We're finally in Daejeon! So far Brian and I love it here. When we first applied to EPIK, we were asked to select three cities we'd prefer to live in. Daejeon was our third choice simply because of its size (1.4 M population). From Wikipedia, all I knew about Daejeon was that it was in the centre of South Korea, it had a Costco, and its flower was the magnolia.
But Daejeon has proven to be a wonderful place to live, thus far. Living centrally means that we can conveniently travel to many cities around South Korea by bus or train. Costco is wonderful because it offers us good quality cheese, bulk popcorn, bulk crackers, and bulk cookies. The cheese in Korean grocery stores in processed and tastes like plastic.
Living next to a subway station is also great. Daejeon has one subway line that connects old downtown to new downtown and a few other places. My school and apartment are both near the subway station. We also live conveniently between two E-Marts (large, multiple-floor superstore chain that sells groceries as well as household items). I do wish we lived beside a Homeplus, though. Homeplus is just like E-Mart, but it has a lot more sales. Oh! Another wonderful thing about these grocery stores is that they constantly have food sampling. You can go in at 10pm and you'll still be offered tofu, meat, bread, and dumpling samples-- it's great & delicious!
But Daejeon has proven to be a wonderful place to live, thus far. Living centrally means that we can conveniently travel to many cities around South Korea by bus or train. Costco is wonderful because it offers us good quality cheese, bulk popcorn, bulk crackers, and bulk cookies. The cheese in Korean grocery stores in processed and tastes like plastic.
Living next to a subway station is also great. Daejeon has one subway line that connects old downtown to new downtown and a few other places. My school and apartment are both near the subway station. We also live conveniently between two E-Marts (large, multiple-floor superstore chain that sells groceries as well as household items). I do wish we lived beside a Homeplus, though. Homeplus is just like E-Mart, but it has a lot more sales. Oh! Another wonderful thing about these grocery stores is that they constantly have food sampling. You can go in at 10pm and you'll still be offered tofu, meat, bread, and dumpling samples-- it's great & delicious!
Brian and I are living at my place. We were both given single housing, but we're making the best of it. The day after we moved to Daejeon, we bought a TON of stuff from a couple that was moving, including: a queen-size bed & frame, dishes, bowls, an iron & ironing board, a set of drawers, a shelf, a full-length mirror, a bed-side table, a garbage can... etc. They sold all that stuff to us for just $80. We couldn't believe our luck. Plus, they lived a 7min walk away, so we just carried everything over. After carrying the queen mattress down the street, I felt like my arms were going to fall off-- but it was worth it. (Apparently to rent out a moving truck we would have had to book it weeks in advance and of course be able to communicate with them in Korean. So thank goodness the couple lived so close to us).
Brian and I also really love our schools. Our co-teacher is responsible for us. They found our apartment, and help us with any administrative stuff like getting an Alien Registration card and cell phone. We also co-teach with them. Brian and I both have wonderful co-teachers. I teach Gr. 4-6 while Brian teaches Gr. 3-6 at his main school and Gr. 1-6 at the tiny school. The tiny school has a total of just 80 students!! Brian's grade 1 class only has 4 students in it! What a lucky guy. My classes all have approx. 30 students. My school pumped a LOT of money into our English classroom. Check out our video page for clips of our classrooms.
In addition to having wonderful co-teachers and classrooms, our students just make our day, every day. They're the cutest kids ever. They say "Hello!" when they pass us in the hall. They always seem surprised and really happy to see us in school, even though we're there every day (or in Brian's case, 2-3 days a week). Of course there are 1-2 brats in every school, but overall the experience is really great. The students love the games we make up and like to learn about us and western culture.
In Korea individualism is not embraced. There is a clear sense of community among families and coworkers. Everyone eats lunch together, gets up from the cafeteria table together, and snacks together. If you snack at work, you need to have brought enough snacks for everyone in the office. Speaking of which, I should contribute some snacks soon because many teachers have brought in cookies and chocolate. Every Wednesday teachers at my school play volleyball (a popular sport in Korea, and among teachers). And during my first month at my school, the new teachers were treated to a bouquet of flowers and a bouquet of lollipops!
Flowers for new teachers Me and my co-teacher Oori Singing with the vice principal!
The entire staff at my school even went out for a delicious buffet dinner, proceeded by a night at the norebang! (Nore = song, bang = room, so the singing room = karaoke!) It was exhilarating and unbelievable to be in a room with the vice principals, principal, and other teachers, all dancing and singing together. One vice principal spoke often about us being a 'clan,' a close-knit family, if you will. He even tied toilet paper around our heads to show our devotion to each other. What a lovely man! Soju and beer were being drank by the bottle-full (but I just had a sip). This was one of the funnest nights. Only in Korea can you have such a fun night out with your superiors. And of course, no one spoke of it the next day...
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