Jessie and I were talking last night, and she pointed out something that is absolutely stunning.
If we hadn't taken the GIC tour at the beginning of July, I would never have heard about the job from John, and I would probably be working at crappy hagwon number two just because I had nothing to contrast it to.
So yeah, if you haven't been paying attention/I forgot to post about it, I got the job at awesome hagwon number one.
Jessie was telling me about her camp. It sounds like she had a pretty fun time, teaching and socializing and TPing indoor trees and imitating ninjas. The downside of the whole camp is, of course, the competition aspect. Specifically that if there are four pretty even teams, one has to lose, and in this country, that's just not cool. The kids can't ever have fun, it always has to be about the competition.
I didn't feel bad when my team won, because they pretty much swamped the other teams. But when they're evenly matched, and the effort is pretty even, it sucks that one team has to be told that they are the losers.
The closing ceremony is today, and is scheduled to be forty-five minutes long. However, this is the first year that they are deciding to give each student an individual award. SO they made up awards like "Best actor" and "best singer" and the like. SO, those awards are pretty individual, right? Well, they want the teachers to make little speeches about each student. I really doubt that this will take only 45 minutes.
Today we are meeting in Mokpo to go to the pension office. We have to arrange to have our pension money reimbursed to us after our contract is over. We're going with Jessie's coteacher, so hopefully it will go well. I can imagine quite a few ways that this could get screwed up.
Well, I should go, because my attention is wandering and I can barely string my thoughts together. Time for a coffee, I guess.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Bored
SO this is my last night alone in Yeongam before Jessie comes back from camp. The first two days weren't too bad, because I had things to do, but today and yesterday were brutal.
Everything's pretty much wrapped up. I have a job lined up, my work is done here, I'm almost packed... everything's just winding down. SO two days in Yeongam is a long time when it is too sweltering hot to go outside.
I ate a lot of wheat thins and cream cheese today. Man, I am bored.
I took a walk tonight, once it cooled down a bit. I heard explosions, so I left my usual route to see what was going on. I was very curious about it, but I never found exactly what was causing the sounds. I got close, but I was afraid to really go see what was burning, in case it blew me up with it. I just got close enough to say "Oh, it's a huge fire", and then gave up.
There's this series of commercials running for a brand of fruit juice.There's this girl, kind of dancing around and music is playing, and she is surrounded by huge bottles of juice. In the first commercial, she picked up a tomato and bit right into it, and they digitally added droplets of tomato juice dribbling down her chin and squirting out. That was a little sick... now they have a series with her biting into a grapefruit. It would be bitter enough right there, but she bites into it still peeled. That's right, a super-bitter grapefruit peel bite.
Disgusting.
There's another series of juice ads with people making the sickest gulping and swallowing noises. It sounds like gagging... but somehow these ads make people want to go out and buy juice, so more power to them, I guess.
Everything's pretty much wrapped up. I have a job lined up, my work is done here, I'm almost packed... everything's just winding down. SO two days in Yeongam is a long time when it is too sweltering hot to go outside.
I ate a lot of wheat thins and cream cheese today. Man, I am bored.
I took a walk tonight, once it cooled down a bit. I heard explosions, so I left my usual route to see what was going on. I was very curious about it, but I never found exactly what was causing the sounds. I got close, but I was afraid to really go see what was burning, in case it blew me up with it. I just got close enough to say "Oh, it's a huge fire", and then gave up.
There's this series of commercials running for a brand of fruit juice.There's this girl, kind of dancing around and music is playing, and she is surrounded by huge bottles of juice. In the first commercial, she picked up a tomato and bit right into it, and they digitally added droplets of tomato juice dribbling down her chin and squirting out. That was a little sick... now they have a series with her biting into a grapefruit. It would be bitter enough right there, but she bites into it still peeled. That's right, a super-bitter grapefruit peel bite.
Disgusting.
There's another series of juice ads with people making the sickest gulping and swallowing noises. It sounds like gagging... but somehow these ads make people want to go out and buy juice, so more power to them, I guess.
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
interviews
SO, I had two interviews in the last two days. Going to Gwangju two days in a row was not such a great idea. That is such a long long trip, and it takes a whole day to go there and back, it's likea day of work.
Let's begin with the bad interview...or the good. Oh man, let's just do some contrasting.
Location:
Number two SAID they were in Gwangju. I'm not sure if this is technically true, since it took a twenty minute ride from the bus terminal (Thank God cabs are so cheap here, only $8.50) and we had to go through a forested, undeveloped area to get there. So right there, it's just as expensive to get to downtown as it was from Yeongam, unless of course I took the bus, but let's be honest, this (points at self) was not made for public transit. Of course, anyone who knows me knows I get giddy about efficient bus systems, so nevermind.
Number one is a five minute walk from downtown Gwangju, about seven minutes from the Speakeasy, and two blocks from Art Street, so it means I'll have lots to do before and after work, and I am only a fifteen minute bus ride (I'm taking that to be a 45 minute walk or so) from work.
Pay:
Tie- both said 2.0, but I think I canget them to bump up to 2.1 quite easily. Err... Well, maybe.
Airfare:
Number one will reimburse me on arrival, and they have no money problems, with a waiting list of over 200 students, they have no reason to say they do. Ever.
Number two thought since I was already in Korea that I should not be given an air ticket. When I said that I would not work without a ticket, they said they had misunderstood the situation, and suddenyl they would "do their best" to get me money for a ticket. Then I was told that this would all change if I signed on for two years, then they would even find me a better apartment! Apparently, it is SO hard to find good native speakers... so they don't have the money for one year, but they have the money for two years. So, that smacks of "we are running on so low a budget that if a student leaves our academy, you may not get payed next month!"
Hours:
Number one tells me the hours are typically 4-9 or 5-10 each weeknight. During the summer, they go to a normal work day, but you work the whole day, you don't sit around and fill a desk (still bitter over my public school experience). That's 5 classes a day. Some weeks four, some weeks six.
Number two tells me normal hours are 2- 7:30, that's 7 forty minute lessons. It's more work...but when I asked about over time, I found out that lessons regularly go until 9:30, but they seemed really wishy-washy about comitting to any time.
Students:
So, Number two tells me nothing about their students, outside of the size of the classes. I ask, and I get nothing.
Number one invites me to sit in on two of their classes. The first class was a new class that the teacher had never had before. They asked me what my name was, where I was from, what my hobbies were, and if I was going to be their new teacher. They then LISTENED to my answers, and knodded that they understood, and asked me followups! The class was a little rowdy, apparently all of the trouble makers had been herded into the head teacher's class, and it was his job to "break them". He apologized after class for their behaviour, but it was like a dream compared to the boys' school here in Yeongam.
Number one also tells me that the students are not selected only on those who can pay, but based on entry test scores. The tuition is kept low so that everyone who does well enough can afford to attend. So it's all smart students, and they all are from different class groups, so it's very interesting. And not snobby!
Questions about me:
When you are meeting a person that you will hire to work with children under your care, this is a pretty important thing, right?
Number one asks me a lot. I was at the school for almost four hours. The head teacher and I talk about our hobbies, about my work experience, about why I want to come to Gwangju, about how I have enjoyed Korea this year. We talk about my students now, what I hope for next year, what I am looking to gain from the experience. In conversation with the owner of the Hagwon, he only asked "Why would you choose to work here when other places have more vacation?" So I talked about how public school had more vacation but that there were other problems, like classes that could not be controlled, classes with too much spread in level, and studens that I could not develop relationships with because I only saw them once a week. They seemed pretty impressed with that.
Number two asked me "Can you sign for two years?"
Now, in fairness, Number two had been told that I just wanted to come and look around, so they had not prepared for an actual interview. But still, it doesn't say much about your "school" if a teacher who you have already offered a contract to is coming by to look at your school, would you not want to ask them a question before you put ink on paper? I really wasn't impressed with their lack of interest in who I am.
SO, overall, the choice is clear. I ahven't had any more offers, but that's not surprising since I really limited my search to only one city, and I am looking so far in advance. I'm not worried about limiting myself by accepting an offer from number one, since I have a good recommendation for them and a good feeling on top of that.
I'm pretty excited.Last night number one e-mailed me to start getting things arranged for my visa, and I have another meeting with them on next Saturday.
Everything's coming up Milhouse.
Let's begin with the bad interview...or the good. Oh man, let's just do some contrasting.
Location:
Number two SAID they were in Gwangju. I'm not sure if this is technically true, since it took a twenty minute ride from the bus terminal (Thank God cabs are so cheap here, only $8.50) and we had to go through a forested, undeveloped area to get there. So right there, it's just as expensive to get to downtown as it was from Yeongam, unless of course I took the bus, but let's be honest, this (points at self) was not made for public transit. Of course, anyone who knows me knows I get giddy about efficient bus systems, so nevermind.
Number one is a five minute walk from downtown Gwangju, about seven minutes from the Speakeasy, and two blocks from Art Street, so it means I'll have lots to do before and after work, and I am only a fifteen minute bus ride (I'm taking that to be a 45 minute walk or so) from work.
Pay:
Tie- both said 2.0, but I think I canget them to bump up to 2.1 quite easily. Err... Well, maybe.
Airfare:
Number one will reimburse me on arrival, and they have no money problems, with a waiting list of over 200 students, they have no reason to say they do. Ever.
Number two thought since I was already in Korea that I should not be given an air ticket. When I said that I would not work without a ticket, they said they had misunderstood the situation, and suddenyl they would "do their best" to get me money for a ticket. Then I was told that this would all change if I signed on for two years, then they would even find me a better apartment! Apparently, it is SO hard to find good native speakers... so they don't have the money for one year, but they have the money for two years. So, that smacks of "we are running on so low a budget that if a student leaves our academy, you may not get payed next month!"
Hours:
Number one tells me the hours are typically 4-9 or 5-10 each weeknight. During the summer, they go to a normal work day, but you work the whole day, you don't sit around and fill a desk (still bitter over my public school experience). That's 5 classes a day. Some weeks four, some weeks six.
Number two tells me normal hours are 2- 7:30, that's 7 forty minute lessons. It's more work...but when I asked about over time, I found out that lessons regularly go until 9:30, but they seemed really wishy-washy about comitting to any time.
Students:
So, Number two tells me nothing about their students, outside of the size of the classes. I ask, and I get nothing.
Number one invites me to sit in on two of their classes. The first class was a new class that the teacher had never had before. They asked me what my name was, where I was from, what my hobbies were, and if I was going to be their new teacher. They then LISTENED to my answers, and knodded that they understood, and asked me followups! The class was a little rowdy, apparently all of the trouble makers had been herded into the head teacher's class, and it was his job to "break them". He apologized after class for their behaviour, but it was like a dream compared to the boys' school here in Yeongam.
Number one also tells me that the students are not selected only on those who can pay, but based on entry test scores. The tuition is kept low so that everyone who does well enough can afford to attend. So it's all smart students, and they all are from different class groups, so it's very interesting. And not snobby!
Questions about me:
When you are meeting a person that you will hire to work with children under your care, this is a pretty important thing, right?
