Should I go to Korea?

This is a question I have been asked a lot in the last year or so. So I have decided to write up a document which I can send to multiple people to answer some of the usual questions about going to teach English in Korea.

So when people think of going to teach in Korea I think it’s generally for two reasons: money and adventure. And you’ll get plenty of both!

Let me address the money matter first. When we were there we earned around R14 000 a month (tax free for the first two years). It all depends on the exchange rate, but that gives you a rough idea. For example, at the moment an entry-level salary at a provincial public school in Korea is 2 100 000 Won which is around R12 800. If you work for the public school system in Korea (as opposed to private education academies called ‘Hagwon’ in Korea) you are guaranteed a return plane ticket home and accommodation costs will all be fully covered. I will discuss the pros and cons of public vs. private a bit later.

If you want to save money you can easily ‘send home’ around half your salary per month. Over the two years I was there I paid off most of my student loan – approximately R120 000 (that works out at around R5000 per month). This was pretty easy, I didn’t have to live an all too frugal life and I had enough money to travel internationally in all my long vacations: I went on budget backpacker trips to the Philippines, Cambodia, China, Mongolia and Russia. In addition we travelled around Korea a lot – we were out of our small town almost every weekend. So you can save a lot of money in Korea. You could save more than I did if you were more careful with spending i.e. eating only local food, not travelling as much etc.

Compared to pay in Taiwan and Japan (this is word of mouth), Korea pays best. The cost of living is slightly higher than in SA, but the salary is more than sufficient to cover that. Japan has much higher living expenses and salaries in Taiwan are slightly lower - from what I have heard.

As for adventure, well there’s plenty of it to be had as a teacher in Korea: at times too much. Teaching English in Korea is a huge challenge: you will be frustrated by the way Korean people and Korean beaurocracy do things almost on a daily basis. The Asian approach is incredibly different to the western approach: in almost every aspect of life. You will learn how to cope with this eventually but it is something which all westerners working in Korea struggle with a lot. Be prepared to be very frustrated. The best advice is to ‘go with the flow’ and just accept that things are done differently but that is something that just comes with time. And remember you’re earning good money.

Working in Korea is an opportunity to explore and get to know an entirely different culture. It is clichéd, but clichés are usually true: you WILL get to know Korean culture very well: the good and the bad. Koreans are incredibly kind, generous and hospitable people. They are proud of their country and their culture, and many go out of their way to ensure that we have a good time there. You will have an amazing culinary experience too: most Korean food is excellent – some is strange and seems unpalatable but your senses will have a feast! Koreans drink a lot too, so be prepared to be coerced into a lot of soju and beer consumption :)

Korean students are generally well-behaved. It takes a while to get used to teaching them – they are intimidated and often scared of foreigners so it takes time to win them over and get them to warm to you. But you will soon find out what makes them laugh and how to get their attention. They are a pleasure to teach – mostly. As in any classroom there are a few ‘rotten eggs’ but the good eggs more than make up for them.

I really miss my students so much: they are the sunshine in a sometimes frustrating and exhausting job. It’s for them that I did it and giving to them makes them give back tenfold. If you make an effort to prepare fun, relevant and stimulating materials and activities they will reward you with their special smiles, enthusiasm and love. They are really affectionate and it always amazed me how much warmth and love they had for me despite how very worn-out they were from working so hard. Most Korean students over the age of 12 have a 12-14 hour school day. It is intense, but despite that, after the first 6 months of hit and misses, my classes were almost always fun and the students did their best to participate.

Private or public school? This is an important question. I worked for a public school i.e. I was a government employee. Foreign teachers in the public school system are administrated by an organisation called EPIK: English Program in Korea (www.epik.go.kr). If you are employed by EPIK you will not have any major hitches. You may have small problems with your school like discrepancies about vacation dates, housing etc. BUT in the greater scheme of things you will not be messed around. You will be paid regularly and correctly, you will be on national health insurance and pay a pension, you will be provided with housing and you will be guaranteed a return air ticket. It’s a sure thing.

This is not the same when working for a Hagwon (private education academy run as a business). The horror stories one hears of teachers not being paid, having no health insurance, being fired for no reason etc. etc. are all from the Hagwons (this applied to Korea as well as Japan, Taiwan etc.) Not all Hagwons are bad, in fact the majority of people I knew in Korea working for Hagwons had no problems at all, but there is always the chance that something could go wrong, so I always recommend people to apply for public school jobs with EPIK.

Placing – whether you choose to live in a city or in a rural area is also an important question to consider when applying to teach in Korea. The pay in the provincial i.e. rural areas is slightly higher. I suppose this is an incentive to entice foreigners into rural areas as life in cities is a lot easier for expats. The other advantage of working provincially is that life is generally cheaper – most people I know working in provincial areas can walk/bike to school and that saves on costs. There is a lot less ‘on offer’ provincially for foreigners and so one does end up spending less money. For example if you lived in a city and you craved decent pizza you could easily head off to Pizza Hut or whatever. There are obviously a lot more amenities in the city and that always increases living costs.

However, if you really want to have a lot of parties, have access to western food, English bookstores etc, then the city is better. There are always a lot more foreigners in the cities and it is a lot easier to meet people, to get around etc. Life in the provincial areas is harder: no-one speaks English (sometimes it’s even difficult to communicate with English teachers) and there are a lot less foreigners to connect with (although this is changing fast as Korea spends more and more on employing foreign teachers). Rural people are still not accustomed to foreigners and you will be stared at and watched s lot. That is a fact of rural life everywhere though. Conversely, you will learn so much more about Korean culture and people living in the provincial areas. You will meet warmer, friendlier people and feel more part of a community. It’s up to you where your priorities lie.

When applying for EPIK you will be asked whether you want to have a city or provincial job so bear this in mind.

I have done my best to address some of the most common questions I am asked by people interested in teaching in Korea. In conclusion I always say: go for it!

It is an incredibly challenging experience but you will grow so much as a person. You will learn so much about yourself, your priorities and what you want in life. Living in Korea will open your mind to a whole new way of seeing things – will make you realise how huge and diverse the world is. It’s an incredible opportunity and we as English-speaking, well-educated South Africans are truly fortunate to have such an opportunity.

So… once you’ve decided you want to go, how should you apply?

Here are some ideas:

We went over with an agency called Teach Korea. They are based in Cape Town and are pretty good. I have heard though that lately they have been pretty bad about not communicating with clients and keeping people waiting. I think it's because they just take on too many clients. Anyway, the one main advantage with them is that they are South African and can help with visas, education dept. docs etc. and they know the system here very well - I'd say that 99% of the time they get people there but you'll probably tear your hair out waiting and hoping it all works out.
So try www.teachkorea.co.za - we dealt with the owner Cliff.

