Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Lunch at Gyongbokgung Restaurant in Insadong

 
   At the end of every month in our academy, we are allowed to go out with our students to celebrate the end of the session. Last night was Chicken and Beer (치맥) with one class, and this morning was Holly's Coffee for breakfast with another class. But, I think lunch today was the be all end all of end of session outings. One gentleman in my level 5 class has a tradition of bringing the whole class out to eat at Gyeongbokgung Restaurant in Insadong to celebrate the last class of every month. Don't let the name of the restaurant fool you, it's not in Gyeongbokgung Palace, but it is a high-class restaurant not far from the palace. It's a great place if you're in the mood for something a little special! We ordered just the basic option, a 24,000 won per person galbi lunch set, but for the quality of the beef and the amount of side dishes it was more than worth the price. Reservations are recommended here as every party is seated in their own private room. Actually, the price of our meal was incredibly low considering the ambiance of the restaurant. Most meals offered are a bit higher, but considering all that came with our basic set, I can't imagine what would come with one of the 40-70,000 won sets!


The meal started with some basic dishes. 물김치 (water kimchi) and a seaweed porridge. Both good, but not quite what I was craving...


After a little while later the good stuff started coming out. Sashimi, and the good banchan (side dishes). 



Doengjang soaked cabbage, garlic and mushrooms and thinly sliced radish folded with sesame leaves, plus lots of salad type things not pictured here.


Though it wasn't on the set menu, we were brought out a special 빈대떡 bindaeddok because we had to wait a little longer than we expected for our food. We were so busy enjoying the ambiance and the starters, we hardly noticed that our food was taking too long!


Then of course was the main meal. 양념갈비, marinated beef galbi was put on the grill. The wait staff attentively grilled our galbi to perfection and we enjoyed the most succulent galbi I've ever had the fortune to taste.


Just because we finished the galbi didn't mean the meal was finished. Then they served up doengjang jjigae with rice and the meal was finally finished off with a cup of refreshingly sweet bokbunja juice.



I feel like I've been really spoiled this month with all my great students and fun end of semester parties. I wonder if next months will ever live up to this one?


Jongno-gu Gwanhun dong 198-42
Gwanhun Building B1
02-722-7713

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Looking for a Free Korean Class in Seoul?

Well, look no further! Our Saturday Korean classes have started again near Sookmyung Women's University Station on line 4 (very close to Itaewon!). Also, There will be beginner and low intermediate classes offered every Thursday night from 7:30-9. See the website for the class schedule, directions and contact information. http://kongbubang.wordpress.com/ .

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Making the Transition to Adult Hagwon Teaching

Perhaps you've noticed a lot fewer posts going up here in the past month, despite the fact that I'm back in Korea. That's mostly because I've taken a position at YBM ELS (Si-Sa) one of the largest adult hagwons in Korea. There were lots of reasons why I was never tempted to take one of these positions before... I mean, teaching kids has quite a cushy schedule (usually 1-9), decent pay (starting at 2.1-2.2 for folks with no experience) and low job expectations other than to just speak English and not have too many complaints from parents. Really, the main reason why I've taken this adult teaching job is that I've completely had it with children. Kids can be great, and most of them are, but when you get one or two bad classes on top of your six other good classes in a day, you can wind up leaving work feeling stressed out and in a bad mood. I decided that I'm sick of the disciplinary part of teaching, and let's face it... I've never been a kid person anyway.

All teachers at YBM go through a one week intensive training class, which our trainer told us is basically an entire CELTA course jammed into one week. Compared to my training at SLP, it was seriously intense. SLP's "training" meant observing various classes for about a week before actually starting to teach. Observing is great for about one day, but then you start to feel like you've gotten the point, but there's still 4 more days of straight observations to go. At YBM we only observed 3 classes, then got to teach 2 of those classes we observed two days later. We were trained on the YBM teaching methodology and we were basically untaught everything that we had ever known about teaching.

As conversation teachers, we're not really expected to teach, per se, it's more like leading discussions. Which on the surface seems quite easy, but I'm finding that it is actually quite difficult. YBM has a very rigid framework which every class needs to follow. 5 minutes of review of the last class at the beginning of class, then a 10 minute warm up of brainstorming, then 25 minutes of discussions, 5 minutes of "feedback" where we make corrections of common mistakes together and practice together, then 5 minutes of review of what we discussed and a preview of the next class. And we're observed often to make sure we're following this model in every class.

