One day I was riding the subway with one of my friends when a Korean woman sat down next to us and said "Hello, nice to meet you."

Korea and Basketball don't seem to go together, as I had always thought due to the idea that Korean people were supposedly very short and small.

Although Koreans generally are shorter and smaller than your average American or anyone else in the world, they actually are pretty good at basketball! I went and saw for myself. 


I used to play soccer with a friend from back home and her boyfriend is actually playing basketball here in Korea. He had a game against the Daegu Orions so I went to one of the games with a few of my friends. Although there are many foreigners on the teams they also have a lot of Koreans who are actually tall, big and very talented!


I think most of my attention went to the 2 mascots the majority of the time but it was just like any other basketball game I have been to except with a lot more Koreans and instead of hotdogs, pizza or pretzels for food, they had dumplings or other Korean cuisine. 

Daegu Orions ended up winning the game! During the game the crowd began chanting "defense, defense, defense...." just like games at home, and it was in English! The guy standing up in the picture on the left was the one who would start all the chants. It was hilarious to watch. Although my attention span at basketball, baseball and football games is extremely short, this was one basketball game that kept my attention the entire time, even if it wasn't on the game itself.

When I am laying on my death bed one day and can't even remember my own name, I will still remember the day we went ziplining...not having the slightest clue what we were really in for!

It all started out just as expected. Alexandra, Laura, Amanda, Emily and I meet around 11 a.m. saturday morning and hop on the bus for about 40 minutes to this place called 'Herb Hillz." It was a beautiful Fall day and we were all really excited to go ziplining. I mean afterall, it's just "ziplining" through the forest a few times and then it's over? Right?


We get off the bus and enter Herb Hillz park. It is filled with tons of rides for kids, lots of little herb shops, many other Koreans and children and a lot of statues, and beautiful scenery. We make our way through until we come across a sign that says "Eco adventure" and points to the right. We turn right and see a bunch of people in helmets straight ahead. That must be the ziplining....


We head over and see many children putting on the helmets and getting ready to zipline so we laugh a little bit and start thinking how easy this is going to be and if we should try to do a harder course. Keep in mind none of us have ever ziplined before.


We hand in our tickets to the Korean man at the counter and in broken English he holds up one finger and says "1 oclock come back here." Pointing to where all the helmets and ziplining gear was. It was about 12:30 so we went and grabbed food and headed back at 1 where there were about 25 other Koreans waiting to get instructions for ziplining as well. We were handed helmets and the harness, but then it all began....ALL THE DIRECTIONS WERE BEING TOLD IN KOREAN. We had no idea what they were saying or what to do or what to latch onto what belt etc. We were LOST. One nice Korean man who was there with his family saw that we were having trouble with just about everything they gave us so he tried to translate as best he could. We did a "trial" run about 5 feet off the ground and that went smoothly, so we figured we were experts and set off into the forest with no guide, no directions and no idea what the hell we were about to get ourselves into. 


We saw many children and families climing very small trees and ziplining on those and I began walking over to get right behind them in line because I wanted to stick with the easy and safest route! I was beginning to get a little nervous that we didn't even know what to clip our ropes onto. Well, of course, Alexandra saw a really steep ladder and an extremely tall tree and felt it necessary for us to begin on "Level 3." I was extremely hesitant to do this since none of us knew what we were doing so we asked one of the Korean men next to us as best we could. He pointed to where the families were and said "easy." He pointed to another one and said "easy." He pointed to the one in front of us and said "exciting." Then he pointed to one in the distance and said "hard." Well, the next thing you know I was convinced to do "Level 3, the exciting one" with the rest of the group. The moment I began climbing up this extremely steep netting/ladder I immediately regretted this decision. I think I should have figured out if I was afraid of heights or not before I began...

Alex climbed up first. Then me, then Amanda, then Laura, then Emily. I got to the top and felt accomplished. I did it. I got to the top, now it was time to zipline through the forest and get down...


Well this kind of mind-game went on for the next....3 HOURS!! NO exaggeration. The course lasted 3 hours and there were only 3 ziplines. It should have been called "The hardest ropes and challenges course ever, extremely high off the ground with no guide and no safety net or anything to make sure you actually don't die." Usually I can be dramatic, but I have 4 other witnesses to actually agree with me on this one. 


