WWOOFing in Winter

Unfortunately, it was just poor timing with my farm stay on Jeju so I've come back to Busan. They weren't picking Hallabongs (citrus fruit) this week, but instead building a new WWOOFer house and burning piles of junk. There was no need for two WWOOFers, so we just stood around and waited most of the time. It was really cold, especially in the work trailer where there was no heating except for a little space heater and hot blankets at night. In the farm description it said there where two guest rooms, but instead there was one bed in the office trailer. It didn't bother me so much to share the room with the 34-year Korean guy who’s WWOOFing there, but there was no privacy/ quiet space because the family came in and out at all times of the day. So it was impossible to concentrate on anything.

On our day off, the other WWOOFer and I went sightseeing, spent a lot of money on lunch and tourist attractions entrance fees, and got lost because he was no good at following directions. He was also a chain smoker which really got on my nerves. So here I am back in Busan, at the university dorms for a couple weeks to study and enjoy time with friends. At least I practiced a lot of Korean and got to go for a nice hike one day. I hope to go back to Jeju for a relaxed visit with good company when the weather’s nicer!

Jeju Island

Jeju is often referred to as the Hawaii of Korea – but what’s all this snow?? On Tuesday evening I took the bus from the ferry terminal to JejuCity and the snow on the pine trees lining the narrow, winding mountain road reminded me of back home. In JejuCity, I met Min Hui, an English teacher who studied TESOL at Selkirk Collegeseveral years back. Shana had recommended I contact her and she invited me to stay at her house that night :)

Jeju is also famous for three things: women, wind, and rocks. And sure enough, on my first day, I went for a drive with three women, through the blustering wind to visit rocks :) Min Hui and two friends took me to eat boribap (like bibimbap, but with barley). Then we had tea in a self-serve coffee shop where the owner comes a few times during the day to brew coffee and refill supplies. We watched the waves crash against the rocky shore as the wind hurl snowflakes against the island. Before I caught the bus to Seoguipo to meet my farm stay family, we visited the dragon rock and the temple where the three founding fathers of Jeju are said to have emerged from three holes in a meadow there.

Lunar New Year

Apparently it’s just my luck to end up sitting next to nice people on the bus :) On the bus from Gwangju I met James, a 27-year-old Taekwando instructor who is going abroad for the first time to teach Taekwando in Abu Dhabi for a year! I was on my way to Yeosu to visit Nikki and he was on his way there to visit his girlfriend. The next day he sent me a text message to wish me a happy new year and it turned out that he was at his family’s house in the next town over from Hadong, where I was spending the weekend with Jungeui, who I had met on the bus in November! In the end, I got a ride with James and his family back to Gwangju today where I took a shuttle bus to the ferry to go to Jeju :)
This weekend has been like cultural immersion. Korean people are very family oriented and the collective ideal extends to their friends, and their foreign friends are no exception. On new years morning after setting the table for Jungeui's family's ancestors, we visited the graves of four ancestors. We hiked up to each grave with her dad, uncles, great uncle, and cousins where we left an offering of food and soju and bowed twice. Over the weekend we visited several of her friends’ and relatives’ houses where sat on the heated living room floors and were offered fruit, drinks, deep fried seafood, Korean pancakes, and sweet rice cakes. It would have be rude to refuse, so I learned to eat as little as possible at each place, but to try one of each thing to be polite. Still, I was full for two days straight! Grandparents give children money and I was included whenever Jungeui received money. I also got to give some money to her friend’s 2-year-old daughter :)

 

The Best Memories

As the kids wrote their journals and made presentations about their best moments at English Camp, I thought I would share some of mine:
- The Korean Program Assistants' dance routine at the open ceremony
- Watching my students improve at making presentations
- Being proud of them as they sang their song in the idol competition
- The students' reaction when I showed them a video of me firefighting
- Showing them the "I am Canadian" commercial
- Playing card games with them, especially when Mom joined in by Skype
- Sharing banana bread, hot chocolate, TimTams, oreos, and peanut butter

Things Kids Say

Just a sample of the comments my 13-year-old students have made in the past two weeks:

- "Teacher, your singing, good!"

- "Teacher, I like your hair color."

- "Teacher, your legs like Beyonce."     -  -  -    What??

Unwillingly Studious

Korean children get just over a month "off" in the winter and the summer, but rather than just enjoying their youth or learning life skills while having fun at summer camp, so many of them are sent to language camps, like this one where they study from 9:00am to 10:00pm 6 days-a-week for three weeks straight with hour or so breaks for lunch, dinner, and afternoon camp activities, such as sports, game show quizzes, or the singing competition we had today. Koreans are notoriously studious, but the majority of them are not willingly so. It is a challenge to teach students who don't want to be here. And I don't blame them. I'm trying to keep it as fun and interesting as possible without getting too soft :)

Winter English Camp

I'm teaching at a 3-week Winter English Camp in Naju. So far is has been cold, not only outside, but in the buildings too! Meanwhile, the hours are long, especially for the students and Program Assistants, but I think it is a good experience for us all.

J'enseign l'anglais dans un Winter English Camp de 3 semaines à Naju. Jusqu'à date c'est très froid, non seulement dehors, mais aussi dans les immeubles. En même temps, les heures sont longues, en particulier pour les étudiants et les assistants de programme, mais je crois que c'est une bonne experience pour nous tous.

Estoy enseñando inglés en un Winter English Camp de 3 semanas a Naju. Hasta ahora, ha hecho frío, no solo afuera pero tambien en los edificios. Mientras tanto, las horas son largas, especialmente para los estudiantes y los asistentes, pero creo que es una buena experiencia para todos.

Estou ensinando inglês num Winter English Camp de 3 semanas em Naju. Até agora, faiz frío, não só fora mas tambem nos predios. Ao mesmo tempo, as horas são longas, especialmente para os estudantes e os asistentes, mas acho que é boa experiença para todos.

3週間の間になじゅ市のWinter English Campで英語を教えています。今までずっと寒いです。外だけじゃなくて、建物にも寒いです。それから、時間は特に学生やプログラムのアシスタントのために、長いですが、私はそれがいい経験だと思う。

3 주 동안 나주시의Winter English Camp에서 영어를 가르치고 있습니다. 지금까지 춥습니다. 외부뿐만 아니라, 건물도 춥습니다. 그리고, 시간은 특히 학생과 프로그램 보조을 위해, 오래지만, 나는 그것이 좋은 경험이라고 생각한다.