Ormans 1st Christmas.

As all of you know, Cory and I are many miles away from a "traditional" Christmas season. However, our Christmas turned out to be amazing! Since we are in a different country and we are not really "gift people," we decided to write 10 favorite things/memories about each other. This gave us a chance to reminisce over our friend, dating, engaged and now married stage. Cory kept saying I was like a child on Christmas morning, I was so excited to open my box! :) We took turns reading our memories and encouragements from one another. As we were reading, both of our hearts were filled with love and joy. There might have been a few happy tears shed as well (from both of us). It's just so amazing to see where God has taken us. Not only has He moved us across the world, but He has made us grow so strong together. I think we were both reminded of that on Christmas morning. It was beautiful - something so simple turned into a Christmas I think we will never forget.

Vacation plans - MADE!

Yay! Cory and I just purchased our tickets for vacation! In Korea, school gets out in December and starts back up in March. From December until March, Cory and I will be working at English Camp. We work for 2 weeks, have two weeks off, work 2 weeks again and then 2 weeks off ~ and then school starts! Our working hours are from 9-5 even when we are at English Camp. However, English camp is only from 9am-12. So what do we do until 5pm!? We have DESK WARMING! Yes, my friends that's what it's called. Cory and I will be sitting in our offices until 5pm. We have the option of working on lessons, surfing the web, watching movies...etc. It's a little bit of a bummer, but a least we are getting paid for it. As well, we are getting a paid vacation, so we have decided to go to a few places! Check out the map below... 

From South Korea, we will be first heading to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia (you can see the red circle on the map). We decided to fly there because it was a lot cheaper than going straight to Thailand! Kuala is the Capital of Malaysia so therefore it is a big city. It has the largest twin buildings in the world and many sites to see! It is a very touristy place, but I think it will be a great place for us to check out. Plus, we are so close to the bordering countries. We would love to spend a little time in Singapore if we can figure out how to get there. Also, they have ferry rides to Thailand, so we plan on spending a lot of time there as well! 

Next, we will be heading to Thailand. This is the number one place we decided on visiting. Close to Kuala Lumpur, you can see Phuket, Thailand (green circle) Thailand is known for it's beauty and especially its beaches. We are so excited to unwind and relax there! Below I have a few pictures of places I would love to see while traveling! We will be leaving on February 18th-29th - it can not come soon enough! :)

> Petronas Towers - At a staggering 452 meters in height the Petronas Towers dominate the skyline in Kuala Lumpur. The Petronas Towers are the worlds "tallest freestanding" towers in the world housing an assortment of office buildings, a contemporary concert hall and the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra in the Petronas Malaysia Philharmonic Hall.

> Rainforest and canopy walkway tour -Take a walk on the canopy walkway which is suspended 30 m from the ground and is over 200 m long. You will enjoy a breath-taking view of the city and its greeneries. There are also lots of fun activities for the family like camping, picnicking at the waterfalls and jogging.

> The beach. Do I need to say more?

Like I said, we can not wait for vacation! :)

Lunch - always a surprise

The first week lunch was quite an experience. In Korea, teachers do no bring their lunch to school. You can, but they will definitely think you are strange. They want you to try their meals and they will watch to see your reactions. The first few weeks Cory and I only ate the white rice. Every thing else was either spicy (which Cory liked) or fishy. I definitely lucked out with my teacher being a picky eater though. She also does not like many Korean dishes, so she would not ask me to try them. By the end of our work day… Cory and I would be soooo hungry! Therefore, I challenged myself to keep trying the food. Then all of a sudden, one day I could not wait to get to lunch to eat KIMCHI! Kimchi?!? You have got to be kidding me?! But yes, I actually love it now; nothing like fermented cabbage in spicy red sauce for lunch. I can’t even explain it but I am now eating all of this Korean food and I actually like it! Before, coming here I could not even eat a hot Cheeto, and my have things changed. I am still not used to fish. I actually gag every time I accidentally eat it. I tell them I am allergic here… haha which I think throwing up in front of everyone kinda counts as being “allergic” ;) Some days lunches are amazing. We may have Korean curry, orange chicken, broccoli and cheddar soup, delicious fruit, beef, and of course kimchi. But, there are definitely the days when they plop a fried fish on your tray along with fish soup. Those are always the meals that the students love. Thank God for the white rice on those days :) Today I happened to eat a lot of my lunch and dare I say I am becoming a master at chopsticks! I have been getting quite a lot of compliments now instead of laughs and, “why don’t you just use your spoon.” Lesson learned – always challenge yourself to try new things!

