Our Academy

I thought it seemed appropriate to finally give a small tour of our Hagwon, Han's Academy, or 한상희어학원. We have not been inside another academy so it is difficult to know how our set-up compares to others. I do know that our academy is one of the largest and is the most respected Hagwon in our city. Our director, Han, who you can see pictured below, has had our school open for 9 years. This is an impressive feat as many academies, and businesses in general, do not make the cut and close quickly after the ribbon has been snipped.

 

I never would have guessed there to be so many Korean/English language books. If it's out there, I almost guarantee it is on the wall of our Teacher's Room. My chair is the one on the right (back to the camera) and Nick sits across from me. This is ideal for making love eyes to each other while we prep for classes.

The standard classroom. This is about the average size, seating about 10-12. We have 7 classrooms in total, the largest seating 40. I thoughtfully took this photo to hide the graffiti on the walls. Every room has an assortment of random writing, but you will be sure to find <3 BIG BANG ^^, Nick-Teacher is so handsome!!!!, or the like.

This one dates back to January when we worked our intensive schedule. Each day lunch was provided and this is what the spread usually consisted of (plus rice of course!).

One by one, my ET1 (low level/beginner) students sat down and took out their phones while waiting for classes to begin. These girls are about 8 years old - most every student, even the 6 year old's, come equipped with a phone. Pictured from the left: Tiffany, Jessica, Lea, and Sunny.

Ah, the random gifts from our student, Stella. These are a special type of brown eggs. We aren't entirely sure the story behind them as Stella was unable to articulate how they are prepared...

... what I can say is that mine left a strange taste in my mouth and Nick wasn't brave enough to eat his.

 

This is Jack. Jack is smart.

Jack is so cooool.

Spring Brings Motivation

Although it has been quite the duration since our last posting, I intend to move along and act as though it was just yesterday that I shared the latest adventure.

But first I will digress. To be honest, life has definitely settled down into the normal daily grind for Nick and me. Monday morning comes - wake up, eat breakfast, do a round of internet exploration/email check, most days spend a bit of time Skyping with family or friends, get ready for the day, eat lunch, and head to work by 3:00.

Then we put in our time at work, which usually goes by in a flash. From 3:40 to 9:40 we have back to back 50 minute classes. Our students range from 6 year old kids who are just learning English to 16 year old students who can speak rather articulately when they choose to. Just to clarify, we teach at a Hogwan or 학원. Hogwans are private academies that specialize in a particular subject; anything from English to Science to Tae Kwon Do and this is extra schooling outside of their regular day school. In a future post I will go into more detail comparing being a foreign teacher at a Hogwans and Public Schools.

So, after work, we make the 10 minute walk back to our apartment, cook dinner, kick our feet up, maybe watch a flick and then make it to bed by some wee hour of the morning. The rest of the week follows in suit with an alteration here or a dinner out there. Come the weekend, we had been lying low through most of February and into March. The last of our snow melted at the end of February, but the cool air stuck around long enough to keep us hunkered indoors on weekends.

Now, over the last few weeks, spring has sprung and we are finally getting our butts out to enjoy what Korea has to offer us. The following posts will highlight the recent moments worth sharing and I will do my best to keep the motivation going. Enjoy!

New Years in Seoul - Amazing City, Amazing Company

Approximate Date: December 31, 2010 - January 2, 2011
Location: Seoul, South Korea
Details: Nick and Becky ventured to Seoul for a New Year's celebration with East Coasters, Amanda and Andrew.

The day before leaving for Seoul. Snowy Mokpo fountain.

The building next to our bank has country flags hung across the sidewalk. It was easy to spot this one, but we weren't too sure why it has English written on it.

At the train station at the weeeeeee hours of the morning. With the crazy amount of snow we had, we were ill advised to leave the apartment about two hours prior of our 6am train to Seoul. Our director thought for sure that it would be nearly impossible to catch a cab in the bad weather, so we left at 4am only to walk outside and instantly see three cabs driving by. Needless to say, it was a long day.

Breakfast on the train.

First good view of Seoul as we crossed the Han River.

Snow covered shrubbery near our hotel.

A place called Texas Bar. As much as I enjoyed Seoul, the only drawback was how pricey food and drinks were. At bars in Korea, it is expected that you purchase food, like an appetizer, with your drinks. This isn't such a bad thing when you are hungry like we were - expect that a small plate of nachos or chicken ran around ₩17,000 - ₩20,00. Ouch.

