Arm wrestling students CAN be educational…

Posted on by
Reply

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this blog entry. I promise there will be pictures next week!

Sunday, October 2

I had a lazy Sunday. I stayed in the apartment all day, did a few loads of laundry, finished season 5 of Dexter and watched a few movies. It was nice to have some down time. My stomach was upset all week and seems to be doing better now so I think the rest was exactly what I needed.

Monday, October 3

Monday was the National foundation Day of Korea. I’m not sure what that means exactly, but it’s a national holiday so I had a 3 day weekend. Jamie and I went to Shinsegae, the world’s largest department store. I guess it’s technically a department store, but it’s more like a mall. There are tons of stores within the department store, like Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Gap, Banana Republic, etc. I needed to go there because I had a few gifts I needed to pick up. On the way out, we stopped by the international foods area of the grocery section of the store and I picked up 2 cans of Hormel Turkey Chili and a box of 8 Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Bars for 17,050 won (about $15!). Afterwards, we went to Seomyeon to get a burger at TGI Friday’s. We sat by the window… across the way we saw a bar called COOL and another one called OOPS.

Tuesday, October 4

My students are pretty funny. They notice everything… while I was walking down the hall, some students yelled, “Hi, Meagan! You’re so beautiful!” while running past me. Later on, two girls were amazed by the rings I wear (I usually get asked if they were given to me by my boyfriend). Finally, a 6th grade girl seemed very frustrated with English when she couldn’t think of how to tell me that she noticed I have my hair parted on the opposite side of my head as usual. She did a great job with hand gestures though!

After school I went back to the doctor. It was my first time in since Friday and it was also the longest I’ve gone between visits. I got great news from the Doc! He said that my ear is 70-80% healed and he doesn’t want to see me again until next week. Also, he took out all of the packing so now the only thing I have stuffed in my ear is a single cotton ball.

Wednesday, October 5

Wednesday was our school’s evaluation. Everyone was dressed up. I made sure to wear dress pants rather than just jeans. I tend to avoid wearing my dress pants because they’re all too big and way too long. My jeans are too, but they don’t look as silly when I roll them up.

The evaluation took place in the library, which is on the same floor as my English classroom. Instead of the kids coming to our classroom, we went to the students’ classroom for classes.

After school I went to the grocery store and stocked up on all things breakfasty. That night, I went home and cooked a breakfast casserole (eggs, onion, bacon and broccoli) so I wouldn’t have to go without breakfast anymore. Not only is it the most important meal of the day, but my school lunches have been pretty inedible lately so breakfast is more important now than ever.

Thursday, October 6

Thursday was an interesting day. Our schedule was slightly interrupted because there was a classical music concert during 2nd period that extended halfway through 3rd period.  The concert was lovely. The students yelled en-core at the end so they played “O Christmas Tree.” My co-teacher said that in Korea the song is about a pine tree.

During 4th period, I had my best class. The were playing “Go Fish” with some vocabulary cards from the book. A few students finished the game before everyone else so I went over to talk to them. Somehow arm wrestling got brought up and I ended up arm wrestling 3 girls… left arm, right arm, and then one on each. They were some strong chicks! One of them beat me. I decided that I needed to at least teach them the English word for arm wrestle so that there was some educational purpose to it. They returned the favor and now I know that arm wrestling is 팔씨름 (pal-shil-um).

After class, the girls told the tale of our arm wrestling match to another boy. He was very interested in arm wrestling me. The girls warned me (in their own way) that he might be short, but he is very strong. They were right! As I was arm wrestling him, the girls told me that my face was getting pink. In my defense, so was his. I could see that he was getting tired so my strategy was to hold strong until he gave up. It eventually paid off. And that is my story of how I beat a bunch of 5th graders at arm wrestling.

