The World Cup and Erin Visits Korea!

My friend Erin from college is teaching English in China and decided to come visit Korea for 4 days! It was really cool to have a friend come see what it’s like here, although she does live in Asia too. I had fun showing her around Seoul for the first few nights she was here and then going out as well.

The world cup kicked off for South Korea on June 12^th. Their opening game was against Greece, and luckily for us it started at 8:30pm on a Saturday night. Unluckily for us it was pouring rain, but we made the most of it. We went down to Seoul City Hall pretty early and got awesome seats right up in the front section. Koreans are EXTREMELY patriotic and the world cup is a huge deal to them. The game was awesome, with fireworks, kpop singers, etc. After Korea won we danced around in conga lines with Koreans for around an hour. There were THOUSANDS of people downtown all decked in red. Video of Seoul City Hall during the Greece game. We were photographed hundreds of times so the next week at school we were looking everywhere for our pictures… apparently we were also featured in the Korea Times: Chicago. Here are some of the ones we found in Korean magazines/newspapers: link 1, link 2, link 3.

We were also on KBS primetime news in Seoul, which you can watch here. I am on camera at the 1:40 mark.

After the Korean game we headed to “little America” for the American/English game. It was super fun to be in Korea, yet surrounded by English and Americans.The next game was on Thursday versus Argentina and my city set up a huge TV screen in the local park. It was really cool to see even everyone in my rural-ish city come together and get excited for the game. I sat next to some of my students and they bought me ice cream. The perks of being a teacher are good.Korea’s next game was unfortunately at 3:30AM and I had to work the next day. I knew things were going well, however, when I was awoken from my sleep by an old lady screaming and yelling at 4AM. South Korea qualified for the Round of 16.

A lot of people have been asking me about North Korea being in the world cup and how SK feels about it. Most South Koreans cheered for North Korea and actually wanted them to do well. They think of the people and players as their sort of cousins and no matter the government and how they feel about them they still have family and huge cultural ties to the people there. Most of my coworkers just pretty much felt sad for them after they got stomped on by Portugal, as did I. A lot of people think its funny to joke about the players needing to win in order to not end up in a labor camp or punished in some way, but it is actually is a reality to some of them and it’s incredibly sad.

Overall watching the world cup in the foreign country you’re living in is an awesome thing. I wouldn’t trade that experience for very much. Unfortunately at this point Korea is knocked out of the running, but it was fun while it lasted.

Everland

Everland is the Disneyworld of Korea. The people who designed it clearly went to Disneyworld and based it off of it, complete with an American West area. The entire class of 3^rd graders at my school (700 kids) had a field trip to Everland so I got to go along! For those of you who don’t know me very well, I HATE THEME PARKS. It all stems form my parents traumatizing me when I was a child and forcing me to go on roller coasters even though I was terrified and never had fun. Yes, I give them a lot of crap for it. Even seeing/hearing roller coasters freaks me out and the thought of going on one puts me in a panic. I did have fun perusing the rose gardens and just watching the kids go on the “T-express”, it was a good departure from a day sitting at my desk. Here are some pics…

Korean Sports Day.

Growing up I never got to have a “field day” at school like I always heard about or saw on TV. In Korea, these sorts of field days exist to the max, and it’s a huge production. For weeks leading up to sports day the kids were ordering t-shirts, making signs, and getting ready.

Sports day was on Tuesday, June 1 and it was a really fun day. The day was full of races, jump roping, hula hooping, etc. Each class had an area surrounding the field, which they decorated with signs and banners. Each class was vying for the “cheering award” for whoever was the loudest/best at cheering… so all day it was Korean middle schoolers screaming and dancing to kpop. Luke and I don’t have homeroom classes so we got to sit in the shade and eat ice cream, fried chicken, and even drink beer – on the clock! In Korea, drinking is socially acceptable, even when you’re a teacher at work apparently. After lunch there was a special relay race: students, teachers, and parents. I was on the teacher’s team, along with the Principal. We had to pop a balloon with our butts, jump in a potato sack, and at the very end get a piece of candy out of a bowl of flour using our mouths… after you’ve run around the track and are breathing heavily inhaling a bunch of flour isn’t very fun. It was funny though especially since all 3000 of the kids at my school were watching and cheering my name. Sports day was pretty hilarious and it showed me that even though Koreans are insanely focused on studying and school work they also can have a day off to just have fun.

