Korean Graves

In Korea there are no cemeteries. Instead, they have small "tombs" for those that have past. Most all do not have headstones (in fact, I have only seen one that does). They have special locations and very large "tombs" for past kings and royalty. However, when it comes to the average person most are just buried on mountains like this one in the picture. Typically a family has their own hidden section ofthe mountain where their ancestors rest.

Pictures of Mokpo

This morning I went hiking with my Korean English co teachers. These are some of the pictures I took of the beautiful scenery.

Cheese-filled Pork Cutlet

Korea has many delicious meals. One that is great if your looking for a little cheese-fix (since there isn't much cheese here) is cheese pork cutlet. To order this in Korean you say "cheez-uh dun k-ah-s".

Korea's School System: Part 1 - Public Elementary, Middle, and High School Basics

For this post, I'm going to start to talk a little bit about Korea's school system and how it is setup.  I'm putting this into parts because I'm sure that the longer I am here the more I will learn and discover, so this post is by no-means "all of it".

For starters, Korea has the main 3 levels of schooling: elementary, middle, and high school.

In Korea, they do not have kindergarten and preschool integrated in with the elementary schools (to my current knowledge).  All kindergartens and preschool is at private institutions.  To foreigners (as Korean's call "waygooks"), we may consider this as a "Hagwon", but after mentioning it to a few Koreans they quickly responded that (to them) these are not true Hagwons, but kindergarten institutes.  (*Note: I will talk about what Hagwon's are later).

The school system is set up like this as far as ages and grades:
- Elementary school (start at age 7 and includes grades 1st through 6th).
- Middle school (start at age 13 and students go for 3 years)
- High school (start at age 16 and students go for 3 years)
(*Note: I'm listing the ages according to what their ages would be in a Western Culture rather than their "Korean age".  Their Korean age would be one or two years older than this.)

Testing is heavy in the school system.  To be admitted to middle school, students have to take an exam to see which middle school they will be placed at in their city.  In the smaller towns like Gyeongju or Mokpo that I have worked in of about 250,000 people the city has about 15 or so middle schools.  The schools are all set up according to the level of the students abilities.  The same is true for high school as well, as the students have to take an entrance exam in order to know what high school they will be admitted to.

For middle school and high school, the schools are often divided into boys and girls schools as well.  In the schools that do have both boys and girls in the same school, the classes are typically divided into separate boy and girl classes.  However, I will say that in my classes in Mokpo I do have two classes that are a mix of boys and girls in my 3rd year middle school students.  The reason for this is because, as a result of their English exam the previous school year to place students according to their abilities, the classes were going to be very small and came out uneven between boys and girls so I do have two classes as a mix.  However, in these classes it is not like a class in the United States, as the boys and girls sit on opposite sides of the room.

I do believe that students also need to take an entrance exam for elementary school as well to know what middle school they go to.  This is partially why (I would guess) that there is such a high demand for native English teachers in kindergarten institutes -- because there's just so many of them so gets can get into a good elementary school.

Also, it IS possible for students to just "fail" their entrance exam into elementary, middle, or high school.  In these circumstances, the kids then either stay at the level they are at and learn more or (I suppose) just not go to school until they can pass the exam.  This is really a huge deal though, because then this greatly declines their chances of ever going to college.

How Korea does Yogurt

In korea they do yogurt a little different than in the USA. They do have regular cups of yogurt as you buy in the states but they also have the kind of yogurt that you drink. The picture here is just the Korean-ized version of the common yogurt brand Activia.

How Koreans eat meals

Most all Korean meals are eaten as a group. You don't have your own plate of food. Instead, one meal is ordered that you cook in front of you and eat as you go.

What i find interesting, however, is watching situations like in the picture. It is a more western-style restaurant and one ordered Alfredo pasta and the other ordered a salad. Rather than eat their own separate meals the koreans still share and "split" their meals. It all goes back to their cultural sense of community.

How Korea serves green tea

This is just one example to give an idea of how Koreans serve green tea, which is 녹차 (pronounced nok cha) in Korean. Tea bags are never used in restaurants (only on occasion). They typically have a slot in the tea pot to seep the tea leaves. If it is an individual cup, you often remove that to drink but in a pot (like this instance) not always.

Honestly, this one is probably the neatest I've had so far --I've never had a timer before! This one was of really good quality too, as it did not have grains added to it as many places here do for some reason. It is one of the things I may never understand is why they must ruin (in my opinion) such perfect quality tea.