Friday, October 7

Quotes of the day:

There is a 4th grade boy that has started yelling “What’s the meeting you here? What do you think so?” at me and then running off. Friday was the second time it happened so finally I made him come back so I could try to make sense of what he was saying. He said is slower then skipped off (yes, acutally skipping). I had to figure out a way to make sure this didn’t become a habit. I went back to the office, wrote down what I thought he might be trying to say (“It’s nice to see you. Don’t you think so?”) and took it to his classroom. We’ll see what happens next week.

6th grade boy: “Teacher, your ear have ouchy?” (because he saw the cotton ball in my ear)

My 6th grade lessons were about comparative adjectives. We did a survey to see who was stronger, luckier, taller, etc. We got to arm wrestle for an educational purpose (to see who’s stronger) and many of the students wanted to arm wrestle me. After beating one of the boys he said, “Teacher, you have man power!” So much for girl power…

Saturday, October 8

There is a Korean man named Charles that organizes cultural trips for foreigners in Busan. On Friday night I went on my first “Charles Trip.” I went with my friend Jamie and made a new friend named Nicole. We went to Jinju to the Lantern Festival. We met up at 8pm and didn’t actually leave Busan until close to 9pm. We took a bus to Jinju, walked around for the lantern festival and then headed back. The festival was gorgeous! I ended up getting home around 4am, but it was definitely worth it.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Off to Seoul!… or not.

Posted on by
1

Sunday, September 25

I went to Costco with some friends. It was my first time to shop at Costco since being in Korea. I was in search of a big bag of frozen chicken breasts. I ended up spending about 45,000 won on 6lbs of frozen chicken tenderloins, a loaf of whole wheat bread and L’Oreal Go 360 Deep Clean Facial Cleanser. I see the ads for that face wash every time I watch anything on Hulu and I have been wanting it so I thought, “Why not?”

Monday, September 26

EPIK hires new people each semester and the new people arrived about a month ago. It turns out that 4 new EPIK people moved into my neighborhood (3 girls, 1 guy). Two of the girls had birthdays this week so we went out to dinner to celebrate.

Tuesday, September 27

My co-teacher told me that it isn’t official, but she’s going on maternity leave in mid November and she won’t be coming back until next September. That means that my school will hire a substitute teacher to fill in until the end of the semester. I hope s/he is good!

I went to dinner with JuHye on Tuesday night. We ate at a Mexican food restaurant near Pusan National University (PNU) called Taco’s Family. We had chips and salsa as a starter and JuHye had enchiladas and I had a beef chimichanga. The food wasn’t amazing, but he weather was perfect. I love eating dinner on a patio with a cool breeze blowing through.

  

I heard a Korean guy at the table next to us answer his phone, “Bueno” and it made me happy. Then, he explained to all of his friends at his table (in Korean) that that’s how they answer their phones in Mexico.

Wednesday, September 28

My busiest day!

8:20-8:40 – “Morning English”
Everyday I greet the students as they enter the school and make them read a short dialogue off of a poster.

8:40-8:50 – English Broadcast
I do a live broadcast to the school every other Wednesday and every Friday. On Wednesdays I read a low level children’s book (twice). Today, the principal watched and said it was so interesting that she would listen every day. I hope that’s not her way of telling me she’s considering increasing my air time.

9:00-12:10 – Regular classes
Today I taught 4 classes of 5th graders. It was an easy day… they just studied, took a writing test and played a word game. It’s kind of like scrabble, but they don’t use tiles. They just fill in any word they know.

12:15-1:00 – Lunch
Today we had tuna fried rice, kimchi, a cucumber and onion salad, some kind of fried patty with ketchup on the side and a soup of some sort (I rarely eat the soup). Overall, not bad.

1:00-1:40 Free Period
This is my down time. Today, I bought tickets to the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). Many of my friends and I will be attending an outdoor screening of a Japanese movie called Star Watching Dog.
I usually use the extra time to plan lessons, but today I almost forgot that I had class.