One of the biggest shocks for me is the fact that my boss is not Korean. In fact, my boss is a British woman with a long career in the ESL business. Past bosses that have observed my classes have always been happy with my classes. Probably because I'm white and comprehensible when speaking English. My new boss actually has high expectations for us teachers. It's a bit of a shock to my system that hasn't had a native English speaking boss in about 4 years.

The schedule at YBM changes every month, some months are split shifts, early morning and evening with a long break in the middle, others have block shifts meaning one long shift instead of two shorter ones. This month I have a split shift, and a pretty good one compared to most other teacher's schedules. My first class starts at 7am, so I need to arrive at work around 6:30 am to prepare for the day. I have 4 hours of classes before noon, then I'm off the entire afternoon until 6:30 pm when I start my evening shift. I finish my day at 10 pm. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I use my break to call home to America and to sleep, but on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I go to Korean class and use the rest of the time to study. Saturdays are also working days, I am lucky that I only have to work 3 hours, because most people do 6 hours on Saturdays. I was told working Saturdays was optional, but it's really only optional in the sense that, yea, you could say no... but the boss will make your life hell for the rest of the month in every other way. Once you get some seniority, then it really is optional most months. The block schedule isn't so bad in the beginning of the week after getting a good rest on the weekend, but by Thursday and Friday I start to feel like a zombie. I can't think quite straight and I forget to do things because I'm so exhausted.

I keep telling myself that it will get better. This month is February, and university students generally have the months of January and February off from school. Many use their free time to join classes at hagwons to get a little boost on their English skills. Therefore, everyone in our office is doing at least 40 hours of overtime for the month. Some people have even more hours because they do some new student interviews, curriculum development or substitute teaching when teachers are sick. But, I must say, while this job has the lowest base salary I've ever seen, with all the overtime, my paycheck this month will be the biggest I've ever seen.

As for the teaching part of the job, though, I must say that I love it. It sure beats entertaining kids all day. A lot of the topics in the book actually spark some interesting conversations and you can learn so much about the culture and the way people think from teaching these classes. For example, I have one class on Saturday with three older men in the class. I was dreading our conversation topic for the day: "matchmaking", but they had lots of things to say about how they met their wives and the women they had met before they met their wives. All of them had found their wives through some kind of 소개팅 (Korean style blind date) or were introduced by a family member to their future bride. It was interesting to hear their feelings on matchmaking having been married many years to wives met through some form of matchmaking.

We'll see how the next few months go at my new office. I hope I start to have more time for the blog, though, because I'm really missing it a lot. I've still got lots of things to write about and hopefully I can find some time on the weekends to write more!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

The 30th Yongpyong International Ski Festival


The 30th Yongpyong International Ski Festival brought hundreds of foreign guests to Yongpyong Ski Resort this past weekend. Since 1982, this festival has been bringing guests from around the world to experience one of Korea's finest ski resorts and future host to the 2018 Winter Olympics. Festival participants were able to enjoy discounted rates on lift passes, ski and board rentals and condos. The culminating event of the weekend, though, was the ski race on Saturday, a Giant Slalom held on the silver slope, giving an opportunity for all to participate. Ski and snowboard races were held for men, women and children.


Of course, I had to participate as well. Here I am waiting for the Ladies I race to begin.


The U.S. National Ski Patrol was on hand to manage the day's event. They did an amazing job of keeping the hundreds of race participants organized and well informed about the event.


After a few delays it was finally my turn! here I am nearing the bottom of the race. 

 A snowboarder zooming through the Grand Slalom gates


Saturday evening, all were invited to the award ceremony and banquet. Guests were seated according to their nationality and some tables really went all out on their decorations and camaraderie.

U.S. National Ski Patrol's table, decorated in a most American fashion.

The evening started first with dinner, a huge buffet filled with Korean and international options.


After dinner, children and adults were entertained with a magic show. Even as an adult, I was quite impressed with some of the tricks. I could not for the life of me figure out how this card trick worked!

 
A magician doing a magic trick with a volunteer from the audience.

 Winners of the girls' junior ski race, ages 9-13

Finally, the award ceremony began. Prizes were awarded to first, second and third place winners in each division. The representatives from each country went wild when whenever one of their own was sent up to the stage to receive their awards. Flags were waved and winners were often carried on chairs or shoulders wrapped in their national flags to receive their awards. 

