캐서린's Korea Blog

Hey Friends and Fam! This is my third year in Korea...now in the lovely rural area of Busan I like to call THE ISLAND teaching at a small middle school and high school! Though it's out of the way, I still make myself to mainland Busan a few times a week. Hope you enjoy my ramblings and photos~ ^^ ♥Ning/Katherine Current time (KST):

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Just watched an entire 2+ minute advertisement thanks to the cleverness of Hyundai Card. Hats off to them.

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I find this CF so adorable. And, um, GD has his own Vitamin Water line now!?

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My friend and fellow English teacher Tom Gates interviewed me and made this video about volunteering at orphanages in Korea for his blog. There are hundreds of orphanages across the country, and as some of you may know, I'm the volunteer coordinator at three in Busan. It's the main reason I'm so busy and all of my "deskwarming" hours and "internet surfing" free time at home are filled with communicating with volunteers and orphanages about schedules, questions, etc. I post events on the Busan Volunteer Facebook page, so if you're ever around send me a message and get involved!

Don't forget you can watch the video in HD! He did such a good job!

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Jason Mraz on SNL Korea, Saturday night 5/18/2013

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 [패러디 끝판대장] 너도 이제 젠틀맨(You're now Gentleman)-동의공업고등학교

A cute PSY Gentleman parody--"You're Now A Gentleman"--made by Dongeui Industrial High School.

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Every so often a parent, a previous student, visiting administrators, or in this case the orphanage, brings a snack like 떡—traditional Korean rice cake for all the teachers. Today I also got a water tumbler as a “thank you” present. It always makes my day when I get free things!!

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The 520

There’s this thing about my bus. It only comes every hour or hour and ten minutes… When I first moved here almost a year ago, then it was one of the most frustrating things not knowing where the bus stops were or when the bus would come. I’ve since found a time table for when the bus would leave from Point A (Yongwon, the eastern edge of Jinhae) or Point B (Busan station) and have gotten used to the long commute and bus route.

But a new problem has arose. It’s the hikers. Since last year, this island had been growing in popularity among the retired but active. They crowd the bus and it reeks of alcohol and sweat after their group hikes to the mountain peak. It’s not just I’m annoyed by the smell for an hour plus ride to my destination. Lately it’s been so crowded it sometimes doesn’t even stop the second time it comes to my side of the island (it stops at my stop twice so people who want to get from one side of the island to the other can catch the bus every half hour instead of hour). I was stranded once on a Sunday because the bus was so jam packed with hikers. I had plans that night with a short time limit because 10:40pm was the last bus to get back home, so I was forced to call a taxi, wait ten minutes for it to come, and pay ₩18,000 to get to the closest subway station.

Lesson learned, I’ve been catching the bus the first time it comes to my stop instead of the second. It’s added about fifteen minutes to my commute time which doesn’t sound like much considering the hour plus ride I was taking originally but it adds up and it seems a lot longer with the added perfume of sweet sweat and alcohol breath.

I’m looking forward to when the weather gets hotter and the hiking less popular and the bus less crowded…when I can once again enjoy the peaceful quietness of a long commute into the city.

All that aside, I’m currently on the bus on a Friday night after work, typing up this post on my iPhone and enjoying a comfy seat right behind the driver because one of my high schoolers gave up her seat for me. Love them so much!! I couldn’t refuse because she had already stood up and an older lady was eyeing the empty seat. It’s a common understanding between us Gadeok people that we don’t give up our seats for old ladies who came to our island to hike. If they can hike, they can stand on the bus. XP

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K팝스타2 4월 7일 악동뮤지션 - 뜨거운 안녕 (KPOP STAR 2 April 7th Akdong Musician - Passionate Goodbye)

Congrats to the sibling team, Akdong Musician--this season's winner! Several middle schoolers rushed to my class just to tell me the breaking news and show me this video, along with their Mmmbop performance (yep, they covered Hanson).

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Night view of Romance Bridge in Jinhae, Korea.

The Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival ran from April 1st-10th in 2013. This year, the cherry blossoms bloomed earlier than expected, so when I went with three friends yesterday, it was already past its peak. The pale pink petals were already covering the ground beneath the bridge like snow. It would have been nice to see it in the daytime, but the forecast for the weekend's weather was a typhoon, so we changed our plans and went on Friday after work, arriving in downtown Jinhae at sunset. It worked out nicely, actually. The night sky blended the blossoms that were still hanging on the branches together with the newly sprouted leaves to make the branches seem more full with flowers than they actually were.

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Why is this so good together??

쑥떡 “Ssuk Ddeok” (rice cake that’s green because of the mugwort inside) and grape tomatoes! Fresh snacks prepared for visiting parents at the school but a plateful saved for me!

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간짜장 “Gan Jja Jang” — Essentially it’s Jjajangmyun (“Chinese” black bean noodles) but the sauce is panfried and a fried egg and a bit of freshly sliced cucumber is added into the mix.

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Today I had to get my high school seniors to do dance auditions in front of the class.

Student #1: No. Student #2: No. Student #3: No. All other students: No.

Me: Guys, pleeease! [Insert cute 애교 here] Student #1 (after much convincing): After [Student #2] does it, then I will. All other students: Applause!! Student #2: Ahhh…*blush blush blush* (does a short dance move then stops) Me: Don’t be shy, don’t be shy!

Student #2 tries one more time and completes the audition succesfully. The class loves it. I’m happy, but still need more auditions. I look at Student #3.

Student #3: No. I can’t. I don’t dance. Reallllllyyyyy. Never. I can’t. No. No. No.

I look at Student #1.