1:50-2:30 – After school class
On Wednesdays I have 6 6th graders that are signed up for my afternoon class. They are all low level. It didn’t matter that I almost forgot I had an after school class today because none of them showed up. I thought last week’s 2 out of 6 was bad!

4:20 – Quitting time! ^_^

4:30-4:45 – Check-up at the doctor’s office
I am 2 weeks post op. My ear seems to be doing much better. The doctor said it’s mostly white (not red and swollen like last week) and mentioned that my veins seem to be taking to the graft. Or something along those lines. He gave me some good news and some bad news. Good news… my ear is 70% healed. Bad news… I can’t go to Seoul this weekend.

You see, on Monday I told him I wanted to go to Seoul this weekend and he told me that he’d let me know on Friday. I just decided that I couldn’t wait until Friday and I was just going to go because I’d been cooped up inside for the past 2 weeks and walking around wouldn’t hurt me. Well, on Wednesday he explained that the reason why I couldn’t go to Seoul is because the fast train would put strain on my eardrum because of the pressure. I didn’t even think about that. That’s something he probably should have mentioned on Monday.

5:00 – Cancel KTX reservations
Yesterday my friend and I booked our KTX tickets for a Saturday departure. Fortunately, it’s free to cancel your tickets online if you do it at least two days in advance, but the fee is still less than 50 cents (400 won) if you cancel it from 1 day – 1 hour in advance.

6:30 – Dinner with friends
I met up with Megan, Sonal and Grace for dinner at the place we just call “the cheap alley place.” The guy there loves us and always gives us something free (“servicee”) every time we go. This time it was free Cider (soda that tastes just like Sprite). I’m sure they don’t get many foreigners coming in because it’s down a small alley, but we were taken by a Korean friend that had been taken by one of her Korean friends. It’s amazing and sooo cheap. A giant meal will cost you 4,000 won (under $4) or less.

Thursday, September 29

My after school class (5th graders) went well. They are all very low level. We played some reading games. There’s only 5 of them and most know basic phonics, but one of the girls doesn’t. It’s quite difficult to figure out how to cater to all of them. My main goal is to just help these kids learn how to read.

I came out of my after school class to find the print shop guy and one of the custodians painting the hallway. Every few years the elementary schools in Busan are reviewed and my school’s review is coming up on October 5th. The school has been in full gear trying to get this place ready. The custodians are cleaning just a little bit harder, there are new flower arrangements in the front entry way, and over the summer the exterior of our school was painted some bright new colors.

Friday, September 30

I teach 6th graders on Fridays. This semester my co-teacher wants me to e the lead teacher and she is the assistant. I am responsible for planning the class and finding material that is suitable for the lesson. It is really good for the students because they are exposed to a lot more English. It’s still a little difficult for me because the students aren’t used to being taught in an English only environment. Friday was pretty exhausting for me. I actually ended up napping in the office for about 30-45 minutes at the end of the day.

After work I went to the doctor then got a pizza from Domino’s and went home. I ate really fast because I was starving. Lunch at school was quite awful and I didn’t have breakfast. Afterwards, I caught up on season 5 of Dexter… just in time for the Sunday night premiere of season 6.

Saturday, October 1

I was supposed to be on a KTX to Seoul, but the doctor shot that down because the speed of the fast train causes strain on the eardrums. Instead, I hung out with my friend, Jamie. We went to Beomeosa Temple. I had been there before, but it’s really beautiful so it was worth going back.

  

I hope you were able to make it all the way through my week. If you read about my week, you should tell me about yours. I miss everyone back home and I want to hear from all of you. Leave a comment or send me a email or Facebook message. OR you could even send me a card or letter in the mail. I would like that. If you don’t have my address, just ask.

Back to School

Posted on by
1

I’m going to attempt to do a few feature on my blog… weekly wrap ups. I guess most people would just call it updating on a regular basis.  I will be giving a weekly update of what goes on in my life. That way people at home can get a sense of what my day to day life is like, rather than just hearing about things I randomly throw up here.

