A Long Weekend in Tokyo

Late December and January were kind of crazy for us. Our school went on winter vacation right before Christmas for about a month. During this month, the English teachers get 2 weeks off and 2 weeks where they teach an English Winter Camp. Michelle went to Cambodia for 2 weeks and Olivia went to Cambodia, Thailand and Laos with her family. Then we came back and taught Film Analysis to 1st-6th graders for 2 weeks (we just watched "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" a hundred times). After these two weeks, we had a long weekend before classes started up again. For this long weekend we decided to head to Tokyo, Japan.

Our flight was with AirAsia (basically a charter company with cheap flights around Asia, planes kinda sucked though), and we left out of Busan. It was our first time to Busan so we hoped to check it out a bit, but that didn't happen so we'll just have to go later. Anyways, our flight was at 11am on Saturday, so we got to Tokyo at around 1pm. It took a bit of time to get to our hostel, Hotel Kawase, in the Asakusa district of Tokyo which is about an hour train ride from the airport. When it comes to the hostel accommodations let's just say it was far from a 5 star resort. It basically had 1-2 showers for like 40 beds or so, but it was near empty so it worked out well. Saturday was spent walking around the Asakusa district, checking out the area and getting dinner at a ramen restaurant. The little restaurants have an awesome system where you put your money in a machine and press the button of the meal you want, it pops out a ticket, and you hand it to the cook behind the counter to whip up for you.

Nakamise Street in the Asakusa district

It was still rather early after dinner, so we were able to go to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building which goes up 48 stories and gives you a free view of the city. We went at night because if you go during the day, the smog descends and you can't see much. It was really great to see, but inside of where they had all the people stand they had way too many lights so half of what you saw out the window was the reflection from inside. There was also an elegant looking wedding going on, which seemed interesting with the gift shop and number of tourists going on. Food smelled awesome though.

View from the top of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Sunday morning was spent moseying around the Tokyo National Museum. It is a massive museum with exhibits from all over the world. We just stayed in the areas that revolved around Japanese history and archaeology, it was quite interesting. When we realized we had been there for hours, it was decided it was time to head to another part of the city.

Standing Fudo Myo-o, 11th century, Tokyo National Museum

We went to the Harajuku in the Shibuya district to eat and people watch. Harajuku is famous for having Japanese people dressed in really crazy outfits walking around. Unfortunately for us, we went in winter so everyone was wearing winter jackets. We did see a few outlandish outfits and some shoes that told us "under that jacket I know you're wearing something bizarre." When it came to eating, we went to a "70's themed" diner, which was clearly trying to pull off the 50's diner theme and just failed miserably at their decade. But that isn't the only problem with this place, we are pretty sure it is the reason Olivia contracted a bad, nasty case of food poisoning. So, we went back to the hostel so she could lay down and we could figure things out.

While we were in Tokyo, it happened to be smack dab in the middle the 15 day January Grand Sumo Tournament. Win. We were able to go to the sumo Stadium early Monday morning and get General Admission tickets for that day for around 16 USD. We were technically able to enter the stadium immediately that morning, but Olivia wasn't feeling well so she went back to the hostel for some more rest and we decided to return around 3 when the higher ranking sumo fighting began. While Olivia was resting up, Michelle did a bit more exploring of the city. One of the sites most people will tell you to go in Tokyo is the Tsukiji Fish Market, the largest fish market in the world. The big thing to go to is the tuna auction which occurs at 430am with massive fish and apparently tons of energy and is really interesting. We can't tell you if this is true because we skipped that. So Michelle just went later in the day to walk through the market and see the fish they were selling. It was pretty cool to look at, but it was really busy and as a tourist, it seemed extremely intrusive and in the way to be there. But, there were some strange fish being sold and some interesting sights such as men cutting fish to sell while smoking cigarettes and dropping ash everywhere, but whatareyagonnado? 

Tsukiji Fish Market - the largest fish market in the world

Many of the stands looked like this with varying fish and seafood.

After the fish market, Michelle headed to check out the Imperial Palace. It was a Monday so it was closed to tours, but you are able to walk around the park and see everything from the outside. This is probably the 100th time it crossed one of our minds that it would be really nice to visit during a non-winter season because it probably would have been very beautiful to walk around the park if there were leaves and such, but it was just cold and barren.

