today is pepero day, south korea's equivalent of valentine's day. the only difference is it completely revolves around one kind of candy founded by lotte, a korean conglomerate. the day was made up becausae 11.11 looks like 4 pepero sticks. so you hand out these cookie sticks covered in chocolate (and sometimes almonds) to people you like. i recieved a few packages from my students. one is a cute little box with pepero inside. the outside has a pretty pink ribbon and a note from my student which reads, "thank you for teach <3 -David-" i also received a bag of two long pastries shaped like pepero.
getting chocolate is fun, but getting cute notes filled with grammatical errors is even better.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
boryeong
this weekend, kirsten, maria and i went to boryeong to see daecheon beach, which is on the coast of the yellow sea. we left early saturday morning and arrived at the beach 4 hours later. we walked along the beach and took pictures. it was really foggy out so it was hard to see the surrounding islands. we also went too late in the day to see the beach, the tide was too high. after viewing the beach, we went to a korean spa and receieved a mud treatment. boryeong is famous for their mud, which apparently is rich in minerals and used to manufactor a lot of cosmetics. after the spa, we went to a coffee shop to read before heading back to our hotel and sleeping. we woke up this morning and went to the port, which was a five minute bus ride from the beach. at the port, there are a ton of huge bins filled with water and various sea creatures. we saw king crab, blue crab, octopus, squid, every kind of fish imaginable, some eel, squid, sea cucumbers (peach colored cucumber shaped...thing) and clams. as you walk out to the actual port, there are people fishing and tourists taking pictures. suprisingly, we were the only white people at the port that weekend. koreans aren't used to seeing foreigners and will sometimes ask you to take a photograph with them. one korean family cornered maria and me and asked us if we would. we found this strange, but allowed them. kirsten turned around, saw this happening, thought we looked like we were vacationing with the family and took a picture also.
on friday, my school celebrated halloween for the kids with a day long halloween party. i thought i would keep it simple and dress up as a black cat, so i arrived to work in black leggings and a black shirt with the intention of wearing cat ears and maybe painting a nose and whiskers on my face. after one of my korean co-teachers decided to paint on a nose and whiskers, she proceeded to paint more cat-like eyes on my face...and hearts on my cheek. i have never felt more korean. when the kids came, they had 15-20 minutes in every room where all the native english speaking teachers had a different thing for them to do. there was a halloween movie, a haunted house (little kids cried), they made a treat bag, a scary story, and i got to paint the kids' faces. it was a fun day, but kind of demanding.
i also started looking at law schools and studying for the lsat. after work i'll stay later and study at the office or go to a coffee shop near my place and read my lsat book/take notes for an hour or so. i'm actually enjoying my new routine of early morning work outs, lunch at home, work, then studying.
on friday, my school celebrated halloween for the kids with a day long halloween party. i thought i would keep it simple and dress up as a black cat, so i arrived to work in black leggings and a black shirt with the intention of wearing cat ears and maybe painting a nose and whiskers on my face. after one of my korean co-teachers decided to paint on a nose and whiskers, she proceeded to paint more cat-like eyes on my face...and hearts on my cheek. i have never felt more korean. when the kids came, they had 15-20 minutes in every room where all the native english speaking teachers had a different thing for them to do. there was a halloween movie, a haunted house (little kids cried), they made a treat bag, a scary story, and i got to paint the kids' faces. it was a fun day, but kind of demanding.
i also started looking at law schools and studying for the lsat. after work i'll stay later and study at the office or go to a coffee shop near my place and read my lsat book/take notes for an hour or so. i'm actually enjoying my new routine of early morning work outs, lunch at home, work, then studying.