Sunday, September 18

I was finally feeling a little better over the weekend (after having my ear surgery on Wednesday) so I did some much needed cleaning in my apartment and watched shows and movies online.

Monday, September 19

Monday was my first day back at school after being off for just over a week (for Chuseok and ear surgery).

6th grade student: Meagan Teacher! How are you feeling?
Meagan Teacher: I’m okay now.
6th grade student: I love you! [giant hug]

I saw the same girl again on her way to art class and she told me that it’s okay that I’m bad at art because I’m beautiful and art would be a drawing of my face.

Tuesday, September 20

On the back of a 3rd grade boy’s jacket: Bride Girl
It’s the small things in life that make me smile inside.

Every time I walk down the hall, almost every student I see says hi or hello to me. I heard that this was common before I came to Korea, but that the new would wear off and the kids wouldn’t care as much as time went on. That hasn’t happened at my school. The kids are as excited as ever to see me. In fact, on Tuesday as I was walking down the hall I was mobbed by 1st-3rd graders. I mean, literally surrounded by tens of tiny little people saying, “Meagan!” “Hiiii!” “Hello!” It was a bit overwhelming.

Wednesday, September 21

I have 4 classes of 5th graders that I teach every Wednesday and Thursday. I know you’re not supposed to have favorite classes, but I think every teacher does. For me, it’s 5th grade class 4. They are my last class of the day and they just make me feel like the Heavens have opened up just to shine down upon them. They are fun and they love English. They all participate and they answer questions with joy! Their level is overall fairly high so they understand more than other classes. On Wednesday they had a spelling test and they wanted to try to buy as much time as possible so they decided to ask me questions. It started with the typical “How are you?” Then, they asked me if I like tests.

Students: Do you like tests?
Meagan Teacher: Yes, I LOVE tests!
Students: [gasp] Teacher! Why?
Meagan Teacher: Why do I love tests? Because I am sooo SMART!
Students: [gasp and laugh] ……….Do you Korean knowing?
Meagan Teacher: No, I don’t speak Korean.
Students: If you so smart, why you don’t know Korean?

Touché, little ones. Touché.

Thursday, September 22

One of the hardest things about my job is when I see kids crying in the halls and the language barrier prevents me from providing any help or comfort to them. This happened to me on Thursday. I was walking to my English classroom when I passed by some 6th grade boys that were surrounding a girl that was crying. The boys stopped me by saying, “Teacher! She is cry.”

They tried to explain what happened. I think one of them was running and knocked her down on accident. I was proud of them for staying with her and actually caring that they hurt her. I didn’t know what to do so I just asked if she was okay. She didn’t respond so I just rubbed her back and said it was okay. She was still crying to I opted to hold her books and then after a few minutes I helped her up and she stopped crying. I asked her again if she was okay and she said yes and went on her way.

Friday, September 23

When asking a 6th grade class, “How are you?” one boy said “Not so good!” When I asked why, he started saying 똥 (poop) and ran out of the classroom.

My 6th grade students have started writing letters and postcards to 6th grade students in the United States. They are sooo excited to make new friends in America. The letters are adorable. I am worried that the class I was hoping to exchange letters with may flake on me, but I do have a backup plan though.

TGI Payday!!! I was down to 1,315 won (just over $1) in my bank account. I was in desperate need of that paycheck.

Saturday, September 24

On Friday afternoon when I went to the doctor he said “So you don’t have any plans for the weekend, right??” So I took that as his way of telling me that I need to take it easy. The only thing I did all day was buy some groceries, do laundry and clean.

Ups and Downs

Posted on by
1

I went to the doctor again today and he said the graft on my ear looks better than yesterday. He has a camera hooked up to where you can see inside of your ear on a monitor on the wall. He had me look yesterday and it was obviously very pink and inflamed and today you could tell it wasn’t as irritated. He said it was turning back to white, which is good.

