Here is an excerpt from my English newspaper, the Korea Times, about the swine flu. We have a few cases at both my center and visiting schools. The problem is definitely getting worse, and my teachers are all very concerned about it. I'm thinking of buying a mask soon!
"South Korea Tuesday raised its flu alert status to the highest "red" level and moved to set up a central disaster relief headquarters to better combat the rapid spread of influenza A (H1N1).
The Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said the number of confirmed H1N1 flu cases has doubled in recent weeks with the onset of cold weather, according to Yonhap News Agency.
The country had maintained its "orange" alert status since July 21 but decided to raise it as an average of 8,857 people caught the new flu per day last week, up from 4,420 tallied for the week before. A total of 42 people have died in South Korea from the flu since mid-August.
Government efforts will be focused on coping with serious flu cases and vaccinating about 35 percent of the population as soon as possible to safeguard public health, the ministry said.
It also called for a central disaster relief headquarters to be set up under the Ministry of Public Administration and Security to enhance the government's response to the epidemic.
"The government will move to mobilize all available medical personnel to treat patients and enhance the country's capability to provide anti-viral drugs," an official was quoted as saying.
Seoul will strengthen its monitoring of hospitals and clinics to gauge the extent of influenza A's spread, he added.
Health authorities said they will advance vaccinations of all school children by one week or two, and stockpile 11 million dosages of anti-viral drugs."
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Monday, November 2, 2009
Dating Korean Style
For those of you who don't know, I live above a business that does car work. There always seems to be a bunch of mechanics and their friends hanging around. I'd never really paid any attention to them at all, but I see the owner of the shop, who is also my landlord, quite a bit.
I got home from school early last Thursday, and was invited to have some food (sandwiches) with them downstairs. Even though my Korean is getting better, their limited English skills made converstation incredibly hard. We were able to communicate alright through google translator, and somehow I ended up saying yes to a date with one of the guys! It took about 45 minutes of using translator to get our plans made!
We decided to go to a movie on Sunday night. The guy, Michael, picked me up in his pimped out Hyundai Avante, and we went to the CGV at U-Square (bus terminal). He wanted me to bring my laptop with me so we could communicate. That was wonderful, carrying around 5 pounds on a date haha. We ate at TGI Fridays at U-Square, which was pretty good. I kind of wish we would have eaten at a Korean restaurant, because then it would have been like a real Korean date! We had ribs, pasta, fries, and beer. I was glad he ordered beer, it helped calm my nerves.
We took some pictures at dinner of us trying to talk to each other. I know the waiters and waitresses just thought that was hilarious. I'm sure we provided lots of entertainment. We didn't talk much during dinner, for obvious reasons, but he talked on his phone A LOT. One of his friends speaks English, and she served as a translator for a part of the meal. Talk about romantic.
After dinner, we had about an hour before the movie started at the IMax. He bought our tickets, I wasn't sure what the movie was. We some computers at the terminal, and again, used google translator. I found out some more details about him, so that was good. We "talked" about travel, North Korea, the military, and college.
The movie we saw was on the 5th floor of the terminal, and it was called District 9. I was so glad it was an English movie with Korean subtitles. My favorite part was before the show started when they showed the emergency escape routes out of the theater, just like on the airplane. Another difference was that they didn't have any previews, it was just commercials. The movie was okay, a little to SciFi for me. It was about aliens taking over Johannesburg and the main character turned into one by the end of the movie.
I made it back to my apartment around 12pm, I think the movie got kind of long. Overall, it was a nice night, but I wish we could have actually spoken to each other. I don't think I said a full sentence all night :)
I got home from school early last Thursday, and was invited to have some food (sandwiches) with them downstairs. Even though my Korean is getting better, their limited English skills made converstation incredibly hard. We were able to communicate alright through google translator, and somehow I ended up saying yes to a date with one of the guys! It took about 45 minutes of using translator to get our plans made!
