We're stuck inside today, and can't ski, because of the weather, which looks like this:
That's me, in the middle there.
I've repacked my bags and am working on a playlist for my ipod for the plane. But I also thought I'd dip into my giant bag of resources (collected during my PGCE) and share something with the internet. I did intend this blog to be a good resource for teaching materials and things like that, as well as a sort of travel journal. So here you go:
100 Ways to Say "Good!"
You're on the right track!
You're doing a good job.
You did a lot of work today.
Now you've figured it out.
That's right.
Now you have the hang of it!
That's the way.
You're really going to town!
You're doing fine.
Good job, (student name)
Very nice indeed!
That's coming along nicely.
That's a good student
You did it that time!
Great!
Fantastic!
Brilliant!
Terrific!
Good for you!
You outdid yourself today
Good work
You certainly are doing that much better today
Excellent!
That's great!
Super!
Nice going!
Good going!
Keep it up!
Wonderful!
Wow!
Keep working on it, you're getting better!
Much better!
Good thinking
Exactly right!
Now you have it!
That's the best you've ever done.
You made it look so easy
I have never seen anyone do it better
That's better
Way to go!
Not bad!
Superb!
You're getting better every day
That is really nice!
I knew you could do it!
Keep up the good work
You're doing beautifully
You're really working hard today
That's the way to do it!
Keep on trying
That's it
Nothing can stop you now
You're on fire today!
You've got it made
You're very good at it
You are learning fast
I'm very proud of you
You certainly did well today
You've just about got it.
You've got your brain in gear today
I'm happy to see you working like that
I'm proud of the way you worked today
That's the right way to do it
You are really learning a lot
That's better than ever
That's quite an improvement
That's not half bad
Marvellous!
Splendid!
Perfect!
That kind of work makes me very happy
Fine!
That's good!
That's it!
Right on!
I like that
Sensational!
Tremendous
Look at you go!
It's a pleasure to teach when you work like that
I think you've got it now
Outstanding
You remembered!
Couldn't have done it better myself.
Now that's what I call a fine job.
You did that very well!
You're very sharp today!
Congratulations!
That was first class work!
You figured that out fast!
You're really improving!
That's the best ever!
Good remembering!
You haven't missed a thing!
You've got that down pat.
You really make my job fun
Congratulations, you got (number of questions) right!
I've got a tricky situation in that I'm going skiing with my parents right before I head to Korea. Then I have 5 days in Seoul before going to orientation. So, here's my packing strategy. It should also give you an idea of what sorts of things people are taking for the Spring 2013 intake. Well, what I'm taking. I have no idea if I'm taking the right things. I decided to do a trial run.
Bag 1 (Hardshell)
After spending days and days looking for hardshell suitcases with clips (and not zippers) because my dad is worried that Bad Guys will open the zip and stick drugs in my bag, leading me to be holed up in prison for the rest of my life without trial...
I'd sell her for a pack of smokes if she wasn't the only other English speaker here...
This bag contains:
winter shoes (hiking boots, trainers, teacher/smart shoes for orientation, flipflops)
long-johns (2 sets)
thick, fluffy and ski socks
tights (2 pairs)
smart-casual pants
suit
jeans (2 pairs)
scarves
coats (raincoat, ski jacket, denim coat)
jerseys (SO MANY JERSEYS! Lots of different kinds, with the idea of layering).
flannel PJs
warm-ish gym clothes
bras (SO MANY)
3 large spray deodorants, and 3 roll-ons (they last a bit longer, I find)
ski jacket and ski pants (X2)
thick winter skirt
smart-casual skirt
hats and gloves
frequently used toiletries and makeup
Bag 2 (soft shell - to be wrapped in 8km of plastic until arrival in Daegu)
Ensuring that the dead bodies in the bag stay dead.
