Gyeongbokgung Palace

On Saturday, June 26th, I went to the Gyeongbokgung Palace, the oldest palace of the Joseon Dynasty (1392 - 1910) in Seoul, South Korea. The palace was built in 1394 by its founder, King Taejo.

During the Japanese Invasion (1592 - 1598) the Palace was burned down, but not by the Japanese, but by disgruntled palace servants who wanted to destroy records of their employment there.

A group dresses up in traditional clothes to re-enact the open ceremonies that used to take place there.

Seoul Grand Park Field Trip

The hagwon I work at took the younger kids on a field trip to Seoul Grand Park. There is this wonderful zoo there so I was excited as I haven't seen much being in South Korea for a month. But when we arrived we stood in front of the entrance to the zoo for only a moment. Then the group walked towards a flower garden where we spent the morning.

We did see some animals like tiny monkees, goats, sheep and very big rabbits. At least us teachers had the morning off.

Just Like the Jews? - Follow up

If you saw my last video blog or vlog there was a picture of Gene Simmons' likeness on a window front. Gene Simmons happens to be Jewish. Before putting on the make-up, wearing seven inch heels and breathing fire, Gene was a teacher and taught in Israel before moving to Queens, NY. Rock on!

Just Like the Jews?

There's this sandwich place about a block away from my apartment building. It has Hebrew letters on it. Maybe someone could translate it. I'm not sure what it says. Needless to say, my jaw dropped when I saw the Hebrew lettering. Meshuggeneh! (crazy!) Speaking of 'crazy,' the director at our school thinks the word crazy is a bad word. Sometimes it's not easy explaining to Koreans that English words have more than one meaning. Our director does not want us using that word. They often take the literal meaning of a word. So, the kids use the word as do the teachers in a humorous way. Ross-teacher is crazy.

Oh, and tonight I ordered a double-ham and cheese on white bread. You'd think there would be plenty of ham in the sandwich, right? In NY or Los Angles you would expect a 'stack' of ham at a deli like the Carnegie Deli or Jerry's. The middle of this sandwich was mostly lettuce. Oye! Do you know that the Koreans have an 'oye' sound for one of their vowels? They pronounce 'oye' much faster though and more harshly. Jews are a bit more nonchalant. Oye.

Koreans make loud sighs when they are disgusted with something...just like Jews. They're all full of phlegm. They often spit into the streets...just like old Jewish men. It's probably from all the cigarette smoking.

Last weekend I went to Itaewon. My last vlog entry, although the processing by You Tube didn't do it justice, included a photo of a jewelry store called Shalom Jewelry. Shalom? Really?

One of the next stories I'll be reading with my classes is titled, Where on Earth Is My Bagel? I copied the blurb off the official website. 'No one knows how the idea of a New York bagel popped into Yum Yung's head -- perhaps it was inspired by a dream, or by listening to sparrows' songs. Yum Yung lives in Korea where there are no New York bagels, and one day he just knows he has to have one. This timeless fable will make readers giggle with delight and satisfaction as Yum Yung, with the help of his friends, fulfills his bagel dream. The tale illustrates the power of perseverance.' I have a dream too! In fact, I ordered a bagel from this sandwich place. It was not a bagel, but the bread was nice and soft.

They do have good bakeries here. One bakery chain has a French theme. They make good croissaints.

First Time in Seoul - Itaewon and Garwol

My first weekend involved a lot of firsts. It was my first time riding the train. It was my first time heading to Seoul. The other teachers and I went to Itaewon, a heavily populated area for tourists, foreigners and the military. We ate at a Mexican restaurant, Los Amigos, and it was fantastic! I thought I had left good Mexican food behind me in LA.

I exchanged some money. I bought a book on the history of Korea at a bookstore called What the Book? Then we headed to Coffee Bean. That’s right. There are Coffee Beans here. Ne! (Yes!) It only took about 12 minutes to order, make that explain that I wanted a bag of coffee (kuh-pi) grounded up and a separate iced blended mocha with soy. I spoke to 3 different people behind the counter. Finally, I got my drink and my grounded coffee. It was a funny experience. The last counter person and I shared a laugh. It was so worth it. I need to learn Korean fast!