We decided to go to a movie on Sunday night. The guy, Michael, picked me up in his pimped out Hyundai Avante, and we went to the CGV at U-Square (bus terminal). He wanted me to bring my laptop with me so we could communicate. That was wonderful, carrying around 5 pounds on a date haha. We ate at TGI Fridays at U-Square, which was pretty good. I kind of wish we would have eaten at a Korean restaurant, because then it would have been like a real Korean date! We had ribs, pasta, fries, and beer. I was glad he ordered beer, it helped calm my nerves.
We took some pictures at dinner of us trying to talk to each other. I know the waiters and waitresses just thought that was hilarious. I'm sure we provided lots of entertainment. We didn't talk much during dinner, for obvious reasons, but he talked on his phone A LOT. One of his friends speaks English, and she served as a translator for a part of the meal. Talk about romantic.
After dinner, we had about an hour before the movie started at the IMax. He bought our tickets, I wasn't sure what the movie was. We some computers at the terminal, and again, used google translator. I found out some more details about him, so that was good. We "talked" about travel, North Korea, the military, and college.
The movie we saw was on the 5th floor of the terminal, and it was called District 9. I was so glad it was an English movie with Korean subtitles. My favorite part was before the show started when they showed the emergency escape routes out of the theater, just like on the airplane. Another difference was that they didn't have any previews, it was just commercials. The movie was okay, a little to SciFi for me. It was about aliens taking over Johannesburg and the main character turned into one by the end of the movie.
I made it back to my apartment around 12pm, I think the movie got kind of long. Overall, it was a nice night, but I wish we could have actually spoken to each other. I don't think I said a full sentence all night :)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Story of the 16% Milk
After going to the gym on Friday, I stopped by the Lotte Grocery Store to pick up some snacks and drinks for the Halloween Party. I had used up the rest of my milk, and decided to get some.
I was standing at the milk section, debating what kind to get, when I remembered Emily had mentioned a few weeks ago that she bought the milk in the pink carton. I found one, and was suprised that some of the label was in English. This particular milk has 0% fat, and then, I decided to compare the Korean word for milk on this container to the other nutrition labels. I've tried about 3 different kinds so far. I was so suprised to find that those three kinds had 8%, 14%, and 16% fat!! I almost dropped the carton when I realized I'd been drinking 16%!! At back home, I'll have either 1% or skim. I always knew the milk tasted strange. It was so thick, it was like pouring pudding on my cereal in the morning. Well, alright, not that bad, but definitely like cream!
I ended up buying the last two half liters (they sold them in sets of 2) of skim milk. As soon, as I got home, I poured myself a glass, and while it was not WI milk, it was a great improvement from before! I've now memorized the Korean word for milk and also where on the nutrition label it is listed (it is different than in the USA) so that I don't end up with any more 16%!
I was standing at the milk section, debating what kind to get, when I remembered Emily had mentioned a few weeks ago that she bought the milk in the pink carton. I found one, and was suprised that some of the label was in English. This particular milk has 0% fat, and then, I decided to compare the Korean word for milk on this container to the other nutrition labels. I've tried about 3 different kinds so far. I was so suprised to find that those three kinds had 8%, 14%, and 16% fat!! I almost dropped the carton when I realized I'd been drinking 16%!! At back home, I'll have either 1% or skim. I always knew the milk tasted strange. It was so thick, it was like pouring pudding on my cereal in the morning. Well, alright, not that bad, but definitely like cream!
I ended up buying the last two half liters (they sold them in sets of 2) of skim milk. As soon, as I got home, I poured myself a glass, and while it was not WI milk, it was a great improvement from before! I've now memorized the Korean word for milk and also where on the nutrition label it is listed (it is different than in the USA) so that I don't end up with any more 16%!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Kimchi Festival
One of the things that Jeollanam-do province is known for is it's food. Here is an excerpt from my travel book:
"Considered the 'rice bowl of Korea,' the two Jeolla Provinces are a veritable cornucopia of food. In the late spring, ample rains water the fields, and the farmers can be seen bent over, planting even rows of rice. As might be expected with such an agricultural region, the women from this area are considered the best cooks in Korea.