The closest you can get to the Imperial Palace on a Monday.

After that, it was time to meet back up and go to the sumo tournament. Luckily, Olivia was feeling much better after a day of rest so was able to happily go to the tournament. And let us just say, definitely the coolest thing. Until in person, you really don't realize just how large these men are or how into sumo people in the audience are.

Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Stadium

It was really cool to watch but probably would have been much cooler had we known what was going on. There was clearly a lot of ritual going on during each bout which we later found out was because sumo has strong ties to Shinto. For example, the wrestlers would get into position and appear like they were ready to fight, then stand up and go to the side of the rink and stretch, smack themselves, and throw salt at different angles at the rink. This would happen about 3-5 times before they would actually begin to fight. While we would like to know what they were doing at why, the most confusing part about this was that at seemingly random times, that to us seemed like every other time they would do anything, the crowd would erupt into excited cheers. No clue why. Another interesting part was the number of western men who were involved because, being Americans, neither of us could possibly figure out how you get into sumo if not in Japan. All in all, hands down the coolest thing we did while in Tokyo.

     

Sumo Tournament

After the tournament ended for the day, it was only about 630pm, so we headed to another district to check it out. The districts in Tokyo are all vastly different, so a good strategy to touring the city is to visit as many districts as you can. We chose to go to Shinjuku, which has all the government buildings on one side (where we went to see the view) but on the other side it is the home to Tokyo's Red Light District where the mafia hangs out, Kabukicho. So, we went there to walk around. The place was really lit up with some skeezy looking clubs and people. Once outside of Kabukicho, it was still really lit up with tons of people and really "Tokyo" in our eyes. Both of us had this image of the city from movies, that so far we hadn't found. This district seem to meet that image and it was pretty interesting.

The Shinjuku district

The Shinjuku district

After walking around Shinjuku we grabbed some food then headed home to pack and get ready for our flight early the next morning. We got back to Korea in time for the last few weeks of the school year before jumping on another plane to Malaysia, a trip we have just returned from and will post about soon! 

Happy Valentine's Day from Korea!

In Korea, on Valentine's Day women traditionally give chocolate to men. It is not until White Day on March 14th that men give gifts to women. For those who are single, Black Day is celebrated on April 14th when single people get together to mourn their lack of a love life and eat jajangmyeon (noodles with a black bean sauce) together. It is the ultimate Singles Awareness Day.

Kids Are Weird

Kids really do say the most entertaining things. We thought we would put up a post highlighting a few of the wonderful things we have both encountered with our students. 

Winter Camp, Grade 2
Judy: "I am done."
Olivia: "Draw what you think Dr. Seuss looks like."
5 minutes later
Judy: "How do you spell Seuss?"
Olivia: "S-e-u-s-s"
Judy looks at her paper which has 'sou' and says: "p!" to make "Dr. Soup" with a picture of a man's head in a bowl of soup.




Olivia's 1st Graders
Girl: "My favorite food is coffee." - keep in mind, this is a first grader!

Lily, while poking Olivia's stomach: "Teacher, is there a baby in there?"
Olivia: "No, I'm too young for a baby."
Lily: "No teacher! But you are old!"
Olivia: "How old do you think I am?"
Lily: "42!"

Leo, looking extremely concerned: "Teacher! Fingers!"
Olivia: "What's wrong?"
Leo: "Blood!" 
Olivia: "Where?"
Leo, pointing to Olivia's red nail polish: "There! You need nurse. So much blood!"

Harrison: "Teacher, can we have a rabbit for a pet? Because it has a million billion poops and that is funny."

Hannah: "Teacher, you have born all of the children in this class but you are still so thin! hahahaha"

Sue: "Teacher, is that your boyfriend?"
Olivia: "No, that is Barack Obama, the president of the United States."
Sue, very seriously: "No he is your boyfriend. And he is very, very ugly."

Elizabeth: "Teacher, you are USA"
Olivia: "You mean, 'you are from the USA'"
Elizabeth: "No, you are USA. U is you, S is your curvy body, and A is your boyfriend, Aladdin"
Olivia: "My boyfriend's name is Aladdin?"
Elizabeth: "Yes, the one with the genie and magic lamp!" 

