All You Need on Friday Night is Soju and a Band-aid

I took this photo at a Megamart supermarket in Busan.  This is one brand of Korean soju, a distilled "liquor" preferred by many Koreans.  I think it has about 20% alcohol and can do a whole hell of a lot of damage.  I don't know if the marketers of this product wanted to make it ironic or if they just thought "Oh, a band-aid would make a nice free item with our soju."  Either way it's quite hilarious.  If you've read anything about drinking culture in Korea you will find much literature on a phenomenon that people from the U.S. would call "binge drinking."  Binge drinking back home is commonly associated with college students and alcoholics but here it is common amongst many people who are of, and probably not of, drinking age.  Although I've seen some pretty wasted women, soju binge drinking is quite popular amongst men.  It is not uncommon to see people passed out on the street, in an alley, on a bench or pretty much anywhere in the wee hours of the morning.  Some of my friends told me that on Sunday mornings they make a game out of counting the number of pukes they find walking down the street.  I imagine the count could get quite high.  My favorite scene to watch is the group of five or six men aged 40-60 all in suits stumbling down the road, leaning on each other for support and/or carrying each other to keep from toppling over.  Often their efforts are in vain.  

I find that expats in Korea also love soju.  At least for about the first month they are here.  A little over a dollar a bottle, soju is a very cheap way to get absolutely sloshed.  I think I speak for many expats when I say that we quickly slow down on the soju drinking after our first worst-hangover-ever.  Some of us don't learn from our mistakes and have our second and third worst-hangovers-ever.  When in Korea.

This photo reminds me of the time the head teacher at my school came into work with a huge gash on his forehead.  Even though my coteachers and I were alone in the classroom they whispered to me that they knew he got really drunk the night before and they speculated that he fell down the stairs.  I don't know if the story was ever confirmed to be true but I think that's what the common notion was amongst the teachers.  The head teacher must have gone to see the doctor that first day because the second day he came to school with a bandage over his wound.  Stitches?  I don't know.  But I do know that he should have bought the soju with the free band-aid.

Korean School Lunch in Photos #2

Sorry, it's been awhile since I've written.  I started a hip-hop dance class which has been consuming some of the time I used to designate to keeping up on my blog.  Not a very good excuse but whatever.

So here is the second installation of my series of school lunch posts:
Top left: Cabbage kimchi.  If you're surprised by this just don't be.  I've had conversations before regarding whether or not there is one thing that I could eat for every meal everyday.  I guess if I had to pick something I bet I could eat potatoes everyday for every meal.  Even more so than kimchi they are extremely versatile so I could cook them in tons of different ways.  I bet you're snickering because the girl from Idaho says she could eat potatoes for every meal everyday aren't you?  Not funny.  Although I do love kimchi and have talked about it on various occasions on different posts, I know that I could not eat kimchi for breakfast.  I tried it at orientation and it does not make a very nice side dish to my bowl of frosted flakes.

Top right: Tteok.  Pronounced like "duck," in English this is called "rice cake."  Rice cakes come in many shapes and forms.  This tteok is prepared with steamed glutinous rice flour and then rolling into balls.  Red bean paste is put into the middle, which gives it a sweet flavor.  It is then rolled in colored and sweetened dried bean crumbs.  This is just one of the many "creative" ways Koreans eat rice.  I say "creative" with quotation marks because although, yes, it's a bit innovative, I don't necessarily like it or want to be eating rice for lunch in fifty-million different ways.  One, I don't need all those damn carbs and two, I don't particularly like rice that much.  When I first got to Korea I didn't mind tteok and ate it whenever any Korean shared it with me (which is often).  Now whenever I get tteok (which is still often)  I take a bite, act like its good, hide it and throw it away.  It's too late to tell anyone at my school that I don't like it.  I've already accepted and "eaten" way too much.  Plus I heard that it is literally a crime in Korea to not like tteok (like kimchi) and that you will go to prison for life if anyone hears you say it.