Monday, October 19, 2009
diet coke!!
yesterday, six of my coworkers, my directors and i went up to seoul for a workshop on teaching/learn about the company and korean culture. one guy gave us a presentation on the different types of high schools and the three major "ivy league" schools of korea that every single s.korean kid tries to get into. they have bootcamps for the kids to attend that help them prepare for (the korean version) of the act/sat test. the presenter shared some interesting facts about the camps with us. the kids wake up at 6, workout and study all day before going to bed around midnight. when they get to camp they are not allowed to bring their cell phone or ANY magazine (they specifically mentioned fashion magazines). this test determines their future for the rest of their lives. the presenter said if people don't get into a good school, they will never tell people what school they attended because they fear judgement and embarrassment. we also discussed discipline and ways to handle different classroom behaviors. one teacher asked about a student who he couldn't get to do anything. after describing the kid's behaviors to the presenter, the presenter labeled him as a "monster student" and went on to tell a story of a student an acquaintance of his once had who apparently had a student throw razor blades at him! i don't think that would ever happen at my school, especially with my kids, but i don't think i would ever want to step back into a classroom if that ever happened!
after the first half of the presentation, we were sent off to lunch. everyone felt like breakfast, so we went to this "americanized" restaurant that served all breakfast foods. kirsten, maria and i were very excited because it was our first time seeing diet coke in korea. usually, you can only find coke zero, and for some reason, that tastes awful here (basically fizzy water with the slightest taste of coke). the diet coke made my day.
after our presentation, we all had plans to stay longer so we could eat at a mexican restaurant located in the largest underground mall in the world (it's called coex). we had an hour to shop before our reservation time, so we all split up. maria and i decided to look around, but we soon became very overwhelmed by ALL the people. it also was a TON of korean (fashion) style shops, which means all the clothes are not organized by size or style. although i have found a few cute dresses while i've been here, i think i have given up on trying to shop in korea. i can't stand how unsystematic it is. we ended up in a bookstore with a decently sized english section and looked around for awhile. i found a copy of pride and prejudice and zombies in the bestsellers section and immediately wanted to call ellen.
today, amber and i went to the laundry mat so i could wash my towels and bedding (i don't mind if my clothes hang to air dry, but my bedding takes too long to dry). when i got home, i realized i left my detergent there, and i needed to wash clothes at home. amber and i decided that the walk to the laundry mat was too long (she has a cold and we were late meeting maria for coffee), so we hopped in a taxi. we think the driver thought we were crazy because we had him drive straight for half a mile, stop to pick up the detergent, and make a loop around the area we were in to drive us back to basically a few blocks from where we were picked up. he laughed as we handed him 3000 won (less than $3.00), but it was totally worth it.
last week, i made a deal with one of my louder classes. i give them five hearts at the beginning of their class and they all have to work together to earn five more to all get a sticker at the end of the day. if they can't be quiet or if one kid does something bad (hits another kid--this does happen sometimes, or talks after i ask them to be quiet), they get a heart erased. if they get ten hearts every single day i see them for three weeks, i'm buying them all ice cream. so far, it's worked, but two of the kids still don't like to listen to me. i'm still thinking of ways to get to those two, hopefully i'll figure it out before i see them next.
more things i've noticed about korean culture:
-since women don't EVER smoke in public (it reflects very poorly on them), you will often find several lighers in the bathroom sitting on the back of the toilet or next to the window. about a month ago, while waiting to use the bathroom, a girl came out and asked if it was okay that she was smoking in there (not because it was smoke, but because we could have viewed it as offensive). obviously, we weren't offended and told her that it was fine (although i DO hate smoke).
-when koreans make tentative plans with you, it actually means they are solid plans and you must do it, otherwise you are rude. this means if a korean says "we should get dinner sometime soon, i was thinking maybe monday." that means, "we're getting dinner on monday, cancel all your plans." this hasn't happened to me yet. also, if an elder invites you to anything, you MUST go.
after the first half of the presentation, we were sent off to lunch. everyone felt like breakfast, so we went to this "americanized" restaurant that served all breakfast foods. kirsten, maria and i were very excited because it was our first time seeing diet coke in korea. usually, you can only find coke zero, and for some reason, that tastes awful here (basically fizzy water with the slightest taste of coke). the diet coke made my day.
