Loren Christopher

It’s a Saturday morning, just video-skyped with my folks and I figured I would tackle the task of giving the long-awaited update.

 

 

Korea feels like home now….that transition is always amazing to me because I’m never quite sure when or how it happens, but before you know it, it already has. Just walking around my little community during the day I find myself in these moments where I think to myself, “This is MY street. This is my home, etc.” I can’t really describe that feeling, but those of you who have lived abroad for an extended amount of time will certainly know what I’m talking about. It’s a good feeling though.

 

On the other hand, some days as I’m bussling through the crowded subway stations or streets, towering over a sea of shorter people, all with jet black hair….I think to myself, “Holy crap, I’m in ASIA!!” Those moments are by far the most sureal ones, albeit they are also good. It is rewarding though, to finally have discovered so much of this place that before was always a big mystery to me. The far East…the Orient….Asia. Now that I’m so comfortable here it seems almost silly to think of it as such a great mystery.

 

Life is good though. Work had me stressed out for the first few months until I finally resigned myself to the fact that I’m not really here to teach English. I’m mainly a status symbol for the parents, and seeing as how I only see my kids once a week….I am supposed to have fun with them and play games, etc. So, my teaching, or “edutaining” as it’s often called in Korea, has reached a very satisfying point now that the pressure is off. I’m enjoying my kids a LOT more now and actually look forward to going to work each day. Here’s a little comic strip one of my classes made (with the help of my macbook):

 

 

The boys are just a tad bit obsessed with fighting and killing. All those video games they play I guess. And there is certainly much to do around Korea. I took a trip to a small island with some friends not too long ago, and my summer break is on the 26th. I’ll be going to China for 10 days!! My co-worker Ben and I are visiting Beijing and Shanghai and we could not be more excited! It’s fascinating to me to discover the differences between the Asian cultures, and how different they actually are. It will be cool to be there so close to the Olympic games also….I’ve read that Chinese university students are hanging around the McDonald’s in Beijing just waiting for a foreigner to come in so they can practice their English, haha.

 

Some people have asked me about what it’s like to live as a foreigner here….and I have to say it’s not as difficult as I imagined it to be. Not sure what it is I imagined exactly, people running up to me as though I were an alien from another planet? Perhaps. Nowadays in Korea a foreigner doesn’t draw THAT much attention, although I can assure you I don’t go anywhere unnoticed. Occassionally I will hear someone shout “Wae-gookin!!” (foreigner), but it’s mostly younger people or kids.

 

My favorite instances of “foreigner shock” are with really little kids on the subway. The family gets on the subway, and the only empty seat is the one next to me. Now, in Korea people will let really young chidren take the seat….so naturally the parents start directing the child over towards me and that empty seat. At this point the kid hasn’t seen me yet. Finally, the moment is about to come….so I get a big smile on my face and try to look as disarming as I possibly can. “Sit down in that seat” the parent says (in Korean) while pointing next to me. The child whips around happily, ready to hop into the seat and then upon seeing me…..BAAAM. Frozen. Eye contact. Jaw drop. Can’t move.

 

It almost never fails, hehe.

 

Well anyway, I will write more later about my trip to the DMZ and other things you’ve missed out on and so desperately want to know about my fascinating life here. In the meantime I will leave you with a few more pictures.

 

 

 

Well I’ve been having a blast here in the city! Went to the DMZ this past weekend and it was quite a sobering experience. I’ll write more about that later as I have lots of pictures and a lot I want to say about it. My apartment has no more free wireless from my neighbor so it’s been touch and go with the updates. In other news…it is spring here in the city and I LOVE the warmer weather!

I went out around the city with some friends recently and took some video to show you, so enjoy!

So Aubrey came in town to visit me this weekend, and we had a blast! I finally got a new charger for my camera battery (still have no idea what happened to my old one), so I took lots of pictures!!When I first arrived in Seoul there was so much to take care of. As much as I WANTED to sightsee and enjoy my new home, I really needed to secure a job and apartment. Then I had to establish credibility at my new job, and get settled into my apartment, etc….all of which I have done.

So these past couple of weeks I’ve really been getting to know Seoul, and the more I discover about it, the more I love it here.So needless to say, Aubrey’s visit gave me a much needed excuse to get my apartment in tip-top shape and to play tourist for a bit. We went to Gyeongbokgung Palace:

We had a wonderful time here….but I couldn’t help imagining how much better it must look in the spring!

After that we went to a traditional Korean dance and music show, which was really interesting! I learned (and saw firsthand) about some of the ancient dance and musical rituals of Korean history….really cool! Unfortunately cameras were not allowed, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Anyway, it was a great weekend in the city….as I’ve been having lately. Hope you all enjoy the rest of the pictures. I’ll update again soon I promise! Keep the comments coming…

Much love!

 

Oops, I messed up the comment function again, haha. It’s fixed now, hopefully for good!

Hey everyone!  Well, I was sick these past few days so I haven’t been up to anything too exciting lately.  The air is so dry here that I think that’s partly what did it.  I had a TERRIBLE cough…kept me up all night and I lost my voice, but it’s coming back finally.  A couple of my Korean friends went to the pharmacy for me and got me some Chinese medicine that really helped (although it tasted horrible!).  So I’m back in the full swing of things, as of yesterday.  I’m trying to get my own system worked out with my classes.  It’s a little overwhelming with all my classes…I started work so suddenly and they kind of just threw me into it all….so I’ve been trying to get things organized and squared away.  My best friend Aubrey is coming to visit me in a couple of weeks!!  I can’t wait!  It’ll be fun to do some sightseeing with her and introduce her to my friends here, etc.  Also, I’m heading to Japan for a weekend coming up pretty soon.  Oh and it snowed yesterday!  This was the first time it has snowed since I’ve been here….it was so nice watching it from inside my bedroom.  Although walking home from work last night (a two-minute walk by the way) I fell on my butt TWICE!  It didn’t go unnoticed by all the strangers walking along the street with me either, haha.  Oh well, I just had to laugh at myself and get back up.  I’m just know they were thinking something like, “Awwe, look at the silly/cute foreigner!”  

