Answer to the Question of the Week

What are non-disposable chopsticks made of in Korea?

• stainless steel-0 (0%)
• plastic-1 (25%)
• wood-1 (25%)
• clay-2 (50%)

The answer is stainless steel. This tradition was started during the Joseon dynasty. The upper class people believed that using silver would warn of evil because silver would tarnish in the presence of evils. The lower classes practiced this belief as well, but they could not afford the silver and so they would use cheaper metals. Spoons are also stainless steel as well. Many restaurants use metal cups and bowls.

Get Out of My Way; I'm Coming Through!

That is what it felt like tonight at E-Mart (Korean Wal-Mart). Sunday is Chuseok Day, but people the celebration starts on Saturday. Monday is the final day. There were so many people shopping. E-Mart has three floors for shopping. The basement is the grocery floor. The first floor is the clothing and cosmetic floor, and the second floor has books, electronics, appliances, toys, and household goods. I went to the basement so that I'd have something to eat because I'm not sure if the stores will be open during Chuseok. It was so hard to get around because there were so many people. There was a long line of people waiting a get a cart. I've never seen that before. According to Lonely Planet, Koreans believe that there is no obligation to be polite to somebody whom one has never met. Therefore, people are unlikely to say "excuse me" and likely to shove others out of the way. On the basement floor, there was a bottleneck at the escalator. I had to weave in around the people with carts to go back up. I decided to go up to the second floor to pay because it is usually not as busy; it was not tonight either. It usually does not take very long to get through the lines at the checkout. They have most of the lines open and people get through faster. All the clerks do it ring up the stuff and take the money. They do not do any bagging or load any carts. Once it has passed through their hands, it's your responsibility. The same goes for Home Plus. At E-Mart, many people do not bag their items because they charge 50 won (about five cents) per bag. After I paid on the second floor, I had to go to the third floor because that is the only place to go when you pay on the second floor. It took a little longer than normal to get an elevator down to the first floor. There was one that came, but it was packed and it was going up. When I finally got down to the first floor, there was a big crowd of people waiting to get in the elevator. In the United States people crawl out of the woodworks the day after Thanksgiving; here, they do it the day before.

Answer to the Question of the Week

Seoul is the largest city in South Korea. Pusan is the second largest. What is the third largest?

• Jeju-si-0 (0%)
• Masan-0 (0%)
• Incheon-1 (33%)
• Daegu-2 (66%)

The correct answer is Daegu.

Bottle of Wine, Any Old Time

Today I received two bottles of Chilean wine in a gift box and it helped me to understand something that has been going on recently at stores like E-Mart and Home Plus. A couple of weeks ago, the grocery floor was rearranged. In addition, there was a line of gift boxes on the way to the down escalator. Some of the women working at E-Mart have been wearing traditional Korean outfits. Chuseok is September 14. It is Korean Thanksgiving. The wine was a Chuseok gift. The department stores have various gift box sets that are like what one can buy at a retail department store around Christmas. These ones are bigger though (and more expensive). I wondered why all of a sudden I started seeing E-Mart employees wearing Korean attire. Now I know.

The Sandwich Maker

I got to make sandwiches today. At our school, the kids get point cards for good behavior or good performance. Today, was market day so that the kids could cash in their points. We had a book store, food court, toy store, a movie, and a cooking class. I was in charge of the cooking class, which basically consisted of making sandwiches and letting the kids watch. I also had to cut ham and tomatoes, as well as peel and cut cucumbers. I think that I made more sandwiches for adults than I did for the kids. I made sandwiches for the Korean staff and for some of the parents. We went through two loaves of bread and ran out before the day was over. I guess I could work at a sandwich shop someday. A couple of the students were not able to finish their sandwiches. They were twins. I gave his uneaten half to a Korean staff member who will never have to worry about getting fat. One student ate half and gave the other half to his mother. I took pictures of some of the students with their sandwiches. One student had a hard time eating it; the sandwich fell apart. They're such cute kids.

My Students Taught Me Korean

I learned a couple of Korean words yesterday. Changmin means rose and pea means blood. For the lesson I asked the students what their favorite flowers were. A student told me changmin. Another student said that that means rose. In another class, we mentioned vegetables. A student told me that he did not like vegetables. I have a poster in the back that has pictures of fruits and vegetables. The names are in Korean and English and the English name is in the Roman alphabet and in Hangul. This student said something about how pea is blood. I did not know just what he was talking about until after class when he asked a couple of the Korean teachers. The Hangul for pea is the same as the Korean word for blood.

New Schedule, Yippee!

