Sok Bosa Temple

Just a few Buddhas

A temple on the mountain behind our apartments that Danielle and I hiked to. We arrived just in time for some beautiful afternoon light!
This term has been going well. Last weekend we had a work party that was attended by our companies CEO. It ended up being quite and eventful night, quite different from all of our previous branch dinners. Aaron has talked about how in Korea since seniority is such a big deal whenever you would go out with your co-workers the boss would have to be the one leading the drinking because if the boss didn't drink than no one else could. With our previous branch manager she would not drink and so no one else would and all of our work functions were clearly segregated between the Koreans and the foreigners and had been super awkward. This dinner was the complete opposite. The CEO and our branch manager Lia definitely led the drinking by ordering tons of soju and beer and doing shots with everyone. Quite the wild dinner! Eventually, once everyone had gotten some good drunk bonding in we were all sent to a Korean club another exciting experience. The club was huge, with lots of tables and then a big dance floor in front of a stage. There was a band that played all the top K-Pop hits with lots of dancers and singers and tons of lights. Between songs the stage would change- part would spin around or someone would be lowered from the ceiling to DJ between songs. It was only acceptable to dance during the fast songs and everyone ran off the dance floor for the slow songs. Our CEO was a typical creepy older Korean man who didn't speak a work of English but didn't let that stop him from talking very loud and very close in Korean for long periods of time. Eventually we took our leave and met up with some friends for a calmer end to the evening. While it was completely bazaar to see our boss and co-workers completely drunk it has made work much more enjoyable as I now know the people that I work with! And all it took was a night of heavy drinking.

A Place in the World

So I know that many of you are writing out your yearly checks to charity around this time and I have a suggestion of a very worthy and needy charity. Two of my friends (Adam Mauerer and Bill Silva Reddington) have been working on a movie in Atlanta about a school that teaches both American children along with refugee children from throughout the world. They have nearly finished the movie but are raising the funds they need to complete it through kickstart (a website that helps people raise money). Anyway, the preview of the film as well as a very detailed and interesting description of it are all on their website and it would be awesome if you all donated a little bit!  http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ctqfilms/a-place-in-the-world

So I tried to have the preview embeded but I have no idea how to do that so you are going to have to go to their site to check it out.

"My family owns a slave teacher"! and other rediculous things my students say

So here are some anecdotes from this past week:
When beginning or discussion on modern slavery (we have the best topics) Klaus informed the class that his family had a slave. I don't think I was ever quite able to convince him that even though he had never seen this individual get paid, that he was not in fact a slave. This student has lived for more than a year in California and definitely understood the meaning of slavery but I guess not how widely inappropriate it is to say that you own a slave.
During another class discussion about why it would be good to study abroad we came up with the reasons of learning a new language, understand a new culture and meet new people. Jenny, who is a bit of a bitch, asked me why it was good to meet new people. I would have liked to ask her why she thought I was in Korea if not for those three reasons because it is certainly not so I can spend my free time answering dumb questions from grumpy middle schoolers.

Some photos from a hike a took with Danielle and her parents about a month ago. We visited Beomosa temple which is one of the largest in Busan and than hiked on the mountains behind our apartment.

Every Thursday Danielle and I have been going to the temple to teach English. Up until last week we were teaching two girls, both about 25. One of them Eun- Chil was getting pretty good at English and worked really hard but since she has now been in South Korea for about 5 months the government was giving her an apartment and so she was leaving the temple. Now we only have one student, Eun- Hee who has a much lower English level. It makes teaching her a little more difficult since neither Danielle or I knows much Korean that would be useful in that situation. She has a great attitude and is fun to spend time with though. After we have our lesson we have lunch with some of the monks. This last Thursday was the day of the big test that seniors take. This test seems to be pretty much the culmination of years of studying and attending academies and it seems that their entire futures rests on their scores. It will effect not only what college they get into but also what job they will be able to get after college. Students who do not get a good enough score will take the next year off and do nothing but study for it. When the test is happening school is delayed for elementary and middle schools so that there isn't a lot of traffic on the roads and airplanes are diverted so that there isn't a lot of noise distracting the test takers. At the temple it was the final day of what had been 100 days of praying for many mothers. Some had even been praying for the entire year. Unfortunately,  we could only see the praying on the CCTV in the house where we have lunch as the temple was completely full with mothers. I can't not imagine the pressure of knowing that your mother was spending every day at the temple, or church praying for your test scores. One student was caught using a bluetooth to cheat on the test and I can only imagine how harsh his parents are going to be on him.
We have been in our new branch for the last couple of weeks and I am getting used to it. It is not a great location but since I only have 3 more months I am not getting too worked up over anything. Yesterday Danielle and I went on what ended up being a fairly rigorous hike behind our apartment to see Seuk Bo Sa temple (it means Rock Buddha temple). It was well worth the near vertical climb to get there as there are beautiful Buddha's carved into the rock face of the mountain behind the temple. The weather was gorgeous and we caught the very end of fall foliage. There will be pictures to come. Its just beginning to get cooler but there weather has been very nice. I am hoping that continues as I will be taking my vacation next weekend when Aaron, Sarah and Pete visit! I am very excited to see them and to spend some time not working! We will spend most of our time in Seoul and then visit Aaron's family...somewhere (I don't ever seem to be able to remember what the town/city is called where they live). It will be great to have a break from work and really get to see more of Seoul. When I get back it will be the start of my last term and I will pretty much be focused on saving money and planning my travels with Danielle! I can't believe its already been almost 9 months but I am definitely getting very excited to do some traveling!

Halloween!

Amy Winehouse, a hippie (cheapest costume ever because I could just wear my own clothing) and the 99%

Cactopus

One of my students (the really cute Jenny which has been featured on this blog many times) thought that a cactus was called a cactopus. It was adorable. Anyway, this weekend I finally made it down to the Jalgachi fish market. Pretty amazing place, particularly as Koreans eat all the weird seafood you can think of and unlike the only other fish market (Sydney) that I have been to, Koreans wont stand for any sanitary organized shit. They just stick it all right out there in bins and scream at you to buy it. All this fish is sold by adjumas (the grumpy middle age/old ladies that shove you around). Definitely a lot of very unappetizing fish (some fish just do not look like they should be eaten) and some very appetizing fish.

So these were still thrashing around and alive but later on we saw some that had been cooked and looked delicious

Very sassy with all of her shell fish that I did not recognize

They were quite good at displaying their wares

I just really don't see the appeal

These had teeth that look like they could kill you

Yum

Stingray

Not delicious looking but fairly picturesque

Pete were these the knives you wanted? Cause I didn't get you one

No matter how many restaurants I pass by with these guys swimming in tanks in my face I will never think these taste (yes I have tried them, shocking I know) or look good. They are monsters and should be left in the ocean.

See! Monsters! He leaped out of his bin of water and began running in front of us and I had opened toed shoes on, not a good choice.

Only the foolish Americans stopped to take photos and gasp while all the Koreans just stepped over it and calmly informed the lady that her octopus had gotten away. When she picked it up she then shoved it in my startled friends face. Thank god it hadn't been me because I think I would have had a heart attack

Cool looking but in the same way that monsters are "cool" looking. Only in pictures.

Just chopping up some eels