Number one asks me a lot. I was at the school for almost four hours. The head teacher and I talk about our hobbies, about my work experience, about why I want to come to Gwangju, about how I have enjoyed Korea this year. We talk about my students now, what I hope for next year, what I am looking to gain from the experience. In conversation with the owner of the Hagwon, he only asked "Why would you choose to work here when other places have more vacation?" So I talked about how public school had more vacation but that there were other problems, like classes that could not be controlled, classes with too much spread in level, and studens that I could not develop relationships with because I only saw them once a week. They seemed pretty impressed with that.
Number two asked me "Can you sign for two years?"
Now, in fairness, Number two had been told that I just wanted to come and look around, so they had not prepared for an actual interview. But still, it doesn't say much about your "school" if a teacher who you have already offered a contract to is coming by to look at your school, would you not want to ask them a question before you put ink on paper? I really wasn't impressed with their lack of interest in who I am.
SO, overall, the choice is clear. I ahven't had any more offers, but that's not surprising since I really limited my search to only one city, and I am looking so far in advance. I'm not worried about limiting myself by accepting an offer from number one, since I have a good recommendation for them and a good feeling on top of that.
I'm pretty excited.Last night number one e-mailed me to start getting things arranged for my visa, and I have another meeting with them on next Saturday.
Everything's coming up Milhouse.
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Homestretch
So, this is officially coming to an end.
I have a week off before I return to camp for two weeks, then Mongolia, then off to Canada!
This week I have a couple of interviews, and am planning to do some serious work on my correspondence course so that I can write my exam in the month that I am home.
I have to think about packing now, because the next few weeks will be too busy. I'm starting to think about whether or not groceries will keep. Will Tabasco last for a month? It's about $10 a jar, I don't want to start again and have to buy a new one! Is that really cheap?
It feels weird, because I look around and marvel at the stuff we have and think "How can we possibly get all of this home? But then I realize that we don't earn the furniture... Especailly with leaving stuff here, I think I will have no issues getting my stuff home.
I'm starting to get excited about seeing my family, Bridie, my first second-cousin, and about looking for a dog of my own.
I went out today to buy some chicken and baguette to make some subs for dinner tonight, and I had so many students say hello. As much as I complain about the lack of anonymity, I will really miss having everyone say hello to me all of the time. The thing that annoys me is random people saying hello not to say hi or be nice, but just for the novelty of getting the response. But I really will miss living in a town where half of the people know me because they either are my students or the parents of my students.
Seriously... about 700 students or so, plus family, plus the shopkeepers and such that I have become acquainted with? I am the biggest fish in this tiny pond, and I'm going to miss having someone to say hi to me everywhere I go.
I have a week off before I return to camp for two weeks, then Mongolia, then off to Canada!
This week I have a couple of interviews, and am planning to do some serious work on my correspondence course so that I can write my exam in the month that I am home.
I have to think about packing now, because the next few weeks will be too busy. I'm starting to think about whether or not groceries will keep. Will Tabasco last for a month? It's about $10 a jar, I don't want to start again and have to buy a new one! Is that really cheap?
It feels weird, because I look around and marvel at the stuff we have and think "How can we possibly get all of this home? But then I realize that we don't earn the furniture... Especailly with leaving stuff here, I think I will have no issues getting my stuff home.
I'm starting to get excited about seeing my family, Bridie, my first second-cousin, and about looking for a dog of my own.
I went out today to buy some chicken and baguette to make some subs for dinner tonight, and I had so many students say hello. As much as I complain about the lack of anonymity, I will really miss having everyone say hello to me all of the time. The thing that annoys me is random people saying hello not to say hi or be nice, but just for the novelty of getting the response. But I really will miss living in a town where half of the people know me because they either are my students or the parents of my students.
Seriously... about 700 students or so, plus family, plus the shopkeepers and such that I have become acquainted with? I am the biggest fish in this tiny pond, and I'm going to miss having someone to say hi to me everywhere I go.
CAMP!
The rest of my week at camp was awesome. I was worried, because I had been told that the students were very low level, but we had no problems. I couldn’t believe how good the kids were, actually. They were so well behaved, and they managed to, for the most part, keep up a pretty good level of enthusiasm.
Our team, the red mailboxes, actually swept most of the events. I actually started to feel bad towards the end, because every time there was a group event, they would win. I was worried that the other groups might just give up. Then we got to the skit competitions on the last night, and the yellow team (Golden Stars), who had been shy all weak crawled out of their shells and blew everyone else away.
The kids did a great job of our skit, but there wasn't too much to do with it, it was not funny or anything. But man, that yellow group rocked theirs. They even had the Canadians laughing right out loud. Of course, a couple of the kids blanked on their lines - maybe our time would have been better spent practicing than playing games together.
I really got lucky... I had such a good group. Another Canadian, Chris, had a problem with his guys forming a little posse, and Steve had a problem with his kids being so shy. I had a good group of outgoing kids, although I'd like to think that the old don-training had something to do with the "team unity" that he developed. Our team was always cheering and helping eachother. Even in the single-person games, they refused to go after their team members.
One of the best parts was the time hanging out with the other Canadian and Korean teachers. I really notice just how isolated I have been in Yeongam when I start talking to other people who understand me. I just giggle like crazy and blather on for hours.
I don't know if I mentioned this in my last e-mail - but the showers were cold. The whole camp had no hot water. At all. This meant that I spent a bunch of my personal time in the shower room simultaneously chasing myself around the shower room with the shower head in my hand and running around and arching my back in crazy ways to avoid the stream. It's so weird because I want to rinse myself, but my body just says "No, I'm having none of it." I also found myself strangely intrigued with the full length mirror in the shower, especially considering the temperature of the water...
On Friday we had a field trip to the Mokpo Natural History Museum. It was great! I mean, I couldn't read anything, but I had fun anwyays, I mean, I knew what most of the displays were between my obsessive reading of a book on dinosaurs as a child and my university study of various geographical phenomena, and my post-university study of all sorts of biological things. So I had fun trying to explain to the kids all the different things that they were looking at in really basic English. I had quite a group though! They didn't seem too bored either, in fact they hung on my words, which was pretty great after a year of teaching kids who couldn't follow anything that I said.
I found out after that some of the kids had abandoned their groups to join me. Chris told me that the reason he was given was "So Cuuute!". SO yeah, maybe I wasn't so interesting after all.
After we walked through the museum, the kids watched a movie in the theatre there, and the teachers went over to the art museum next door. That was really neat too. I'm falling in love with the Korean water colour on ink painting style. Actually, I guess it's Chinese.
Mrs Min, the head teacher at the camp, who was awesome and took good care of all the children (including the three Canadian teachers) said that I would really enjoy living in Gwangju next year because it is trying to become the art capital of Korea and that I would have lots of art to look at whenever I wanted to.
The kids had to ask us each 30 questions for a bonus mark, and I got sat next to a kid on the bus who was SO shy! He was really struggling to come up with my questions, and he was too shy to pick up on the hints that I was giving him.
"Who are your favourite Korean singers?" I would ask him.
"I don't know." he would say, before returning to his notebook.
Anyways, I'll write more about camp as it comes to me, but I think that pictures are the best way to do it.
So here's two shots of my team. The first is us on the first day with our team poster (which won first place) and our slogan ("English from around the world is in the mailbox"). The second picture is the team cheering after they had won the english relay race, where they all had to run, read a sentence, and then communicate it to the team secretary. The guy in the yellow shirt won the prize for the top student for the week. The girl in the middle was really smart, but always seemed to blank whenever she would have gotten points. It was funny, because she would basically dominate the team events and win them for our team almost singlehandedly, but then fall out of the individual competitions really early.
So one strange thing about this camp was that the students had to cook for themselves! The teachers ate take-out almost every meal, including breakfast. But the students had to cook, and it was part of their lessons! What a great ting for them, to get at least a little experience cooking. Now this is a picture of only girls, but the guys cooked too, just none of those pictures turned out.
Our team, the red mailboxes, actually swept most of the events. I actually started to feel bad towards the end, because every time there was a group event, they would win. I was worried that the other groups might just give up. Then we got to the skit competitions on the last night, and the yellow team (Golden Stars), who had been shy all weak crawled out of their shells and blew everyone else away.
The kids did a great job of our skit, but there wasn't too much to do with it, it was not funny or anything. But man, that yellow group rocked theirs. They even had the Canadians laughing right out loud. Of course, a couple of the kids blanked on their lines - maybe our time would have been better spent practicing than playing games together.
I really got lucky... I had such a good group. Another Canadian, Chris, had a problem with his guys forming a little posse, and Steve had a problem with his kids being so shy. I had a good group of outgoing kids, although I'd like to think that the old don-training had something to do with the "team unity" that he developed. Our team was always cheering and helping eachother. Even in the single-person games, they refused to go after their team members.
One of the best parts was the time hanging out with the other Canadian and Korean teachers. I really notice just how isolated I have been in Yeongam when I start talking to other people who understand me. I just giggle like crazy and blather on for hours.
I don't know if I mentioned this in my last e-mail - but the showers were cold. The whole camp had no hot water. At all. This meant that I spent a bunch of my personal time in the shower room simultaneously chasing myself around the shower room with the shower head in my hand and running around and arching my back in crazy ways to avoid the stream. It's so weird because I want to rinse myself, but my body just says "No, I'm having none of it." I also found myself strangely intrigued with the full length mirror in the shower, especially considering the temperature of the water...
On Friday we had a field trip to the Mokpo Natural History Museum. It was great! I mean, I couldn't read anything, but I had fun anwyays, I mean, I knew what most of the displays were between my obsessive reading of a book on dinosaurs as a child and my university study of various geographical phenomena, and my post-university study of all sorts of biological things. So I had fun trying to explain to the kids all the different things that they were looking at in really basic English. I had quite a group though! They didn't seem too bored either, in fact they hung on my words, which was pretty great after a year of teaching kids who couldn't follow anything that I said.
I found out after that some of the kids had abandoned their groups to join me. Chris told me that the reason he was given was "So Cuuute!". SO yeah, maybe I wasn't so interesting after all.
After we walked through the museum, the kids watched a movie in the theatre there, and the teachers went over to the art museum next door. That was really neat too. I'm falling in love with the Korean water colour on ink painting style. Actually, I guess it's Chinese.
Mrs Min, the head teacher at the camp, who was awesome and took good care of all the children (including the three Canadian teachers) said that I would really enjoy living in Gwangju next year because it is trying to become the art capital of Korea and that I would have lots of art to look at whenever I wanted to.
The kids had to ask us each 30 questions for a bonus mark, and I got sat next to a kid on the bus who was SO shy! He was really struggling to come up with my questions, and he was too shy to pick up on the hints that I was giving him.
"Who are your favourite Korean singers?" I would ask him.
"I don't know." he would say, before returning to his notebook.
Anyways, I'll write more about camp as it comes to me, but I think that pictures are the best way to do it.
