Jungsan-Man! (The First Week)

Hey! So to bring the blog up to speed I'm going to recap on our first week, and use plenty of pictures to help those of you who don't enjoy the reading part so much!

Well, we live and work in an area called Jungsan, which seems to be an area withing a larger area called Ilsan-dong. In all Korean cities, there are numerous "dongs", which I think is literally translated as "district". For anyone that thought of something else when they read "Dong", shame on you! It seems to be an excellent area to stay in, and we are spoiled for choice with regards to restaurants and bars. It's also a very authentically Korean area, which, of course, brings both positive and negative aspects with it. Primarily, it means the chance of anyone knowing any English is absolutely zero, and day to day life can sometimes be frustrating for us. But on the other hand, that is the kind of experience we were looking for, rather than seeing the bloody Golden Arches or the Colonel's red and white bucket on each corner.

On our first weekend we were basically left to our own devices and decided to acquaint ourselves with the surrounding areas, while also aiming to complete our mission of buying some pegae (pillows)! Where can I buy some pillows? "Odiso pegae rul salsu issulkayo?". In theory, repeating this phrase as it looks on paper shouldn't be too difficult, but when you factor in the highly specific pronunciation used in Korean, and things like aspirated consonants (a consonant followed be sharply exhaling), it turned into a bit of a futile exercise. The only word I appeared to pronounce correctly was "pegae", so for the rest of the day shortened this sentence simply to "Pegae??"! Luckily, one of the things we'd read about in the run-up to this adventure quickly turned out to be true. It is apparently well known that when asking a Korean directions, and it being clear that you don't speak the language, they will commonly just take you to your desired destination. This was good as she showed us which bus to get, how much to pay, where to get off, and how to get home again.

Our destination was the "city centre" of Ilsan, known as Jeonbalsan. The centre of Jeonbalsan is comprised of a variety of places that were on our list to locate and check out. It's funny now looking back to when I posted a website picture of Ilsan Lake Park, and now we are actually there!















The park is really nice, although, with it being a weekend, it was typically chaotic with hundreds of families enjoying a day out. We noticed the Korean fascination with being on wheels, and darted between the army of rollerbladers, skateboarders and cyclists circling the lake. Adjacent to this park was one of the most surreal experiences we have had so far. An absolutely massive courtyard serves as a playground to hundreds of demented Koreans careering around in motorized go-karts, and balancing precariously on mini-motorbikes. Mostly children of course, but some of the biggest fun was clearly being had by the adults as well. Having taken a wrong turn we decided just to cut across this square, on foot, risking life and limb. Or at least a sore ankle. I'll never forget being surrounded by little cars piloted by mad Koreans, all blaring the Tetris theme tune at top volume in glorious surround sound. It was here that we also spotted the notorious snack that the kids simply adore, fried silk worm larvae. I know it sounds bad, but you should SMELL it! There were huge pots of it (next to the less popular candyfloss of course) bubbling and squirming, and the sickly sweet aroma seemed to follow you as you ran from it. Maybe after a few beers one night, you never know.

The main draw in Jeonbalsan is a massive outdoor mall called La Festa, which we had heard housed a couple of "foreigner" bars.
Like everywhere in Korea, it was really lively and colourful, with loads of shops and places to eat. We stopped for a flavoured tea, which suspiciously tasted like Cherry Kool-Aid heated up, and the Korean guy working there tried to do a nice thing and change the record from K-Pop to the Spice Girls for us. They really don't have a clue haha! Further up La Festa there were the ubiquitous little restaurants specializing in disgusting food, with my personal favourite being the Ox intestines. Yum. At least it had one of the few english translations.
We also succeeded in the reconnaisance mission to find the bar "Don't Go", and when we opened the door we found a complete minefield of broken/smashed bottles, spillages, carnage , and to top it off, the Korean bartender asleep on the couches. Friday nights must be crazy, so that went into our diaries for next weekend. The other place we needed to find was the huge Lotte department store, which seems to be like a 10-storey upper class Debenhams, where we could hopefully find some feckin pegae! This was the first time where the whole culture shock thing raised it's ugly head, just a little bit. Before arriving in Korea, I would have scoffed at this, but it did turn out to be a tangible thing. In the middle of such a crowded, massive place, and after a few failed conversations, things felt a little bit disorientating, and the only thing I can liken it to, is a potential panic attack, where the only thing to do is concentrate to keep your mind occupied and basically keep it together. Quite bizarre, but Lotte served as a trial by fire, and I can't imagine that feeling ever occurring again. Having EVENTUALLY found bedding that WASN'T a name-brand such as Elle and Marie-Claire, we completed a successful and enlightening visit to town!

OUR FIRST WORKING WEEK! MEET THE KIDS!

As with everything in Korea, things at school were rushed, unorganised and generally a complete mess. We arrived 20 minutes before class as complete novice teachers, were handed a make-shift schedule for the week, and basically pushed into a class of merciless little hooligans. Sure, they may be between 4 and 6 years old, but these kids take no prisoners. Within ten seconds of standing in front of "Cindy" class, the ringleader going by the "English" name "Marcellino"(!?) has squared up to me (well, my knees), and is repeating something in Korean which must be shocking abuse, given the gasps from the girls, and the cheers from the boys. I try to maintain my composure and carry on with the welcome speech that our boss had recommended we do ("Good Morning Everyone, Hooooooow Aaaaaaaare you?! I'iiiiiiim fiiiiiine, Thaaaaank You, Aaaaaaaaand You!? Complete with gay gestures), but my voice is cracking, and I forget it all anyway. With the success of Marcellino's attack, the others follow suit, and the air is soon blue with Korean abuse and laughter! Fortunately, after the following 3 classes, and definitely by the end of Day One, we both feel like hardened killing machines, and things improve from the 2nd day. Seriously, high-flying business men attending courses in confidence and motivation should just opt to teach Korean kindergarten for a morning, and they will come out of it with balls of steel. It also helped to realise you can just grab them when they are climbing about and plop them back in their seats, although they just get up again.