Olivia had two fish in her class and for winter vacation she was traveling around Southeast Asia and unable to care for them. As a result, she sent the class pets (Fishy 1 and Fishy 2) home with two students a few days before break. The day after she sent the fish home, one of her students that was in charge of a fish came up to her and said this: "Baby brother take Fishy and put in mud. Throw Fishy. Fishy dead. Brother cut Fishy. Fishy zombie." RIP Fishy. 

While watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas!...
Sarah: "We should kill the Grinch and eat his head!" 

Jack: "Teacher, do you know the Steven Jobs? Is he your father?" 

Alvin: "Teacher, are you strong? Because I see no muscles. Can you lift car? I think no." 

Kevin: "Did you know I have one million dollars? Your head is warming up because you think very much!" 

Olivia, pointing to a photo of Obama: "Do you know who this is?
Boy: "This is Obama. He is king of New York!"

Girl, while pointing to the freckles/moles on Olivia's arm: "Why do foreigners have so many spots on them?"

Elizabeth: "Teacher, why are your legs so long? How do I make my legs so long?"

I looked up from my desk to see Jack holding a paper cup in his mouth while attempting to simultaneously cutting a hole in the bottom with an xacto knife. When asked if this was a good idea he said "Yes teacher." 

Sue: "Did you forget to do something important today?"
Olivia: "I don't think so"
Sue: "Are you sure you didn't forget to poop, teacher?" 

Girl 1: "Teacher you have such a big nose!"
Olivia: "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" 
Girl 1: "Good! It is an American nose!" 
Girl 2: "No no no! It is an ugly nose!"


Michelle's 6th Graders
Tony: "Teacher, what do African's eat?" 

One of my boys told me he write poetry, and they have these e-diaries I check each week for grammer and such, so I told him he should write a poem for one.. this was part of what he wrote.. very very good, but very very strange

     "Her mind is like/ a rose,/ And I follow/ her by smelling/ her mind."

Found from right before I arrived written in a diary I check: "Then we will get a new teacher who is an engineer from MIT. I am excited to have a teacher that is a professor." - That was referring to me, as that's what all the parents were told I was. 

Carrie: "Joanne, wasn't it funny when during Science today I said b-o-o-b?"
Joanne: "Ha ha yeah!"
Jason: "I know what b-o-o-b is. Stop talking about it."
Carrie: "You don't know what it is!"
Jason: "Yes I do! Chris told me!"
Carrie: "Well then what is it!?"
Drake: "Carrie, stop talking about bras."
Carrie: "I'm not!"
Drake: "Well, you always talk about bras. What is a bra?"
Then the conversation stopped because they realized Tr Michelle was in tears laughing so hard at the front of the classroom and they were scared they were being too inappropriate.

Looking at the lunch menu for the day: "Eww pumpkin porridge. No I would rather eat garbage"

Assignment to write a descriptive paragraph about a member of your family:
Joshua: "I would like to describe to you my brother. He smells like garbage because he showers once every month. He looks like garbage and he feels like garbage. I think he is really garbage." 

I have a bottle of febreeze from a lesson, and the boys like to use it for their own smelling-better purposes. One instance was when one of my boys just came up to me and asked for the febreeze because he sweat in gym and his armpits smelled; he then proceeded to spray his armpits.

Tr. Michelle in writing class: "So who can tell us what we learned about last week?"
Henry: "Committing suicide and wedgies!"
*Don't worry, I was not giving them tips or anything. In writing they had to write a paragraph about a world problem, and as mentioned in a previous post suicide is a big problem here, so many of my students chose to write about that. Only they would write "suicide them self" or "suicided." So, we had a mini lesson on how to properly say that. Then, they were writing about wedges (which had come up in previous essays too), so I asked what a wedge was. They explained it, so we had a little lesson on a "wedge" - a simple machine and a "wedgie" -  pulling someone's underwear up. It was just nice to see what my kids really remember from my classes...

One of my students who had just gotten back from a week long trip in America (pretty sure it was LA) said he saw a lot of people on the street drinking and smoking and it was scary

My boys now call me "My Lord" because I wont let them call me sir and they think ma'am is an ugly word

After the election: "Obama called and said we should have a free day."

Michelle's 2nd Graders
"Teacher, you are a million billion million years old!"