So here's two shots of my team. The first is us on the first day with our team poster (which won first place) and our slogan ("English from around the world is in the mailbox"). The second picture is the team cheering after they had won the english relay race, where they all had to run, read a sentence, and then communicate it to the team secretary. The guy in the yellow shirt won the prize for the top student for the week. The girl in the middle was really smart, but always seemed to blank whenever she would have gotten points. It was funny, because she would basically dominate the team events and win them for our team almost singlehandedly, but then fall out of the individual competitions really early.
So one strange thing about this camp was that the students had to cook for themselves! The teachers ate take-out almost every meal, including breakfast. But the students had to cook, and it was part of their lessons! What a great ting for them, to get at least a little experience cooking. Now this is a picture of only girls, but the guys cooked too, just none of those pictures turned out.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
CAMP!
Okay, this camp is FUN!
I have a really great group. They are all pretty enthusiastic, except for one guy. Oddly enough, he's wearing a Ramones T-shirt. Of course he has no idea who or what the Ramones are, but I still asked him. Yeah, I was right.
I taught one class yesterday, and two activities. The class was on "Getting ready for English Camp" which was actually fun. It was just a dialogue, and with ten students, it is really easy to keep things moving. And then after we had done the diaolgue a few times and covered the vocab, we went into a camp game. Thank goodness Jessie and I went to the elephant sanctuary, because that's why I learnt about half of my camp games.
The first activity was ice breakers. As an ex-don of two years, I basically sleepwalked my way through it. hahaha. Way too much time spent trying to get apathetic uni kids doing crap means that I am at least a little prepared to deal with apathetic Korean kids. The only problem was that the kids were too shy to go when it was their turn... oh well, they're getting over it.
The good thing about a week long camp is that you can be over the top and strange without worrying about the kids thinking you are a weirdo and not listenign in class... you still have that "new teacher smell" that captivates them.
The second activity was designing team posters, which I was surprised I manage to get. It's a no brainer, really, you just give some ideas and some markers, paint eyes on your glasses and take a nap.
My team is red, so they came up with the idea of having their mascot being a giant anthropomorphic mailbox that joined the globe by allowing communication between English speakers the world over. Okay, I may have helped a bit, but come on, they chose "mailboxes" as their mascot. Sure, it was a step up from their original choice of "blood", but they clearly needed some help thinking. Their slogan came out as "English from all over the world is in the mailbox", which is pretty clever, but it took a lot of coaxing.
"What do mailboxes do?"
"Stand?"
"Wait?"
"What do they wait for?"
"write postcards!"
"Yeah, you can write postcards and send them to all over the world! What is that called?"
Well, I was going for communication, but of course I never got it. haha. I think that they did really well for their level though.
Today my class was on "Talking about Canada". The first class was good, but I got more and more excited and fast talking as time went on, because I had six coffees somehow. I'm not sure how it happened, they snuck up on me. Something about fifteen minute breaks between classes in a room with instant hazelnut cappucino packets... it'll get you every time.
I worked in too much stuff though, and the class was too long... no big whoop though, because it turns out that the follow-up exercise I had planned was way too difficult anyways.
The activity today was "Learn an English Song". I did "... baby, one more time". That is a catchy little tune, and the kids took to it pretty quickly. Most of them already knew it, so it was easy. Then we split into teams, and judged them on their singing (enthusiasm, mostly). My team won! I was pretty proud.
Then we did chants, and I think we did a really good job of that too. It was really simple, but everyone was really into it (I taught them a new slang - "Get pumped up!!!"). We all screamed really loudly, and I got so pumped (slash full of caffeine) that I shook afterwards.
So camp is a lot of fun. The teachers are all pretty funto hang out with, so that's a big plus too. Otherwise it would be pretty boring.
The only downside is the weather... it is raining all the time, and it is so humid that my pillow feels wet all the time. Last night I slept on the floor with just one blanket, and I kept sticking to the floor. Tonight I'll have a mattress of five camp blankets.
Well, I will update again if we ever leave the camp again to come to a PC bang.
I hope everyone is doing well, I am GREAT!
WOOHOO!
I have a really great group. They are all pretty enthusiastic, except for one guy. Oddly enough, he's wearing a Ramones T-shirt. Of course he has no idea who or what the Ramones are, but I still asked him. Yeah, I was right.
I taught one class yesterday, and two activities. The class was on "Getting ready for English Camp" which was actually fun. It was just a dialogue, and with ten students, it is really easy to keep things moving. And then after we had done the diaolgue a few times and covered the vocab, we went into a camp game. Thank goodness Jessie and I went to the elephant sanctuary, because that's why I learnt about half of my camp games.
The first activity was ice breakers. As an ex-don of two years, I basically sleepwalked my way through it. hahaha. Way too much time spent trying to get apathetic uni kids doing crap means that I am at least a little prepared to deal with apathetic Korean kids. The only problem was that the kids were too shy to go when it was their turn... oh well, they're getting over it.
The good thing about a week long camp is that you can be over the top and strange without worrying about the kids thinking you are a weirdo and not listenign in class... you still have that "new teacher smell" that captivates them.
The second activity was designing team posters, which I was surprised I manage to get. It's a no brainer, really, you just give some ideas and some markers, paint eyes on your glasses and take a nap.
My team is red, so they came up with the idea of having their mascot being a giant anthropomorphic mailbox that joined the globe by allowing communication between English speakers the world over. Okay, I may have helped a bit, but come on, they chose "mailboxes" as their mascot. Sure, it was a step up from their original choice of "blood", but they clearly needed some help thinking. Their slogan came out as "English from all over the world is in the mailbox", which is pretty clever, but it took a lot of coaxing.
"What do mailboxes do?"
"Stand?"
"Wait?"
"What do they wait for?"
"write postcards!"
"Yeah, you can write postcards and send them to all over the world! What is that called?"
Well, I was going for communication, but of course I never got it. haha. I think that they did really well for their level though.
Today my class was on "Talking about Canada". The first class was good, but I got more and more excited and fast talking as time went on, because I had six coffees somehow. I'm not sure how it happened, they snuck up on me. Something about fifteen minute breaks between classes in a room with instant hazelnut cappucino packets... it'll get you every time.
I worked in too much stuff though, and the class was too long... no big whoop though, because it turns out that the follow-up exercise I had planned was way too difficult anyways.
The activity today was "Learn an English Song". I did "... baby, one more time". That is a catchy little tune, and the kids took to it pretty quickly. Most of them already knew it, so it was easy. Then we split into teams, and judged them on their singing (enthusiasm, mostly). My team won! I was pretty proud.
Then we did chants, and I think we did a really good job of that too. It was really simple, but everyone was really into it (I taught them a new slang - "Get pumped up!!!"). We all screamed really loudly, and I got so pumped (slash full of caffeine) that I shook afterwards.
So camp is a lot of fun. The teachers are all pretty funto hang out with, so that's a big plus too. Otherwise it would be pretty boring.
The only downside is the weather... it is raining all the time, and it is so humid that my pillow feels wet all the time. Last night I slept on the floor with just one blanket, and I kept sticking to the floor. Tonight I'll have a mattress of five camp blankets.
Well, I will update again if we ever leave the camp again to come to a PC bang.
I hope everyone is doing well, I am GREAT!
WOOHOO!
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Middle school photos
Grade three girls.
More grade three girls
The staff at the boys' school. I never got a picture of the staff at the girls' school, I guess because I spent more time with this school, they always invited me to events and stuff. I only was invited to one event at the girls' school, but it was on an off-day (when I was at another school) and I forgot. I guess I was a bit of a jerk.
Class 3-1 at the boys' school. 
Class 2-1, I think... I can't remember if it's 1 or 3. Anyways, these guys were the fun grade two class. 
This was the grade 2-2 class. Man, these guys were so frustrating. There were a lot of hagwon kids, and kids who were smart but just would not say anything!
This is class 1-2. They were the ones who threw me the little party. They were so good, always. And they were so wound up that day, because they were full of candy and chips. Elementary Class Photos
This is 6-6, the horror class. Well, except for the last day, when they were wonderful.
This is 6-5, the great great class. 
Farewell Address
So, I was asked to do a farewell address at the girls’ school. I agreed to do it if, and only if, Mr Lee would translate it live for me. He said yes, so I said yes.
I went to find him a few minutes before the assembly, to see if he wanted to run through it with me so that he could look up or ask about anything he didn’t understand right away.
Guess what! He said he wouldn’t translate it for me. He said that if I spoke slowly and used easy English that they would have no problems.
You know what? That’s bullshit. They understand about 12% of what I say in class, and that is a generous estimate. I was a little angry, but not nearly as angry as Jessie was when I told her about it later. So I would be giving an address to an auditorium who had little or no idea what I was saying.
Since there’s only so many ways to say things, and I had already chosen pretty simple things to say, I just stuck with what I had prepared (earlier this morning).
I was first.
I got introduced, and then passed along an assembly line of teachers who each took me by the hand and guided me to the next teacher, who would take my other hand and then pass me on.
As soon as the girls heard “Matthew-sonsangnim” they erupted. I am not exaggerating, and there is no way that anyone who has not been here could ever understand just how little it takes to whip Korean girls into a cheering frenzy. But they were going nuts!
They finally settled down, and I started in on my address. Note the high amounts of repetition and almost Koreanized English:
“I can’t believe how quickly my year*has gone by! This year has been so fast! I feel like my first class here* was yesterday! Yesterday I said hello, I think, and today I am saying goodbye. That’s why in English* we say ‘Time flies when you are having fun’.And it has been fun*! So many of my best memories have been here with the students* of Yeongam Girls’ Middle School. I have enjoyed my time with all of you and I really appreciated, I am really thankful*, and I thank you* for trying to speak to me – in English!In the future, when you are ‘English Experts’ I hope that you will visit me. I will show you around my part of Canada [I gesture a small area]. You have my e-mail, just ‘drop me a line’. God luck to all of you in four futures. Thank you* so much, thanks* for the memories.”
The stars (*) indicate where I had to pause to wait for the re-erupting applause to die down. The single quotes show where I had to make quote-y fingers to let the girls know that I was using an idiom. Haha.
Then, I left the stage. I was nervous, so I forgot to bow. And since no-one really understood what was happening, I have a feeling that I was not given an exit cue, because when I just left the stage, everyone started laughing. Well, great.
Afterwards, Mr Lee informed me that Sukkyeong had called and said that she wanted to bring me to the boys’ school so that the other teachers could say goodbye. Apparently they had not known that Thursday was my last day. It was really nice that they wanted to say goodbye, but it was honestly a little insulting that I apparently register so little that no-one thought it was strange that the students had thrown me a farewell party when apparently no-one knew that I was leaving.
Anyways, let’s focus on the good.
She came to the girls’ school at eleven to pick me up, which was a long time considering that I had nothing to do there, and I was finished my speech at 10:10. Even the internet was down, so there was literally nothing.
She finally came, and we headed out to the boys’ school.
I was ushered into the office and told to sit down on the chair next to the VP’s desk. I sat there, awkwardly, for about five minutes as the other teachers filed in. Finally, they did, and the VP stood up, and said something. They all stood up, so I did too. I was just standing up, when I saw Sukkyeong running over gesturing madly that I should stand up, as if I would miss the “subtle” cue of EVERYONE ELSE standing up, remain seated and offend everyone.