The lights around Boshingak, a historic pavilion in central Seoul, where they had a bell ringing to mark the beginning of the New Year - the year of the Tiger. This was a little less dramatic than we were anticipating. The bell was a large gong that you had to stretch to hear over the millions of people who gathered. As soon as the bell stopped ringing, everyone who pushed their way past us was now quickly pushing their way to get back out. All and all Nick and I enjoyed the experience but the best part was that with all the people gathered so closely, we stayed nice and warn! The video below is a group of traditional dancers prior to the New Year.

I don't think I have ever seen so many policemen in one place before. Luckily we didn't get to see them in action.

Amanda and I holding on tight so we wouldn't loose each other in the crowd.

Nick and I cuddling for warmth.

Amanda and Andrew blending in with the locals.

This is Boshingak pavillion where all the action was taking place. I am not current of my K-Pop stars (don't tell my middle school girls this!) but I guess this is a big Korean hunk. If only I knew who it was, then I would have some serious bragging rights.

'11. Koreans will use most any surface for advertising.

The Texas Bar from above had a troop of carriages. The best part we noticed was that the driver had a button to push that made the sound of a strange, electronic neighing horse... Maybe intended to draw in some clientele? It only accomplished in freaking me out.

This was a dog we stumbled upon living in a scooter dog house that has an empty wine glass perched on top. His name is Il Shami. Please, do not touch.

A nice photo opp at Cheonggyecheon.

Something about the holiday season says 'umbrella' to Koreans. I don't get it.

An interesting bench we stumbled upon walking through the historic Bukchon neighborhood.

We found this great pizzeria called, Pizzette, for lunch on our last day. Cutest little place filled with a great vibe and lots of love. The owners had some amazing photography of their two Golden Retriever's as wall decor.

Oh, pup pups. I miss Bauer :(

Half cheese (cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan, and gorgonzolla) half black olives and pesto. Delicious.  

Changdeokgung Palace.

Changdeokgung Palace.

Nick standing with a sundial at Changdeokgung Palace.

 

Changdeokgung Palace.

An interesting wall we came across walking from Changdeokgung Palace.

More wall art.

We found the American Embassy. As we walked by I saw a McDonald's delivery enter the gates. I had to laugh.

View towards Namsan Mountain.

A wall of Hangul (Korean writing) in the King Sejong underground museum.

These are two traditional tea cups Nick and I treated ourselves to in Seoul. The award winning designer is named Yong Cheol Yu.

Each piece is hand stamped in white clay. This pattern was one of our favorites (within our price range) but much of this man's work was simply amazing.

A Collection of Food Recollections

Approximate Date: December 2010 - January 2011
Location: Restaurants and Our Apartment; Mokpo, South Korea
Details: A recollection of more food.

Bibimbap - rice, kim, lettuce, kimchi, fried egg, sprouts,cucumber, and a mysterious plant similar to a fern. This is one of Nick's favorites. On this occasion we got take out, but have made it a weekly tradition to eat-in on Wednesday nights. All of the food is at a great price with nothing over ₩5000.

A few weeks back I thought I would be adventurous and try something new. So what do I do? I simply look at the posters on the wall and pick the first thing that catches my eye. What I expected to get was a nice hot kimchi noodle soup to enjoy on the cold winter night. What I got was a nice cold kimchi soup to freeze me from the inside out on that cold winter night. If you look close enough, those are ice cubes floating around. It wasn't until seeing the ice cubes in front of me that they became very apparent in the poster I had ordered from. Oh well, I enjoyed it as best I could and now know what to order come summer.

Nick wondering why he married a silly American.

I like breakfast. Toast, hard boiled egg and berry yogurt with delicious tangerines from Jeju island.

Mexican night! This is a plate of nachos that Nick fixed up. It was a treat, reminding me of home. Supposedly there is a Taco Bar somewhere in town. For now I am content making my own at home... but may have to give it a try some day.

Pesto crusted chicken breast, pan roasted potatoes and green beans. These were some of the tastiest potatoes I have ever made. Yummy.

After a long day at school, Nick and I made our Wednesday stop to (Fill in the Blank (I always forget the name of the restaurant)) . Nick had his usual bibimbap and I tried another new dish. It was a noodle soup with fish cakes, clams, octopus, and a hard boiled egg. We also got mandoo (dumplings - VERY tasty) and a roll of kimbap.