Bottom left:  This is a dried tofu soup.  I'm not sure what it's called as I'm going off of memory for this post because I lost my notes.  It's pretty much just pieces of dried tofu and some sort of spice without much flavor.  This soup doesn't have much flavor at all as it accompanies the next dish and is used as a way to even out the full flavor of the other dish.

Bottom right: Bibimbap.  This is one of Korea's signature dishes to foreigners who have eaten Korean food outside of Korea.  It is also very widely eaten amongst Koreans.  In fact, the first time I was exposed to bibimbap was during orientation.  The city where our orientation was held, Jeonju, is renowned in Korea for having the best bibimbap in the country.  I really enjoy this dish and I believe many other expats here to as well.  The dish is essentially a bunch of mixed vegetables served on top of rice and topped off with chili pepper paste.  The veggies used in this bibimbap are zucchini, carrots, bean sprouts, spinach, and mushrooms.  As most of you back home know, I do love my veggies.  This dish is super healthy and filling and can be prepared with whatever vegetables you like.  There is also a version of this dish that is served hot. The rice becomes a bit fried and it's really tasty.

When watching Korean students eat all these vegetables it really amazes me how some Americans defend despicable school lunches by arguing that kids are picky and won't eat vegetables.  If this is universally true of kids around the world then why will Korean kids eat it?  I guess it could be because they don't have a choice at lunch and they can't bring their own.  If this is the case then I would argue that maybe that's how it should be done back home.  Obviously it is possible to give kids healthy, unprocessed, fresh food.  Why do we do it so much differently in the U.S.?  Just something to ponder...

Korean School Lunch in Photos #1

I'm running out of blog post ideas since everything is becoming so normal in Korea.  In the beginning it was super easy to come up with ideas for blog posts since everything was so new and exciting.  Now it's definitely harder to notice the subtleties in Korean culture that once popped out like the first pimple on an adolescent boy's face.  Since I first got here though, Korean food has been a subject that has popped up time and again from people back home.  I, just as friends and family back in the U.S., am really interested in Korean food and it helps that I actually enjoy it quite a bit.  I love it's spiciness, which often comes from the use of chili in many Korean dishes.  I also love the taste of fermented soybeans, seaweed, and kimchi which are staples of the Korean diet.

Although I am definitely not a chef nor do I pretend to even have any talent when it comes to cooking, I have become increasingly interested in the art of food since I have been in Korea.  This stems first from my abundance of free time at and after work when I am able to indulge in the beautiful media vomit that is Reality Television.  Since it has been on the air I have been a fan of Top Chef but the current season I am especially fond of.  Second, there is a grave lack of satisfactory foreign cuisine in Daegu and, I would argue, most of Korea in general.  In the past few months I have been scouring my city for good Mexican, Italian, Indian and Thai restaurants because I know that they could possibly, maybe, potentially exist.  I could never seriously think I am going to find that Cajun catfish po' boy that I've been craving or the Ecuadorian food I salivate for. I couldn't bare the let down after having even a glint of hope and finding out that there would be no one even thinking of this idea for the next 20 years.  The few foreign restaurants that I have found and gave the chance though have made me look more critically at food than I ever have before.  But don't expect too much from this.

Now that I've taken care of that I will get to the point.

Since the first lunch I ate and Namduck Elementary School in Daegu, Republic of Korea I have looked differently at school lunch.  I remember being in elementary school and dreading the days they would serve "ribeque" sandwiches.  I swear I would gag as I tried to choke down that unidentifiable "meat" that they put down our throats.  But I lived for the days when a big square of processed cheese and pepperoni pizza was slapped on our trays.  I think this was served at least once a week!  I definitely don't remember school lunch being healthy by any means.  They did have a salad bar but when you have the choice between pizza or the salad bar what do you think an American child is going to pick?  If I did ever eat salad I'm sure I drenched it in ranch dressing anyways to cancel out all of the nutrients I would have gotten from the veggies.  Now I look forward to school lunch, each morning I wonder what surprises I will be chop-sticking into my mouth at 12:10.  Usually lunch is awesome.  Sometimes dishes are served that I'm a little wary about but I try and end up loving.  Every so often there is something that I know to take very little of because I might throw up a little bit in my mouth (it's easier to take a little of something and then not eat any of it than to not take something.  Every coworker at your table will question you).  But these instances are few and far between.  The tasty treats definitely outweigh the dried minnows in syrup.

