This place is so cool.
It really is a theme park.
There's a main gate, a cool entrance way, it's built to look like a modern-day English Village, meaning a modern-day village in England. Cobblestones line the walkways/driveways. If they were only yellow...we'd be in Oz.
There's a City Hall, a Library, and a Concert Hall. Basically everything is fake; just here to create the desired look. While City Hall does have functioning administrative offices in it, there's a fake Police Station (though we do have security), a fake bank (though employees can bank there--with an ATM card and everything), a doctor's office (though if I hurt myself, there is a real clinic) and many other role-playing places where the students learn how to speak English in an interactive way.
For example, at the bank, they pretend they're withdrawing or depositing money into their account, and they speak to an English speaking bank teller, and they have to get their phrases right. It's hilarious. They're not only encouraged but told to speak English only, no Korean. It's incredible.
Friday, for the first time, I helped in the Arts & Crafts workshop, which is in the rotunda of City Hall. For the most part, these kids do not speak English, but they will listen attentively as you tell them what to do, and they know enough about body language and physicality to know what you're talking about. Our current project in the Arts & Crafts workshop is to color a turkey tracing and coloring in your hand. I'm sure you all did this as kids. Well, Koreans do not celebrate Thanksgiving, so they're rather unfamiliar with the turkey and the holiday. As I was handing out the papers, one girl, named Sally, said "I am 100 years old." This was the first full sentence I'd heard a Korean kid say to me (besides, "Hello, how are you?" or "How old are you?" or "Nice to meet you.") I laughed, and the kids around her laughed. A girl next to her said, "No, she's 7" and held up 7 fingers. Very funny.
I proceeded to help them with their drawings. They were told to make eyes, a beak, legs, and feet. Some wrote their names on them. I'm guessing they have been given English names, either just for their trip to English Village, or from their school in general. For example, I'm certain Sally wasn't the actual girls name, nor do I think Jerry, Jonathan, Eva, or Esther were other kids given names. But maybe, I don't know.
The kids are funny, just like American kids...but I just can't understand that much of what they're saying. It's the most helpless feeling I've ever had--wanting to communicate with them, and being basically incapable of doing so.
And yesterday was the first day I signed autographs. Each child receives a Gyeonggi English Village passport when they come into the park. Their first stop when they arrive is the "Immigration Office" and they have to go through the process of getting a passport to entire the Village. It's so hilarious. So you see all these kids walking around with these little fake passports, it's very cute. Well, throughout their day, as they go from place to place, they get stamps when they attend different classes and such. Just like a regular passport, there is often lots of free space. Well, after my "Gold Rush Challenge" show yesterday, ONE girl asked for my autograph, which set off all the other kids to want one, too. For my autograph, you don't have to ask twice. The girl handed me a pen, and I signed her book, "Hello! Jason." That's all. Then I signed about 10 other passports the same way, making sure to say, "You're welcome" each time someone said, "Thank you." Aside from the coolness of signing my autograph (which I've always enjoyed, even when I was just signing my name on my desk in 8th grade World Cultures class, for which I received a detention--no joke), I love the interaction with the kids.
As you simply walk through the Village, you get kids running up to you to say "Hello! How are you?" as I mentioned before, but also yesterday was the first time that kids stopped me for an assignment. They had these little yellow books hanging around their necks, and as they read off the paper, they look at me and say, "Hello. May I ask you a few questions?" It's adorable. I say, "Yes." "Oh, thank you. What is your name?" "My name is Jason." "Oh. Okay. Where are you from?" "I am from America." "Oh. Okay. What do you do?" "I am an actor." "An actor? Oh. Okay. What is your favorite food?" "My favorite food is pizza." "Haha. Okay. What is your favorite hobby?" "My favorite hobby is singing." "Singing? Okay. Thank you!" "You're welcome, bye!"
Here's what sets me apart from other people. I'm not saying I'm better--I'm just saying I'm definitely different than other people. When I mention this rather interesting exchange to other edutainers, they say, "Oh, you think it's cute now, wait about a week! You'll see them coming and you'll just say, 'Jason. America. Actor. Pizza. Singing. Bye.'" I understand their feelings on the subject, I simply don't share them. In my opinion, to withhold a valuable exchange from even ONE child is criminal. More than likely, I will never, ever see that child again; but I do not want our meeting to be tainted by my need to "get somewhere", my desire to be left alone, or by my being sick of saying the same answers to the same questions.
Working at Disneyland certainly helped with this mindset. I remember standing out front of the Indiana Jones Adventure and answering the same question literally 100 times in one hour. "The bathroom is right around the corner to your right." And you know what--I HONESTLY never got sick of answering the question. How does this nice lady know that I've been asked the same question 100 times already, and why should she care? My being sick of saying the same answer over and over does not help her find the bathroom. My job isn't to get tired of helping people, it's to help EVERY single person equally. The same applies here. How does this nice Korean girl know that I've been asked my name 100 other times in the last 5 minutes--and why should that matter? It's my job to be responsible in my interactions--each time, every time.
Why is this so hard for people??
So anyway, I arrived here a week ago, today. I've been here a week. Just like camp, it feels like I've been here for a year. It's amazing that way.
What follows will recount one of the most hilarious evenings I have ever enjoyed as long as I've lived. Last night, there was an informal welcome dinner for me. Most all of the other edutainers and I walked to a place called "Zen", a restaurant within walking distance of the Village.
I wasn't sure what was going to happen, nor was I prepared for it...though looking back, no amount of preparation would have adequately equipped me to understand what was about to happen.
Though I had never done this before, I took off my shoes with everyone else before we entered our dining area. There were 17 of us, so we took up some room. I'd seen this in the movies, but never experienced it for myself. The tables were literally 1 foot off the ground...so I grabbed two pillows and sat down. And THE FLOOR WAS HEATED. Underneath the fake hardwood floor, there was some sort of heating system that kept the floor warm as we sat. So bizarre.