after our presentation, we all had plans to stay longer so we could eat at a mexican restaurant located in the largest underground mall in the world (it's called coex). we had an hour to shop before our reservation time, so we all split up. maria and i decided to look around, but we soon became very overwhelmed by ALL the people. it also was a TON of korean (fashion) style shops, which means all the clothes are not organized by size or style. although i have found a few cute dresses while i've been here, i think i have given up on trying to shop in korea. i can't stand how unsystematic it is. we ended up in a bookstore with a decently sized english section and looked around for awhile. i found a copy of pride and prejudice and zombies in the bestsellers section and immediately wanted to call ellen.
today, amber and i went to the laundry mat so i could wash my towels and bedding (i don't mind if my clothes hang to air dry, but my bedding takes too long to dry). when i got home, i realized i left my detergent there, and i needed to wash clothes at home. amber and i decided that the walk to the laundry mat was too long (she has a cold and we were late meeting maria for coffee), so we hopped in a taxi. we think the driver thought we were crazy because we had him drive straight for half a mile, stop to pick up the detergent, and make a loop around the area we were in to drive us back to basically a few blocks from where we were picked up. he laughed as we handed him 3000 won (less than $3.00), but it was totally worth it.
last week, i made a deal with one of my louder classes. i give them five hearts at the beginning of their class and they all have to work together to earn five more to all get a sticker at the end of the day. if they can't be quiet or if one kid does something bad (hits another kid--this does happen sometimes, or talks after i ask them to be quiet), they get a heart erased. if they get ten hearts every single day i see them for three weeks, i'm buying them all ice cream. so far, it's worked, but two of the kids still don't like to listen to me. i'm still thinking of ways to get to those two, hopefully i'll figure it out before i see them next.
more things i've noticed about korean culture:
-since women don't EVER smoke in public (it reflects very poorly on them), you will often find several lighers in the bathroom sitting on the back of the toilet or next to the window. about a month ago, while waiting to use the bathroom, a girl came out and asked if it was okay that she was smoking in there (not because it was smoke, but because we could have viewed it as offensive). obviously, we weren't offended and told her that it was fine (although i DO hate smoke).
-when koreans make tentative plans with you, it actually means they are solid plans and you must do it, otherwise you are rude. this means if a korean says "we should get dinner sometime soon, i was thinking maybe monday." that means, "we're getting dinner on monday, cancel all your plans." this hasn't happened to me yet. also, if an elder invites you to anything, you MUST go.
Monday, October 12, 2009
just another week
this week went well. my kids are still all really good (most of them). the ones that are a little difficult aren't even that bad. one of my smaller kids ate half an eraser the other day. the same day one of my older kids up at the middle school level cut herself by accident right after class and was bleeding all over. i grabbed the first aid kit and rushed her to the bathroom. unfortunately, there weren't band-aids, so i made her wrap it in 5 paper towels...it ended up being a small cut (which is strange, considering the amount of blood i saw), but they should never allow kids to have exact-o knives in school.
yesterday we went to a fortress located close to the city. it's surrounding a mountain and we never really figured out the purpose of it. none of the tourist sites give any information other than how long it is (4.2 km long) and how old it is (1596). it doesn't even surround the city, it just surrounds a mountain. we walked one of the trials and ended up in a small village with a ton of little restaurants, but we didn't eat there because we had plans to get together with more of the teachers in a different area of the city.
yesterday we went to a fortress located close to the city. it's surrounding a mountain and we never really figured out the purpose of it. none of the tourist sites give any information other than how long it is (4.2 km long) and how old it is (1596). it doesn't even surround the city, it just surrounds a mountain. we walked one of the trials and ended up in a small village with a ton of little restaurants, but we didn't eat there because we had plans to get together with more of the teachers in a different area of the city.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
chuseok
last thursday, another class of phonics was added to the school, so i got it. there are only two kids in the classroom (so far), but one of the kids is like five combined into one. yesterday i taught them the letter f. the most frustrating part of teaching phonics (or any of the kids, i guess) is their pronunciation. the korean language has a lot of "uhhh" and "eee" sounds in them, so the kids always add them to the end of a word. so when i was teaching them the word "fox" yesterday, they added an "uhh" to the end of it to make "foxuuuh". it's the most annoying thing to hear ever and the hardest thing to correct. i spent probably ten minutes with eight f words trying to make sure they wouldn't add anything to the end of it.