A breakdown of our work is as follows:

Kindergarten:- 10.00 - 12.05 (four 30 minute classes, 5 minute break at 11.00)
Lunch:- 12.05 - 2.35 (fortunately we live so close)
Elementary:- 2.35 - 7.15 (occasional free periods as well)

So, the schedule is pretty decent really, and you can even have a decent sleep at lunchtime if need be. After kindy, it can be a welcome rest! I will now give you all an introduction to the classes, as I'm sure they may be mentioned in future, and I'll probably chart the progress and madness of my favourites and the most entertaining!

"Cindy Class":
Hooligans: Benjamin, Marcellino, Bip, Daniel (although he gets away with it being possibly the cutest and funniest wee kid ever).
Criers: None so far!
(l-r, Amy, Alice, Daniel, Ryan, Anne, Benjamin, Elena, Marcellino (leather trousers pfffft haha!))
(Daniel, this is the least cute I've seen him. We might steal him and raise him as our own. Just Kidding.)

"Sue Class":
Hooligans: Harry Potter (ridiculous, I know), Ryan, Regina
Criers: Kevin
(Having fun on teachers chair. I got popular spinning them around on this chair, until someone fell off and had a wee cry. L-R, Regina, Peter (nice pink tracksuit, his parents must hate him), Amy, Ryan, Eugene (unlucky kid on name day))








(L-R, Eugene, and the class clown Mr. Harry Potter himself. Nice Cookie Monster tracksuit!)












"Jane Class":
Hooligans: None
Criers: None
Boring Kids: All
Autistic Kids: Quite Possibly

Due to the above reasons, I couldn't be arsed taking any pictures of them. I just chuck them some colouring in and they busy themselves for half an hour. Maybe they will be late bloomers on the entertainment front!

"Sammy Class":
Hooligans: Alex, Some Fat Kid
Criers: Mikey (cries daily for no reason, or due to the others taking his beloved crayons. Almost as cute as Daniel when he stops his blubbing)


(Little Mikey, sort of like the underdog of our story! Fond of shouting the colour of his crayon. And screaming.)
(L-R, Alex (you can see the evil in those eyes), Dorothy, Grace, Yuki. Up until yesterday Alex spent the whole lesson pummelling me as well as the others. I suspect our boss showed him his "Justice Stick". Thwack!)

"Bobby Class":
Hooligans: All the boys (but mostly in a funny way)
Criers: Jessica (She hasn't realised that if she insists on gettin her pencil case out each day, the boys are going to want to play with it. I'm sure there's a valuable life lesson in there somewhere.)
(L-R excluding the background folk, Alicia, Dan, Jack,Deby (definitely last in line on name day), Chris. We tried telling the K-Teachers that Deby wasn't even a name, and certainly not a boys name, but the poor tyke seems stuck with it. Haha!)

Elementary Classes
I know this is too long already, so here is a brief summary. Elementary classes are a total breeze, as the kids are generally all cool, and most of the day involves games like hangman and word scrambles. Not that we're supposed to really be doing that. For the afternoon we stick to one class, rather than rotate during kindergarten. I'm in Cindy class, Lynne's in Sue class. Here's my classroom, and my whiteboard, all prepped for a very taxing game! Although I never knew I could draw an elephant, a budding Rolf Harris me!

(L-R, Flower (snigger), Michelle, Gina, Sandy. Behind - Tony and Chris. These four were crazy banshees for the first week, calling me "Teacher E.T." among other things and generally screeching and whinging. Since the discovery of the popular "Ghost Game" (me chasing them round class in the dark), they have stopped the little madam act and remembered they are only 10 years old, finally)

(This class to the right are cool. L-R, Gold (I dunno), John, Ken, Thomas, Stephen, and I dunno the girls really, most were from Lynnes class next door. One of them started crying after this cos I said "1....2...3...Octopus". Apparently her name translates to Octopus so everyone laughed at her. I just can't win!)











Me with one of the many Chris' at school. Adopting the favoured Korean "Kimchi" salute!






(Joseph, Andrew, and Fat Mark. I like this picture as it suitably captures the general level of control we have over these kids at this stage. Note the Tae Kwon-Do outfit, quite a few of them wear that and give you a wee fight which is fun)

Well, by the end of the week we were both very confident and comfortable with the job, although you just have to get used to the fact the kindergarten classes are never gonna behave, let alone learn much english. To celebrate the end of the week, of course, we went out and got smashed. The other notable thing was that it was our first taste of the notoriously lethal Korean jet fuel, Soju, and establish some boundaries for future reference! Quite predictably after a combination of Soju and 1.6litre beers, I was a bit of a wreck, but we went to that Don't Go place in La Festa (ooooh look at all the neon!), and meet some Irish folk. I think I embarrassed myself, ah well! It was funny stopping to speak to groups of bladdered Koreans in the street, using the universal language of "I'm Pure Pished"! One Korean guy gave me some hugs proclaiming "You Brother....Brother!!!". Haha they're a funny lot. Anyway, hope you are all well, and enjoyed the pictures, from now on it will just be regular small posts; observations, customs, strange stuff, cool stuff, general randomness.......
We have our expenses paid Visa Run to Osaka next Thurs/Friday, so it will be cool to see another new country for nowt! Bye for now!

Nasty Soju!