Then the other teachers and I headed to class. We had to hop back on the train. The class was great and I plan on attending weekly. Then I had another first as we had boba after eating some Korean food. The classes all go out to eat afterwards. My boba was just strawberry banana fruit. I can’t have smoothies due to being lactose intolerant. But that was my first boba. Slurp, slurp.

Where the Streets Have No English Names

Orientation Week / Living in South Korea

If you watched the video of me first arriving in South Korea, it doesn’t look so good. My apt. is not as bad as it seems except for the mold. Moniqa, one of the other teachers, had moved out for various reasons; 1) the mold and 2) smokers were smoking up the place. She moved into an ex-teacher’s apt. (the one I replaced). I haven’t had any problems with smokers. Regarding the toilet, it turns out that Moniqa turns off the toilet so it doesn’t overflow. So, every time I need the toilet now I have to turn the knob to let water in and turn it off when it reaches near the top. As for the mold, I apply bleach when I have time, usually on weekends before I head out somewhere.

During my first weekend, Jon, another teacher, showed me where Home Plus grocery store was where I could get more extensive groceries, etc. I bought myself a coffee machine there. To walk to Home Plus you pass our local train station, Line 4.

Kim Chi? I wouldn’t know what to eat if it weren’t for Jon. During my first week and much of my second week, Jon showed me many Korean places and how to order and what to eat. I have to be very careful as I’m allergic to shellfish. The thing about where I work and live in Ansan is that there’s not much of a variety of food. There’s a variety of Korean food, but there’s not much else. There are a couple of Italian places and a place that makes really good pizza. In fact, I’d say it’s better than most pizza places in Los Angeles…which isn’t saying much for Los Angeles. Is it the water? Who knows?



Jon and I ate at a Korean restaurant where we had to remove our shoes and sit on the floor. I had to stretch my legs every now and then, but the food was worth it.

On Thursday, June 3, I was at school like the days before, but a somewhat funny phenomenon took place. The chairs we sit on in the teacher’s area are the same as the chairs for most of the classes, very narrow. On two separate occasions on the same day, I sat in my seat and my pants pocket got stuck on the arm portion of the chair. My pocket ripped open about an inch. It wasn’t bad or too noticeable, but it happened again a few hours later to the other pocket. At least the pockets look even now. Two pockets ripped in one day. Needless to say, I’m more careful now when I sit my ass down.

For the first week I had been using the spoon from a set of chopsticks and spoons a friend gave me. I used it for not only my cereal, but for spreading peanut butter and jelly. Finally, in my second week I went to Home Plus and bought a full set including a knife, spoon and fork. I had bought bread and then thought, ‘How do I spread the PB & J?’ Here's a look into my enormous refrigerator. Not!

On Friday, June 4, I did my first wash in the washing machine. It holds more than I thought. The wash takes about an hour. No drying. Everything is hang-dried here. I had brought with me a hair dryer thinking I would use it for blow-drying my hair mainly during the winter and also for drying my clothes. I plugged my hair dryer in and after a minute of it working it suddenly fizzled out as in died.

Orientation Week - School

For the first few days at school you observe other teachers and how they work with the students. Here's an eye opener. Teachers find themselves teaching subjects they don’t know first hand. I don’t know about other hagwons, but the school I’m teaching at has teachers teaching science, debate, art. Yes, I am teaching all three of those subjects. I’m also teaching phonics, grammar, vocabulary, nursery rhymes, writing and mostly reading. The first few days of observing were tiring just by watching the other teachers. The days are incredibly long. Not to mention it’s humid and hot as hell. Oh, yeah. The school only puts the central air conditioner on a few times a day. So, kindergarteners are nearly passing out. One girl, in my first week teaching, puked in the garbage.

