Yongsan

U.S. Air Base in Yongsan

Last Wednesday was my coworker's husband's birthday so they got some rooms in Yongsan (near the Foreign clubbing/bar/chilling paradise) in the US Airbase, as it was cheaper than hotels around Itaewon, so we could go out and chill without caring about how to get back home. Stormy's husband being in the military, they usually have a 1AM curfew, but they had taken 2 days off duty to be able to chill as they wanted. 

They went there on Friday night, but as I went to the NGLOW dinner I decided to join only for the Saturday night. I had invited Heather and another friend to join, but in the end only Heather showed up.

So I wake up on Saturday morning, in the nice warm sunshine, and do my stuff, get ready to leave by 1PM. Heather tells me she will meet me at Seoul Station, since there is a direct bus from Dongtan going there in 40 minutes I can ride... so that's what we agree on.

I get out around 1:30 and go wait at the bus stop.

At 2, the bus comes.... and passes through without stopping... Having been waiting for half an hour wearing heels and a heavy bag - with stuff for the hotel - I am quite pissed. I ask someone why the bus didn't stop and they tell me they don't know: I should just wait for the next one. Which thing I do. at 2:30 I get pissed. Freaking bus not coming. And I am pissed because it is actually hot to wait in the sun in an empty stomach, when I need to go to the bathroom.

I decide to take a stupid bus to go to Byeongjeom station (the closest subway station) since the stop is also at the same place. I get on the bus and I wait.... and wait... and wait... and think that the place does not look familiar. I was on the right bus, mind you. Just took it on the wrong side of the street so a charming lady brought me into the countryside... took her 15 minutes break before going towards Byeongjeom station at last. I was SO FRIGGIN PISSED. 

Whatever. I just get on the subway and wait. There was no need to change line, that was at least one good thing, and I did have a seat. I suppose it could have been worse.

With all the delays, Heather had to wait a long time in Yongsan - we ended up having to go to Yongsan in the end, one station down Seoul Station - but I finally got there at last. With a stupid headache.

The view as we got out of Yongsan station... pretty neat eh?

We get in Yongsan and Stormy tells us to take a cab to Gate 1 of the Air Base. I am used to take taxis in Korea and never really have any problems with them since I tell them where I want to go in Korean. I had literally no clue how you say Yongsan US Air Base Gate one in Korean so I was a bit uneasy to take a cab, but she did not know how to get around in Yongsan so could not help me in any way... I only had to hope. 

Waiting in line for a cab...

Having had a pretty bad start that day, I was hoping that it'd go smoothly. Heather and I get in line at the taxi stop and when we get our turn, the "placing guy" (there were two guys putting people in cabs in a similar way as the guys getting your cars in hotels, except it was to take a cab, and not our car :P) knew what I meant when I said Gate 1, but the cab driver didn't, and he didn't give a crap. He did not want to look for it and was being an asshole. The placing guy however refused to have us change cabs, because it would look bad for his "business", so we took off. 

Dragon Hill Hotel 

The stupid cab made a super big detour to bring us on the middle of nowhere, quite far from where we wanted to go. I tried to get in touch with Stormy but was unable to explain where I was, and as they did not know anything about Yongsan either, we were pretty much lost. I took another freaking cab and we finally got to the gate, after walking around stupidly with my heavy luggage, Heather and her little red bagpack. 

I met up with Heather and Nitch (the other girl that was supposed to join us) and we went to register at the gate to get in the base... but Nitch did not have her passport nor her ARC so she couldn't get in in the end. I told her she should go get it and come back, as it was not so late and we would go out much later anyways, but she was lazy and didn't T__T

Stormy and her hubby cheking in

I had a reverse culture shock. 

Even the room had an intense "Western" feel to it. All the plugs were North
American ones, so I basically got screwed up, not being able to charge my phone...

The US base was basically what I like to call The United States of Korea.

That evening was fun, we chilled with Stormy her husband, one Korean-American lady they knew and a couple of their guy friends. It was like going out in the States (though I have never been, it felt like it would've been like that... had I gone), with white people everywhere, country bars, pool places skanky white girls walking up the streets in Itaewon and beer drunk like water, as people chat about nothing and everything. No games, just chilling. 

Stalking Heather...

I am used to drinking with Asians, so this was quite the cultural shock, again, even though I had expected it to be like that. It is always weird to be in Asia and to feel like you are not anymore. Oh well :P

If I ever get to return to the base, I will know what to tell the cab eh eh... that was
on our Hotel Card. I wish I had had it before. It is so frustrating not to know how to
say things when you do speak a language, and it makes you look as if you didn't...

En fait, je pense que ce qui est le point le plus important de cette sortie c'est la conclusion: C'est VRAIMENT weird de hangout avec des États-Uniens, quand tu passes le plus clair de ton temps à t'en moquer...

Mon plus gros shock culturel ça a été avec cette gang là. À Sanbon j'ai travaillé avec des gens des États-Unis et ils étaient tous des personnes charmantes avec lesquelles j'avais beaucoup d'affinités: ça à même fini par me faire me dire que finalement, les gens des États-Unis n'ont peut-être pas tant de différences culturelles avec les gens du Canada... eh bien, je me le suis fait renvoyé au visage: Cette gang la est une gang bein le fun pour faire la fête, mais mon dieu, qu'ils sont le portrait craché de l'états-unien typique...

