“Education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living.”

This was the first weekend in recent history that didn't involve me running myself into exhaustion with travel and adventure.  That isn't to say that I regret travel by any means, and it also does not mean that I didn't have a fair bit of adventure earlier in the week.  This weekend of respite gave me the chance to reflect and think about the blur that has been the past 2 1/2 months.  The chapter in my life that I knew and thrived in had ended, and a new one had begun.  Today, after school I was on the roof of my apartment building having some tea and enjoying the sunset as I realized that it had been a while since I had one of those "OMG I am in Korea" moments.  These moments would come a few times a day during orientation, and then a heavy downpour of them in my first weeks on my own at my apt.  I guess the shock of being in a foreign country and the venerability that accompanies it has worn away steadily as I am forced to deal with the issues that crop up.
The issue that is on the forefront of peoples minds, including myself, would be the language barrier.  This is such a broad thing to try and tackle with any continuity that I am slowly cutting off smaller bits of success and strategy to make it just that much easier to chew.  Learning to read Korean (Hangul) was easier than I had thought, I put it off for a while during orientation but as I found myself staring dumbly at a menu or sign with no translation wishing that I could decipher just anything about it I decided to give it a go.  It was really something that I should have just done and started the learning process to get things rolling.  The sounds and vowels are easy enough, I can now sound out anything with some degree of accuracy... given enough time (what the words actually mean is another issue entirely).  Now I am having these "Eureka!" moments.  Take for instance this situation...  On the walk home from the train station I pass by the same building, no english translation for the building signs.  Seeing how I do a fair bit of walking here in Korea it affords me lots of time to practice my Hangul, street signs, bilboards, advertisements, trash, food stands, and this... 사우나 an "hmm" I thought, "sssaaah.... ooooooo.... ssaahooo...nahhh....sssaahhoonnaaah. Oh.  Sauna.  It's a Sauna.  Sweet".
The long, slow challenge of linking what I read with actual vocabulary knowledge is the road I have ahead of me.  In a bit of cruel irony, this happens to be loosely related to what I am supposed to be doing when I teach, except it is English to Korean and not the other way around.
Travel still requires a bit of planning.  This is a symptom of being without a car, something I took for granted (more or less) for the last 8 years.  However, I don't miss the financial upkeep that comes along with owning a car like insurance, repair, and fuel.  Since public transportation is pretty cheap and convenient to use I don't miss the freedom of having a personal vehicle on tap.  I walk to school, walk to downtown, and walk to the train station.  From the train station I can catch a train without waiting too long to any city (usually Deagu or Gumi), from there I can hop a KTX to Seoul or Busan, or take the subway to the express but terminal and take a bus to any decent sized city not on my train line.  Whatever inchonvieneces might initially be apparent are quickly dispersed by the accessibility and connivence (being a passenger) of a well oiled mass transit system.  This is where planning comes into play, train times are posted online as well as bus times, if I don't anticipate a busy weekend or time of day then I can get stuck with a standing only ticket.  This has happened at one time or another coming back from Daegu, Busan, and Seoul.  Daegu is small potatoes (20 min), Busan was inconvenient (2 hours) and Seoul was a pain in the butt (4 hours).  All these were small reminders that I pay the price not knowing exactly what train I want to catch before all the other people decide on the same train.  Live and learn, then stand up for a while.