 A medalists from Mens' III division from Japan on his way to the stage to receive his award.


And wouldn't you know, I actually got an award myself. 2nd place in the Ladies I division. I got a medal, certificate and my grand prize, a gift certificate to get a free cleaning at a dentist in Seoul. Other awards included ski gear and cell phones for first prize winners. 

Overall, people really seemed to have a great time at this event, which brought out ex-pats from all walks of life, from English teachers to business men and women, all foreigners living here in Korea. Sunday was a day to enjoy skiing on the mountain and there was definitely an international feel to the mountain with hundreds of extra foreigners that the event brought out. I'll be certain to attend next year, and hopefully will be able to grab the gold metal, too, next time!

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Alpensia Ski Resort


Alpensia is Korea's newest ski resort, just opened as recently as the 2009/2010 ski season. Because of its location, literally just around the corner from one of the top ski resorts in the country, Alpensia is easily overlooked. With just a mere 6 slopes competing for Yongpyong Resort's 31 slopes, it attracts far fewer guests, but it shouldn't be forgotten. Alpensia was a key factor in securing the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang and will be the location for the Olympic village in 2018. Also, Alpensia will host the following Olympic events: Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Biathlon, Cross-country skiing, Luge, Bobsleigh and Skeleton.

A view of the ski jump from the top of Alpensia

This year I was fortunate enough to get a joint Yongpyong and Alpensia ski pass so we now have a little more variety in our ski routine. While Alpensia has one slope for beginners, The biggest draw for me is it's intermediate and advanced slopes. Though they are short runs, the snow is really well managed so the conditions are always great. Few guests means that you have fewer people to run into on the slopes, which folks who have spent a lot of time skiing in Korea can tell you can a serious problem on the weekends at other resorts. Few guests also means no lines at ski lifts and good deals around the base as well. It's cheaper to get your skis waxed and edged here, and we had a huge buffet lunch on Seollal weekend for 11,000 won per person at the Holiday Inn at the base of the mountain.

Night view of Alpensia

Ticket prices here are typical of any resort in Korea, but if you are planning on spending more than 2 days in the area, paying 50,000 won will get you a night-time season pass (only 10,000 won more than the regular one time night-time pass). It's super cheap and a great idea if you like spending your days at Yongpyong, you can just hop over to Alpensia after dinner for a few more quick runs without the crouds of Yongpyong at night. As you can see from the photo above, it's quite empty at night.

 Ski Map of Alpensia (click to enlarge)

 Here you can see a map of the resort. There is one beginner trail, Alpha, three intermediate trails, Bravo, Charlie and Delta, plus two advanced trails Eco and Foxtrot, Foxtrot being the most challenging on the mountain. Yes, it's small, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in all other aspects.

A view of "Delta", one of the intermediate trails

The standard prices for the 2011/2012 ski season are as follows. People who have certain Korean bank cards may be eligible for discounts. Discounts may also be offered for spring skiing in March as well. Skis and boards are also available for rent outside the resort, usually for slightly cheaper rates.


LIFT
SKI/BOARD RENTAL
Type
Adults
Children
Adults
Children
Morning
50,000 won
40,000 won
22,000 /24,000 won
16,000/ 20,000 won
Afternoon
Night
Day
65,000 won
48,000 won
26,000/30,000 won
20,000/23,000 won
Afternoon & Night
65,000 won
45,000 won
Day & Night
85,000 won
62,000 won
35,000/40,000 won
26,000/30,000 won

 Though most people are now dreaming about the coming spring, there are still two more months (or more!) left in this ski season. When thinking about your next ski trip, make sure you consider Alpensia as well!

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Yongpyong International Ski Festival: Feb 10-12

Well, since no one else is talking about it, someone has to....


Yongpyong is hosting an International ski festival with ski races open to all (Korean and foreigner, apparently). Discounts on condos, tickets and rentals are available for foreigners plus a banquet (39,000 won for adults) on Saturday night. Definitely, check out the site, and though it says the applications for the races have past, looking at past blogs on the subject, it shouln't be a big deal to sign up late.
Check out the details here: http://www.yongpyong.co.kr/eng/etc/news_view.asp?idx=%2062