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Thursday, September 29, 2011

Tips for understanding foreigners!

Aaron has been asked to give private English lessons to a teacher at his school who will be moving to Atlanta, GA, for her husbands job.  I was looking through some documents that I made when I was teaching English to the parents and teachers at my last school and came across this one!  I had made it, because each of these things had happened to be NUMEROUS TIMES and it was my sly way of teaching them not to say or do this stuff!   This is a little glimpse into everyday life as a foreigner in Korea! :)
(The red font is just for you!)

Tips for UNDERSTANDING foreigners:
1.     Don't comment on their negative personal appearances. 
Don’t ever say:
“You look tired.”
“You look a little bit big (or fat) today.” 
“You look sick.”
“What is that on your face? (If you have a blemish)”  
(arm, hand, leg, foot are okay)
Much older men saying to younger women: “You look sexy today.”
 *** Yes, at some point, they had said each of these things to me!  They had no idea that in American culture, it's really rude."

                     Nice things to say:
                        “You have a beautiful smile.”
                        “ I like your ______ (item of clothing)”
                        “ You look really nice today!”
*** You'd think I wouldn't have to teach this, but every culture is different!

*** Even when you think you're being kind, what is acceptable in Korea may be different than what the foreigner is used to and you may receive a bad response from them. 
              
2.     Try to use, “You should” instead of commanding them to do something when they have a choice.
Example:
     “Go pour the Principal some soju.” (A LITTLE BIT RUDE)
“You should pour the Principal some soju.”   (GOOD!)

     “You have to wear stockings in the winter.”  (BAD)
“You should wear stockings in the winter.”   (GOOD)
    
3.     Always say “please” and “Thank you” 
Example: 
“Open the door.” (VERY RUDE)
“Could you open the door, please?” (GOOD)

“Give me the pen.” (VERY RUDE)
“Can you pass me the pen, please?”

*** I read a story about a Korean co-teacher debating whether or not to say “please” to his younger foreign co-teacher.  In the end, he decided he did not need to say “please” because he was older.  In America, we say please all the time, regardless of age difference.  You are considered very rude if you do not say please and thank you.

4.     In America it’s considered really impolite to push people in a crowded place, bump into someone without saying “sorry,” cut in a line ahead of someone, spit inside a building, chew with your mouth open, slurp soup, and yell into your cell phone

 *** Oh man... I remember teaching this part (above) and them saying, "Oh really?!" and being super surprised that these things were rude! 


5.     Never respond to a question by saying, “It is possible.” It does not mean the opposite of impossible!  “It is possible” means “probably.”
                                            A.             Example:
A: Can you come over for dinner tomorrow night?
B: It is possible. (NO!!!)
B: Probably, but I’m not sure. I’ll look at my calendar and let 
    you know.

                        A: Can you give me a ride home today after school?
                        B: It is possible. (NO!!!)
                        B: Yes, of course!

6.     Smile for pictures with foreigners!  Not smiling in a picture in America means that you are bored, not having fun, or mad at someone in the pictures! 

*** I had SO MANY pictures of my co-workers not smiling!  This was another sly way of teaching them to smile!
 
7.     Never put your hands over your face and giggle if you’re embarrassed to talk to a foreigner!  BE CONFIDENT!
If you don’t understand something a foreigner says, say “I’m sorry. Can you repeat that?” or “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

 ***Most young Korean girls between the age of 12 - 25 put their hands over their faces and giggle like this!  They're extremely shy, and think it's really cute to do that!  Being cute is basically the equivalent of being hott in America!  Every girl wants to be called "cute"!

8.     The X symbol you make with your arms when you're saying "No" or "I don't have any", is VERY RUDE to a foreigner who doesn’t know what it means! 

9.     In America, it is okay to show your shoulders and cleavage at work, but if you wear a skirt, or dress, above your knees, it’s considered too sexy.  
*** I am currently wearing a dress that is 6 inches above my knees, and it's TOTALLY fine, but since it has a v-neck, I'm wearing a tank top underneath!  My co-workers said they love my outfit today!  Go figure!