Because of all these factors I have decided to do a series of posts on the school lunches that I am served and kindly accept for a meager paycheck deduction of around $35 a month.  Less than $2 a meal!  Pretty awesome if you ask me.  And I can eat as much as I want.  Okay, here it goes.  "Korean School Lunch in Photos #1" starts now!

Top left: Cabbage kimchi.  There are many different types of kimchi, the most common being the cabbage kimchi.  "Kimchi" actually just refers to fermented vegetables in Korean cuisine.  The kimchi that is seen here is definitely my favorite.  Some of the ingredients in the sauce are red pepper powder, ginger, garlic, fish sauce and green onions.  You will always find some sort of kimchi served at school lunch and almost every Korean meal that you eat.

Bottom left: "Bap." This is obviously rice.  Rice is served with every school lunch too and like kimchi, is a staple of Korean cuisine.  I am often questioned why I take so little rice at lunch time.  I even take more rice than I know I'm going to eat sometimes just so that I am not pestered by the school chef.

Top middle: "Sook-joo-na-mool"(?)  These are bean sprouts mixed with imitation crab and 'minari' which is Japanese parsley.  Apparently minari is a seasonal herb that is consumed mostly in the spring.  I think my coteacher was trying to point out that spring time is coming and that is why this herb was put into the dish as the dish is most often served without it.  Honestly the dish did not have much flavor at all.  With the main ingredient being bean sprouts you can probably imagine.  I liked that it was healthy but it definitely could have used something to make it more flavorful.

Top right: "Jang-jo-rim"  The school has served this dish a few times since I have been here and I absolutely love it.  It is boiled quail eggs and chunks of pork in soy sauce.  The quail eggs are so much creamier on the inside than chicken eggs.  Plus, the yolk to white ratio is much more even, which I thoroughly enjoy.  The bite-size eggs fit perfectly in your mouth and the pork is tender.  The soy sauce is watered down which is good because it would be much too salty if it wasn't.

Bottom right:  "Soo-je-bi-gook" School lunch is also always served with a soup.  I generally really enjoy Korean soups.  They are usually spicy and brothy and I prefer brothy soups over chunky ones.  The noodles you see in the picture are made from flour and cut in a rectangular shape.  Accompanying the noodles are potatoes, zucchini and green onions.  I was pretty disappointed by this soup.  It had absolutely no flavor.  There was very little seasoning, if any besides salt, added.  The noodles tasted like squares of flavorless dough and the cooked zucchini and potatoes weren't much better.

Overall this was a very average meal.  If it wasn't for the egg and pork dish I wouldn't have been very fond of it as two of the three main dishes were lacking in flavor.  It wasn't an extremely healthy dish compared to others that are served, but it beats by a long shot what I imagine kids are eating in schools and at home back in the U.S.

More to come!
Peace

Balut!!!

I have yet to write a post about my time in the Philippines, and don't know if I ever will.  But I do want to share with you all an interesting edible which is common cuisine amongst locals and which I had the opportunity to try. Those of you who know me probably are aware that I am a bit crazy and adventurous in daily life and when it comes to trying new things.  I decided since the Philippinos eat it then why shouldn't I.  Here is a less graphic picture that I took from google images.  Trust me, it could have been a lot worse.

It's called "balut" and is a fertilized duck egg with a partially developed embryo inside.  They incubated until between 14 and 21 days and then boiled and eaten as a snack.  You can find people selling them all over the street at night and get to choose how developed you want your fetus to be.  I chose the 14 day fetus because I didn't know if I could handle the crunch of a beak and little feathers stuck between my teeth.

To eat the balut first you must find the end with hollow space, crack it open, pour in some vinegar and suck out all of the juice.  After you have sucked the juice you can begin peeling the egg.  You then eat the egg, pouring vinegar and salt on to your liking (use a lot).  I was very thankful that when I ate the balut it was  night time and could not see what I was eating.  I don't know if I would have been able to do it had I seen a fetal duck inside.

