Heather Heffner's Blog, page 26

YEAR OF THE WOLF Free Giveaway on Saturday, October 20, 2012

Hi Everyone,

Hope you're all keeping busy, and, unlike me, have had time to figure out your Halloween costume. Is it really this close to the holiday season already? Well, to kick things off, Amazon will be hosting a YEAR OF THE WOLF free book giveaway on Saturday, October 20, 2012. That's right, all day on Saturday, YEAR OF THE WOLF will be available for download on Kindle reading devices or apps for free! Just check here on Saturday: 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008ZNKRQG

Recommended with hot cider or a pumpkin spice latte :) Enjoy! - Heather

YEAR OF THE WOLF - Read the First Six Chapters

Amazon gives you a sneak peek. I should as well.

You can download the PDF file here . It will take you to the Google Groups page on which the PDF file is stored.


 Happy Readings!

~Heather 

YEAR OF THE WOLF is PUBLISHED!

Can you tell I'm excited? :)

A full summary and a peek inside YEAR OF THE WOLF is available on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008ZNKRQG
It is the fourth search result in Amazon All Departments if you search for the title, "Year of the Wolf" in quotes. It is the seventh search result if you look directly in the Kindle store, no quotes. It is one of only two items that pop up if you search for my name - that, and a magazine by a certain Hugh Hefner... Well, what can I say.
Applications:   YEAR OF THE WOLF is now available on the following Amazon Kindle e-readers and apps:
1. Kindle Fire2. Kindle application for iPad3. Kindle DX4. Kindle Touch5. Kindle6. Kindle application for iPhone

Steps for downloading to iPad or iPhone Kindle apps:  1. The Kindle application (app) is *free* for iPad and iPhone users, however, you must have an Amazon account in which you have made a purchase in in order to register your Kindle app. When the app asks for you to register your "Kindle," just use that account's email and password. 
2. Go online and look up "Year of the Wolf" on Amazon. Quotations should narrow the search field down nicely. There's an adorable story about puppies that's still ahead of mine. 
3.  Do a 1-click purchase, or view the free sample that can be sent to your app device. 
4. The book should be downloaded onto your Kindle app in no time!
Presentation: The apps are ranked from best presentation to worst. Kindle Fire and the iPad Kindle app are by far the best, because they support color picture for a fully embellished cover, and they allow variety in font styles. I tried out the iPad Kindle this morning, and it looks great! (Thank God)
The Kindle DX, Touch, and Kindle are nice, although you might notice that currently, the font style is uniform across the board. Originally, font style was used to tell the reader which character's viewpoint the chapter was from, but now, the E-book has been formatted to have the Table of Contents entries indented slightly for chapters featuring younger sister Raina's viewpoint.
The iPhone... Well, what can I say. It's a phone. You should have no problem reading the story, but you can only make a phone screen so big. If you're waiting in a long line for something, it is pretty nice to have a ton of reading material in your small phone.
The Kindle "Click to look inside the pages!" on the Amazon purchase page will give you roughly a four chapter sample to read. Don't worry if there seem to be no chapter breaks, that's just the format of the Kindle "Click to look inside!", and not how the purchased E-book looks. 
Again, a big thanks to everyone who supported me up until the last hour of revisions and hitting *gasp* the "Save and Publish" button. We did it!

Upcoming E-Book: Year of the Wolf

EXCITING, exciting news... 
Although I'm sad to have left all of you for so long, rest assured that I didn't take a year-long hiatus for nothing. To be released on Amazon Kindle this August 19, 2012 will be my first E-Book! 