The VP spoke for a while, and I heard a few words that I recognized. I’ll give you the run down, with the Korean represented by “k”:
“KKKKKKkkkKKkkkKkKkkkkKKKKKKkKKKKKkkkkkKK Matthew KKkkkKkKkKKKkkk Canada KKK Good KKKKkkkKK Students KkKkkkKkk school KKkKkKkkkkKkk teacher KKkkkKkKKkkkKKKKKkkKkKKKKk goodbye kKKkKkkKk Canada KKkKkKKKKkKkKk Matthew KkkK teacher!”
Then everyone clapped, so I joined in too, and I smiled.
Then everyone just stared at me.
Then it got awkward.
Then Sukkyeong leaned forward.
“He wants you to give a short address to the teachers…”
Well great.
I don’t know if addresses are randomly sprung on Koreans all the time, or if they are in Canada too, and I have just never been in the position of someone who is expected to give them so often.
I dove in:
“Well… Thank you very much for being so kind to me. You have always made me feel very welcome here at Yeongam Chung Hakkyo.”
…
“That’s all, thank you!”
Then they laughed.
Then they gave me a gift. I delicately tore off the wrapping, because I was unsure of the decoration protocol here. I was apparently being too careful, because they joined in to help. I reached in the box, and saw this beautiful wooden bow, and I was touched that they would get me such a nice thing to keep all of my Korean souvenirs in. What a thoughtful gift!
And then I turned it over and saw the hole that you pull the Kleenex out of.
Yep, it was a Kleenex box cover.
I don’t care though, it will be used to store all of my Korean souvenirs, and the ones in the middle will just get a little dusty, I guess.
There was also a nice framed set of Korean masks, which was awesome. I wanted to get one before I left, so it was pretty great that they bought me one.
Then I said some more awkward goodbyes, which were even more awkward, because I had said what I had thought were my last goodbyes two days ago.
And then I walked home.
Man, is it hot.
I went to find him a few minutes before the assembly, to see if he wanted to run through it with me so that he could look up or ask about anything he didn’t understand right away.
Guess what! He said he wouldn’t translate it for me. He said that if I spoke slowly and used easy English that they would have no problems.
You know what? That’s bullshit. They understand about 12% of what I say in class, and that is a generous estimate. I was a little angry, but not nearly as angry as Jessie was when I told her about it later. So I would be giving an address to an auditorium who had little or no idea what I was saying.
Since there’s only so many ways to say things, and I had already chosen pretty simple things to say, I just stuck with what I had prepared (earlier this morning).
I was first.
I got introduced, and then passed along an assembly line of teachers who each took me by the hand and guided me to the next teacher, who would take my other hand and then pass me on.
As soon as the girls heard “Matthew-sonsangnim” they erupted. I am not exaggerating, and there is no way that anyone who has not been here could ever understand just how little it takes to whip Korean girls into a cheering frenzy. But they were going nuts!
They finally settled down, and I started in on my address. Note the high amounts of repetition and almost Koreanized English:
“I can’t believe how quickly my year*has gone by! This year has been so fast! I feel like my first class here* was yesterday! Yesterday I said hello, I think, and today I am saying goodbye. That’s why in English* we say ‘Time flies when you are having fun’.And it has been fun*! So many of my best memories have been here with the students* of Yeongam Girls’ Middle School. I have enjoyed my time with all of you and I really appreciated, I am really thankful*, and I thank you* for trying to speak to me – in English!In the future, when you are ‘English Experts’ I hope that you will visit me. I will show you around my part of Canada [I gesture a small area]. You have my e-mail, just ‘drop me a line’. God luck to all of you in four futures. Thank you* so much, thanks* for the memories.”
The stars (*) indicate where I had to pause to wait for the re-erupting applause to die down. The single quotes show where I had to make quote-y fingers to let the girls know that I was using an idiom. Haha.
Then, I left the stage. I was nervous, so I forgot to bow. And since no-one really understood what was happening, I have a feeling that I was not given an exit cue, because when I just left the stage, everyone started laughing. Well, great.
Afterwards, Mr Lee informed me that Sukkyeong had called and said that she wanted to bring me to the boys’ school so that the other teachers could say goodbye. Apparently they had not known that Thursday was my last day. It was really nice that they wanted to say goodbye, but it was honestly a little insulting that I apparently register so little that no-one thought it was strange that the students had thrown me a farewell party when apparently no-one knew that I was leaving.
Anyways, let’s focus on the good.
She came to the girls’ school at eleven to pick me up, which was a long time considering that I had nothing to do there, and I was finished my speech at 10:10. Even the internet was down, so there was literally nothing.
She finally came, and we headed out to the boys’ school.
I was ushered into the office and told to sit down on the chair next to the VP’s desk. I sat there, awkwardly, for about five minutes as the other teachers filed in. Finally, they did, and the VP stood up, and said something. They all stood up, so I did too. I was just standing up, when I saw Sukkyeong running over gesturing madly that I should stand up, as if I would miss the “subtle” cue of EVERYONE ELSE standing up, remain seated and offend everyone.
The VP spoke for a while, and I heard a few words that I recognized. I’ll give you the run down, with the Korean represented by “k”:
“KKKKKKkkkKKkkkKkKkkkkKKKKKKkKKKKKkkkkkKK Matthew KKkkkKkKkKKKkkk Canada KKK Good KKKKkkkKK Students KkKkkkKkk school KKkKkKkkkkKkk teacher KKkkkKkKKkkkKKKKKkkKkKKKKk goodbye kKKkKkkKk Canada KKkKkKKKKkKkKk Matthew KkkK teacher!”
Then everyone clapped, so I joined in too, and I smiled.
Then everyone just stared at me.
Then it got awkward.
Then Sukkyeong leaned forward.
“He wants you to give a short address to the teachers…”
Well great.
I don’t know if addresses are randomly sprung on Koreans all the time, or if they are in Canada too, and I have just never been in the position of someone who is expected to give them so often.
I dove in:
“Well… Thank you very much for being so kind to me. You have always made me feel very welcome here at Yeongam Chung Hakkyo.”
…
“That’s all, thank you!”
Then they laughed.
Then they gave me a gift. I delicately tore off the wrapping, because I was unsure of the decoration protocol here. I was apparently being too careful, because they joined in to help. I reached in the box, and saw this beautiful wooden bow, and I was touched that they would get me such a nice thing to keep all of my Korean souvenirs in. What a thoughtful gift!
And then I turned it over and saw the hole that you pull the Kleenex out of.
Yep, it was a Kleenex box cover.
I don’t care though, it will be used to store all of my Korean souvenirs, and the ones in the middle will just get a little dusty, I guess.
There was also a nice framed set of Korean masks, which was awesome. I wanted to get one before I left, so it was pretty great that they bought me one.
Then I said some more awkward goodbyes, which were even more awkward, because I had said what I had thought were my last goodbyes two days ago.
And then I walked home.
Man, is it hot.
Last day at elementary school!
Yesterday was my last day at the elementary school.
The first pleasant surprise was that Eunok had arranged it so that my last class was 6-5. SWEET! That pretty much ensured a good day, because no matter how bad things got, I would have that to look forward to.
But it never really got bad. I had prepared two versions of the game for the day, because the first version seemed like it might be too difficult. It was the same matching game, but now there were 24 pairs, instead of 12 like before, so there were a lot more words for them to hear and understand why they did or did not match… problem!
So for the first class I did a really simplified versions where they had to match verbs to things those verbs could act on. It turned out to be way too easy, and only took about half the class. So I asked the kids what they thought was best about Korea so that I could talk about those things to my friends and family when I got back to Canada.
Here are some highlights: (words are theirs, descriptions are mine)
· Food
o kimchi and soju, mainly. Yeah, the two foods that foreigners dislike the most are apparently the best in Korea. So I will warn you, they are proud, and if you come here, they will make you eat them. They will hold you down and pour them down your throat. Luckily, I don’t mind either of them (I like kimchi again now)
o vegetables. That’s right, one of the best things about Korea, the COUNTRY, is vegetables.
o Squid. Yep, another of the highlights.
o Bulgogi – yeah, this is true. Korea does meat very well.
· Locales
o Jeju – that little island paradise OF COURSE made their list. Nevermind that any child I have ever spoken to who had gone to Jeju only talked about being bored out of their minds, all these children insisted that it was the best place to be ever, anywhere.
o Mountains – well, I’ll give them that one. They are beautiful mountains.
o Dokdo – probably even fewer of you have heard about this any of the other “world famous” attractions that Korea has to offer. This is a disputed island between Korea and Japan. Jessie looked it up, and it is described as “two rocky islets”. Now, there is no way that the kids are actually proud of this. Most probably only have only passing knowledge of what it even is.
· Jindogae – the dog breed that was declared a national monument. As with most national monuments, it was quickly tied to a three foot chain at the end of a driveway with a small shelter made of cinder blocks and fed a diet of leftovers.
· History and culture – I suggested this because I was tired of hearing about food.
o Hanbok – this traditional clothing, apparently designed to hide all women under a bell-shaped, bow-adorned silk dress. It either works as a one or a zero, it’s a binary dress. It either makes a woman look magically beautiful, or like the most frumpy and unattractive thing ever dreamed up.
For the next three classes, I used the long, difficult version of the game. It meant that it crawled in the beginning, but eventually, the kids got all the answers, and got some candy. Hey, what else are foreign teachers for?
6-6 was an amazing surprise! They were so good, and they didn’t leave me feeling “tired and alone” at all. They were participating, and even the especially bad ones were really trying, and being really nice!
My last class was good, it was 6-5, so of course it was good. It was even BETTER, because I taught in their classroom, and it is one of the only classrooms with an air conditioner. It was also the class where Eunok finally caught on to how I was choosing the strange nicknames that I had for all of the students. I just call them by whatever their shirts say.
“Yes, Vintage Designs!”
“Yes. Are you ready to rock?”
“Your turn, tank top!”
I caught her snickering in the corner after the third or fourth time that I called on “Ready to Rock”.
After class, I had a bunch of candy left, so I just opened the bag and let them take one each until it was gone. Well… tat had been my idea. Unfortunately, it turned into a mob scene, with kids crawling on top of eachother and grabbing handfuls at a time. I felt bad, because some of the good kids who restrained themselves wound up not getting any.
I felt bad, but not too bad, because I was done.
Woohoo!After lunch, it was a little awkward saying goodbye to Eunok. I will miss her, but I was just way too happy to be done to act sad. She gave me a nice little gift of ginseng candy, and some bookmarks. Also, her e-mail. She was really nice to me this year, and did so much to improve her English so that she could help me. Also, she’s a great English teacher! She’ll be so good for the program at the elementary school.
The first pleasant surprise was that Eunok had arranged it so that my last class was 6-5. SWEET! That pretty much ensured a good day, because no matter how bad things got, I would have that to look forward to.