Alternative 2 is that you contact Footprints Recruiting. They are a Canadian company but I have heard of quite a few South Africans who have successfully gone through them. The problem is that you’ll have to make a few international calls and that they may not be much help with local government departments with respect to documents etc. But give them a try:
http://www.footprintsrecruiting.com/

The third option is to go through the Korean government English teaching programme directly. It's called EPIK and if you apply for public school jobs through Teach Korea or Footprints you will end up working through EPIK anyway. The hard part of doing it direct through them is that you have to deal with visas, education dept etc on your own which takes a bit more guts and perseverance. But it is possible. www.epik.go.kr

gatvol.

My attitude towards Korea stinks. This has been bothering me for a few weeks now.

When I go back to school after the vacation I will have less than two months left - there will be many people asking "will you miss Korea?" "are you sad about leaving?" "Will you come back to Korea?" etc. This started before the vacation and even then I was finding it hard not to be too honest: I don't think I will miss Korea. I will miss some individual people I have met and built friendships with (Koreans and fellow foreigners). I will miss some of my more special students and the feeling of affection and warmth I feel from many of them. I will miss the financial and travel freedom and safety I have felt whilst here. But I won't miss Korea. And now, when the questions start I think I am just going to be honest. "I am ready to go home". "I am tired of being a foreigner in another country." "I probably won't miss Korea very much." "In fact...I can't wait to leave!!!" urgh. They won't like hearing that. Koreans themselves are good at sugar-coating the truth, beating around the bush, not being direct and honest. The harsh truth might be a shock to them. They will likely feel offended. But I have had enough.

I can't even seem to get myself to enjoy Korean food anymore: I avoid Korean restaurants. More and more we eat Pizza rather than healthier, cheaper Korean food which is more readily available. More and more, Korean people annoy me. Little things, big things. Spitting snorting, sucking teeth to clean them whilst sitting on a train, staring at me, staring at us, staring at our food, asking 'what are you eating?', bumping into me, pushing in front of me in a queue, old people pushing young people around and so on and so on. I am just in a downward spiral of seeing only the negative.


Also the negatives in society in general: women obsessed with their appearance and constantly checking their make up in hand mirrors: in restaurants, on trains, on busses, waiting for trains, waiting for busses, on top of Mountains: after hiking all the way to the top of Mt. Halla, Korea's highest, for goodness sake!

The way the Korean government is pushing ahead with the hugely destructive "4 rivers project": it's clothed in words like 'ecological restoration' but in fact it is a huge, economically-driven project to deepen Korea's 4 biggest rivers to enable more ship transport across the country. Trucks are working 24 hours a day to dredge as much sand out of the rivers before environmental groups or cival society realise what's going on. Urgh. I have walked past some of the construction trucks parked in Sangju, and for the first time in my life been genuinely tempted to sabotage something: it would be so easy to shove a kitchen knife into the tyres. It would slow down the destruction a tiny bit and annoy them project managers quite a bit more...

The way kids just have to study study study. The way mothers just have to take care of their families an have no time to relax. Who does one see when out at night eating and drinking? Korean men. No women. Women have no time to relax and eat and drink they are too busy keeping the home fires burning.

The way some of the brightest and forward thinking students I have met will likely not make it into the leadership positions they deserve and would hold so well. A young girl student of mine writes brilliant, insightful, analytical even critical essays about the Korean government and society, she should become a lawyer and a judge. But she grew up in the countryside and her English is no match for the youth who grew up in Seoul and whose parents have the right money and contacts to get them into the right universities. Sorin will likely not achieve her dream of becoming a lawyer: not because she doesn't have the ability or the drive, but because she was born the wrong sex in the wrong place. Such inequality happens all over the world, but for a country as developed and economically successful as Korea is, such inequalities should not be. For a country that prides itself so much in its success, as a member of the OECD etc.
Then of course there are the old issues of cruelty to animals and gender inequality... Don't get me started!

So feeling so bitter about being here does not sit well with me. I feel I am walking around with a scowl on my face. I am intolerant to any small impolite social interactions which are quite normal: bumping into people in a busy train station, people spitting on the pavement in front of me, men honking loudly and clearing the phlegm from their throats. I am starting to speak English to taxi drivers even though I can converse with them in basic Korean.

I'm not sure why I am feeling overwhelmed by all these negative thoughts. Maybe it's the summer heat and humidity which seems harder to bear than it did last year. Maybe it's that I just need a break. Maybe it's that I am homesick. Maybe it's that I KNOW I am leaving Korea soon and I can let down my guard i.e. I don't have to try so hard anymore to accept and understand this foreign culture an the people. I don't like feeling so negative. Then I think - what kind of experience of culture has this been, if, when i 'let down my guard' i.e. stop trying to accept and understand, I become overwhelmed by negative thoughts and feelings? Have I been tricking myself into having a good time?

Who knows. This post is a bit rambly, but pretty representative of my state of mind for the last few weeks. I don't mean to offend any Korean people by it. I am just expressing my feelings and trying to understand why I feel like this. Comments are welcome and will likely be helpful :)

Capturing a modern Korean tragedy

Advertising in the subway in Seoul.

Transform yourself.
Become more like a westerner, less like an Asian, less like a Korean.
Bigger eyes, narrower face, gentler brow lines.
The key to success.
Or so it would seem.

Simon: welcome to Korea

Simon, Julian's brother, arrived in Korea at the beginning of March. He was placed in a rather small town on the west coast of Korea. It's been a bit of a tough start for him: he seems to have blessed with an even crazier complement of co-teachers than either Jules or I have, which is saying a lot, i.e. they are a pretty rotten bunch. That, combined with being in 'the sticks' and away from home for the first time has been a bit challenging.

It's been really cool for Jules to have his brother here, and helping Si out with his teething problems has been quite a nice for us to see how far we've come. The things that drive him nuts about Korea and working here used to drive us nuts too, but we've grown to accept, even if not to understand, that we must just 'go with the flow' and that things are just different. Kicking and screaming doesn't really help! It's of course easier said than done this far down the line, but at least we can be a sounding board for Simon's frustrations and help with with the little daily challenges which one faces. Paying bills, getting a cellphone, navigating the public transport etc.

Here are a few pics from Simon's first weekend visiting us in Sangju. We gathered some friends round for a braai and also had a meal out in a Korean restaurant: we had 'dweji galbi': pork rib BBQ. Unfortunately Seocheon is 5 hours from Sangju by public transport so it's a bit of a trek!

Eating 팥죽 on 동지날

I am now safe for the winter: I went to eat 팥죽 on 동지날 with my colleagues. 팥죽 (patjuk) is red bean soup with glutinous rice balls and 동지날 (dongjinal) is a traditional Korean holiday which falls on winter solstice, the 22nd of December.