I wasn't so lucky about three days later when I got very sick to my stomach and probably had a mild case of salmonella poisoning for about three days at the end of my trip.  It all turned out okay though and if I had the chance I would do it again.  Maybe next time I'll go for the 21 day old fetus.

A New Semester

For the teachers who came to Korea in August 2010 we have now been here just over 6 months.  Our second and final semester of teaching has just begun and most teachers are experiencing work related changes.  Many native teachers will be working with one or multiple new coTs and have a completely different schedule than last semester.  The English curriculum has changed a bit for elementary school students and there are new English books some of us must utilize.  Some native teachers working in larger schools will even be getting another native teacher at their school.  This was almost unheard of before this semester, at least in Daegu.  As Winter Vacation and Spring Break come to an end EPIK teachers here in Korea are preparing as best as they can for these changes.

I'm sitting at my desk right now, feeling strange in a world I felt so comfortable in before(see *1).  I had it pretty easy over the past few months compared to other teachers.  Instead of having to deskwarm for the past two weeks during Spring Break, I spent my time waking up at 11:00 a.m. and lounging around all day, watching reality T.V. and trying to think of things I could/should be doing.  These past 2 months have been a little bit strange.  We ended the semester just before Christmas, had a few days off and then started winter camps.  I had a light schedule for two weeks during camp, only teaching two or three classes a day.  I then headed to the Philippines for about two and a half weeks.  When I returned we resumed school for one and a half weeks of which I only taught about 6 classes all together.  Two weeks ago, on a Wednesday, we had our end-of-semester teachers' dinner where the principal got drunk and told me I didn't need to come in during Spring Break.  I was instructed not to tell any of the other native teachers as they would probably be jealous since the majority of them had to go in to work and sit there for 8 hours a day.  I was pretty stoked on this and went home and told my entire facebook network with a status update.  I guess the point is that since I had to work even less than most people did during the vacations, it must be way harder for me to be back at school now than for everyone else.

The changes that I'm experiencing this semester make it a bit harder to be back here at work.  I think the biggest challenge for me is going to be the fact that I have two new coTs.  It was a bit frustrating to me because I didn't even know who one of my new coTs was going to be until the teachers' dinner and the other I met last Friday.  For native teachers here your coteacher can make or break your experience in Korea.  If you have a coT that doesn't speak English or if your personalities clash it can make your life hell.  My coTs last semester were pretty awesome and I felt that I would for sure not have as good of luck this semester.  It turns out that my main coT is one of the fourth grade homeroom teachers from last semester.  She's about 24 or 25 and in her second(?) year of teaching.  One of the first things she said to me about this new semester is that she is very nervous about teaching English because she doesn't speak much English and because she can not discipline the students.  The latter is what I'm worried about most.  Some of the students can be quite a handful and when you don't speak their language it can be really hard to keep them under control.  She is quiet, a bit shy and petite and definitely does not look threatening at all (maybe even less than I do).  Hopefully the students will not walk all over us.  My second coT is only here two days a week: on Tuesdays and Fridays.  She speaks almost perfect English as she studied in Canada and has been a teacher at a private academy for about ten years.  Although she has had this experience, it is her first year teaching in a public school.  Public and private schools are very different in many ways.  When I talked to both of my coTs for the first time about teaching they both expressed to me that they pretty much had no idea what they were doing.  For the first time in Korea I felt like the experienced one, instructing the Koreans on what they needed to do.  We'll see how this semester goes...

