Beards in Korea

I recently decided to grow a beard. There were all the normal issue's involved in this, like itchy skin while it first grows in and the awkward look until it is fully grown in. However I also realized that Koreans really do not like facial hair. Of course there are a few Koreans who like it, but the vast majority, easily over 90% dislike it and some really hate it. My students spend a good portion of each class trying to convince me that I looked more handsome without it and that I should shave it off. They say I have a dirty face. Apparently in Korea's past Beards where common, they were a sign of maturity but sometime in the last 50 years they went out of style and today they are just not socially acceptable. It used to be when I walked down the street I would get a lot of smiles from Korean women, when I first grew the beard I noticed that I was being treated differently but it took me a few weeks to realize the cause, the beard. Anyway I am not discouraged by the Korean opposition to my beard, I like it and all the foreigners dig it too. So I will keep my beard and continue to tease my students by telling them I will shave it off if they all get 100% on their tests, which they never will....

Dancing Girls

When a Korean business opens or they want to advertise they hire dancing girls. These are young women,that I assume are generally 19-25 years old and they dress in cheerleader like outfits with a 80's twist. They always wear skirts even in the snow, although this is common all over, women here wear winter leggings under their skirts. They stand on circular platforms that remind me of american gladiator platforms and they dance and say sales pitches into microphones.They repeat the slogans or pitches and talk to people who are walking by and try and get them to go in the business. There is also loud music playing, its very noticeable so I suppose it does its job but I often wonder how much it costs to rent these girls and the stage and sometimes there are balloons and flowers and those inflatable guys. I once read a blog that suggested that the girls that do this where once cheerleaders, then they become dancing girls and eventually they go into being coffee girls. Coffee girls are girls who ride around on scooters and deliver coffee to old men and talk to them, its kind of like strippers on scooters with coffee. This is a unique Korean cultural phenomenon, at least it is to my knowledge maybe this type of advertising happens in other countries but I have talked to many English teachers who have taught all over the world and no one has ever seen this before!

Waegook Bowling

Today was the first of what will hopefully become a weekly bowling night. 7 English teachers from the U.S. and Canada got together and went bowling at a local bowling alley in my neighborhood in Gumi. The bowling alley was okay, the lanes were good, but the computerized scoring system wasn't perfect. There are many bowling alleys in Korea. Koreans love all things western and bowling fits the western stereotype perfectly.

Lisa, a Canadian English teacher started the Waegook(foreigner) Bowling Association on Facebook a week ago and we have high hopes of getting 3-4 lanes worth of teachers to participate. Currently there is a Sunday night soccer game that is competing with us. The soccer players said that they will stop playing outdoor soccer soon because of the temperature(it's cold...) and they will join us, so that will help.

I think once everyone hears about how much fun we had they will decide to come, it was a blast, most of the people couldn't really bowl, but they had fun and tried. I am a decent bowler, maybe 140ish average. I was by far the best bowler there today, but I know of a few teachers who are much better than I am, so hopefully they will start to come soon. We were having the most fun in the bowling hall, most of the Koreans were very serious bowlers, we were laughing,screaming,cheering and taunting each other every frame. It was a blast!

Come join us if you are in Gumi, Sundays at 8:30pm, in Hyyeong Guk Dong, near the park and the library, contact me if you are interested.

American Thanksgiving in Korea

Korea has it's own Thanksgiving, it's called Chuseok, I added a wikipedia explanation below.

Chuseok, also called Han-ga-wi (한가위) (from archaic Korean for "great middle"), is a major three-day holiday in Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar Korean calendar. As a celebration of the good harvest, Koreans visit their ancestral hometowns and share a feast of Korean traditional food.

Of course no one celebrates American holidays in Korea, except for people on the military bases. I was invited to go to a friends house on a military base in Daegu to have dinner with them on Thanksgiving but since I had to work that was impossible. So I ended up not doing anything for Thanksgiving, the American one, I ate some potatoes and corn but that was it. I have never been a person who really got all that into holidays so for me it wasn't a big deal but it was strange that a week before Thanksgiving I didn't even realize that it was coming up. It wasn't until I was watching the Buckeyes beat Michigan that I was told it was just around the corner. If I hadn't have had a video call to my family I might have forgotten about it completely. I also got a email from my friends in Daegu with a picture of their baby in a Thanksgiving outfit, so that would have reminded me too.