Title: YEAR OF THE WOLFGenre: Urban Fantasy    Description: 
NINE YEARS AGO… Citlalli's eldest sister mysteriously vanished, after years of fighting off a strange illness with no cure.
A NEW START… Citlalli thought her family had left their tragic past behind when they moved to the techno-glamorous city of Seoul, South Korea. But then her youngest sister began developing the all-too familiar symptoms: pale skin, a revulsion toward meat, prattling on about seeing ghosts…
NO LONGER A CHILD… A chance confrontation late one night in the subway convinces Citlalli that something is hunting her family. Maybe an illness isn't an illness, but a mark… Either way, she will not stand by and be prey any longer.
NOW… When you start a war with beasts, how long before you become one yourself?
YEAR OF THE WOLF is the darkly-imagined, self-empowering journey of one girl's encounters with the supernatural side of Seoul. -
This will be the first book in the ongoing Changeling Sisters series for adults, about a headstrong American girl tackling life in Seoul, South Korea—and crossing dangerous creatures in Eve, the alluring spirit world, one too many times. Inspired by Korean folklore and beautiful cities across the country, YEAR OF THE WOLF is told from a foreigner's perspective, as Citlalli Alvarez adapts, fights, and tangles with love.
Becoming a published author has been a longtime dream of mine, ever since age eleven, when I started writing stories for family and friends as birthday presents (I'd buy them presents, too. Sometimes). Writing, I soon discovered, is the easy part. The editing and revising process is the second act where your friends point out how many mistakes are glaring you straight in the face, and you wonder how you can repeat the most bizarre words far more than necessary (I think my overused word was "sliver." Random!)  Thank you to everyone who journeyed through Citlalli's Seoul with me. Your encouragement and support has been invaluable.
Buuut we're still not at Act Three yet: Storming the Publishers' Gates. Sometimes it feels like you have to be as lucky as a lottery ticket winner to catch an agent's eye. The process can take years. What you write might be hot in today's market, but not so trendy a year from now. Mind you, I did my due diligence. I sent out query after query letter, and slowly but surely, watched my Inbox fill up with rejections. However, you know you're doomed to be a writer when you can't seem to stop writing, can't seem to give up writing, so I decided to try something else. I turned to the friend of my generation: the Internet. 
With the opportunity to publish manuscripts as E-Books, through such companies as Amazon's Kindle program and Smashwords, the writer's goal of sharing his/her stories with global audiences is much more attainable. There are cons to E-Book publishing just as there are in traditional publishing. Amazon can choose to decrease the price of your E-Book to attract more customers. A traditional publisher can tell you to change your heroine's age to a much more marketable sixteen, because college age stories don't appeal to as wide of an audience.  Either way, I plan to follow the writer's creed of never giving up and embracing the trials that come, so bring on the challenge. I'll keep you posted here in the months to come. 
Until next time, keep your Kindle apps close. The countdown to book launch begins!

New Semester

First: Let’s pray for the people of Japan to stay strong enough to endure, but to break down when they need to. They suffered a tremendous loss. The earthquake images were something out of the movie 2012, and the nuclear reactor problems are some scary stuff. I think this proves that the Japanese can withstand anything that is thrown at them, but it’s going to be long, agonizing road back to healing. Just know that we’ve got your backs! If anyone has any charity site recommendations, feel free to post them here.

New Semester Kick-Off I FEEL extraordinarily lucky to be so happy after disaster left its footprints all over the next-door neighbor’s front yard. The new semester’s kicked off. It’s great walking into the classroom and seeing familiar faces. We’ve established a rhythm in the classroom: they know what I expect from them and vice versa. Everyone seems to be warming up to me, and it’s not just the kids. My co-teachers, too, want to hang out and study Korean/English together. Just the other night, my most senior co-teacher, who’s appointed herself as my Korean “mom,” had me over to make 호박죽 (hobak guk) a pumpkin porridge and 보삼 (bosam) a succulent pork dish. Everyone in the US: we need to catch on to eating this pumpkin thing. It’s amazing and sweet and makes you feel all warm and sleepy.
My goal for this semester is to meet the needs of all the students in my classroom. Quite a few are high-level—leaps and bounds above the others because their parents send them to many hagwons. Others are very low-level and assume the deer-in-the-headlights look to basic greetings like, “How are you?” Then there is the string of students in the middle, who have the potential to join their high-level peers, but they’re often overshadowed by them. And the vast majority of students have a high effective threshold when it comes to confidence in speaking English. It’s lowered as time goes on  and the students feel comfortable with me, but the wall easily goes back up again.
Last semester, I catered mostly to the high-level students since they’re the loudest and I wanted to challenge the class. I still want to challenge the class, but that means implementing more means to get the lower-level students involved. If anything, I want the students to leave my classroom confident in their ability to speak English. That’s half the battle right there: many of the girls, for example, can speak English decently, but they’re too nervous in front of their peers. I don’t want my students to be slaves to any such fear.
Teacher: “How’s the weather today?” Students: “IT’S SUNNY!” Teacher; “And hot?” Students: “No. Cold.” 
The Koreans have a saying, “꽃샘 추의.” It means: “The winter is jealous of the flowers.” It refers to the sudden cold spells that strike in early spring, killing all the budding young flowers and chapping lips and fingers. Just the other evening, there was a dramatic hailstorm over the city at sundown. Since I’m up on the eleventh floor, it was a striking sight to see penny-size ice shards flicked about on the wind against a rosy pink horizon.
Recently calculated by scientists: the Japanese earthquake shortened the length of the day. There’s never enough hours in a day. Every day I leave work—dodging the horde of middle school boys who like to hang out by the ddeokbokki food stand and bombard me with “Hello! Hello! HELLO!”s—and head back home to a night of persuading myself to do chores. I go through food amazingly quick. I’ve found that the market fruit vendors offer the best deals on strawberries, oranges, and apples (compare 2,000 won for an overflowing container of strawberries to the 6,000 won they charge in the store). I’m confident enough in my Korean to approach them now. It took me so long to adjust to life here.
Semi-Sentient Robots Many of my friends are worried about their jobs right now. The Dude-in-Charge has made tremendous cuts to the foreign teacher budget, and so many of my fellow teachers won’t be able to renew their contract next year. Some people got cut immediately, despite the signed contract. The wind switches direction without warning here. One friend posted a video of an English-fluent robot teaching the kids English. It would scold them if they made a mistake with such gems as: “One more mistake like that and you’ll be waxing my circuit boards!” Yeah. Technology is on the rampage. Check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsMmLLR9EhIPost by ImatvapI.