He’s really nice. He said, “During the recovery process there will be ups and downs. The past few days we experienced some downs, but we’re working through them.” I go back again tomorrow and probably Monday too.

Afterwards I went to my favorite neighborhood restaurant. It’s a small hole in the wall kinda place. It’s the Korean version of fast food restaurant (no drive thru, but they do deliver). The most expensive thing on the menu is 5,500 ₩ which is just over $5. That is a sweet potato and cheese stuffed fried pork cutlet. It’s much better than it probably sounds. Today, I got 제육덮밥 (jae-yook-dup-bap).  It’s basically stir fried pork and veggies in a red sauce that’s a little bit spicy served with rice. It also comes with miso soup and a tray of side dishes. Every Korean meal comes with side dishes. Today’s sides at the restaurant were kimchi, some kind of potato/macaroni salad thing, fish cakes, and dried anchovies mixed with some sort of green veggie. All that for 4,000 ₩ (about $3.50).

I had to go to a cheap place because I am skint (my new English word for broke). After what I spent today, I only have 1,315 ₩ (less than $1) in my bank account. Thank goodness tomorrow is payday!

Bad News

Posted on by
1

Please say a prayer for me or send positive thoughts my way. I just left the doctor’s office and he didn’t have the best news. Apparently my graft is a little swollen and showing some signs of infection. He says it isn’t anything major, but we do need to keep an eye on it. I’m just gutted because things were going so well. I did mention to a co-worker today that my ear felt a little funny, but I thought it was just because it was irritated from all of the cotton and whatnot that’s been packed in it. Ugh! I really need for it to get better because I do not want to go through all of that again.

Ear Surgery in Busan Korea

Posted on by
3

Medhelp.com says:

“A ruptured eardrum is a perforation of the thin membrane that separates the outer ear from the inner ear. Symptoms of a ruptured eardrum include severe pain, hearing loss, discharge from the ear, or ringing in the ear. A ruptured eardrum may be uncomfortable but will usually heal on its own within a couple of months.”

As you may know, I suffered an ear injury about 8 months ago, before I came to Korea. The quote above says that the eardrum usually heals within a couple of months, but my hole was too big to heal on its own. It was actually about half the size of my eardrum. I got used to it and it didn’t cause me any problems other than a slight hearing loss in that ear and I had to protect my ear when showering.

The surgery back home would have cost me several hundred dollars (maybe up to a thousand) so I opted to wait until I got to Korea. I found a great doctor that speaks perfect English. He only performs surgeries on Wednesday mornings so it was a while before he could fit me in. Last Wednesday was the big day.

ear doctor in Busan Korea

The doctor gave me a mild sedative to take the night before and the morning of the surgery. I went in at 8:20 and was given some scrubs to change into.

ear doctor Busan

Next, I waited in the recovery room until they were ready to take me into the operating room.  In the operating room before the surgery, the doctor made small talk with me and held my hand for a bit to make me feel comfortable. He asked me if my parents were worried and asked if we were Christians. He said he was too. They then attached me to a valium IV and it was go time. The doctor said a prayer for me. It was in Korean so I didn’t really know what was going on until he said, “In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

The surgery was simple and involved grafting some of my own skin, taken from the tragus part of my ear and attaching it to my eardrum.

(this is not my actual ear)

I was awake during the surgery, but very relaxed thanks to the sedative and valium. As I was getting up from the operating table, I realized that I was pretty out of it. With the help of the nurse, I walked like a drunk person back into the recovery room and laid down. After the nurse left, I realized I really needed to go to the bathroom, but I was still connected to the IV and knew that I needed help walking to the bathroom so I laid there and contemplated what to do. Finally, I decided to reach up and knock on the door to the operating room where I could hear the nurses cleaning up. It took 3 times for them to realize that I was knocking.

ear doctor in Korea

When the nurse came in, I tried to explain that I really need to go to the bathroom, but the nurse didn’t understand. I pointed to the bathroom door and she thought I was pointing to the other bed and tried bringing me a pillow. You’d think after being in Korea for 7 months that I, of all people, would know the Korean word for bathroom, but I never learned it because it was kind of long and difficult to pronounce. I did learn to read Korean and fortunately for me the Korean word for toilet was written above the English word on the sign on the door. It read “화장실” so I slowly sounded out “hwa-jang-sil.” She quickly understood and she unhooked my IV bag from the stand and I was able to use the bathroom.

