"I'm very cute, I'm very alone..."

(Post title cred goes to Jeannie from Ferris Bueller's Day Off: "I am very cute, very alone, and  very protective of my body. I don't want it violated or killed, all right?" If you haven't seen this movie, well...please watch it.)

Apologies in advance for the lack of pictures in this post! 

I have never felt more safe anywhere than in Korea. The first week or so that I was here, I was very protective of my stuff and was always looking around to make sure no one could reach my pockets or purse when I was on the subway or on a crowded street. But after a while, I realized that Seoul is just a very safe place. I can't claim to have any sociological or cultural explanations for this, but people can just generally be trusted not to take your stuff or attack or bother you in any way here. 

I would never walk alone at night in Snohomish (my hometown), Bellingham (where I went to university), or Seattle (the nearest major city in my home state). But here, I get off work at 9pm or 10pm every night, and I walk home alone without a single concern for my safety. This doesn't mean that I have abandoned all caution or that I am not aware of my surroundings, but I just generally feel very safe on my walk from work to my apartment at the end of the day. The streets and sidewalks that I walk on are very well lit, and even that late at night there are couples out for a walk, older people stretching and exercising at the park that's next to my apartment, and parents walking home with their kids after picking them up from hagwon. 

This is the street I walk on to get home, at about 10pm:

I'll share a few anecdotes to support my point about how safe I feel here.

Several weeks ago, I was walking from home to work, and I walked by a construction crew of about ten men who were on a lunch break. If I had walked by a similar group in America, I definitely would have gotten cat-called by at least a few of them. However, when I walked by this group, about half of them bowed their heads (as most Korean people do when you greet them), and the rest ignored me and kept smoking and eating. THANK YOU, KOREA.

Last weekend, I was on the subway, coming home from buying groceries at the international market. A seat opened up, and I motioned to an older woman to invite her to take the seat. She thanked me and sat down, and then offered (in hand motions) to hold my grocery bags on her lap because I was standing and carrying my groceries. She was a complete stranger, but I know I could have trusted her to hold my bags without there being any problem. (I didn't let her hold them, only because she was just so cute and old and I didn't want my groceries to crush her!) I've seen older ladies do this for each other before. If one of them takes a seat, they will hold bags for the other person who remains standing, even if they don't know each other.

Another little story: I really wish I had gotten a picture of this one! At the subway station, I was standing next to a man who was holding a briefcase-type bag. On the outside of the bag, there were three or four pockets that were all open (they didn't have zippers; they were just pockets that you could slip something into). And in the top two pockets, he had his smartphone and his wallet. Anyone could have easily grabbed his phone or wallet once we were on the crowded subway, but he didn't seem to have a care in the world about how easily accessible those items were. You would never see a bag like that in America!

I am not writing this post to bash on my home country or to scare anyone about living in America, and I'm also not saying that no theft or other crime ever occurs in Korea. I just wanted to share my perceptions with you all to quell any concerns for my safety and to say "good job" to Korea for fostering an environment where a foreigner can feel safe and comfortable.

To my Korean friends: have I painted an accurate picture? Anything I missed? Am I being naive?

To my friends from Korea or other countries who have lived in America: did you feel safe there? Why or why not?

To my friends and family at home: don't worry about me or my safety! ;)

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Happy American Thanksgiving to all of my friends and family at home (and friends all over the world!)! I love you all and I'm thankful every day for the love that you all bring into my life. 

"Rest and be thankful." ~William Wordsworth

Seoul Sisters

This post may be a little disjointed, but I wanted to take the chance to write about a great group of ladies that I met through Meetup and the good times that we've had lately. For those of you who haven't heard of it, I'll explain what Meetup is and why it's one of the best things that I learned about when I was preparing for my trip to Korea!

To use Meetup, you create an account and select your location and interests. (So, for example, I selected Seoul, South Korea, and listed my interests as reading, cooking, eating, conversation, hiking, language exchange, photography, volunteering, coffee, vegetarian eating, music, etc.) Then Meetup sends emails about events that are happening in your area that relate to your interests. Within my first few weeks of being here, I got an email about a group of ladies called "Seoul Sisters" who meet up to have brunch or dinner or coffee, and I decided to go check it out!

The first Meetup that I went to was at Neal's Yard, a brunch place in Itaewon. It was such a diverse group: one woman is a grad student who is studying English, another is a professor of English, another is a stay-at-home mom, another woman is here with her husband for his business, another is an art-class instructor, and another is a business-English teacher. Everyone in the group was so welcoming and friendly, and I wasn't the only new person, so we just got to know each other and chatted about our jobs, where we're from, and books and movies. The food was delicious too!