Eating red bean soup on this day is an important traditional Korean ritual: it is believed to prevent evil spirits, and protect the people who make it (and eat it) from bad luck and epidemic diseases.

So some of the teachers at my high school invited me to come with them to a small temple near our school where we had red bean soup for lunch. It was delicious! I really like beans and the soup had a lovely rich, earthy flavour. It had rice balls in it, which are called "birds eggs" in Korean. The monks at the temple also brought us kimchi: this was honestly amongst the best kimchi I have tasted. I am not a huge fan of the stuff, but this was rather tasty. Since they are buddhists they don't eat meat and so instead of using fish sauce as the base of the kimchi sauce, they had used pumpkin and persimmon pulp: so much better!

P.S. The picture is straight off the internet. This was another one of those 'surprise' occasions on which I wish I had had my camera, but didn't.

Afterthought:
I am really enjoying being at the high school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I started conversation classes for all the teachers about 2 months ago and it has made the teachers so much more open and friendly towards me. I really feel almost 'part of the family' - more so than I ever expected.

A Fascinating Tea Experience

Last week I had a surprising and wonderful experience. Initially I had the usual 'what's going on here?' kind of feeling which we as foreigners in Korea know so well, but that feeling soon changed to one of curiosity, respect and humility. Mr Shin, one of the senior teachers at my high school - the one who's mother's funeral ceremony I attended - came along on Thursday and told me that his friend at the local court wanted to have English conversation lessons. Thanks to interpretation by the ever-wonderful Mr Kang (my high school co-teacher), it turns out that Mr Shin's friend is the chief judge of the Sangju district court and that he wants me to give him and his staff at the court English conversation lessons. To discuss the details, he had scheduled a meeting for us on Thursday afternoon.

So off the three of us (Shin, Kang, Jess) went to the court. An important-looking place of course, with metal detectors in the foyer and finger-print entrance-security in the corridors. Once we entered the chief judge's office I suddenly felt rather small and lowly: he has a huge office with the usual 'important' couches for entertaning guests - similar to the ones one encunters in other important places in Korea. We bowed our greetings and took our seats.

The judge sat at the head of the table and infront of him the typical equipment for a traditional Korean tea ceremony were laid out. This took me by surprise, but it soon became apparent that this was his way of showing respect to us for agreeing to meet with him, and in no time the tea ceremony was in full swing.

Kang did a fabulous job of explaining to me what the judge was saying about the various pieces of equipment, different types of tea, preparation methods etc. I commented that one doesn't come across traditional tea ceremonies very often, and Kang translated that this had to do with the Japanese occupation which tried to stamp out a lot of Korean traditions. Tea ceremonies are generally associated with people of higher social standing, then and now, and this explains why the judge would have 'treated' us to this: as a way of welcoming us, but also maybe to make us appreciate that we were in 'important' company.

It seems that traditional tea ceremonies in Korea were becoming less and less common, but have recently been experiencing a kind pf 'revival', as a way of relaxing in the formal setting of the workplace, and re-connecting with traditional buddhist beliefs and a healthier way of life.

So the equipment which the judge, Mr Song Bong-Kie, used was as follows: a main teapot (symbolic of the father), a secondary 'teapot', a kind of shallow cup with a spout (symbolic of the mother) and a few small cups without handles (symbolic of the children). The tea leaves - he used early-harvest green tea - are placed into the 'father' pot and then it is filled to the brim with boiling water. It is left for about a minute, no longer, and then the tea is poured into the 'mother' pot/cup. From the mother pot it is then poured into the 'children' cups.

'Dad' teapot - with the symbolically phalic handle, 'Mom' pot in the background (as usual) and the kids lined up next to them.

We were each given a little cup and could drink our tea. The green tea leaves can be re-used three times, i.e. the 'father' pot is re-filled with water three times. I must note that the 'tea set' is very small compared to our western tea sets: the pots and the cups. The tea tasted lovely: a clean, green tea kind of taste which I'm sure I couldn't even fully appreciate.

He told us that he also uses Puerh Tea from China, which he buys in compressed cakes for lots of money. I definitely got the impression that doing the tea ceremony the really traditional and proper way required access to lots of money.

They asked me whether I drink tea: I said yes, but that I drink tea from tea-bags and feel that one can hardly compare the two. I tried to look bashful and I think I communicated myself quite well :) Mr Shin himself is also quite a tea connoiseur and often brings me traditional Korean tea to try at school. But he refuses to try my rooibos tea as it is in a teabag!

Then a friend of the judge's, a buddhist tea mistress, came to join us. She is a highly-respected tea master/msitress(?) and is the one who taught the judge all about tea and tea ceremonies. This appeared to be the really special part as she used some very fancy implements to prepare 'Malcha' tea - powdered green tea of the highest quality.

Equipment for making Malcha tea - powdered green tea. (photo courtesy of 'The Internet')

She used a different kind of pot - similar to the 'mother' pot - for this tea. A special bamboo spatula was used to place the powdered tea into the pot and then a little cold and then hot water was added to it. She then used a very strange looking implement made of bamboo: it looked like a cross between an old-school shaving-foam brush and a whisk.

She stirred the mixture very briskly for a few minutes and it got all foamy and green - a lovely bright colour. We each had a turn to drink the tea straight out of the mother 'pot' and then she made a fresh batch for the next person: it had a very strong, rather bitter flavour, but also very fresh. I quite enjoyed it! The judge then gave me a tea set: this came as a complete surprise to me, and I felt very honoured and humbled. He explained that the tea set was pottery and made in a wood-fired kiln by a well-known monk at a nearby temple.

Mr Shin later told me that I was very lucky to receive that tea-set as a gift as one cannot actually buy them: the 'special' monk who makes them only gives them as gifts. Now the pressure is on - I will have to ask Mr Shin to help me buy the 'right' tea to drink from my unique and precious tea set - and ask him to help me make sure I do it all right. Come on over and I'll show you all how :)

My special tea-set, wrapped in the traditional Korean way.

Post script:
At no point during our meeting did we discuss the English lessons. The closest we came was the judge asking me whether I needed to see a dentist, and inviting us to a dinner meeting with himself and his dentist friend where we would (maybe!) discuss the English lessons further (?). After the dinner his dentist friend would be more than happy to check my teeth! To be continued...

Out and about in Mungyeong

We've just returned from a lovely day-and-a-bit in nearby Mungyeong. It's only about 40 minutes from here by bus and what a lovely place! It seems like Mungyeong City is really pushing tourism - local Korean tourism that is - as there are a lot of things to see and do around the area, even though the town itself is not much to write home about.

