3 Things...

These are a few things I've been meaning to write about that make me chuckle a bit...

1. Facial Lotion

A few months ago, on Teacher's Day, I received some facial lotion from one of my students in Seoul. I've been using it regularly along with other facial lotion I already have. One of my new coworkers came over to my house last week to see how the move-in was going. I had all the bathroom products spread out right outside the door because I had been deep cleaning the bathroom. My coworker had this puzzled look to her face and she grabbed this lotion. Then she asked me why I was using a 'bleaching cream.' My first reaction was, "WTF Jienie!!" [the student who I received the gift from]. So I think this explains why I've noticed that I'm more pale than usual. Here I sat thinking it was because I had not gone on a tropical vacation this summer. I don't know if I should be mad at Jienie and her parents for trying to make me 'white' or if I should just think of it as a nice gesture. In Korea, 'lighter skin is better.'

2. "This area is famous for..."

One of my coworkers speaks English alright. She has been trying to show me around and explain the daily routine here. She has trouble expressing herself sometimes. She'll usually start on a thought, then I come in and try and finish what she was trying to say. She tends to use the phrase, "This area is famous for...." quite a bit. Sometimes it doesn't even make sense at all. But I just nod politely to let her know I understand. There were two instances when I kinda couldn't help it but to laugh when she used this phrase. The first time was when we were having lunch and a crap load of flies attacked our table. She instantly used the phrase and said, "This area is famous for flies." I didn't know how to really think of this quote. I know she didn't mean it in a way where please from all over the world come here just to be attacked by flies while trying to enjoy lunch. I'm pretty sure she meant to say something more along the lines of, "damn, so many flies in this joint." The second time she used this phrase and made me laugh was a day she came over to my house to check up on me. It was a hot/windy day and had just rained. The smell of manure from the cows across the street was pretty strong. I saw my coworker make a face of disgust followed by, "This are is famous for cows." I lulzed because I KNEW she wanted to say something like, "Damn it hella smells like shit!" Oh that Kim Hae-ran teacher is pretty funny.

3. Name Change
On my first day at Cheonbuk, I was pretty surprised to see how much power the principal actually had. Not gonna lie, just talking to him kinda intimidated me from the get go. He didn't seem like such a nice/caring person. But whatever, I just wanted to make a good first impression... I even wore my "Republic of Korea" t-shirt! As soon as I introduced myself, he said, "What??" I wasn't mad or anything and so I went ahead and introduced myself again. Apparently he still didn't get it. He said it would be too hard for the students to pronounce. I was like, WTF >__< So then I suggested he called me by my middle name. The conversation went like this...

ME: Hmmm. Ok, you can call me Alexander.
PRINCIPAL: Ehhh...Uhhh Allle??
ME: ALEXANDER! My name is Alexander.
PRINCIPAL: Alex-uh, ahhh yeh yehhh Alex-uh. OkOk yehhh. Alex-uh.
ME: *sigh* Hmm, yeah.... hello my name is Alex-uh.

The smell of manure lingers through my new home in the village.

New Location:Nakdong-ri, Boryeong-si, Chungcheongnam-do 355-810, South Korea <--- Google Map it!

So I've been living at my new location for a week and a half now. This place really is a village. It's nothing more than a farming community. Everywhere you look, there are rice patties and corn fields. And I know there are lots of cows around as well, even though I haven't seen them. No one can deny the existence of the unique smell of manure that seems to carelessly flow through the thick and humid air.

I live in this little place called Cheonbuk. As the recruiters were driving me here, all I could think about was, "What the hellllll?" While interviewing for this position, I was asked by 3 different people if I was ok with a 'rural area.' Of course I said yes for a couple reasons; 1 - I had been living at Jomel's place for 2 weeks... a rural town, but I thought it wasn't bad. It had multiple roads, community center, bus terminal, river, markets, etc. 2 - I needed a job, and really wanted this position because it was public school job. As we're driving, all of a sudden I accidentally blurted out what was on my mind, "Oh...myyyy..Goddd!!" Then I proceeded into an uncontrollable nervous laugh attack.

I'm pretty sure the two recruiters driving me were thinking the exact same thing, because immediately after they started laughing a lot. Of course they tried, in their broken English, reassuring me that everything would be alright in Cheonbuk.

I've got to admit, I really don't mind the incredibly small village feel. I'm slowly becoming a celebrity around here, being the only foreigner for miles. The people are pretty friendly once they know who I am and what I'm doing here. I have gotten good treatment at most of the restaurants I've been to in the area. In fact, one of the places across the street from my house always gives me more food/drink than what I order.

