Ivy Chung

Bora Kim

SeoA Park

Rivga Kim

Dini Turner

Iris Bang

Anna Choi

Ary Kim

Jae Mee Kim

Grace Hwang

Victoria Oh

Yongin

Gunpo/Uiwang (Elementary)

Gunpo/Uiwang (Secondary)

Gwangju/Hanam

Icheon

Hwaseung/Osan

Anyang/Gwacheon

Seongnam

Ansan

Gimpo

Dongducheon/Yangju

Goyang

dbae002@goe.go.kr

ivychung@goe.go.kr

bkbk@goe.go.kr

gunpo@goe.go.kr

gepik.rivga@goe.go.kr

usckid@goe.go.kr

diniturner@goe.go.kr

iris@goe.go.kr

annachoi@goe.go.kr

arykim@goe.go.kr

TBA

grace@goe.go.kr

victoria@goe.go.kr

Dain BaeHEAD COORDINATOR

Bora Lee* On Maternity Leave Sae-hae /bok /ma ni

/ba deu sae yo~(Sae hae = New Year, Bok = Good

fortune, Ma ni = many, ba deu sae yo = may you receive)

Sae hae bok ma ni ba deu sae yo = May you receive many good fortunes in the new year!

Lesson 1: Happy New Year!

www.seoulbike.com

www.siff.or.kr

Korea Foundation Cultural Center

Ewha Womans University Museum

National Theater of Korea

http://asp.congnamul.com/seoul/english/map.jsp

-Victoria Oh

SNOW buster (Snow sledding) (should bring gloves)

Open: beginning of December. No extra ticket needed. If you

have a one-day pass to Everland, you get to ride the snow

sleds for free!

Winter Snow Fantasy Christmas Parade

Operating Hours: Sun-Fri 9:30 - 19:00/Sat 9:30-20:00

For more info.

http://www.everland.com/everland/index.html

Discount tickets can be purchased online, but you will need

the help of someone who reads Korean.

For the last two weeks of January, you can take part in the

ever popular Hwacheon Sancheoneo (Mountain Trout) Ice

Festival, in Gangwondo Province. The Hwacheon Sancheoneo

Ice Festival attracts more than 1,000,000 visitors every year

due to the variety of the event-packed, fun-filled program such

as the creative sled making contest, ice soccer, ATV (all terrain

vehicle) on ice, ice hockey, bike skating, bobsleighing, ice

tubing, and sledding school for kids. The main event however

is catching Sancheoneo (mountain trout) with your bare hands!

Once you've caught the fish you can eat it fresh or grill it with a

touch of salt right on the spot! Ice sculptures, made by

specialists in China, surround the entire festival grounds and

are lit up in the evening to create a beautiful unforgettable

evening. With all the winter activities imaginable, you'll soon

forget about the cold.

Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival

Everland, Yongin City - Everland Christmas Fantasy 11/6 - 12/27

Seoul Bike Show 2010 December 4-6

Seoul Independent Film Festival Dec 10-18

CJ Picture Book Festival Thru Dec 24

Fragrance-Timeless Enchantment Museum Exhibition Thru Jan 15

The Last Empress Nov 28 - Dec 27

Traditional Korean Narrative Songs

Winters in Korea are very brutal! Make sure you stay warm! Aside from the obvious winter essentials, such as gloves, scarves, and ear muffs, here are some extra items you may want to purchase to prepare for the freezing weather:

Electronic Heaters - they look like fans and can be purchased at E-mart or Homeplus. Heating pads for your beds - also can be purchased at E-mart. Try not to buy the really cheap ones because they're cheap for a reason (they malfunction easily). Get the ones that you can get with warranties. Also, keep them unplugged when not in use. Heating pads for seats - keeps you warm at your desk.Heat packs - they sell small heat packs at school supply stores , which you can stick in your pockets to keep your hands warms.

-Ary Kim

On Saturday, October 24 a few friends and I went to the Kimchi Love Festival. We got to see a number of kimchi varieties, techniques in preparation, and ways of displaying the tasty treat for royalty, peasants, and everyone in between. The festival surprised visitors with an international food court where I definitely caught up on much missed curry, samosas, and delicious falafels. Had we done a bit of pre-planning, we would've even been able to take part in making kimchi! After watching a bit of the cultural dances we found the display area where the festival had prepared hundreds of types of kimchi - all labeled and nicely displayed. One exhibit showed every province and how kimchi changes from one to the next. All in all, it was a very successful event. I didn't get to eat as much kimchi as I would've liked, but seeing the different shows and displays, I really enjoyed myself - we even got interviewed twice by camera crews and reporters at the festival. OH! And the air wasn't filled with the pungent odor as everyone might've suspected!

-Spencer Lemiesz, Wongok Middle School, ANSAN

Passionate, Sexy and Dain-ish

Cinderella - I don't like taking a taxi after

midnight. You know that Cinderella transforms after

midnight.

In 2006, I began to teach at a GEPIK Middle

school as a 1 year gig, like many of our GEPIK teachers, but I came

in through the EPIK program. After 1 year I was going to go back

home and attend graduate school and continue my life there.

At one orientation I was invited as a guest speaker to talk about

what it is like to teach in Korea. So I related my experience. While

at the orientation the people organizing it were short staffed so I

offered to help out and this left a good impression on them and

they offered me a position as second coordinator. I told them I

would think about it and as I was I became very curious about the

position and the future of the program. Also I realized that I could

help the program to grow and that's what I like doing, helping

people. Also, many people were saying negative things about

GEPIK and I saw that these were opportunities to take the negative

and make changes and bring out a positive result. Because of this

prospect I decided to take on the challenge as a Coordinator.