Student #1: Ahhh, noooo. Me: You promised!! Student #1: Ahhhh…. All other students: Applause!!

Student #1 completes the audition successfully. The class loves it.

Me: Any other auditions? Student #1: Teacher. Me: What? All students: Teacher, pleeeease! [Insert cute 애교 from 20 high school seniors here]

I look at the time and see that there’s only three minutes until the end of class. I smirk, thinking I can outsmart them and that there’s no way ever that they can convince Student #3.

Me: Fine. Only if [Student #3] does it. Student #3: *immediately stands up and walks to the front of the class* Me: *in a panic* There’s no time… All students: Fast! Me: *thinking I can outsmart them again* Um, only if he does a really good audition!

Student #3 completes the audition successfully. He shows the class he has been lying all along. His dance moves are beyond compare. The class is roaring with excitement and victorious cheers. I'm speechless.

Student #1: You promised! Student #2: Don’t be shy!

Their retribution swift, I nod in utter horror. I complete the audition successfully. The class loves it a little too much.

Yes, I shamefully admit I was played by Student #3. But folks, let me tell you, it’s on….like Donkey Kong.

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At 5pm today~^^ There’s this tree that sits outside my middle school classroom facing the high school I see every day. Never knew it was a cherry blossom tree until last week! It’s almost in full bloom now! Love the cherry blossoms and springtime!!

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Les Schoolzeribles -- An eleven minute parody of Les Miserables about a high school student who is a prisoner to night study!! It was made by high school students and features students from Sunhwa Arts High School in Korea. Cute!

*A cultural note: It's normal for high school students to stay at school until 10pm for "night study"...all in preparation for Suneung, their important college entrance exam.

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오므라이스 "OmuRice" -- Korean omelette rice. Fried rice topped with egg and sauce (pictured is a special tomato sauce version). ₩4500

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Finished watching the drama 학교 2013 ("School 2013") while desk warming last week. Wasn't expecting it to make me cry so much. There was no romance, but plenty of other themes that the drama touched on: smoking, studying, cheating, exams, suicide, energy drinks, the hurtfulness of rumors, student ranking, "shuttling" (a new Konglish term I learned where the more powerful students have other students buy things for them), parental pressure to achieve in school, abuse at home, violence against teachers, bullying among students, corporal punishment, school authority, education system policy flaws, gangs, pressure on teachers...I'm sure I'm missing more. But my favorite, probably the most important themes of the drama, was friendship and reconciliation. I loved the loyalty that the two friends showed to Oh Jung Ho, the boy who was the top bully of the school the first few episodes of the show, especially because the story line came as a surprise.

The main characters were not only the students, but the teachers as well. In particular, the teachers focused on were the two homeroom teachers put together to be in charge of the problem Class 2-2: one man who was a famous hagwon (private academy) teacher hired by the school to get the kids' grades up and one woman dedicated to going beyond the call of duty to help her students.

I enjoyed it so much I watched the "special" as well--an hour long talk show where the actors all sat up on stage and talked about the filming, their real ages (one "high school student" was actually well into his thirties! I'll let you guess which one) and their own past school days.

These are some behind-the-scenes photos I found on the KBS site!

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I’ve been horribly sick recently—since graduation day in fact. A bad flu with a high fever, dizziness, drowsiness, a sore body, and a nose and throat infection. The fever and soreness went down after the first couple days but everything else lingered. I managed to still hold the Lunar New Years party at my home, cooking with a protective mask on and constant hand washing to prevent the germs from spreading. I started losing my voice on Monday, got a nosebleed on the bus ride out to meet friends (I know, what was I thinking?), and fell asleep for the first time ever while watching a movie at the cinemas, missing 40 or so minutes of Berlin, a complex North/South Korean spy story (I think!? Still am confused about what happened). On Tuesday, the first day after the closing ceremony and our short Lunar New Year vacation, I walked into work an hour late still feeling horrible and completely losing my voice. A teacher immediately took me to the public health center on the island where I told the doctor my symptoms and without even looking at me, he gave me some free medicine (was told that these free public health care centers were placed in poor areas, but they’re not the best type of care you can get). The vice principal and principal happened to be in the office at the same time so they allowed me to go home early. That day I literally slept all day and night. Wednesday I managed to bring myself to work, feeling rested but still like I had the flu. I was in my cold, unheated classroom all day. The next day, teachers saw I still wasn’t getting better so they heated up the special ed. classroom and made a bed for me there, telling me to sleep there until a teacher was able to drive me to the mainland where I could go to an actual hospital clinic. That Thursday, I learned what I.V. stood for: intravenous therapy. The doctor kept saying I needed intravenous therapy and I didn’t understand what it was until the nurse showed me a large clear pack of yellow fluid. So as another first in my life, I was hooked to an I.V. After two and a half hours of the yellow stuff dripping into my veins, I felt quite energized and strong. I was so enthused, I kept going on and on about it that night at dinner with my friends (my Valentine’s Day dates, haha).

On Saturday after the monthly Boys Town event, I visited the high school Japanese teacher’s new home. She was probably my best friend at the school, and the only person who remembered to tell me about school events, days off, test days, field trips, etc. Because she has been teaching there for four years, she is finished at our school and will teach at another high school in Busan. I will miss her sorely ㅠㅠ She knew I was sick and along with a delicious kimbap dinner, made me this traditional cold remedy: boiled Korean pear tea with jujube dates, ginger, and honey. Really delicious! I want to make it myself but the ingredients are pretty expensive…

Anyways it’s now Wednesday…nearly two weeks since the onset of my flu and I’m feeling much better…just slight cold symptoms now (runny nose and occasional cough). I think the I.V. and Korean pear tea did the trick :P