주석 Chuseok Vacation

Last Monday, Koreans celebrated Chuseok (their Thanksgiving equivalent.) Most Korean families travel to their hometowns during this time, so all of the big cities eerily empty out. For foreigners however, it means a five-day weekend and taking over those cities or neighboring countries, like Japan or Taiwan.

I had left school early the previous Friday to pick up Kate from the airport. Talk about Chuseok traffic. It was hell. It reminded me of the traffic on the GW in New York, which made made me homesick/slightly pissed off. Though I had no other way of getting there, so I kind of just had to put in my music and deal with it. We spent our time in Seoul for the next two days doing touristy things. We went on a Seoul City bus Tour, which I absolutely recommend. You can choose from three different routes. The one we chose was two hours long in duration, but you can get off wherever you want and buses come through in 30-minute intervals to pick you up. It's really nice because it's up to you which sites you get off at and how long you stay at each one. It no doubt kept us on a schedule. We saw Deoksugung Palace, The National Museum of Korea, and stopped in Insadong- a must for any tourist traveling through Seoul who is looking to buy traditional gifts and souveniers. There, we tried some green tea made fresh in front of us from ingredients grown in Jeju. Delicious. We also witnessed a man making traditional Korean rice cakes. These things are at almost every teacher's meeting and given out at special events as part favors, so I've had my fair share. It was cool to finally see how they come together. The sticky rice mixture was in a large wooden stand, and he was literally wacking the thing from over his head as hard as he could with a wooden hammer. This was now my third time in Insadong; I can't get enough. Strolling down the streets, window shopping and people-watching with coffee or tea in hand, is probably one of my favorite past-times.  I showed Kate the night life of Hongdae and Itaewon, which is always a good time. We stayed at an awesome hostel called Jin's Paradise. Jin is now one of my coolest Korean friends. His hostel is about a 7-minute walk from exit 1 and 2 of Itaewon Station. Perfect location. Great rooms, safe, clean, affordable, and really popular with young travelers. It has a real homey, hippy kind of vibe. To top it off, the roof has a breathtaking view of Seoul and Namsan Tower. 

Kate experiencing Hongdae

Jin's view from the roof

Amazing

Awesome lounging room in the palace. This kid was loving it.

Cutie in her hanbok (traditional Korean dresses)

Outside of the museum

Always find Buddhas so interesting and serene

Gorgeous paintings

Making green tea from Jeju 

Making rice cakes

Guards in front of the Palace

Showing different Asian Buddhas.

We took a subway ride to Myeongdong to visit the four-story Forever 21. Yes, I said four-story. We didn't even make it to H&M. Foreigners love this place, because if you're anything like me, I'm not into the huge frills and lace that is Korean fashion. Of course they still have simple clothes, but you need to search, especially for your size. So going to Myeongdong is an exciting, thrilling adventure, that doesn't happen so often. I actually spent a good amount of money (way to go me.) While walking back from Myeongdong, we came across a beautiful Catholic Church. Myeongdong Cathedral. It was the very first parish built in South Korea. Let's not forget to bring up The Flying Pan- my favorite breakfast joint in Seoul thus far. I don't think I've made a Seoul trip yet without getting there. Below is their avocado chicken sandwich, along with a seasonal pumpkin cheesecake. We could NOT pass that up, especially being disappointed after finding that even the Seoul Starbucks' weren't selling their pumpkin lattes. We headed back to Andong on Sunday, avoiding all the traffic of the holiday since most families had started their travels at the start of the weekend. Thank goodness.