Swimsuits
more undies
shorts
jeans (x1)
summer dresses (X2)
smart-casual pants and skirts
gym t-shirts
smart-ish t-shirts/tops
some jerseys that didn't fit in bag 1
sarongs and other such beachwear
summer hat
sandals
high heels
infrequently used toiletries and medicine
small towel
handbags
teddy bear
scuba fins
Hand luggage:
Mary Poppins' Handbag:
kindle
kindle charger
ipod
ipod charger
travel documents
camera
GPS
notebook
pens
re-spectacles
smaller clutch bag
sudoku book
extra hat and gloves
flash sticks
Pull-on suitcase:
Orientation documents (certificates etc)
hairdryer and hair straightener
gifts for co-teachers, principal, etc
posters for class
books and resources for teaching
backpack
scarf
jewellery
scuba mask
Laptop bag:
laptop
cables
flashdrives
And on the plane I'll wear a pair of jeans, long johns, jersey, heaviest coat, scarf, and some winter boots.
I think that's me sorted. I'm not that attached to any particular spices or foods so I don't really see the point in bringing them with me, as they'd add extra weight. And if there's anything I do desperately crave, my mom said she'll send them along to me. I am a bit sad to leave my wetsuit behind, but as I'll only be diving in the summer, that will be one of the things I will ask my mother to post to me.
I haven't weighed anything yet. To be honest, I am afraid to. I'd take photos of what my packing looks like, but I've lost my camera charger, terribly conveniently.
Some tricks that I used to pack can be found in the video below:
Note:
From what I've seen on the interwebs, there are several items that they recommend you bring with you because they're either hard to find or very expensive in Korea. I've touched on that before, in this post.
You've got 9 days left to get to me, before I go overseas and things get unnecessarily complicated.
Edit: Spoke to my recruiter last night and he is couriering it to me today, which means it should be here either tomorrow or on Monday. YAY!
Time to:
- Download and fill out the residency form for SARS
- Check that I have everything I need for the visa application
- Complete the pre-orientation course. I'm find it repeats a lot that I did in Linguistics 1&2, PGCE and TEFL, so it's a bit of a pain, but I'll be done with the boring bits soon and can move on to the Korean culture, history and language bits, which I'm more interested in.
- test-pack my luggage
- Work on my basic Korean skills, which I've been slacking on a bit
- Buy gifts for staff and students at the school
I'm also doing pretty well on my diet and exercise plan - only 2kg to go before I'm the weight I said I was on my application. Being over it is not an uncommon problem, but I've heard of people being sent home because they lied about their weight. I didn't have a scale, so I guessed, and was off by about 5kg. I am quite keen to get in shape, so this seemed like a good goal to start with. If you're interested in stalking my health kick, I'm sweatywaygook on Fitocracy. And that's all I'm going to say about that, in this blog. I might talk about keeping fit in Korea when I get there, but less about me, more about the facilities or things I try.
So you've run around getting things stamped and signed, and maybe you've sent your mountain of paperwork in to your recruiter, or directly to EPIK. Well, if you haven't sent them in yet,
What the hell are you waiting for?
Get a move on! EPIK started accepting applications sent in by recruiters today. And it's first come, first served.
If you're on the ball, and have sent all the things in, you've levelled up! Congratulations. You have progressed to the next stage: Waiting for an Interview.
And waiting... And waiting some more...
Even playing your invisible playstation won't help that email come any faster.
It's so close, but just out of reach. So, how can you make October go by a little faster? Well, let's think positively and assume that you will get the interview, and you will pass it.
1. Make a bucket list.
List all the things you want to do before you skip town, or all the things you want to do in Korea.
For bonus time-wasting points, research all the things and find out how easy, cheap and amazing they will be (or won't, depending). Make a horribly complicated spreadsheet with all this information on it. Colour code it.
2. Inevitable Facebook time-wastage.
Post links to anything and everything vaguely related to Korea on the EPIK facebook group and get sucked into absorbing, exciting and interesting comment threads with your future potential friends.
For bonus time-wasting points, face-stalk the members of the group. Creep.
In the end, everything comes down to the hip thrusting.
3. Get to know your POE/MOE on Google Earth.
Not as dull as it sounds, actually, and you can spend hours and hours following bike trails along rivers - wait, what the hell is that, Daegu?