Spring Break 2010: Busan, Burger King, and 뜽

Buddha’s Birthday is also a national holiday in Korea, so we got a 3 day weekend! For our 3 day weekend we did what every other foreigner in Korea apparently decided to do too, take the bullet train south to Busan, the coastal port city in the southeast corner of the country.

We left Thursday night after work and took the bullet train down in time to go out on Thursday night. The 4 of us girls had a really random night out. The next morning we met up with some of our other friends for a day on the beach. I have literally never seen anything like it since I’ve been in Korea. The beach was PACKED with expats. Literally, it looked like Miami or something. Koreans gathered on the edge of the beach and just stared in amazement. We took over. We spent the day frolicking in the ocean, enjoying some beers, and loving the warm weather. We checked into our amazing hotel that we shoved 5 people into, which was so worth it. We went out to the “hottest nightclub in Busan” that night which happened to be in the basement of our hotel. Awesome commute.On Saturday it decided it was going to be a shit day and rain. Luckily for us we had shelled out the cash to stay in the nicest hotel on the beach so it was a funny/relaxing day just lounging in the hotel room with good friends. That night we hit up a local bar which was packed full of expats. I felt like I was in America.We headed back to Seoul the next morning on the KTX after a nice long weekend vacation.

The Dorsey's Do Korea.

The day after I got back from Jeju, my parents and my brother came to Korea! It was awesome to be able to show them my life and what I’ve been up to for the past 9 months. It’s almost impossible to relay and explain what its like here over skype/phone. I’m so thankful my family got to get such a glimpse into my life.

The first night they got here it was pretty late, but my Dad was hungry so we went across the street to a little Korean restuaunt and got some bi bim bap (rice and veggies with hot sauce). There were some drunk businessmen out for a late night drunk fest that made us try some of their chewy slimy river eel and their makgoli (rice wine). It was a pretty good intro for my dad to see how friendly Koreans can be, since sometimes in Seoul, just like in NYC, people can be pushy and rude.

The next morning we set out on our first day in Korea. First we went downtown to the City Hall and Gwanghamun Plaza. We took a nice walk to Dongdaemun shopping area and then had lunch at my favorite chain Korean restaurant. I introduced them to ddokbokki, pork cutlet, kim bap, and some other Korean diner food. After lunch we went to Yeoido Island to ride bikes along the Han River. It’s a nice way to see a good part of Seoul. After bike riding we went to Myeong-dong (a neighborhood) and saw the famous show “Nanta!” which is a silent show about cooking and dancing. It was really cool.

The next day I had to go to work so my family went hiking to the north of Seoul on a hike I had done in September. That night I came back into Seoul for dinner. Thursday I also had to work so I sent them to the Korean War Museum. After school on Thursday they took the subway and bus out to my apartment to stay the night. We went out to the bar and to the noraebang (singing room) with all of my local Gwangju friends, which was fun. We all 4 slept in my tiny apartment which was an experience. The next day they all came to work with me. The kids went absolutely NUTS over Andrew, and they still talk about him to me sometimes. “Oh so handsome!”, “So tall!”, or my favorite “fabulous DNA!”. They got to eat lunch at my school and then watch me teach one class. The students in that class were super excited that they were the chosen ones to get them to sit in on class.After school we had a little happy hour on the roof of my apartment building and then headed into Seoul for the weekend. Friday night I decided I needed to show my college aged brother the awesome nightlife Seoul has to offer, plus the drinking age here is 19 so he was legal! Let’s just say he had a little too much soju and something may have happened at 4AM with a bowl of kimchi…

The next morning we went up in Seoul Tower for a 360 view of Seoul and then went to a Korean baseball game! Seoul LG Twins were playing the Busan Giants and Korean baseball games are unlike American ones for sure. Imagine European soccer, American baseball, plus all things Asia (bright lights, flashy outfits, loud kpop music, etc.) LG got killed so that wasn’t cool but it was fun. We went to my favorite night stopping grounds called Hongdae, which was cool to show to my parents.