Chicken avocado

Pumpkin cheesecake 

Out in Itaewon 

We left early the next morning for Busan. We met up with my friends from Andong, who had been there on vacation since Saturday. That afternoon we took a beyond crowded bus to  Haedong Yongung Temple. Since it was the actual day of Chuseok, we didn't think it would be crazy busy, but we quickly found the opposite to be true. I guess visiting temples is a popular thing to do on this holiday. We stood on line for about 15 minutes before we hit the cliffs overlooking the water and the temple, then got back on line to walk over to the actual temple. The sight was absolutely breathtaking. I can say it's the most beautiful temple site I've seen thus far, and my temple count is getting up there. I'll let the pictures try and explain, but we all know they can only do some much justice. We hung out on Haeundae beach for a while after that until we figured we should go eat something. We were all still ridiculously full from lunch, so we ventured into the market for some small street food before the bars.  For lunch, we all had burgers at Wolfhound. I got a delicious veggie burger, but the size of the thing was enormous. I'm sure I wouldn't think that if I got it back in the States, but the fact that we're not used to eating greasy, huge helpings of food anymore affects you. My stomach actually felt a little upset afterwards. It's amazing the difference in portion size between the States and Korea. Kate got her street food experience, but opted out of the spicy tteokbokki, which I gladly ordered. Mmm soo good. I'm sure I've explained it before, but tteokbokki is Korean's most famous street food and you can find it at almost every vendor. It's consists of rice cakes, scallions, imitation fish cakes, and a really spicy red pepper sauce. It's so creamy and kind of perfect. It fills you up, and is usually only around 3,000 won.

On line for the temple 

Rubbing Buddha's belly supposedly brings wealth and good luck, and some think pregnancy. (When we were walking back, an ahjumma was rubbing this guy like crazy, and all her friends were hysterical with laughter. Their laughs are always contagious.)

LOVE this shot. This boy was very much in his own world. 

ahhhhh I can't get over these Korean children.

Busan was absolutely beautiful the next day. It's always a treat to sit on that beach with no worries, not even that you just paid an obnoxious amount for a tall Starbucks coffee. If I close my eyes, and ignore all the Korean being spoken, I can feel like I'm back home on our beaches. Very comforting.

Busan Market

This went on for 20 minutes. Down to the water, up the sand. Down to the water, up the sand. OH how life was so simple as a child.

 We traveled back the next day being that I had to go back to work on Thursday. I introduced Kate to all that is Andong and she finally got a sense of what the real Korea is all about. She saw a clear difference between Seoul and Busan and my city. I'm overly grateful that she was able to make this trip, and that she got back safe and sound. I love my visitors and am thankful I have such wonderful people in my life that make a huge trips to come see me (Yes, mom, you and Dennis.)

So our tiny vacation finally came to an end, and I was back off to work.. but only for two days, and then I finally made it to our city's International Maskdance Festival.. I'll get on that post in the next few days..

Naked Women Everywhere. Oh The 짐질방 Experience..

If that title didn't peek your interest, you must be crazy.

It just occurred to me today that I have yet to write about this, for it happened more than a month ago.

짐질방. Pronouned "jimjilbang," or public bath and sauna.
Jimjilbangs are a large part of Korean culture, so after many stories from friends and a big deep breath, I decided that it was time I needed to experience it. So one weekend in August after my return from Japan, a few friends and I decided to stay at one while in Busan, instead of booking a hostel or love motel. We chose Haeundae Spa Center, for it was a short 10-minute walk from the beach.
http://www.haeundaespa.com/

First thing we do: Walk in
Second: Freak out.

Okay, no matter how comfortable you are with your body in front of friends and family, it's a whole other ball game when you are a naked foreigner (most times... the only foreigner) amongst 100+ naked Korean women.

A few facts:
1.Men and women are separated by floor. You can't even press the women's floor from the men's floor and the communal floor on the elevator, and vice-versa. They mean business.
2. You can stay overnight or just do a spa day.
3. It cost us a whopping 9,000won, which is not even $8. AMAZING.

So as I said before, I was told countless stories, both involving good and bad experiences. The one major piece of advice I received  was to get over and accept the fact that these ahjumma's WILL stare at you. We're westerners. We have hips. They don't. Get over it. And in this place, there is NO where to hide. So as we paid for our stay, we said goodbye to the boys and walked in to the women's floor. We were met by a woman at a desk who gave us our robes (baggy linen capri type sweat pants and a button up shirt. Really fashionable.) She also gave us a locker key and two towels. We thought, oh well at least we have towels to cover ourselves up with. No. They were legit hand towels, more for drying your hair/face. That idea was shot down quickly. We quickly realized we were really going to do this. As we walked to our lockers we had our first sighting of the nakedness. Women, girls, everywhere. Fully comfortable and fully naked. Bizarre is the word that came to mind. We have nothing like this in the States, and I think that's why it was so very interesting more than anything. We actually didn't use the baths until later, but we did decide to do a little bit of exploring before getting ready to go out. This way when we came back that night, we would know exactly what it was all about. Now keep in mind we were fully clothed at this point amongst all the nakedness, so that was a bit uncomfortable. Beyond the lockers were bathrooms, a huge vanity room, with mirrors on three walls, equipped with hairdryers, q-tips, and combs, A t.v. area with benches, and women outstretched, completely carefree in their nakedness watching the Olympics. Then you hit the main attraction- the sauna and bath room. Of course we couldn't go in yet, because we were still clothed, so hold on just a tic...

