In all of the apartments where I live, there's a little white phone on the wall. It doesn't have any buttons. When you pick it up, there's a faint music playing via beeps. After a few seconds it gets louder. Then one of the maintenance guys picks up.
Last time I had issues with my boiler, I traipsed down to the little building where the maintenance guys hang out, and they explained that next time I should just pick up the phone and they'll send someone up for me.
The phone is a direct line to their switchboard, and it tells them exactly which apartment needs assistance. You explain your problem and they send someone accordingly.
Tonight having the maintenance man stop by solved more than just my boiler problem: last weekend I'd bought way too many bananas (what can I say? They were cheap and didn't really come in a lesser quantity), but they were quickly going bad because one person can only consume so many bananas at once, and I tend not to be in my apartment very much.
So after he'd gotten my boiler up to speed again, I asked the maintenance man if he liked bananas. He said he did, so I gave him all of them. They weren't bad yet, but they were very, very ripe. He seemed pretty pleased, and I'll sleep better knowing they didn't go to waste in my apartment.
Tomorrow is Independence Movement Day, so I wished him a good holiday.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Doppelt Kinder
We got our schedules for the new kindergarten school year this week, and I'll be teaching two kindergarten classes starting Monday. They're both baby classes - five years old by Korean counting, but more like three in Western age - which means they'll be a lot of extra work at first. The last time I was here I had the baby class and it's tough at the beginning because most of the kids have never really been in a structured environment like this before, some of them have never seen a non-Korean, and in general they can't understand any of the instructions that I'm giving them since they have no experience with English yet. Plus they always need help getting their coats and shoes on and off, etc. So it will be intense for a while.
Having two kindergarten classes makes for an insane schedule anyway, because it takes away your biggest planning period. But it's the only way to make overtime pay here, so I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be crazy busy, but it'll be nice to be able to knock some major dents in all my student loans.
One of my co-workers just recently paid off his student loans after working here for two years straight and having double kindergartens (and thus overtime) for much of the last year or maybe longer. So maybe someday soon that will be me!
Having two kindergarten classes makes for an insane schedule anyway, because it takes away your biggest planning period. But it's the only way to make overtime pay here, so I'm really looking forward to it. I'll be crazy busy, but it'll be nice to be able to knock some major dents in all my student loans.
One of my co-workers just recently paid off his student loans after working here for two years straight and having double kindergartens (and thus overtime) for much of the last year or maybe longer. So maybe someday soon that will be me!
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Posts & Pics
I still don't have service for my phone, and I still can't get an awesomely fast Internet connection of my own, because I'm waiting on my ARC, or Alien Registration Card, to come in, which I'm told should be around March 13th. In the meantime, it's been tough for me to get good posts of my adventures up, since my laptop's not so bad at picking up weak wifi, but all my worthy pictures are on my phone. So I apologize for the lack of total awesomeness. But, lest you think I've been doing nothing this whole time, here's what I've been up to:
This week was our last week of kindergarten. I also got pretty sick early in the week and asked the staff at the school to order pizza for me, since (like I said) I don't have any phone service right now. Then I just went home and vegged out. I pretty much just watched movies on Korean TV and ate pizza on Monday and Tuesday nights, but I felt much better after that.
On Wednesday I moved from my temporary apartment to my old/new apartment - in other words, the one I lived in when I worked here before. The folks who lived here before and after me really made it nice. They got a huge bed and rearranged the furniture and acquired more furniture and decorated it and pretty much made it way better than it would have been if I'd just lived here three straight years. It's really good to feel at home again.
On Thursday I went to the doctor and the whole visit cost me less than $20. The medication that he put me on cost less than ten. And that's without insurance, since I don't have my ARC yet. Once I get my ARC and have insurance, I'll be refunded for the amount I overpaid. I love Korean healthcare.
On Friday my co-workers and I ate at the restaurant in the bottom corner of our school. I had bibimbap, which wasn't bad, but it's never been my favorite, and since I was sick it was getting hard for me to finish eating when I couldn't really breathe much through my nose.
Saturday was my "rest if I need to or have adventures if I feel better" day, and it involved the rest of sleeping in and the adventures of revisiting the famous Eunpa Park and being totally ripped off by street-vending ahjummas. I won't hold it against them, though. The rice I bought from them actually tasted pretty good. Oh, so yes, I also attempted an amazing feat of cooking, which, like all my "from scratch" meals, tasted better than it looked. Inspired by yesterday's stark lack of cuisinal failure, I made french toast today and decided to spread strawberry yogurt on it, thinking maybe I'd be recognized as a previously unknown culinary genius. Unfortunately, it didn't taste so great, so I ate the french toast and the yogurt separately.
There are pictures associated with almost all of these exciting events, and I hope in the near future to post some of them for you.
In other major news, I went back to the church I used to dance at on Tuesday nights and danced until I was thoroughly dehydrated. God is good to me.
This week was our last week of kindergarten. I also got pretty sick early in the week and asked the staff at the school to order pizza for me, since (like I said) I don't have any phone service right now. Then I just went home and vegged out. I pretty much just watched movies on Korean TV and ate pizza on Monday and Tuesday nights, but I felt much better after that.
On Wednesday I moved from my temporary apartment to my old/new apartment - in other words, the one I lived in when I worked here before. The folks who lived here before and after me really made it nice. They got a huge bed and rearranged the furniture and acquired more furniture and decorated it and pretty much made it way better than it would have been if I'd just lived here three straight years. It's really good to feel at home again.