I was very nauseous after the surgery. I tried telling the nurse I felt sick and might need some sort of bowl or something just in case, but she was completely lost. That’s when my awesome charades skills came in handy. I got to act like I was getting sick and then motion like I was doing so into a bowl of some sort. She brought back a plastic sack… and the doctor. The doctor said it was probably due to the temperature difference in the gel packing he put in my ear. I think it was probably the valium. The nurse gave me a shot in the bum for the nausea and they took me off of the valium. It helped.

I had a difficult time sleeping because I was in a lot of pain. I dozed in and out and might have though a lot of expletives to cope with the excruciating pain. I was given another shot in the bum around 3pm. This one was for pain and it did the trick. I laid there for a bit longer and then I was able to change clothes and wait to see the doctor in his office. He knew I had planned to walk home (about 7 minutes away) and asked me if I felt well enough to do so. I said yes and he cautioned me to hold on to the handrail very tightly as I was walking downstairs. I paid at the front desk on the way out. The surgery was 84,000 won, which is just about $75.

I was pain free most of the day on Wednesday, but found that I was in a lot of pain that night and that carried on into the next few days. The doctor prescribed me antibiotics, an anti inflammatory and pain medication and also gave me a sedative to sleep better the next day.

Finally by Saturday I felt well enough to get up and do some actual cooking and today (Monday) I am back at school teaching.  I feel so much better. The only problem I’m having is that I really can’t hear out of my left ear, but that’s probably due to the fact that I have gauze packed in my ear and my ear is covered by band-aids. I have seen the doctor almost every day since the surgery (except Satuday and Sunday) and he’s going to keep a close eye on me. I pay 3,800 won each time (just under $3.50).

The success rate of the surgery is 80% so everyone send positive thoughts my way. I do not want to be one of the 20% that has to do this again.

The doctor gave me a picture of my eardrum after the graft. I have made the size really small in case you’re squeamish. You can click on the picture to see it in full size.

eardrum graft in Korea

If you found this blog post because you’re looking for an ear doctor in Busan, here is my best attempt at giving directions:

I don’t have the address, but here are the coordinates: 35.207421, 129.071156
The closest subway station to the office is Minam Station (on the brown line). I believe the subway exit number is 12, which is at the intersection of Minam-ro and the road towards Dongnae Station.
You want to walk towards Dongnae Station (away from Mandeok/Deokcheon) on the left side of the road. If you aren’t familiar with the area, there should be road signs that help direct you. There should be a bus stop not that far ahead, the doctor is right behind that.
Other things to look for: The doctor’s office is right before SK Oil and across the street from GS25 and GwangHye General Hospital.
To get to the doctor’s office, go in the last door on the building (closest to SK Oil), right after the pharmacy (it’s the glass door with yellow letters on it, there’s a photo above) and go up to the 2nd floor.
If you found this post helpful, please let me know. And if you went to this doctor after reading my post, please let me know how your experience was.

Chuseok

Posted on by
Reply

I am off work Friday – Wednesday for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). I am heading to Japan in the morning and I get back to Busan around noon on Monday. The actual Chuseok holiday falls on Monday and Tuesday. I don’t really have anything going on during that time, but on Wednesday I have ear surgery and I took off work on Thursday and Friday to recover. Sooo… I have the next 10 days off. It’s the longest amount of time I’ve had off work at once since coming to Korea just over 6 months ago. I’ll post pics from the Philippines and Japan when I get back.

さようなら
Sayōnara!