After fully detailing my dietary needs and desires, along with my strict concerns about what was about to occur, I allowed other people to order for me.
Here's a sample of what was ordered: soju (an alcoholic drink similar to Vodka), something something dip sum (pork), and shabu shabu (beef). Perhaps this is all second nature to you--but this was ALL NEW to me.
Before the main course was brought out, they brought us trays of "appetizers". I cannot describe to you what I saw--to do so would cause me to dry heave right here at my computer. I had never seen anything like it.
On this plate were tiny bowls with various items. One, I was informed, was seaweed. I couldn't have said it better myself. It was very green...and very seaweed looking. Another item was pickled garlic. There was another item NO ONE could identify...but they ate it anyway?!? Also on the plate were 2 mysterious looking sauces (both beige), which I later learned were dipping sauces, one for meat, and one for vegetables. And last but not least, the infamous kimchi. I mentioned kimchi to you before, in an earlier blog, but I'd yet to see it...or taste it. My anticipation certainly hadn't grown...but my time had come.
I was given a spoon (I never figured out what I would use it with) and 2 wooden chopsticks with etches on the ends, to make grabbing items easier. How convenient. Someone tell me, please, what is the point of making chopsticks easier to use? Just as a joke?? Honestly, if they were trying to make grabbing things easier--they wouldn't give me chopsticks--they'd give me a fork! But I honestly wasn't complaining, I found the whole thing hilarious.
The first thing I tried was the kimchi. It looked absolutely terrible. Just awful. I mean, if I was stranded somewhere, and the 2 choices for dinner were my own feet or kimchi...my feet would be gone in a second. Hands down. Knowing that kimchi was pickled cabbage, I had a vision in my mind that it would be green. Well, I suppose it can be...they say there are over 100 kinds of kimchi. Whatever, this kind was white with red chili paste stuff on it. Since I'd shared with everyone my concerns about spicy things, they told me to scrape the red stuff off, which I promptly did. After 3 or so minutes had elapsed, I was finally able to muster the amount of courage needed to put the thing in my mouth. At least 1 of those minutes was spent simply trying to grab the stupid thing with my chopsticks. Not everyone was looking at me during this trying time, but I made sure to point out to everyone, as the kimchi rested between my chopsticks, that I was about to embark on a journey that I never thought I'd take. A journey I didn't know the outcome of, and a journey I wish I could have had my mommy along with me for.
I bit into the kimchi.
The first sensation was on my tongue. It was a little spicy, not too bad, but I could definitely feel a tingle. Kimchi, being cabbage, has a certain celery-like quality to it. You know how celery has those weird strands or hair-like things that are tough to bite through...well, kimchi has that as well. So as it's between my teeth, I find that I am unable to break off the piece I have. Like a dog with no opposable thumbs, I have no grip on the kimchi, and nothing to use as a fulcrum to tear it in half. So I use my fingers to rip it in two, allowing the part already in my mouth to continue its adventure through the chain. It wasn't awful. It wasn't good--but it wasn't awful. It was a tad spicy, but other than that, I didn't die. I didn't even gag, and that's a big step. Ask my parents, they'll tell you that getting me to simply swallow cough syrup without gagging required a declared state of emergency from the Governor of Louisiana and the presence of the National Guard. Entire countries have been founded and conquered in less time than it took for me to take cough syrup.
So, after trying kimchi--what could prevent me from trying anything else? So, I tried the seaweed, and at first it was quite pleasant, but as I continued chewing, it became an oral disaster. To use an American word, it was gross.
I also bit into one of the things of garlic. I say bit into, because it didn't make the cut to the chewing phase. No good. I don't regularly eat garlic, and I shouldn't have pushed my luck.
Then, finally, the main course came. I thought I'd enjoy this. I was told that they bring you the meat raw, and you cook it in a little pot. The nice waiter man (he was an older gentlemen with a long gray ponytail and a camoflauge hat) set out some hot plates and set the pots on them. He brought platters with the raw meat on it--the pork sliced like normal, and the beef sliced very, very thin. Shabu shabu (the thinly sliced beef) is cooked in the pot, and the {unintelligible} dip sum (the pork) is cooked on some sort of grill thing.
After the meat platter came the vegetable platter. On it were all kinds of things I'd never seen. There were some normal looking mushrooms along with some very bizarre looking ones. They looked like alien tentacles or some sort of sea anemone. There were slices of turnip, cabbage, and other weird greens. These are supposed to go into the pot and cook. They you grab a piece of the beef with your chopsticks (which I found impossible) and you just swirl it around in the boiling pot containing the mushrooms and such. Though the meat is raw, it is so thinly sliced, it takes literally seconds to cook. Then you take it out of the pot and eat it. That simple.
Well, I was only slightly frightened (you must realize, fear takes on a new meaning when you stare kimchi down) of the meat. I made sure it was fully cooked, then I ate it. It wasn't bad at all. It wasn't really good though, either. It didn't have much of a taste. It was just thinly sliced beef, almost like roast beef...just without the roasted taste (Steve--"it is beef--that is roasted!"). I dipped it in the aforementioned sauce (the one for the meat), and ate some more. The sauce wasn't good at all. I didn't dare ask what was in it. I even tried the sauce for vegetables, which I liked more, but still found it unimpressive. I wanted salt or pepper to give the meat more taste, but there was none to be found.
Towards the end of the meal, the nice waiter man brought out some uncooked noodles. I forgot to ask, but I'd guess they're rice noodles and not pasta noodles, but I don't know. Anyway, this is basically your dessert. You are supposed to pour the uncooked noodles into the pot with the mushrooms and what not and let them cook in there, then you eat what's left in the pot as a sort-of soup. Hmm.
Well, after the noodles had cooked, I picked some out (with my chopsticks!) and tried those. I really liked that. Obviously, I didn't include any mushrooms or turnips or cabbage in my trial, but I did what I thought would be best for me in the current circumstance. As my luck would have it, the nice waiter man brought out salt and pepper for the noodles. "I could have really used those about 20 minutes ago..." I thought to myself. Anyway, I sprinkled some salt and pepper on my noodles, and I enjoyed myself. I had several helpings of the noodles.
