Thailand vs. Korea

So everyone keeps asking me which I like more, Thailand or Korea? So here's my assessment:

Food:
- Both are spicy. After living in SEA (Southeast Asia), Korean food doesn't seem as spicy as I would probably think if I hadn't lived in SEA. So, I can eat Korean food with ALMOST no problem. Thailand does have more flavor, and I do crave my favs; Massaman Curry, Tom Yom, and of course my Gai Tawt and Cow Nyow. However, I do have some favs here too; Bibimbap, Bugoggi, Koren BBQ.
- Thailand: the tradition is to share food.
- Korea: the tradition is to get 15+ side dishes no matter what you ordered.
- 1 meal is Thailand = $1usd
- 1 meal is Korea = $10-$15

 Thailand gets the win.


Weather:
- In Thailand: it is summer YEAR ROUND! That means you can "beach it" WHENEVER YOU WANT.
- Thailand and rainy season? It's a joke. 
- In Korea: all four season take place. That means beach weather, AND snowboarding weather. 
- Korea and rainy season? Oh, that's almost EVERYDAY!

Thailand...another point.

People:
- Thailand: Always happy, smiling, and genuinely nice.
- Korea: no smiling (against their culture), friendly, drink during the day (its their culture).

Thailand squeaks out another point (even with Korean's day drinking).

Prices:
- Thailand: a giant dollar store
- Korea: cheap electronics (from what I hear), but everything is over a dollar.

Thailand again.


Language:
- Thailand has 5 different tones....aka "cow" has 5 different meanings depending how you say it.
- Korea has NO tones!

Korea has finally made it onto the scoreboard.

Lifestyle:
- They are both Asian countries, FYI so it is similar.
- Thailand: more laid back, more markets, everyone is "outside centered" (due to the weather), Buddhist
- Korea: more strict, less holidays, more drinking

Thailand gets another point.
 
Landscape:
- Thailand: Temples and Buddhist statues everywhere, islands
- Korea: Mountains, islands, rolling hills

Korea with it's second point!

Teaching:
- Thailand: Make your own lesson plans, give assignments, give tests, record grades, record attendance
- Korea: Point and Click from a CD, play a game, no tests given

Korea for the ease of teaching!

Ok - so let's round up the scores:
Thailand: 5
Korea: 3

Yup, I could already tell you that as of now, I like Thailand more. I don't dislike Korea by ANY means, I find it quite interesting and a great adventure. Remember, I have only been here for 3 weeks...so maybe I will fall in love with winter and it will surpass Thailand/SEA in "Apes points". Only time will tell...

Ghamsamnida,
Apes :)

Collection of Photos (of the mobile kind)

So I realized I take random pix on my smartphone...but then I never upload them. So here ya go, and enjoy!

My first sunrise...on the bus to Jeonju

Another sunrise...same day, diff pic.

REAL Korean BBQ!!!

Some of my middle school girls on their walk to school.

I don't know how to rotate this, but it's the toilet seat controls!

Basic teaching "slippers"

TYPHOOON winds!

Main Street.

Again, don't know how to rotate - but check out the bike lane.

My Friday school slippers - Classy Burberry print.

View from my front balcony

Fresh fruit from my landlord :)

And there we go...my phone is all cleaned up!

Ghamsamnida,
Apes :)

I like Mail...

...and here's my address :)

April Mislan
English Park
Korea Jeollabuk-do
Jinan-Gun, Jinan-eup
Gun ha-ri 158-1 beon Ji

So feel free to send over some love, in the form of care packages :)

Ghamsamnida,
Apes :)

What I am getting paid to do...TEACH!

So now that I am in week 3 of teaching, here's a little about my schools.

