welcome drink a few moments to rest on the patio, and then were shown to our room.  We had been hoping for a bed like we had in the Jakarta hotel, but no cigar. 

The room was lovely though, and was decorated with rugged, island elegance.  We found red hibiscus on the bed and on every surface. It was a very attractive, romantic touch. The bathroom was done in lava rock and natural wood. The shower was set apart and had an open style roof that let in the sunlight for some green plants.  It was delightful!

We took a day off before beginning our sea adventures. We were pretty tired and had been traveling for 2 days already.  We relaxed on the patio, ate good food and found ourselves pretty much alone for 2 whole days, until a family of other guests arrived. After that it seemed a new boat of vacationers arrived everyday until finally there were about 21 guests.  We had representatives from every continent and many countries at dinner every night.  The discussions were always lively, intelligent and fun.  

The second day, Ben and I hit the sea looking for the local reef, Cha Cha 1.  The water was very warm, sometimes like a hot spring was underground. We were impressed, but we knew that there was more and better territory beyond cha cha, and we were so right. 

What we found was an amazing living undersea garden or tropical plants and colorful corals of many species. The fish and wildlife were also as diverse as their habitat and in a range of sizes.  

I guess you could say, it was the very best snorkeling either of us has ever done.  Each excursion just got better!

There was a small village behind the resort that was about a 20-50 minute walk, depending on which direction you went.  The roads were lined with diving resorts in one direction and in the other direction, there were residences, churches and other signs of a community, like a library and a small stand for drinks. When I say the walk was lined with resorts and residences, please don’t think it was like your neighborhood.  Along the way I saw many large indonesian cows, sometimes chained to a tree, sometimes roaming around. There a few pig families running around and roosters followed by hens and chicks, all free roaming around the village.  I’m not sure, but I think that since this Island was a resort island, the families here enjoyed prosperity, as tourism, means work and income for everyone. 

Finally by the 8th day, I was getting tired of the isolation. Life on an island is interesting, beautiful and challenging for awhile, but we’re used to civilization and I was becoming ready to head back.  Remembering the freezing cold temperatures that I left in Korea was not ann incentive to head to back.  We wore our summer clothes all the way back to Korea and changed in the airport.  Believe me walking out into the Korean sunshine was like jumping into the ice cold Atlantic after a warm bath.  Now I’m home, I’ve put all my summer things away and am watching my tan fade everyday, sadly.  I guess you could say there were many bumps along the way, but we had a really good time, the timing was great. We met some interesting people, ate delicious food, had the best service everyday and saw some amazing sea life.  Most of all I was warm, rested and had some time to forget everything that was behind us.  
Enjoy the pictures! Notice they have captions to help you understand where and why.

Simply the holidays

The last time I wrote this blog I was alone in Korea.  While I was alone I was learning how to bank, shop, take a taxi, use public transportation and how to eat at home and in a restaurant. It seems so strange to say that I had to learn how to do these things at 50, but living here is a challenge for many reasons.  The biggest one being, everything is different, especially the language.  I have learned a few words that are helpful and use my Iphone translator for many things. The lessons I was learning have been very  helpful  helping Ben get settled. He’s been here now for 3 weeks, has his own phone, does the shopping, and all of the at home tasks. He can take a taxi and get around to all of the local department stores all by himself. We have also taken the time to visit the local recreation center and investigate the gym and pool hours.  He needs to get exercise. Swimming is available and not as hard on his ankle.   We are together again, working on learning Korean language, especially written language at this point, so we can pronounce things better, read menus and signs.  Slowly we’ll get better at this. 

Meanwhile, I have been teaching at my two schools and getting acquainted with my husband again.  The Holidays are upon us. The good news is that here the sensationalism is quite benign. I was able to avoid all of the usual anxiety, even though I visit the department stores every week. No mental reference could be detected to bring me down this year.  It was wonderful!  To enjoy the two days that I have off before winter camp begins, we plan to spend Christmas eve in Seoul.  The city tour bus is pretty cheap, and makes seeing all of the important sites really easy. We can ride, get on and off all day.  There’s so many things to do and see there that we have plans to keep going back to the city tour bus for a while, until we get our bearings in Seoul.  Tomorrow is Christmas eve here. We’ll get up early and take the express bus to Seoul, and pick up a couple of subways to the city bus tour.  We hope to see  one of the palaces and have lunch in Itaewon.  Afterwards, we’ll ride the rest of the tour which takes about 2 hours total. That’s a full day of tourism. We hope to have a nice Korean style dinner and head back to Chungju. 