The main attraction is a mountain pass that has three large, historical gateways along it. The mountain pass goes up Joryeong Mountain, and was the main connection between the historically significant city of Gyeongju in the South-East and Seoul in the North-west. Most tourists take the direct path up the pass, which is a pretty easy walk and takes three-hours to the top - via three beuatiful, ancient (in varying degrees) gates.

Giovanni, a friend of ours who lives near Mungyeong, suggested we take an alternative route up, via a pretty waterfall and a temple, and which would probably also have less people-traffic and be prettier. Jules and I were keen and so we headed up there yesterday morning, in the calm, confident hands of dear Giovanni. Not knowing that he had NO clue how long or steep the alternative path was, and hadn't brought a map along either...needless to say the alternative route to the easy 3 hour walk took us about 7 hours (of course a lots of steep up and down involved)...and that was only to the 2nd of the three gates as we ran out of daylight and leg-power to reach the 3rd. But we walked through such beautiful forests, with far-reaching and wide views from the tops of peaks and we got to experience the beginning of the leaves changing colours, so gorgeous! Since it was Chuseok, most people were spending the weekend with their families and the paths were lovely and quiet. We almost had the mountains to ourselves - a treat in Korea!

We had hoped to at least reach at the third gate by late lunchtime for the famous Korean-pancakes served there (a kind of pancake with green onion and sometiems potato, kimchi and squid added to it = 파전 = pajeon) and so we had only packed some pears, apples and water for the walk. Oh, how dare I forget, Giovanni had also packed Makgeoli and Bamboo wine!! In true korean hiking-style we had our first pitstop after about 30 minutes of walking - around 10:30am and Giovanni insisted we crack the Makgeoli and bamboo wine. So we were well-oiled for those steep inclines and declines! (Although Julian's empty stomach didn't appreciate the early=morning treat that much and he had to take it easy on the pink brew!)

Now, what is Makgeoli (막걸리)? Good question! Makgeoli is a traditional Korean drink made from fermented rice and sometimes has some other stuff added to it: herbs, fruit juice, ginseng, whatever the local product is. In Mungyeong, the Makgeoli is flavoured with Omija juice, a kind of red grape/berry grown there - nice and sweet! So, Julian and I have not taken much to Makgeoli in the past, which tastes very 'wholesome' as alcohol goes, but also kind of sour and just not that easy-drinking. (A bit like the Zulu 'Amahewu'). But when you add Omija...it becomes so much more palatable! And so it was that on Makgeoli, water and fruit we survived from 10am until 6pm when we finally reached not the 3rd but the 2nd gate and could have our long-awaited pancakes!

That was the start of the next stage of our adventure - we were rather weary and very hungry by this time, and as we sat down to order pajeon and...well, of course, some more makgeoli, we were invited to join a group of Koreans who were just doing the same. It was soon apparent that they had also been digging into the Makgeoli, but since they had taken the 'easy' path up, it had already had much more effect on them - -they were very merry and very friendly! We had a lovely time with them, laughing and drinking and communicating according to an equation something like this: one-quarter Korean + one-quarter English + one-quarter makgeoli = we got along!

They then insisted we went down the hill with them to the town of Mungyeong Saejae and joined them them for real dinner (As if we hadn't just flattened three huge Korean pancakes...) of bibimbap - a mixed rice, egg and veggie dish which is very popular hiking food here. We were a little wary as this could only be a front for the next stage of drinking...which would mean lots of soju...but we were given very little choice in the matter! And so, we weaved our way down the hill, one of them fetched a car and then we had dinner. By this stage I became aware of the fact that the ladies in the party were not having as much of a ripper of an evening as the gents, and when I hinted that Jules and I would like to head over to the 'Pension' we had booked for the night, because we loooved each other (lots of gestures) and wante to stay in the beautiful "honeymoon pension, so romantic"... the ladies agreed and we called it a night. It was great fun- - and a lovely way to celebrate Chuseok as foreigners: with a bunch of very friendly and generous Koreans!

Enjoy the pics, I will write about the lovely 'pension' (guesthouse) we stayed at in the next post.

You can see the rest of the pics of our on the Picasa Web Album here: 'Mungyeong Hiking Weekend'

Beautiful Forests...I'm glad this section of the path had so many young saplings along which one could hold onto, it was steep and Giovanni even went for a bit of a roll-down at one point...

One of the peaks we reached along the path. At this stage we were still oblivious to the fact that we were still sooo far from our destination...

Giovanni showing off with his Bamboo wine on the EDGE of a cliff with a beautiful view of the valley below.

The Korean Crew! The little white bowls were what we drank the Makgeoli out of!

A Korean mourning ceremony

Mr Shin is a colleague of mine from the high school where I teach two days a week.
Yesterday his mother was killed in a car accident - she was crossing the street and was hit by a cargo truck. This news came as a big shock to Mr Shin and his friends and colleagues, as his mother was very healthy - it's actually Mr Shin's father who has been sickly and his mother has been taking care of him. By the sound of thing, Mr Shin was very close to his mother and her death has been terribly hard for him.

I was asked by my colleagues at the high school if I wanted to come along to the funeral ceremony or mourning ritual. I really like Mr Shin - he is 3rd in charge at our school which is a very important job and he is much respected, but he is a humble man and such a joker. He always offers me funky Korean tea and speaks to me in Korean - I am getting better at understanding him! Most recently he sat me down for about 20 minutes and gave me a lecture on all the different types of rice cake and how they were prepared and I had to taste them all - someone had bought a rice cake 'veriety pack' to the staff room! Anyway, he is a very jovial, generous and warm character, and I thought it suitable for me to pay my respects along with the other staff from school. It was such a different and interesting experience that I thought I had to share this with you.

So we headed over to the 'Mourning Place' at one of the big hospitals in Sangju this afternoon. Everyone was dressed in dark clothes - the smartest I could rustle up was a dress and a dark brown jacket which even felt a bit too jovial! We all (school staff) gathered outside the Mourning Place and then walked in together. The 'Mourning Place' at the hospital is divided into a couple of 'Mourning Rooms' for each family which is in mourning. The corridor leading into each individual mourning room was lined with huge flower arrangements with ribbons bearing wishes and the name of the deceased.

As we entered the mourning room we removed our shoes (thank goodness I had rememberd to put on stockings just before I left home!!). We then moved into a small side-room off the mourning room where there was a kind of shrine set up for the deceased. There was a framed photo of Mr Shin's mother and some flowers and I think traditional Korean food and drink - I didn't look too closely. We then did two full traditional bows to the photo of the deceased. The closest male family members were on one side of this small room. We then turned and bowed one full bow to them. In the full bow, you hold your hands out in fromt of you and bend your knees and lower your upper body until your forehead is just above the ground, then stand up fully and do it again. As we bowed to the family members, they did a full bow to us as well.