Oh, and they had Coke in bottles (Patrice--regular size big ones, not like the ones in Vegas), and I had one. It's got English on one side of the label, and Korean on the other. I'll send the bottle to my Grandpa, he'll love it. It's the only thing he asked for. =)
Anyway, if you thought that exchange was humorous, wait until you hear about this. After dinner, we decided to go to Norabong, which is Korea's word for karaoke. Except, unlike in America, in Korea, you do not sing in a large bar-type setting with lots of strangers, you basically rent your own room and sing with your friends. So there were about 15 of us that decided to do this. I was definitely excited about the idea.
Well, we get into the room, and it's pretty neat. There are several flat screen TV's, and there's a giant remote that you use to program the songs you want to sing, as well as several cool disco light things.
I program in Cher's "Believe", because I think it's a wonderful song to break the ice of this Norabong time. Plus, most of these nice folks haven't heard me sing yet. I might as well start off with something so ridiculous they will immediately hate me, thereby saving them the trouble later.
See what having an open mind can do to you? You can end up in South Korea eating food you can't pronounce and singing Cher songs in a private room with people who could quite possibly soon begin to hate you.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
First Day of Work
Here it is Tuesday night, and I'm still alive. I think each day I remain alive while in Korea is a day well spent.
Today was my first day of work. I awoke at 7:30 a.m. I do not have a watch or clock in my room, so I can't say for sure what time it ever is. I do have my cell phone, but it will not tell the correct time, even if I turn it off and on again and again. It is stuck in California time. Well, in order to get up on time this morning, I needed an alarm clock. Since I do not have one, except on my cell phone, I had to set that. But I couldn't set it for 7:30, because it wouldn't be the correct 7:30 that I'd need. So I set my alarm for 2:30 p.m. Two-thirty p.m. in California is 7:30 a.m. in Korea. So that's how I'll deal with things for now. If my brother would be kind enough to mail me the watch I left at his house, I'd be greatly appreciative to him. Please Tim...
I got up, ate my Frosted Flakes out of a Tupperware bowl with chopsticks, like I mentioned in my blog from this morning.
Before 9, I headed over the Concert Hall (which you can see in my Korea album) where rehearsals, meetings, and the main performances are held. It seats just over 500 people, and it's quite a nice space.
I met Mike for my tour of the campus. I hadn't really seen much, because it was too cold me to just wander around by myself. I met lots more people and saw where things are.
At 10:30, I went and watched a little program called "Gold Rush Challenge" (pictures in the Korea album). It's a 30 minute interactive game show where students have to answer questions, in English, about American type things. Like, "How many legs does a cow have?" Think about it, if you did not speak English, that would be a VERY hard question. It's a very cool idea, and it's pretty fun for the kids. They all get candy at the end, whether their team wins or not.
I was struck by how bizarre some of the students act. Unlike Americans, Korean boys seem to have no problem walking arm in arm with another boy, and no problem touching each other. It's truly bizarre. It's not gross or sick or inappropriate or anything, it's just different. There's no macho image to uphold or protect over here. But also, the kids are ridiculously wild. They do not respect when a teacher is talking (perhaps they do when it's their teacher and not ours), they would not sit down, and they would not be quiet. It drove me nuts. If they acted like this in the programs I did back in California, either I or their teacher would have ripped them a new one. The hosts of the game show later told me that they were considered a good class. I shudder at the thought of a bad one...
After watching that show, which I'll eventually have to participate in, I went to watch one of the main stage shows, "The Coyote Monster", in the Concert Hall. There are only 3 actors in this show. I will eventually be doing shows on this stage. The kids in this show were much better behaved. The main shows are 40 minutes long and have to contain a lot of interaction and physical actions to keep the kids interested. These are kids of all ages. There was a lot of physical humor in this show, people falling down, burping, etc., which has always been funny to me. There's also music in all the shows. Original music and some previously recorded music. "The Coyote Monster" uses the famous "Chicken Dance" song, which I remember roller-skating to at the rink in Moss Bluff, Louisiana. Those were the days.
After watching the show, Mike wanted me to go back and watch another of the "Gold Rush Challenge" shows to get more familiar and comfortable with it--because he wanted me to do the last one of the day. Yikes. It is a very simple idea, and a simple show, but I didn't want to mess anything up on my first day. So, I went over for the 12:30 show...but no kids showed up, so we just went to lunch.
Lunch. What a simple notion. Since the entire park is closed on Mondays, this would be my first day in the cafeteria. We walked upstairs where the teachers eat, I took one look at the offerings for the day, and I turned right around. I wish I could adequately describe what I saw, but I'll have to stick with grossness. The food looked like an animal had been visciously attacked, savagely garrotted, then it's body turned inside out and put on a plate. I don't even want to know what it was.
We left and went to the sandwich shop, called "Tantalus". It's like a Subway. I had a ham and cheese and bacon sub. Not bad. Since I'm now more adventurous than I've ever been before, I asked for tomatoes on my sandwich. If my father grew the tomatoes, they'd be delicious...but I think some old fisherman grew mine. It tasted like dirty fish. I took the tomatoes off. But the sandwich was good. The sandwich shop is run by a nice lady named Oksana, who is from Russia. I was very cold in the shop, and when she asked where I was from, and I responded, "LA", she said, "Oh yeah, this must be really cold for you. This isn't cold where I come from in Siberia." I thought..."Yeah, I suppose not. Considering Siberia is in SIBERIA!!" I think even the White Witch from "Narnia" would be cold in Siberia. I think the people who live on the planet Jupiter moved there from Siberia because it was too cold. I'm pretty sure Oksana wasn't wearing any pants, and she was wearing a huge block of ice on her back. This weather must be like Hell to her. Of course I'm kidding about all that. But she is from Siberia, and she was very nice.