The class schedules have also changed.  Instead of having each grade (3rd-6th) twice a week, I have 3rd and 4th twice a week and 5th and 6th three times a week.  Last semester this would have been fine because I liked my 5th and 6th graders and it was my 4th graders that were devil spawns.  This semester, since it's actually the beginning of a new school year (guess I coulda mentioned this earlier), my 4th graders have now moved up to the 5th grade.  I will have to teach each of two classes three times a week.  That means instead of four, I now have six classes a week of students that pretend they are shooting me with AK47s.  The only positive about this situation is that I will not have any "special classes" which I had to plan and teach by myself last semester.  These classes caused me a lot of stress because I didn't have a coT to help translate.  Often times the students had no idea what I was saying or what they were supposed to do and they would act like crazy midget monsters on crack.  I almost cried in my 4th grade special class because I didn't know what to do and my coT was nowhere to be found.  I ended up screaming at the students and the next day my 3rd graders came in saying "Kailey teacher angry! Ahhhhh!!" and trying to mimic what they thought I would look like mad.  Seeing Kailey Teacher angry is a rare occurrence.  I guess the whole school heard about it.

Another change this semester is the elementary school curriculum.  I guess some teachers are using the old curriculum but I have a new text book for each grade.  I was a bit excited when I heard that we were getting new books, as the old ones are pretty horrendous.  I guess I shouldn't have expected the books to be that much better.  I mean it's hard to go from horrible to good or even mediocre.  Well, it's the first day back at school and I have in my possession only the 4th grade text book.  I have been asking my coT to get me the new books since last week and she always says, "OK, I get you the new books," but has yet to do so.  It's kinda hard to plan lessons without the book and CDROM.  Actually, not really.  I usually just take other people's plans off waygook.org, a site where teachers in Korea can post lesson plans and a shit ton of other stuff.  Judging by this site it doesn't look like the new books are much different than the old ones.  I think they just changed some of the chapter titles and tweaked them a bit.

Some larger schools have hired a second native teacher.  Since my school is really small and I teach every English class there is, there is no need for another native teacher.  But larger schools have 40+ English classes per week.  Since each native teacher only teaches 22 classes per week a second native teacher is necessary.  I can't give my input on this since I am not in this situation but it's definitely got to be a bit weird to go from being the only foreigner in the school to having another there too.  It could be nice to have another English-speaker to talk to but weird for the native teacher that has been there for the past semester.  And to top the weird-meter, some people have gotten English teaching robots in their schools.  How can you compete with a robot?  I guess it could be easier to make friends with a robot than some of the weirdos that come to Korea to teach English.

I think a lot of native teachers have made plans to change their habits during second semester.  A lot of us slack a bit while at work, sit on facebook or twitter, write blog posts, watch reality T.V. and feel a bit bad about it (maybe I'm speaking for myself on this one).  Instead of doing this for so much time each day I would like to try and be a bit more productive while at work.  It might take me a few days to figure out how to do this but at least it will keep me busy for awhile.  I also would like be more conscious about saving money each month.  The first month I was here I made a budget on my computer at work but never printed it out.  It might be a good idea to try and follow this so I have something to show for my year here.

Despite these changes and the prospective challenges I face, hopefully this semester will be as good or better than the last.  First semester went by super fast and I hope in 6 months the same can be said for this one.  The first six months have been great but i've definitely hit that point where i'm not as easily excitable.  I guess we'll see how it goes...

Peace out

*1  One of the reasons I feel a bit out of place at my desk is that it looks like my new coT went through all the stuff that my old coT had by her desk and decided what she wants and doesn't want near her.  She decided against having a table and two filing cabinets.  I guess she thought that the best place to put them would be around my desk.  On top of these surfaces is a bunch of odds and ends; paper clips, CDs, paper.  The first thing that she says to me when she walks in the classroom is "You clean around desk."  Well thanks for throwing all this shit around my desk just because you didn't want it and then asking me to clean it.  That's sweet of you. (I really love footnotes and miss them dearly)

Stayin' Alive in Korea

From Google Images

For the past two months I have had a minor recurring problem which has given me cause to seek medical attention here in Korea.  Don't worry, it's nothing serious.  Back in The States I am one of those people who only goes to the doctor as a last resort.  I don't even have my own doctor and I revert to a "doc-in-the-box," as my mom calls it, when i'm very ill.  This could stem from my lack of confidence in the American healthcare system and my unwillingness to support it, or from my dad's stubbornness that has been passed on to me.  Either way I really don't like taking time out of my day and money from my pocket to support the medical world and more specifically the pharmaceutical companies.