The conspicuous lack of heavy industry in the Jeolla provinces does have advantages, as the region has perhaps the cleanest air and best-preserved natural environment in Korea. A ride through the countryside reveals scenes that are only a memory in more devolped provinces. The Korean curve motif is everywhere in this pastoral scene- in the sublte curves of terraced rice paddies, the rolling curves of mountains, hills, and burial mounds, and the upcurved roofs of traditional farmhouses.
Gwangju competes with Jeonju for honors such as "best food in Korea" and "the most food served in Korea." This is because in the past, wealthy landlords established gracious food standards, and because the lush Honam Plain in Jeollanam-do has provided food for the city's gormets."
This describes Gwangju perfectly. A lot of times if you are hungry before you go out downtown, you're better off to NOT get food, because you are always served food when you order a drink. They don't want you to drink on an empty stomach! For example, downtown last night our free bar food was (unlimited) sweet potatoes, deep fried mushrooms, rice cakes in red sauce, and nuts. Other times, we've gotten squid or fish jerkey, popcorn, rice cakes, and other light snack foods.
Anyhow, since Ben and Neil were visiting from Busan for the weekend, we decided to hit up the Kimchi Festival together. The boys were a little late arriving, because they had a very late (or early!) night that ended with them eating at 4am at a 24 hour bulgabi restaurant.
I got to the fest grounds next to the World Cup Stadium around 11:30 am, and met up with a girl Megan from Korean class and her co-teacher. We walked around for a bit before everyone else came and saw lots of things. There were many white booths set up on the Southern Providence Food Street where you could eat to your hearts content. There were huge slabs of pork, octopus on a stick, various kinds of kimchi, and lots of Soju and Maekju. The smells were overwhelming, but in a good way. Inside one of the stadiums, we could sample and buy different kinds of kimchi. It was great. I must have had samples of 15 different kinds. I couldn't tell you what they all were though!
There was a special booth called "Foreigners Making Kimchi." I really wanted to do it, but I knew that I wasn't going to be going home until after midnight, and didn't want to be carrying around a pail of cabbage and spices with me all day. I happened to see Steve and Linda Brown (also EPIK teachers, about 50 years old) and they had made some kimchi already. They said it was a lot of fun, but wasn't easy!
For lunch, our menu was on a piece of paper, all in Korean. Alli, Emily, Brian, and I did our best to order by just pointing at one. We figured that it would be pork, because there was so much of it at this booth. We first had their kimchi, which was delicious, then they brought out a second kind of kimchi, which we determined after 10 minutes was our main course. There were dark bits of something in it. It was kind of earthy, like a mushroom, but also kind of meaty. Alli is somewhat a vegetarian, no red meat, so we had to figure out what it was. We eventually found out that it was snails. It wasn't bad, but not what any of us had expected. That's what happends when you just randomly point to something on a menu, hope for the best!
"Considered the 'rice bowl of Korea,' the two Jeolla Provinces are a veritable cornucopia of food. In the late spring, ample rains water the fields, and the farmers can be seen bent over, planting even rows of rice. As might be expected with such an agricultural region, the women from this area are considered the best cooks in Korea.
The conspicuous lack of heavy industry in the Jeolla provinces does have advantages, as the region has perhaps the cleanest air and best-preserved natural environment in Korea. A ride through the countryside reveals scenes that are only a memory in more devolped provinces. The Korean curve motif is everywhere in this pastoral scene- in the sublte curves of terraced rice paddies, the rolling curves of mountains, hills, and burial mounds, and the upcurved roofs of traditional farmhouses.
Gwangju competes with Jeonju for honors such as "best food in Korea" and "the most food served in Korea." This is because in the past, wealthy landlords established gracious food standards, and because the lush Honam Plain in Jeollanam-do has provided food for the city's gormets."
This describes Gwangju perfectly. A lot of times if you are hungry before you go out downtown, you're better off to NOT get food, because you are always served food when you order a drink. They don't want you to drink on an empty stomach! For example, downtown last night our free bar food was (unlimited) sweet potatoes, deep fried mushrooms, rice cakes in red sauce, and nuts. Other times, we've gotten squid or fish jerkey, popcorn, rice cakes, and other light snack foods.