Monday-Tuesday: Jinan Girls Middle School
This school is about a 10 minute walk from my apartment, which isn't bad so far. I have all the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd year middle school girls. I have 2 classes each of them. So on Mondays I have 3 classes, and Tuesdays I have the remaining 3. The class sizes are about 20-30 students, so not too big. The girls are SHYYYYY though. I figured with no boys in the class they would participate more, but nope! One class doesn't talk at all! For these classes, I teach the first 4 pages in each chapter and then play review games. There is a CD that I follow also, so I show up and click around on the computer while the students do the work.

Wednesday: Ocheon Elementary School
For this school, I take the bus in the AM. It is about a 5-10 minute ride, and I catch the 8:30am bus. I have 2 classes. My first class is both the 3rd and 4th year Elementary School students, and I teach them for 2 periods. One week I teach out of the 3rd year book, and the next week I teach out of the 4th year book. Weird, I know. For my next class, the 5th and 6th years I also teach for 2 periods. But this time I teach out of the 5th year book for the first period, and then out of the 6th year book for the 2nd period. I am finished teaching by lunch, and then I have the afternoon to work on my plans for the following week.

Thursday: Jeung Seng Elementary School
For this school, I get picked up in town and driven to the school. Works for me! I teach 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th year elementary students. Each class has about 7-10 students, and I again just follow the book and CD.

Friday: Donghyang Elementary School
 This school has me taking the bus again, and I ride with one of my students. I teach the same grades here - 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th year students. This is my favorite school. The classes are small still - all less than 10 students. The students are all playful, and love me - each week a different class asks me to lunch. They dance on their breaks, and have me playing games with them between classes. I am finished again by lunch, then after lunch I head home on the bus. I am home by 2:00pm each Friday :)

At each school, I am given lunch - and so far, I always love it! The lunches consist of rice, soup, a spicy dish, and a vegetable. Sometimes there is fruit, or even sweet ice tea (southern style!!). Since I am at a different school each day, I won't be eating the same style every day. The soups are usually my favorite :)

Also, at each school I don't wear shoes. I get to school, and change into "slippers" that are provided. At my Friday school, I only wear slippers on the first floor, then I have to take them off to teach on my floor. Yup - teaching in socks! That means I need some THICK, WARM socks (hint hint).

Ghamsamnida,
Apes :) 

My Apartment

So this weekend I got a little more settled - I fixed up my apartment.

I live in a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment. I have 2 balconies, a kitchen, and a living area.

I arranged my room to my satisfaction (as much as I can). I am looking to get another closet hanging stand to hang up the rest of my clothes, and then a rug for the winter. Then that room will be complete.

Yes, I brought my Skins jersey AND my Longwood Scarf to Korea!

In the kitchen, I moved my fridge to my kitchen (it had been in another room) and now it is MUCH more convenient. I also have a microwave, toaster, and gas stove-top. The oven doesn't work :( and neither does the juicer :( I think I can get the juicer fixed though!

Woo Hoo - I can cook again!!!

In my living area, I set up my desk to do my school work on, and arranged a second table for any magazines/mail people send me (hint hint) and just random stuff. I also set up my chairs for a seating area (which is useless at the moment since my cable is out), and a sofa-like structure of blankets.

Living Area - the front balcony is beyond it.

The spare room is just a storage room for me. It's where I keep my luggage, empty boxes, etc. It is also where I keep my school materials. With 4 schools, with 4 classes at each, I have to keep all the books separated.

Nothing exciting in this room.

And my Bathroom - YES, that IS my washing machine in front of my shower.

So there we go, my apartment has been "Apes-ified". I know I will fix it up more once I get paid and can get little things such as shelves and whatnot.

Ghamsamnida,
Apes :)

Thursday school driver

So on thursdays a teacher picks me up and drives me to school. Well, this thursday he shows up and tells me his car is already at the school. Hm, ok?  He tells me its because he had beers last night in the city. So here we are, hailing a cab to get to school.

Last week he forgot me altogether, so I'm interested to see how next week goes...

Gamsamnidah,
Apes :)

TYPHOON IS A'COMIN!!!