I very smartly brought a World Map with me, so when I get to my apartment, I'm going to put it on the wall and put tacks up where people I meet are from. I've already got Siberia, South Africa (x2), Canada, Australia, England, and several states in America done, not to mention Korea.
It's still freezing, and I'm told it will only get worse...but thankfully, my blood should begin to slowly stop moving through my veins, and I'll be much warmer. But until that day--MAN, it's COLD.
After lunch, I visited the EV-Mart (different than E-Mart), which is located on the campus of the Village. This is a typical convenience store, stocked with anything I'd ever need. Pantyhose, Snickers, and even cans of Dr. Pepper. "I guess I won't end up dying after all", I say to myself. I could definitely survive.
Kids are everywhere through the park, by the way. They're wandering everywhere. Most of the boys are chucking snowballs everywhere. Throughout the day, various groups of children run up to me waving and saying, "Hello". One boy named Jun-Ho asked, "How old are you?" I told him, then asked his age, he said, "Eleven". Later, I took a picture with a pack of girls. Hilarious. I realized that we're being prepped for becoming a celebrity. Other people say it gets annoying having people constantly come up to you saying, "Hello" and other stuff. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. Ask me in a few months. I think I know myself well enough to know that it'll never bother me. Never.
After visiting the EV-Mart, I showed up for the 2:30 "Gold Rush Challenge" show to watch from backstage now, to see how it runs. There are two hosts than dress up in overalls and cowboy hats riding fake horses, and there's one person who runs the sound and takes care of the few props for the different games. I sat behind the little wall with the sound person. I even got to dress up as a deer for the Final Challenge, when contestants from each team have to throw velcro covered balls at my costume, lined with strips of velcro, to see how many they can get to stick to me. What fun.
I returned at 4, for the last program of the day, which I was going to be a host for. I put on the overalls and the hat and everything. No kids showed up, so we were done for the day. Oh well, I'm sure I'll end up doing it tomorrow or something. I have no idea what's going on.
One of the other Edutainers, Stu, from Australia, asked me and Rachel, another Edutainer, to help him lay down some vocals on a track of a song he's writing for an upcoming production. I was honored. We went to his apartment, and I learned the chorus of the song he's writing. I did some harmony to the existing melody, and it seemed to work out great. Fun. I hope to do more of that in the future. It's easy and fun. Basically, I'm singing backup for someone else.
After that, Stu and I went to the Pub that's here on campus. Yes, there's an English Pub. They have fish and chips and nachos and hamburgers. I had a hamburger. Hmm. Let me clarify something I now know about Korean hamburgers. It's not a hamburger in the sense that it's beef. It's not like anything I've had before. It wasn't terrible, it just wasn't like any hamburger I've ever had. And if you know me well, you know I love hamburgers. So that was a sad disappointment.
There's a bakery on campus as well, which has bagels and bread and everything. I should have got a loaf of bread this morning, but I didn't. That way I can make my own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for meals rather than having another curiously odd hamburger or dead inside-out animal sandwiches.
And this was only my first day of work.
P.S. I probably won't write about every single days activities, because it would drive me crazy to read someone's daily account, but I put down what I think is interesting or worth noting. You can take it or leave it.
Today was my first day of work. I awoke at 7:30 a.m. I do not have a watch or clock in my room, so I can't say for sure what time it ever is. I do have my cell phone, but it will not tell the correct time, even if I turn it off and on again and again. It is stuck in California time. Well, in order to get up on time this morning, I needed an alarm clock. Since I do not have one, except on my cell phone, I had to set that. But I couldn't set it for 7:30, because it wouldn't be the correct 7:30 that I'd need. So I set my alarm for 2:30 p.m. Two-thirty p.m. in California is 7:30 a.m. in Korea. So that's how I'll deal with things for now. If my brother would be kind enough to mail me the watch I left at his house, I'd be greatly appreciative to him. Please Tim...
I got up, ate my Frosted Flakes out of a Tupperware bowl with chopsticks, like I mentioned in my blog from this morning.
Before 9, I headed over the Concert Hall (which you can see in my Korea album) where rehearsals, meetings, and the main performances are held. It seats just over 500 people, and it's quite a nice space.
I met Mike for my tour of the campus. I hadn't really seen much, because it was too cold me to just wander around by myself. I met lots more people and saw where things are.
At 10:30, I went and watched a little program called "Gold Rush Challenge" (pictures in the Korea album). It's a 30 minute interactive game show where students have to answer questions, in English, about American type things. Like, "How many legs does a cow have?" Think about it, if you did not speak English, that would be a VERY hard question. It's a very cool idea, and it's pretty fun for the kids. They all get candy at the end, whether their team wins or not.
I was struck by how bizarre some of the students act. Unlike Americans, Korean boys seem to have no problem walking arm in arm with another boy, and no problem touching each other. It's truly bizarre. It's not gross or sick or inappropriate or anything, it's just different. There's no macho image to uphold or protect over here. But also, the kids are ridiculously wild. They do not respect when a teacher is talking (perhaps they do when it's their teacher and not ours), they would not sit down, and they would not be quiet. It drove me nuts. If they acted like this in the programs I did back in California, either I or their teacher would have ripped them a new one. The hosts of the game show later told me that they were considered a good class. I shudder at the thought of a bad one...
After watching that show, which I'll eventually have to participate in, I went to watch one of the main stage shows, "The Coyote Monster", in the Concert Hall. There are only 3 actors in this show. I will eventually be doing shows on this stage. The kids in this show were much better behaved. The main shows are 40 minutes long and have to contain a lot of interaction and physical actions to keep the kids interested. These are kids of all ages. There was a lot of physical humor in this show, people falling down, burping, etc., which has always been funny to me. There's also music in all the shows. Original music and some previously recorded music. "The Coyote Monster" uses the famous "Chicken Dance" song, which I remember roller-skating to at the rink in Moss Bluff, Louisiana. Those were the days.