Is it a maze? Some kind of weird Korean Sports field? A macrochip? A very well-groomed crop... rectangle?
4. Start learning Korean
There are some great websites with free resources for you to start teaching yourself Korean. Let me break it down for you:
KWOW - Korean Word of the Week. I found this youtube channel a while back, which helps with some vocab in her KWOW program, as well as various other cultural snippets. She's also ridiculously adorable.
Korean-Flashcards.com sends (sometimes awkwardly funny) sentences of the day to your inbox, as well as having a bunch of vocabulary-building resources on the website.
The best so far, however, is Talk To Me In Korean - amazingly well-explained and in-depth lessons that teach you not just handy phrases here and there but actually how to correctly construct sentences, and what all the bits and bobs mean. It's awesome! I worked through ten lessons today, and now I can have this hypothetical conversation:
Waegook: 이거 커피 예 요 This is coffee.
Coffee: 안녕하세요! (^_^) Hello!
Ajumma: 이거 뭐 예요? What is this?
Waegook: 커피가 예요. It's coffee,
Ajumma: 커피가 예요? 아니요... 이거 커피 는 이에요! You call this coffee? No... THIS is coffee!
Waegook: 저 친구가 없에요... (ᅲ.ᅲ) I have no friends.
So, you know... Useful things.
5. Become addicted to K-Drama
K-Drama refers to soapies made in Korea. But they're not quite like what your western idea of a soapie is.
Less this:
More this:
He has to clean up her puke AND give her a piggy back? Seriously?
Some recommendations to get you started:
Films: My Sassy Girl - Better than the American remake, and pictured above. Boy meets girl. Girl passes out. Boy drags girl to love motel. Less creepy than it sounds. Maybe. I'm a Cyborg but that's OK. - Girl thinks she's a robot and has to be checked into a mental institution. Kinda cute, actually. You'll like this if you enjoyed Amelie. 200 Pounds Beauty. - Who couldn't love a movie whose message is that the only way to succeed in life is to have extreme plastic surgery? I am not being serious. I am being sarcastic. It's a fun movie though. Oldboy - A change in tone. Disturbing. Not for the faint of heart (or stomach). Best known for the infamous Octopus scene.
Series: Boys before Flowers: Uh. I don't even know how to begin to describe this. Basically, 4 ridiculously 'attractive' (by Korean standards) men at an elite private school rule the school and are fundamentally evil bullies, in my opinion. But we're supposed to like them anyway. I think the main character, a working-class dry-cleaning girl, makes this show worth watching. You're beautiful: A catholic nun stands in for her twin brother (whose plastic surgery has gone horribly wrong) in an all-boy band. She's in drag, and wonderfully androgynous. Light and entertaining. A fair bit of projectile vomiting and suggested nudity. Hooray for Korean TV. Coffee Prince: More androgyny (get used to it!). So butch she's kicked out of the girls' section of the jjimjilbang, this poor delivery girl ends up working at a coffee shop staffed by studly men (and pretending to be one). Hilarity ensues. Some weepy bits too. Love Rain: A couple of boy hipsters fight over a girl-hipster. Lots of rain and arty shots. Nice music, though, and some good writing. Moon and Stars for You: horribly cheesy and yet hopelessly addictive, and bizarre series revolving around people involved in the running of a bread company (in which bread is seen as the holy grail of foods, more like cake than like the thing we use to get tasty spreads/sandwich fillings into our mouths) and a whole lot of love triangles.
6. Learn some catchy K-Pop songs
I'm not talking about Gangnam style, now. Everyone knows Gangnam Style. I'm thinking more along the lines of songs by Wondergirls, Big Bang, Super Junior, B2ST and so on. They're corny as hell but learning the lyrics can be a bit of a tongue twister, so that's bound to pass the time swiftly. Bonus points if you can sing and do the dance moves at the same time.
And a one, and a two, and a one, two, three...