If you want to get a lot out of this experience of coming to Korea

then you need to see as much of the country as possible. Try to

immerse yourself in the culture and you will find out a lot of

interesting things and have a more fulfilling time. You will not be

able to not fully understand the people and their way of doing

things if you are not an open minded individual. Bear in mind

things are different but that is the exciting part.

I believe that for some of you, Korea might be the first foreign

country that you've ever lived in. Sometimes it is hard to

understand the Korean culture if you've never experienced an Asian

culture before. Of course if you immediately understood Korean

culture it would be much easier but this is not the case. The Korean

culture is very different form the Western culture and you will

experience many cultural clashes but if you are open minded and

understand that it will be different from the beginning it will make

your life less hard. I hope you have a great time while you are

teaching in Korea. Try to be optimistic.

- Jaemee Kim & Ary Kim

December 25 : Christmas Day

January 1 : New Year's

Feb 15 : Lunar New Year's

NOTE. Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve are considered normal

working days in Korea

My name is

Thuy Le and I

a m f r o m

Atlanta, GA,

U S A . I h a v e

been a GEPIK teacher since June. Being an

overseas teacher has been both a privilege and a

trial at times, but this experience is something I

wouldn t ever trade.

The language barrier was what frustrated me

most at first. I took for granted all the little things

that natives instantly read, like street signs and

the names of businesses. Asking for information

became a somewhat comical mime-act and was

a frustrating, time-consuming chore. However,

with a lot of patience, a little tutoring in Korean,

and doing some online research before heading

out anywhere, I overcame my fear of venturing

out in public.

I've found that it's always helpful to be polite

and inquisitive, especially with your coworkers.

Though customs are different here, always

remember that your own culture has its own

shortcomings and strangeness that others

wouldn t understand, either. I owe a lot to the

advice of helpful teachers, store clerks, and kind

strangers in the street. If you don't know, don't

be shy! Take walks starting around the areas that

you know. Swap English phrases for Korean

lessons with your coworkers. Travel to interesting

places with friends from work; they can help you

understand the history and context of the places

you visit. Learning takes doing. This approach

has helped me immensely both as a teacher and

in life. The best way to enjoy your time here is to

get involved.

I think that being here offers a unique

opportunity to explore oneself and the world

and forge enduring relationships. I have only

been here a short while, and already these

people and places have made impressions on

me that will last a lifetime.

- Thuy Le,

Younghwa Elementary School, SUWON

Q

A

Describe yourself in 3 words

What cartoon character best describe you?

How did you start?

What is one thing one MUST absolutely do or try while in Korea?

Any advice/suggestions to GEPIK teachers?

For each Bibimbap issue, we will be featuring a coordinator in

order for our GEPIK teachers to get to know them. Through these

interviews, we want to show you that while coordinators are hard

working and passionate about their work, they are also approachable

and that they can be fun too! In this issue, we interviewed Dain Bae,

the head coordinator of GEPIK.

Q

A

Q

A

Q

A

Q

A

Koreans are fascinated

with foreigners. Do not

be of fended when

people stare or touch

you. They do not mean

any harm, and they

definitely do not have

bad intentions.

Interested in making Bibimbap yourself? Have a look online for recipes, send in your success

(or failed) stories and share your cooking experience!

Or, if you are not a keen chef, check out a Bibimbap restaurant and send in your reviews and

share your views on Bibimbaps!!

This may by your first winter in

Korea, or you have already

experienced a couple of

times - why not share this

experience in the next GEPIK

Bibimbap News issue by sending

in your photos? The theme will be and

the rest is up to your imagination.

There will be a prize for the most voted photo. So get

clicking and visiting and send the photos to stgepikbibimbap@gmail.com by February 1 2010.

Halloween is not widely celebrated or recognized in

Korea. In fact, it's not even very popular outside the

U.S. However, due to Korea's growing interest of the

Western culture, more and more Koreans are starting to

celebrate Halloween with the help of many foreigners

that have come to live in Korea. Foreigner hot spots,

such as Itaewon and Hongdae, are starting to annually

host Halloween parties at their bars and clubs, and of

course, costumes are highly encouraged at these parties.

You will find a wide variety of costumes ranging from

typical vampires to Korean ajummas with their permed

hairs. You'd be surprised at how creative people can be.

As for our GEPIK teachers, many of them also

celebrated Halloween this year but not just by partying.

Many teachers dressed up in costumes to school and

thought of creative ways to introduce Halloween

through their lesson plans. Students learned how to

trick-or-treat, and one teacher even taught her kids how

to make jack-o-lanterns. Halloween is fun for everyone,

and many students responded positively and were

eager to learn about Halloween. It's definitely a great

idea to introduce a part of the Western culture through

your lesson plans. So heads up! The next major

holiday is Christmas. Do a little research and find ways

to introduce how holidays are celebrated in your native

countries. Be creative! The students will love it!

- Ary Kim

In your free time, why not have a look at this website-

It contains useful information such as

teaching in Korea, and team teaching. It is also the

place to look out for the next issue of GEPIK Bibimbap

News.

Send us comical episodes of your experiences in

Korea! Who knows? You may be featured in the next

issue! Comments, suggestions, and anything else you

want to share with the GEPIK community?

Email our staff at gepikbibimbap@gmail.com

Dain Bae: Chief Editor

Ary Kim : Correspondent

Grace Hwang : Production

Jaemee Kim : Design

Victoria Oh : Content & Illustration

www.cge.ken.go.kr?

Winter in Korea