After watching the show, Mike wanted me to go back and watch another of the "Gold Rush Challenge" shows to get more familiar and comfortable with it--because he wanted me to do the last one of the day. Yikes. It is a very simple idea, and a simple show, but I didn't want to mess anything up on my first day. So, I went over for the 12:30 show...but no kids showed up, so we just went to lunch.
Lunch. What a simple notion. Since the entire park is closed on Mondays, this would be my first day in the cafeteria. We walked upstairs where the teachers eat, I took one look at the offerings for the day, and I turned right around. I wish I could adequately describe what I saw, but I'll have to stick with grossness. The food looked like an animal had been visciously attacked, savagely garrotted, then it's body turned inside out and put on a plate. I don't even want to know what it was.
We left and went to the sandwich shop, called "Tantalus". It's like a Subway. I had a ham and cheese and bacon sub. Not bad. Since I'm now more adventurous than I've ever been before, I asked for tomatoes on my sandwich. If my father grew the tomatoes, they'd be delicious...but I think some old fisherman grew mine. It tasted like dirty fish. I took the tomatoes off. But the sandwich was good. The sandwich shop is run by a nice lady named Oksana, who is from Russia. I was very cold in the shop, and when she asked where I was from, and I responded, "LA", she said, "Oh yeah, this must be really cold for you. This isn't cold where I come from in Siberia." I thought..."Yeah, I suppose not. Considering Siberia is in SIBERIA!!" I think even the White Witch from "Narnia" would be cold in Siberia. I think the people who live on the planet Jupiter moved there from Siberia because it was too cold. I'm pretty sure Oksana wasn't wearing any pants, and she was wearing a huge block of ice on her back. This weather must be like Hell to her. Of course I'm kidding about all that. But she is from Siberia, and she was very nice.
I very smartly brought a World Map with me, so when I get to my apartment, I'm going to put it on the wall and put tacks up where people I meet are from. I've already got Siberia, South Africa (x2), Canada, Australia, England, and several states in America done, not to mention Korea.
It's still freezing, and I'm told it will only get worse...but thankfully, my blood should begin to slowly stop moving through my veins, and I'll be much warmer. But until that day--MAN, it's COLD.
After lunch, I visited the EV-Mart (different than E-Mart), which is located on the campus of the Village. This is a typical convenience store, stocked with anything I'd ever need. Pantyhose, Snickers, and even cans of Dr. Pepper. "I guess I won't end up dying after all", I say to myself. I could definitely survive.
Kids are everywhere through the park, by the way. They're wandering everywhere. Most of the boys are chucking snowballs everywhere. Throughout the day, various groups of children run up to me waving and saying, "Hello". One boy named Jun-Ho asked, "How old are you?" I told him, then asked his age, he said, "Eleven". Later, I took a picture with a pack of girls. Hilarious. I realized that we're being prepped for becoming a celebrity. Other people say it gets annoying having people constantly come up to you saying, "Hello" and other stuff. I don't think I'll ever get tired of it. Ask me in a few months. I think I know myself well enough to know that it'll never bother me. Never.
After visiting the EV-Mart, I showed up for the 2:30 "Gold Rush Challenge" show to watch from backstage now, to see how it runs. There are two hosts than dress up in overalls and cowboy hats riding fake horses, and there's one person who runs the sound and takes care of the few props for the different games. I sat behind the little wall with the sound person. I even got to dress up as a deer for the Final Challenge, when contestants from each team have to throw velcro covered balls at my costume, lined with strips of velcro, to see how many they can get to stick to me. What fun.
I returned at 4, for the last program of the day, which I was going to be a host for. I put on the overalls and the hat and everything. No kids showed up, so we were done for the day. Oh well, I'm sure I'll end up doing it tomorrow or something. I have no idea what's going on.
One of the other Edutainers, Stu, from Australia, asked me and Rachel, another Edutainer, to help him lay down some vocals on a track of a song he's writing for an upcoming production. I was honored. We went to his apartment, and I learned the chorus of the song he's writing. I did some harmony to the existing melody, and it seemed to work out great. Fun. I hope to do more of that in the future. It's easy and fun. Basically, I'm singing backup for someone else.
After that, Stu and I went to the Pub that's here on campus. Yes, there's an English Pub. They have fish and chips and nachos and hamburgers. I had a hamburger. Hmm. Let me clarify something I now know about Korean hamburgers. It's not a hamburger in the sense that it's beef. It's not like anything I've had before. It wasn't terrible, it just wasn't like any hamburger I've ever had. And if you know me well, you know I love hamburgers. So that was a sad disappointment.
There's a bakery on campus as well, which has bagels and bread and everything. I should have got a loaf of bread this morning, but I didn't. That way I can make my own peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for meals rather than having another curiously odd hamburger or dead inside-out animal sandwiches.
And this was only my first day of work.
P.S. I probably won't write about every single days activities, because it would drive me crazy to read someone's daily account, but I put down what I think is interesting or worth noting. You can take it or leave it.
Day One
Oh my goodness. What a first day. It's now Tuesday, my first day of work. I'm writing about yesterday, my first full day of being here.
This place is a big ball of insanity. First of all--it snowed today! My first full day here and it snowed! Check out the pictures in my "Korea" album! Unbelievable. Consequently, there was an enormous snowball fight which lasted for more than 20 minutes. I have only met a handful of people so far, but everyone in the whole place seemed to come out of their places to throw snowballs. It was hilarious. I didn't throw a snowball at anyone, nor did anyone throw one at me. Thankfully, I'm new here, so no one would dare hit the new person, nor would I feel comfortable hitting anyone I didn't know. It didn't hurt that my hands were freezing cold, even though I was wearing gloves, and packing a snowball would have caused my fingers to fall off. But I got some cool pictures and even some video of the snowball fight. As soon as I can figure out how to put video from my camera onto my computer--you'll be seeing what I'm seeing.
