Uh Oh

Oftentimes my school goes on fieldtrips to let the kids play in mini gymnasiums. Usually this is fine, but when you give Batman both a chainsaw AND a trampoline... Well. Bad things may happen.

X-mas Throwback: Hand reindeers

A nice project for kids is to make reindeers from hands. 

Oftentimes this is more fun for the teacher than the students:

Angry as hell because he only has one antler.

Jay Leno reindeer.

Casually reaching for scissors....... Not suspiciously at all.

Seoul cafés

CNN: Leading the world in fluff news stories, silver foxes under the age of 40, and Americanos.

There are cafés EVERYWHERE in Seoul and the surrounding areas. I think a little of this comes from the classiness associated with the cafés of Europe--particularly Paris--and also that it's a way to get out of the apartment. Most young Koreans live with their parents past the age of 18, some even up until they get married. Heading to a café is a good way to meet friends, study, or canoodle with your significant other in the corner without Mom and Dad peeking around the corner.

Perhaps due to this, it's a bit rare to see people in a café by themselves. You may get a few strange looks, but just set up your laptop and most people will figure you're just waiting for a friend.

The Americano is the closest beverage I can regularly find that comes close to American-style drip coffee, but I've been getting really, really sick of them for some reason. Besides an Americano, Dutch coffee or drip coffee is the next best thing, but be warned--there's no such thing as a bottomless cup unless you're in really good standing with the waitress or owner. Each cup will cost you, leading many expats to purchase a French press or--if you have around $40USD to drop--a coffee maker. (I'm finding appliances to be really expensive here...) But take heart; when you put it up for sale on a foreigner flea market, you're almost guaranteed to find a buyer!

Fan Death

Picture from the instruction manual of a fan I bought a few months ago.

It's a widely held belief in South Korea that sleeping with a fan on could kill you, but this has generally been debunked: http://www.snopes.com/medical/freakish/fandeath.asp

It's a belief also held in Japan and I have young friends in Asia who believe in it. The long and short of it is, in this Junior Scientist's opinion from reading about fan death and sleeping with her fan on many a night, it's not true. Unless! You have a plain ol' fan in a room that doesn't have any windows open and it is excruciatingly hot that night. Because there's no breeze, you can cook yourself. Maybe. Possibly. If you have the worst luck in the universe. 

More and more, younger Koreans don't really believe in fan death, but I do, on occasion, meet someone who will defend the theory. Whether or not they really believe it or they're just defending a cultural aspect is another thing. Korea has a lot of national pride that can extend into many, many other aspects of life (sports, art, testing, etc) including urban legends! 

Typically if someone believes in fan death I just kind of shrug and change the subject. It's so often an ingrained belief from childhood that they're not going to change their mind any time soon. And, frankly, you can come off as quite the douche who is trying to 'educate' the poor, misguided Korean, adding further insult.

Besides, every culture has these little quirks. As far as I know, I never went cross-eyed from sitting too close to the TV or caught a cold from going out in the winter with damp hair..!

'I like cheese'

The students were confused as to why their English teacher skipped ahead to Unit 7, but appreciated her enthusiasm nonetheless: 

Season of Change

Long time no see. March is the season of change for many expats in South Korea. It marks the beginning of a new school year and the ending of many teaching contracts. The bars are doubly packed with both freshman teachers fresh off a plane and veterans vying for one last beer before taking off to parts unknown. Compound this with the usual influx of military recruits and Samsung workers, you'll likely be meeting three new people for every one you say goodbye to. 

March is the season of change and it hits hard. It hits you in your wallet after your seventh going-away party, hits you in your stress receptors as new students grace your classroom (heaven help you if they are three-year-olds who have never seen a foreigner before), and it shrinks your social network. Even for those of us staying, March can be rough.

I've had several classes and responsibilities added to my workload this semester since, I was told, the director was beyond pleased with my work teaching English. Unfortunately, this doesn't mean my salary has increased. Only my downtime has decreased, by quite a bit, as has my sanity some days. Also, one of my side jobs has been scaled back quite a bit and I've lost a source of income, adding to my stress as I count pennies (Wonnies?) and refresh my student loan statements online. But then a warm day comes, one where I don't need to even wear a jacket, and I just kind of forget about it. 

I'm hoping that April will be back to business as usual and I can re-establish a daily routine. Maybe I'll even update this blog once a week! (...maybe.)

Happy season of change to you and yours, wherever they may have gone.