Disclaimer: The above is presented as fiction, not fact.

Holiday Break: Taebaek Snow Festival

Power Outage QUESTION: So what's worse than your pipes freezing over? Answer: Your power going out, because then not only will your pipes freeze over once the cold makes itself at home, but you also won't have any lights to see by, and you won't have any Internet, in case you need to go online to figure out a message to tell the maintenance guy.
Question: What's the best perk of a power outage? Answer: having people to freak out with. My friends had stayed the night in preparation for our epic journey to Taebaek's annual snow festival, so they got to witness first hand my apartment's cruel indifference. One minute we were all bleary-eyed and stumbling about, trying to get ready at 6 in the morning, and in the next instant, the living  room light blew out. We were left standing in total darkness, with not even a stove light to click on.
I really have to commend its sense of timing. This was 15 minutes prior to when we had to be out the door and on our way to the train station. Visions of hanging around a frosty-rimmed, dark apartment all day, waiting for the wiring to be fixed, immediately surfaced in my mind.
Luckily, our phones were equipped for this kind of disaster. We looked up the words for "power out" and "maintenance" on our phone dictionaries. I managed to find some parking attendants having their early morning bagels and coffee. It occurred to me that perhaps I should figure out the actual maintenance number, but these people were getting so used to seeing me; it was like we were becoming friends. Once I showed them the word "fuse" and then mimed an explosion, they got the right guy on the job. He reset the electricity in the apartment AND found the source of a problem: the electric water kettle, which had a puddle of liquid around it. The water had gotten inside the wiring, which had been enough to blow out the power in the entire apartment. I thanked him profusely and gave him a bag of chips for his trouble. I'm really digging this "give-food" instead of" give-money" thing.
Best part of all: there was still time to get to the train station! We hightailed it out of there, and two subway rides later, we were sitting on a high speed train jetting off toward Gangwon-Do, the province neighboring our Gyeonggi-Do. The toasty heat settled over me like a warm blanket. It occurred to me what a paper-thin wall there is between us and winter; the chill chases us from the unheated halls and bathrooms in our schools, to the front doors of our apartments. All it takes is one slip-up in our water heaters or fuses, and it's in. I cozied up more comfortably in my chair, gazing out upon a cold, cold country.
Ice Sculptures and Igloo Cafes
  We were all patting ourselves on the backs. Yes, the day had gotten off to a rough start. And yes, the train ride had been 4 freakin' hours long. But we had finally arrived in this small, tucked-away ski town called Taebaek for their legendary "Taebaek Snow Festival." Snow sculptures, ice rinks, igloo cafes, snow rafting, games- this was a festival to regenerate the peoples' spirits, to kindly take them by the hand and say, "See? Winter can be fun!" We waddled up to the information counter in our heavy ski gear and asked where the great snow festival that would make us appreciate the coldest months of the year was taking place.
"Ahhh, Snow Festival. It canceled," the lady told us.
We were thunder-struck. "Why?"
"Mmmmm...dangerous."
Dangerous? I assumed she meant there was avalanche danger. We'll never know for certain, but I think she meant the wind. Many people were out and about in the crisp sunlight, hiking to the lofty Taebaek summit. However, every few minutes, a gust of wind would come hurtling from those peaks that could pierce even the hardiest North Face jacket. It sneakily took us out one-by-one, first biting the weak toes and fingers, and then whipping our faces raw until our noses and ears were frozen nubbins. We fumbled to take pictures of the giant ice statue Buzz and Woody, the heads from Easter Island, the Sphinx, and the legendary Korean turtle ships. I really liked the tank and the humongous soldier. 