I always like to post some media with each entry, so here are a couple recent pictures of yours truly: 

 

 

 I’m enjoying some Korean BBQ here, which by the way if you have never tried, you are missing out!!

 

 

 

 Hope you’re all doing well.  I’m feeling 100% better now so no worries!

 

Much love! 

Well, the first lessons with my students were always fun. I had them ask me questions, mostly they inquired about where I was from, how tall I am, my age, and whether or not I’m married. Although I did get some oddball questions like “Teacha’, why are you handsome?”, or even “Teacha’, how did you become so tall?” How am I supposed to answer that one? Haha. But when I told them my height in centimeters (190) they instantly became quiet and every single jaw dropped.

They cannot seem to comprehend the fact that I don’t understand Korean…it’s really quite puzzling to them. But fortunately they’re really good about only speaking English in class, so I don’t have to get onto them about that. Let’s see….the average class size is about 15-20, and their ages range from about 7-12. For the most part they are very well behaved, a few of my classes really surprise me actually by how well-disciplined they are. But of course, I do have a couple unruly kids in a few classes….although I’ve come up with a system of discipline and rewards that seems to be working well so far.

So yeah, I really do like my job. It allows me to be my goofy self and crack jokes….I had a few of my classes yesterday in stitches because I was teaching much vs. many when using uncountable nouns. Like they said, “the desert has many sand”. So I asked, “Really? So can you count the sand?” I walked around the room pretending to pick up little bits of sand as I counted, and acted out being frustrated by the task of tallying up all the sand in the desert….they thought it was the funniest thing in the world, haha!

Well, here’s a quick video of one of my classes I had today….kinda short cause I feel weird about recording them, although they seem to think it’s normal so I’ll post more later. Hope you’re all doing well!

Ok…I was wondering why I wasn’t getting comments anymore even though many people are reading the blog. I had changed my settings to prevent spam and it turns out I was blocking everyone! All is fixed though, so you can comment away now!

In other news…I don’t know if you heard, but the South Gate in Seoul was destroyed by arson Sunday evening! I’m so upset by this because I didn’t get the chance to see it before it burned! A 600-year old monument….destroyed. It’s really sickening. Anyway here are the before and afters:





Makes me sick. Check out the New York Times article (click here) if you want to read about it.

On the bright side….I’m going to see Bjork in concert on Saturday!!!

I’m glad you all liked my Vlog! I got a pretty good response from it, so I’ll keep those coming! For now though, here are just a few things I’ve come to find interesting about living in Seoul.

The apartments have heated floors. I find this to be a much better way of heating a room. Not only do your feet never get cold, but as we all know, heat rises. How genius!

Most restaurants have a button on the table that you press when you need service. I find that this is both beneficial to the wait staff, as well as the customers. No more awkward interruptions by your server, no more servers waiting around and nonchalantly passing your table. Just push a button and presto…a group (not just one) of smiling Koreans are at your service!

Ajummas. Literally translated meaning “woman old enough to be married”. See picture below:

Sure, she may look like a sweet lady who just wants to offer you a bowl of kimchi….but if you’re in her way when she’s trying to get on or off the public transportation system then you had better watch out! These women often sport huge visors and/or fur coats. When they reach a certain age they cut their hair short, get a perm, and begin savagely stomping through subway stations, pushing anyone in there way to the side.

The stares. These aren’t as bad as I had previously thought they would be…but I assure you that I don’t walk around this city unnoticed. My height doesn’t help my anonymity very much either, haha. The Korean friends I’ve made so far say that these stares aren’t a bad thing….people are just curious about Westerners so a lot of them can’t help but look. The good thing is that if you look back, they will immediately glance away because they want to avoid any confrontation or awkwardness. This is VERY unlike Czechs, who if they recognized you as a foreigner, were perfectly content to stare at you the entire subway ride as you sat across from them….never breaking face.

Animal hats for kids. As if Korean kids were not cute enough on their own, their parents often dress them up in these animal hats for the winter:





There are many other quirks of this place that I’ve come to find interesting and endearing….so I’ll make these entries part of a continuing series. I always find it most fascinating to learn about these little social facts that really separate cultures….and there are many here, I can assure you.

Hope all is well, and much love!

So I just wanted to post a quick entry to say that I was offered a job and signed the contract. The school is called “JLS” and they’re a very reputable company that’s been around for 21 years. I am SO happy that all the immigration material has been squared away and that we finally got it all figured out. Now let’s just hope all goes as planned this first month and we don’t have any hold ups!

But really quick, about my job. I’m only scheduled 20 hours per week which is VERY good, and I don’t have any blocks in between classes, nor do I have office hours where I’m required to be at the school. I simply show up, teach back to back, and then leave. This is very rare in Korea so I feel lucky to have gotten such a great schedule.

My apartment is a lot bigger than I expected (I move in on Tuesday of next week, they’re furnishing and cleaning it this weekend), and it’s only two blocks from the school and a subway stop! Plus there is a huge E-Mart right across the street from me (like a classier version of Super Walmart, but built vertically). Indeed I am very lucky, and in speaking with the other foreign teachers there they’ve said that it’s a great school and branch to work for.

So…wish me luck on my first day today! I’m a little nervous, but just ready to get started and get the hang of it also. Tonight is my Birthday celebration and I’m bringing my camera. Sorry no pictures in this entry!

Much love!