this past weekend was chuseok, a korean holiday, so we got a three day weekend!! i (along with a few other teachers) was invited to one of the korean teacher's house to celebrate. when we arrived, we helped him and his mom make songpyeon, a round rice cake with sesame and crushed red beans in the middle that you steam with pine needles. we watched his mom make the rice "dough" by adding rice powder and boiling water and mixing it together to get the right consistency. then you take a little of the rice, roll it into a ball and make it into a bowl-like shape so you can add the red beans. then you pinch the edges together so the red beans are in the center of the cake and roll it into a weird egg/ball shape with pinched ends. it's an old wives' tale that if you roll the cake perfectly, you will have beautiful babies.
when chuseok actually begins, the family sets out a table full of food on wooden platters. everything must be set in a certain order and there has to be an odd amount of food on every platter. for example, 1 fish was on a platter, 3 apples, and 15 chestnuts. they also put their spirital address for their family on the table so their ancestors know where to come. then the men (i think the women can too, but they were all preparing the meal for them after the ceremony, so they didn't participate) lit incense and poured some kind of hot alcoholic beverage in a cup, placed it next the spirital address and put chopsticks on two of the platters. they bowed (twice) and continued pouring more into the cup and moving the chopsticks around to various platters. after the ceremony, we ate a tofu soup, rice & kimchi (of course), and other foods that had been placed at the ancestors table, but only after it was all removed and put into normal serving plates.
the other day amber and i went to one of the restaurants around our apartments that serves spaghetti that is surprisingly really good. before when i have ordered this, i have just used my chopsticks to eat it, but they gave us forks. it was so strange, but the fork actually felt weird in my hand. 10 and 1/2 more months of eating food with chopsticks, but i'm actually already excited to get back to knives and forks. trying to cut food with chopsticks is difficult.
this past weekend was chuseok, a korean holiday, so we got a three day weekend!! i (along with a few other teachers) was invited to one of the korean teacher's house to celebrate. when we arrived, we helped him and his mom make songpyeon, a round rice cake with sesame and crushed red beans in the middle that you steam with pine needles. we watched his mom make the rice "dough" by adding rice powder and boiling water and mixing it together to get the right consistency. then you take a little of the rice, roll it into a ball and make it into a bowl-like shape so you can add the red beans. then you pinch the edges together so the red beans are in the center of the cake and roll it into a weird egg/ball shape with pinched ends. it's an old wives' tale that if you roll the cake perfectly, you will have beautiful babies.
when chuseok actually begins, the family sets out a table full of food on wooden platters. everything must be set in a certain order and there has to be an odd amount of food on every platter. for example, 1 fish was on a platter, 3 apples, and 15 chestnuts. they also put their spirital address for their family on the table so their ancestors know where to come. then the men (i think the women can too, but they were all preparing the meal for them after the ceremony, so they didn't participate) lit incense and poured some kind of hot alcoholic beverage in a cup, placed it next the spirital address and put chopsticks on two of the platters. they bowed (twice) and continued pouring more into the cup and moving the chopsticks around to various platters. after the ceremony, we ate a tofu soup, rice & kimchi (of course), and other foods that had been placed at the ancestors table, but only after it was all removed and put into normal serving plates.
the other day amber and i went to one of the restaurants around our apartments that serves spaghetti that is surprisingly really good. before when i have ordered this, i have just used my chopsticks to eat it, but they gave us forks. it was so strange, but the fork actually felt weird in my hand. 10 and 1/2 more months of eating food with chopsticks, but i'm actually already excited to get back to knives and forks. trying to cut food with chopsticks is difficult.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
one month!