My coworker described the location of my house as "downtown" Cheonbuk. I chuckled a bit. I would say this so called downtown is made up of about 3 blocks worth of suff. There are a few restaurants, post office, bank, market [no vegetables], police station, clinic, and some other things which I don't know what they are. The nearest actual small town [lacks malls, movie theaters, etc.] is a 20-25 minute bus ride away. It's called Gwancheong. It has a farmer's market like place that sells lots of veggies and other miscelaneous crap. There is also a train station there that goes to Seoul.

One cool thing about this location in my proximity to the sea. One of the teachers drove me out the beach the other day. It is actually very nice. I could smell the salt in the air. Reminded me a lot of Seattle, minus the overly developed skyline. The beach itself is not sandy... it's actually made up of milllions of shells. Went to a seafood restaurant... oh man, so good! Everything was practically alive and there was a huge variety of stuff as well! I guess the village has it's ups and downs.

New House:

My new place is a huge upgrade from my small closet back in Seoul. I was given a 2 bedroom/1 bathroom house. The living room area is also very spacious. There is a large kitchen together with a dining area included. The house also has a separate laundry area. It's cool to have such a big place after that tiny whole-in-the-wall I used to have. I actually don't even know what to do with so much space. I think I spent my first 4 or 5 days at the house just cleaning the place... tackling one room at a time until I as satisfied with how clean it was.

I got internet installed [$30/month] and now cable tv [$120/year]. I really didn't need cable, but it's kinda cool since I get some English channels I really like [CNN, Discovery, Animal Planet, National Geographic, etc]. Man, I WISH I could get Univision hahahaha. The only thing that my house is missing now is some food in the kitchen. I really don't have much other than cereal, milk, yogurt, eggs, and some peaches.

My house is on the second floor of some unoccupied offices. And I don't have neighbors right next to me. This is great because I can turn up the volume on the music as high as I like. A lot of people in the village already know where I live. Some of my students will actually wait for me to come out of my house in the morning so we can all walk [150 steps] to school together.

New Job:

The new job is teaching English at two different elementary schools. One of the schools, like I mentioned, is only about 150 steps from my house. The second school is a 5 min bus ride away. Both schools seem to have really nice staff members. The principal at Nakdong is very motherly. She's always making sure I eat, have tea/coffee, and to keep the A/C on for me. She's hella nice. Right now it's summer vacation. We've been doing English Camp for the 5th and 6th graders. Last week and this week I just teach from about 9:30am-12:00pm, then it's lunch time! Usually we go out to some restaurant and the school pays, so I really like that part. Next week classes begin again in a normal school schedule. I haven't received my timetable yet, but all I know is I'll be teaching 1st-6th grade. I'm pretty excited about it. The kids I've worked with these two weeks are pretty nice and they bow to me hahaa. Their English level is a lot lower than the kindergarten kids I had back in Seoul. But I like this age group better... they don't require as much energy. I have yet to put a kid in time-out.

Eviction Notice!

I think the two times that the landlord and the building owner walked into my apt with a possible new tenant should have been a good warning...

After I got home from chillin at the park earlier this evening, the landlord came to visit me. He served me with a nice eviction notice. Surprising, the notice was written with very good English. And it was very clear; Christine had not been paying rent since March and they knew the school closed down so they needed me out! I was given until Tuesday, according to the notice. That's exactly two days. I used my Korean skills to beg and let me stay until Thursday and he agreed.

I immediately called my Korean coworker and she tried calling the landlord to extend the time until the end of the month, but he actually ended up yelling at her hahahaa. Good try, Clare. Looks like I will be moving to Muju with Jomes for a while. My friend Grace is also trying to help me set up a courier service so I can send my suitcases with a moving company instead of me trying to take them all the way to Muju by subway and bus.

I'll be leaving some of my less important/needed items at my friends' homes in Seoul for the time being. I am trying to get a new job ASAP so that way I can get a new apartment and settle down again. This is a bit of a crazy/stressful experience, and even though I'm in dire need of a new job, I don't want to sign the first contract that I'm offered.

Tomorrow morning I'll be meeting with all the teachers from my school. We have a lawyer now, and we'll be submitting all our documentation for our joint lawsuit to him. The teachers really want to help Joel [other foreign teacher] and I, so I wanna take advantage of that. They said it might take 3-6 months before we even see any of the money we're all owed.

So as of now I'm unemployed, broke, homeless, stranded, and have illegal status in Korea!! I hope things pick up from here.

Now back to packing....

Bits Closed

About an hour after getting home from work on Monday evening I received a text from Christine, the school director.

"I'm sorry. Is before closing. No more classes. -Christine"

This was her way, in broken English, of saying that our school is now officially closed. Later on my Korean coworker called to confirm this was true.