Anyhow, since Ben and Neil were visiting from Busan for the weekend, we decided to hit up the Kimchi Festival together. The boys were a little late arriving, because they had a very late (or early!) night that ended with them eating at 4am at a 24 hour bulgabi restaurant.
I got to the fest grounds next to the World Cup Stadium around 11:30 am, and met up with a girl Megan from Korean class and her co-teacher. We walked around for a bit before everyone else came and saw lots of things. There were many white booths set up on the Southern Providence Food Street where you could eat to your hearts content. There were huge slabs of pork, octopus on a stick, various kinds of kimchi, and lots of Soju and Maekju. The smells were overwhelming, but in a good way. Inside one of the stadiums, we could sample and buy different kinds of kimchi. It was great. I must have had samples of 15 different kinds. I couldn't tell you what they all were though!
There was a special booth called "Foreigners Making Kimchi." I really wanted to do it, but I knew that I wasn't going to be going home until after midnight, and didn't want to be carrying around a pail of cabbage and spices with me all day. I happened to see Steve and Linda Brown (also EPIK teachers, about 50 years old) and they had made some kimchi already. They said it was a lot of fun, but wasn't easy!
For lunch, our menu was on a piece of paper, all in Korean. Alli, Emily, Brian, and I did our best to order by just pointing at one. We figured that it would be pork, because there was so much of it at this booth. We first had their kimchi, which was delicious, then they brought out a second kind of kimchi, which we determined after 10 minutes was our main course. There were dark bits of something in it. It was kind of earthy, like a mushroom, but also kind of meaty. Alli is somewhat a vegetarian, no red meat, so we had to figure out what it was. We eventually found out that it was snails. It wasn't bad, but not what any of us had expected. That's what happends when you just randomly point to something on a menu, hope for the best!
Kia Tigers win the series
Saturday, Alli, Alex, Brian, Emily, Gabe, Neil, Ben, and I went downtown to watch the Tigers play the 7th and final game in the series after hitting up the Kimchi Festival in the morning. Going into the game, the SK Wyverns (Incheon) and the Kia Tigers (Gwangju) were both tied with 3 wins. Whoever won this game would win the series.
We met a bunch of other EPIK teachers by chance at a pizza, chicken, and beer place. It was basically a group of 40 Americans watching the game, not many other Koreans there, but that was okay. Alli, Emily, and I watched the first 4 or so innings, but it was going really slow, and at one point, we were down 5-0. We decided to go shopping since we had just been paid the day before (we got some great stuff for fall/winter!). We heard from the boys, who had stayed to watch, that the score was 5-5 in the top of the 8th, and decided to head back. In the bottom of the 9th, we got a homerun and won the series. It was pretty exciting and everyone started jumping up and down screaming.
One of the EPIK teachers student's dad is the catcher for the Tigers, and the big news was that if we won this game (it would be the Tigers 10th victory), that they would add a second level to the stadium. The stadium isn't big by any means, but then the games would be even more fun to go to. Check out the you tube link below to watch the home run. Also, I love watching/listening to the crowd, they get so into it!
We met a bunch of other EPIK teachers by chance at a pizza, chicken, and beer place. It was basically a group of 40 Americans watching the game, not many other Koreans there, but that was okay. Alli, Emily, and I watched the first 4 or so innings, but it was going really slow, and at one point, we were down 5-0. We decided to go shopping since we had just been paid the day before (we got some great stuff for fall/winter!). We heard from the boys, who had stayed to watch, that the score was 5-5 in the top of the 8th, and decided to head back. In the bottom of the 9th, we got a homerun and won the series. It was pretty exciting and everyone started jumping up and down screaming.
One of the EPIK teachers student's dad is the catcher for the Tigers, and the big news was that if we won this game (it would be the Tigers 10th victory), that they would add a second level to the stadium. The stadium isn't big by any means, but then the games would be even more fun to go to. Check out the you tube link below to watch the home run. Also, I love watching/listening to the crowd, they get so into it!