after work on friday, my boss had all the teachers over for dinner at her new apartment. some of my co-workers and i got her a gift. we gave fruit (which is a traditional korean gift to give to a dinner hostess) and a plant (which i think is a good housewarming gift). while we were discussing gift options, one of the korean teachers said "laundry detergent" which i first thought was really strange. apparently it's a popular housewarming gift here...
today i went shopping in sheenay with kirsten and jesseca. it was fun, although it was raining and everybody had umbrellas. i stopped by starbucks because i hadn't had it yet here, but they don't have the drink i like over here. i don't know how i will survive without berry chai's for the eleven months, this may be hard!! since they don't have the option of soy milk in s.korea, i got an americano instead. i started drinking them a few weeks ago and i finally like the taste without the creamy taste.
while shopping we also realized that koreans really do not like americans shopping at their stores. kirsten asked a lady if she could use the fitting room and the lady refused to let her. it happened to me earlier that day at a different store, but i blankly stared at the guy who wouldn't let me use it until he opened the fitting room for me. we're not quite sure why, but they didn't even seem that happy to see us in their store.
in the taxi on the way home, our driver was trying to speak english with us. this was fine, although it made for some interesting conversation. he asked us if we were from america. then he assumed we were from new york. jesseca said "georgia" but he had no idea where that was. kirsten said california (where she last worked) which he understood. i said "south dakota" and he kept saying "michael jordan" which at first confunsed us until we realized he thought i said north carolina (although i'm sure everybody knows this, considering i do, michael jordan played for unc). so i let him think i was from north carolina...he then proceeded to ask us about the song "hotel california," so i sang a few lines of it for him. he asked if ABBA sang it and i said, "no, the eagles" and he also asked "how old?". i told him around 30 years. who knows if he understood. i've noticed that many koreans will want to talk about what they know about the states. it's really weird because they will usually mention hollywood, sports, or obama.
as for teaching, it's still going very well. on friday, i received a card from one of my students that said "to erin: i love you very much" awww, so cute! my kids here are so sweet and i really do enjoy working with them. i never imagined ever singing or dancing for them, but i'm that teacher now. they think it's so funny and they tell me, "teacher, you're crazy crazy crazy, so silly!" on friday, since it was the end of the week, i let them have a "snowball fight" for a minute before class was over. they were learning different regions of the world (dry place, wet place, cold place) and they read about snowball fights in the arctic (it was in their book...) so it fit in.
after one month, i feel like i've only been here a few weeks. i'm lucky i made friends quickly and i'm at a school that takes good care of me. it's mostly been a breeze getting situated and trained in teaching, but it hasn't all been easy. although i realized this before i left, being in south korea means missing out on events at home, both happy and sad. a friend of mine from high school was killed in a car accident and i had to miss her funeral. liz was a beautiful girl with a unique and quirky personality. i was fortunate enough to have hung out with liz right before i left for korea. she was so happy and loving her life. the lord used her in great ways and you could see his love shining through her.
today i went shopping in sheenay with kirsten and jesseca. it was fun, although it was raining and everybody had umbrellas. i stopped by starbucks because i hadn't had it yet here, but they don't have the drink i like over here. i don't know how i will survive without berry chai's for the eleven months, this may be hard!! since they don't have the option of soy milk in s.korea, i got an americano instead. i started drinking them a few weeks ago and i finally like the taste without the creamy taste.
while shopping we also realized that koreans really do not like americans shopping at their stores. kirsten asked a lady if she could use the fitting room and the lady refused to let her. it happened to me earlier that day at a different store, but i blankly stared at the guy who wouldn't let me use it until he opened the fitting room for me. we're not quite sure why, but they didn't even seem that happy to see us in their store.