Sunday was their last day in Korea and happened to be one of the biggest festivals of the year in Seoul. It was Buddha’s Birthday and there was a festival called “Lotus Lantern Festival” happening. We got to make our own paper lanterns and eat bugs. We also went to the temple, which was decked out in colorful lanterns and decorations for the holiday. As soon as it got dark there was also a parade that went down the busiest streets in Seoul. Thousands of people and monks carrying lit up lanterns walked by along with lit up lantern floats. It was a really cool sight.My parents left the next morning for China and my brother headed home. I’m so thankful that they got to come and experience something that has changed my life and will influence me forever. Being here has definitely changed my life and I’m glad they will sort of understand where I’m coming from now. It was a good break up in the year since I hadn’t seen them for 9 months. At this point I only have 2 left, so that’s nothing!

Jeju Island

So I haven’t blogged in FOREVER… but I have nothing to do at work this week so I thought I’d try and catch up.

The first week in May I had 3 days off, meaning I had a 5 day weekend. Me and my friend Amy decided to jet down to Jeju island for a little vacation. Jeju island is known as the “Hawaii of Korea” and is a popular honeymoon destination for Koreans, Japanese, and Chinese.

We flew down from Gimpo Airport in Seoul on Tuesday night and headed to our classy 5 dollar a night motel called “Jeju Hiking Inn”. The next morning we explored the island and went to some cool waterfalls. The best waterfall was Jeongbang, which is the only waterfall in Asia that falls directly into the sea. We tried the delicacies as well, Jeju is famous for oranges. So we tried orange chocolate, orange rice wine, and lots of other orange things. That night was cinco de mayo so we had a little happy hour with some Coronas up on the roof of our hostel overlooking the bay.

That night we decided to check out the really ritzy resorts on Jeju. We headed to the Lotte Hotel, which looks like a castle. We ate dinner at one of the really nice restaurants there. I got salmon, something I never get here, and it was amazing! After dinner we went to the hotel casino. Casinos in Korea are a weird phenomenon. Korean nationals are not allowed into them because gambling is illegal. But hotels like to rake in money from foreign tourists (especially the Japanese), so they have casinos that are only for people with foreign passports. We literally had to show proof that we weren’t Korean to get in, not what age we were.The next morning we took a long scenic bus ride to the east side of the island. First we went into a huge Lava tube cave. Jeju is volcanic just like Hawaii so there are lots of caves and lava features. The cave was really cool. After the cave we went to Seongsan, which means Sunrise Mountain. It isn’t actually a mountain, but a crater made by an old volcano. We climbed to the top of it and there was an awesome view of the town below. We explored the area for a while, including the black sand beaches, and then we headed back to our area. We went to the world cup stadium where they had some lanterns set up for Buddha’s Birthday.The weather had been kinda blah in Jeju up until Friday. On Friday it was supposed to be nice so we went to the beach! It was so nice and so sunny and I got REALLY sunburnt. The beach itself was beautiful and after a long day of hanging out there we went to the Shilla hotel for some beer on the porch.The next day we had plans to climb the tallest mountain in Korea, Hallasan, but those plans didn’t sound as appealing as the beach/pool. So we scratched them and headed to The Shilla Hotel. The Shilla is probably the nicest hotel on Jeju. The pool is offlimits to nonguests, but since we’re foreigners noone questioned us. We hung out by the amazing pool all day and pretended that we were rich guests staying at the Shilla. It was a good day.The next morning we headed back to Seoul on the 1 hour flight. Jeju was a nice vacation from Seoul and did actually remind me of Hawaii a little bit. It’s probably not as exciting to us, however, because it’s only an hour away from Seoul instead of a long journey. Anways it was a good vacation!

hangman

This literally just happened, it was just too hilarious to not tell you guys about.

I was playing hangman with my last class and a boy came up to the board... he wrote 3 blanks, and almost immediately all the kids were screaming "S" "S" S"! The first letter was S. So of course next comes "X"!! leaving...

S _ X

at this point everyone is dying laughing including me, and my face turns BRIGHT red. so then all the kids start laughing at me and my red face. awesome.

the kid finished and the word is SIX. obviously. smartass. all in a day for middle school teacher i guess.