Barb Waldern October Report from Korea : teaching English and visiting Korean festivals

Barbara Waldern is a Vancouverite teaching English in a small town in South Korea.  She joined the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team last year, and she loves exeriencing Vancouver's multicultural community activities.  She moved to Korea in July.  Now she is an ethnic minority in a foreign country.  She sends this report:

Greetings, all!
 
October has flewn by. Chilly breezes amid sweet warm sunshine as the autumn progresses. 'Tis a season of change full of festivity and calamity, new friends and more learning, new colours and new places.
 
The job was getting increasingly unpleasant. Managed to shake it off at last. Dicey because a former boss can make trouble in a small town. Awaiting visa renewal, which will require a short trip to Japan so as to re-enter the country compliments my new boss. Native speakers of English in high demand and schools plentiful so therefore I've had some choice.
 
Was getting creepy at the house. The humidity that extended through September caused moulds to grow. The house is getting renovated. Everyone else had left. (Many teachers turned tail and ran home!)
 
Ended up in a new apartment near a busy and popular shopping district off a main road. (See attached photo of view from my pad.) It feels like a motel. But breaking it in. I get to enjoy the fresh air of a village just a short bus ride away outside Masan called Samgyae. People very down to earth and friendly.
 
Will teach at 2 small schools that belong to a chain operation. This time 'round, I'll be the only foreign teacher on staff. I'm replacing a Korean teacher who speaks English fluently; she's helping me get acquainted this week. Afternoon schedule: no more split shift. - no more kindergarten.  I still get to enjoy the younger kids because the classes are comprised of elementary and "middle school" students. Mostly beginners of English language learning. A little more pay. I have more control over my work. Not too much prep.Top boss a wonderful woman. I must get to know the male directors of the local schools where I'll be teaching.
 
The Canadian Embassy is hosting a Q&A to Korean government speakers about working and living in Korea. I plan to go. It is in Busan later this month.
 
I'm continuing to learn Korean and the new employment will probably force me to practice it more. Actually, it's simpler than English. No conjugations! Just a different verb ending for each tense to attach to the root. No articles! And nobody cares about pluralization when speaking! And you get to drop the pronouns a lot of the time. So grammar a snap. Now, pronunciation's a different matter. In English, for example, we have soft and hard consonants. Did you know that there's a third kind of pronunciation of consonnnts in Korean? English speakers can't even hear it! Of course, there's a lot of vocab to remember.
 
There are many festivals happening. I've been to the parsimmons festival in Jinyeong village, the chrysanthemum fest in Masan (see photo of me attached here), and a cultural festival in Busan. It is still fairly warm during the day (20s) while it cools down over night (18ish). Some folks here say it is cooler than usual for early November. Light jackets or sweaters only. Weather has become quite dry. Ironic that I'm actually thinking of getting a humidifier consider the extreme humidity of the summer.
 
I'm on a new one-year contract. Fingers crossed, the new visa will go smoothly and I'll adapt with little difficulty to the new school. Completion would forecast a return to Canada in November, 2008. In the meantime, I will be considering prospects in the public schools around here. The recruitment period begins in December and new teachers are hired for March. However, schools in Masan are somewhat resistant to the presence of foreign teachers in their classes. Sometimes, a foreign teacher only teaches the Korean teachers of English! This attitude would explain some of the kinds of difficulties in renewing teachers' visas through the Masan immigration office.
 
"Que sera, sera!"
 
My best wishes to everyone.
 
Barb