After living here for a month now, I have now received my first paycheck. Along with this, I also got my bills for the month. To give an idea what the cost of living is here (and to further explain why so many foreigners teach ESL here) here are my monthly costs in Korean won:
Gas = 4,700 KRW
Electric = 8,930 KRW
Garbage = 27,000 KRW
Pension = 67,500 KRW (which I will get back once contract is completed)
Health insurance = 45,070 KRW (the country has a public plan)
Cell phone = 13,220 KRW (with a phone given to me by the school)
Internet = 9,900 KRW
I know you're asking "But what is the conversion rate of KRW to USD?" This is probably the easiest currency to convert. Wherever you see a coma just replace it with a decimal point and that's the cost in USD. So, my electric for the month was $8.93.
What about rent? Well, the school pays for that.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Chuseok - Korea's Thanksgiving
This past weekend was Korea's Thanksgiving, also known as Chuseok. The holiday follows the lunar calendar, so the date (according to the sun calendar) is variable each year. Most Koreans travel throughout the peninsula to visit family, so many businesses are closed and cities are not as "busy" as they normally are. I certainly knew it was Thanksgiving in this country when I went to HomePlus (the British version of Walmart) and you could barely move.
Here's an article I wrote about the customs and origin of Chuseok:
Celebrating Korea's Thanksgiving
Here's an article I wrote about the customs and origin of Chuseok:
Celebrating Korea's Thanksgiving
Visits of my 4-day weekend
This past weekend was Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving. I will explain the holiday itself in a later post, but right now I'm just going to post some of my pictures that I took around Gyeongju this weekend.
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| A store window of traditional Korean dresses. |
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| The bread that Gyeongju is famous for - Hwangnam bread |
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| Hwangnam bread! Its basically little white bread rolls filled with beans. |
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| A pond in a tomb park. |
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| Other side of the pond. |
 A tomb  |
Friday, September 9, 2011
Lack of Annunciating
After learning and practicing a few Koreans words during my lesson with my great Thursday evening group of 4th graders, I have learned one main thing about the Korean language...
Annunciation does not exist.
When I asked the kids how to say "right" in Korean (with the right turn meaning) I heard one say "orlenjo", "orango", "ordujo", etc. I guess I'm just going to be sure to say "or" and "jo" and mumble some other sounds in the middle because that's what they do.
Everybody has said that once you get the alphabet memorized it makes it much easier. I should probably get started on that because so far my motivation for it hasn't been there. I would like to know enough though to interpret some signs and be able to order food the right way.
It is also a bit interesting to talk with other foreigners here and some can already tell where you are from by the accent. According to this guy I met from Wisconsin and a girl I met from Georgia, I have a "rural, northern Illinois, Chicago mixed accent".
Annunciation does not exist.
When I asked the kids how to say "right" in Korean (with the right turn meaning) I heard one say "orlenjo", "orango", "ordujo", etc. I guess I'm just going to be sure to say "or" and "jo" and mumble some other sounds in the middle because that's what they do.
Everybody has said that once you get the alphabet memorized it makes it much easier. I should probably get started on that because so far my motivation for it hasn't been there. I would like to know enough though to interpret some signs and be able to order food the right way.
It is also a bit interesting to talk with other foreigners here and some can already tell where you are from by the accent. According to this guy I met from Wisconsin and a girl I met from Georgia, I have a "rural, northern Illinois, Chicago mixed accent".
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Accents in Learning a Language
Learning and translating between languages can really be a funny thing. This weekend while visiting with some people who teach English at the university in town and some others that have been here for several years, I have been able to hear some humorous stories.
Today I opened my bank account and had lunch at McDonald's with a fellow Korean co-teacher. We started talking about how to communicate with a taxi driver and we started going over a few words.
One of the biggest things I'm seeing in learning any language, is not entirely the sounds but it truly boils down to how you annunciate and where you place the accent. For instance, I told my co-teacher how I said my neighborhood to a taxi driver. When I said it, I had placed the accent on the second syllable when the correct way to say it is really on the first. So what I was saying (by placing the accent on the second syllable) is a type of portable toilet.
I was also able to clear up how to say little words when giving directions. From talking with my foreigner friends, I was told that left is "winjo" and right is "orangjo". Saying left was correct, but how I said right was a bit off and it should be pronounced "oredjo" - or something rather similar with a "d" sound (I'll have to check on that). The two super easy ones to say were "straight", which is basically pronounced "cheek-chin" and "stop here" that is "yogio".
Annunciation and accents is a consistent issue that I keep seeing in class. In order to break kids of this and make them known of the error, I stole a little idea from something I did in HS. In sophomore year English with Mrs. Skutt, we always used to "pound out" the vocabularly words in order to be more aware of where the accent mark should be placed when we took the vocab quiz. Before she taught us this in class, I always struggled at this section of the quiz. After pounding out the words I would easily pick up on the rhythm and then remember where to mark it on the quiz
So I started doing this with my 3rd-5th grade students after we complete a reading or I am reviewing some words with them. With several of these students since they are at school all day already, their attention spans are fairly short so trying to keep their attention for them to learn something can also be a challenge. The activity of pounding out words or to "make a song" out of them appears to not only help them annunciate and accent the words correctly, but keep them motivated as well. So instead of getting the common reaction of "Agh, I have to go over more words.. can't we play a game now?" I get the reaction of "Yay - I get to pound on a desk".