One of the downsides of having the 4 hour long train ride was that the sun had already done its dance across the skies and was prepared to be swallowed up by the towering mountain peaks. Although we put on a brave front for as long as we could- gliding across the frozen lake in tennis shoes, sipping cocoa in the igloo café- eventually we had to admit defeat. Back in the States, I'd heard stories about the Korean winters, and they aren't exaggerated. I've never known anything like this heartless, lingering cold. 
Ongoing poll: Who do you think this is?
But it didn't stop us from braving the outdoors and going to a freakin' snow festival, for crying out loud. Although I'll probably stick to winter sports that get your blood pumping, like skiing, I can proudly say that we did the Taebaek Snow Festival, canceled or not, and we didn't lose any limbs to frostbite.
Disclaimer: the above entry is presented as fiction, not fact.

K-Pop: Korean Pop Music. Guaranteed to get stuck in your head.

RECIPE for the latest hit by Super Junior or Girl's Generation? Find a catchy beat, a catchier chorus, and stick a few random English words in the lyrics. Honestly, they don't have to make sense, just put them in there. Then finish the song off with a themed music video that simultaneously carries a mini-drama storyline, the latest dyed hair style, and memorable dance moves your kids will perform in class for months to come.
Important English lines my students have learned from K-Pop:

"Shut up, boy. Shut up, boy. Shut up. Shut up." - Miss A
"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry." - Super Junior
"Trouble, trouble, trouble." - Girl's Generation
"I'll be back." – 2pm
“Fantastic elastic.” –SHINee

And of course there are certain dance gestures that accompany these lines. Click the links below to watch, courtesy of youtube posters:
1. Miss A: “Bad Girl, Good Girl.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TeeJv...
2. Super Junior: “Sorry, Sorry.”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAWqnA8PdcY
3. Girl's Generation: “Hoot.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4-SxcCO5d0
4. 2pm: “I’ll be back.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMdofh...

I mentioned that music videos must have some dramatic back story going on. The same can be said of music videos in any country, but K-Pop especially excels at this. There's a reason Korean tv dramas are so addicting. Here's the longest storyline I've found in a music video so far, so convoluted and intense that it requires a "Part 2" to complete the tale:
4. Beast: “Beautiful.”  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur7mtO...
Now you're hooked, so I'll give you a couple other K-Pop groups I've encountered here: 
1. SHINee: “Ring Ding Dong.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rought...
2. Taeyang: “Where U At.”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OA5pM...
3. Rain: “It’s Raining.”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om1d2B...
4. Big Bang: “What Can I Do.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x70ayn...
Anyone have any other favorites? New teachers to Korea, this is a surefire way to get your students motivated if you can quote these groups, OR even better, pull the dance moves.
Note: The above is presented as fiction, not fact.

Holiday Break: Do Not Mess with Winter

First: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 2011! Wish everyone the best for the new year. Just one more year 'till doomsday 12.12.2012… 
The Frozen Pipes DisasterBIG MISTAKE. Major mistake. And now I had ice-crystal water spewing free like an unblocked dam. The blinds of the window in the utility closet, which only moments before I'd been attempting to board up, now sprang open again, the knife-sharp air gleefully nipping at my numb skin. I backed out of my utility closet-turned-freezer and wondered where to shut the water off in my apartment.


A skype call came in. Mom and Dad, with the computer set up by a softly-glowing Christmas tree in the background and mugs of hot chocolate in their hands. It was Christmas Day back home. Their smiles widened. "Hi honey! Merry Ch-"


"Mom, the pipes burst in my apartment."


From the looks on their faces, the sound of water gushing must have sounded like a waterfall  thundering down through the ceiling. 
The day before I'd finished tidying up my apartment. My grocery bag was bursting with my contribution to our upcoming Christmas party: lettuce, tomatoes, dressing, and a single sweet potato. Also the onions. I had to get rid of those damned onions. Before I left for the subway, I turned my heat off. Because I was fuming about how high my last heating bill was and was hoping to shave off a few extra won. Because I honestly didn't think. Winter cold was slowly advancing upon the city like an unstoppable army, but I ignored signs of its approach. That night it dipped to one of the coldest nights of the year.