For the next 3 hours there was hysterical laughing because we were so delirious from all the different challenges we would come across as soon as we thought the course was over. We climbed ladders that felt as if you were falling backwards each time you moved on them. We rode bikes across a ramp, we had to hold a rope and skateboard across a ramp, we had to jump from a tree into a net. There was one challenge that took about 30 minutes for Alexandra to even attempt to try it because we were laughing so hard. It ended up backing up everyone that was behind us but we couldn't help it. There was noone to guide us through each thing we came across and we were soo far off the ground there was no English speaking person to even attempt to ask below us. The only thing we could rely on was each other and this stick figure cartoon picture on the tree to attempt to show us how to do the next challenge.  Well this one challenge you had to swing from rope to rope and only land on a piece of wire. EXACTLY....not even sure how to explain it but it was impossible. It left alex laughing and causing quite a scene which gathered a crowd of Koreans underneath the trees below us looking up at us. The crowd began to get bigger and bigger the longer alex waited to attempt it. At one point they began chanting and clapping "cheer up! cheer up!" in Korea. I actually had to hug a the tree next to me at that point because I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to fall off.
After about 30 minutes Alex swung on the rope but we were all too terrified to even risk falling because we didn't know if we were properly latched in. She almost swung right through the middle of the 2 ropes she was supposed to land on. I was HORRIFIED that it was my turn next so I did a duck walk across all the wires while holding onto the rope so I didn't have to risk swinging and missing. HAHA, I know, but it was traumatizing.


My friend Amanda said at one point when I was climbing the wobbly ladder extremely high off the ground she said I was gripping onto it and throwing my arms into each part of the ladder as if I was dropping to my death with every move. Haha I can only imagine what that looked like, I think I was blacked out for those 3 hours, paralyzed in fear. All of our minds were just on "get us through this...alive."


The ziplining was the easiest part, you just hooked onto the cable and let go, which should have been the scariest part but after all we had gone through it was a breeze. By the end, 3 hours later I think word made it back to the ground that that 5 American girls were having some trouble up there so one of the Korean guides caught up to us and helped us through the rest of it. And by "help" I mean he thought it was funny how scared we were so he would scream "HURRY UP!" everytime we did something or shake the rope as we went across. 


One time when Alex was climbing a ladder, Laura was ziplining across to the same tree and the zipline sent her back the other way so she was basically stuck in the middle of the wire. Alex began laughing so hard she literally almost fell backwards off the ladder. 


As I said, there are no words to really sum up those 3 hours but after all is said and done, we did it!! We survived the Korean version of ziplining. I think the only reason I actually attempted to do each ropes and challenge thing we came across was because that was the only way to ever get down again! There was no netting, no ladders to climb down from the extremely high trees we were on. It was either, go through it all or jump off and see where you land! We couldn't even call for help because noone spoke English!
Truly an unreal experience. Some of the girls want to go back in the Spring to attempt "Level 4." As of now I think I will sit this one out, but something tells me I'll be back in those terrifying trees before I know it and blogging about "the time we attempted level 4...." that is if we survive!

So, I get to last period yesterday and it was a long day because I had to go observe another teacher's class about 45 minutes away, anyways I walk into the 2nd grader's classroom and my co-teacher hands me a stack of papers and says "the 1st graders wrote you these, they wanted to formally introduce themselves to you."


I glanced down at the stack and the first letter began with "Hello teacher Sheila!! Let me introduce myself to you..." there were about 100 letters and that was enough to turn my entire day around. I wanted to cancel class and sit down and read them all immediately. I could only imagine what funny things they were going to say in their letters. I got through the last class and immediately took the stack of papers back to my desk in the teacher's lounge and began reading through the letters. The Korean teacher who sits next to me became very interested as to why I kept bursting out laughing every few minutes so I shared that the students had written me letters and so I gave her half the stack and she began reading and laughing out loud to them as well, which turned into one of the male teachers taking some of the stack and reading them too. Some of them were absolutely hilarious and just so cute. I wish I could type up every single letter or post them on here to show you how funny some of them were but I will at least give you the highlights from some of the letters:


Most of the letters began with "Hello Sheila! Glad to meet you. Let me introduce myself to you..."