Today I opened my bank account and had lunch at McDonald's with a fellow Korean co-teacher. We started talking about how to communicate with a taxi driver and we started going over a few words.
One of the biggest things I'm seeing in learning any language, is not entirely the sounds but it truly boils down to how you annunciate and where you place the accent. For instance, I told my co-teacher how I said my neighborhood to a taxi driver. When I said it, I had placed the accent on the second syllable when the correct way to say it is really on the first. So what I was saying (by placing the accent on the second syllable) is a type of portable toilet.
I was also able to clear up how to say little words when giving directions. From talking with my foreigner friends, I was told that left is "winjo" and right is "orangjo". Saying left was correct, but how I said right was a bit off and it should be pronounced "oredjo" - or something rather similar with a "d" sound (I'll have to check on that). The two super easy ones to say were "straight", which is basically pronounced "cheek-chin" and "stop here" that is "yogio".
Annunciation and accents is a consistent issue that I keep seeing in class. In order to break kids of this and make them known of the error, I stole a little idea from something I did in HS. In sophomore year English with Mrs. Skutt, we always used to "pound out" the vocabularly words in order to be more aware of where the accent mark should be placed when we took the vocab quiz. Before she taught us this in class, I always struggled at this section of the quiz. After pounding out the words I would easily pick up on the rhythm and then remember where to mark it on the quiz
So I started doing this with my 3rd-5th grade students after we complete a reading or I am reviewing some words with them. With several of these students since they are at school all day already, their attention spans are fairly short so trying to keep their attention for them to learn something can also be a challenge. The activity of pounding out words or to "make a song" out of them appears to not only help them annunciate and accent the words correctly, but keep them motivated as well. So instead of getting the common reaction of "Agh, I have to go over more words.. can't we play a game now?" I get the reaction of "Yay - I get to pound on a desk".
Friday, September 2, 2011
What exactly is kimchi?
I'm sure after some of my posts now, some of you are left wondering "Ok, so what exactly is kimchi? Why is it such a big deal in Korae?" I asked myself these questions a bit as well before coming here but now that I've had it I can explain.
Basically, kimchi is the traditional dish of korea. As Russia is known for having borscht, Korea is known for kimchi. The oldest references to kimchi were from about 3000 years ago in Chinese poetry texts. The name was originated from the Three Kingdoms of Korea (I don't understand all the history of the kingdoms yet, but since I live in where probably 90% of the history is, I'll learn soon enough). Kimchi was originally only made with cabbage and beef stock.
Today, kimchi is made with napa cabbage (a variety native to southeast asia). There are other varieties available today that may include asian radishes (that are MUCH larger than the variety in the US), green onions, and cucumber. The main vegetable of choice is then fermented by painting it with salt and then having it sit out overnight or for at least 5-6 hours, cleaning it, and then applying the sauce. Depending on the recipe, you may have some garlic and other vegetables in the sauce, but for most all of the traditional sauces used red pepper flakes is the main ingredient.
From my experience, I can't say that there is any good comparison. Some people say that it is similar to sourkraut (since that is fermented as well), but I don't notice much similarity once you add the sauce. Because of the red pepper flakes, some batches can be quite spicy at first but you can eaily tone it down by eating some rice or drinking some water after each bite. In the Gyeongju area (and more southern part of the peninsula) it sounds like it tends to be on the spicier side than up on the northern part by Seoul.
Kimchi is the most common banchan (side dish) of Korea. It is normally served before your meal or as a side treat to add with your meal.
Kimchi does also have many health benefits (more than yogurt), which I outlined in an article here: Health Benefits of Korean Kimchi
*Random trivia: In Korea, when you take a picture you do not say "Cheese!", instead you say "Kimchi!"
Basically, kimchi is the traditional dish of korea. As Russia is known for having borscht, Korea is known for kimchi. The oldest references to kimchi were from about 3000 years ago in Chinese poetry texts. The name was originated from the Three Kingdoms of Korea (I don't understand all the history of the kingdoms yet, but since I live in where probably 90% of the history is, I'll learn soon enough). Kimchi was originally only made with cabbage and beef stock.
From my experience, I can't say that there is any good comparison. Some people say that it is similar to sourkraut (since that is fermented as well), but I don't notice much similarity once you add the sauce. Because of the red pepper flakes, some batches can be quite spicy at first but you can eaily tone it down by eating some rice or drinking some water after each bite. In the Gyeongju area (and more southern part of the peninsula) it sounds like it tends to be on the spicier side than up on the northern part by Seoul.
Kimchi is the most common banchan (side dish) of Korea. It is normally served before your meal or as a side treat to add with your meal.
Kimchi does also have many health benefits (more than yogurt), which I outlined in an article here: Health Benefits of Korean Kimchi
*Random trivia: In Korea, when you take a picture you do not say "Cheese!", instead you say "Kimchi!"
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