 We’ll see how efficiently we have planned the actual event, and make necessary changes to our itinerary for New years eve. That is going to be a simple day. We have only one destination in mind, the traditional Korean Hannok village.   We can do all kinds of things while there, make crafts, see the shops, and see how early Korean villages worked.  I know traditional Korean food will be available, so no problem with that.  We’ll take plenty of pictures on each of our excursions to Seoul.  Ben knows how to load them into my blog, so I may actually be able to show you some of my pictures from the other entries.  Yeah!!  It’s so good to have my other half back. I really missed him.  He seems pretty happy to be here with me and is great company.  

Life continues to be good and an excellent adventure for us.  Happy holidays everyone. Think of us as you dive into the turkey and dressing, sip on eggnog and enjoy familiar people and things that you love.  

Autumn and settling in

11/07/11

Hello, I hope that everyone is settling in to the new season.  I’ve heard the weather in  New York and in Colorado have been entirely unpredictable again this year. I saw pictures of beautiful leaves that passed quickly into snow nearly a foot deep before the end of October.  

Meanwhile, in Chungju, South Korea I am still wearing a light sweater and playing tourist in colorful destinations.  It’s beautiful here in Autumn.  The leaves turn a wide variety of colors and smell oh so woody as you walk through them.  I have so many wonderful Autumn memories of living in New York during the season of changing leaves.  The feelings return to me here in Chungju.  SO many familiar things.... apples growing in the orchards everywhere, colorful leaves; the weather here is changing slowly though. No matter what the temperature, the humidity is normal at 75% and it takes about 5 min. to break a sweat when I go out to take a walk.  I can’t tell you how that affects my sunny disposition, never mind my intensely curly hair.  But I bet you can imagine.  

School is going well.  I had a few days back in October that were difficult, my feelings were very much like disillusionment.  I guess the honeymoon was ending, and life in Korea was becoming a little more real.  I’m finding that while Korean school teachers are kind most of the time, they too have bad days and find ways to let you share them.  On these particular days, I have shed a few tears, wiped them away, got up the next day and had it happen all over again.  I was brave enough to face my fears and go back, so I guess I won that battle.  My best guess is that the language  barrier is frustrating for everyone, including me.  Everyone needs a break from the frustration of culture shock and our inability to communicate, so we retreat to our corners and rest. When we have regained our sanity, we come back together and are fine.  All of this took some time to sink in.  When I put the cultural shoe on the other foot, I’m able to be compassionate instead of insulted, and I get over it.  I now realize that developing these friendships will take time and patience.  I trust that they are developing everyday that I am here. 

Students in my 6th grade classes are preparing for the transition to Middle School. In Korea, that’s a big step.  This is when they begin rigorous studies in the after school programs and academies.  I’m told that school for these students lasts from 8:30 am until 10:00 pm. These kids pretty much live at school for the next six years of their lives.  I’m very glad that I teach elementary. Elementary students still love school and want to learn.  They don’t come to school too tired to hold their head up, as I’m told their older siblings do.  I just can’t imagine their lives. 

If any of my former classmates are reading this, you totally understand what I mean.  We would have all been street sweepers. That’s a fact.   To their credit, Korean students place 7th in educational achievement and 98% of Koreans are literate. Every Korean public school student receives instruction in English as a second language beginning in third grade.  I’m really a little afraid to check how Americans compare. I’ll leave that to you.  

Enough of the weather,  my cultural mood swings and the Korean National report.  I have to get some sleep. I have to work tomorrow. The next time I write, I’ll be shouting for joy because Ben will finally be joining me here. Please comment if you have something to add or ask. I enjoy hearing from everyone.  Ta ta for now...

Teaching experiences

       I really want to take some time to tell you about my two schools.  I really think I lucked out with both of these placements.  I live in a building with many English teachers and I hear their stories.  Some are faced with horribly managed, huge groups of students and no support.  Others have very little work to do at all and sit at their desks day after day with nothing to do. I’m not sure if the folks faced with either of these circumstances will continue to teach when finished in Korea. I wonder... 

My story on the other hand is really excellent. First, I have two very different situations.  In one school, I work directly with a single co teacher for three of the five days. He and I teach English only, and teach to 3 groups of 5th and 6th grade students. We plan lessons together and actually share the responsibility for teaching the classes.  We both enjoy the students and teach well together. 