10. Older people are not given special treatment in America. 
* There are no special places on buses or subways for them to sit.
* Families rarely take in a sick grandparent. They usually move them into a “home” for old people and they stay there until they die.
* Older people are usually considered a nuisance in American society.

 *** We definitely have something to learn from Koreans here!  The elderly are regarded as really important, wise and the matriarch of the family! 

11. If you are 21 years old (or older) and are still living at home with your parents, you are considered a loser.
* People assume you are irresponsible and play video games
all day! 
*** Koreans live at home until they get married!  I currently have a 40 year old co-worker who STILL lives at home! 
  
12. Sixteen (16) is the legal driving age in America.
* If you are 18, without a driver’s license, you are considered to be lazy or irresponsible.
* High School parking lots are usually filled with cars, owned by Juniors and Seniors. 
*** My 35 year old female co-worker JUST got her license last week!  It was a huge deal, as most Koreans don't drive, but rather take public transportation!

           13. You don’t have to pay for grocery bags or carts at the supermarket in America!
*** Want a grocery bag or cart in Korea, you're gonna have to pay for it! LOL!

Hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse into my life in Korea and the funny cultural differences that I experience on a daily basis! 

Travel Agent!

It's times like this that all I want to do is
cry out for a travel agent to come rescue me from the madness 
of trying to figure out the best price AND the best schedule to fly from South Korea to 3 different states, in the course of 17 days!  I usually love and live for schematics, statistics, and scheduling things, but airline ticket prices change soooo darn frequently (with seemingly no particular rhyme or reason), and 30+ hours of trying to figure the whole system out is ENOUGH for this girl!  If I see another Orbitz, Expedia, Travelocity, CheapOAir, Kayak, USAirways, Delta, AirBusan, Air China, or American Airlines website again, it'll be TOO SOON
 
Sigh.... $1871.93 later (ouch!), ALL of my flights have been booked.
(All 8 of them!  Eeekkk)
I'm coming home!
 
Leaving Pusan, S.K. Dec 23
North Carolina (Dec 23 - Dec 27)
Arizona (Dec 28 - Dec 31)
Califoria (Dec 31 - Jan 7)
Arriving back in Pusan, S.K. Jan 8

Monday, September 26, 2011

Stella and her guy!

Last night, my first co-teacher, Stella (이은희) and I met in Seomyeon for some shopping and girl time... It had been a while since I'd seen her, so we had a LOT of catching up to do! :)
 A couple hours later, we met up with her new boyfriend, 퍙철, for some delicious galbi on the bone, which I had never tried before!  For the record, it's FANTASTIC!  Yumm!

Introducing Stella's new man!  He was so nice, and absolutely adores her, which made me really happy!  They met at an English conversation gathering, for Koreans, about 3 months ago and have been together ever since! 

I wish Aaron would have been there, so it could have been a double date, but I didn't know her guy was coming until he showed up!  Next time, I'm going to have them over to my place for some pizza and double date action!  I've definitely been blessed with great friends since coming to Korea!  Stella is no exception!

Sunday hike to Seokbulsa

Seokbulsa Temple (석불사) “Stone Buddhist Temple”, is rated #1 of 68 things to see in Busan, and #27 of 6,196 sights to see in Asia, according to Lonely Planet!  So, when I woke up Sunday morning and the weather was perfect for a hike, I asked Aaron to come along ...and off we went!

Now, as a side note, for anyone wanting to go here, take the subway to Mandeok station (line 3) and take the # 4 exit.  Then immediately hail a taxi!  Just say "Seokbulsa - ooEyay"  This basically means, please take me up the hill to Seokbulsa!  $4.00 later, we had arrived, and bypassed the almost 2 hour hike up the mountain!  Now that's what I call a successful shortcut (or lazyness, but whatever!)! 

We hiked a total of about 2 minutes to get to the entrance of the temple... 

...which was all locked up!   Apparently this was the original main gate, but has been off limits now for years...