As government employees here in Korea we are covered by general insurance for a small percentage of our monthly income.  When I was having problems I naturally didn't want to visit the doctor because I thought it would be even more of a pain in the ass since I don't speak Korean, but I also thought it might be an interesting cultural experience.  Plus, I felt like shit.  I had no idea where to go so I asked my coT for help.  It turns out that Koreans are very nosy and like to know everything.  Back at home it might be impolite to ask why someone has to go to the doctor but apparently here it is considered public information.  I didn't have much of a problem telling my coT because I am pretty close with her and I needed her to translate my symptoms into Korean in case the doctor didn't speak English.  Little did I know that when I got back after my appointment the whole staff would know and would be asking me questions and worrying about me for the next few weeks.  This annoyed me quite a bit.  I will now think twice (or three or four times) before telling anyone in my school about any medical issues I might be experiencing.

Koreans call all medical establishments "hospitals" so when you would need to see the doctor back home you go to the hospital here.  This was a bit disturbing at first when I told my coT about my problem and she asked if I needed to go to the hospital.  I told her "no," that it wasn't that serious but then she explained that when Koreans are sick they go to the hospital.  She contacted the "Dream Hospital" which is located just a 15 minute walk from my school and scheduled an appointment for me.  The Dream Hospital is a private medical provider that actually resembles a hospital, as it has many different medical branches all in one place.  I soon realize that no one working at the check-in counters or the information booths speaks fluent English.  I give the receptionist my translated symptoms and Korean ID card and somehow decipher from her gestures that I need to go to the second floor.  One of the nurses upstairs decides to kind of help me out and ends up being my girl every following visit.  I'm sure this is because she spoke the most English which consisted of a repertoire of about 8 words.  So I wait for at least an hour, even though I have an appointment, to see the doctor.  Once I go into the consultation room I explain my symptoms to the doctor who speaks a bit of medical English.  He tells me he knows what's wrong and in five minutes (The Korean calls this "five minute diagnosis") I am out of his office at the prescription printing counter/cashier.  She tells me it will be a little over 5,000 won for the consultation (around $4.50).  This was incredible to me.  I didn't even give the hospital any of my medical insurance information and it came out to under $5.00.  This made me question healthcare in the U.S even more.  I did find it a bit weird though that they didn't take any of my vitals and the doctor could tell what was wrong with me from a 3 minute explanation in another language.  Anyways, I head to the pharmacy next door and give the pharmacist my prescription.  I'm expecting to wait for at least 20 minutes, as it would be back home.  It is also pretty crowded so I assume I'll be there for awhile.  I'm astonished when in about 5 minutes the pharmacist calls my name, explains how to take the pills and asks for 6,000 won (about $5.00).  Again, I never gave any insurance information to the pharmacy.  This experience creates even more disdain for American pharmaceuticals.  But that's another rant.

The prescription works but it turns out that the ailment decides to come back...4 more times.  This means that I have the pleasure of visiting the Dream Hospital probably about 6 times in the next month and a half for tests and stuff.  I end up having to take 8 different antibiotics a day for 4 weeks.  The biggest problem for me is the fact that every time I go see the doctor he simply prescribes me the same antibiotics for yet another week and does not give me any explanation as to what I have or how to prevent it from coming back.  After all the visits and different tests they decide to perform I end up spending about 180,000 won ($150.00).  It's very frustrating to me at this point that because of the communication barrier I am not able to ask or understand exactly what I have or what I can do to keep it from happening again.