Korea is an education, from a study abroad stance it offers the tangible experience of teaching EFL (with all the intangible moments included), as well as the life broadening experience that is sort of a "take as much as you like" style.  I say "take a much as you like" because not every experience is created equal, and rightly so.  Depending on a persons Social Education, ties (emotional baggage) to things an ocean away, and the corresponding degree of openness expressed to the culture as a result yields a rough recipe for the experience in store.  During a meeting before I left Michigan, the lecturer said (to my knowledge this is a quote of a quote), "Expectations are like a reservation with disappointment".  I'm not one to subscribe to something with blind admiration, but there was something inside me that resonated with my ideals.  While it would be easy to create a list of "things I have to do or else" including abc xyz 123 & 789 in that order and completed with snapshots of all the right places.  I left my internal itinerary pretty short and pretty vague.  In a way it is a form of "Ignorance is Bliss", but since it was deliberate can I call it Scholarly Ignorance?
The title quote is from John Dewey, one of my favorite educational philosophers (is it odd that I have favorite ed philosophers?).  Throughout formal education emphasis is put on the knowledge that we gain in the classroom and that it is necessary for our progress through life.  I can't disagree with this, this schooling has played a major role in where I am today and given me the tools to do what I do every day. I will say that I think that there is a social aspect of education that is tossed by the wayside when society focuses so much on the tangible results and neglects the intangible experiences that shape the soul of a person.  For example, while my formal education has given me knowledge of music, teaching, etc. etc. etc. my social education has led me to where I am today (Korea), how I act and interact, and how I view culture and society (throw in humanity too, for good measure).  By my own admission I will say my thoughts and philosophy on this matter are crude and unrefined at best, but I know that it cannot be rushed into completion and time will weather it down to what is most true to me, and that is everything I can expect of a self-philosophy.
This is what kind of thinking and reflection a free weekend affords me.  Although I didn't spend the whole weekend staring out my window drinking tea...
I had been told that there was a Costco in nearby Daegu, if ever I wanted a slice of home it would be found there.  That is what I was told at least.  I was having a craving for Mexican for a while, but for all the chili spice in this country there are very few mexican places to eat.  So I went for it, I guessed that for all the talking that I had done with my friends nobody would ever step up and get a membership.  I took a train to Dongdaegu and rehearsed how I was going to say Costco ga jchoosey-yo to the taxi driver.  It was easier than I thought it would be, within 30 minutes of getting off the train I was staring at a Costco size bag of tortilla chips and salsa, job done Michael, job done.  They have a pretty decent bakery section and are rumored to carry frozen avocados.  I can take two guests when I go, so I can imagine that I'll be going there on a fairly regular basis.
I realize that there were moments in this post that advocated both the importance of planning and going off the cusp.  I realize this and have this to say... I am figuring it out, my traditional educational mind strives for a clear, well defined answer while my socially educated mind wants to mix all the colors together and color outside the lines and make a mess.  Like the Taegeuk in the Korean flag, the ultimate reality is a mix of all things.

"One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things."