As we took all this in, I had a feeling of, oh my god I don't think I can walk around like this in front of all these strangers and be okay with it. It's a definite test on how comfortable you really are. It's not like I'm not comfortable with my body. This is was deeper than that. In our case- the stares. And boy did we get them, but surprisingly unlike walking on the streets, in here you're a celebrity for a mere 3 1/2 seconds and then you're just like everyone else. I didn't really experience many lingering looks. Good thing.

So as we came back from our night, we made the great leap. I was a nerd, counted to three and stripped down. I took my 2 towels with me and headed into the spa area. It really was a beautiful sight. Think of an enormous room, with dimmed lights, and water reflecting off each corner. To your right there were about 10 showers and bath areas to your far right (personal stations holding their own shower head, sink, stool to sit on, and a vanity with a large bowl on top.) You bring your shampoo and body wash etc. to these stations or the showers (whatever your preference.) It's a cardinal rule to shower/bathe before stepping into the pools. In the center and all along the left and back walls are pools of differing temperatures. One of them even had 2 waterfall type shower heads above them. You can stand underneath it and a flood of water falls on you for like 3 minute intervals. I actually didn't do that, but it looked intriguing. In the center there are stations where ahjummas who are employed by the jimjilbang will scrub you down. I believe it's an extra expense, and after seeing it done, I plan on doing it the next time I'm at one. I've been told they're pretty rough, but that it feels amazing once you're done. Definitely a twist on what we think of as pampering. I spent a good amount of time in a cold pool and an extremely hot one. As I turned on the jets and sat back, I looked around just taking it all in. First of all, not even believing I was actually doing this, second of all, admiring the stares turned into smiles from ahjummas, third of all lauging at the children who were splashing and playing with their friends/sisters in the pools, and fourth of all, intrigued by the relaxation on everyone's faces. They all seemed like they had not a worry in the world.

After an hour or so, we made our way back out to the lockers to change into our beautiful bed time attire and headed upstairs to the communal sleeping floor. This floor is basically a huge open space where people are relaxing, talking quietly amongst themselves, watching tv in the corner, but mostly sleeping. It literally looks like a hospital ward that had no beds for their patients. You don't know who anyone is because they are all lying down with the same attire. It took us forever to find our friends the next night because the place was so packed. It was like walking on broken glass, stepping in between people's heads and feet. Along the sides of the floor and down short hallways are about 15-20 tiny rooms. They include massage rooms where you can pay for full-body massages; sauna rooms that vary from ice-cold rooms to such intense heat, that I opened the door to one and had to shut it right away because the air was so thick I couldn't breathe. Down the short hallways are private, quiet, sleeping rooms, some unisex, and some seprated. There are no English signs, so we really needed to pay attention as to who were in the rooms. The first night we slept in one of the unisex private rooms and the second night we made our way out to the patio.  I have to tell you, waking up to sun shining on you, on a balcony overlooking Haeundae, was pretty amazing.

Yes. I would do it again. This experience is one westerners really can't get bak home. I'm not sure if they exist at all in the States. If they do, I'm sure you really have to go searching. By the end of it, the nakedness was no longer a problem and I became quite accustomed to the whole ordeal. This is a MUST for anyone visiting Korea for an extended period of time. Even if you don't stay... 5,000won or $4 for a day at a spa is pretty damn good. You really can't pass that up.  

How Waygook Teachers Get Through It

One Long Word: KikinitinKorea.

But before I get into that, quick update on the typhoon: Yes, we survived. My school was sent home at noon, due to the forecast and worry of my Principal. My Vice Principal at my school today said that there are some people still missing on Jeju and other small islands down south. My city just experienced heavy rain and winds. Thought it did prove to be much stronger than Typhoon Bolaven that hit us in August, which was also expected to do damage.



So, it hit me today that I hadn't yet shared this blog on here, and I'm really not sure why. Of course almost every waygook teacher here is aware of KikinitinKorea and it is talked about constantly. To people back home- I know you're not going to get most, if not all of it, but it's fun to show you anyway.