In my other school I am greeted by a life size picture of Obama and the president of Korea on my classroom entrance. (I am thinking of all of my American friends as the election draws near.) I have my own beautifully styled, huge English classroom that’s furnished with a very large touch screen TV/ monitor and several work stations for role play activities. In this school, I have students and their classroom teachers come to my classroom. The teachers are very skilled with their students and help me interpret the new lessons and pretty much follow my direction, because I plan all of the lessons.  At this school, I have 4 hours overtime each day. So for two days I teach 7 classes each day. I’m pooped on Thursdays!

I am so excited to be teaching elementary again. The Korean students begin taking English classes in third grade and are so adorable and eager to learn. We sing and dance and play games everyday in one school.  In the other school, the kids are a little older and not as eager to sing and dance, but become fully focused and engaged when faced with a possible contest. Korean students LOVE to compete!  

I had the funniest experience this week. The national fire prevention day was held on Thursday. I was informed that we were going to reschedule some classes and that we would have an hour for fire drill. AN hour??? So I got my jacket and went to a nearby entrance thinking I’de be ready and watch as kids kids came pouring out the door. I walked out my classroom door, glancing at our noble president for reassurance and sniffed. I smelled smoke. I thought it was my imagination so I asked my friend the nurse. “what’s the smoke? Is there a real fire?” There was no real fire but in Korea, they use a smoke bomb to simulate a real fire. I heard the familiar fire alarm, saw the kids pouring out the door and saw a billow of pink smoke coming from

 the roof. I was hysterical! This was true Korean drama, and I fell for it!  

There was an hour of fire prevention demonstrations. The kids used the hoses and extinguishers and put out real fires. There a was a fire captain that gave instruction and encouraged students to be safe. It was a familiar drill, so I could tell what was being said. It was typical, except for the pink smoke and real fire that the students took turns putting out. From this experience I learned 2 new Korean words. I later thought, my these should be learned at orientation. You probably guessed, the words are FIRE (hwajae) and firefighter (sobangsu). Being the only English person in the building, I don’t want to be left behind the droves of people running yelling HWAJEA!! SOBANGSU!! and not know what they mean. huh??? 

That was Thursday and today was Friday, so I was back at my other school. All of the 6th grade teachers were responsible for 6th graders on a field trip. It was interesting. We drove about an hour and a half south toward Cheongju and found a tourist attraction that had cages of birds and other small animals, some plants in pots and a few buildings. We were all invited in to make soap. It was easy and fun, and now I have 2 homemade bars of soap. Wow! Then we had lunch. I was delighted with this wonderful chicken ginseng soup. It was delicious and after finishing most of the large bowl in front of us we added some baked rice and spices and mushed it all up in the remaining broth. It tasted like an amazing blend of ginseng, chicken and fall spices with rice. It was the best meal that I’ve had here. You know, I’ll never find that place again. I did ask the name of the dish and it’s baegsug. So if I could only direct the wait staff at a future chicken soup to to my nifty new translator, I may just have that again someday. 

I teach English as a foreign language in both schools in very different ways and am learning heaps about classroom management and cooperation between teachers. This is no easy task when you consider that I am the only person in the entire building at each school that is fluent in English.  Here, you learn to speak from the heart. It’s exhausting and by the end of the week, believe me I have earned my pay.  My pay... Oh yes, finally a pay check, and flight reimbursement .  

My pay is directly deposited into my Korean account.  My bank is conveniently down the road and I can use the ATM there anytime. I have only to ask and my building manager and he pays my utility bills for me, and I have a receipt that they are paid. 

So life here is pretty simple. I wait patiently for the necessity of new language and it comes. I arrive at a restaurant , they bring me food. I never know what it is, but I eat it and ask questions later.  I’m not dead yet, so I let all of this continue.  I’m having an exciting adventure in South Korea.  Everyday is different and I’m having a great time.  

I’m so glad you all read this blog. I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions.  It’s so fun to share all of this.  See you online or on Skype if you can find me in this crazy new time zone. We are actually usually one day ahead, so look for me tomorrow. haha! 

New and different wonders to experience here in Korea!

So many new and different wonders to experience here in Korea!  I have two new Korean Elementary schools that I work in, a new home and community and many new interesting places to travel beyond my community in Chungju.

Korea schools are not so different from American schools. In many ways thy are similar.  