One girl at the end of her letter wrote: "My favorite food is kimbab and chicken. But, it's many eat. I'm fat. So I'm not many eat. My favorite color is yellow. Yellow is very pretty, aren't you?" 


Another letter: "My hobby is sleeping and watching movie. Because I cant fall asleep. So I always tired. My blood type is O. Thank to read my introduce."


(I found out the reason they all told me their blood type was apparently because it tells you the kind of personality you will have.) One girl said "my blood type is A so I am shy." NEVER KNEW! The 1st graders taught me something...


Another letter: "My brother is always bother me. He usually hits me and make me angry. But he is very cute and make me funny. I have a nice score in class. I like myself very much."


Letter from a girl that had hearts and drawings all over it: "I'm 14 years old and I'm Korean" (as if I didn't know hahaha) she then said, "My mother is very kind and my father is horror. My birthday is June 25th!! Give me gift!" This sentence was highlighted and underlined and the word IMPORTANT was under it. 
HAHA GOTTA LOVE THEM.


Another: "My older sister is tall and scary. I don't like her. She don't like me too. My younger brother is crazy. He likes run and laugh. It's scary, terrible."


"My mother is housewife. But she doesn't like cleaning my room. me too. Finally my younger sister is very cute and pretty. But, she always bother me. Thank you to hear my introduce."


This one was so cute: at the end of her letter she said....
"This is my story. And also this is the end of introduce myself. I was glad to meet you, and now I'm glad to meet you. For ahead, I wish you can have good recollections or memories in Korea. See you later Sheila. My English name is Molly!"


This one was interesting...
"My older sister is in second grade. She is little fat, but she doesn't exercise. My grandparents live near from my school, so I sometimes meet them. Most of people don't like North Korea. However, I always cheer North Korea when they came to olympics because my grandparents are from North Korea I want people like North Korea too."


"My nickname is "Think" because I love thinking."


"Our school uniform is not good. I don't like my school's uniform."


"I Have 3 friends in France, USA, and Indonesia. My France friend is a girl named Annie. She send accessaries to me. My USA friend is a girl named Elizabeth. I think she is Asian...
My Indonesia friend is Barbie. She is my best friend. She is so kind girl. However, I love my friends."


The next one was sooo cute but sad:
"My favorite entertainer is Kang-Pong-won. He is very handsome. but I'm fall in love to one boy. I don't know that why I like him. Unfortuneately that boy already has his girlfriend. I always see them. It's too sad to me. Thank you for listening."


"I want to be a secret personnel necessary who worm secret and I want to use the gun when I grow the secret personnel necessary. I hope my dream get accomplished. Now I will introduce my family."

I could give highlights from these letters forever, but you get the point! Their English is priceless. Love the random things they chose to share and some of their handwriting was soo cute and funny. I will save these letters forever.

This is word for word what the e-mail said....if you can figure out what it means..LET ME KNOW!

Sheila~~ came to the teacher after school hard rock. You send teachers make every day is more enjoyable. That always greet you with a bright face looks beautiful. The food in your mouth that do not belong there jalmeokoeo how beautiful it looks...good day today.^^

My former co-worker and friend Lois was kind enough to let me write a guest post on her really awesome site Stylesubtancesoul.com on life here in Korea so far...take a look:http://stylesubstancesoul.com/2010/11/personal-stories-from-our-readers-sheila-catanzarita-on-choosing-high-hopes-and-expectations/

Halloween in Korea. Those three words just don't go together over here, however we made them work the best we could. This was my first Halloween in Korea and no it is not celebrated here. Most Koreans don't even know what it is, but I dedicated one week worth of lessons to teach my students all about it and if nothing else, they have come to know and love the magical words: "Trick or Treat" because it means they get candy!

Many of the teachers at my school also became very interested and curious about Halloween so I was very happy to fill them in on it!