The fact that this blog has become such a huge hit, is because every SINGLE thing on here is relatable and without a doubt the truth. Every one of us has experienced about 98% of these things. There have been countless times that I have thrown my head back in laugh out loud, and I mean LOUD laughter. It's also updated frequently, so we're always looking forward to new laughs. Even if you people back home don't understand, laugh, or even smirk..at least you get a fun insight into what my life is like here, along with every other waygook teacher. This blog gets us through a lot of days. If you think some of them are over the top... think again. This is Korea. This is what we go through, and we love every minute of it. Fact- The person who owns this blog is a GENIUS.

http://kikinitinkorea.tumblr.com/

The Rainy Season

So typhoon season has been hitting for a while now, and today is our third major one in two months. The first two barely hit where I live. After hitting Okinawa right off of Japan, they went up the west coast of Korea, hitting Jeju Island and the cities along the coast. All my city saw was a ton of rain and strong winds, but nothing too too bad.

Last night, a bunch of waygook teachers were saying that their schools were cancelled, but teachers still had to go in. Well, my co-teacher has her own unique way of choosing not to communicate with me, so I kind of called it last night. And what do you know, as I came up to school, and saw the lack of boys playing soccer, and mad groups of children walking up the hill.. I knew this was the case for me as well.

So here I am, sitting in my office, being really productive! NOT. Honestly. What is the reasoning? I'm not complaining because I'm lazy and don't want to be here. I'm complaining because if this really is the "worst typhoon Korea has seen in 60 years.." why do they think adults should risk their safety, and can maybe handle it better. I'm sorry, but typhoons are part of mother nature, and she is not one you can really control. Schools are supposed to protect every single person in them, including students, faculty, and staff. One of the fifth grade teachers saw me in the hallway, and told me how the students weren't coming in today, and how her mom said, "What about you? What if something happens?" So clearly, there is some understanding going on some place.

The worst part is that I forgot my book, so being that all of my lesson planning is done, I will most likely resort to sidereel, pinterest, and the never ending world of facebook. I'm also waiting on my new Macbok Pro that I just bought for myself. It should've been here today, so I'm hoping the mail is just late.. Spending the next eight hours playing around with it would make this day quite perfect actually.

Wish me luck!

The next 5 months..

So I have approximately 5 1/2 months left in this beautiful country, (crazy!) and I've made a few changes

We all recently got back from our summer vacations and are already three weeks into the new semester. Our students have their own versions of senioritis, the humidity is THANKGOD gone! The fall season is coming in full swing.. which means my birthday! And I am ready to take on a new side of Korea, figuratively and literally.

I have been doing less traveling, less partying, less shopping, and because of that, I've bonded with my fellow Andong teachers more and more. My liver, my bank account, and my conscience is thanking me. Andong has finally set up formal Korean classes for its foreign teachers, so we've had one week of that so far. It's every Thursday night for about an hour and it couldn't be more lovely. It's made me realize how much I actually have learned and retained in the past six months, but how much I still need to learn to be happy with where I want to be.

I have made a conscious effort to see more of Korea, in the cultural sense. Today I made a list of festivals I want to attend. I think I've brought this up before, but Korea LOVES their festivals. They usually last for two weeks, and there's always free food, cool gifts, and plenty to do and see. Some of the ones coming up include, an Autum Apple Festival, Jinju Namgang Lantern Festival, Busan International Film Festival, and Namdo Food Festival. (And that's just the next three months.) The great thing about these, is it's a reason to see another part of Korea. Some of these cities would never be on your list of places to go, but the fact that they're hosting festivals is all the more reason to get off your ass and explore.

I hiked a bit in the beginning of my time here, but then it got to be way too humid. I can't really begin to explain the humidity we all went through here. New York gets pretty damn humid, but this was on an entirely new level. It was brutal, to the point where stepping out of your air conditioned apartment was something you dreaded and taking taxis to places you were always able to walk to before, was a necessity just to escape the heat. Getting off my tangent... I'm going to start hiking again before it gets drastically bitter cold.

I want to walk away in February knowing I accomplished as much as I could in twelve months. (Still deciding whether to renew my contract or not.) Korea may be small, but it's still a country, so of course it is far beyond anyone's reach to see everything in one year's time. It's really quite impossible. There's too much to learn, too much too see, and too much to really take in.