I guess this blog is pointless,its just about how easy it is to forget about American holidays when you are on the other side of the world. Christmas is celebrated here so I will be able to celebrate it with the rest of the country and my fellow teachers. Businesses and Cities have already began to decorate places with Christmas decorations. I was in Seoul last weekend and we saw a public square being decorated with a huge Christmas display and what might have been a skating rink or large stage.
I also ate at Bennigan's and they had their Christmas decorations up and were playing all Christmas music. SO I guess even without a Thanksgiving they put the Christmas decorations up the weekend after it regardless.

Halloween in Korea

Halloween is not celebrated in Korea but many kids go to English schools or have English teachers at their public schools and they celebrate the holiday there. At my school some of the teachers dress up and we take the classes to a room where we scare the kids and give them candy. I dressed up as the scream killer and another teacher at my school was a goblin nun.I scared the kids on the walk to the room by hiding around corners and jumping out at them, a few even fell over they were so scared(in the US this wouldn't be acceptable but it was expected of us here and the kids loved it,the more scared they were the happier they got) then we lead the classes in a pitch black room where the other teacher was hiding behind a table. Then I shut the door and waited until the hidden teacher was by the kids, then I turned on the lights and we screamed. The kids are scared and they love it. We then give them candy and had a brain box(pumpkin guts in a box that says brains on it) that the kids can stick their hand in, also there is Halloween music and the teachers have special lessons about the holiday for class that day. Other schools have similar celebrations. The English teachers at public schools even dress up.

At some schools all the teachers both Korean and Foreign dress up, pre-schools and daycares also celebrate the holiday. Most Korean kids are exposed to Halloween. They love it, they get candy and get out of their normal studying routine, so whats not to love. Many of the kids also dress up and they love this too.

I also know that many of the US military bases open their gates on Halloween and allow Korean and Foreign kids to come on base and go trick or treating. In Daegu their was a line of over 1000 kids a half hour before the event started.

6 Months in Korea, half way done

On November 15h I finished my 6th month in Korea. Time has gone by quickly but it also seems like I have been here for years. I have gotten to travel to Thailand, China and see quite a bit of Korea. It has been a great experience and I have learned a lot about myself and about people from other countries outside of the U.S. Most of the English teachers here are from Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and of course the U.S. Before I came to Gumi I new a lot about Americans and Canadians but I have gotten to learn about the other English speaking people in the world. I have also gotten to learn about Korea, it's culture,customs, history, people and even a little bit of it's language. Koreans are very different from Westerners and I have learned a lot about myself through them. I have learned that I love some of their foods, especially their Kimchi. I have learned about their kindness and their tempers. I have challenged my vegetarianism, my patience and my intellect. I have gotten to make many new friends that have and will continue to change me for the rest of my life.

If anyone is thinking about teaching abroad for a year I highly recommend it, sometimes it sucks, but overall it is a great experience and at least in Korea you can make a lot of money and pay very little in taxes to Korea(less than 10% for pention,health care and taxes). I am very happy to not be supporting the U.S. Government right now, I don't agree with their policies and I am happy that none of my money will go to support needless wars. So far Korea has rocked and I look forward to the next 6 months, I plan to travel to another country before I leave during the Lunar New Year in February and I will be spending 5-6 weeks in Australia after my contract is finished.

Pepero Day

On the 11th of November in Korea they have a holiday that is similar to Sweetest Day in the States. They celebrate Valentines Day here but it is also similar to Valentines Day. The day is called Pepero Day. Pepero is a cookie stick that is dipped in chocolate in its most popular form, sometimes it has sprinkles or nuts on the top too. Also some of the smaller forms have the chocolate on the inside of the cookie. The idea is that you give your boyfriend or girlfriend Pepero on the 11th and/or flowers or other romantic gifts. As with Valentines day in the States school children exchange this candy with their classmates regardless of their romantic involvement. As a teacher I was given a ton of these sticks. The day was most likely started by the Lotte, the company that makes the original form of this candy. There is a story that it was started by young girls in Busan, Korea's second largest city, it's said that they exchanged the candy and wished that they would grow up tall and thin like the candy. Regardless it started back in 1994 and has been copied in Japan with a different candy called Pocky.