When the problem comes back for the 5th time (!) I decide I need to try something else.  I begin looking up medical facilities with international clinics where at least some of the employees speak English and cater to foreigners.  It turns out that most of the university hospitals here in Daegu have international clinics but their hours are limited.  This means that you must go during work hours or run the risk of really pissing them off, which I may very well have done.  I arrived at Yeoungnam University Hospital at 5:00pm, 30 minutes before closing.  The ladies at the International counter tell me I am very late and begin frantically filling out papers and running around the hospital asking the doctors to hold on for a few minutes to be able to see me.  I feel really bad that they are doing this all for me but relieved that I had actually found people that speak my language.  The young nurse who is running around asks me to fill out some very short paper work and then instructs me to follow her.  She takes my blood pressure, which provides me with small feelings of relief since the other doctor did nothing of the sort, and accompanies me into the doctor's office to talk about my symptoms.  The nurse is a really sweet young woman who, after chatting her up a bit, tells me that she studied in Vancouver, Canada.  She speaks almost perfect English and seems very sympathetic and nonjudgmental which makes me feel much more comfortable with the whole situation.  Throughout the whole process she acts as a guide and translator for the few doctors that I talk to.  Literally running through the hospital we make it in time for me to complete the whole process in about 30 minutes.  The upside to going to the public hospital was that I could finally communicate my problems and concerns to a woman who spoke good English and with whom I was comfortable.  It seemed like she genuinely wanted to help me as much as she possibly could.  The negatives were the price (consultation, test and prescription were about double the cost of the private) and that the doctor gave me about as much preventative instruction as the doctor at the Dream Hospital.  The doctor was a young man who could have been just out of medical school.  When I asked him multiple times about prevention methods he pretty much told me, without actually admitting it, that he had no idea and would Wikipedia it and get back to me in a week.  Obviously this was pretty frustrating to me.

The coolest part was the futuristic prescription printing robot (I guess you could just call it a machine).  All you had to do was scan your receipt, hit a few buttons and your prescription was being printed within seconds.

Although I had issues with both hospitals, for me the most important thing was being able to communicate and feeling comfortable enough with the nurses and doctors to express myself.  Even though it was more expensive I will definitely return to Yeongnam U. Hospital, mostly because of the sweet little nurse that helped me out a lot.  I also think that it would be beneficial to check out other university hospitals with international clinics.  Consulting with English-speaking doctors and nurses is essential in a non-Korean-speaker's attempt to heal.

Paz

Teaching for EPIK: Pros and Cons

It's that time of year here in Korea when a whole group of new EPIK teachers will be arriving all around the country to start their year-long contracts.  EPIK takes in teachers twice a year: in March and August.  This is also the time that prospective teachers will be applying for the August take-in.  For those of you applying or thinking about applying to teach English in Korea, I decided to write a post about the pros and cons of teaching in a public school in Korea (EPIK) as opposed to at a private academy (hagwon).  As all I know about teaching at a hagwon is second hand, I really can't give my opinion on that but I will include information that I've received via hagwon teachers or other secondary sources.

Pros:

1. The benefits.  Native English teachers in Korea receive a pretty good bundle of benefits whether they are working for EPIK or a hagwon.  The flight is paid for and our apartments are covered.  All we have to pay for ourselves are general utility bills, cell phone, internet and whatever other extra things we decide to spend our money on.  When we complete our year long contract, we receive an extra month's pay (severance).  This last bonus is a really awesome thing if you're planning on traveling a bit through Asia after your contract expires and you haven't saved up as much money as you had planned.
2. Vacation/sick days.  As EPIK teachers we complain a lot about having to go to school and "deskwarm" when school is not in session.  Yes, it sucks and I am often bored out of my mind during these long hours.  My mind definitely wanders into unexplainable territory and I find myself getting dumber with each minute I watch exquisitely horrible reality television.  But compared to hagwon teachers we do get a better deal when it comes to vacation days.  During Winter Vacation we are allotted 10 paid business days for vacation with 8 during Summer Vacation.  I've heard from several hagwon teachers that they don't get vacation days.  Because I played my cards right I was able to use my 10 vacation days (14 with weekends) and tag on Lunar New Year, which is a national holiday to actually get 18 days of vacation time.  This gave me plenty of time to head down to the Philippines for two and a half weeks.  Pretty awesome.  We also get paid sick days and apparently hagwon teachers do not.
3. Support system.  As an EPIK teacher you participate in orientation before your contract begins.  During this time it's really easy to meet people and develop relationships with other teachers that will be working in your city and throughout Korea.  It's awesome to know that you will have people to talk to and meet up with when you get to your designated city.  I think this was one of my biggest concerns coming to Korea.  Hagwons are often small private academies that only have a few native English teachers.  I've heard from hagwon teachers that it takes a bit more time and effort to meet people who you'd actually want to hang out with.  Our coTs (coteachers) are also essential people in our lives when we first get here and throughout our year.  They do lots of stuff for us and help us out whenever we need it.
4. The job is generally easy.  On average we teach about 4 to 5 classes a day which totals 160-200 minutes a day.  I split my classes 50/50 with my coTs so I really only end up teaching 80-100 minutes a day.  Elementary school teachers must follow the government text books so the curriculum is planned.  We usually just have to create a game and some supplement materials for each class.  I've heard that hagwon teachers usually teach by themselves, spend lots of time planning their lessons and teach the entire time they are at work.