The whole time from when we walked into the room and removed our shoes, we heard Mr Shin wailing and crying. He repeatedly called 'Ayigo, Ayigo, Ayigo!' 'Ayigo' is a word in Korean for expressing emotions: similar to 'Oh my!' or 'Oh my god!' (American) or even better, the Zulu 'Hayibo'. It is sometimes used when people expresses surprise or anger or even tiredness and frustration. In this context it was obviously an expression of grief, intense grief.

We then moved into the main part of the mourning room which was laid out for eating and drinking, with low Korean-style low tables. There was a box near the door where we placed envelopes with money in them which we had prepared at school. They had chinese symbols stamped onto them reading 'in peace' and we wrote our names on them. We then all sat down and food was brought to us: rice, beef soup, side dishes, fruit etc. Mr Shin then came and sat with us. Shame, I felt so sad for him, his wailing sounded so sad and genuine and when he sat down he started crying big sad sobs and Mr Kang, my co-teacher, tried to comfort him and speak some kind words.

Wow, it was so humbling to see this big happy man looking so so sad. He said my name and looked surprised and genuinely appreciative that I had come. Wow, what an experience. He is one of the nicest people I have met since being in Korea and to see him so sad was quite something, a lot of the other teachers were also crying I think he is much-loved and his pain is his friends' pain.

Mr Shin and about 8 other male family members were wearing yellow hemp 'hanbok' robes/coats (traditional Korean dress). They were also wearing tall hats (looked a bit like the pope's hat) and two of them had sticks, kind of like walking sticks. The women wore white dresses with yellow hemp hats and hemp fabric belts. The children were wearing black clothes with a belt of the same yellow hemp fabric around their waists. Two of them came and sat with me as we ate - I think they were quite excited to have a 'waegook' (foreigner) there - they must've been a bit bored!

So together with the information Mr Kang gave me about the funeral/mourning rituals and some internet reading I have pieced together this:
The wailing is very important as an acknowledgement and expression of grief. It is also important to prevent the now wandering spirit of the ancestor from tormenting any living rleatives, as a spirit will always be envious of living souls. The oldest son in the family (in this case Mr Shin himself) is designated 'chief mourner' and is called 'sangju' (coincidentally the name of our town). He must do most of the wailing and greeting of visitors. He is also repsonisble for all the funeral arrangements like coffin, location of grave etc.

The women are repsonsible for the welfare of visitors paying their respects: they have to ensure that there is enough food and drink for everyone. In this case, I think there were also hospital/'Mourning Place' staff helping with the catering. The family must stay at the 'Mourning Place' for three full days. They will sleep there and take turns staying awake at the shrine and greeting visitors all day and night. It seems that the 'sangju' has to stay awake almost all the time. Mr Shin looked visibly tired and he honestly looked like he has aged a few years over the last days (don't tell him I said that!). The ritual looks like it must be exhausting and of course the grief itself must make you so weary. The sangju has to do a full bow with each and every visitor who comes to pay his or her respects. Wow, such hard work.

After the three day 'wake' (during which the body is not 'displayed' by the way, it is stored at the hospital), they will prepare the body for burial and then take the coffin up a mountain nearby and conduct the burial ceremony. Mr Kang told me that many people now cremate the bodies but Mr Shin's family is still quite traditional and they will have a traditional burial ceremony on a mountain. In general it seems that I witnessed a more tradtional mourning ceremony - many families don't wear the hanbok and have such an elaborate ceremony. This is obviously especially the case for Korean Christians, who would have a more western/Christian-style funeral.

So although it was a very sad occasion and I felt quite nervous of doing all the right things, I'm glad I went and paid my respects and could learn about yet another interesting aspect of Korean cultures. Rest in Peace, Mr Shin's 'Ommoni' (Mom)!

Pet-Watch

We came across this advert in a subway passage below the city of Daegu.
I found it quite astounding for a number of reasons:
Firstly that pet 'accessories' companies are obviously way mroe liucrative in Korea: to have enough money pay for such a huge ad - this would certainly not be the case in South Africa. This ad was sharing space with ads by Gucci, Louis Vitton and Polo.
Secondly that people in Korea would happily leave their pets unattended for days on end as long as they are fed - by a machine.
The third astounding thing is that you can have a photo/video of your pet eating from the machine sent to your cellphone, just to be sure it IS eating. I mean the technology is amazing but I think the lack of care for the pet's 'emotional' well-deing is quite sad.

I get the feeling that pets in Korea are often just another fashion accessory: the way they get dressed up and their fur died crazy colours....So if one can buy a machine that conveniently feeds the pet and sends evidence then why not?!

I think one of the reasons this caught my attention is that quite a few people in our block of flats have small dogs - in tiny apartments. Last week we noticed a definite indoor-pet-smell coming from an apartment where we usually hear a baby crying. We hadn't heard the baby for a good few days so I think the little family had gone off on holiday and left the dog in that tiny apartment...most likely with a food dispenser and no-one to look in on it while they were away - hence the nasty smell. How sad.

Just another interesting aspect of life in Korea - there's always something new!

8 months down the line

This post is a copy of a story I wrote for our local newspaper at home 'The Greytown Gazette':

17June 2009
8 MONTHS DOWN THE LINE ............ IN KOREA

My boyfriend, Julian Barker, and I (Jessica Cockburn) have been teaching English in South Korea for just over 8 months. There have been many fun times, so I could say ‘time flies when you’re having fun’, but saying this may imply that the experience has only been fun or at least mostly fun, which is not an entirely true reflection of our experience here.

We had a tough start: culture shock hit us much harder than we had expected. The language barrier seemed impenetrable – nothing vaguely resembled our alphabet and the strange sounds we heard held no meaning! We were surrounded by people who not only looked different, but who openly stared at us because we looked different! They seemed inaccessible to us: mostly because we speak different languages, but also because we have different cultures, different approaches to life, different histories.

When we first arrived, our only links to ‘the rest of Korea’ were our co-teachers: they were our assigned ‘chaperones’ and did everything for us: from buying us furniture, to taking us to the doctor. We, who had set off on our Asian adventure as intrepid, independent travellers found ourselves totally dependent on strangers. The most frustrating part to this was that our co-teachers themselves spoke only broken English, and battled to understand our South African accents.
8 months down the line I can almost look back at those early weeks with a smile on my face. I say almost because it was a very difficult period, and as much as I’d like to, I’m not quite ready to smile about it!

But we have come so far. We have done an amazing amount of travelling and exploring -. we spent 10 wonderful days in the Philippines during our winter vacation, we have seen many of the famous Buddhist temples in Korea, have visited Goeje island: a lovely holiday destination off the south coast of Korea, spent several days skiing and seen many famous historical sights in Korea. We have walked in the lovely forests around our town Sangju, and scootered through the recently planted rice fields.