 

There are tons of other English native teachers here in Daegu so there was a pub crawl organized downtown for all of the teachers to go to on Halloween. My friends and I decided we would be Richard Simmons 80s workout crew and our friend Mike would be Richard Simmons.

Luckily, there are many "funky" Korean shops and stores that sell neon leggings, leg warmers, etc. so finding our costume was not as hard as we first thought since there were no actual "halloween stores" like there are back in America.

There were 6 of us girls who were able to find some cut off sweatshirts, I found one with 'Blondie" across it, some leopard neon leggings, high pony tails, scrunchies, blue eye shadow and the whole works!

We had a little halloween pre-party at my friend Melissa's apartment where we ordered pizza (korean pizza has potato crust) but it was delicious nonetheless. We had some drinks and good ol' halloween goodies and off we walked to meet the rest of the teachers downtown to start 'the crawl." Well the amount of attention and looks we got on our 5 minute walk to the bar from the local Koreans was as if we were walking around completely naked. Haha, most Koreans were just so interested and curious as to why all of us were dressed so crazy, but the moment we turned the corner to where the rest of the Westerners were standing it was like turning the corner to "home." There were tons and tons of costumes and teachers all dressed up for halloween. From Spiderman, to witches, to ghosts, to the really creative costumes, it was all there. We stopped at our favorite place where you can get a mixed drink in a plastic bag, it's like a Capri Sun but with alcohol. It's pretty much the best thing ever invented. 

Richard Simmons Ladies and Gentlemen.

The the crowds parted and there he was, Mr. Richard Simmons a.k.a our friend Mike who took his costume to the extreme and loved every minute of it. He is a taller muscular guy who had his hair brushed out into a fro with a sweat band on. He was wearin a leotard with exremely tiny tiny tight black shorts that just covered his butt. He had on knee socks and sneakers and a few more sweatbands. Our halloween costumes were complete now that he had arrived! Haha pictures again, don't do justice to his costume, but it was amazing.

We only made it to about two bars on the crawl because we ended up staying at Good ol' Thursdays, one of our favorite westerner bars we ALWAYS end up at. It was jam packed with teachers, and military men all dressed in costumes. The night flew by and the next thing ya know it as 4 a.m. and Richard Simmon's workout crew was umm... HUNGRY.

We stumbled back to our friend Melissa's apartment to finish off the pizza from earlier and called it a night. Most of Richard Simmon's crew woke up still in their neon leggings and their "workout gear" the next morning, even with the blue shadow still in tac! Some of them (I won't drop names) remained in this outfit for the majority of Sunday....haha. Overall it was a successfull first Halloween in Korea!

1.) The word "condition" means "sick." The teacher who sits next to me was drinking some kind of strange juice one day and I asked what it was and she said "my condition is bad so I drink this." I literally thought she was dieing of some terrible condition and I was wondering if I could catch it by sitting next to her. (I am a hypochondriac if you didn't already know ;)) so I didn't press it any further. Then over the course of the upcoming weeks a few things taught me what it actually means:




When I returned from my trip to Busan to the beach I got a bit sunburned so when I went to school Monday morning many teachers swarmed me and said "Oooooh how is your condition?" They literally thought I was sick because I was sunburned. Having a tan in Korea is not a good thing like it is in America. They like to have very white and pale skin and literally cover themselves from head to toe when out in the sun, even in 100 degree heat in the summer!




As the weather turned from Summer to Fall I heard many teachers say to me: "Be careful in the cold or your condition is bad." I still wasn't exactly sure what it meant but began to think it meant "Be careful or you will get sick."

Then when talking to my English speaking friends here we got talking about some of the "phrases" our Korean co-teachers say to us in school and my friend Alexandra said that when they refer to their condition it means "being sick." 

NOW I GET IT! And just in the knick of time for winter because many teachers have told me "their condition is tired or bad or cold." I finally understand. HAHA. Language barriers...Thank God "condition" doesn't mean a terrible disease as I had first thought.




2.)