Waegwan, Gumi, Andong, Seoul.  Two train rides, two bus rides, 4 taxi rides, a handful of subway trips and enough walking to ruin a pair of socks and a shirt.  One weekend, all on 8 hours of sleep.  This is an abridged version of what could certainly take up several books.
My plans for the weekend were roughly sketched out, and this was a good thing because they completely changed from what I had in mind on friday morning and when I was done teaching for the day.  Still I managed to fill it out, it was Gumi on Friday night, back to Waegwan to get my things for going to Andong for the Mask Dance festival that is going on this week, maybe Seoul, then who knows.
I met up with EMU friends had dinner and ended up at a bar to meet some Korean scholars who live in Gumi.  We met up with BoGun first, he is HeeSung's Co-teacher.  He goes to college for TESOL and he had an interview to study in the US for his masters degree.  Great news, he got in.  Nebraska will not know what hit it.  BoGun is a class act, his family owns an apple orchard and he brought us all apple juice from it, it was delicious and while I was having it I had one of the feelings that showed me a 3rd person snapshot of what was happening...I was having freshly made apple juice from a Korean farm with the son of the farmer, on the floor with 4 of my friends before going out for soju cocktails, Max, and who knows what else.  We went to "Our Friday night hangout" and started to celebrate BoGun's successful interview.  Another Korean Co-Teacher showed up with two of his friends, so we migrated and mingled with the new people.  If you had told me these would be 2 of several dozen new people that I would meet this weekend I would have looked at you in confusion and amazement because you claim to have the ability of clairvoyance.  The same person might have also said you will be be wearing the same clothes you are wearing now on Sunday", and "You will make many trips to the ATM, but it will be worth it".  All of these would be true, and I wouldn't change anything.  I stayed out a little late and because of this could not both go back to Waegwan to get my bag for the weekend and catch the express bus to Andong in time.  While at the bar that night we mingled and danced with some other new people we just met.  After, we went out for chicken.  Jess and Kitty were their English names, and they were as loud and raucous as us so it was a good fit.
This was going to be my first experience having to catch the bus to go somewhere without a Korean liaison.  The bus station is small because we have a train station, and, although Waegwan is not a small town, it is sandwiched between Daegu and Gumi which are large cities.  There is not a direct bus to Andong from Waegwan, which is why I wasn't just leaving from where I live.  I was wearing the same clothes from the night before because I chose to do Korea well, instead of doing Korea in a practical manner.
The weather was gorgeous, it was crisp fall weekend when I arrived in Andong.  We met up with Milliza and dropped stuff off at her apt.  I did not have anything to drop off on the account of me only having my jacket, ipod, wallet, and cell phone with me, in retrospect this was all I really needed.  We met up with some other scholars and proceeded to have some of Andong's famous dish, ddockboki.  This is like a spicy chicken stew with rice noodles, it was delicious.  I would tentatively say now I am getting used to the spicy food of korean cuisine.  I still sweat when I eat hot things, but I kind of like it, and I like kimchi.  When I don;t have it for a few days, I start to crave it.  It is weird, but I know what I like, and I like kimchi.  Next, I downed a few coffees and headed over to the Mask Festival.
This is a festival the Andong is famous for and it did not disappoint, I had the chance to make my own mask, see traditional dances, hear traditional drum music, and this was all before the main show.  The group I was in was recruited for some "dance competition".  Mind you, we are quite clearly foreign, but that makes it easy for people who find people like us interesting to mingle.  After waiting for a while this event kicked off.  It was a dance where each group of 40-60 people danced into a clearing by a stage and danced around a circle of ~20 drummers.  There was not really any specific dance, just a bunch of people having a good ol' time.  Each group represented a part of Andong or surrounding area (at least this is how I understood it) and got 20 minutes to strut their stuff.  We were the last group to go, but nobody told us this so we were anxious.  The group of foreigners started off at around 20 or so and each group that went on somebody would tell us all to go and run out there.  This turned out to be other group coordinators trying to steal us from our coordinators group.  Each time some people went out before our coordinator grabbed us back.  When it was finally our time to go we rolled out and went nuts.  This was something that I might not have done 3 months ago, but there I was dancing a fool with 10 other english teachers and 60 Koreans from 4-80 years old.  The cameras loved us, the Koreans loved us, it was a genuinely fantastic experience that I will never forget.  Picture this, everyone wearing masks and costumes, drums pounding, music playing, bright colors, flags, laughing.  I was mid dougie when an old guy in a monk suit and pipe grabbed my hand and ran me up to the front to dance.  He put his hat on me and gave me is pipe (ornamental) and started to spin me around this was when no less than 9 photographers surrounded me and made me feel like I was having a wardrobe malfunction on the red carpet.  The atmosphere was opiating, it was a rush.  The old guy spoke no English, but managed to invite me out for dinner and drinks.  This further gives credence to my idea that Koreans are some of the most generous and polite people as long as you meet them with a smile and an open mind.  No sooner had the festival concluded then I found myself on an express bus to Dong(east) Seoul bus terminal.  I managed to take a little nap but I don't sleep well on things that move.
We arrived in Seoul around 10:30, hopped on the subway and headed for Sinchon.  Now, a tangent to the subject of vowels in the Korean language... To the English ear a lot of words can sound similar.  Take for instance, our destination, Sinchon.  Sinchon is a district in Seoul, so is Sincheon.  One letter, and moving your tongue 2 mm backwards.  The same can be said for Hyundai, Hundai, Haeundai, Hundae, Hyundae.  One is a car, three are places in Seoul and one is a beach in Busan, all five sound pretty similar.  We met up with some other people and dropped our stuff off in the motel room.  I took a well deserved shower and dowsed myself with body spray and anything to hide the fact that I was going on 24 hours wearing the same thing.  We then headed to the University district of Hundae and hit that scene for a while.  U.S. military are not allowed into Hundae, because too much drama and fights happen because of stupid people being stupid.  There were a few groups of soldiers (they stuck out pretty clearly by being typically young, loud, stupid, and american), there were a few places that checked my Alien Registration Card to make sure I was not military (my ID says that I have an educators visa [E-2] and that I am a teacher).  We were coming out of a restaurant in the wee hours, and through some chance encounter we got to talking with these three Korean students that were computer electronics majors at Hongik University.  We asked if they wanted to roll to another place together and they came with us, just another random friend meeting in Korea.  We talked about life, girls, traveling, everything.  It was just another weekend in Korea, full of fantastic new experiences and people.
Sunday was Seoul Tower day, so we rolled out and made our way to the subway.  Seoul subway is pretty extensive, it has to serve lots of people, but it is pretty user friendly if you take a minute to plan out your route before you hop on a train.  I have an iPod app with the subway and surrounding street maps, it is a good tool to have for me because I like to constantly check and re-check my whereabouts and progress, call me OCD, but it is how I do things.  When I stepped off in the Myeong-Dong district, the only things on my mind were replacing my wardrobe.  My shirt was only a few weeks old, but it had seen a lifetime of action and seeing as I paid 5000 won for it, it had been a good investment.  Mu socks too were smeely casualtys of the weekend.  I bought a sweet knock off hipster lego t-shirt and some mario socks found the nearest bathroom and became a new person.  Sure the shirt was a bit tighter than I had anticipated, but it is in the korean style of tight fit and I wasn't in a situation to be picky about anything.  The mario socks are awesome, all the socks in Korea are pretty sweet and always only 1000 won (less than a dollar) for a pair.

