The Magic Button (Friday, August 27, 2010)

Byonwani

I was picked up at 1:00pm today by Rebekah and June (my boss) and went downtown to take some photos that I would need at the hospital to get my Residency card.  This photo shop was amazing! She took my photo digitally and then was able to doctor it up I guess to make it look perfect (of course my photo didn’t need much doctoringJ). Then we went to the byongwani (hospital) to take my physical. This was very nerve racking. First, they took my blood, then my vitals (they have the coolest machine that electronically weighs and measures your height…then it calculates your body fat…. everything is metric so I have to use my handy dandy translator I bought to convert the measurements…everything seemed accurate), then I got an x-ray of my chest (also a very neat machine, where you stand up against it), then I took a urine test. After all of this was completed I was so tired!

Moving and School

We went back to my motel where I quickly packed everything. June gave me a ride to see my new place and drop off my things. It was very big! They ordered me a new bed, which arrived later that day. We dropped my luggage off and we went to the school. We arrived around 4:30 and had the best dinner ever…Steamed Chicken (This reminds me of a roast). It had carrots, potatoes, onions, chicken, and a spicy broth. Luckily, I like everything spicy because ALL Korean food has some kind of kick to it.  We had no students today because once a month, we have a no student day! We used today to plan for “Game Day,” which we would have with the students on Monday.

I really am enjoying my job thus far because I even get to teach my co-workers (an they are teaching me as well). I taught them how to play scrabble (which we decided would be too difficult for the kids). Then they taught me this really fun game called Halli Galli (has to do with counting fruits and ringing a bell). I also learned One Card, which I soon discovered was the same a Crazy Eights and similar to UNO. I typed up the rules and common expressions for all of the games. By this time it was 10pm and we were ready to go.

Hello and Good Bye

Hanna, Chris, June, Rebekah, Lauren (New), me, (Lauren), and Sharon at Yankee's

Because I had just arrived and a new Korean teacher had just been hired (Lauren) to replace another Korean teachers (Lauren) who was leaving to go to France our bosses took us out to eat. We [June, Chris (his wife and also owner), Rebekah, Sharon (Korean teacher), Lauren and Lauren, and Hannah (the receptionist)] went to Yankee’s, a chicken place near work. We had Korean style French fries and chicken wings (WOW! My Korean friends ate the chicken wings with chopsticks and it was incredible). We talked for a bit and I listened to them in Korean for a while. Then I got a ride to my new place from June and Chris.  It was a little hard to fall asleep this night because I was in another new place trying to get used to the sounds of my new surroundings. The bed was also very hard), so I didn’t sleep very well (good thing I found a few blankets to sleep on top the next morning…I’ll have to buy some because they are Pushkin’s--he is letting me use them until he returns from Thailand in about a month from now).

The Magic Button

So Koreans are genius! They have this “Magic Button” that is attached to every table. When you need something you just push it and a server magically appears.  It is amazing!!! Every restaurant should have one!

Magic Button calls server!