But it never really got bad. I had prepared two versions of the game for the day, because the first version seemed like it might be too difficult. It was the same matching game, but now there were 24 pairs, instead of 12 like before, so there were a lot more words for them to hear and understand why they did or did not match… problem!
So for the first class I did a really simplified versions where they had to match verbs to things those verbs could act on. It turned out to be way too easy, and only took about half the class. So I asked the kids what they thought was best about Korea so that I could talk about those things to my friends and family when I got back to Canada.
Here are some highlights: (words are theirs, descriptions are mine)
· Food
o kimchi and soju, mainly. Yeah, the two foods that foreigners dislike the most are apparently the best in Korea. So I will warn you, they are proud, and if you come here, they will make you eat them. They will hold you down and pour them down your throat. Luckily, I don’t mind either of them (I like kimchi again now)
o vegetables. That’s right, one of the best things about Korea, the COUNTRY, is vegetables.
o Squid. Yep, another of the highlights.
o Bulgogi – yeah, this is true. Korea does meat very well.
· Locales
o Jeju – that little island paradise OF COURSE made their list. Nevermind that any child I have ever spoken to who had gone to Jeju only talked about being bored out of their minds, all these children insisted that it was the best place to be ever, anywhere.
o Mountains – well, I’ll give them that one. They are beautiful mountains.
o Dokdo – probably even fewer of you have heard about this any of the other “world famous” attractions that Korea has to offer. This is a disputed island between Korea and Japan. Jessie looked it up, and it is described as “two rocky islets”. Now, there is no way that the kids are actually proud of this. Most probably only have only passing knowledge of what it even is.
· Jindogae – the dog breed that was declared a national monument. As with most national monuments, it was quickly tied to a three foot chain at the end of a driveway with a small shelter made of cinder blocks and fed a diet of leftovers.
· History and culture – I suggested this because I was tired of hearing about food.
o Hanbok – this traditional clothing, apparently designed to hide all women under a bell-shaped, bow-adorned silk dress. It either works as a one or a zero, it’s a binary dress. It either makes a woman look magically beautiful, or like the most frumpy and unattractive thing ever dreamed up.
For the next three classes, I used the long, difficult version of the game. It meant that it crawled in the beginning, but eventually, the kids got all the answers, and got some candy. Hey, what else are foreign teachers for?
6-6 was an amazing surprise! They were so good, and they didn’t leave me feeling “tired and alone” at all. They were participating, and even the especially bad ones were really trying, and being really nice!
My last class was good, it was 6-5, so of course it was good. It was even BETTER, because I taught in their classroom, and it is one of the only classrooms with an air conditioner. It was also the class where Eunok finally caught on to how I was choosing the strange nicknames that I had for all of the students. I just call them by whatever their shirts say.
“Yes, Vintage Designs!”
“Yes. Are you ready to rock?”
“Your turn, tank top!”
I caught her snickering in the corner after the third or fourth time that I called on “Ready to Rock”.
After class, I had a bunch of candy left, so I just opened the bag and let them take one each until it was gone. Well… tat had been my idea. Unfortunately, it turned into a mob scene, with kids crawling on top of eachother and grabbing handfuls at a time. I felt bad, because some of the good kids who restrained themselves wound up not getting any.
I felt bad, but not too bad, because I was done.
Woohoo!After lunch, it was a little awkward saying goodbye to Eunok. I will miss her, but I was just way too happy to be done to act sad. She gave me a nice little gift of ginseng candy, and some bookmarks. Also, her e-mail. She was really nice to me this year, and did so much to improve her English so that she could help me. Also, she’s a great English teacher! She’ll be so good for the program at the elementary school.
Last afternoon at the boys' school
My last class at the boys’ school went just swimmingly. It was 1-3, the class that is loud, but lots of fun. They were pretty desperate for candy too, which made it easy to get them quiet.
After the class, I had a couple of hours free before the volleyball game. The epic match between the teachers of the middle school and the high school. I forgot to mention, but because the match was happening, I had to be at school for 8:40 (classes started early so that the game could start early). I almost forgot, and wound up almost running to school.
Anyways, the game was better than most. For once, I was told in advance, so I brought some shorts and wore a shirt that was okay for volleyball, which was great, because it was about 35 degrees.
It was actually a lot of fun. Everyone was friendly and trying to talk to me, which I sort of assumed that it was because it was my last day. But I found out today (it’s now Saturday) that they didn’t even know! More on the later…
Volleyball was pretty fun, but once again I was super annoyed by the physed teacher, who played almost the entire court, and then glared at people when they were too intimidated to go for the ball. No wonder! The guy would just run into you at any time!
I met the high school English teachers too, who were really nice. It’s too bad that I am just meeting them now, because they could have been good people to know for my entire time here.
I was tired of losing at one point (the high school teachers were kicking our ass pretty brutally), and it was my serve (the only thing I can really do well), so I started serving to the weak players. We got twelve straight points. I don’t know how that is possible, or how that works with the actual rules of volleyball… but we never change positions either, I had always played before with some sort of rotation.
AT one point, the ball bounced onto the little buffet table they had set up next to the game. When the ball got bounced over to me, it was all greasy and slimy. I didn’t realize later that evening that I had eaten the pork that the ball had probably bounced all over. Sick.
At any rate, after we won a game and I had gotten us three points into the next game, I started to feel like a jerk, so I hit it to a strong player. He hit it back, they got a point, and they proceeded to sweep the rest of the game.
HILARIOUS!
The guy who loves me was back on the “being creepy” shift. He called me over, proceeded to look me up and down, and then insisted that I sit with him. I sat with him for a few minutes, but I wanted to take pictures, so I tried to leave. He grabbed me and sat me down. I finally just walked away and didn’t say goodbye until I was out of reach. He’s so creepy! There’s something about him… there are no other teachers who make me feel so creeped out.
I took some pictures, but the camera that I have is pretty bad for action pictures, so none really turned out. Unfortunately, the horizontal problem is also getting worse.
After the game, I said goodbye to a few of the teachers who I was closer to, and I almost cried! Especially saying goodbye to the Korean teacher, I was getting pretty choked up. He was just so nice to me all year, and probably made more of an effort than anyone else who wasn’t getting payed to make an effort. He was always giving me tea, calling me over to games and stuff that people were playing, and high-fiving me for no reason.
And then there is the other teacher who was nice, always bringing me food and saying hello to me… I told her I would cook her dinner if she came to visit me in Gwangju.
I finally left, and I took the long way home. Bad choice. The soju and plum wine from the buffet table combined with the heat made it very very difficult to get home. It was so hot! When I was about 300m off from home, it actually became difficult to lift my feet. I made it home, and Jessie wanted to play a game… I had a shower, and joined her on the couch, where I promptly fell asleep. Then it was nap time…
After the class, I had a couple of hours free before the volleyball game. The epic match between the teachers of the middle school and the high school. I forgot to mention, but because the match was happening, I had to be at school for 8:40 (classes started early so that the game could start early). I almost forgot, and wound up almost running to school.
Anyways, the game was better than most. For once, I was told in advance, so I brought some shorts and wore a shirt that was okay for volleyball, which was great, because it was about 35 degrees.
It was actually a lot of fun. Everyone was friendly and trying to talk to me, which I sort of assumed that it was because it was my last day. But I found out today (it’s now Saturday) that they didn’t even know! More on the later…
Volleyball was pretty fun, but once again I was super annoyed by the physed teacher, who played almost the entire court, and then glared at people when they were too intimidated to go for the ball. No wonder! The guy would just run into you at any time!
I met the high school English teachers too, who were really nice. It’s too bad that I am just meeting them now, because they could have been good people to know for my entire time here.
I was tired of losing at one point (the high school teachers were kicking our ass pretty brutally), and it was my serve (the only thing I can really do well), so I started serving to the weak players. We got twelve straight points. I don’t know how that is possible, or how that works with the actual rules of volleyball… but we never change positions either, I had always played before with some sort of rotation.
AT one point, the ball bounced onto the little buffet table they had set up next to the game. When the ball got bounced over to me, it was all greasy and slimy. I didn’t realize later that evening that I had eaten the pork that the ball had probably bounced all over. Sick.
At any rate, after we won a game and I had gotten us three points into the next game, I started to feel like a jerk, so I hit it to a strong player. He hit it back, they got a point, and they proceeded to sweep the rest of the game.
HILARIOUS!
The guy who loves me was back on the “being creepy” shift. He called me over, proceeded to look me up and down, and then insisted that I sit with him. I sat with him for a few minutes, but I wanted to take pictures, so I tried to leave. He grabbed me and sat me down. I finally just walked away and didn’t say goodbye until I was out of reach. He’s so creepy! There’s something about him… there are no other teachers who make me feel so creeped out.
I took some pictures, but the camera that I have is pretty bad for action pictures, so none really turned out. Unfortunately, the horizontal problem is also getting worse.
After the game, I said goodbye to a few of the teachers who I was closer to, and I almost cried! Especially saying goodbye to the Korean teacher, I was getting pretty choked up. He was just so nice to me all year, and probably made more of an effort than anyone else who wasn’t getting payed to make an effort. He was always giving me tea, calling me over to games and stuff that people were playing, and high-fiving me for no reason.
And then there is the other teacher who was nice, always bringing me food and saying hello to me… I told her I would cook her dinner if she came to visit me in Gwangju.
I finally left, and I took the long way home. Bad choice. The soju and plum wine from the buffet table combined with the heat made it very very difficult to get home. It was so hot! When I was about 300m off from home, it actually became difficult to lift my feet. I made it home, and Jessie wanted to play a game… I had a shower, and joined her on the couch, where I promptly fell asleep. Then it was nap time…
Thursday, July 13, 2006
like pulling teeth
I had kind of hoped that my last class with 2-2 at the boys' school would be a change from the usual pace. I mean, teaching that class is roughly equivalent to trying to stick things to teflon.
It's not that they're stupid or anything, it's just they have this complete block on giving any sort of response to any question. So usually I just pace around the class trying to get through my lesson, and trying to make a topic geared to discussion last at least half of the class when they decide that discussion is not an option.
"How did you do on your exams?"
...
"How were your exams?"
...
"Did you pass your exams?"
...
"Did you do well on your exams?"
...
"Exams good?"
...
"Or exams bad?"
...
"Okay, oh yes, a hand is up, good! How did you do?"
"Teacher... Exams study..."
"Okay, you studied, that's good! How did you study?"
...
"What did you do to study?"
...
"Did you use books?"
...
"Did you study?"
... ... ... "I study hagwon."
"Okay, you studied at a hagwon, or an academy [writes 'I study at an academy' on the board]. What else do you do?"
...
"What about your books? Do you use your books?"
[coteacher prompts a student at the back, one who definitely knows an answer anyways and just chooses not to answer]
"I read."
"Good! You read your books to study. But, reading is not enough! What else do you do?"
...
"I like to highlight" [demonstrates highlighting on the board]
[students nod]
"What about you notebooks? What do you do with them?"
...
"What do you do with your notebooks?" [removes pronoun]
...
"What do you write in your notebooks?"