At this Meetup, we got to talking about movies and decided we should have a movie night. One woman graciously invited us over to her apartment, so we went the following week and had a little potluck and watched The Heat (HILARIOUS movie, by the way, if you're okay with quite a few swears).

(Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock in all their glory.)

There was another Seoul Sisters Meetup this past Tuesday at The Blue Bridge Winery and Restaurant in Itaewon that doubled as a goodbye party for one of the ladies who was leaving to go back to the US for a few months. I met three new ladies and saw two that I knew already...the group seems to be ever-evolving! 

One of the girls at this dinner was only in Korea for 10 days, so we made plans to hang out again on Thursday night so that we could see her again before she left. Five of us went out for dinner at Sonamuyaa in Cheongdam on Thursday night; here we are! 

One of the girls is an entrepreneur who makes raw vegan chocolates and desserts. She brought some to share, and they were so amazing! I have no idea how she does it! 

After dinner, we took a bus from Cheongdam to Itaewon to have drinks. I hadn't been on a bus in Korea yet at that point, so I didn't know what to expect. But OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS TERRIFYING. Suffice it to say that I prefer the subway ;)

Here we are at whatever bar this was in Itaewon! 

I wanted to take a cab home that evening, but I didn't think I would be able to explain to a cab driver how to get to my apartment. So one of the girls wrote "please take me to Hangnyeoul subway station" on my hand in Korean so I could show it to the cab driver (Hangnyeoul is the closest station to my apartment; I was able to give directions to my apartment from there). The cab driver thought it was so funny when I showed it to him!

It has been so fun for me to get to know new people, have a group of ladies to hang out with, and try out different restaurants in Seoul! Meetup is like heaven for my extrovert's heart! 

I also found out about a free Korean class through Meetup. It starts in December and goes until February, and it takes place for just two hours each Saturday. I registered for the class, and I'm really looking forward to meeting new people there and studying Korean, of course!

In my next few posts, I want to talk about safety in Korea, what a day in my life here is like, what a workout my daily life is, and things that I witness or experience on a daily basis that make me happy. What should I write about first? 

Thanks for reading! 

"in learning, you will teach, and in teaching, you will learn"

Okay, so I FINALLY have something to share with you all about my teaching position at JLS! My first few weeks in Korea were spent setting up my phone and bank account, getting settled in my apartment, attending new teacher training, and so on, so I didn't have anything very interesting to say about my work. Now I have started teaching, and I have lots to share! I'll start off by explaining the basics about my school, and then tell you all a bit about what I've been doing at work recently.

Jeongsang Language School is a hagwon, or after-school academy. The students who attend JLS go to public school from 8:30am-2:30pm, and then go to various hagwons, like piano, math, or taekwondo hagwon. Some students only attend one hagwon each week, but some students attend up to four, five, or more hagwons throughout the week. Although it may be shocking to American people to think that students spend that much time in school, this heavy emphasis on education is truly a core part of Korean culture, and no one here is surprised by it.

JLS is truly an amazing school. The more I learn about this company, its goals, and its programs, the more I realize how lucky I am to be here. JLS has over 50 branches in Korea, and several privately owned franchises. The head office has a research and development department, where former teachers work to develop new curriculum, new resources for teachers, and new class activities. In the head office, there is also a recording studio where the directors of various branches can record teacher training videos to send out to the teachers periodically to help them improve their teaching practices. 

("Delicious English"! You have to love it!)

JLS also has an in-house publishing department, where people write the workbooks and story books that are the basis of the school's curriculum. There are illustrators who draw the images for the storybooks, and voice actors who record the audio CDs that accompany each workbook and storybook.

The branch that I work at is the main branch, which is right next door to the head office! Out of 50 branches, I get to work at the main one!!

The head office is on the right, and the Daechi branch, where I work, is on the left.

The classrooms are not really any different from any American classroom. The students sit in desks arranged in various groups by the teacher, and there is a projector, computer, and desk for the teacher. 

JLS's instructional model is based on student-centered learning. The main principle of student-centered learning involves moving away from the traditional model where the teacher is at the front talking, to one where the students are taking ownership of their learning and collaborating to create their learning experience, while the teacher guides from the sidelines. I ripped this handy little diagram off the internet to help you understand, like the visual learner/teacher that I am :)

Because of this model, JLS puts a lot of emphasis on student presentations, group work, and creative process. This is evident just by walking through the halls or walking into any given classroom...the walls are plastered with students' work!

In the stairwell, there are grammar posters with Korean translation, and the glossary at the back of each workbook has the Korean translation as well to aid in language acquisition. Very helpful!

