Visiting the Joo.

What's a Joo you ask? Well it's what all Korean's call a Zoo and it's starting to catch on amongst my friends and I. The most notable phrase being, "It's a Joo in here!" Which it usually is in Korea with the mass crowds and small spaces. This space issue extends to their Zoo's as well, those animals definitely weren't living in adequate habitats. Regardless, last Friday was a delight as we took the children to the local hot spot: Family Land.

As you may have noticed, about once a month we have field trips and so far we've been strawberry picking out in rural Korea, went to a Bamboo Festival, and now, the Joo! Each event gets better and better as the children come into class fully equipped with their outdoor gear: Giant hats to shade them from the sun, sunglasses, and now we even have special field trip uniforms. Even my boss's nephew, Shi-Ho, had his own miniature version of the uniform to sport on the field trip. More on his cuteness later!

Once we arrived I was a bit overwhelmed with the stench, but rotten smells are something I've seemed to become accustomed to living in Korea. I still don't know how they can be so advanced yet still have to put their shit filled toilet paper in a nearby garbage can rather than flushing it. There was a plus side to this awful smell situation, one of my students was able to communicate in English that in fact the zoo stank by saying, "Molly Teacha! Zoo smells bad!" Now this may seem like an obvious and easy statement but really, 6 months ago these children were about as advanced in English as I am in French. For those of you who don't know me, this means NO SKILLS AT ALL. And through their daily Kindergarten classes, all taught in English they've caught on so much. I may be going a bit off subject here, but it is really cool to see the progress they have made through my help. The zoo really helped exemplify their advancements too. They were able to name almost all of the main animals in English. Andy stepped it up a notch when we got to the Penguin exhibit with, "Molly! Igloo! Penguin House!" Man it doesn't get old.

Speaking of learning English, my directors nephew Shi-Ho, who is probably no more than 3 years old has taken a liking to English. He knows my name is Molly Teacha and he can do A-D and the best saying is when I'm leaving, with his version of "See you tomorrow" He says his name "Shi-ho tomoraw" He also had a lovely moment while we sat down for lunch at the Zoo. All of us were quite tired from the few hours of running after kids and looking at animals so the break was long needed. The moment Shi-Ho sat down he decided lunch wasn't necessary, as you can see here:

I made a few observations about the differences between American Zoo's and Korean Zoo's as well:

1) They had dogs, like regular dogs we'd have back home in the exhibits. Of course they were placed in shit cell like areas too, so that was rather depressing.

2) You could ride the elephants. Yes, for a mere 5 bucks you could get your own elephant ride. As sad as that sounds, I really wanted to ride an elephant but then all my students would get jealous that they couldn't. Next time!

3) They also had rabbits. Like common pet shop rabbits in an exhibit, and as a matter of fact, their living quarters were much nicer than the dogs... hmphm..

4) While this is not a cultural difference, I reall y sawfor the first time the way children react with amazement to the Joo. It was almost more enjoyable than the visit itself.

Of course, any Friday wouldn't be complete without some socializing, so after I got home, I went out to a late dinner with my friends at the best spot ever, the unlimited Sashimi for 20 bucks spot. We must have spent a good few hours there, devouring the food, drinking soju, taking pictures and enjoying the good friends we've made 1000's of miles from home. Afterwards we also had a chance to check out a new "lounge" in Gwangju that caters to the foreign community.