"note?" [that's actually the Koren word for notebook, but I decided to go with it anyways, because I know no-one will actually say 'write notes' and mean it in the correct way]
"That's right! You write notes in your notebook. Then you study those."[at this point even I am having to slap myself occasionally to keep my eyes open]
...
"Okay, so that's how you study. Let's play a game." [said very quickly as I desperately erase the board, in a manner suggesting that the words themselves are causing me pain]
So then we moved on to the game. They did pretty well with the obvious ones, but unlike the grade ones, they were not able to piece together the less obvious clues. Oh well.
One kid cleaned his glasses as he stared off out the window through the whole class. He didn't even look up from it, he clearly had somewhere better to be.
I'm with you, kid.
It's not that they're stupid or anything, it's just they have this complete block on giving any sort of response to any question. So usually I just pace around the class trying to get through my lesson, and trying to make a topic geared to discussion last at least half of the class when they decide that discussion is not an option.
"How did you do on your exams?"
...
"How were your exams?"
...
"Did you pass your exams?"
...
"Did you do well on your exams?"
...
"Exams good?"
...
"Or exams bad?"
...
"Okay, oh yes, a hand is up, good! How did you do?"
"Teacher... Exams study..."
"Okay, you studied, that's good! How did you study?"
...
"What did you do to study?"
...
"Did you use books?"
...
"Did you study?"
... ... ... "I study hagwon."
"Okay, you studied at a hagwon, or an academy [writes 'I study at an academy' on the board]. What else do you do?"
...
"What about your books? Do you use your books?"
[coteacher prompts a student at the back, one who definitely knows an answer anyways and just chooses not to answer]
"I read."
"Good! You read your books to study. But, reading is not enough! What else do you do?"
...
"I like to highlight" [demonstrates highlighting on the board]
[students nod]
"What about you notebooks? What do you do with them?"
...
"What do you do with your notebooks?" [removes pronoun]
...
"What do you write in your notebooks?"
"note?" [that's actually the Koren word for notebook, but I decided to go with it anyways, because I know no-one will actually say 'write notes' and mean it in the correct way]
"That's right! You write notes in your notebook. Then you study those."[at this point even I am having to slap myself occasionally to keep my eyes open]
...
"Okay, so that's how you study. Let's play a game." [said very quickly as I desperately erase the board, in a manner suggesting that the words themselves are causing me pain]
So then we moved on to the game. They did pretty well with the obvious ones, but unlike the grade ones, they were not able to piece together the less obvious clues. Oh well.
One kid cleaned his glasses as he stared off out the window through the whole class. He didn't even look up from it, he clearly had somewhere better to be.
I'm with you, kid.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Last day with the grade one boys pictures - more pictures of the boys to come soon
This is the main board in 1-2. I think whoever did the big writing got tired and stopped early.
This is the side-board from class 1-2. I asked if it was me, they assured me it was not.
Here's my "cake".
Here's the pen I was given, with the letter attached. The note was written to cause confusion at first glance, I think... haha.
Here's the board in 1-3. They got pretty elaborate with their English. That's me, holding a fly swatter. Apparently, that was their favourite game.
Here's my new favourite class at the boys' school, 1-3. They were so loud and so hard to control, but they were so much fun once I figured them out.
Last Wednesday
So, today was hot, as previously mentioned.
The first class, with the party, was great.
The second class was a bit of an adventure.
It started with one of my favourite students coming into the staff room before class started.
He said "Teacher, today is your last day. May we watch a movie?"
I figured what the hell, why not, I was just going to play a game anyways.
He said "Teacher, it is horror movie."
I said "Is it okay for school?"
He said that they had already watched some of it in their history class.
I figured it must be tame horror, like "Scream"or something, just more of a thriller than anything.
I was wrong. It was "Creep". That movie is horrible. I was shocked and turned it off after about ten minutes. I've linked to the wikipedia (click on the title) if you want to check out just why this movie was so horrible for schoolkids (I stopped the film at "caesarian").
The biggest shock, once you get over the fact that they would actually try to get away with watching it at school, was that apparently another teacher had allowed them to watch it for a whole period. Another thing that shocked me was the faces of a few of the students when I finally did stop it. They all were cheering when I asked if they wanted to watch the movie instead of playing a game, but apparently they signed up for the movie without really looking into what that would mean. One guy, who is usually very "too cool for school" had this look of horror on his face, and could only say "Very very bad movie".
We wound up playing the game that we were going to play anyways. It was good. Once the movie was off.
The next class was 1-1, and they were better than usual. Not much more to comment on there. Except that one guy gave me a pen with a note that said "This pen is for you" but the "pen" and "is" were close enough to make me do a double take. That was really nice. I got a lot of nice notes.
The last class today was 1-3, which has undergone a huge switch from the dreaded grade one class to the one that I look forward to the most. Basically I have just realized that I can't expect things to go the way I want in that class. So I have to let them lead, and they usually do a great job and lead themselves to everything I want to cover anyways. When I arrived, they had the board all decorated for me and they cheered really loudly for me. It was amazing. It was nice, because I think they were unprompted, they just did it.
We had a really fun class, played my matching game and then category hangman, and it was fun. Then I showed them the fat guy numa numa video online, and they laughed like crazy.
I had a good day, teaching.
But then I had two hours of sitting until the end of the day, and I was reminded of why I am leaving the public school system here.
Two days left!
The first class, with the party, was great.
The second class was a bit of an adventure.
It started with one of my favourite students coming into the staff room before class started.
He said "Teacher, today is your last day. May we watch a movie?"
I figured what the hell, why not, I was just going to play a game anyways.
He said "Teacher, it is horror movie."
I said "Is it okay for school?"
He said that they had already watched some of it in their history class.
I figured it must be tame horror, like "Scream"or something, just more of a thriller than anything.
I was wrong. It was "Creep". That movie is horrible. I was shocked and turned it off after about ten minutes. I've linked to the wikipedia (click on the title) if you want to check out just why this movie was so horrible for schoolkids (I stopped the film at "caesarian").
The biggest shock, once you get over the fact that they would actually try to get away with watching it at school, was that apparently another teacher had allowed them to watch it for a whole period. Another thing that shocked me was the faces of a few of the students when I finally did stop it. They all were cheering when I asked if they wanted to watch the movie instead of playing a game, but apparently they signed up for the movie without really looking into what that would mean. One guy, who is usually very "too cool for school" had this look of horror on his face, and could only say "Very very bad movie".
We wound up playing the game that we were going to play anyways. It was good. Once the movie was off.
The next class was 1-1, and they were better than usual. Not much more to comment on there. Except that one guy gave me a pen with a note that said "This pen is for you" but the "pen" and "is" were close enough to make me do a double take. That was really nice. I got a lot of nice notes.
The last class today was 1-3, which has undergone a huge switch from the dreaded grade one class to the one that I look forward to the most. Basically I have just realized that I can't expect things to go the way I want in that class. So I have to let them lead, and they usually do a great job and lead themselves to everything I want to cover anyways. When I arrived, they had the board all decorated for me and they cheered really loudly for me. It was amazing. It was nice, because I think they were unprompted, they just did it.
We had a really fun class, played my matching game and then category hangman, and it was fun. Then I showed them the fat guy numa numa video online, and they laughed like crazy.
I had a good day, teaching.
But then I had two hours of sitting until the end of the day, and I was reminded of why I am leaving the public school system here.
Two days left!
PARTY!
So, my first class was pretty awesome.
They threw me a surprise party! I walked in to a countdown to shouting "Surprise!" and then everyone was just beaming at me... the board was COVERED with writing, although whoever did the big writing apparently got tired, because instead of "We had a good time" it says "We had a good". That's a pretty commong phrase here, because the big cell phone company's slogan is "Have a good time", so all the kids of course know it.
They also make me a "cake". This was done by stacking choco pies, chocolate chip cookies and oreos into elaborate and exotic piles, and then sticking barbecue chips into it so that they all stuck out at strange angles.
It was an interesting taste combination, to say the least.
I didn't eat much, because as sweet as the gesture was, I know a little too well the average Korean students track record of washing their hands.
We played a game based on the movie they watched. The game might have been a bit too hard, but luckily it works as a guessing game just as well, so we finished, and they got some more candy, in addition to the pop and chips that they had all brought for themselves.
It was super nice. And again, the pressure is gone, because all we relaly have to do is have some fun, so there's nothing too serious about it. Even the other classes are winding down. The kids have already written their exams, so they're just being given homework for their vacation right now. Yeha, you read that right. Even on their vacation, when they have more classes at hagwons, they have homework to do. Apparently a lot of it!
Poor kids.
Well, I hope this day keeps up, because it will be AWESOME!
They threw me a surprise party! I walked in to a countdown to shouting "Surprise!" and then everyone was just beaming at me... the board was COVERED with writing, although whoever did the big writing apparently got tired, because instead of "We had a good time" it says "We had a good". That's a pretty commong phrase here, because the big cell phone company's slogan is "Have a good time", so all the kids of course know it.
They also make me a "cake". This was done by stacking choco pies, chocolate chip cookies and oreos into elaborate and exotic piles, and then sticking barbecue chips into it so that they all stuck out at strange angles.
It was an interesting taste combination, to say the least.
I didn't eat much, because as sweet as the gesture was, I know a little too well the average Korean students track record of washing their hands.
We played a game based on the movie they watched. The game might have been a bit too hard, but luckily it works as a guessing game just as well, so we finished, and they got some more candy, in addition to the pop and chips that they had all brought for themselves.
It was super nice. And again, the pressure is gone, because all we relaly have to do is have some fun, so there's nothing too serious about it. Even the other classes are winding down. The kids have already written their exams, so they're just being given homework for their vacation right now. Yeha, you read that right. Even on their vacation, when they have more classes at hagwons, they have homework to do. Apparently a lot of it!
Poor kids.
Well, I hope this day keeps up, because it will be AWESOME!
It's so hot.
I'm pretty sure that I don't even qualify as human anymore.
I have transmogrified into some sort of half-salt half-water beast that is doomed to wander the streets of Yeongam for eternity and drip on innocent passersby.
Seriously, it's hot today. And the 9:00 am bell has not even rung yet.
I have transmogrified into some sort of half-salt half-water beast that is doomed to wander the streets of Yeongam for eternity and drip on innocent passersby.
Seriously, it's hot today. And the 9:00 am bell has not even rung yet.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
dog update/panic
So, this dog sounds like it will be a lot of work... but it's a poddle mix, so it's bound to be pretty bright, and probably pretty easy to train... I'm thinking about it.
It's really starting to sink in just how much I have to do in the next few weeks.
Next week - camp
Week of July 24th - free, but with job interviews, and packing
Week on July 31st - Bucheon camp
Week of August 7th - Bucheon camp
Week of August 14th - Mongolia
Week of August 21st - scrambling to get everything ready for my departure on August 26th (leaving Yeongam on the 25th)
AAAUUUuuuuggggghhh!
It's really starting to sink in just how much I have to do in the next few weeks.