Today my coworker and I had our appointment at the Ministry of Labor for unpaid wages. I was kinda bummed to find out that I can't claim unpaid wages in the current pay period because I'm technically still contracted by Bits.

Just like I suspected, Christine did not show up to the meeting. We all tried calling her, and no answer. The phone at Bits has been disconnected. She's hiding from everyone. Oh man, worst boss ever.

I just need to get my diploma back and signed release letter from the contract that way I can start working somewhere else. She's making this crap a bit difficult. I don't even know how long I can stay at my current apartment before I get kicked out. She pays for the rent... but who knows how many months behind she is.

Now it's time to get in contact with my recruiter and find a new position asap.

Thursday, July 15 - Update.

Today there was a meeting at Bits with all the parents and teachers. If it wasn't for Clare [Korean teacher], I would have not even known about this meeting. As soon as I got off the phone with her, I ran over to the school... yeah, I really did run!

When I got to the school, all I could describe what I saw and hear as would be COMPLETE CHAOS! My classroom had been torn apart! I am pretty damn organized and neat. The parents had turned my classroom upside down, trying to find books, pencil cases, class work, and anything else that belonged to their kids.

Parents were yelling back and forth, little kids crying and screaming, and the teachers were just walking around restlessly. It was not a pretty sight. Christine was crying a lot and I actually felt really bad for her. Obviously her bad business decisions got her to this point, but I'm sure she never imagined it would be this bad. My coworker was translating a lot of what was going on. Apparently, the parents are all going to file one big joint suit. They want their tuition money back. A lot of the parents pay for 3-6 months as a lump sum. Christine has no money. Her house and cars have been taken away by creditors and she's now living with her mother.

As the parents were leaving, I got a bit sad. This was the last time I was gonna see my kids. I didn't realize how attached I had gotten to my students. A lot of the parents thanked me and told me their kids would talk a lot about me at home... especially how I'd try to speak Korean to them LOL.

After the parents left, we continued the meeting. The bus drivers were yelling so much at Christine. All of a sudden, the once-per-week taekwondo teacher showed up to also yell and put in his two cents. I didn't understand what they were saying, but I used this time to try and pick up some of the vocab I had learned LOL. When it was finally my turn to say anything I needed to, I simply asked for my release letter from my contract and for my diploma. Christine did not even look at me in the eye when she spoke. Her husband then started talking to me, but I didn't understand anything. He apparently was 'begging' me and my Canadian coworker [not present] to drop the claim we had filed at the Ministry of Labor. I guess he is not able to work while the claim is in progress. Christine once again 'promised' that she would pay us everything she owed. But I simply don't trust her promises anymore. I feel bad for her situation, but I think I will stick to my claim. Otherwise I might end up losing out on all that money owed. I advised her to actually show up to the meetings and not hide from the Ministry of Labor. The Korean teachers said that she will probably not show up to any of the meetings, which I can see happening.

So it was just like that how my first job in South Korea ended. Not the happiest of endings nor the easiest. I found out I have until the end of the month to get out of this apartment. So now I must hurry and find a new position fast!

Seoul Grand Park!

This weekend I met up with my friend Grace from WWU! It was nice to see a familiar face. We had a pretty damn adventurous day on Sunday. We went to Seoul Grand Park, an enormous place which consists of a museum of modern art, a rose garden, an amusement park, and a zoo. We were set on going to the zoo. I really wanted to go because last time I was there with my school, we only spent about 20 mins at the place. We saw 3 or 4 animals very fast, then the teachers decided it was time to go home. I was pretty mad, not gonna lie.

We got to see every single animal they house at the zoo. We even made it to the feeding/presentations of the tigers, lions, and elephants. I laughed a lot at the dolphin show. Most of the time I was thinking of my friend who told me she wanted to be a dolphin trainer after getting her psychology degree. We were also very brave and held a damn snake! I was pretty scared, not gonna lie. It reminded me of the time I did it in Miami. This snake was a lot smaller... but I was just as scared. As we were leaving the zoo, there was a live performance from an African group. The music was very upbeat and and the dancing was wild. I really enjoyed it.

We had some delicious lamb BBQ for dinner. I think I could eat lamb over beef or pork any day! I was also feeling very adventurous and so we ordered 똥 집, which literally translates to 'poop house.' According to everyone, it's the chicken's butthole. It didn't have any real flavor... more than anything it was just a weird texture.

My proudest teaching moment, thus far...

I have a rule in my classroom, put your pencil cases in your cubbies or I will throw them in the trash. I think it's pretty clear and simple to follow. I don't like having a messy classroom and I get annoyed when I find 15 Hello Kitty pencil cases laying around. I waste too much time trynna figure out whose pencil case is whose. Not gonna lie, my rule is more like a threat... I still have not thrown any pencil cases in the trash... but I've really wanted to.