Cons

1. Deskwarming.  As I briefly stated earlier, "deskwarming" is an issue that every EPIK teacher faces.  It pretty much means that you are sitting at your desk with absolutely nothing to do, but can't go home because it's in your contract that you are at work for 8 hours a day.  It seems that Koreans don't really understand the phenomenon of deviation.  Doing anything different from the norm or the rules is just not really even thought of.  This is not only applicable in the work place but in everyday life.  When you go to a restaurant don't be surprised if the server literally just does not understand why you want to substitute a side dish for something else.  Korean culture is about conformity, not difference.  This means that during the time that students are not in school and we are not taking our vacation days, we will be on Facebook for 8 hours straight.  It's pretty funny to see your friends on Facebook go from 50 down to 16 at exactly 4:30.  At least I can stay caught up on Jersey Shore, The Bachelor, 30 Rock, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Parenthood, and Portlandia.  You are reading this blog post courtesy of deskwarming.
2. Korean culture can be hard to understand.  Because we are often times the only native English teacher at a school full of Koreans we develop relationships with a lot of our coworkers.  We are expected to go to school dinners and on school hikes.  These can be really fun but also a pain in the ass when they tell you an hour before that you will be going out with the school all night long to dinner and the norae bang.  It is not looked highly upon to miss a school function so you will have to cancel all your Friday night plans.  It is common for Koreans to change plans at the last moment during school too.  You will have planned a lesson the week before and 5 minutes before the class starts your coT will tell you that you're not doing that lesson anymore.  The end of this semester is on Wednesday and most of us will be getting new coTs next semester.  I asked my coT from this semester when I will know who my new coTs will be and she said, "I don't know.  Maybe next week?"  These little things about Korean culture can get frustrating after awhile.  I've just learned to go with the flow and never expect anything to be set in stone until it has already happened.
3. The curriculum is horrible.  From improper English to useless topics, the Elementary school curriculum is a laugh.  I can't speak for middle school or high school but the things we have to teach can be irrelevant or even completely incorrect.  A lot of us have to follow the books to a certain degree which can be really hard to teach.  It is also pretty boring it's a challenge to keep the students entertained.  Next semester there are new English books for elementary school so hopefully there is at least some improvement.
4. The variation.  Each EPIK teacher's situation is different.  Since your school makes most of the decisions regarding your job, housing, etc., no one can ever be sure of what their situation will be like.  I have a friend with a hole-in-the-wall studio apartment where her bed barely fits and another friend with a 4 bedroom "apartment" that's actually more like a house.  Your coteacher can be a huge factor in your happiness during your year in Korea.  If you have a coT that barely speaks any English, is old and conservative with a minuscule sense of humor, you may have a difficult time.  On the other end your coT might be 26 and down to party with you on the weekends.  I work at a low level school which can prove pretty difficult at times, as some of my students can't understand a word of what i'm saying and don't really care.  Usually at hagwons the level of the students is higher which I would guess could be more fun as you are more able to develop relationships with people that you can communicate with.

If you are a prospective English teacher in Korea I hope this helps you to make an informed decision!