The mornings are a time the teachers mostly dread as we have to teach the pre-school, pre-kindergarteners and kindergarteners who are a very unruly bunch. The curriculum is not easily understood. There are many classes each day. I’ve been lucky to get a little help from the other native speaking teachers. I almost died after walking into the men’s bathroom on our floor. The smell of smoke is unbelievable! The bathroom is not smoky. The air is so full of smoke you can’t breathe. If you want to use toilet paper it’s kept next to the water cooler in the school lobby area. There are no toilet paper or paper towels to be found in the bathroom. I often go to the next floor’s bathroom below.

One strange thing I noticed during my first few days at school was that in many of the classrooms there are smoke detectors going off. Every minute or so there’s that familiar beep I know to be from a smoke detector. The funny thing is none of the teachers notice it. They’ve been there too long. They’re brainwashed to not recognize it. Weird.

I made it though Orientation Week somehow. Moniqa, one of the other teachers, helped me get some understanding of how the curriculum works. No one hands you a list of everything you need such as what textbooks or practice books are for what class. There are so many classes and it’s very tough to know everything for every class. The teachers have problems printing materials for their classes because the computers are very slow and ancient. Resources are not always available for the classes using the computer program that the school uses. I tried making a Mad Libs exercise on my home computer and made a PDF, but when I downloaded it at school the printer wouldn’t recognize it. UGH!

Through the Korean Portal

This blog is mainly to show my initial transition from the U.S. to South Korea. I have gone through the portal on the other side. I've boldly gone...well, you'll see by viewing the video. You'll see my new apartment and hear about some stories. My entire first Orientation Week will follow in an additional blog.

Last Stop: Incheon, South Korea

My flight to Incheon, South Korea was with Asiana Airlines. It was a ten hour and ten minute flight. I watched one movie, “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.” It was entertaining. According to the movie, hell is in Hollywood where all the lost souls and wishes go. I love the flight attendants’ uniforms. Very sexy! Is there a rabbi on this flight? I fell in love four times and maybe more. An older Korean couple sat beside me. He didn’t speak much English but we were able to communicate a few things. Of course, like you hear from everyone, the first thing he wanted to know was if I was married or single. Then upon knowing I was single he said "Oh, Korean girls will like you.”

I like how hot towels were handed out throughout the flight. They really make sure you eat. There were two meals plus a snack, a turkey sandwich served on a hamburger roll. The flight attendant asked if I wanted American Western steak or Korean style. I went with the Korean style. I think it’s called bibimbop. It was good. I’m not a fan of kimchi. It was a part of the meal, but I ate it and it wasn’t bad. Some beef was good. Seaweed wrapped in egg wasn’t bad either. Incidentally, the Korean man beside me ordered the steak.

Life begins at 40. I say this because as soon as I step off the plane I will be 40 by Korean standards. They believe that babies are one-years old at birth, from the time of conception.

Albums/Artists listened to on plane: U2’s ‘Achtung Baby; Matisyahu; Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side of the Moon’; Fleetwood Mac; MGMT; Live

Well, I have arrived at the Incheon International Airport near Seoul in South Korea.

Where did Friday go? Time flies.

Well, you’ll hear more about my arrival in South Korea and my apartment and my school in the next blog. This blog is mainly about getting out of Dodge as in Dodger-town.

Next Stop: Seattle Layover (few hours)

I watched my parents leave the Las Vegas McCarren Airport and realized that I’m completely alone. At least the last time I traveled internationally I was with a large group. This time it is just me. Checking in was fun. Not! My suitcase was overweight. So, I proceeded to shove books from my suitcase into my large duffel bag. It was still overweight, but not as much. Then ten minutes pass as the check-in person was trying to find out what to charge me. The woman check-in person was getting the runaround until finally getting an answer. It ended up being $100 overweight. I think it was simply up to the clerk what to charge. Whatever. I have a plane to catch. The great thing the clerk did though was to have my bags transferred to the Asiana flight without me having to get my bags in Seattle and go through checking in again and going through security.

Upon arriving in Seattle I exchanged some currency so I’d have more won when entering South Korea. I was hungry when arriving in Seattle so naturally I had lunch. Perhaps it was a good time for one last good American burger. I ordered a burger and fries from the Runway Grill.