2013 Review, Part 1

January 2013

Happy New Year! In January, E-Mart became one of my favorite places to shop. It's like Costco, only... bigger, and more Korean. Although as of writing this, I still have yet to visit a Costco in Korea, so it's quite possible they're just as big - although I've heard, not as Korean.

The Mouse became a huge fan of the small victories she encountered while adjusting to Korea. From the aforementioned Lotte card, McDonalds delivery, ordering food and using taxis, to the arrival of my health insurance just in time for her to use it. The Mouse had been sick and coughing for over a month when Sung insisted on taking her to the hospital, and she got a round of antibiotics and other medicine to combat the bronchitis that had taken up residence in her chest.
But she and the Mouse Fiance also went to Shinsegae for the first time. Shinsegae is a massive mall and the one we visited in Cheonan had a movie theatre, where we sat in the deluxe mega-awesome theatre with couches and free tea to watch The Hobbit.

January also brought The Mouse's first trip ever to Seoul with The Mouse Fiance and The Mouse Friend, Andrew, who is in the Air Force and was stationed in Korea at the time. We had our first ride on the KTX (Korean bullet train), got to see the Trick-Eye museum, 경복궁 (Gyeongbok Palace), the Blue House (Like the White House, but it's blue), Namsan tower, Chungyecheon stream, Namdaemun market, the making of some traditional Korean candy, and just Seoul in general. It's a much bigger city than Cheonan, and the atmosphere was really inviting, if somewhat crowded and hectic.

It was also the month of the Pina Colada Bubble Tea and the introduction of the Korean seafood barbeque, complete with abalone and followed shortly thereafter by sannakji (raw, moving octopus).

February 2013

The sock obsession didn't begin here, but this is where it escalated. Jenji bought 13 pairs of socks from the mart under the school in a single day, and The Mouse became a little bit hooked on cute fuzzy Korean socks as well. At the time of writing this, she doubts she still has any socks left that were purchased in the states. They have all been replaced by cute Korean socks, most of the fuzzy variety.

Jenji's birthday is the day before The Mouse Birthday, and we celebrated on Lunar New Year at a buffet restaurant, complete with a birthday cake and fluffy socks given as presents by June... with a huge house-party-meets-bar-hopping night of awesome followed by a hungover morning. The Mouse Friend Kershea's birthday followed a week later, but was much more tame (this is not a bad thing - the amount of drinking in Korea can get the best of you after a while!), with lovely Indian Food, hookah (which The Mouse found she doesn't particularly care for, but hooray for new experiences!), and a girls' sleepover complete with Henna, cheesy (but good) movies, and games.

March 2013

March was not incredibly interesting. Like all places, Korea has had its more boring or laid-back times, and this was one of them. It saw cheeky students, the discovery of National Samgyeopsal Day, as well as Nutella in the mart under our school, staff dinners that left us needing haejangguk the next day before work, and plenty of lovely cafe time. That's really about it!

April 2013
April was pretty much the same deal as March. Norie Cat time, cafe time, and just generally settling in to life in Korea. The Mouse and The Mouse Fiance found some cool stuff at Lotte and E-Mart, particularly fresh basil and thyme, Arizona tea, new tennis shoes, a scale, and other necessities we'd had yet to pick up. June and Jinney both quit Easy English around this time, and were replaced by the awesome Shia, and by Jack himself.Sung quit not too long after, in May or June, and Jenji's contract ended in June. She was replaced by Ella, who was later replaced by Tania (More on the teacher turnover rate at Easy English later).

We also visited Korean Independence Hall and Taejosan's Gagwonsa Buddhist Temple, home of Asia's largest surviving bronze Buddha sculpture. It was quite an interesting look into Korean culture, both ancient and modern.

May 2013

May saw corn ice cream (Whaa?) and students preparing for school exams, which meant busy busy busy time until the end of exam prep period.


















The Mouse learned in the second week of May that her babies back in the states (That is, Ally, Dusty, and Misty, our cats) were surrendered to the local Humane Society and likely to be put down. They were all elderly and extremely sick, but that didn't make it hurt less. The Mouse found out on a Friday and cried all weekend. Since then and up until the move to Seoul later in 2013, she visited Norie Cat every single Sunday. Rest in peace, babies.

June 2013
In June, we saw again the importance of both staff dinners and discipline at Easy English. It was not a particularly fun place to work at times, especially near examination time, but at least there were dinners and such things to keep us relatively happy. As mentioned before, Sung and Jenji both left around this time.

I'm Back (Maybe) - 2012 Review

The Mouse admittedly forgot about her blog around the same time she began teaching in Korea (which sort of defeated the purpose, since that was the entire reason she started the blog...)

Anyway, she's going to try to go over some things about her life in Korea for the past two years, let you know how things have been going, what things she has planned for the future, and what you can expect from her from now on. This is going to be a few posts long, but should hopefully cover The Mouse's life in Korea since the last time you heard from her, which was admittedly a very long time ago now.