(Eoddeokhajyo) Eoddeokhajyo
(Ddeollineun naneun) Ddeollineun naneunyo
(Doogeun x 4) Doogeun Doogeun georyeo bameh jamdo mot eerujyo
Na neun na neun babon gabwayo geu dae bakkeh moreuneun babo geuraeyo geu dae boneun nal
[All]
Neomu banjjak banjjak noonee booshyeo no no no no
Neomu Kkamjjak Kkamjjak nolla naneun oh oh oh oh oh
Neomu jaritjarit momee Ddeollyeo Gee gee gee gee gee
Jeojeun noonbit (Oh yeah) Joeun hyanggi (Oh yeah yeah yeah)
("Gee" by Girls Generation) 7. Learn the National Korean Stretching Routine
So far this list has been restricted to things you can do while sitting on your lazy bum, with your face in the internet. Get up. Start moving. Learn this by heart. Here is a video. Good luck.
8. Read up on Korea
Get your hands on any writing remotely to do with Korea; blogs, magazine articles, travel brochures. But most time-consuming of all (and this is our aim, remember), read some actual books.
Recommended: Nothing to Envy, by Barbara Demmick This book made me cry. It has also made me determined to find some sort of volunteer work in Korea through which I can help refugees/defectors.
9. Meditate
Korea is a buddhist nation, and meditation is a great way to calm yourself, clear your head, and take stock of exactly what's happening right. This. Instant. Read up on buddhist methods and give it a try. What have you got to lose? The worst that can happen is that you'll doze off.
10. Create a photographic tour of your home town to show kids (and mine for vocabulary) when you get to Korea.
Another one to get you moving, and also to get you out of the house. Grab a camera and walk or drive around your town, taking photos of all the things that make it quintessentially HOME-ish to you.
An example from Grahamstown:
Rush hour.
If you're feeling creative and have more time to kill than you thought you would, turn it into a film, with an awesome soundtrack. I bet the kids will love it. And it's a nice way to say goodbye.
(I suppose an eleventh item could be 'Write a blog post listing 10 ways to waste/pass the time'). Writing this post has taken me 3 hours... and now it's 3am. Sheesh.
Well, with my documents heading to my recruiter at this very moment, and my feet itching to leave, I think it's time I started a South Korea bucket list. Here we go!
This list is adapted from the list made by Chris Backe of "Chris in South Korea" (whose personal blog has since disappeared - if you know of a new link to it, please let me know). 83-85 were suggested by Alannah Boland. 88 suggested by Silvy Alvarez-Martinez.
Spend the night in a jimjilbang (day spa / sauna). Bonus points for spending the night in the jjimjilbang at Incheon Airport.
Stay out in Hongdae or Itaewon all night and catch the ‘subway of shame’ home the next morning.
Bargain for clothes at Seomun Market.
Go to Lotte World on a rainy / snowy day.
Take in a drag show on Homo Hill, and smile at the ladies of Hooker Hill.
Visit the Loveland sex museum on Jeju island.
Try the collagen face masks from Face Shop.
Watch the largest waterfall bridge performance at Banpo Han River Park.
Get off at a random subway stop and explore the local area.
Find a small town and enjoy being the only foreigner around.
Drink Korean beer in a convenience store cafe
Raise funds and/or volunteer for a Korean charity
Dress up as something crazy for Halloween in Hongdae.
Eat dried squid, fried chicken and drink soju at a baseball game. Bonus points for figuring out how to cheer along.
Go skiing at one of the dozen ski resorts around the country.
Get muddy at the Boryeong Mud Festival!
DVD bang. Private movie screening. Like a drive-in theater without the car. ‘Nuff said.
Play with the fancy technology around Yongsan Electronics Market or one of the Techno Marts.
Mix yogurt and soju. See what happens.
Eat some beondegi (silkworm pupae)!
Meander around the phallic statues in Penis Park (warning: NSFW) (Gangwon-do)
Watch the mayor of Daegu ring the big bell on New Year’s Day.
Drink makgeolli (rice wine) and eat pajeon (green onion pancake) on a rainy day.
