Korean Wedding

Last weekend, I attended my first Korean wedding. They are a little bit different than American weddings. Before the wedding, the bride is taking pictures with her friends in a side room. My friend, a former teacher, even had me come take a photo with her. We can't communicate too well because she speaks only a little English and my Korean is still terrible. I did meet her husband for lunch a few months ago, so since I knew them both they invited me. It was kind of unusual because all of the other teachers that attended were women and they kept asking me how I got invited.

As for the wedding, it was in a wedding hall, which is very popular in Korea. The wedding started with the mothers being escorted down the aisle and having them light two candles. Then, groom walks down, and finally the bride. She wore a white wedding dress. Someone gives a message (in Korean), then they had some special wedding singers, friends of the couple. After, the groom read a message to his bride and next played a song on guitar with two other guitarists. The bride and groom are pronounced married (I guess) and they walk down the aisle. Afterwards, they take group pictures with parents, family, extended family, and finally, friends. So, I was in a group picture with about 80 other people.

For dinner, this wedding was a buffet. They served all kinds of different Korean food, but no wedding cake. It was nice to go and see the wedding because the teacher taught at my first teaching location (Sinchon) and I hadn't seen many of the teachers for a few months. All of this finished in about 2 hours, so Korean weddings are notorious for being over in a short amount of time.



P.S. Congratulations to my sister and brother-in-law for making me an uncle for the second time. Sorry that I can come visit any time soon, Congratulations anyway.

Local Knowledge/Language Study

This weekend, I went shopping in Myeondong, which has a lot of trendy and some expensive stores. I went with a Korean teacher, so she showed me around and saved me some money when I wanted to purchase a pair of shoes. I guess for certain stores you can buy money vouchers. On the street in little kiosks you can exchange won for a voucher that give you a 20-30% discount. I saved 50,000 won when buying a pair a of shoes that were nearly impossible to find. Brown shoes with a decent tone or style are very difficult to find. Black shoes are ubiquitous and come in every possible style wanted or not. I guess this voucher system gives locals a discount, but allows for the stores to make a greater profit on the tourists or unknowing expats.

This week, I will start visiting the Ewha Woman's University campus, specifically Ewha Language Center. Yes, the university is women only, but the language center is co-educational, so it won't be for sightseeing purposes only. I received a scholarship through the G.O.A.L (Global Oversees Adoptee Link) organization. So, instead of studying 2 hours/day, 5 days/week and spending nearly $400/month, I will study less, 2 hours/ 3 times a week and pay nothing. One drawback is that I will have to commute nearly one hour each way to the University. If I was still working in my first location (Shinchon), it would have only been a 10-15 min. wall.

My Korean is still poor, but I am hoping that I can start at a pre-intermediate level. It should be nice to learn at a new location with different teachers. It will allow me to get away from Gangnam area for part of the day, which is always nice, because it is a very "rat race" type area.

Another update

Well, the last couple weeks have been pretty uneventful. Work, work, study a little bit of Korean, work, and more work is all I have been doing. I am still teaching on Saturdays which isn't too fun. I am hoping that I won't have to teach Saturdays in July because that is the start of summer break and there will be more students during the regular workweek. My classes are still a challenge because I am constantly needing new material unlike most other teachers who can use most of the same material month after month.

For socializing, I went to an adoptee organization picnic. It was a long ways away from where I live, but it was at a campground near the Han River, which runs throught the middle of Seoul. I managed to meet quite a few different adoptees and some of the people who work or volunteer for the organization (G.O.A.L.).

Also, I found out that I received a scholarship to attend Ewha's Women's University Language Program (yes, the program is co-ed). For ten weeks starting at the end of June, I will be taking Korean classes for free, which will be nice because currently, I am spending about $350/month for Korean lessons. There is a trade-off for the free lessons. I will have to commute about one hour each way to get to Ewha and the classes are only three days a week. Limited days might be good because I have reached a point where language acquisition is difficult and not a novelty.

Last week, I have been given a couple more hours of work at Pagoda. I am finding out how good my English proofreading and writing skills are. I spend a couple hours a day in the R&D office helping with developing TOEFL material that can be used for Pagoda written textbooks to be used in the classroom. The work is different and challenging. It will definitely help increase my pay this month since I am only working about 25 paid hours a week. Normally, I have closer to 30 paid hours and too many hours of preparation that don't get paid, but that is the life of a teacher.

Music 101

Well, another month has passed. I am still teaching business English and still can't get a month off from teaching on Saturdays. They don't have enough business teachers, so I got stuck teaching again. The money is so, so because it is dependent on the number of students enrolled. I just wish that I could have a full weekend to relax and prepare for the normal week. June is supposed to be the calm before the storm (July). Summer vacation starts in July and there will be many more students. I doubt that my class numbers will change much, but I might be given a normal Speaking, Listening, and Expression class.

As for my social life, I don't have much of one, except this weekend. One of my Korean language classmates called and said she had an extra ticket to a classical music concert since her boyfriend had a family matter. So, on short notice, I joined her at the Seoul Arts Center and listened to Yoonyoung Kim play a cello with Eun-Ok Kim accompanying on piano. The concert was quite good even though I am not an expert. She played music by Beethoven, Stravinsky, and a couple other composers.