Next week - camp
Week of July 24th - free, but with job interviews, and packing
Week on July 31st - Bucheon camp
Week of August 7th - Bucheon camp
Week of August 14th - Mongolia
Week of August 21st - scrambling to get everything ready for my departure on August 26th (leaving Yeongam on the 25th)
AAAUUUuuuuggggghhh!
Teacher's workshop farewell lunch
Yesterday was my last workshop.
Those lucky teachers who were smart enough to put their names down to present their speeches yesterday got out of it, because they were taking me out to lunch!
They didn't tell me until the last minute, of course, but that was fine, because I had left my planning fo the last workshop to the last minute as well.
Jeongim picked me up, well, met me, and then we got a ride the rest of the way with Girun.
On the way, they asked me "Have you ever been to Dogapsa?" I said yeah, only because it sounded familiar, but I corrected myself when we finally got there, and I realized that I had never ever been there before.
They were, of course, surprised, because it was "so beautiful".
They asked me if I had ever had ginseng before, and I of course said yes, and this time I knew I was right. Unfortunately, I don't really like ginseng.
I lied, and said that I thought that it was pretty good, because they were taking me out for lunch to thank me, and I was gonig to eat whatever they passed my way and I was going to enjoy it!
They told me that our lunch would be a lot like ginseng, but it was better for us. Another root, all natural, and picked in the mountains. I took that to mean that it would definitely taste worse.
Well, we settled into this little restaurant, with tables and chairs, surprisingly, and the lunch got off to a rocky start. Jinie was text messaging on her cell phone, Gongju was just staring into space, Gilun was apologizing for not trying harder, and Myeongsook was too far away for me to talk to. Then they all started speaking in Korean, so that sucked.
But then finally, I started getting in on the conversation by catching words and then saying "What was that about Samho school? That's where Jessie teaches." and such. The old ajumma brought out the food, and it looked grim.
It was sliced root, on a barbecue grill, with a thin red paste, and lots of sesame seeds. I was immediately warned that it would be too hot for me, because I am a foreigner, and not having eaten with me before, they jst assumed that everything would be too hot.
It was, in fact, delicious. I never imagined that eating roots could be so nice. They were all amazed with my chopstick prowess, and insisted on taking pictures of me with them.
We talked a lot about Korea, and about Canada, and about hwy I was leaving, and about their classes. Especially Myeongsook, she teaches at the technical high school where all of my worst students tend to wind up going. I can't imagine, I would quit and become a hermit.
When we had finished eating, we headed out to the lobby for an after dinner coffee. After waiting for about 20 minutes or so, we realized that there would be no coffee, so we went out to the little restaurant area outside, and got coffee from a vending machine.
After lunch, we were going to walk up to the temple, but because of the typhoon, we were told that it was off limits. Oh yeah, I was also told that the horrible rain we had was in fact a typhoon, which I guess explains a lot.
We stood around for a and finally wound up taking a little boardwalk along the river for a short walk and chat. I was given a lot of typhoon safety advice, which was helpful. This included "Close your windows" and "Hold on to Jessie very tightly".
It turned out to be a really good afternoon. I had a good time with them, and I really hope that I can remain in touch with them.
That's all about that.
Those lucky teachers who were smart enough to put their names down to present their speeches yesterday got out of it, because they were taking me out to lunch!
They didn't tell me until the last minute, of course, but that was fine, because I had left my planning fo the last workshop to the last minute as well.
Jeongim picked me up, well, met me, and then we got a ride the rest of the way with Girun.
On the way, they asked me "Have you ever been to Dogapsa?" I said yeah, only because it sounded familiar, but I corrected myself when we finally got there, and I realized that I had never ever been there before.
They were, of course, surprised, because it was "so beautiful".
They asked me if I had ever had ginseng before, and I of course said yes, and this time I knew I was right. Unfortunately, I don't really like ginseng.
I lied, and said that I thought that it was pretty good, because they were taking me out for lunch to thank me, and I was gonig to eat whatever they passed my way and I was going to enjoy it!
They told me that our lunch would be a lot like ginseng, but it was better for us. Another root, all natural, and picked in the mountains. I took that to mean that it would definitely taste worse.
Well, we settled into this little restaurant, with tables and chairs, surprisingly, and the lunch got off to a rocky start. Jinie was text messaging on her cell phone, Gongju was just staring into space, Gilun was apologizing for not trying harder, and Myeongsook was too far away for me to talk to. Then they all started speaking in Korean, so that sucked.
But then finally, I started getting in on the conversation by catching words and then saying "What was that about Samho school? That's where Jessie teaches." and such. The old ajumma brought out the food, and it looked grim.
It was sliced root, on a barbecue grill, with a thin red paste, and lots of sesame seeds. I was immediately warned that it would be too hot for me, because I am a foreigner, and not having eaten with me before, they jst assumed that everything would be too hot.
It was, in fact, delicious. I never imagined that eating roots could be so nice. They were all amazed with my chopstick prowess, and insisted on taking pictures of me with them.
We talked a lot about Korea, and about Canada, and about hwy I was leaving, and about their classes. Especially Myeongsook, she teaches at the technical high school where all of my worst students tend to wind up going. I can't imagine, I would quit and become a hermit.
When we had finished eating, we headed out to the lobby for an after dinner coffee. After waiting for about 20 minutes or so, we realized that there would be no coffee, so we went out to the little restaurant area outside, and got coffee from a vending machine.
After lunch, we were going to walk up to the temple, but because of the typhoon, we were told that it was off limits. Oh yeah, I was also told that the horrible rain we had was in fact a typhoon, which I guess explains a lot.
We stood around for a and finally wound up taking a little boardwalk along the river for a short walk and chat. I was given a lot of typhoon safety advice, which was helpful. This included "Close your windows" and "Hold on to Jessie very tightly".
It turned out to be a really good afternoon. I had a good time with them, and I really hope that I can remain in touch with them.
That's all about that.
cancellation
So, my last class with class 1-1 was cancelled, which really sucks.
I mean, it's good in the way that mean, it's good because it means that maybe I will not run out of candy, but it's bad because I don't get to say goodbye to them. And I like giving them candy, as creepy as that may be.
Mr Lee told me that there was no class (only after I asked him) and I said it was too bad, because I wanted to say goodbye to them. Then he said "Yes, I understand that you are very sad." and turned on his heel and walked out of the room.
I laughed right out loud. It was hilarious, but I realize that you probably had to be there.
At ten, Mr Hyun walks in to tell me that he has a meeting at ten, so he will not be in class with me in second period.
So, thanks for the hot tip. You will not be in the class that is cancelled, and you are coming into an empty classroom five minutes after class should have started to tell me.
The man is infuriating. No faking nice because it is the last day. The man would be fired if he worked anywhere but Korea, I am sure. I'm pretty sure that he has erased all the progress that I made with students last semester. The grade twos have reverted to saying hello to me in Korean, thank you very much.
Class 3-3 was brutal as usual, until I started the game, as usual. These girls are probably the brightest bunch, but it is like pulling teeth to get them to look at me even. Pull out a bag of candy though, and they are all about participation. It's a little insulting, but that's fine.
That's all I have to say about that.
I mean, it's good in the way that mean, it's good because it means that maybe I will not run out of candy, but it's bad because I don't get to say goodbye to them. And I like giving them candy, as creepy as that may be.
Mr Lee told me that there was no class (only after I asked him) and I said it was too bad, because I wanted to say goodbye to them. Then he said "Yes, I understand that you are very sad." and turned on his heel and walked out of the room.
I laughed right out loud. It was hilarious, but I realize that you probably had to be there.
At ten, Mr Hyun walks in to tell me that he has a meeting at ten, so he will not be in class with me in second period.
So, thanks for the hot tip. You will not be in the class that is cancelled, and you are coming into an empty classroom five minutes after class should have started to tell me.
The man is infuriating. No faking nice because it is the last day. The man would be fired if he worked anywhere but Korea, I am sure. I'm pretty sure that he has erased all the progress that I made with students last semester. The grade twos have reverted to saying hello to me in Korean, thank you very much.
Class 3-3 was brutal as usual, until I started the game, as usual. These girls are probably the brightest bunch, but it is like pulling teeth to get them to look at me even. Pull out a bag of candy though, and they are all about participation. It's a little insulting, but that's fine.
That's all I have to say about that.
Monday, July 10, 2006
Camera's on the fritz
Just a warning, before you scroll down, that my camera sucks.
I don't know what happened, but for some reason, it's putting these horizontal lines on everything.
Well, that's $400 down the toilet.
Yay! Here's some pictures. There's pictures on herre.
I don't know what happened, but for some reason, it's putting these horizontal lines on everything.
Well, that's $400 down the toilet.
Yay! Here's some pictures. There's pictures on herre.
last classes
I had two last classes today.
I'm not feeling as sad as I had thought that I might, but I am actually feeling really happy in class. It's pretty pressure free, because it is the last one!
It was ncie that for once I could just concentrate on the ones who were participating without feeling too bad about it. Of course, they had the added incentive of CANDY! The participation was still limited to just a few girls, but I was pretty fine with that.
I got my pictures of the class, and then they headed out.
I think tomorrow wil be harder, because it is the grade ones, and they are the only group that I have taught for the entire year (well, except the boys, but most of them, except for those grade ones are a write-off, they have no drive at all...). They will be hard to say goodbye to, and they will actually understand that I am leaving for longer than the summer...
Oh man, Mr Lee's phone just rang, and his ringtone is STILL Disney's recording of Jingle Bells. Wow.
I'm not feeling as sad as I had thought that I might, but I am actually feeling really happy in class. It's pretty pressure free, because it is the last one!
It was ncie that for once I could just concentrate on the ones who were participating without feeling too bad about it. Of course, they had the added incentive of CANDY! The participation was still limited to just a few girls, but I was pretty fine with that.
I got my pictures of the class, and then they headed out.
I think tomorrow wil be harder, because it is the grade ones, and they are the only group that I have taught for the entire year (well, except the boys, but most of them, except for those grade ones are a write-off, they have no drive at all...). They will be hard to say goodbye to, and they will actually understand that I am leaving for longer than the summer...
Oh man, Mr Lee's phone just rang, and his ringtone is STILL Disney's recording of Jingle Bells. Wow.
little tiny visitors. the return
They came back again, a number of times, but one time I managed to take a bunch of pictures.
Here they are. The last is a picture that they took of us.
It's easy to entertain kids who don't speak your language when they are light enough to lift two at a time.
Here they are. The last is a picture that they took of us.
It's easy to entertain kids who don't speak your language when they are light enough to lift two at a time.
dogs
So, I'm definitely going to bring a dog back to Korea when I come.
I am shopping around in different adoption and rescue sites online right now, and I'm getting pretty excited at the choices.
I'm getting a little worried about what exactly I will do with it when I return to school, but I think I will have no problems, because I adapt pretty well to working new things into my life, and I never really seem to notice the difference.
I'm also worried about trying to find a job with a pet-friendly apartment, which may be a challenge. I keep reading all of these horror stories online about people who get a pet and bring it with them and then have to give it up because they did not inquire about the pet-friendliness of their accomodations. So I'm going to have to be really careful about that.