Teachers in both places have expectations for their co workers and students. Korean and American students decide whether meeting the expectations is an infliction or a pleasure. I am really proud to say that in my two schools I have staff and students that really care about what we are doing and even I (though not Korean) am meeting the expectations here. I love my job!  Teaching English as a second language is difficult but we have lots of technology, a national curriculum, and multiple resources that are available online. We make it fun. One thing that amazes me is the Korean drive for competition. They will do anything if there’s a chance they can win. I have multiple contests and competition going in every class. Hey, if you find something that helps kids engage, I say DO IT!! 

Another thing that Koreans love to do is eat! We eat together at every opportunity. SO far, I have worked for 2 weeks and have been out to lunch or dinner 3 times with staff and they are always dragging me down the hall to their office for cha or tea and sometime coffee. The other morning I was offered tea and when I arrived there several other staff members in the office and everyone brought a dish to pass. This was at 8:30 before school started. We had kimbob, soup, apples and a choice of tea or coffee. I had already eaten breakfast so I had to pass. This week I will return the offer and bring a delicious treat to share with the morning coffee clotch. This school is out in the country where probably most of the ingredients for the dishes was grown locally. All the way to work I look out the window at the beautiful landscape, rolling green wooded mountains, peach and apple orchards and rice fields along the river that runs alongside the road. Some mornings there are small fishing boats on the river. It’s so historically Asian. I hope you get the picture.  Soon the leaves will be changing and I am told, it is truly amazing. 

This week is Chuseok.  Chuseok is a kind of cross between memorial day and thanksgiving. The family comes together from far and near bring gifts of food for a feast and to pay respect to the ancestors. The Korean tradition dress is sometime worn to dinner.  I had a 4 day weekend and made plans to travel early. My friends and I went to a mountain destination in the North East called Sokcho and went hiking at Seoraksan Mt. The weather was very rainy for the first 2 days, but cleared up beautifully for our hike and on the last day, we were able to see the sun and  get a short swim in the sea. I can’t leave out my newest naked experience at the Jjimjilbangs or Korean bath house. In these wonderful, hot spring spas the women and men are divided into separate areas and it is explained that it’s mandatory for clothes to be removed, completely removed for entrance in to the pools and saunas. It’s part of the fun to sit near a water spray and take a good scrub with soap as well. If you have some extra money you could have someone do the work for you and have a massage afterwards. I did it myself this time and no massage.  Oh, I felt so good afterwards. 

Needless to say most of our meals were seafood. No complains from me. I had the best squid potato pancakes. I didn’t think they would taste good, but I really liked it better than the plain potato pancakes. Squid is very popular here along with octopus and fish, lots and lots of fish. Koreans put fish in to dishes where you would not expect to find them, like in a caramelized almond dish that I had for lunch one day at school.  hmmm?

We took a train, a bus and a taxi to finally arrive at our destination, the House Hostile. It’s rightly named. The man that owned it converted his house into a sort of bed and breakfast. It was a lovely place, very homey and we spent a lot of time socializing with teachers working in Korea from all over the world. Some have just arrived like me and others have been in Korea for years. It was very fun and interesting to go around to the various places with complete strangers that so quickly become your friends. This happens mainly because the world is a teeny tiny place full of people just like you and me.  The mystery is simply that we have not all been introduced, yet. 

If it sounds like I’m having a great time, you’re right. I am, and I have no complaints to share yet at all, except that I am not enjoying this with all of you, other than through this journal. Please keep reading, making comments and please keep in touch. 

In Chungju, at home in Korea

8/30/11

Everyone had a great time at orientation. We all went our separate ways on 8/26/11. I found my new co teachers and my new home in Chungju located in Chungbuk province. I’ve had conversations with my closest orientation friends and they are doing great, and are located all over Korea. That’s perfect for making trips around the country. Not only do they know where to go and how to get there, they may put me up for the night. Saves time and money!

I will be teaching English conversation in two elementary schools.  I have a wonderful co teacher at Ye Seong elementary school. His name is Kim Hyun. I call him Mr. Kim. He’s very young, only 27, single and very handsome. His English is very good and I know we will work well together. This is a really good placement. Last night all of the teachers and the principals went out for dinner. We had dok. That’s an assortment of meat BBQ, right at the table. They also served vegetable side dishes and soup. Ye, of cours, we had rice as well. 