On Sunday, a former student invited me to a concert for the Seoul Jazz Festival 2007. To start, there was a Korean jazz group that played. For the main performance, it was the Pat Matheny Trio. They are from the States and Pat is an amazing jazz guitarist. If you have a chance to see him in concert, I would definitely recommend him. He plays a variety of different types of guitars, which provides for an interesting show.

5 months

Ok, the blog has been neglected lately. My life hasn't been too exciting. I have been working, studying Korean, and trying to catch up on rest. My schedule isn't too good for sleeping, so during the week, I am always feeling tired. I try to catch-up on the weekends, but it isn't a good method, especially if I want any kind of social life on the weekend.

My Korean studies are still going slow. I am attending class every day and doing the homework, but my progress is slower than other students. I hope that is due to the fact that none of the other students work and they either married or have a Korean boyfriend. I will continue studying Korean even though it is expensive. It has been fun taking lessons because the teacher is very nice, even though she speaks too quickly and the fact that she is very beautiful (doesn't hurt). After class, my classmates and I usually go for lunch, so it is nice to have company. It helps that my classmates can speak English, even though they are from Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Japan.

My exercise plan has taken a vacation. Since my gym closed, I haven't joined another one since most of the others are expensive. I am not exactly sure if I have lost any weight lately, but I can say that my clothes are starting to be looser in the waist and neck. I am walking more here than my life in USA, so I think that also helps.

I am not sure what my long-term plans are, but every day, it seems that I get more questions and pressure to find a "regular" job. Don't most people realize that I have a job. It might not be the best job for me, but it is ok for now. I don't know how long I will teach, but I don't think that I will last more than a year. I would really like to get a business job in Seoul, but I also need more Korean language skills. Hopefully, this summer or fall, I will be able to switch to something different, but for now, I will teach and enjoy my time in Korea.

Birthday

Saturday, April 28th,
I attended a social event organized by G.O.A.L, an adoptee organization. At the event, I met adoptees from Switzerland, Denmark, France, and Italy. It was interesting to see how they had European and Korean characteristics. We met in Hongdae, which is near Hongik University, so it is a popular eating and drinking area. We ate Korean BBQ, which consists of Samgyopsal (like bacon) and another cut of pork with side dishes. After, we went to a bar for some more socializing.

Sunday, April 29th
For breakfast, Mr. Han's wife made a big breakfast since it is the only day that I eat at home. She served a variety of Korean dishes, so I was full afterwards.

For lunch, I met Ah Rong 아룽(Ellie). I took the subway to Bupyeong station in Incheon. I ate lunch with her and her friend, a high school classmate. Near the subway station, there are many restaurants, coffee shops, and bar. They took me to a Chinese restaurant for a very nice meal, but once again it was a feast with multiple dishes. We walked around the area and stopped for coffee before I had to leave to meet my father.

For dinner, my K-father invited Mr. Han, his wife, his son, son's girlfriend, and I for dinner. We went to Bennigan's. I guess that he should treat me to an American meal. I ordered filet mignon since steak is probably the only thing that I miss from American food. In Korea, they like to order multiple dishes and share. They also ordered ribs, pasta, chicken salad, and another steak. I was given the opportunity to try all of the other dishes. They all tasted great, but I definitely ate more in one day than maybe two normal days of Korean eating. Mr. Han said that I needed to gain 2 Kg when celebrating a birthday and I think that I managed to do that with my all day eating.

Bennigans is a very good restaurant her, but customers pay a premium price on most menu items since it is an American restaurant. Mr. Han mentioned it was my birthday to the waitress, so at the end of the meal, four of the staff sang "Happy Birthday", Korean version. Two cakes were purchased one by my father and one by Chan Nyoung/girlfriend, so I still had birthday cake and candles to blow-out.

Monday, April 30th
My actual birthday was quite lackluster until after 10pm. I had to teach, which was ok, but I also had to sit through five hours of training. It was quite boring, but should help improve my teaching skills. Classes weren't too fun, but I managed to finish out the month. After my last class, a couple students were talking to front desk and they knew it was my birthday, so we decided to go for a beer. We went to a bar that served German beer and had a relaxed conversation, which was very different from class discussion. They definitely made my 'actual' birthday more enjoyable.

Workout gym

I guess I will have to find a new place to continue exercising. My gym closed suddenly last Tuesday. Monday, I went to the gym and the next day, a teacher, who also exercises at the same place, told me that I better hurry and get everything out of my locker (shoes, socks, shampoo, etc.). When I arrived the place was empty. All of the workout equipment and weights had been removed. Unfortunately, I had only used 6 weeks of my 6 month membership. I was better off than some people. Another teacher paid her 6 month membership a week ago. The gym was still accepting people's membership fees until the last days. Rumor has it that the owner didn't pay his rent and kept membership fees to take a long trip. There were about 10 Pagoda teachers that had memberships, so we were all quite shocked and upset. The day after closing they did take people's names for possible refunds, I highly doubt that I will get any money back.