I woke up after a great night's sleep. My first night's sleep. I'm glad it was good--especially after a week of sleeping horribly.
When I first arrived the first night, I was met by a guy named Mike. He's a team leader here, and he showed me to my temporary apartment. Well, he was going to be going into town the next day (my first full day--Monday), and asked if I'd like to go. I said Yes.
We went into the town of Gumchon. It was my first excursion into anything other than my apartment. I tried to go outside in the morning to take some pictures, but it was so freezing cold, I had to come back inside. So I wasn't doing much. Since I'm not in my actual apartment yet, I can't unpack and get really settled yet.
In town, we went to a place called E-Mart, which is like Wal-Mart for Korea, except without the disgusting stale popcorn/urine smell that seems to accompany every Wal-Mart. Be certain, however, that E-Mart has it's own set of disgusting smells, including, but not limited to, dried squid just sitting out, dried anchovies, dried fish, and an entire section of the grocery department dedicated to various kinds of kimchi. Look up "kimchi". You'll die. It reeked like the devil in there.
But I bought a space heater for 22,000 Korean Won. That's like $22. Not bad. It's apparently really expensive to heat the apartments, and I have to pay for my own heat (it's gas), so this was recommended to me. Mike bought one for 75,000 won. He has a bigger place than mine.
I also bought peanut butter and jelly, Frosted Flakes, OJ, apples, some Oreo's, some caramel popcorn, some chocolate marshmallow cakes (mmm), and some plastic tupperware containers which will double as bowls. I failed to get a spoon, so consequently, this morning, I was forced to eat a bowl of Frosted Flakes with chopsticks. Yes, I really did. It was hilarious, and I was much better at it than I would have thought.
Here's my address in case you desperately want to show your love by sending me something:
Jason M. Hammond
Gyeonggi English Village, Paju Camp
1779 Beopheung-Ri, Tanhyeon-Myeon
Paju-Si, Gyeonggi-Do, 413-780
Republic of Korea
Incredible.
Oh, at the store, you have to pay for a shopping cart. You insert a coin into this thing on the handle of the cart, and you get your coin back if you return the cart. Hilarious. Also, they charge you for plastic bags. Can you imagine? How many plastic shopping bags do you use on a regular basis? How many do you have laying around your house or stuffed into a cabinet somewhere? However, you can box up your groceries for free. They have a big counter towards the exit with broken-down boxes, and you can pick one and tape it up yourself and carry your groceries that way. How random is that!? It's incredible!
While we were in the store, several young children would stare at us. Apparently, this happens frequently. Obviously, I'm in the minority out here, and I guess it's so much so that kids don't often see Americans or foreigners. It was so strange.
E-Mart is the place to be. It has everything from clothes like Macy's to groceries like Vons. It's a one-stop shop. Great fun. They also have people with food to try, like at Costco or Sam's Club. They are behind a little counter and they hand you things on toothpicks. You can imagine my horror at seeing some of the things they were offering! I had to politely refuse to accept some of these things. I did try a dumpling thing that had God knows what inside of it. I took one bite and had to give up. It wasn't friendly at all. This is going to be hard!
Just to give you an idea of how serious this place is, there is a bridge you must cross on the way into town that has camoflauge paint all over it. It is a one-lane bridge. Apparently, the bridge is or was built with explosives all over it, so that if North Korea moved closer, the South Koreans could simply blow up this bridge and deny them easy access. CREEPY. There is a large military presence here. Even on my drive from the airport to the village (where I live) I saw two trucks that had license plates that read "US Army". And on the way to the store today I saw some Korean soldiers getting out of a camoflauge vehicle. Very interesting.
Once we arrived back at the Village, we took our boxes to our apartments. I opened up my space heater and started using it at my cold feet.
Around dinner time, I headed over to Mike's apartment. He invited me to have tacos with some other people from the village. (From hereafter, the Village will refer to the Gyeonggi English Village, which is where I live and work). Apparently, you just can't get Mexican food over here (surprise, surprise), and it's quite a luxury. Mike had brought back a Taco Bell taco kit from home (he's from Colorad). I met his girlfriend Chloe (who's from England), Mary, Christian, and Brian. My very first night, after getting to my temporary apartment, I met Candy and Nikki. They stopped by my place to say HI and Welcome. Very nice of them.
Dinner was great, though it hasn't been that long since I've had Taco Bell, but it was a real treat for the rest of them, who had been craving Mexican food (at least the kind of Mexican food Taco Bell provides). Mike has a Nintendo Wii at his apartment--and I've never played the Wii. It was incredible. I did Tennis, Bowling, Baseball, Boxing and Golf. I was super good at golf, for some odd reason, and I did pretty good at tennis as well. Boxing was a bit of a stretch, and the baseball thing is rather hard. It's all in the timing.
Sometime after dinner, there was a bright flash of light outside, followed by a low rumbling noise. Of course, I thought thunder and lightning. Brian said, "It's that or missiles." Is that supposed to be funny??!?! Anyway, it was thunder and lightning. Rain was forecasted for last night. But what happens when it's below freezing temperatures and it starts to rain??? SNOW. We looked out the window and it was snowing profusely. I ran out without grabbing my jacket (BIG MISTAKE) to see the snow. I didn't last but about 6 seconds, then I ran back into the apartment to get my jacket and scarf and head back to my apartment to get my camera. Thusly, I was able to capture the pictures. So exciting.
Then the snowball fight ensued. Monday is everyone's day off, it's kind of like Broadway here, Mondays are dark. The park (they call it a park, just like Disney) is closed on Monday's. People came from all around to the snowball fight. It was the first snow of the season, and people were excited.
I now embark on my first day of work. I do not know entirely what to expect, but am open and ready to learn.
Thanks for reading and possibly caring at all.