in the taxi on the way home, our driver was trying to speak english with us. this was fine, although it made for some interesting conversation. he asked us if we were from america. then he assumed we were from new york. jesseca said "georgia" but he had no idea where that was. kirsten said california (where she last worked) which he understood. i said "south dakota" and he kept saying "michael jordan" which at first confunsed us until we realized he thought i said north carolina (although i'm sure everybody knows this, considering i do, michael jordan played for unc). so i let him think i was from north carolina...he then proceeded to ask us about the song "hotel california," so i sang a few lines of it for him. he asked if ABBA sang it and i said, "no, the eagles" and he also asked "how old?". i told him around 30 years. who knows if he understood. i've noticed that many koreans will want to talk about what they know about the states. it's really weird because they will usually mention hollywood, sports, or obama.
as for teaching, it's still going very well. on friday, i received a card from one of my students that said "to erin: i love you very much" awww, so cute! my kids here are so sweet and i really do enjoy working with them. i never imagined ever singing or dancing for them, but i'm that teacher now. they think it's so funny and they tell me, "teacher, you're crazy crazy crazy, so silly!" on friday, since it was the end of the week, i let them have a "snowball fight" for a minute before class was over. they were learning different regions of the world (dry place, wet place, cold place) and they read about snowball fights in the arctic (it was in their book...) so it fit in.
after one month, i feel like i've only been here a few weeks. i'm lucky i made friends quickly and i'm at a school that takes good care of me. it's mostly been a breeze getting situated and trained in teaching, but it hasn't all been easy. although i realized this before i left, being in south korea means missing out on events at home, both happy and sad. a friend of mine from high school was killed in a car accident and i had to miss her funeral. liz was a beautiful girl with a unique and quirky personality. i was fortunate enough to have hung out with liz right before i left for korea. she was so happy and loving her life. the lord used her in great ways and you could see his love shining through her.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
almost friday!!
i love thursday and friday because it means it's almost saturday and sunday!! today i will teach only three classes and they all go by pretty fast because i have good kids. yesterday, i had my kindergarten age again and they couldn't stop wiggling, standing, and talking. i bribed them with candy and that got them back to work for awhile. the class is 80 minutes long and it's hard to keep little guys entertained that long. although there's less of a language barrier in the states, i have a new respect for elementary school teachers. i imagine it's just as hard as teaching mouthy kids in middle school or high school. even though my kids have a hard time sitting quietly (it's not even that much, my 2nd graders are very well behaved) i really enjoy them and i hope next semester when we switch classes i can stay at the level i'm at. it's fun to ask them what they're doing for their weekend or asking them on monday what they did. they never do anything fun. they go to violin and piano lessons (which i enjoyed doing, but on the weekend?!) and one girl told me she went to the library. but some of the boys say video games.
i've started to cook here! usually i make some buckwheat noodles with stirfry veggies in sesame oil (omega-6 fatty acid!). i put carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, and green peppers in with a little red chili paste that koreans put on eeeverything. i also add one egg and tofu for more protein. hopefully i'll learn more variety soon before i get sick of this. it's hard going to the grocery store and not always knowing if what you have is for sure what you went in to get.
i'm starting to recognize kpop everywhere i go!! some of it actually isn't that bad, but i would much rather be listening to music on the radio from the states. they are still really into boy bands and one of the teachers told them that boy bands were popular 10 years ago in america. i guess they get kind of offended when you tell them that because they don't believe that anything can be better than their kpop. here's a link of a really popular song right now. kpop and a boy band: this is a train wreck.
i've started to cook here! usually i make some buckwheat noodles with stirfry veggies in sesame oil (omega-6 fatty acid!). i put carrots, cucumbers, mushrooms, and green peppers in with a little red chili paste that koreans put on eeeverything. i also add one egg and tofu for more protein. hopefully i'll learn more variety soon before i get sick of this. it's hard going to the grocery store and not always knowing if what you have is for sure what you went in to get.
i'm starting to recognize kpop everywhere i go!! some of it actually isn't that bad, but i would much rather be listening to music on the radio from the states. they are still really into boy bands and one of the teachers told them that boy bands were popular 10 years ago in america. i guess they get kind of offended when you tell them that because they don't believe that anything can be better than their kpop. here's a link of a really popular song right now. kpop and a boy band: this is a train wreck.
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