I'm pretty excited about one dog in particular right now, a "Giant Schnoodle", a cross between a giant schnauzer and a standard poodle. I told mom about her and she went to visit her on the weekend and check her out. She says that she is friendly, but likes to jump. She is being trained right now, which is good, and she's already 15 months, so she's how she will be, but still trainable. Problem is, if I want her I have to commit to her now, because they cannot hold her until I return. And then she will have to board at a kennel until I get back, but the good thing is that she will get more training at the kennel.
Here's a pic:
Is this meant to be? She seems pretty great, and my mom's e-mail about her was practically shooting enthusiasm right off the screen, and she seems totally in love with this pooch. After one visit.
It needs some consideration...
I am shopping around in different adoption and rescue sites online right now, and I'm getting pretty excited at the choices.
I'm getting a little worried about what exactly I will do with it when I return to school, but I think I will have no problems, because I adapt pretty well to working new things into my life, and I never really seem to notice the difference.
I'm also worried about trying to find a job with a pet-friendly apartment, which may be a challenge. I keep reading all of these horror stories online about people who get a pet and bring it with them and then have to give it up because they did not inquire about the pet-friendliness of their accomodations. So I'm going to have to be really careful about that.
I'm pretty excited about one dog in particular right now, a "Giant Schnoodle", a cross between a giant schnauzer and a standard poodle. I told mom about her and she went to visit her on the weekend and check her out. She says that she is friendly, but likes to jump. She is being trained right now, which is good, and she's already 15 months, so she's how she will be, but still trainable. Problem is, if I want her I have to commit to her now, because they cannot hold her until I return. And then she will have to board at a kennel until I get back, but the good thing is that she will get more training at the kennel.
Here's a pic:
Is this meant to be? She seems pretty great, and my mom's e-mail about her was practically shooting enthusiasm right off the screen, and she seems totally in love with this pooch. After one visit.It needs some consideration...
lots to tell about
I have not updated in a long time.
First a bit about our Canada Day.
We spent the day with Andy and Caela. They live in this awesome small city (about 300 times bigger than Yeongam), and they were having a celebration for the anniversary of their market, which was pretty neat. Lots of drumming, lots or "Norae" and lots of balloons.
Also in attendance were Mary and Phil (Phil was the one who suggested backwards boxers when my fly broke, a brilliant man by any account), Brendan and Jasmine, who we hadn't seen since we spent a night with them in October, or maybe even September, as well as Tony, who sang "Arirang" at the festival, and two Koreans whose names elude me... as Korean names so often do.
The food was amazing, they are excellent hosts, and we had a really good time. We played a lot of games and such, but the things I will take away from the night is that Andy is quite possibly the most optimistic and wonderful person I have ever met, or will ever meet.
You know those people who just radiate sunshine, and eventually you just want to tell them to fuck off and get a life? Andy is not one of those.
He's just constantly being explosed to what a miracle life is. It doesn't get annoying either, like it does with some people, because it is so sincere. He just loves being alive, and loves revelling in the experience of it.
SO that is good. The awesome part is that he and Caela have decided to have their baby in Korea, so we will be able to meet up again next year. We're both interested in taking calligraphy lessons, so that will be good.
It was funny that of the four couples there that night, Andy and Caela are the only ones who will stay living together, although all the couples will be staying together.
We also had a vase spun right in front of us.
That's all I can remember right now.
First a bit about our Canada Day.
We spent the day with Andy and Caela. They live in this awesome small city (about 300 times bigger than Yeongam), and they were having a celebration for the anniversary of their market, which was pretty neat. Lots of drumming, lots or "Norae" and lots of balloons.
Also in attendance were Mary and Phil (Phil was the one who suggested backwards boxers when my fly broke, a brilliant man by any account), Brendan and Jasmine, who we hadn't seen since we spent a night with them in October, or maybe even September, as well as Tony, who sang "Arirang" at the festival, and two Koreans whose names elude me... as Korean names so often do.
The food was amazing, they are excellent hosts, and we had a really good time. We played a lot of games and such, but the things I will take away from the night is that Andy is quite possibly the most optimistic and wonderful person I have ever met, or will ever meet.
You know those people who just radiate sunshine, and eventually you just want to tell them to fuck off and get a life? Andy is not one of those.
He's just constantly being explosed to what a miracle life is. It doesn't get annoying either, like it does with some people, because it is so sincere. He just loves being alive, and loves revelling in the experience of it.
SO that is good. The awesome part is that he and Caela have decided to have their baby in Korea, so we will be able to meet up again next year. We're both interested in taking calligraphy lessons, so that will be good.
It was funny that of the four couples there that night, Andy and Caela are the only ones who will stay living together, although all the couples will be staying together.
We also had a vase spun right in front of us.
That's all I can remember right now.
Upwards rain, upwards rain (to the tune of purple rain)
It is the rainy season, as I think I have mentioned before.
Holy freaking crap, I have never ever seen rain like this before. And I've touched the rains down in Africa.
I was trying to explain to the girls that usually rain goes down. But today, it was going diagonally, straight across, and even up at a few points.
The wind woke me up at around five o'clock this morning. I knew it was five because the sky was just beginning to lighten.
The howling kept me up until almost seven (fading in and out), at which point I fell asleep for a sweet fifteen minutes.
The wind kept howling when I woke up. Our laundry, drying on the enclosed balcony was drenched if it was hanging more than about two feet from the ceiling.
That looked to be about the end of the excitement. And then Jessie left.
As soon as she opened the door, the air saw it chance, and snaked through the open window through our bedroom and rushed out into the hall.
The door slammed.
Hard.
There was some other banging, but we thought it was no big deal. Jessie headed out, I went to the bedroom to get dressed (I just got out of the shower).
I reached for the doorknob, and there was no doorknob. Just a hole in the door.
The force of the wind had been strong enough to slam the door so hard that the knob flew off. There were srping and bits of metal everywhere. Oh, the humanity.
So here I am in a towel, with all of my clothes behind a door that I cannot open.
But then I remember that the balcony window opens into the bedroom as well. It's an enclosed balcony, I wasn't considering any action hero/hanging off the building kind of stuff.
Either way, I meant a whole lot of mooning of a whole lot of Yeongam, I am pretty sure.
So, I get in, and walk to the door to open it from the inside. But I forgot that I am an idiot, so I am now locked in the room, because the knob took with it the part that actually opened the door.
So I crawl back out through the window (in boxers this time) and get a butterknife that I use to pull the door mechanism open. Crisis averted, the door is propped open.
Here's the doorknob carnage: (coming soon)
Then I call a cab. It was around 8:25, which I see now may have been pushing it a bit.
I head down to the foyer at 8:30, and the doors are blown open. They can be locked shut, but considering that they are un-reinforced glass plates, it's probably not a great idea.
The rain is blowing in about twenty feet from the doorway, which means that the elevator is almost getting wet. There's a giant puddle in the doorway that is actually forming waves that ebb and flow up the wheelchair ramp.
I stand in the most sheltered part of the mail area, which is still getting really wet (It's almost 12:30, and my pants are still soaked from the knees down), when this woman from our building (who once asked us to tutor her daughter) who always gives me a ride offers me a ride. I manage to communicate to her (by wild gesturing through her car window) that I had called a cab already. Or that I was having a seizure... one or the other. Either way, she drove away.
I don't wear a watch, but I start to feel that pretty significant period of time has gone by, so I head to the elevator, figuring that I will be able to run up and check the kitchen clock before a cab driver has time to pull up, get angry, and finally drive off. I hit the elevator button (the stairs are pretty slick with rain blowing in from the windows), and it finally comes. The doors open, but they don't close. There's is too much wind pressure from the doorway! They CAN'T close. They try to. You can hear the motor wearing... reerrrr rrreerrrr... but it stops with about 6 inches left, and even with my hands helping it along, it decides it will be easier to just stay open.
So I head back to the foyer. The cab comes about ten minutes later. And the whole thing gives me a hilarious story to tell my students on my last day.
Right on.
Holy freaking crap, I have never ever seen rain like this before. And I've touched the rains down in Africa.
I was trying to explain to the girls that usually rain goes down. But today, it was going diagonally, straight across, and even up at a few points.
The wind woke me up at around five o'clock this morning. I knew it was five because the sky was just beginning to lighten.
The howling kept me up until almost seven (fading in and out), at which point I fell asleep for a sweet fifteen minutes.
The wind kept howling when I woke up. Our laundry, drying on the enclosed balcony was drenched if it was hanging more than about two feet from the ceiling.
That looked to be about the end of the excitement. And then Jessie left.
As soon as she opened the door, the air saw it chance, and snaked through the open window through our bedroom and rushed out into the hall.
The door slammed.
Hard.
There was some other banging, but we thought it was no big deal. Jessie headed out, I went to the bedroom to get dressed (I just got out of the shower).
I reached for the doorknob, and there was no doorknob. Just a hole in the door.
The force of the wind had been strong enough to slam the door so hard that the knob flew off. There were srping and bits of metal everywhere. Oh, the humanity.
So here I am in a towel, with all of my clothes behind a door that I cannot open.
But then I remember that the balcony window opens into the bedroom as well. It's an enclosed balcony, I wasn't considering any action hero/hanging off the building kind of stuff.
Either way, I meant a whole lot of mooning of a whole lot of Yeongam, I am pretty sure.
So, I get in, and walk to the door to open it from the inside. But I forgot that I am an idiot, so I am now locked in the room, because the knob took with it the part that actually opened the door.
So I crawl back out through the window (in boxers this time) and get a butterknife that I use to pull the door mechanism open. Crisis averted, the door is propped open.
Here's the doorknob carnage: (coming soon)
Then I call a cab. It was around 8:25, which I see now may have been pushing it a bit.
I head down to the foyer at 8:30, and the doors are blown open. They can be locked shut, but considering that they are un-reinforced glass plates, it's probably not a great idea.
The rain is blowing in about twenty feet from the doorway, which means that the elevator is almost getting wet. There's a giant puddle in the doorway that is actually forming waves that ebb and flow up the wheelchair ramp.
I stand in the most sheltered part of the mail area, which is still getting really wet (It's almost 12:30, and my pants are still soaked from the knees down), when this woman from our building (who once asked us to tutor her daughter) who always gives me a ride offers me a ride. I manage to communicate to her (by wild gesturing through her car window) that I had called a cab already. Or that I was having a seizure... one or the other. Either way, she drove away.
I don't wear a watch, but I start to feel that pretty significant period of time has gone by, so I head to the elevator, figuring that I will be able to run up and check the kitchen clock before a cab driver has time to pull up, get angry, and finally drive off. I hit the elevator button (the stairs are pretty slick with rain blowing in from the windows), and it finally comes. The doors open, but they don't close. There's is too much wind pressure from the doorway! They CAN'T close. They try to. You can hear the motor wearing... reerrrr rrreerrrr... but it stops with about 6 inches left, and even with my hands helping it along, it decides it will be easier to just stay open.
So I head back to the foyer. The cab comes about ten minutes later. And the whole thing gives me a hilarious story to tell my students on my last day.
Right on.
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