Christmas night was fun. I returned home with a full belly and high spirits. Popping on my heat, I waited for the cool air to be dispersed so I could blissfully settle into an afternoon with Dexter and green tea. But the cold stayed stubbornly where it was. I glanced at the monitor, and the red and green lights were ominously blinking.


Shit. I peered into the dark utility closet, where my pipes hung out. They spared the space with a window that had the world's most dysfunctional blinds. No matter how hard I pulled them closed, the cold air continued to leak in. I tried to run a start up test on the water heater, and the lights blinked again. Crapola. Looked like maintenance needed to be called. But first, this window… I could see leftover tape from when the last teacher living here had attempted to board up the blinds. I gathered my cardboard and masking tape. This time, my foot crunched on something and cool, wet water spread through my sock. Ice. I stopped. Ice encased the pipes. My alarms senses were on full alert. There was something I was absolutely not supposed to do in this situation, like maybe snap off the ice. I poked around and snapped off the ice. Water erupted. The wind blew. Skype chimed. I just stared. Fuck, how much water was in those things?


Luckily, it was Sunday, so no one was at the desk downstairs. My calls to other friends in the apartment went unanswered. So after a brief farewell salute to my parents, I went on Google Translate and typed in something to the equivalent of: "Help! My pipes burst!" and hoped the Korean made sense. Hastily jotting the note down, I bolted from the apartment. I dashed all around my building, until I found a parking lot attendant. Ha, so someone does have to be on duty on the weekends. He summoned up an emergency maintenance man, who showed me where to shut off the water (out in the building hallway, in a little white crawl space). He shook his head at me, probably telling me what an idiot I was, and I agreed. I called up my Korean co-teacher to report the situation.


She was a godsend. Completely cool and calm about the situation. She insisted I stay at her place until the pipes could be fixed. And the very next day, while I entertained ideas about technicians having to remove the entire wall and replace all the wiring, two maintenance men from the school came over to fix the problem. Two valves had cracked from the ice, but that was all. In about an hour, they had repaired the pipes and the red and green lights were glowing steadily again. Heat wafted up from the floor. And it had all cost me under 10,000 won (10 dollars). The maintenance men refused to accept payment no matter how much I pressed them. I've found that sometimes to express my gratitude in Korea, I literally have to shove gifts into people's arms. So that's what I did the next day. My school responded so well to my situation, and I was overwhelmed with gratitude. It reminds me of how much I've had to depend on the kindness of strangers since coming here, and every time, they've responded. I can only imagine trying to call up a maintenance man myself in my broken Korean.  Can't use Google Translate for everything.  


I just left for vacation, with my heat left on the lowest setting.


"The pipes should be fine on that setting," my co-teacher told me. "When my husband and I bought our first place, we wanted to save money on heating, too, so we turn heat off during the day. But when we received our first bill, it was very expensive. Cheaper to leave it on the lowest."


As for that wonderful utility closet window? I boarded it up and the tape's still holding. Welcome to winter.
Winter Camp  School's out, but the week every Korean student looks forward to is here: English Camp! Yes, every school holds week-long English camps for students to drag themselves up out of bed for and for English teachers to glance longingly at the calendar to their countdown until vacation. I had a week of 3rd/4th graders and then a week of 5th graders. Not many 5th graders had signed up, declaring that English camp was usually "boring." I took that as a challenge.


I'm really impressed with my 3rd/4th grade students. These kids are smart and super enthusiastic. In the regular English classes, they always made life miserable for the other students by claiming, "Too easy, teacher! Too easy!" I figured I could challenge them with an Around the World camp. Every day we would learn about a different country: South Korea, America, Italy, and Brazil. The last day would be an Olympics Competition. I love coming up with the ideas for camps. Then, actually making all the materials kills me. It's so time-consumingly long! And then you have to summon up the enthusiasm to teach the material you've spent too much time with.