Seoul tower was cool, there was an option of taking a cable car up the mountain it is on or walking.  I had thought it might be nice to not walk everywhere for once, but the line had about 400 people in it so I had to do a little convincing to sell the idea of not waiting in line for 2 hours (this bit of convincing was a little ironic because the other people in the group were universally afraid of heights, as well as having an irrational fear of the cable car crashing to their deaths).  You can be told the Seoul is a big city, you can read that Seoul City has 11 million people and metro Seoul has 25 million people, but when I got to the observation deck of the tower and saw the expanse of buildings, bridges, cars, people and then knowing that it goes on further then I could see behind mountains and beyond the horizon it is truly a sight to behold.

Teaching is everything teaching should be.  Sometimes classes go great and I am on a high, other times they go poor and I wonder what I am doing with my life.  Everyday I learn something, everyday I try something new.  Some things work, others fall flat.  I always keep in mind that tomorrow is a new day, I take that to heart and walk into school everyday with a smile and greet the kids head on.  And, it is a genuine smile, I eat lunch with the K-2nd graders and even though my 2nd grade class makes me want to throw kids out the window some days the smile on their faces when they see me grab my hand and go, "Michael Teacher Michael Teacher how are you I am fine hahahahahahha monkeymonkeymonkey bye bye goodbye trololololol" that sort of affirms that if I don't smile and laugh at the lighter things in life I am not only doing myself a disservice, but a disservice to the students as well.  It is my overall goal to get the students to talk.  Period.  They all have other english and grammar classes but I am the only native english speaker for them to talk to on a regular basis, the more natural I make simple  everyday conversations for the students the less intimidated they get when using english outside the classroom.  I make my students work, I ask questions and expect english in return.  They get frustrated, they whine, they struggle, but they come up with answers or else they know I will ask them again.  Then we have fun, we joke, we laugh, we balance the struggles with light times.  I am fully aware that I am as much a student of them as they are of me, sometimes more literally than figuratively.  I make a point to use little bits of Korean and written Hangul during each class, before, or after.  In fact, today before class I was going word for word with one of my 4th graders, Chloe.  I would give her a word to spell, and she would fire one back at me. In the big picture it is a double whammy for her because she is instructing me in English (save the korean word) a win-win for me and her!  There are days I think I could do this for a while, other days where I can't wait for my next meal at Taco Bell (there is only one in Korea and it is 14 hours round trip), I am leaving that door open for now.

Everyone in Korea wears glasses like this, I think I want a pair, probably a different color.  Prescriptions are pretty cheap for glasses (and meds) in Korea.  It is like they haven't figured out that they can charge an arm and a leg for things like this.  Or maybe it is the U.S. that has it all wrong, getting charged way too much to maintain one's health.  I had to get a prescription for an ear infection I got after swimming in the ocean... The doctors visit, and four different prescriptions cost me the equivalent of 16$ US.  Yeah, America for all that is great and wonderful has gotten health care dead wrong.  I could have gotten 90% reimbursed by the government, but I would've had to fill out too much paperwork and for 15000 won, why bother.

I am a horrible sykper, I have a list of people I should call but then I don't ever get around to it.  Don't hate me for it.  I'll have a free day one of these months and knock it all out.