EPIK Workshop
This past week was a short one, we had a manditory 2 day workshop on Thursday and Friday. We left behind schedule Thursday morning on 3 coach busses from the MOE. We arrived at Boseong Dabeach Condo before lunch. The condo was gorgeous! We were on the southern tip of Korea and the beach was beautiful. We had really nice pleasant weather too. The area is known for their green tea, the few cups I had was very good. I ended up buying some for my center school before I left, trying to get some brownie points so I can have my 6 weeks off in January!
The lectures overall were okay. A lot of teachers are in Elementary school because there are so many of them. Most of the material I felt was catered to that level. I was really excited to get more ideas for games/activities but did not really walk away with much unfortunately. Guess I'll just have to get some more ideas off Dave's ESL Cafe.
The meals we had were really good, for dinner Thursday night we had a huge buffet. I knew it was going to be full of good stuff, so I didn't waste precious stomach space with things like salad. Some of my favorites were raw salmon, raw oysters, eel, crab, songpeyong, and beef. Everything was so fresh and unprepared, so the flavor was great.
Most people stayed up late on Thursday night even though we had to wake up early on Friday. It was fun to see everyone in one place again. Our group skipped out on the after dinner activites, and instead watched the Kia Tigers win against the SK Wyverns up on the 6th floor. We had about 30 people in that room and had plenty of refreshments. Then, after the win, we moved down to the Noraebang on the 1st floor. We joined up with Michael, Andrew, Mechele, Amandeep, Miguel, and a few others. It was quite the happening place. Allie, Em, and I did pretty good at singing songs by BSB and NSync. Of course, the classics like Bohemian Raphesody and Somebody Told Me we sung too! I think we were in there for about 3 hours. Quite a good time.
Friday morning, we went to a green tea plantation/bamboo farm in the morning. It was pretty impressive to see all the green tea and how big the bamboo trees were! In the afternoon, we went to a tradtional folk village where people are still living. It wasn't too touristy which was nice. So many of us always talk about how cute the Korean kids are, and there were tons of young kids on field trips.
We made it back to the MOE around 3:45 pm which was good, because we had another 2 days off in front of us and had things to do!
The lectures overall were okay. A lot of teachers are in Elementary school because there are so many of them. Most of the material I felt was catered to that level. I was really excited to get more ideas for games/activities but did not really walk away with much unfortunately. Guess I'll just have to get some more ideas off Dave's ESL Cafe.
The meals we had were really good, for dinner Thursday night we had a huge buffet. I knew it was going to be full of good stuff, so I didn't waste precious stomach space with things like salad. Some of my favorites were raw salmon, raw oysters, eel, crab, songpeyong, and beef. Everything was so fresh and unprepared, so the flavor was great.
Most people stayed up late on Thursday night even though we had to wake up early on Friday. It was fun to see everyone in one place again. Our group skipped out on the after dinner activites, and instead watched the Kia Tigers win against the SK Wyverns up on the 6th floor. We had about 30 people in that room and had plenty of refreshments. Then, after the win, we moved down to the Noraebang on the 1st floor. We joined up with Michael, Andrew, Mechele, Amandeep, Miguel, and a few others. It was quite the happening place. Allie, Em, and I did pretty good at singing songs by BSB and NSync. Of course, the classics like Bohemian Raphesody and Somebody Told Me we sung too! I think we were in there for about 3 hours. Quite a good time.
Friday morning, we went to a green tea plantation/bamboo farm in the morning. It was pretty impressive to see all the green tea and how big the bamboo trees were! In the afternoon, we went to a tradtional folk village where people are still living. It wasn't too touristy which was nice. So many of us always talk about how cute the Korean kids are, and there were tons of young kids on field trips.
We made it back to the MOE around 3:45 pm which was good, because we had another 2 days off in front of us and had things to do!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Kia Tigers
Here is the webpage for the Kia Tigers. Not much is in English, but it shows on the site under "records" that we are currently ranked #1. The boys in my class this morning were really excited to find out that I was at the game, and explained how if the Tigers win 2 more games, then we are the champions. It is the best out of 7, and we have won 2 so far.
Here is a picture of #27, the jersey I got. His name is 감상현.
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