Luckily, the 3rd/4th graders made it easy. They enjoyed learning the English words for Taekwondo actions, struggled through the difficult he/she/it English rules, liked learning new animals in the Amazon Rainforest, and oohed at a video of a flooded Venice. Cooking Day was their favorite. In honor of Italy, we just had to cook something in class, and if it couldn't be pizza, then why not Puppy Chow? Also, I was craving something sweet. As I said, these kids really impressed me. One of their Olympics tasks was to write their own funny recipe, in English, and they took the mission seriously. Everyone huddled about in their groups, whispering the ingredients they would use and glancing furtively at each other. I'm amazed how quickly they pick up English words. One girl was trying to sneak a peek at another team's recipe, and I called out, "Uh oh, are you a spy? Don't be a spy!"


Within five minutes, all the teams were using the word. "Spy! Spy, teacher! Teacher, he spy!"


The 5th grade camp went pretty smoothly as well. The 5th graders get their mood swings, but for the most part, they get just as excited over stickers as the younger kids. Their camp was pirate-themed and from the beginning, I divided into pirate crews to compete the entire week for a prize. They made pirate flags and came up with their names. The balls started off rolling slowly, but by mid-week, they were fully engrossed in the competition. I felt so bad for the Black Pearl crew- they tried so hard to catch up to the leading team and ended up losing by 1 point.


Next time: no cooking days with peanut butter. The 5th graders had fun making peanut butter cannonballs, but that peanut butter found its way into places it should never go. It was pretty funny. The girls made perfectly round cannonballs, but the boys' looked like reject Hersheys kisses.
Korean Folk Village Shortly before the holidays, I had the pleasure of visiting the Korean Folk Village, a cultural center that shows the architecture and life style of feudal Korea. I was near Suwon at the time, and some relatives (related to me in a complicated fashion- second cousin's wife's sister's family, but hey, the connection's there) gave me the tour. Huge draft horses stood in the snow banks, still as statues. A field of old kimchi jars sat lined up like soldiers for battle. People wove rope into shoes. Jindos, a wolf-like hunting dog native only to Korea, watched with intelligent eyes from cages. Jindos are said to be very smart and incredibly loyal.  


Entire villages had been constructed in the rural fashion, some with roofs of straw and others of clay. It was interesting to see how the housing varied in Seoul compared to the far south, on Jeju Island. The folk village also featured a lord's manor and a jail yard, in which visitors playfully tormented each other with the medieval punishment devices. My favorite was the girlfriend who wielded a huge spanking paddle over her begging boyfriend. Little tension in the relationship there, haha.


Mid-afternoon, the village held a dance and acrobatics performance. We sat in a ring, hands huddled within our snow coat pockets, while an old man nimbly balanced his way up a tight rope. The first time across, he stumbled. But now I'm convinced that was a ploy to heighten the tension, because he completed every other trip across the rope flawlessly. The rope was his trampoline: he gracefully bounded up and down on it, his legs doing swan-kicks in the frosty air. He spoke to the crowd after the show was over, and my relative told me he could usually do more tricks, but the harsh winter air had caused his feet to freeze up.


At the end of the village walk was a quiet waterfall, plunging into a glacial river swimming with ice. We crossed the bridge and entered a cottage with hot floors, the much-needed heat shooing off the chill. It was time to warm up.


"What's the coldest month?" I asked my relative, to see how long I would have to dash from building to building shivering.


She thought. "December's cold."


I nodded, relieved.


Then she said, "But January and February are colder."  


At least there'll be plenty of skiing.

Next blog: It's about time I showcased the epic K Pop (Korean Pop) my students love. Stay posted for lots of dramatic music videos and boy bands with hair healthier than mine.
Disclaimer: The above is presented as fiction, not fact.