Most Koreans live with their parents until they get married. It is very uncommon to get your own apartment or house or even move out before you are married. I sit with about 4 or 5 of the "younger" Korean teachers daily at lunch and the ages range from 24-33 and they all still live with their parents and family. I asked if this was common and the 33 year old Korean teacher told me this was "his last chance to find Korean wife" because 33 is a common age in Korea for a male to get married. They also asked me what I eat for breakfast and I told them cereal. I asked what they had for breakfast and they all said "rice." Haha I swear they eat rice at every single meal. They said their mother prepares them rice in the morning.  




Similar to the marriage topic: One of the younger Korean teachers I am friends with is 24 and one day she told me she is sad because: "my boyfriend want to get married but I say I am too young so he broke up with me." It broke my heart! I reassured her that she was very young and that if he was a "good man" he would understand. Two days later at lunch I asked her how she was doing and she said: "I tell him if he understands then he call me, it has been two days and no call, so last night I get drunk with my friends and I call him and I quickly regret it." HAHA, turns out koreans are not much different than Americans afterall...




Last thing on marriage: The Korean weddings are very informal. They told me there are about 6 or 7 weddings per day on the weekend and the ceremony lasts 30 minuts and then "some photos" and they have to be finished with it all after 50 minutes so the next couple can get married. 

Also many of the single women Korean co-teachers at my school say "I want to be married very bad." I think it is looked down upon not to be married by your 30's in Korea for women so they try very hard to "find good man" as they say.




The Korean teacher who sits next to me told me one day "I go on blind date tonight. Shhh it's a secret." 

The next day I asked her how it went and she told me "He was very handsome, but very proud." I think that means he was very full of himself? Haha I asked if she would be going on another date with him and she said "Probably." Haha.




This same teacher told me that her weekend plans were to go to her friend's wedding. She then added in while smiling, "The groom is ugly and the bride is so-so." I died laughing. Koreans are so very honest and blunt.




3.) Many students go to school until 10 p.m. at night. If we thought education was important in America, then we should all go through a day in the life of a Korean student. Most of them wake up at 6 a.m. come to school to help "clean" up. (Many of the students are mopping or sweeping when I arrive.) Then they have school from 8-430 p.m. then most of them have either after school classes, tutoring or "academy classes." Sometimes when I am coming home from downtown or dinner late at night I see some students still in their uniforms on the subways just coming home from school. No wonder they are always so sleepy and tired in class!! A lot of pressure is put on them for English especially. It is a subject they see as a "big opportunity" for success. Midterms and the University entrance exam are also very big deals to them so they get very nervous for those days. One of my co-teachers was sad one day because she told me "my son did poor on midterms so I am very sad and tired." It made me sad because so much pressure is put on them, and if they do bad it is a terrible thing!




4.) As I may have mentioned before: Koreans share ALL food. When we go out to a restaurant even if we go to a westernized place we usually are given only one menu because they expect us to order for the table and share the different plates. I think they find it strange when we order just a meal for ourselves. We will look around the restaurant and other Koreans will have the main dishes in the middle of the table and are sharing a bit from them all. 

At school, I get snacks, fruit, coffee or treats left on my desk almost daily. They usually say "try this" and leave cookies, crackers or something else on a napkin on my desk. I swear I am never hungry beause I am always being fed! Sharing and eating is a big part of their culture.




5.) Koreans DON'T HAVE HEAT! Well they have it, they just don't use it in the schools at least! I am literally freezing some days at school and keep my coat on when I teach during the fall/winter days. The floors are heated in our apartments and we have to flip a switch to turn on the hot water for the showers. One of my co-teachers told me "I have sore throat because I am cold." Haha. He also asked me if I "keep safe" in my apartment? A.k.a. if I "stay warm."




6.) This isn't something I actually learned, but I have to share it anyways. We have this local bar we always go to called "Thursdays." It was the first western bar we stumbled upon our very first night here and it has become a favorite hangout spot since. It is filled with many English teachers, good drinks, darts, good American music and one too many military men, but it is a good place to go to "feel like you're home." Anyways, over the course of the last 3 months we have come to know and LOVE one of the Korean bartenders there named Minnie. She is asbolutely awesome. She is about 5 feet tall, has a short bob haircut and big black glasses. She usually has an oversized sweatshirt on with an American saying on it and khaki pants and sneakers. She is 24 but looks 12. She has learned all of our names and when we walk in she literally, no exaggeration, comes running out from behind the bar and gives us a huge hug for about 2 minutes. If you are ever having a bad day, that is the place to go to cheer up!! She keeps an eye out for us if the military men are being creepy and already knows what drink we will order. She practices her English to us and calls me her younger sister since she is 24 and I am 23. Haha, she is precious. Minnie from Thursdays is someone I will always remember.