Harry was the last one out of the class today. As he was running out the door, I stopped him and asked him to put away his pencil case. He went back to the desk, picked it up, and told told me it was Amy's.

I asked him to put it in her cubbie then he replied, "No teacher. Trash!" He walked over to the trash can, threw the pencil case in it, and walked out of the classroom.

I laughed about it for a couple minutes, then realized how much my words and actions actually influence these kids. I've never been more proud of any of my students, good job Harry!

4 Months and the Ministry of Labor!

DMZ (Demilitarized Zone):
A few weeks ago I went to the DMZ with a tour of like 45 people. It was quite interesting. Learned a lot of history and some fun facts. I was a bit annoyed because it was the first time it rained in about 3 weeks.... and it wasn't normal rain, it was like a damn monsoon!! Our tour took us to several locations; Imjingak, tunnel 3, tunnel 2, Cheorwon, and White Horse Hill. This pic is from Imjingak. The sign reads, "Do not come close or take pictures." No one really saw it until after we had walked passed it and taken several pictures of what we believed was the virtually unknown, North Korea. It was not until later that we found tout we were just looking at a road that simply leads to and crosses the actual DMZ and eventually into North Korea. The rain really made this experience not as awesome as it is supposed to be. We went into a couple tunnels that were supposedly built by the North Koreas in attempts to invade the South. The stories are really good.

Korea vs Uruguay:
World Cup fever is pretty intense in Korea. The fans are pretty crazy and they truly show how much they love their national team. I finally met up with my buddy Mikie and some of his friends at city hall. It was around 8pm when we met and there were already hundreds of people gathered. Everyone was dressed in red tshirts and wearing devil horns..."Korea Fighting!" The day had been nice, but sure enough it began pouring down while at city hall. Everyone busted out their umbrellas and plastic ponchos. But this didn't stop the party. People continued drinking, screaming, and dancing around. There were quite a few kpop performers on the stage. The whole time I was hoping that Big Bang would show up and perform my favorite of the numerous 'official world cup songs' that Korea has, The Shouts of Reds. 오~대한민국 승리의 함성 - Oh Republic of Korea, shouts of victory! I had been listening to that song on repeat for the past week or so. I would constantly play it on the CD player in my classroom and made my students sing along to it. I dare you to say it's not an awesome song! So after 3 straight hours of rain and partying, the game finally began. It definitely wasn't the outcome that South Korea was looking for; Uruguay 2 - Red Devils 1. This was sad for two reasons; 1 - this meant it was the end of the parties at city hall. 2 - I was looking forward to a game between South Korea and USA at the quarter finals. After city hall, we headed over to Itaewon to catch the USA vs Ghana game at a foreigner bar. It was another party and another let down. But great times overall!

Korean Class:
I have finished my first quarter of Korean class at Sookmyung University. I am very surprised that in a 10 week course [3 times/week; 2 hrs each], I only skipped once! This is by far my best attendance record ever, and I'm quite proud of it. I wish I could have had this type of attendance record at WWU. I learned lots of stuff in that class. First of all, I'm no longer ignorant to the fact that Korean, better known as Hangul, is nothing more than a form of tic-tac-toe. In fact, Koreans don't play tic-tac-toe because of the way Hangul is put together. I've learned how to read Hangul, however that doesn't mean I know what I'm reading. And I've also learned a few phrases that will help me in everyday life while living in Korea. I managed to get a B+ in the course and a sweet certificate!

Bits Language School:
So I've been having some troubles with this damn school. First of all, in Korea we only get paid once a month. That's not so bad if you know how to manage your money. I feel like I'm good at this. But it's not so good when I get paid late. The first month I was paid on time and in full. The second month, I was paid 6 days late and was $300 short. The third month.... well, this is when it started to get serious, it was 32 days late and $600 short. And this month, my salary is already 2 weeks late. The other foreign teacher and I had a meeting with our school director, Christine. She pretty much fed us lies and a sob story. Recently we found out that the school might be closing down. Christine is in lots of debt and has pretty bad business practices. She owes everyone money... 7 teachers, the cook, the bus drivers, the specialty teachers (taekwondo/ballet), even the custodian. This past Thursday we were told to go home an hour early and not to come in on Friday. Things definitely not looking good if they decided to close the school at the last minute. Apparently Christine is to meet with the parents on Saturday to decide the fate of the school. My coworker and I used our Friday to go to the Ministry of Labor and submit a complaint for unpaid wages. As of now, Christine owes me over $3K. The people from the MoL told us that it can take about a month for the whole process to go through. We'll see what happens. In the mean time, my recruiter is already starting to look for other teaching jobs. I've also contemplated moving to Taiwan!