Only in Korea…

Posted on by
Reply

Things I’d never say back home:

“Wow, that little boy looks different without a perm!”

This has been a fun week so far. The first day of the new semester was last Thursday, but I didn’t get to teach until this Monday. All I’m teaching this week is “My Summer Vacation.” I ask them about theirs and then I tell them about mine. Afterwards, they draw a picture of what they did and write a story. The end. I’m doing that for grades 3-6.

I have Friday – Wednesday off for Korean Thanksgiving, known as Chuseok. I have plans to go to Fukuoka, Japan on Friday and come home Monday. The flight is about an hour and cost me $225. There is also a ferry you can take from Busan, but it takes 3 hours. My friends booked that about a month ago, but I opted out because I get motion sickness and it was a bit expensive. They actually paid $100 more than I did for my flight so it worked out well for me. I am going alone, but I plan to meet up with other friends that will be in Fukuoka during the weekend.

I had some interesting conversations with students today. During one of my 3rd grade classes, a student decided to stop listening to what my co-teacher was saying so he could tell me, “Hello… you’re pretty!” He is now my new favorite 3rd grader. Also, after leaving lunch I ran into one of the 6th graders. His level is higher than most and he tends to get bored in class and only perks up when he can get into some kind of mischief. Here was our exchange:

6th grader: Hello.
Me: Hi. How are you?
6th Grader: Bad.
Me: How was your summer vacation?
6th Grader: Bad.
Me: Why?
6th Grader: I don’t know.
Me: Yes, you do.
6th Grader: I don’t want to tell you.
Me:  Why was it bad?
6th Grader: I don’t have a reason.

The whole time he had a sneaky little smirk on his face. He is funny so I enjoy pestering him. I also ran into him and some other 6th grade boys on my walk home one day. After a short chat with them I said bye and he responded with, “Bye! See you never!” Is it bad that I loved it?

Baseball in Busan

Posted on by
1

Thursday, April 14

So… I am still trying to play catch up on here so this post is about a baseball game I went to back in April.

Baseball is very popular in Korea, but Busan is especially famous for baseball and it ‘s not because they have a good team (they have lost 2 of the 3 games I’ve been to). The Busan Lotte Giants are famous for their cheerleaders!

The cheerleaders even change outfits throughout the game!

The great thing about baseball games in Korea is that you can bring in your own food and drinks. Yep… even beer! And people don’t hold back. I have seen small groups of people carry in cases of bottled water and beer. I mean, seriously… how much water can you really drink in a 3 hour span.

Another thing that’s quite popular are these newspaper pom-poms. People tear up newspaper and make pom-poms out of them. This one was generously given to us by a friendly Korean at the game.

Here are the gals at the game.

Ben, Chris and Stella

We made friends with the girls behind us…

And the guys in front of us…

You might be wondering why everyone’s putting orange sacks on their heads… you are, right? Towards the end of the game, they pass out these sacks so everyone can put their trash in them to make it easier for the clean up crews after the game. Somehow people decided to make hats out of them and wear them until they were ready to dispose of their waste. It caught on and now it’s just a thing you do at Lotte Giants games.

You can also make cute bows out of the bags. That’s a bit more than I am capable of, but Chris and Stella seemed to figure it out.

Hanging with the guys… Tim & Justin

It was a great time… baseball in Busan is so much fun!

Go Giants!!

One final interesting fact about baseball teams in Korea:

Back home, teams are named after the city they are from and the stadiums are usually sponsored by and therefore named after companies. Here, it’s the opposite. The Lotte Giants play at Busan Stadium. Lotte is a HUGE company here. It is the name of the major department store chain and you see that brand name every day. Some other baseball teams in Korea are the Samsung Lions (from Daegu), Kia Tigers (from Gwangju) and LG Twins (from Seoul).