 

 ^ typical Korean lunch

Cultural Differences - Students in Korea

 Students RUNNING everywhere

Another interesting finding in Korea is when you walk around the hallways in the school, you will ALWAYS see students running around – Never walking, ALWAYS running! It’s funny because as a foreigner, you are not sure if they are supposed to be in class. They are just running everywhere! I have observed other teachers and they just kind of laugh as the students run by – so now I have been starting to do the same. Of course, my Westernized teaching wants to tell them to stop or say “WALK” but it’s just what they do here. Kids fall down all the time, they bump into each other, they get hurt – but yet they hardly ever cry.  

Chores

As well, when walking the halls you will not only see students running, but they are usually carrying a broom! That’s right; the students are in charge of cleaning the school. They all run around with little brooms, mops and dustpans. Many times I see them smacking each other with them, so I am not sure how much cleaning is actually being taken care of. As well, the students clean the teacher’s classroom. I had a bunch of garbage in my office when I first got here. I asked my teacher where I could take it and she responded… “Have the students take care of it for you.” It’s so different than back home. I mean, it is kind of nice I suppose… but asking a little 10 year old to take my garbage out to the dumpster - I guess I haven’t had the heart to do that yet.

Showing Love through "Violence" ?

This is probably the NUMBER ONE thing Cory and I first noticed in our school. The first week of teaching, Cory and I saw a boy lying on the floor while another boy kicked him in the ribs. Cory broke up the fight (between two 7 year olds) and one boy ran away! Cory went after him… but the boy just kept walking and would not listen. In our minds, it seemed very disrespectful. Right away, Cory told his co- teacher and she just laughed and said “they’re kids.” We were a little in shock… a 7 year old boy getting his ribs kicked – it sounded pretty serious to us… but no. You see, in Korea they tend to be a little more aggressive. I want to say the word ‘violent’ but I can’t because often times the person that is being “abused” is not crying – they are simply laughing! Often times you will see students that are friends just smacking each other! In one of my classes, 2 girls kept hitting each other the entire class period. They even took turns! “Okay hit me as hard as you can. Okay, now let me hit you.” – is what seemed like was going on. Or, a student will just come up to another and punch them in the back, head, kick them in the leg…the list goes on! Hitting in the States does not fly in schools but here it is okay. Plus, the teachers don’t do anything about because it’s just part of their culture. Even in bus terminals or out and about, you will see teenagers and young adults hitting each other. It’s like how they show love? I don’t know…something I don’t understand and also can not find myself getting used to.

Student/teacher relationship 

This is VERY different compared to back in the States. I had a “freak out” moment the other day as one of my 6^th grade boys walked into my very small office and shut the door behind him. Right away I thought, “okay this looks bad.” My thinking just went back to: You NEVER have a student alone with you, especially one of the opposite sex. Of course, nothing happened. He simply came in to see what I was doing on the computer and to talk to me in English. In Korea, students and teachers have a completely different relationship. Teachers are viewed in an extremely respectful way (even though it may not seem that way when teaching) but outside the classroom, students usually treat you with the utmost respect. It’s funny to see my worst students in the classroom giving me a complete half bow when they see me. As well, teachers will sometimes drive students somewhere, or walk with them places… it’s just not weird here.  

Cultural Differences - burning calories.

Temperature in school  

One of the rather irritating/confusing aspects of Korea is the temperature in the school. Now, I sometimes can exaggerate but I made sure to ask Cory before posting this. Every morning Cory and I walk to school together. It is so wonderful that we are at the same school! However, you would think that when we reached our school we would be relieved by taking off our scarves, hats, and gloves… think again. One of the things Cory and I just can not wrap our brains around is the temperature in the school. As you walk around the halls, it is 45 degrees! I am not kidding, 45 degrees INSIDE a school building! On top of that, the students like to run around and open all the windows… that have no screens by the way. One of these days, I fear a student falling out of the window! Every day I wear MANY layers! – including my fleece and winter coat. There are times when I see my breath in my office (which is not heated) and times when Cory has come to visit me and my lips are purple! We have talked to the teachers about it and they said the classrooms have their own individual heating but not the hallways. It is due to budgeting, and is found in every school here in Korea. Luckily, I have a space heater in my office now.

Also, since we have to take our shoes off -many students are running around in just socks and get this…barefoot!!! They even run outside like that. This is just so interesting because I remember teaching Kindergarten last year in the States, and if it was a tad cold in the classroom…the students would cry! Therefore, you had to walk into the closet and press an “imaginary button” to “heat” up the room. Differences between cultures are so interesting to me. We are learning so much here!  As far as the frigid school, we are getting used to it… but its still one thing I don’t know if I will ever fully understand.