Living and working here is completely different than being a tourist. So that's why when my mom and Dennis came, I was able to show them the "real" Korea, the ins and outs (things tourists don't know about because they don't live here), as well as the touristy things that I had never done before. We came across things that I had never noticed in my own city. As someone living in Korea, your mindest is in a different place. So I believe we have to make more of an effort to really explore what this country has to offer. My friend from home is flying in at the end of the month and I plan to go to the DMZ (de-militarized zone at the 38th parallel, North Korean border) as well as a templestay, something my friend Dayna and I have been wanting to do for a while now.

More than six months have gone by and it's really unbelievable. I have no regrets from the first six. I discovered what my conservative, but kind city is all about, I explored parts of Seoul, I swam at the most populated beach in Busan, I traveled across the country to a mud festival, I spent countless weekends in one of my favorite cities- Daegu, I took on Korean fashion, I made Korean friends, I taught myself Hangul, I bonded with co-teachers while out for coffee and lunch, I stayed in beach huts on an island off of Incheon, I hiked the most difficult mountain in Andong, I went on a church group outing to Danyang caves and witnessed beautiful scenery. I've gotten physically and mentally lost, and have found my way back. Classes have made me cry and laugh. I've figured out what this culture is all about, and have found explanations as to why it's so hard for westerners to assimilate. It's been quite a rollercoaster and quite an adjustment, but I've accomplished and am still accomplishing all of the goals I set for myself when I came here.

Summer Camps

As I've mentioned in a previous post regarding the Korean education system, most students here attend summer and winter academic camps during their vacation time. I had two weeks of camp at my school, as well as one week of sleep away camp run by the Andong Office of Education out in the country.

So, here is a little of what I have been up to over the past three weeks. My first camp at school consisted of 3rd-5th graders. The students were there for three hours in the morning, but I split my time between two classes. I taught 3rd and 4th graders with my co-teacher for the first hour and half, and then moved rooms to teach the 5th graders for the next 90 minutes. I taught with the other Korean English Teacher, who is the younger teacher who helped me a lot in the beginning with setting up a bank account, cell phone, etc. She was lovely to work with. We instantly connected, whether it was from our proximity in age or similar personalities and teaching styles. Either way, it was a great environment to teach in. I taught a different topic each day, including olympics, healthy vs. unhealthy foods, appearance, and baking, where we made no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies. Of course each class' level varied greatly so I had to modify my lessons accordingly. Overall, it was a very relaxed atmosphere, and I tried to make it as fun as possible for them, since it's the summer and all and these kids are sitting in a hot classroom/gym. Oh yeah- my school was under construction during the entire vacation, so half of the classes had to be in the gym, where we had no computer, t.v., etc. So I wound up bringing in my laptop everyday so that my co-teacher wouldn't resort to worksheets. I put a lot of time into preparing those lessons and didn't want the lack of technology to cause them all just going down the drain.

Making cookies!

The second week was QUITE the experience to say the least. After waking up twenty minutes before our bus left, I ran to meet seven other native teachers to drive to the camp site. It was about forty minutes out in to the countryside of Andong. Some fun facts on the site: No mattresses (just a pillow and comforter for us), no hot water, no a/c. Despite that, we were exhausted each night, so sleeping on the hard floor never seemed to be a problem, at least for me.. haha. Quick showers were taken, and many fans were being used. Assimilation- it's an amazing thing.

As far as actual camp went, we each had our own homeroom class where we taught with a Korean co-teacher, though we were barely with that class, because we were all in charge of a specialty class as well (Two Native Teachers to a class.) That's where we spent most of our time teaching. Mine, which I volunteered for, was P.E. So my friend Angel and I taught them famous western sports, did soccer and basketball drills, then finished with playing insane games of dodgeball. These kids are BEASTS when it comes to this game.