We have also explored and absorbed Korean culture: Julian has, uncomfortably, swayed arm-in-arm with my male colleagues singing love songs in a ‘Noraebang’ (i.e. karaoke room), we’ve eaten very fresh or even live! seafood taken straight out of a tank outside the restaurant, seen dogs in cages off to be slaughtered for dinner, been invited into an old Korean woman’s house and given kimchi (the national dish of fermented cabbage), been to public bath houses where everyone wanders around starkers without a care in the world, been semi-harassed on the street by Koreans trying to practice English, had our arm-hairs and eyebrows touched and pulled at because they’re white or yellow (not blonde), …the list goes on.
It has been an amazing 8 months. The teaching has itself been an adventure: we teach at government middle schools which has not been without difficulties. We have been left to our own devices with little in the way of guidelines, which in the beginning was frightening but which we now use to our advantage: we can run our classes as we like and do anything we fancy to help the students practice the little English that they know.

We really do miss home and our families very much: one of the most important things that being in Korea has made us realise is how much we love and miss South Africa despite all its faults and problems. We will certainly be back: armed with a multitude of travel stories and a better understanding of the world.

Our very own 'Ajumma'

Ajumma from afar: a 'mild' Ajumma bent over, tending her fields.
I'm still too intimidated to get closer to get some good photos of them...I'm sure my time will come!

One of the most unique things about Korea is it's 'Ajummas'. Ask any foreigner who has spent some time in Korea about their experiences with Ajummas and you are sure to get a volley of amusing and probably annoying stories with the odd gem of kindness mixed in. 'Ajumma' in Korean actually refers to any married women, but amongst foreigners it has become a term specifically referring to older Korean women (usually older than about 55).

They are a unique bunch and are easy to spot: they usually wear very clashy clothes i.e. orange and pink, mustard and lime green, garish florals and stripes, luminous geometric patterns and polka-dots etc. You get my drift. They also almost always have permed hair, thinning badly.
They walk with a bit of a stoop. As soon as a bit of sun appears they usually don their large visors (oversized caps) and often wrap up their faces with various forms of scarves and cloths, and wear gloves to protect tehir hands from the sun.
They are often to be seen bent up behind an old baby pram which is carrying some form of vegetable, cans of water or nothing at all (i.e. being used as a walker).

Ajummas are also known to be beligerent, pushy, and have very little respect for personal space. They are the worst crowd pushers, especially because they generally exhibit a kind of 'herding' behaviour when in groups and public places. They tend to congregate on street corners where they sit or squat on raised platforms of sorts and watch the world go by.

They are by far the WORST starers and have no 'skaam': they are stubborn and have no qualms in continuing staring even if you show discomfort or stare back. They are often seen squatting in public places and smoking: only old Ajummas are allowed to smoke in Korea: it is frowned upon for young women to smoke.

After all this about the Ajummas they seem like a tough bunch of old ladies, which they really are. But if one turns one's mind to the hard life they've had, this is not too surprising.
They've lived through the Korean war, many have probably lost husbands and sons, many of them have been farming most of their lives, attentively bent over their crops for hours on end. They have been unquestioning servants to their husbands: Korean woman do anything and everything required by their husbands, many of whom have drinking problems (the accursed cheap soju). They have prepared and large number of side dishes for almost every meal of their married life and they have born many children.
They have also watched Korea transform from a poor country on a par with many African develpoing countries, to a hugely successful country in the world, somewhere near 12th on economic country rankings worldwide.

All this may well explain the tough nature of the Korean Ajumma! So that was the lead-in to my real story. I feel like we are one step closer to understanding the real Ajumma, as we now have 'our own Ajumma'. Let me explain.

On our way to the shops yesterday evening, we passed a house on the corner. I've noticed this house before: there are often Ajummas in and out, they often play loud, old-fashioned Korean love-songs and there are plenty of pots outside growing all manner of vegetables and decorative garden plants. There is also a little fluffy dog which had puppies earlier in the year, so I have been observing this hosuehold with interest.

Anyway, as we passed by yesterday evening, the Ajumma of the hosue walked out of her front gate and started yelling at us (I don't think Ajummas can speak, they just yell!). All in Korean and at quite a rate: I didn't understand anything: except for the word 'banchan' which I recognised: it means side-dishes (an important word in Korea considering how very important food is in this culture). She was gesticulatong wildly and calling us towards her home and I guessed she wanted to give us some 'banchan'. I was right. She grabbed me by the hand and we went into her home, where she opened the fridge, promptly squatted down on the ground and began hauling out dishes. In a whizz she had a bowl and some chopsticks out and we were squatting down next to her in her kitchen trying her kimchi and other delights!

Our few Korean expressions of 'ooh, delicious' 'thank you' 'I like this' were lost in her constant stream of words (still almost at yelling pace and pitch!) She then decanted some of her treats for us and with that waved us out the door and we were on our way again, with many more 'thanks yous' and 'goodbyes' which I don't think she even heard!

The little exchange didn't last more than 3-4 minutes but it was quite something! Jules felt a bit overwhelmed by the experience - not surprising as we couldn't communicate with one another at all and her pushy, almost demanding, approach made her kind and generous act seem almost intimidating!

But in restrospect I feel honoured and humbled to have been invited into her home. I managed to get her name (Well, I think it's her name) 'Hon-Cha'. (I remembered it because in my mind she was a bit of a 'head honcho!') What a kind, geneours woman to haul two strangers off the street and endow them so generously with her handmade 'banchan'.

I am planning to make some banana bread (in Korean 'banana ppang') and take it over to her when I return her dishes. If only I could learn Korean in 48 hours so I could understand her non-stop chattering! How much more valuable our brief exchange would be then! As if I needed any more motivation to learn Korean: so much language so little time! You know how some people have a 'pudding stomach' and can always fit in pudding - I wish I had a 'language' stomach to always have extra tme and energy to devote to learning Korean.

Well, here's to Hon-Cha: I look forward to many more bewildering and enlightening exchanges with her. From afar she may seem like just another nutty Ajumma but her kindness and generosity warmed my heart!

Kimchi for Breakfast!

It was a momentous occasion when I woke up one morning and felt ready to have my first Kimchi Breakfast. This is one of the things we westerners in Korea just can't get over: that Koreans would favour Kimchi and rice for breakfast over a myriad of other options: cereal, yoghurt, fried eggs and bacon, toast and jam....etc.
Oh well.

So I decided to try it. Kang, one of my co-teachers, had brought us some Kimchi his wife had very kindly made for us. I think she was worried about us not having kimchi as we have not learned how to make it ourselves, and the shop-bought variety is often imported from China (!) and generally not thought of as being good enough for consumption. And a home without is Kimchi is...well, not quite a home.