I have another school, the name is An Seong Elementary. I will go there 2 days a week. I think the school is a little smaller at the second placement. So, the situation will be different. I’ll tell you more later. I haven’t actually been there yet. In addition to teaching many classes throughout the day, I will try to convince my students that after school English class is a good idea. I hope they’ll fall for it. I really enjoy teaching EFL. My 5th and 6th grade English students are great! Smiles all the way! 

I have an apartment in Chungju on the 7th floor. The stair are good exercise. It has 1 room and a bathroom. It’s about 200 square feet small, but I’m comfortable. It may be a little tight when Ben gets here, but we’ll try to keep it simple and it will all work out.  Actually, I was pretty impressed with all of the things that came with the place. I have pretty good storage space, enough room for my things and a vacuum, blender, rice cooker, some pans for cooking, an ironing board and iron, a microwave, lots of bedding for guests and all of the other basics like furniture. I’m not sure how much TV I’ll watch, because I really don’t have time and most of the channels are Korean language. So, I watch movies on my computer. I have enough of those to keep me busy. 

Oh, by the way, I was glad when I arrived at my new home and found almost all of the people living there are way gook (foreigner). There’s people from all of the native English speaking countries, Australia, South Africa, Ireland, England, New Zealand, Canada and of course America. There’s a few that trickle in from other places, but I haven’t met them yet. We have a regional professional development organization for socializing and keeping up with new ideas for teaching. The first night I was here, we went to dinner and for a drink after. 

I am really lucky because I have a few friends that I made well before I got here on Facebook. Oh the power of social networking! I met Susie on Facebook while she was going through the application process. She’s been here since February 2011. She has made a few friends that are about my age and we live quite close, so we get together often. I’ve already had an over night guest. It was Susie! : )

I guess you can tell that things are working out quite well here in Korea. I have a job that I love, and good teachers to work with. My apartment is equipped with everything I need and I  am making friends easily. However, there are times when I need the comfort of a familiar voice or some encouraging words from my friends at home. Please write comments on my blog or shoot me an e mail. If you have Skype, search for me Constance.Hendry. Keep reading and keep in touch. It would be a long year without you.

incredible Journey day 4

The pace has picked up a lot since we arrived in Jeonju from the airport in Incheon.  Our schedule begins with breakfast at 7:30am and ends at 8:30pm. Each day we have 5 classes with very little time in between for sight seeing but I have to say, my discoveries have been incredibly fun and interesting.  

First, I didn’t think I would find such progressive teaching methods being used at the training. I’ve been amused and delighted the entire time by both Korean and Native English speaking teachers. We’ve had trainings for presentation of American literature, using power point and multimedia for teaching English, introduction to English language  curriculum, and a very active class for Tai Kwon Do,(which I may regret and well remember tomorrow).  During these classes, I’ve laughed hysterically at the presenter and members of the class when they volunteered, and later was encouraged to scream loudly and let it all out in Tai kwon Do.  If you know me, you know my real Asian passion is Tai Chi. We’ve never been encourage to scream. I have to admit, the screaming was a real release for all the anxiety that I was feeling for the last few months while planning and preparing for this wonderful adventure. Thank you Teacher Parks!

Let’s just say you have a variety of unforeseen pleasures here on campus.  The other day, I was reminded of the old style potty. Have you ever seen a squatter? Well I was surprised to find one here on such a modern campus.  But not nearly as surprised as when I found a super modern fully automatic potty. When I say fully automatic, I mean this baby does it all. You sit down (as girls will) and go... forget the toilet paper, you push a button and you get auto bede’, the water just flows to the area and then you push another button and a cool breeze blows you dry.  I can’t imagine what anyone waiting for me to finish was thinking because I was laughing hysterically out loud, tears in my eyes. I couldn’t stop and I couldn’t leave the stall because I was laughing and felt silly. 

I was so glad my roommate shared that she had had this experience as well, because I just had to talk about it. Lol Lol. I’m still enjoying the experience, but I have to admit. Old habits die hard. I chose the usual do it your selfer for my next visit. I couldn’t risk another hysterical fit in the auto potty stall. 

Finally, I have been very busy, very well fed, and feel very welcome by everyone that I have met while here on campus. Tomorrow we have a field trip into Jeonju to see some historical sights and eat the Jeonju invention, “Bibimbap”. This I am told will be the highlight since the dish, while served all over Korea originated here. I have to close now, because it’s almost time for my Korean language lesson. I didn’t do so well last night. Maybe I should take some time to study before I go.