Advice for an EPIK applicant

Posted on by
12
**Please note that contract details and application requirements have drastically changed since I applied (and are constantly being changed), but let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to help.**

I was recently asked by Emma of Emma’s New Groove if I have any advice for someone applying for EPIK (English Program in Korea). I definitely do!

reflections

My first bit of advice is get your documents together…. NOW! Recommendation letters, background check, passport photos, etc. I applied through a recruiter (Korvia) because the process intimidated me and I wanted someone to hold my hand along the way. As I was in the process of applying, I wished I had gone through EPIK directly (http://www.epik.go.kr/).
Busan burial mound Bokcheon
Decide which level you want to teach. Every level has its ups and downs. The up side to elementary is that you will more than likely have an active co-teacher, meaning you will literally be CO-teaching. The down side is that some of the co-teachers are crotchedy and stuck in their ways, but it’s just the luck of the draw and every level has good and bad co-teachers. In middle and high school you will more than likely be teaching alone. If your co-teacher is in the class, he or she will probably only be there to play the role of disciplinarian. You may or may not be teaching out of the book. Some people like the freedom of not having to work out of a book, but you have to come up with all new ideas every week. The good news is that there’s a large community of English teachers in Korea that are more than happy to share ideas.
Teach English in Korea EPIK
Decide where in Korea you want to work. Do you want to go urban or rural? Do some research. If you can swing it, try rural. You get paid more and a lot of times the rural cities aren’t as small as you’re afraid they will be. Korea’s a small place so it’s fairly easy to get around on the weekends. I chose urban and ended up in Busan. I love Busan. I think it’s great and would highly recommend it to anyone. It’s not as hot in the summer here, but it is very humid. I’ve been told it doesn’t really snow here in the winter, but it is quite windy so the cold is a bit bitter. I’ve heard that Busan is quite popular so if you’re interested in working here, APPLY EARLY. **On your application you’ll be asked to pick one preferred office of education to work for. The next question asks if you are willing to work in other provinces or if you’d like to withdraw your application if the office of education to selected is unavailable.**
Capture the Colour 2013 Green

Boseong Green Tea Plantation

Be patient. This application process is one of the most painful things you can go through. It will stress you out like no other. The best way to experience the least amount of stress is to apply early. It’s still going to take you forever to find out if you got a job, but your odds are better. If you apply early, pass your interview and send your documents in right away, you are probably going to get a position. You probably will not know if you have gotten a position until a month before it’s time to go to Korea. For the fall intake, I think some didn’t find out until a week or two before.
Take a picture of 2 family mart employees making a heart with their arms- 50

Scavenger Hunt – Take a photo of convenience store employees making a heart with their arms

Get doubles of documents. Ask for 2 (or more) copies of the same recommendation letter, get at least two background checks, apostilled copies of your diploma and transcripts. If EPIK falls through and you’re still serious about going to Korea, you’ll need backup documents because EPIK won’t be returning what you’ve already submitted. You don’t want to scramble at the last minute. Also, if you’re in Korea and want to change jobs for the second year, you’ll already have extra documents and it will make the application process much easier.
day 67
Look online for a Facebook group so you can share your experiences with other people that are going through what you are. Other places like Daves ESL Cafe and Waygook.org can be helpful, but once you apply it’s nice to be able to cut out all of the crap and just talk about what you want. It can also be a good way to network and make friends before you go. Most of you will be going alone so it doesn’t hurt to make all of the friends you can.
Making a toast

Thanksgiving pot luck

EPIK has now started making “official” facebook groups for applicants that are monitored by them. It’s nice that they see the need for it, but I think it’s much nicer to be able to form a community with your peers rather than being in a group formed by EPIK. If you agree, don’t be afraid to make your own group for your intake. EPIK does have an official facebook page with a lot of great information so be sure to check it out.
144
I hope this is helpful to any people thinking about applying to EPIK. Korea is amazing and I think it’s well worth the journey. It will be a year of your life that you’ll never forget. If you have any more questions, please post a comment below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Jusanji Korea at sunrise