Rosa: "Teacher Michelle! You have a clipboard! You don't know all the answers!"
Me: "Yes I do, I know all."
Rosa: "What's my grandfathers name?"
Touche.. you win.

Michelle's 4th Grader
Tr Michelle: Henry, why are you late today?
Henry: I had to go to the BIG bathroom...

Korea's Approach to Medicine

So for winter break, I (Michelle) took a little trip to Cambodia for a couple of weeks and came back with a few bug bites. After being really really good at not scratching, one day I gave in, and of course, an infection followed. It continued to get worse, so I decided to go to the doctor to get some antibiotics. A fellow foreigner gave me a suggestion of a really good English speaking doctor in Gwangju, so I sent him a message and went and saw him as soon as I could.

I got to the hospital and was seen almost immediately (with lots of staring because, you know.. foreigners and health issues are very interesting). The doctor spoke really great English and told me that he had once had a layover in Detroit and turned down a residency interview from Wayne State, so I thought that was really interesting and unexpected. But anyways, we went on with the appointment. He assured me that I just had an infection, most likely cellulitis. He then preceded to say "So don't worry, worst case scenario, we won't have to cut off your leg or anything, but we may have to do surgery to remove the infected skin." Needless to say, I was not comforted by this prospect of surgery, especially since the infection just came on 2 days prior. He then told me to go to the waiting room to await my discussions with the surgeon. I was less comforted.

I was then escorted to the room with all the beds and curtains and told to lie down.. again, even less comforted. A couple of nurses came over to me with an IV but could not tell me what was in it, and then the doctor came and said "do not worry, it is some pain killers and antibiotics. You will also get 2 shots and a shot in the butt." For those of you who aren't familiar, a shot in the butt is almost a given for going to the doctor with an ailment. Usually it is vitamins, but my doctor told me it was a special pain killer because they were going to clean out the infection and it would hurt. About halfway through my IV and having received no shots, the nurses came over and cleaned my infection by just dumping a 1L bottle of alcohol on it and squeezing it causing quite a bit of pain. They then bandaged it up and left. 

My doctor came back with the surgeon and they chittered over my wound in Korean for awhile, shook hands and the surgeon left. My doctor relayed the conversation and said "The surgeon thinks you will be fine. But only God know. You understand that right?" Again, for the seemingly 100th time, I was not comforted and convinced I would loose my leg or die. I received the rest of my IV and 2 shots of antibiotics, but since the nurses forgot the shot in the butt before they cleaned my leg, I did not have to receive that. Now, by the time my IV was gone, I was feeling rather loopy. As I was getting my IV out, my doctor was trying to work on his bedside manner (and not tell me I was in the hands of God's mercy) and telling me jokes asking if I needed any morphine or crack. Then he told me "call me Sangster, like ganster, but with an S. That is because my name is Sang, and I think that will be easier for you to remember." Then he sent me on my way with a prescription for 3 days of antibiotics, and asked me to return the next day since he wanted to see me daily (again, my nervousness increased). 

After leaving, I was pretty unhappy with what happened and with what may ensue for the rest of this Korean treatment plan. All I could tell was that it was waaaaay more intense than anything I had received in the States. This is my 3rd time contracting cellulitis, and the 2 other times I was prescribed 10 days of 1 antibiotic pill and was just dandy at the end of the regime. This was obviously not the case in Korea. After my day of surprises at the doctor, I went and got my prescription which consisted of 5 mystery pills. I got a prescription sheet written in Korean, but no description of what I was taking or any warnings or limitations or anything. 

Well, the next day I went back and was rather nervous what they would tell me that day. Again I got an IV and 2 shots (no shot in the butt though) and had my open sore cleaned again (another entire bottle of alcohol). We went to Japan that next weekend, so I wasn't able to return for awhile, which was okay by me.

A day of pills: take one little baggy after each meal

I asked my doctor for the pills he prescribed  and he wrote down that I was taking 2 antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, and anti-acids. Again, a bit over the top. Olivia and I then tried doing all the googling we could trying to figure out what I was taking, and she asked her dad (thanks for the advice by the way Dr. Baad!!) and he agreed it was absurd. So 15 days later I was still on antibiotics, and my infection was basically gone. But, as you can see, Korean's approach to medicine is a LITTLE different than the western one - hit it hard and dramatically.