November 2012

The Mouse flew to Korea on November 3rd, 2012. It took her some time to settle in. She did not have internet in her apartment for the entire time she lived there (That said, it doesn't mean she couldn't GET internet - she was generally bumming it off the cafe across from her apartment or using the internet at work, but she didn't speak Korean well enough to set up internet in her apartment and her Korean co-workers weren't exactly helpful in this particular endeavor...).
The Mouse Manager, JK, took The Mouse to the academy the next morning to meet The Mouse Boss, Jack (we'll learn more about JK and Jack later), which was an incredibly awkward experience for The Mouse. She interviewed with JK, who is incredibly awesome and very easy to get along with. Jack tried to be nice but was just really intimidating.

The Mouse Coworker, Sung, took The Mouse grocery shopping so she could get some things she needed for her apartment and for everyday living. Cho, another Mouse Coworker, got a microwave for The Mouse's apartment so she didn't have to cook or eat out all the time. She took pictures of everything, because everything was so new to her then. Now, she goes to the store, gets what she needs, and doesn't think twice about that once-strange writing she can now read so effortlessly.

The Mouse got lost on her second day to work, despite the shamefully short walk it took to get there. In the rain (and her frustration), she slipped, fell, and hurt her hand and knee. Despite feeling that she must be getting close to the school, she gave up and spoke to an ajeossi (old man) in pitifully broken Korean, and he graciously allowed her to use his phone and call her boss so someone could come get her and take her to school.
The Mouse Fiance arrived in Korea that evening, and he helped her find her school the next morning so she wouldn't get lost again (The Mouse has a HORRIBLE sense of direction, in case you didn't already figure that out.)
It took some figuring out, but The Mouse adjusted to her new routine and her new life on the other side of the planet. She learned how to order food, take a cab, and wash clothes in Korean, get McDonalds delivered to her apartment, get a Lotte Card, cook with chopsticks when it's the only utensil available, and balance a busy work life with an equally busy social calendar (The Mouse is not an inherently social creature). Despite the workload, she enjoyed teaching her students and got to know all of them very quickly. She introduced many of them to Thanksgiving, and some of them introduced her to their awesome prowess at magic tricks.

The Mouse Coworker, Jenji, helped her get settled in and taught her a lot about what living in Korea was like. She also introduced The Mouse to the best cafe ever (that doesn't include furry friends, but we'll get to that later, as well), and the best 해장국 (haejangguk) place ever.

Jenji, me, and JK playing around before cleaning time.

December 2012
December brought both good and bad things. Cho and JK both left the Academy (T.T), but they were replaced by June and Jinny, who were good co-workers and great friends. The Mouse spent Christmas Eve with The Mouse Fiance, Jenji, June, and Jinny, making new friends at Banana Bar in Shinbu-dong, Cheonan's "downtown."

Playing pool at Banana Bar.

Merry Christmas from Easy English!

December was also when The Mouse first visited Norie Cat. It's a cat cafe that opened across from her apartment right after she moved in, but she was scared to go there because of the admittedly massive language barrier. But in the end, she was glad she did, because it became her typical weekend hangout spot in Cheonan.

Not one, not two, but THREE cats in my lap at Norie Cat.

The Mouse and The Mouse Fiance occasionally went swimming with Sung as well, but we stopped going after a while. The pools in Korea are very crowded and many people are there to play rather than swim, so there are many people in each lane just blocking the way of anyone who wants to swim. It was fun at first, but got boring very fast. We also got many offers to teach English, but this was a risky proposition, as teachers in Korea under a visa contract are not supposed to teach outside of their schools. They can even be fired or deported for it. So we had to refuse despite The Mouse Coworker's insistence.

December was also the time for all of the "making the entrance to Korea official" business, which involved two trips to the hospital (for a full medical exam and a follow-up), a trip to Immigration, and a trip to Shinhan bank to get a bank account set up. After all of that was said and done, The Mouse had an Alien Registration Card (ARC), and therefore became a legal resident of Korea, and gained a bank account in which to put all of her hard-earned monies.

On a lighter note, December was also when The Mouse discovered that bills in Korea are generally very low, the magic deliciousness that are Binch cookies (crunchy cookies with chocolate on top, moulded into different images), the fact that Korea still has many of the same brands I knew and loved in the states (Halls, Fanta, Hersheys, and Minute Maid, to name a few), the Acme brand known as Lotte, the awesomeness of Korean hair and skin products, the horridness that are Korean advert trucks, and the epic load of calories that is Korean Christmas Cake. It was a good month.

We Want Interwebz!!!!

So, The Mouse recently promised she would update soon and is now without internet in her apartment -.- Please bear with her; she will have a proper update once that's fixed. In the meantime, she has been taking pictures and trying to keep Facebook relatively updated so she can remember what she wanted to talk about here.