This place is a big ball of insanity. First of all--it snowed today! My first full day here and it snowed! Check out the pictures in my "Korea" album! Unbelievable. Consequently, there was an enormous snowball fight which lasted for more than 20 minutes. I have only met a handful of people so far, but everyone in the whole place seemed to come out of their places to throw snowballs. It was hilarious. I didn't throw a snowball at anyone, nor did anyone throw one at me. Thankfully, I'm new here, so no one would dare hit the new person, nor would I feel comfortable hitting anyone I didn't know. It didn't hurt that my hands were freezing cold, even though I was wearing gloves, and packing a snowball would have caused my fingers to fall off. But I got some cool pictures and even some video of the snowball fight. As soon as I can figure out how to put video from my camera onto my computer--you'll be seeing what I'm seeing.
I woke up after a great night's sleep. My first night's sleep. I'm glad it was good--especially after a week of sleeping horribly.
When I first arrived the first night, I was met by a guy named Mike. He's a team leader here, and he showed me to my temporary apartment. Well, he was going to be going into town the next day (my first full day--Monday), and asked if I'd like to go. I said Yes.
We went into the town of Gumchon. It was my first excursion into anything other than my apartment. I tried to go outside in the morning to take some pictures, but it was so freezing cold, I had to come back inside. So I wasn't doing much. Since I'm not in my actual apartment yet, I can't unpack and get really settled yet.
In town, we went to a place called E-Mart, which is like Wal-Mart for Korea, except without the disgusting stale popcorn/urine smell that seems to accompany every Wal-Mart. Be certain, however, that E-Mart has it's own set of disgusting smells, including, but not limited to, dried squid just sitting out, dried anchovies, dried fish, and an entire section of the grocery department dedicated to various kinds of kimchi. Look up "kimchi". You'll die. It reeked like the devil in there.
But I bought a space heater for 22,000 Korean Won. That's like $22. Not bad. It's apparently really expensive to heat the apartments, and I have to pay for my own heat (it's gas), so this was recommended to me. Mike bought one for 75,000 won. He has a bigger place than mine.
I also bought peanut butter and jelly, Frosted Flakes, OJ, apples, some Oreo's, some caramel popcorn, some chocolate marshmallow cakes (mmm), and some plastic tupperware containers which will double as bowls. I failed to get a spoon, so consequently, this morning, I was forced to eat a bowl of Frosted Flakes with chopsticks. Yes, I really did. It was hilarious, and I was much better at it than I would have thought.
Here's my address in case you desperately want to show your love by sending me something:
Jason M. Hammond
Gyeonggi English Village, Paju Camp
1779 Beopheung-Ri, Tanhyeon-Myeon
Paju-Si, Gyeonggi-Do, 413-780
Republic of Korea
Incredible.
Oh, at the store, you have to pay for a shopping cart. You insert a coin into this thing on the handle of the cart, and you get your coin back if you return the cart. Hilarious. Also, they charge you for plastic bags. Can you imagine? How many plastic shopping bags do you use on a regular basis? How many do you have laying around your house or stuffed into a cabinet somewhere? However, you can box up your groceries for free. They have a big counter towards the exit with broken-down boxes, and you can pick one and tape it up yourself and carry your groceries that way. How random is that!? It's incredible!
While we were in the store, several young children would stare at us. Apparently, this happens frequently. Obviously, I'm in the minority out here, and I guess it's so much so that kids don't often see Americans or foreigners. It was so strange.
E-Mart is the place to be. It has everything from clothes like Macy's to groceries like Vons. It's a one-stop shop. Great fun. They also have people with food to try, like at Costco or Sam's Club. They are behind a little counter and they hand you things on toothpicks. You can imagine my horror at seeing some of the things they were offering! I had to politely refuse to accept some of these things. I did try a dumpling thing that had God knows what inside of it. I took one bite and had to give up. It wasn't friendly at all. This is going to be hard!
Just to give you an idea of how serious this place is, there is a bridge you must cross on the way into town that has camoflauge paint all over it. It is a one-lane bridge. Apparently, the bridge is or was built with explosives all over it, so that if North Korea moved closer, the South Koreans could simply blow up this bridge and deny them easy access. CREEPY. There is a large military presence here. Even on my drive from the airport to the village (where I live) I saw two trucks that had license plates that read "US Army". And on the way to the store today I saw some Korean soldiers getting out of a camoflauge vehicle. Very interesting.
Once we arrived back at the Village, we took our boxes to our apartments. I opened up my space heater and started using it at my cold feet.
Around dinner time, I headed over to Mike's apartment. He invited me to have tacos with some other people from the village. (From hereafter, the Village will refer to the Gyeonggi English Village, which is where I live and work). Apparently, you just can't get Mexican food over here (surprise, surprise), and it's quite a luxury. Mike had brought back a Taco Bell taco kit from home (he's from Colorad). I met his girlfriend Chloe (who's from England), Mary, Christian, and Brian. My very first night, after getting to my temporary apartment, I met Candy and Nikki. They stopped by my place to say HI and Welcome. Very nice of them.
Dinner was great, though it hasn't been that long since I've had Taco Bell, but it was a real treat for the rest of them, who had been craving Mexican food (at least the kind of Mexican food Taco Bell provides). Mike has a Nintendo Wii at his apartment--and I've never played the Wii. It was incredible. I did Tennis, Bowling, Baseball, Boxing and Golf. I was super good at golf, for some odd reason, and I did pretty good at tennis as well. Boxing was a bit of a stretch, and the baseball thing is rather hard. It's all in the timing.
Sometime after dinner, there was a bright flash of light outside, followed by a low rumbling noise. Of course, I thought thunder and lightning. Brian said, "It's that or missiles." Is that supposed to be funny??!?! Anyway, it was thunder and lightning. Rain was forecasted for last night. But what happens when it's below freezing temperatures and it starts to rain??? SNOW. We looked out the window and it was snowing profusely. I ran out without grabbing my jacket (BIG MISTAKE) to see the snow. I didn't last but about 6 seconds, then I ran back into the apartment to get my jacket and scarf and head back to my apartment to get my camera. Thusly, I was able to capture the pictures. So exciting.