Last night the early parts of the Typhoon started coming through. The wind rattled and howled all night, making it hard to sleep. During the last typhoon a few weeks ago, schools were closed, so rumors went around that they would be closed sometime this week.

So this morning, I wake up and hikde to school in the downpour. This would be the perfect weather for either my rainboots, or crocs. Or an umbrella that wasn't broken :(

By the time I got to school the whole front of me was soaked, and I was chilly! So I switched my shoes (into the 'slippers') and tried to dry off in the bathroom.

After the morning meeting my co-teacher told me all afternoon classes were cancelled due to the weather. Then, all morning classes would be 5 minutes shorter so we can be finished with school by noon. BUT - we would still eat lunch in the cafeteria. They are not sure if the teachers will stay all afternoon, or if we get to leave, but I don't mind an afternoon off of classes already.

Plus I got my schedule that will go up to the middle of October.
Today and tomorrow - finish Chapter 8
Next week - finish chapter 9
The following week (Oct 1-3) - THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!
Followed by midterms that I help proctor (none of the tests will be mine)
Then I end (Oct. 15-16) with my oral exams.
Then I will get to regular teaching again.

I'll post later how the Typhoon is going.

Gamsamnidah,
Apes :)

Weekly Thoughts.

Random thoughts/happenings at school last week.

- While walking to school on my second day, one of my students bowed to me in the street :)
- Koreans don't eat the skin of grapes. They suck on the grapes, then spit out the skin.
- Carrots helping your eyesight MUST be a myth. There are carrots in EVERY meal, but the majority of the locals wear glasses...and the big, black rimmed ones.
- Students AND teachers  keep "slippers" at school. Once they get into the building, they take off their shoes and put on their slippers to wear for the day. Including the principal in his full suit.
-My students picked English nicknames for themselves. One of the girls chose "Pig King", one of the boys chose "The Boss"

Gamsamnidah,
Apes :)

Bibimbap...a food, not a dance.

So I was taken to try the famous Bibimbap. And I fell in love with it. Here's how it works.

1. Have your Korean friend order.
2. Wait for the 15-30 side dishes.
3. Nibble on the sides while you wait for the main dish.
4. Watch the "mixer women" come out with the "main dish" and use their mixing technique to prepare it for you.
5. Eat the main dish.
6. Eat the leftover rice from the main dish that has been steaming and turned into a rice soup.
7. Breathe.
8. Pour back the cold desert rice soupy dish they just served you for desert (different from step 6).
9. Wonder how Koreans stay so skinny.
10. Enter the food coma.

Confused? Ok, ok. I'll add a picture, maybe that will help.

My first bibimbap meal!!

The small white bowls are what come out first. Since there were only 2 of us, we only got 15 of them. They ranged from different styles of Kimchi to pumpkin mash, vegetables, fish, and so on.

The big bowl is a mix of rice, meat, vegetables, and egg. It is served separated in the bowl, with the egg sitting on top. Then the servers mix it up CRAZY fast and it looks like the above. It reminded me of a mexican bean salad! (well, a Korean version of one).

Then, since they don't use your whole serving of rice in the main dish, they add some water to it, and keep it in a boiling pot on the table while you eat. So once you are finished eating, you can eat that and it refreshes your mouth and makes it taste clean.

And THEN they bring you dessert. A cold rice sweet soupy thing.

Tonight I will explore the awesomeness of Korean BBQ.

Gamsamnidah,
Apes :)

The beginnings of Jinan.

Jinan. That is where I live now. It is a small town in the South Wastern Part of SKorea. By small I mean like 15,000 people live there. BUT, it is about a 30-45 min bus ride to Jeonju, which is a pretty sweet city by what I've seen.

Once I was picked up by my school and taken to the town, I got the preliminaries out of the way; contract signing, medical check, teacher introductions, and MY APARTMENT! More on the awesome-ness of my apartment in a later post....