So, we continued up the hill to this intricately painted archway, which serves as the new entrance to the temple complex! 
When we entered the temple grounds, we found that the temple is indeed made of stone. Not that we ever really doubted.  There are two stone buildings at the entrance and a beautiful 3-story stone pagoda in front of the main building.

Once we passed through the center of the two buildings above, we were greeted with an awe inspiring work of Buddhist art. There are several images carved along the stone walls on either side. 



The bell tower, where monks come to bang the drum and awake the gods...

From the bell tower, you can see all the way to the Gwangan Bridge! 
And that's even on a somewhat hazzy day like today!
A set of stone stairs leads up to the left of the main stone carving, to a Sanshin Alter (산신단), a place for worshiping the mountain spirit. I don't know how Buddhists keep track of all of their gods and spirits! Seems like there are thousands!

There two pairs of shoes were waiting patiently outside of the Sanshin alter, while their owners bowed inside.

Looking down from the Sanshin Alter (which is also the tallest point of the temple grounds) gives you another vantage point for admiring the immense carvings and the surrounding landscape.

Aaron and I sat up here, for a while, playing Farkle (aka: 10,000) and enjoying our snacks that we had brought along!
If you look carefully, you can find some of these miniature buddha statues laying around temples in Korea.  This one happened to have some money laying beside it (the equivalent of less than a penny!)

This buddha statues and the candles that accompanied it were tucked back in a little cave in the mountainside...

I can't imagine carving all of these!  They're amazing!



Inside the main temple building are hundreds of these bronze buddhas, lined up in rows.  Koreans came in and out, all afternoon, bowing to these statues.

This alter was set up in the smaller temple building.  I have no idea what the symbolism is of this painting or the candles.  Wish I had a little history lesson before going, but there's really not all that much online about this temple!


We thought about staying for the sunset, but it was getting really cold, so we headed back down the mountain, stopping to enjoy the wildflowers along the way...

... and the graveyard too.  Creepy?  Yes, a bit!

I found this little Jeju god sitting in the graveyard, all by his lonesome.

On our hike down, we spotted an exercise park, which are quite common on mountains in Korea!  We had a fun time playing on all the weird equipment!

Tah dah!  Yes, this thing actually turns you upside down and you hang from it...
and no, I didn't figure out the apparent benefits of hanging upside down on it!

Who wants to go skiing?!

Now, this thing was GENIUS!  You can lay your cell phone on a dock of sorts, and the friction from the rubber bands against the metal will actually CHARGE YOUR CELL PHONE as you work out!

We left the exercise park and continued on our way, basking in the gorgeous sunset!

We lucked out and were able to catch a taxi down the rest of the mountain!  About an hour later, Aaron and I met our friend Keely and her boyfriend (who was visiting from the US), in Seomyeon, for a little dinner date!  It was the perfect ending to a fabulous outdoorsy Sunday!

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Wait, is that a keyboard guitar?

A couple weeks ago,  Aaron and I were walking to a restaurant in Nampodong when we heard some music coming from down the street. Usually this means there's a special performance of sorts, so we went to check it out!  Turns out, it was a store opening performance, where these three girls were playing electric instruments, singing, and dancing around in short shorts and stilleto heels, hoping to bring in potential customers!   If that's not enough to make you giggle, this surely will... One of them was playing a keyboard guitar, 80's style, and their song choice: "Cotton Eyed Joe!"

I tell ya, there's never a dull moment around this place!

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Dinner Party!

Last night, Aaron, Okk, Craig (Okk's other foreign co-teacher) and I had a little dinner party at my place! :)  Aaron helped me cook up some Vietnamese "make your own spring rolls" ingredients!  We love these things!  You dip Vietnamese rice paper in hot water and it becomes like a tortilla, and you can put whatever ingredients you want inside!  We used egg, crab meat, ham, cheese, chicken, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, mushrooms, red and green bell peppers, and some carrots... and Aaron made his famous Vietnamese peanut dipping sauce! Turns out it was a big hit! :) 

We all sat on the floor in my bedroom (because that's how we do things in Korea!), and had the best time laughing, chatting, playing a phobia game (thank you Aaron for your creativity!), and just enjoying each others company!

Craig and I (and my apron!).