Then the snowball fight ensued. Monday is everyone's day off, it's kind of like Broadway here, Mondays are dark. The park (they call it a park, just like Disney) is closed on Monday's. People came from all around to the snowball fight. It was the first snow of the season, and people were excited.
I now embark on my first day of work. I do not know entirely what to expect, but am open and ready to learn.
Thanks for reading and possibly caring at all.
The Chronicles Begin
Korea is my Narnia, a world full of possibilities in a somewhat cold environment (it's currently 28 degrees outside--but feels like 17 due to the wind chill). It's cold.
"I can't believe I'm doing this." I only said that to myself about 5 times every hour of this entire day, including the nearly 14 I spent on an airplane.
It's all a bizarre dream, as has been everything that's led up to this. Selling my possessions, doing a sort of "Whistle Stop" tour visiting friends one last time before departing for a year.
Seven hours into my very long plane ride, I was above the eastern coast of Russia. Oddly enough, due to the curvature of the earth, we didn't go over water much at all. We went up the coast of California up towards Alaska, then made a slight turn by the Bering Strait over Russia, then straight down the coast of Russia, making certain to avoid flying anywhere near North Korea, then through South Korea and into the airport...which is on an island of sorts.
I watched "The Simpsons Movie" which was preceded by "No Reservations", a Katherine Zeta-Jones movie. "No Reservations" wasn't very good...though that Abigail Breslin is pretty darn good.
I sat in seat 34A, a window seat, just like I like it. Though there's nothing really to see, due to constant cloud cover. I would have enjoyed seeing Mt. McKinley in Alaska and any part of Russia or the Bering Sea.
For most of the journey, the view out the window was a perpetual sunset. We didn't get off the ground in LA until after 1:30 (over an hour late), and we thusly had a blast of sunlight on the left side of the plane (my side) as we flew up the coast. With the Pacific time zones observance of Daylight Savings Time, the sun set at about 4:30. Since then, as we began heading more westward, the sun parked right underneath the cloudy horizon and only completed its cycle towards the latter part of the trip.
I was seated next to the the most touchy-feely young Asian couple. My guess is they were on some leg of a honeymoon. I mean, he was rubbing her bare feet, come on. I'm truly happy for them, but feel I would have been more understanding of their constant touching and chippy conversation had I enjoyed more than 3 hours of sleep last night. But I suppose that's my own fault.
We were fed 3 times during the course of the trip. I didn't move more than about 12 feet in as many hours, yet they felt it necessary to cram three meals down my throat. I feel gross now. The first meal was a full course meal, salad, shrimp, a roll, beef steak with potatoes and vegetables. It was actually quite good. Dessert was some apple thing. Pretty good. The second meal was really just a sandwich. Then the last meal was another full course meal, with scallops instead of shrimp, another roll, but this time a chicken marinara pasta. Pretty good, but not as good as the beef I'd had not 7 hours before. The dessert was a mango/orange cake type thing. Not so good. But again, by this time, I was stuffed like a pig.
In another attempt to prove to myself that I was actually doing this, and that I'd clearly lost my brain, I actually ate a carrot, and tried broccoli, and I even ate a scallop. All three were decidedly foul. But hey--at least I tried them!
I'm here safely. More news to come!
"I can't believe I'm doing this." I only said that to myself about 5 times every hour of this entire day, including the nearly 14 I spent on an airplane.
It's all a bizarre dream, as has been everything that's led up to this. Selling my possessions, doing a sort of "Whistle Stop" tour visiting friends one last time before departing for a year.
Seven hours into my very long plane ride, I was above the eastern coast of Russia. Oddly enough, due to the curvature of the earth, we didn't go over water much at all. We went up the coast of California up towards Alaska, then made a slight turn by the Bering Strait over Russia, then straight down the coast of Russia, making certain to avoid flying anywhere near North Korea, then through South Korea and into the airport...which is on an island of sorts.
I watched "The Simpsons Movie" which was preceded by "No Reservations", a Katherine Zeta-Jones movie. "No Reservations" wasn't very good...though that Abigail Breslin is pretty darn good.
I sat in seat 34A, a window seat, just like I like it. Though there's nothing really to see, due to constant cloud cover. I would have enjoyed seeing Mt. McKinley in Alaska and any part of Russia or the Bering Sea.
For most of the journey, the view out the window was a perpetual sunset. We didn't get off the ground in LA until after 1:30 (over an hour late), and we thusly had a blast of sunlight on the left side of the plane (my side) as we flew up the coast. With the Pacific time zones observance of Daylight Savings Time, the sun set at about 4:30. Since then, as we began heading more westward, the sun parked right underneath the cloudy horizon and only completed its cycle towards the latter part of the trip.
I was seated next to the the most touchy-feely young Asian couple. My guess is they were on some leg of a honeymoon. I mean, he was rubbing her bare feet, come on. I'm truly happy for them, but feel I would have been more understanding of their constant touching and chippy conversation had I enjoyed more than 3 hours of sleep last night. But I suppose that's my own fault.
We were fed 3 times during the course of the trip. I didn't move more than about 12 feet in as many hours, yet they felt it necessary to cram three meals down my throat. I feel gross now. The first meal was a full course meal, salad, shrimp, a roll, beef steak with potatoes and vegetables. It was actually quite good. Dessert was some apple thing. Pretty good. The second meal was really just a sandwich. Then the last meal was another full course meal, with scallops instead of shrimp, another roll, but this time a chicken marinara pasta. Pretty good, but not as good as the beef I'd had not 7 hours before. The dessert was a mango/orange cake type thing. Not so good. But again, by this time, I was stuffed like a pig.
In another attempt to prove to myself that I was actually doing this, and that I'd clearly lost my brain, I actually ate a carrot, and tried broccoli, and I even ate a scallop. All three were decidedly foul. But hey--at least I tried them!
I'm here safely. More news to come!
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