So...last Sunday I cooked up some rice, got hold of some seaweed sheets to accompany the rice and hauled out the kimchi. I had fun! But I concluded that I did still prefer cereal, yoghurt, fried eggs and bacon, toast and jam....etc.
At least now I know.

Photographic and video evidence below for your enjoyment.

The box of kimchi which was kindly given to us by the wife of one of my co-teachers.
That's a lot of kimchi.

digging in...

Black Blood!

Yesterday I had my first experience of traditional Korean medicine - more specifically Korean hand acupuncture, which is also referred to as Koryo Hand Therapy. It was an interesting experience indeed!
But first, I must explain why I was in need of such treatment.

Two nights ago I had the most terrible stomach cramps and indigestion: I think it stemmed from eating too much rice cake.
How ironic, as just a few months ago I couldn't bring myself to eat the rubbery stuff, never mind enjoy it and indulge in it, and now I have reached the stage where appear to have over-indulged!
Too much doesn't really mean I pigged out too badly: I had about four pieces of it (One piece is about the size of a small kiwi). According to Kang, my co-teacher at the high school, this isn't really much (they love the stuff after all and are forever gorging themselves on it!) And their digestive systems are of course accustomed to it!
So I am not surprised that my digestive system went hay-wire: you may recall my earlier descriptions of rice cake: "I have decided that my least favourite 'Korean-favourite' is the rubbery rice-cake thing I wrote about the other day. It is so rubbery and tastes funny - they love it though and I think I will just have to get used to it."

The offending cake. I will be steering clear of this lot for a while!

So it would seem that my taste buds have got used to it but my gut hasn't!
Due, I presume, to the extremely rubbery and dense nature of this treat, and the fact that I ate more than usual of it, it got jammed in my digestive tract somewhere.
Man what terrible pain I was in! This was compounded by the fact that I had done some rigorous stomach exercises the day before and any movement which affected my abdominal area was excruciating. Anyway, I look some pills and eventually managed to get to sleep.
I woke up the next morning feeling a bit better, but after cycling to school the pain was back. Lucy, my middle school co-teacher, asked what was wrong and I explained, sheepishly, how I had indigestion from eating too much rice cake!

Anyway, she is very caring and I think enjoys the semi-mother-like role she plays in my life, so she whisked me off to the school nurse for some acupuncture: I was all game as the pills I had taken had not had the desired effect and I figured that Korean medicine might just be the ticket to deal with too much of the nation's favourite cake!

So Ju-Ju (the school nurse's English nickname) had me sit on the bed and proceeded to hit the top of my arm with some force. She then whipped out one of those auto-pricking type machines, like the ones they use to test your blood iron levels before you donate blood.
She flicked the side of my little finger quite hard a few times then pricked it. It wasn't really that sore but my blood came squirting out and she and Lucy both went 'ooooh'. Apparently the fact that the blood squirted out so viciously and the fact that it was black (i.e. very dark) means that my digestive system was very out of balance. 'Black blood is very dangerous' Cathy, another co-teacher, told me later. Anyway, so Ju-Ju then squeezed and squirted more blood out with a tissue and then she did the same to another finger on that hand and then to the same two fingers on the other hand.
Afterwards I was given a Korean herbal drink which I had to 'chew' before I swallowed it - chewing on a liquid is a strange feeling!

So that was my acupuncture experience. I actually really felt quite 'cleansed' by the experience and for a few hours before lunch I felt quite a bit better but eating a bit of food got the cramps going again. Anyway, I was brought some Maesil tea, made from a kind of green apricot, which is also meant to help with indigestion.

This experience has highlighted the generosity and caring nature of my colleagues to me: they were all very concerned about my well-being and all offered advice. To someone else this may well have come across as interfering and irritating but I will openly admit that I enjoy attention when I am feeling unwell and it all made me feel a lot better!
Ju-Ju was so kind and attentive and she offered her 'bleeding services' to me anytime - next time I have one of those monster headaches I will definitely head over for some more 'Sooji Chim'.

I think this is a fascinating branch of alternative medicine which I would like to make the most of while I am here. Below is a chart of the hand which is used to treat afflictions of different parts of the body. If you'd like to read more about Koryo Hand Therapy have a look at the website http://www.koryohandtherapy.com/

P.S. 'Blogger' is driving me slightly mad: I can't seem to get the text in this post to the same colour as that in the others, and as much as I try I can't get rid if the 'Arial' font. So please forgove my inconsistent post layout and formatting! I try!

Boxing Day Lunch in Korea: Styela clava

As if it isn't bad enough that I am at school on boxing day/family day, I also got the worst menu item at lunch: mi do duk soup.

So what is mi do duk? Mi do duk is also known by it's latin name Styela clava (Herdmann, 1881) or its common English name the 'clubbed tunicate' or 'stalked sea squirt'.

As hard as one tries, NONE of these names sound vaguely appetising but at the same time, none of them can convey the absolute height of unpleasantness one experiences when one has this creature in ones mouth! It is simply horrible.

It is described on the website of the British Columbia Shellfish Grower's Association as follows:

Distinguishing Features:
- solitary ‘club-shaped’ tunicate;
- Tunic (outer skin) is tough, brown, bumpy, and wrinkly;
- Attached to substrate by a stalk (about 1/3 of the total length);
- Two short siphons. closely spaced, with alternate red and tan bands;
- Often overgrown by other fouling organisms. (Other?????fouling?????)

Here are some pictures of this delightful little animal (I guess it's Mother loves it!):

eeeew, who in their right mind would CHOOSE to eat this thing?? Oh well, we're all entitled to our unique cultures.

To the mouth it feels very rubbery and bumpy, but the worst part is when you bit into one of these poor innocent creatures, the last gulp of sea water in took in before it's death is squirted into your mouth, eeeewwwww! yugh yugh yugh.

Anyway, I now know to avoid this soup: it is just not worth it. I feel I have established myself as friendly and open to trying everything in Korea. I am now moving gingery onto the next phase where I admit that I don't like some of their food: enough lying to please everybody now!

Noraebang

This is one of those (yup, yet another!) unique Korean experiences which is difficult to share – but I’ll give it my best shot none the less.
Noraebang is the Korean word for a singing room. This is not your regular Karaoke experience, think again, think like this: You have your own room, just for you and your friends, it is conveniently sound-proofed and so you (fortunately!) cannot be heard beyond ‘your four walls’ and cannot hear anyone else at the venue.