Oh well XD 

April 15, 2013 South Korea: Still Just Fine...

NGLOW : Day to Day...

I am in South Korea. We are in April 2013 and North Korea is multiplying threats as if it were christian bread... but I live a very smooth day to day life, getting lots of love from small kids, and giving them just as much. 

I still do not have my own class yet, I am the assistant teacher of a very sweet Korean lady called Elly and I learn a lot everyday. She has been teaching for some 10ish years so I know I can learn a lot from her. There are 6 kids in her class, all four years old little darlings. While I have a lot of work and a lot of prep for the things I need to teach them, I often have a lot of time on my hands between 4 and 6 (as there are no classes right now in this time period) and I use it to make the classroom pretty and put the kid's crafts and stuff on the walls in interesting ways. I have always loved making things pretty so I love doing this. On the side, I am also preparing some material - calendar, seasons flash cards etc - to put in my own classroom when we open the 6 years old class I will be teaching to.

Last week I was stuck with food poisoning and couldn't get out to work on Thursday, having to spend the day in the bathroom, and ironically, this week, the other foreign teacher in NGLOW, Stormy, was also sick and had to stay home for the day. I wonder what will happen next Thursday... are our Thursdays cursed? Oh well...

Because she weren't able to come to school, I had to teach her classes - she has the 5 years old class - but I was lucky because all in all, it was quite an easy day, and all the kids were especially good. I had to make them do some "English Art" for an hour an half and the theme was "rainbow" so I got them to shred some paper of different colours (because that takes more time :P ) and glue them in the rainbow they had previously drawn in their craft books. Then they used crayons to make the sky blue and we stuck some clouds on each side :) Here is Chloe's rainbow. That kid is so cute. She has suuuuch a tiny face it's crazy! >.<

Elly Teacher with Chris, the last kid who enrolled in our class

Eileen fishing letters of the alphabet

Chris who got his first sticker! - under Eileen's watchful
eyes. Those two like each other they are adorable <3 <3

Donkey's tail game <3

Gym class

Friday Night: NGLOW dinner

Last Friday we went out for a "business dinner" with the people of NGLOW. I love those dinner, because we always eat an insane quantity of amazing food - that I would not be able to afford by myself - and on top of getting to know co-workers, we don't pay a thing <3

People at my new job are, for the main part, much older than me and have their own families, so we don't really have much in common or that many common interest, but they are really nice people to hang out with and it is a good practice for my Korean listening skills.

Metapolis + Field Trip

Metapolis

In Dongtan there is a big monster-mall/theater putting together a bunch of restaurants, clothes and brand stores into 2 - I think there will be a third one, still in construction - huge buildings, with a nice huge parc with benches, trees and a river going through it (in summer). That place is some 8 minutes by foot from the place I am staying it right now and I am really looking forward to walking through it in the summer, when the whole parc will be filled with flowers and the 'river' will actually have water going through it.

As for now, I just walk around, when I have the time. 

I had food poisoning this week most likely because of a cream filled bread gotten from Paris Baguette, the ones that are not actually made in the store. Be careful people, food poisoning is probably one of the most embarrassing and frustrating thing one can have...I am so angry at Paris Baguette now. Damn them and their lack of care for the cream they use in their bread.

Anyways, there is no joog (Korean rice porridge) restaurant around my place, so I had to walk to Metapolis on Thursday to get some. Luckily, it was a wonderful day (or, I swear, in my state, I would not have bothered to go out to get food at all...) out and I enjoyed every minute of my walk in the warm sun. 

In one of the two mall buildings... trying not to look in the stores....

Little outside garden area on the top of the 4th floor.... ok. not so little.

Still on the roof. The half circle at the bottom is actually a big
full circle 5 floors-big through which a sort of indoor walkway
crosses between the two malls, linking the restaurant part with
the CGV (movie theater) of the facing building....

The white flock of stairs on the right is on the side
of the big circleI mentioned in the previous picture...

Another angle....

SPRING! Spring is there at last~ Flowers are starting to bloom.
How I love those trees that have flowers blooming before leaves
show up :  )

NGLOW First Outing

This Friday was my first "field trip" with the NGLOWKids. We went to see the Korean kid version of "Cats" in a huge theater. All the kids wore their school uniforms (they usually only have to wear them on Mondays) and we rode in the pretty NGLOWBus ~ <3 

 We don't have that many kids in the school so it's easier to manage and it was a really fun trip. The kids loved it and they got the opportunity to run around in the warm sun (25 degrees). Eileen, the principal of the Dongtan branch of NGLOWKids, had brought stuff to blow soap bubbles, and the kids of all ages went crazy trying to catch them (good thing that at the end of the musical they actually blew bubbles on the audience - that made a "follow-up" to the whole thing since we were sitting at the back and our kids didn't get to catch them at the time).

Kids going crazy. Isn't Liam, the kid with the hair tied up, adorable????