This week we started a new term, so I got new classes. Before, my co-teacher and I had mostly lower level classes. At our school, we have ten levels and each has its own name, but for the purposes here, I'll give a number for each level. Last term, we had one Level 1, one Level 2, two Level 3, three Level four, and one Level six class. This term we have one Level 1, one Level 4, four Level 5, one Level 6, two Level 7, and one Level 9 class. Most of the students that I have I have not had in class before. Most of the students are well-behaved because they are older than the ones that I had before and they understand more English. Last term, I had some students with some behavior problems. My last class was one that had several troublemakers. It was difficult at first. Most of the students that I have again are ones that I liked.

Answer to the Question of the Week and more on Hangul

How many characters are there in the Korean alphabet?

• 52-2 (25%)
• 30-2 (25%)
• thousands-3 (37%)
• 24-1 (12%)

The correct answer is 24. Of course, when some of them are combined, they create new sounds, like when a and u or p and h are put together. There are 24 basic characters, 14 consonents and 10 vowels. The Korean alphabet is called hangul and it was invented by King Sejong. Prior to its invention and for many years after, people used Chinese characters for writing. King Sejong felt that since Korean was another language, it should have its own writing system. In addition, people could not get the proper meaning across when writing with Chinese characters. He invented the alphabet in such a way that illiterate people could read. The characters give you directions on how to pronouce the word. For example, some of them are shown the way that the tongue is suppose to move. When you see Korean, there are several characters that make up one syllable. All syllables have to have a consonent and a vowel. When the vowel is lying down, the consonent is over it and when the vowel is standing, the consonent is standing beside it. When there is a consonent at the end of the syllable, it goes under the other letters.

The letters must be written a particular way. There is a right way and there is a wrong way. You can't just go about writing the lines in any way that you want. There is a particular order that you have to follow. You have to draw from left to right and from up to down. I see this translated into the way that the kids write. Whearas most of us dot our 'i's and cross our 't's last, they do the dotting and the crossing first. On Friday, I was informed that I write my capital Hs wrong. I had the middle section sticking out on either side. A student showed me the proper way to write an H.

How to Get a Cell Phone in Korea

Today I finally got my own cell phone. Before, I had just a rental cell phone and it was a bit expensive just to have, not to mention talk on. All foreigners have to show their Alien Registration Cards to get a cell phone. It took a while to get mine, and then after I got it, the address had to be changed. I got it back for good last week. Since we were still on the summer intensive schedule, I did not have time to go and get a cell phone. I went to an SK Telecom store Friday night after work, but they were closing. I went three doors down to another SK Telecom store and the man there did not speak English. I felt like an idiot. The place was closing at that time too. Later, I looked at some places near the next subway stop in the other direction from my apartment. On one block, there were four SK Telecom stores! Saturday morning, I went to the first one on the block and told them what I wanted. A man in there told me to go to the one with T World on it. There was one employee working in there and he did not speak much English, probably only what was taught in Korean schools, which isn't much. He went next door to get somebody who spoke English and I told him what I wanted. After the first man figured out what I wanted, he said to come back on Monday. What I wanted was not available on weekends. I went back today and he remembered me. There was another man working there and he did speak English. It took a little while because it was Monday he said. I got a used handset for a prepaid phone. Here, you have to go to a dealer even if you want just a prepaid phone. You cannot buy a phone at a retail store and then set it up over a landline phone. SK Telecom stores are everywhere, and KT and LG also provide cell phone service. Virtually everybody here has a cell phone. I have confiscated cell phones from kids in class because they were playing with them. One day, about six kids who were not more than 8 (Western age) were taking pictures of me on their cell phones.

How to Pay a Bill in Korea

Today, I paid my gas bill. I did not do it in person at an office of the gas company, nor did I pay it online or over the phone. Instead, I went to the bank to pay it. There is no checking system in Korea, so unless you pay with cash or credit card, you have to pay by bank transfer. The bill from the gas company came with a stub that had some numbers and bar code on it. The bank has a special machine for paying bills. You put your ATM card in the machine. Then, you put the stub in the machine. It will ask you to verify by putting in your code. The bill is paid. I knew that there was a machine for it. One of the tellers came over and helped me do it.

Later, I wanted to have the transactions printed in my passbook. They still use passbooks for accounts here instead of people writing the transactions in a check register. You put the book in a machine, but not the same one used to pay bills. The machine then prints all the transactions that have not been printed yet. I could not figure out how to use the machine because it was in only Korean. I was able to use this machine to get money out with my ATM card because it could be used in English. I went up to one of the tellers and pointed to the page in the passbook. It took her a second to figure out what I wanted. I felt retarded not saying anything and just pointing. In the end, I did get the transactions printed.