Week 8: North Korea Attacks

BusanSINCE ARRIVING in Korea, there has been an inner voice constantly chanting to me, needling me with its persuasive: "When is the next time you're going to be in this part of the world? You need to travel! Go! Go! Go!"
And that is how my friend and I ended up going to Busan in late November.
Let's just say we learned a lot about what to do next time. For starters, Busan is a lovely place. It's sometimes nicknamed "the San Fransisco of South Korea." It has the famous Haeundae Beach. The UN Cemetery. The Jalgachi Fish Market, where you pick out your seafood from vendors, and then take it upstairs to the restaurants where they cook it front of you. But in November? We'd missed the last of October's summer warmth, and a biting cold had swept the country. When we left Seoul in the morning, a white blanket of snow frosted the ground.
The express train could get us to Busan in 2 hours, but it cost 44,000 won. One way. The express bus was advertised as double the traveling time, but half the cost. So we hopped aboard your standard bus with standard leg room (but a nice TV) and drove. And drove. Fourish hours later, still driving. The express buses do make rest stops at these neat little pit stops filled with hot fish-on-a-stick, cream-filled doughnuts, and ddeokbokki. Finally, after five hours, we rolled into Busan.
We stayed at a blue hostel appropriately named Blue Backpackers. A nice, clean place. Breakfast included. However, there was a weird odor that permeated the place. Couldn't quite place it, and didn't want to.
On the subway, I got ambushed by a group of elderly Korean hikers. I had fought for a seat at the back of the subway, but for some reason, this pair kept clucking at me. Annoyed, I scooted over a seat so they could sit together. They still kept clucking. I didn't understand, and was trying to set up a meeting with a friend by phone, so I waved them off. At the next stop, a drunk old man got on the subway.
"I old man!" he announced to me.
"Okay...There's a seat right there." I didn't get why everyone seemed concerned that I was sitting at the back of the subway. I'd had a long journey, had been lugging around my luggage, and not under any circumstance was I going to stand.
When we finally met up with my Korean friend, we jumped onboard the subway again to go to Busan Tower. The seats in the back were open again. I headed over, but she stopped me.
"No! Those seats are for old people. Handicapped. Pregnant."
I looked at my other friend. "I should have just said I was pregnant then."

Peomeosa Temple My favorite part of Busan was Peomeosa Temple. We hopped in a taxi  that plowed straight up the middle of a one-way road, through the barren trees, to an open courtyard. The parking lot was full. Mothers helped children slip out of their shoes as they entered the temple for worship. I caught a glimpse inside and saw many candles flickering, illuminated unfamiliar painted faces.
The temple was laid out in several tiers. Branching out in all directions were hiking trails, one, to a sacred spring, another to the crest of the peak. The air was sweet and light, and we enjoyed bounding up the temple's staircases like mountain goats. Scratch that, we were still burdened down by luggage. But lovely orange persimmons hung over the temple porches, upon which visitors yawned and stretched after their overnight temple stay, and wild cats darted through the bushes.
The most amazing sight to me was the roof of multi-colored lanterns, wishes sketched upon their hexagonal surfaces. Oranges, reds, greens, and pinks all swayed together like a canopy of flowers, causing their shadows to rustle upon the ground. I grinned up at them, feeling as delighted as a child.
Then I saw my first monk. An exciting sight! He was bald, wore gray wool, and clasped a staff in his hand. Maybe a walking stick, or perhaps a fighting staff- who knew? All I knew was that these monks were extremely difficult to get pictures of. They ducked their faces away at just the right times.
Suddenly I remembered the girls back at Gyeongbok Gung Palace, trying so hard to get a picture of us foreigners without our awareness. I smiled.
North Korea AttacksThe other day I was waiting by the subway tracks. A freight train rumbled past. I glanced up, frustrated that the subway was taking its sweet time. And I saw the tanks.
I've never seen tanks in real life. Smaller than I imagined, these ones at least. Yet train car after train car clattered by carrying their ivy-green cargo. Headed west towards Seoul. Towards the border.
I confess, watching the television footage of North Korea's attack on Yeonpyeong Island was an eerie recall to 9-11. It's something you watch over and over again, praying for some definitive answer to come across that never does. What does the attack mean? Will there be an escalation in the conflict? The long-withstanding struggle between North and South is a sleeping war, which simmers and then cools down. But now it's boiling. Tempers run high. Citizens were killed, the first time since the Korean War. North Korea is at a tense leadership turnover, with Kim Jong Il's health teetering. When I returned to my school the next day, I expected public outrage.
Yet my English ears couldn't hear it. School ran normally, and at lunchtime, the teachers chatted about housewarming parties and skin wrinkles. What was there to talk about? We were all waiting.
My co-teacher and I left to go observe an open lesson at a different school. We chatted casually. How expensive coffee was. What was her little boy's favorite TV show. I asked if he'd seen "The Lion King," and she responded with, "What? That's so old!"
I was offended. "The Lion King can never get old! It's a classic!" It was so odd to think of a new generation of children growing up these days, without Simba and Aladdin. Things aren't the same now as they were before. It's a funny feeling.
Finally, I asked her point blank, what she thought about the North Korean attack. Sometimes my co-teacher takes a while to ease into answers, to dance carefully around the subject. Today there was none of that.
"I am so angry!" she exclaimed, and then stopped, abruptly. More flashed behind her eyes, but she lacked the words, in either Korean or English, to express it.
Disclaimer: The above information is presented as opinion, not fact.

