Village Lunch

Teaching as a Native English Teacher (NET) in Korea is sometimes confusing.  You can probably guess some of the obvious problems lol.  So, this time of year is especially hectic as it’s the end of the school year.  There are cancelled classes for finals, school festivals, school plays, exams, teacher workshops, etc etc…  These are the things I knew about from being here last year at this time…but my schools still manage to surprise me.

Today, I was at one of my branch schools (actually my favorite school that I work in, Yun-duk….the students and teachers are just the sweetest, and fun, and well~the best lol.)  So I got the bus this morning and was talking to my friend Minwha (she is an assistant teacher who also works at Yun-duk and I help her study English), she asked me if I knew about going to see a performance today with the Yun-duk “family”/school.  This was the first I heard about it, so I said no, I hadn’t heard.  She just shook her head and that was that…so I knew something was up with today, I knew it wasn’t gonna be a normal day lol.

I asked one of my co-teachers when I got to school about the performance we were gonna be seeing and she said it was going to be a traditional Korean dance performance….and that we were going to Seoul at 3:00pm!  I was like, “Wowa!  Wait, I can’t go to Seoul today, I have to finish my lesson plans for my winter camp and send my main co-teacher a material list, etc. ect!”~~All of this being in my head of course 😉  So, I asked her if I had to go too, and thank goodness she said no…

After my 3 morning classes it was time to go to lunch…at this school we have a wonderful cook and we eat in the tiny kitchen/dining room on the floor, traditional style.  Well, today we didn’t eat here at the school.  As we were walking out of the classroom my co-teacher told me to go get my coat and gloves for lunch….that we were going out for lunch.  I was thinkin, “Damn!  I don’t get to eat the awesome Yun-duk food today… :(”  So we all, I mean all of us, students and teachers piled into 4 cars lol…which is one of the things in the US we would NEVER do…  We drove to the village square (2 very small buildings) where the WHOLE village was to eat lunch together (about 90 people lol).  I felt like a doll in a store window that all the little girls wanted to play with but couldn’t because they didn’t speak the right language.  All the ajuma’s (old ladies) were ooooing and awwwing over me lol.  I don’t think I have had to bow and shake so many old people’s hands in my life.  It was really quite fun and they had delicious food…so I ended up not missing out haha.  I just wish I had brought my camera today!  I still don’t know exactly why they were having this big lunch-on thing but it was pretty awesome to be a part of.

We got back to the school, I finished up my planning and material list, and at 3pm the students left for Seoul.  Now, it’s just me and Mr. Chew (Jeew) the handy man chillin together in the school office.  I have my fingers crossed that he will decide to go home early since I ride with him and we both are really bored…ya never know in Korea lol!!!

Saturday, August 28

Today was a rather interesting day.  I went to the hospital to get allergy tested.  So here I am, walking up to the entrance where I went to get tested in the fall of last year for H1N1 which is now under heavy construction.  Some workers were looking at me like I was crazy but I went on with my business.  I walked past a sign I can’t read to the doors of (what I guess to be) the E.R.  No response to the automatic doors.  Bad sign lol.  So I venture around to another door where there were a bunch of old men smoking their cigs, I politely nod my head and walk into the building.  No one.  I walk around thinking “This is crazy.  I knew it wouldn’t be open on a Saturday.”  (Sue, my sweet sweet co-teacher told me it would be open…but I should have known better lol.  Love her heart.)  I decide to get the heck out of that creepy place and walked back out into the safety of daylight.  (Not that I actually thought anything would happen to me, it’s just that Yeongwol Hospital reminds me of a 1950’s mental institute…and apparently I am not alone bc they are remodeling.)

I called Sue just to let her know I was leaving the hospital and that it was closed.  Of course she then says “Oh!  Robyn…it’s Saturday!  It’s not open today.  I’m so sorry!”  I couldn’t be mad, I just laughed and told her I was going to the pharmacy to get over the counter allergy meds.

I walked into the packed pharmacy, looked around to see if I could find allergy medicine.  No luck.  I called Sue again to have her ask the pharmacist about it.  They chatted and I waited.  The lady handed my phone back and told me to wait.  Five minutes later she came to me and was talking so fast I had to tell her to slow down.  I finally got that she was telling me I had to go somewhere else.  Where, I didn’t know lol!  She ended up taking me by the arm and walked me 2 doors down to a doctors office, pointed upstairs, gestured a prescription and then pointed back to the pharmacy. (All of this was very nice, not like it would be most of the time in the West.)  So, I went upstairs and saw a new doctor.  His English wasn’t as good as my usual doctor, Dr. Won (who the English speakers call Dr. Money hehe), but we worked it out and I got my prescription for allergy medicine.  (Side note:  In Korea if you have a stuffy nose, the dr. will spray numbing stuff up your nose and then stick a suction rod up there…I hate it.  He tried to do this today and I told him “an-joy-y-o” or “I don’t like it” so he smiled and put it back in it’s spot among all the other metal probing devices…thank goodness.)

I went back to the pharmacy then, relief was in sight.  I handed my prescription proudly to the pharmacist who gave me a chuckle and told me to be seated.  His assistant gave me a vitamin C drink (which is common practice in Korean pharmacies) and within a few minutes I was ready to go.  I got 7 days worth of pills that I take twice daily and a liquid that I take 3 times daily…it tastes like really strong green tea.  Best part of it all was that it cost less than 12,000 won…or about $10 for both the doctors visit and meds.  Well, maybe the best part was that it all only took about 35 minutes?  I love this country.

New to the Blog World

So, I’ve been living in South Korea for a year now and finally decided it’s time to start a blog.  I’ve experienced some pretty amazing things in my first year and feel a bit bummed that I didn’t take the time to jot any of it down in a journal or…a blog.  My friend Erika pointed out to me that we need to take the time to write about what we do and see here.  It all becomes part of our “normal” lives, so things like serving fresh fruit with mayo isn’t odd (or disgusting) to us anymore and we forget to mention these simple oddities to our peeps back in our mother lands.  Alas, I will try my best to keep this blog running…telling everyone, and reminding myself, about my crazy life in Korea.