7.) Pizza in a cup. These 4 words I have come to have a Love/Hate relationship with. It took me about a week to discover that Koreans idea of Pizza...is in a cup. By this I mean they literally put a little personal pizza in a small dixie cup. I discovered this late one night after the bars as we were walking to get a cab. We passed this little cart that was set up on the side of the street along with the rest of the "street food" and I smelled "home." Or by that I mean, I FINALLY FOUND PIZZA IN KOREA!! I had been craving a good ol' NYC slice ever since I arrived so when this smell hit my nose I ran over to see what it was. There were two older Korean women who were heating up small, little circular pepporoni pizzas. They were small enough to be folded in half and put in a cup,but they were delicious! So delicious that my friends and I ordered about 6 of them. Haha, this is where the Love/Hate relationship began. They are the most delicious food to eat after the bars at night and then come morning, I hate pizza in a cup....just doesn't exactly settle the way a normal slice of pizza does and leaves a hangover a bit worse!




8.) While in Seoul, we went shopping and stumbled upon a Levi's. My friend Amanda had been searchig for a Levi's to get a new pair of jeans so we stopped in so she could shop. While in Levi's, Amanda was trying on jeans in the dressing room and one of the male workers there began talking to me and "practicing" his English. After about 10 minutes of talking I had learned his life story. A few things I took away from it. He went to school in Canada so that is why his English was good, BUT I also learned that every single male in Korea has to do 22 months in the army. Even if you are married you have to go to the army for 22 months. I had no idea. I thought it was voluntarily but then I asked my teachers after he told me this and it was confirmed. I guess if you are married with at least two children you don't have to go but other than that every single male has to go. Wow, that's a bit different than America. Ya just never know what you will learn from a conversation with a Korean...they love to share information and things they know in English :)




9.) DEVOTION. If you have ever thought your boyfriend or girlfriend was devoted to you, come to Korea and then that will all change. I kid you not when I tell you there are some couples who dress head to toe exactly alike. When my friends and I first saw this we literally just stared. Then we learned that many couples do this. I have a picture I will post of a couple we saw on the subway who were wearing matching pink teddy bear sweatshirts, jeans, hot orange and grey sneakers and they BOTH had on brown purses/bags. TALK ABOUT DEVOTION. I guess it is their way of showing "yes I am with this person and I am not ashamed of it one bit!" Haha. Also a very common thing is for the boyfriend to carry the girlfriend's purse for her. This is even more common than dressing as twins. It's kinda cute?? The boyfriend has no shame of doing it either.

Speaking of "no shame." It is extremely common for BOTH male and female Koreans to hold hands. I see many Korean men in business attire holding hands and walking and they are straight. This is very common among Koreans. I first discovered this when I was walking to lunch one day and one of the woman co-teachers came up and held my hand and led me to lunch. HAHA, I was taken back at first, but now I am very used to it. It is part of their culture it is just very funny to see grown korean men in business suits holding hands and walking together.

Our friend Mike here had a hilarious experience with this. He was out to dinner with his Korean co-teachers one night when he said he had to use the bathroom. The vice principal stood up from the table at the same time and said he had to go to the bathroom too so he would join him. He then (in the words of Mike) "interlocked his hands into mine and we strolled to the bathroom together hand in hand." HAHA. Only in Korea....




10.) When drinking with Koreans the youngest one at the table is supposed to pour the eldest one's drink. They are supposed to pour with two hands as well as receive it with two hands. It is disrespectful to only use one hand, even with food or anything really. This explains why everytime I give one of my students a lollipop they take it with two hands. At first I was confused but learned it is just part of their culture.