On Thursday I went to the doctor and the whole visit cost me less than $20. The medication that he put me on cost less than ten. And that's without insurance, since I don't have my ARC yet. Once I get my ARC and have insurance, I'll be refunded for the amount I overpaid. I love Korean healthcare.
On Friday my co-workers and I ate at the restaurant in the bottom corner of our school. I had bibimbap, which wasn't bad, but it's never been my favorite, and since I was sick it was getting hard for me to finish eating when I couldn't really breathe much through my nose.
Saturday was my "rest if I need to or have adventures if I feel better" day, and it involved the rest of sleeping in and the adventures of revisiting the famous Eunpa Park and being totally ripped off by street-vending ahjummas. I won't hold it against them, though. The rice I bought from them actually tasted pretty good. Oh, so yes, I also attempted an amazing feat of cooking, which, like all my "from scratch" meals, tasted better than it looked. Inspired by yesterday's stark lack of cuisinal failure, I made french toast today and decided to spread strawberry yogurt on it, thinking maybe I'd be recognized as a previously unknown culinary genius. Unfortunately, it didn't taste so great, so I ate the french toast and the yogurt separately.
There are pictures associated with almost all of these exciting events, and I hope in the near future to post some of them for you.
In other major news, I went back to the church I used to dance at on Tuesday nights and danced until I was thoroughly dehydrated. God is good to me.
Clogged
So last night I tried to flush my toilet but the water just swelled back up into the bowl. This only happened to me once before when I lived here in 2011, but I remember well enough that you can go down to the little maintenance guys' shack and request a plunger, so when pouring copious amounts of drain unblocker down the john didn't solve the problem, that's exactly what I did. For some reason all the maintenance guys that hang down there are pretty old. For the most part they're nice, but, as I guess is often the case with old men, they have no qualms whatsoever about teasing you when you show up.
So I reach the maintenance shack and use the key words that I know to express that there's a problem in my bathroom (said key words really being "bathroom" and "water") and do the best I can to mime using a plunger with accompanying sounds.
Naturally they all laughed at me, but one of them got up and fetched the plunger from the shed for me. As I thanked him and started off with it, he said something to me in Korean. At first I thought he was telling me to eat well, like the plunger was delicious, so I looked incredulously at him and politely declined. I was halfway back to my apartment when I realized he'd really said I must have eaten well, to have need of a plunger for my toilet.
Silly old men...I gotta say, though, for all their teasing, they're really very prompt when my boiler light goes out. I have no complaints.
So I reach the maintenance shack and use the key words that I know to express that there's a problem in my bathroom (said key words really being "bathroom" and "water") and do the best I can to mime using a plunger with accompanying sounds.
Naturally they all laughed at me, but one of them got up and fetched the plunger from the shed for me. As I thanked him and started off with it, he said something to me in Korean. At first I thought he was telling me to eat well, like the plunger was delicious, so I looked incredulously at him and politely declined. I was halfway back to my apartment when I realized he'd really said I must have eaten well, to have need of a plunger for my toilet.
Silly old men...I gotta say, though, for all their teasing, they're really very prompt when my boiler light goes out. I have no complaints.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Catholic Karaoke
So the teacher I'm replacing (who actually replaced me last year) is Australian, but he's married to a woman from the Philippines. There's a Filipino Catholic church on the other side of town here that they're involved in, and on Sunday night the Filipino community hosted a going away party for them. They were kind enough to invite the other foreign teachers at our school - even me! - and we had a great time. The food was amazing and we spent much of the evening listening to or participating in karaoke songs, which included Korean, Filipino, and western songs.
It was a lot of fun, and I have to say it was also kind of interesting to have people singing Britney Spears' “Toxic” mere feet from a wood carving of Jesus. Can't say I've had the opportunity to encounter such an overt juxtaposition before now.
It was a lot of fun, and I have to say it was also kind of interesting to have people singing Britney Spears' “Toxic” mere feet from a wood carving of Jesus. Can't say I've had the opportunity to encounter such an overt juxtaposition before now.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Valentine's Day
In Korea, what tends to be summed up by our one Valentine's Day is instead spread out over three. My understanding is that February 14th is Valentine's Day, or Red Day, where the girls give something to the guys. March 14th is White Day, where the guys give something to the girls. And April 14th is Black Day, where single people get together and eat 자장면 (jajangmyeon) in misery.
Despite not being a guy and being semi-“new” to boot, I got a few delicious gifts this year:
The large chocolate bar is from a kindergartener I don't even teach, but whose class is grouped with mine for some events. The little chocolate ball is from one of my American co-workers, who brought in chocolate for all the teachers and all of his students. And the bag is from one of my kindergarten girls. Inside was a cardboard house that contained a wonderful sampler of chocolates!
Despite not being a guy and being semi-“new” to boot, I got a few delicious gifts this year:
The large chocolate bar is from a kindergartener I don't even teach, but whose class is grouped with mine for some events. The little chocolate ball is from one of my American co-workers, who brought in chocolate for all the teachers and all of his students. And the bag is from one of my kindergarten girls. Inside was a cardboard house that contained a wonderful sampler of chocolates!
The Rooftop Bar
The view from my temporary apartment is quite interesting:
I particularly like how the old bar sign has become a cubby for old water bottles. I also enjoy how useful space on a flat roof could be. It's like a secret club hangout up there! Except, I guess, that all your neighbors have clear views of you...but still...
I particularly like how the old bar sign has become a cubby for old water bottles. I also enjoy how useful space on a flat roof could be. It's like a secret club hangout up there! Except, I guess, that all your neighbors have clear views of you...but still...
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