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Once I finished new teacher training during my first week here, I spent about a week helping out with a "battle" program, in which students from different branches debate each other via webcam. I was one of the emcees for the event. I helped out with this program because there wasn't a class available for me to teach yet. Although emceeing the battles won't be part of my job in the future, it was good for me to see that side of it, since my future students will be participating in these battles against students from other branches at the end of the next semester. 

Last week, I began observing in two teachers' classes. After two days of observation and helping out in the classes, my boss (the director of the branch who is also one of the teachers) asked if I would teach all of his classes the next day. I enthusiastically said YES! I was SO READY to begin teaching classes on my own! Then the other teacher that I had been observing asked me to teach his classes the next day. At the end of that day, my boss asked if I could just cover both of their classes until the end of this month! The two of them are working on developing some new curriculum and a new program for the highest proficiency levels at JLS, and they have a lot to do before the new semester starts on December 1st. So now I am teaching both of their classes and LOVING IT! This was my schedule the first day that I covered my boss's classes:

Yep, you read that right: 10:00PM! The kids are definitely running low on energy by the time we get to 10:00. Thankfully I only have to teach this late one day a week!

So now I am "substituting" for these two teachers until the end of November, which is the end of the semester. When the new semester begins in December, I will get my own classes, and possibly my own classroom! I will share more about my classes when they begin in December.

(Quote cred from my post title goes to THE man, Phil Collins.)

Tongin Market, Jean Art Shop, and Food Week Korea

This weekend, I got to meet up with two friends that I met through IEP (Intensive English Program) at Western! Minji and Ji In came up from Cheongju by bus just to see me...I felt so special!!

We started off the day by heading to Tongin Market, which is a traditional market near Gyeongbokgung Palace (I'm starting to learn this area very well!). 

Within a few minutes of arriving at the market, I was stopped by a giggly group of girls. They explained that they were on a school picnic, and they had to complete some "missions" throughout the day. One of their missions was to take a picture with someone from another country, so they wanted to take a picture with me! Of course I said yes, and here we are!

They were so brave to come up to me and ask questions in English! This happened three more times with other groups of kids. One boy came up to me just after another group left, and, assuming I knew what he was going to ask, he just said "uhhh, picture?" Being the English teacher that I am, I made him ask me in a complete sentence, "Will you please take a picture with me?" The kids were so sweet, and I was happy to help them!

Ji In sent me this cute little comic that explains in cartoon form how Tongin Market works (it's the first market in the cartoon story). You can buy food, clothes, jewelry, and other items that you would expect to be able to buy at a market, but you can also participate in a "buffet-style" type meal. You pay about $5 for 10 gold coins, and then you can turn in those coins at participating food stalls for different foods. 

YOU GUYS LOOK AT HOW BEAUTIFUL THIS FOOD IS. 

We each took a bunch of different things, and then we shared our food with each other (in true Korean style!). Korean people are very generous and love to share :)

Ji In and me, about to enjoy a meal from Tongin Market for the first time!

From there, we took off walking around the neighborhood. I think we were on the west side of Gyeongbokgung Palace grounds. The fall colors are so beautiful here!

We came across an art gallery with an open door and no admission fee, so we walked through it.

We decided to take the subway to Samseong-dong to visit COEX Mall, The subway was SO CROWDED!

COEX Mall was under some renovations, so a lot of the shops weren't open, but even better...Food Week Korea was happening at COEX! We registered and took to browsing for a while.

There were food demonstrations, food competitions, stalls with foods from different areas of Asia, and TONS of people! Most amazing of all were the sculptures and cakes made entirely of sugar.

Did you hear that? MADE ENTIRELY OF SUGAR.

Can we just talk about how long that must have taken??

These cakes were made entirely from rice and whipped cream.

And then there was the bread section. Heaven help me.

We saw so many new things, enjoyed some good drink samples, took tons of pictures, and overall thoroughly wore out Food Week Korea! We lucked out too, because today is the last day of the convention!

At the end of the day, Ji In and Minji gave me some very sweet gifts. The two of them got me a book called "Seoul Survivor: Living and Working in South Korea", and Ji In's mom sent a whole bag of cookies, mini pies, and sweet bean curd rolls that she made at the bakery that she manages. I was so surprised and felt so special...it felt like Christmas!!

I just have to say that I feel very lucky to have such sweet, caring, generous, and kind friends here in Korea. They are the reason that I came in the first place, and they have made me feel so welcome! 

Thank you, Minji and Ji In, for such a wonderful day! You are such sweet ladies, and I am proud to call you my friends.

I PROMISE to write about my job and the teaching I have been doing in my next post! Thanks for reading, everyone!