Aaron and Okk.

Cheers to good friends, yummy food, and lots of laughter!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Off to the races!

Last Sunday, Aaron and I rode the scooter, an hour away, to the Busan Gyeongnam (Horse) Race Park...

...where, after parking in the very front row (SCORE)
and paying our .75 cent admission fee (DOUBLE SCORE!),
we found a seat in the outside area of the 32,000 person grandstand...

... and joined the crowds of excited families!  (Yes, families!)  Horse races aren't just for the fancy hat wearing rich folk in America, it's for little kids, too!  They were making up all kinds of cute cheers for the horses they wanted to win the race!

We quickly got settled in, and watched the horses and their jockey's warm up for a bit...

...and then placed our first bets!  Don't be fooled though... it wasn't quite that easy!  We had been here once before, but couldn't remember how to make bets!  So, first, Aaron went on a mission to find betting scantron cards and a list of all the horses and their stats! Luckily, we had our iphones to do some translating, so we had a rough idea of what we were actually doing!

My first bet was for a whole, whopping, $3.50!  I bet that either horse #1 or #8 would win the race!  Luckily, horse #8 won the race... YAY! 

But, it only paid out something like 1 3/4 what I bet, so I actually lost about 25 cents!  Oops!  Lesson learned... don't bet on two different horses to win 1st place!  
Just pick one!

After that race, Aaron found an English pamphlet explaining all the different bets you can make, so the next 3 races, I was a big winner!

...and by big winner, what I mean is, I won $7.00! 
Hey, every dollar counts, right?!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

"I wanna make that!"

"Oooh, I wanna make that!" has been something I've found myself saying over and over again this week as I've browsed Pinterest, my new favorite website!  So, yesterday, I decided to make some of those things I've been saying I've wanted to make... although, since I live in Korea, and I can't exactly drive to my local Home Depot, Joanne's, or Michael's for craft supplies, I had to put my resourceful cap on and think outside of the box, to use the things I knew I COULD get in Korea! 

Inspiration # 1:  DIY Coasters!
These were made with 4 inch x 4 inch tiles, some craft paper (Mod Podged) and a piece of felt glued to the bottom.  I will definitly be making these THIS way when I eventually move back to the US, or find a tile store in this country that will sell me 4 tiles! 

Unfortunately, since I have no idea where any tile stores are, I went to where I knew I could find something that would work just as well, DAISO!  DAISO is kind of like the dollar section at Target, but AN ENTIRE STORE worth of it, and they have everything - not always a $1.00 though, from kitchen supplies, school supplies, home decor, gardening tools, baskets, bath accessories, makeup, oragnaizational stuff...  It's fabulous!  Anyhow, I found these tiny sauce dishes for .90 cents each, and figured they would work just fine as coasters.  Originally, I was going to use them upside down, like in the picture, but later decided to set them right side up, so the cup could sit snuggly inside.  I also bought a small roll of handmade Korean traditional paper in a nearby market for $1.00 to cover them with!

The final product!  They're not perfect, but that's the point, right!  Anything handmade should look a little like it was! 

Inspiration # 2: Covering flowerpots
(or in my case, a wine glass!)
I had some paper left over and had seen this tutorial for covering flowerpots...  http://www.christinechitnis.com/2010/01/pretty-pots.html...
... but decided to cover an empty wine glass instead, which now humbly sits upon my refridgerator as decoration!  It's cute from afar, but not so great up close!  Patience is not one of my strongest virtues, and this sometimes carries into my projects!  lol

Inspiration # 3: Crafty envelopes!
Lastly, I saw these envelopes a couple weeks ago and thought they were so cool and creative...

So, I took the final scraps of paper that I had, and a couple HomePlus paper grocery bags and made my own version of the crafty envelopes!  Mine, however are brown on the inside, with the fancy paper on the outside!  Now I just have to start writing letters again so I can actually use them!
 
If you're not already a fan of pinterest, you should be!  We can follow each other and get inspired to be creative!  My username is: JillinKorea... Fitting, right?!
So, that's what I've been up to this weekend!