Week 7: Flashback Advice

Since I should write something for Week 7:
Flashback IT'S BEEN almost two months now that I've been in Korea. I vividly remember that first week I arrived, back when I was scared to enter a grocery store. My tongue fumbled at the thought of speaking Korean to the cashier, and it was uncomfortable constantly being gawked at and whispered about. I remember the first day I entered my elementary school, and saw the sea of black-haired kids scampering around like wildly screaming banshees. Not just the language barrier, but being a new teacher, was challenging.
But I can't live without challenges. It's like when you're waiting backstage for a play. Behind the curtain, you're nervous, but once you get out there, it's your show. Sometimes in the grocery store, I fail speaking Korean and feel like a complete idiot. It's okay. I've grown used to feeling like an idiot. I've grown used to feeling like a baby, who has to relearn everything all over again. How to eat with chopsticks, how to cut food with chopsticks, cultural mannerisms- don't write names in red ink; it means you wish them death, how to pay bills, how to charge bus cards.
Yet the thing is, no one leaves you hanging. People jump in when they see you having trouble (and sometimes prematurely assume there'll be a problem). In the classroom, the co-teachers have my back. They constantly teach me new tricks. The kids make my job easy. I've only had to give the "I'm disappointed in you," talk to one class for acting up. I think 5th grade is my favorite. 4th and 5th are just at that level where their English is starting to take off, and they're still really enthusiastic to learn. The 3rd graders have the enthusiasm, but their English vocabulary is limited, and most of them can't read. The 6th graders (who graduate this semester) are settling into their pre-middle school "I'm too cool for studying" attitudes. I'm only assisting in that class (I'm not the main teacher) and from what I've seen, teaching by the book doesn't reach them. The interactive tasks do. The co-teacher lets me take over more of the lesson, as I learn his plans and routines, so I'm positive we can get a good balance of both.
Advice to Future TeachersTo anyone considering Korea for the future: there are tons of free Korean language classes available. The one I'm currently going to is an hour and a half on Saturdays. It costs 1,000 won (1 dollar) a day for printing costs, but besides that, you pay nada. They give you the packets, so you don't have to pay for a book. There are also so many hiking/adventure groups to meet up with. I'd advise Adventure Korea. They have an upcoming ski trip that costs 100,000 won (100 dollars) for the transportation, lift ticket, all rental equipment, and insurance. Not bad.
When considering jobs in Korea, think carefully before you accept a position at a hagwon. These after school programs are paid for by parents, and they definitely except results. There is a lot of pressure put on foreign teachers. From stories I've heard, the first month they treat you decently, but in the next they turn into harpies. Also, paychecks can be an issue. At public schools, you never worried about not being paid on time; the school's run by the state, so you know the state has the money to pay you. Hagwons can't pay you until the parents pay up. I'm sure there's good experiences along with the bad, but definitely know what you're getting into!
Also, to all new teachers in the Korean public school system: use waygook.org. It's a website where all the public school teachers share their lesson plans, presentations, and materials for the book. It makes the job a hell of a lot easier. You'll be amazed at the games these people create in power point! Thank you to all you waygookers!
Phones: these can be a hassle because of the language barrier. I can't tell you about any of these hassles, though. My recruiting agency, Adventure Teaching, offers what's called the Arrival Store. It has all sorts of goodies you might need upon landing, as well as a cell phone contract. They offer you a slider cell phone with a buy now, pay later option. You rent the phone. This means you must follow the phone contract for 6 months, but after that, you can end your contract and return the phone at any time. So keep it in good condition! You receive free incoming calls and texts. Outgoing they charge. Due to international fluctuations in price, you have to buy an international calling card to make international calls. I just use Skype for all that jazz (free!). Best thing: all your bills and transactions with the Arrival Store are in English. Service has been good so far, and your phone has a Korean-English dictionary and a Subway map.
Last thing: when you're getting documents together for your visa, do not neglect the Residence Certificate. This is needed to prove you're a United States citizen, so you do not have to pay taxes in Korea and in the USA. Fill out form 8802 on the IRS website to only pay taxes in the USA. Thing is, the IRS can take their sweet time getting the Residence Certificate to you, and you'll need to present it to your school before your first paycheck. So plan at least 2 months for it!
Good luck, miss you all, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Disclaimer: the above is presented as opinion, not fact.