Losing team of dodgeball had to give piggy back rides around the b-ball court

A few girls from my homeroom class

There were about 7 of my 6th graders from my school that attended the camp, so it was fun to see them in a different and more relaxed environment. Students were in classes for 8 hours a day, including meals and break times, so they were constantly go go go! They slept in their classrooms, moving if needed, so boys and girls were separate. My co-teacher there was a man, whos English name is Jack Sparrow, after.. yes.. Pirates of the Caribbean. I've vented enough about him over that week, but here's the quick lowdown. He had earphones in his ears listening to something on his phone the ENTIRE time. I knew no one would really believe me, so I snapped a few pictures of my kids, making sure to get him in the background doing what he does best... sitting on the floor, listening to his phone, completely checked out. (There is one picture below.) So yes. I was the lead teacher, and basically had no co-teacher, especially when he decided not to show up for the entire class. Other than that, I had a fun time with the students. There were a few times a week where all of the classes gathered in the auditorium and did interactive events, including mini olympics, a garage sale, and song contest (which I was MC for). I taught my class "Payphone" by Maroon 5. They were awesome! (Video below.)
These situations have taught me to learn to enjoy things for yourself and with your students, despite the fact that you have absent, oblivious, rude, completely unprofessional co-workers. I'm sorry. I don't care what country you're in, you do NOT just sit there and say absolutely nothing for 40 minutes, with your earphones in, and let your co-worker do all of the work. Bt no, he did, and got the same paycheck as me. Breathe. I'm lucky my students were responsive and somewhat high-level. They were great sports!

There's Jack Sparrow

Spotted again..

garage sale

"It's cheaper than everything. Please buying it!" 

Some of the boys in my homeroom class. The one in the middle, Brian- hysterical! The one on the left-so smart!

These are three of the sixth graders from my school

mini olympics

being silly

Angel and Leandi being really supportive

mini olympics- jump roping

mini olympics- onion ring contest

My wonderful homeroom class!

and again

My student from my school. She's the best! Beyond intelligent. Happiest kid I know. Always smiling

Here are three videos from the Song Contest (Payphone (mine), Do Re Mi, The Lion Sleeps Tonight):

Week 3. This past week I had the same hours as the first week at my school. However this time, the first ninety minutes were spent teaching a group of five extremely low-level sixth graders. They were all of my students, so I knew them, however I was worried because these girls had not said one word to me for the past six months in class. They are very below-level, so my co-teacher (once again the young co-teacher that I love) and I decided we should go back to basics and focus on simple phonics. So thanks to a powerpoint I made up and starfall.com, we reviewed sounds and by the end of the week, they were able to put together small 1 syllable, 3 letter words. By day three, they were opening up to me and we were having some laughs. That is what teaching is all about, and I live for it. These girls were so scared of English and so noticebaly nervous in front of me in the beginning. Then just like that.. they broke out of their shell once they, themselves, realized that they were capable of learning English. Those are the moments that I remember why I went into this field in the first place. I love seeing students' success, but most of all..when they see it in themselves and they realize that they truly can do something. Watching them start to believe in themseleves and gain confidence is beyond rewarding. You can't get that with any other career.
The next two hours were spent with the complete polar opposite. About eight super advanced students ranging from third-fifth grade, worked with me and Ms. Oh on their speech contest speeches. Most schools take their advance English students and host speech contests, where the students have to prepare a speech, choosing from 3-4 topics, and are judged by Native teachers like myself. Some of their speeches were dead on. Made total sense. But I also took notice very quickly, the speeches that were translated directly from something like google translate. Some of the sentences made absolutley no sense, to the point where I had to just cross the whole thing out because they couldn't even tell me what it meant in Korean. I also read a lot of speeches that had these huge mature words in them; far too advanced for even high school. I was reading a girl's paper one day and came across a word that I didn't even know, let alone pronounce. So I turned to Ms. Oh, and said, "I don't even know what this means. How is a 3rd grader supposed to know what it means?" We had a big laugh about it. So my job all week was to edit these speeches, so that they actually knew what they were saying, record myself reading them so they could practice with my voice and intonation, and listen to them practice giving their speeches.

By the end of week three, I was exhausted! I had three days of freedom before the second semester started. Here I am on day two, easing back into it. I don't know how these kids do it. They barely get a vacation. Most of the States get 10 weeks total. They get 1. If they're lucky. They're kids. They need to be kids. They need to go swim, play with their friends, stay up late, forget about homework for a while. A break from all the academics, stress, and pressure. But then again, this is Korea. It is one of the most fast-paced, competitive, education-driven countries in the world. These kids are used to this schedule, and somehow they deal with it. I really do admire them for it, but I am also once again.. thankful I was brought up in a country where I had 10 weeks of relaxation.