Hey- at least I am burning calories by shivering so much! ;)  

My new best friend! The Space Heater :)

.Too RiskAy for Facebook.

This weekend Cory and I went to Suncheon! It's exciting that we are really starting to understand the bus system here. Our friends from orientation planned this trip to all meet in Suncheon, which is about an hour bus ride from our small town. There were about 15 of us so it ended up being a BLAST! It was so nice to just relax and talk to people normally. Cory and I have been a little nervous that our speech will be a lot slower when we arrive back home. When talking to Koreans all day, you need to speak slowly and use the most simple words. I give them so much credit though! I mean here we come in not even knowing ANYTHING in Hangul (Korean). It would be like a Spanish speaking person coming to the USA not knowing anything at all (and I mean anything) in English. And it's up to YOU to communicate to them in the little Spanish  you may know. Seriously, I give them props! Anyway...enough with that tangent.

We went to Suncheon and checked into a "love motel." Now this explanation is a little too "saucy" to put on facebook, so I thought I would explain it here. In Korea, a love motel is VERY nice! It was $50 bucks a night and let me tell you, it was snazzy! Anyhoos, my teacher's friend explained to me that a love motel is where young people go to.. well I guess do "love things." Koreans live with their parents until they are married so a lot of times when they go out to the bars or on dates, they do not have privacy. So they check into a love motel! So with that being in my previous knowledge, we finally arrived.

The motel was called The Greece Motel. It was super duper nice. We opened up the door and were amazed. For $50 a night, I was expecting a single mattress on the floor that we would have to share.

BEST PART: We ended up looking around. The motel had free internet, a mini fridge, a flat screen t.v., hot and cold water dispenser and a shower with HOT water :) Then, I headed toward the bed and saw a remote control next to it. I am too curious to not push buttons when I come across them so I did. Right away I heard this strange noise. "Where is that coming from." I had never really heard anything like that. Then, right before my eyes I saw the middle of the bed moving UP and DOWN!!! There was a machine built into the bed! Cory and I were dying of laughter. We sure were at a love motel all right! Plus, they gave you a goody bag when you arrived with condoms...oh my. They are serious about these love motels.

I'm sorry if this post is a little too riskay but I could not pass up the humor! It was so hilarious, so I hope you got a laugh out of it :)

 The view on the way to Suncheon.

The Greece Motel

Our room :)

snapped at for saying "Thank You."

Today was a funny day. I absolutely love Korea, but some things are just so strange. It's funny how in the States I took a lot of things people said to me straight to the heart. But, in Korea...I am beginning to understand how to take things more lightly. It's a good thing :)

For the last 4 days Cory and I have not had hot water or heat in our apartment. It's been 60 degrees in our apartment and our water feels like ice.  For "showering" we have been warming up water with our kettle and taking "sponge baths." -well at least I have ;) It's been quite the experience. That's why we were so happy to visit our friends in Suncheon and stay in a motel for a night. At least we could have a decent shower!

Well, arriving to school on Monday, I told my teacher about the heat problem as soon as I arrived. She and Cory's co-teacher wanted to help us right away. They viewed it as an emergency situation which was very thoughtful of them! So, My teacher ended up calling the "boiler/heater people" to fix it. Cory's teacher took me to the apartment to check out the boiler, then she drove me to buy an electric blanket, THEN she took me to the Kindergarten (Yu-Chi-won) I teach at to discuss lesson planning with the teachers that do not speak English. Of course, all throughout the day I kept saying, "Thank you." I mean they dropped everything to help us! It seriously means so much. Well, after pulling back into the school parking lot, I sincerely told Cory's school teacher, "Thank you SO much, I really appreciate all your help." annnnd she said "Stop saying thank you!!" I was a little taken back at first, but as I know Koreans are VERY blunt, so you have to try not to take it so personally. I told her I was sorry, and then it was like the look-- dont say sorry! Oh man... Soon she explained though that in Korea, saying Thank You is a VERY honorable thing to do, and what she is doing is not honorable but it is simply her job.

I understand, but still how am I going to stop saying thank you!? I can't, and now I am SUPER self-conscious. She said I need to stop because she does not know how to respond. Remember, his teacher is a GEM! She is so sweet. It's just some things sound blunt because of the limited amount of English one may know. I guess it's just kind of awkward for them to keep saying "you're welcome," or "don't mention it."

So, I guess I learned a new lesson that I never thought I would - stop saying thank you...?