While we were out in town, my guide (DonMiyoung) took me to lunch and I got BIBIMBAP!!! MMM....there will be another post on that as well later, along with other Korean staples :)

While I was unpacking I got my first visitor! It is the other western girl who lives in town (Jaclyn, from South Africa). She came to say hello, and tell me about the plans to meet the rest of the westerners that night at a coffee house. There are about 10 of us.

Anyways, she comes back to "pick me up" aka escort me by walking with me to the coffee house since I would have NO clue as to where it was. Once there, I met 5 of the others; Elise and Will - a young couple with a new baby,  Tony - who will be leaving in a month, Rob - who is half Indo/half American, Sam - who had been there for 2 weeks but no one knew he was in town, and Ron - an older man who brought me a phone. Everytime one of them walked in, they would make a beeline for me and introduce themselves as "Oh, you must be April, I am xxxx." They had been waiting my arrival! How great!! After coffee, a few of us headed to a chicken place for some food and drinks. We hung out and had some local beer and Rob and I found out we both are football fans so he is excited he can talk sports with someone. After we hung out there for a few hours, Sam, Rob, and I decided to KARAOKE!!! And...I wanted to try Soju. So we grabbed a bottle and went on our way. A few hours later....we were still Karaoke-ing!

The walk home, we got SOAKED! We walked right through a terrential downpour. Luckily, I knew how to turn on my hot water, so I got nice and toasty in the shower before I went to bed.

Saturday morning I woke up early (stupid jet lag) and met up with Jaclyn and Sam to head into the city for lunch. We met up with Ron and his Korean friend who is super sweet! She is the go-to-woman for all foreigners in Jinan. We then met Ian (from Australia) for coffee, and then did some shopping. I just windw shopped, as I am patiently waiting for my 1st paycheck to buy anything. Although, while I was shopping, I did get chatted to by a Jehovah's Witness. I had NO IDEA they were in Korea!! I was like, ohhhhhh - you dont want to practice English with me, you want to convert me!

Downtown Jeonju

By the time we got back to Jinan on Saturday, I was EXHAUSTED. Between jetlag and walking around all day, I was ready to hit the hay. And I did.

Sunday I just got settled in my place. It was VERY rainy all day, so I just cuddled on my makeshift couch (a HUGE and thick comfortable) and watched TV while snacking on popcorn(!!) and some of my welcome cake. Luckily Jaclyn came over in the evening to show me how to get to my school, and we figured out how to turn the gas on for my stove so I can cook stuff!

Everyone is being so welcoming, and friendly here. I guess maybe because there are only so few of us, and it is a small town. But so far I love it! It's relaxing during the week, then I can go to the city on the weekends to get a little distraction from my small town. And some weekends, I can even take a quick trip to Seoul to be TOTALLY western!!

Gamsamnidad,
Apes :)

Im on a bus...in South Korea!

Two days ago I left America....again.

While I was there, I was reminded what great friends and family I have. That makes it hard to leave, but I know that I am uber lucky to know that when I come back they will be there waiting for me. Some will no doubt have gotten married, become parents, changed jobs, or moved while I am away, but it wont change our relationship.

So to those that I was able to soend time with, thank you :)

And enough sappy from me. I gaimed 10lbs while I was back in the states. That was one month folks. ONE MEASLY MONTH. It was time for me to waddle back over to Asia.

And here I am! After a 5 hour flight to LA, an hour layover (where I was able to check my second bag), and a 12 hour flight...here I am on the 2.5 hour bus to my town.

Its not scary this time around. I thougt it would be since I was doing it alone from the beginning, but I guess after my solo backpacking, I just am not too worried.

We stopped at a rest stop, and I even dared to get some cart food that could have been not what it looked like. Luckily the sugary fried dough looks just like it tastes :) although im pretty sure deep fried carbs arent exactly what my body was hoping for.

Heres a pic of my first sunrise, on the bus from the airport.

Khamsamnidah,
Apes :)