Push yourself across the ice on a sseolmae (wooden sled).
Take a bike ride along the Han river.
Use your connections to get on one of the American military bases.
Enjoy a Westernized Korean wedding.
Say saranghae (I love you) to a special someone, whether they’re Korean or not.
Appreciate the air-conditioning on the subway in the middle of July.
See NANTA or another non-verbal, high-energy performance.
People-watch at Garosu-gil over a cup of coffee. Alas, they've broken it all down and turned it into cosmetics mecca. Bleh.
Get up to a moktok (a wooden instrument used in Buddhist temples) at 3:30am for a Korean Buddhist templestay.
Have a cocktail in a bag
Munch on some some live octopus, Oldboy-style.
Appreciate the spiciness of a good kimchi jjigae.
Try your best to converse with a Korean taxi driver.
Get the evil eye from an ajumma
Try the Korean version of ‘forest therapy’ in either Damyang or Anmyeon-do.
Swim in the East Sea and the West Sea.
Go puddle-jumping in a monsoon
Eat cold noodles with watermelon
Survive 'fan death' in summer
Spend a platonic night with a friend at a 'Love Motel'
Greet a car greeter
Spot a fake town in North Korea
Shape a hard boiled egg into something too cute to eat
Brush your teeth at work
Learn a KPOP dance
Cook a South African meal for some Koreans
Watch a Korean movie at a cinema
Go geo-caching in Daegu
Work out on public exercise equipment in the park
Go to the Daegu body-painting festival
Hug a giant teddy bear
Take ridiculous photos and have them turned into more ridiculous stickers
Stuff your face with meat at a Korean barbecue
Watch competitive Star Craft
Learn to play Star Craft/League of Legends/Sudden Attack
Play Korean Dance Dance Revolution at an arcade
Eat sweet potato bread
Learn the Korean synchronised stretching regime
Go to Everland
Wear BB cream and be flawless (maybe she's born with it? Maybe it's BB cream)
Get a haircut in a Korean salon
Try Korean oriental medicine
Visit a Korean fortune teller
Check out Daegu's pink light district
Bump around to trance music at G2
Check out the LGBT scene in Daegu's gay district
Bang all night (PC Bang, Noraebang, DVD Bang, Wii Bang, Jjimjilbang...)
Ride some rollercoasters in Daegu
Go swing-dancing
Ride a disco pang-pang
Check out some cherry blossoms
Take part in a traditional tea ceremony
Visit the Toilet Exhibition Hall
Cringe at the Plastic Surgery Museum
Teleport to a German village
Go on a tour of the DMZ
Play baduk
See a K-Pop concert
Catch the Busan film festival
See what the fuss is all about at Jeju island
Get lost in a garden maze
Drink coffee from a can
Enjoy coffee and cuddles at a Pet Cafe
Have a conversation completely in Korean
Hike Seoraksan mountains in autumn
Climb the highest mountain in Korea
Order a mystery meal to be delivered to my apartment
Soak in a natural hot spring
Be cute at the Hello Kitty cafe
Go to Korean classes and learn the lingo
Do the Itaewon Freedom dance in front of Namsan Tower
Work out in the park
Learn to cook a Korean meal
Take a traditional pottery class
Win a game at a boardgame coffee shop
Oppa Gangnam Style in Gangnam
English Teachers' choreographed dance in a dance club. (The night we did the macarena, gangnam style and YMCA covers that, I think).
Sign up for a class at a Hagwon, in Korean. Yoga completely in Korean totally counts.
Sit a TOPIK exam.
Have a normal dinner in a Korean's home
Time-travel to the past
Climb inside a painting.
Learn to salsa/swing dance
Go to the Rape Festival
Get armloads of freebies from cosmetics shops just for going inside
Do Noraebang on a long bus ride to pass the time
Hike the entire East Coast
Ulleongdo scavenger hunt: find the absence of 3 things (thieves, snakes and pollution) and the presence of 5 things (many aromatic trees, wind, beautiful women, water and rocks)