Necessary Vocabulary

Things The Mouse has learned by necessity:

(Thanks to Sung, JK, and Jennifer for most of these.)

police station - 경찰서 gyeongchalseo
trash bag - 쓰레기 봉투 sseuregi bongtu
plastic bag - 비닐 봉투 binil (vinyl) bongtu
recycling bag 재활용 봉투 jaehwal-yong bongtu
give me... 주 세유 juseyo (as in, sseuregi bongtu juseyo - give me a trash bag. Also, no, this is not rude, regardless of its lack of "please.")
Buldang Middle School 불당중학교 buldang junhak-gyo

One - 하나 hana
Two - 둘 dul
Three - 셋 set
Four - 넷 net
Five - 다섯 daseot
Six - 여섯 yeoseot
Seven - 일곱 ilgop
Eight 여덟 yeodeol
Nine - 아홉 ahop
Ten - 열 yeol
The end consonant for 1-4 and 20 (seumul) drops when next to a consonant. For example, when you order in a restaurant, you might say "2 (things)" which becomes "du gae" or if you're ordering samgyeopsal for three people, for example, it's "se  samgyeopsal." I've also heard "sa" used more for "four" than "net." "Sa" is the Sino-Korean "four," which is usually only used for ordinal numbers, rather than cardinals, though the distinction is not that clear-cut, since they're also used for some forms of measurement, among other things. I think it is often used in place of the Native Korean for 4 however, because number 4 is bad luck.)

Random things my students have taught me (or that I have learned BECAUSE of my students):

Autumn 가을 ga-eul
Winter 겨울 gyeo-ul
Spring 봄 bom
Fall 여름 yeoreum
I don't know 몰라요 mollayo
Opposite 반대 bandae
Barley 보리 bori

Getting Back on Schedule

The Mouse has been SUCH the bad blogger this month. As of yesterday, she has been in Cheonan for exactly one month, yet only updated in the first few days of being here. Fear not, if you're trying to follow everything! The Mouse HAS been keeping track of things she's wanted to talk about, but with settling in and the fact that she's now been sick twice while here, motivation has not been that strong. She doesn't even get online everyday, which is definitely NOT something she could have said back in Baltimore. Please be patient. The Mouse WILL update soon.

Day 4 in Korea

The Mouse is finally starting to learn her way around and get accustomed to living in Korea. Her first few days went great, but were a bit hectic. 

Monday, The Mouse went shopping at E-Mart with Sung, to pick up some necessities for her apartment, and she met Jennifer, who went with her after work to eat dinner (more Korean BBQ!) and showed her to The Mess Table, which is a bar in Buldang (The Mouse's neighborhood) which sort of caters to all the expats (foreigners) here.

Yesterday, she got lost and, to make matters worse, it was raining and she slipped and fell, injuring her hand. JK was right, though, when he told The Mouse that Koreans are very kind and helpful. She asked someone on the street for directions to the academy but they did not know it, so he let her use his phone to call JK, and Cho (a co-worker) came and found The Mouse, and Jennifer took The Mouse to the pharmacy so we could get something to clean up her hand.

On the bright side, that is the worse thing that has happened to The Mouse since arriving in Korea. Everything else has gone very smoothly and she did not get lost on the way to the academy today, so she's finally learning direction here in Korea. It's easy to get mixed up because The Mouse doesn't understand very much Korean yet, so it is easy for her to get some landmarks confused, although JK taught her the word for "Police Station" (경찰서, gyeongchalseo) last night, because the academy is right around the corner from the police station in Ssangyong, so if she gets lost, people are more likely to know where that is, than the academy itself. 

The Mouse Fiance arrived in Korea last night, so that made her bad day much, MUCH better! JK borrowed Sung's car (since he was still teaching) and drove The Mouse to Cheonan Bus Terminal, so we could meet The Mouse Fiance there. The Mouse thinks that, in one day, The Mouse Fiance knows his way around Buldang (The Mouse neighborhood) and Ssangyong (The academy's neighborhood) better than The Mouse does, after four days.

The Mouse has taken a lot of photos and a few videos, and will post some of these on this blog whenever she uploads them to Photobucket and Youtube.

The Mouse is in Korea!

Where does The Mouse even begin!? She has had an exciting few days!

On Friday, 2 November at 6am, The Mouse left BWI airport in Baltimore, and had a 2-hour flight to Chicago, followed by a 5 hour layover, a 14-hour flight to Incheon, and a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Cheonan, where her boss and co-worker met her.

The flight was spectacular. The Mouse got lots of sleep and ate bibimbap and pasta. She was very nervous, until she stepped off the plane at Incheon. Korea is a beautiful, friendly, very welcoming place, and The Mouse is happy to be here.

JK and Sung, The Mouse's boss and co-worker, were the best welcoming committee ever. They put The Mouse's mind at ease about teaching in Korea, and The Mouse had a lot of fun talking to them over Korean Barbeque and Makgeolli (Korean rice wine). JK let The Mouse use his phone to call The Mouse Mom, but it was understandably early in the morning in Baltimore, and no one answered, so The Mouse left The Mouse Family a message. The Mouse Dad's voice is on the answering machine, and it was sort of sad but sweet hearing his voice after talking about missing family.

There is another American teacher at Easy English Academy. Her name is Jennifer and The Mouse will get to meet her on Monday, but she did get to speak with her on the phone last night, and The Mouse feels like she definitely already has friends in Korea! The Mouse Fiance is also coming to Korea, and will be here on Tuesday night! The Mouse misses him already and will be so happy when he is here.