The room comes fully kitted with psychedelic flashing lights, comfy couches and two fat files/albums full of songs to choose from, cymbals, a hi-tech, very complicated, all-in-Korean remote control to control the high tech screen on which the song lyrics and very odd and super-kitch Korean-style music videos are shown and of course complimentary soft drinks and sweet treats (you think these are chips or cheese snacks but they are in fact sweet, ugh!).As for the soft drinks, BE WARNED! One deep sip and you get a throat-full of mini jelly cubes, I spat it all out on reflex, thinking I had swallowed a fly! Anyway, the soft drinks are mostly unpalatable, as they are incredibly sweet, full of energy-boosters (like red bull but much sweeter) and highly coloured. Oh dear, that leaves only one option: Maekchu! Beer! In 1 litre canisters! To oil those vocal cords! “Maekchu chuseyo” (beer please), at numerous points during the evening! Oh, and I almost forgot: at the foyer of the Noraebang we were offered all shapes and sizes of masks and wigs, oh yeah!! Oh, and let me not forget, there are of course microphones for you to sing along on.

So we had a ball. This was our celebration of Jules’ birthday, and we went out to one of the many Noraebangs in Sangju with James and Barbara (J&B)(our ‘westerner’ neighbours and new friends) and Brad who is an American also teaching in Sangju. We sang and sang and sang ‘til our voices were hoarse! We had a great time. This Noraebang (according to J&B) is one of the more stylish ones in town, and had quite a large collection of English pop and rock songs. So we had all sorts of old favourites “Do you love me?”(Dirty Dancing – Lol and P!), many a Queen hit, “Hello Dolly” (Louis Armstrong – reminded me of my Granny Affie!) “Eye of the tiger”, BeeGees hits (Dan!) Phil Collins etc etc.

A great time certainly was had by all and we can now ‘tick off’ one more Korean must-have experience...one which I’m sure we’ll tick off many more times! Enjoy the pics!

P.S. Almost the best part of the evening was Jules in a Goldilocks wig, “priceless”! (Beat that, Mastercard!)

Gotta love the ‘regalia’!

Brad – a.k.a. Desmond Tutu? We thought so… (the hair is a wig, he’s actually bald!)

Noraebang!!

As I said, Goldilocks – priceless!

A festival, a visit to Seoul, a visit to the hospital...

On Wednesday afternoon Lucy took me to a story-telling festival in Sangu.

It seems festivals are very popular in SK. A festival is kind of what we know as a show (Royal Show, Bathurst Show, Rand Easter Show etc) on various scales. I would say the one we went to is somehwere in the region of the Bathurst show in size.

Lots of stalls: cultural, agricultural and commercial. Lots of food and drinks to try: Koreans are very proud of their culture and I couldn't turn down any of the offers of weird and wonderful food, drink etc.

I have decided that my least favourite 'Korean-favourite' is the rubbery rice-cake thing I wrote about the other day. It is so rubbery and tastes funny - they love it though and I think I will just have to get used to it. They often cover it in bean flour - which I got a chance to try and grind: photo right!

More pics will follow - our laptop is now up and running but alas still no internet at home until we are officially registered as 'aliens' hopefully next week!

Yesterday (Thursday) we went on a school outing to Seoul. We saw a musical show called 'Nanta' (English version apparently a broadway hit and is called 'Cookin'). It was very well done - minimal use of language so I could share many laughs with my teacher colleagues and the students. What a bunch of giggly girls. We too the Grade 2 (14yrs) class - they are so enthusiastic and I had so many of them approaching me to try their English and to ask me questions - very sweet. We then had picnic lunch in the park. We got take aways (errrr US=takeouts!) Another new experience for me. I will post a photo soon but let me describe this meal to you: 3 boxes and 2 plastic bowls with foil covers.:

Box 1: rice (K rice is sticky and like styve-pap almost - fortunately, as one is expected to eat it with chopsticks!)

Box 2: sheets of seaweed. (To wrap around rise: it is dry tastes like seaweed and adheres to the top of your palette -yum!:()

Box 3: An array of K culinary delights: Kimchi (2 types - one looks just like cooked grass with flecks of chili, the other red-pepper cabbage-NATIONAL FAVOURITE), pickled ginger (*nice!), marinated beef (vaguely familiar!), small whole dried fish with chilli, small sausages and processed meat patties in batter, whole chillies in batter (a trick! they're disguised but HOT!), gimbap (suchi-style rice in seaweed with fish - nice and plain but tasty - definitely my favourite so far), yellowy yoghurt: very sweet.

Bowl 1: water (yey!!!_)

Bowl 2: yellowy soup with leeks and spinach and traces of fish (not too bad actually!)

All in all the meal was fine. I tried everything and could avoid having too much of the less enjoyable and could focus on the rice, gimbap and soup. The ginger was also nice!

After lunch we went to the Kyobo Bookstore in Seoul: It is huge! Exclusive books, step aside! Also a large foreign books section (yey!) so I could get us some dictionaries and more phrasebooks: If we are to feel at home here we need to learn the script and the language as a No1 priority, there's no way around it. I went to buy tea the other day - decided to drink green tea s it tastes OK and is about 1/10th the price of normal tea. But alas I didnt; buy green tea I bought brown rice flavoured green tea - um, not very nice. and now the whole grocery cupboard smells like it. hmmm. might have to get used to it but please, not yet!

I did notice that signs etc in Seoul had more English translations (even saw some westerners on the street!!) etc but Sangju really is quite rural for Korean standards and hence pretty much NO English around.

So, we get to the hospital visit. To get the essential 'alien registration' we need a clean bill of health from the Korean authorities. So this morning, off we went to the hospital. It looks good: quite high tech, clean and well-run. Rural Sangju even has an MRI machine - weird?! So I get told to go into a little closet/room and take off my cloths and put on the gown. The gown is short!! Lukcily there were pants too (tight and short!!) so when I emerged into the reception area I was almost decent. Go to the chest x-ray machine. 'Please remove your brassiere'. back to closet, remove bra. back to chest x ray machine. X-ray. Done 'Please put on your brassiere'. back to closet put on bra. back to lady at x-ray machine. 'no put all on' back to closet, put on all clothes, leave tiny gown and pants behind. relief. less for the ppl in recepetion to stare at! Then blood pressrue, weight, height, blood sample, urinate in a little stick with colour indicators (just got enough out!)

They had told us not to eat and drink before the health check for 12 hours which we had done. The lady now gives me a cup and wants me to produce more urine! Is she nuts? Well I tried, to no avail. Get told to drink water. How fast does she think my kidneys work?? No results. walk around a bit. nothing. drink more. nothing. Julian and our tecaher waiting. After 20mins, GIve up. Take cup to school and try again later! Gosh, what a palaver, and all with hand signals and gesticulation and minmal vocab. This is a crazy experience!

Cheers for now, thanks for the emails, replies etc x