Mon petit arbre!

End of Term

So, it’s the end of our fall term!  We start the new term on Monday and we’ve gotten our new schedules.  I’m teaching a much wider range of students this term.  I’ll be teaching Listening classes for some of the D-level kids, which is the beginner level and some of the younger kids.  Then I have reading classes with two J-levels, which is the intermediate level and they can range from 3^rd to 6^th graders.  I taught some J-level classes this term, so that should be nice.  Then I’ll be teaching writing to some of the G-level kids, which is a little daunting.   On the plus side, I’ll have some of the students I had for reading this term in my writing class, which is nice.  On Wednesdays we’ll be doing work for the school’s presentation festival.  Basically the kids read a book and then we talk about it in class and help them write a presentation.  First they’ll present to our branch and then they’ll present to the parents and bosses at an assembly.  I have the D-level kids for that and they’re reading a book about George Washington.  I’m so excited!  It will be exhausting, but I think I’m going to try and do a play with them.  For my other presentation classes I’m teaching J-level and they’ll be reading about the Shackleton’s failed expedition to Antarctica on the Endurance.

I’m definitely excited and nervous about the new term!  We’ve been prepping for it for several weeks, so this doesn’t quite feel real.  I almost feel like this past term has just been a trial run and now it’s time to get down to business.  We’ll see how it goes!

On Wednesday after work our managers from middle school and elementary treated all the teachers to Korean barbeque.  It was such a great night.  I ended up sitting with some of the Korean teachers from elementary.  Normally they are so serious and stressed, but we had a great time!  We were joking around and drinking soju.  It was so nice.  Then, apparently this is a Korean tradition, one of the managers and the head Korean teacher from middle school got up and sang some Korean song.  Then EVERYone had to have a go.  I sang a nice little version of Jingle Bells with some of the other foreign teachers.  It was nice and silly.  I’m really glad because it helped me get to know our Korean teachers a lot better.  And the food was delicious…

For a bit of humor…

I really do love most of my kids, even my naughty ones who ask me where teacher Josh is every class.  They were especially crazy this last week but I can’t blame them.  All teachers have students say funny things, but the humor increases significantly when they are speaking their second language.  Anyway here are some of the gems I’ve heard from them:

Regular occurrences:

“Teacher, teacher!  He opened middle finger at me!”

“Teacher, he is bad speaking in Korean!”

“Teacher, what is shit?”

“Teacher, is hell bad word?”

“Teacher, how did you see?”

“Teacher, you have boyfriend?”

“Teacher, you and teacher Josh married?”

Special gems:

Me- (walking over to a student who’s been drawing cartoons through my entire class)  Alright Jack, what have you been drawing?

Jack-  This is teacher…this is airplane…then, (flying noises) BOOM!  And this is teacher, and this is monster….GAHHH!

Me-  Jack, why do you want me to die???

Jack- Hahahha.

In a similar vein…

Me- Sung-min, what’s that?

Sung-min- This is teacher, this man bringing flowers.  Then he dies (frantically scratching out man with flowers).

Luigi (yes, we have kids named Luigi, as in Mario and Luigi)- Teacher, teacher, bathroom!

Me- After this exercise Luigi.

Luigi- BUT TEAAAACHER!  Yellow water will be everywhere!!

Me- So, (insert name) what did you do this weekend?

Student- I go to church.

Me-  Really?  All weekend?

Student- I don’t know.

Tom- Teacher, what is d-i-c-k???

Leah- Teacher, I think Tom knows…

Tom- Teacher, is d-i-c-k johnson??

Me- I’ll tell you when you’re older Tom.

In my last class of the term, with my naughty 6^th graders who don’t care about anything because they are moving up to middle school, I tried to do my fun lesson but that only lasted about 25 minutes.  Then it degenerated into a paper ball fight with all the boys.  I managed to intercept all their ammo and, mostly for myself, cried “Teacher wins!”  But honestly, it was a win because one of the kids actually gave the ball to me so I could collect it and then they explained some of the jokes they were making in Korean to me.  And for obnoxious sixth graders, that’s practically I love you.  I’m going to miss those angsty pre-teens.

Two Thanksgivings

Thanksgiving used to be my least favorite holiday.  I didn’t like turkey or potatoes and we had sauerkraut with our turkey dinner (blech!).  So, as a preschooler Thanksgiving meant getting dressed up and eating a lot of stuff I didn’t like and there was absolutely no free candy.  But now I’m older and have developed a taste for turkey, potatoes and sauerkraut.  For the last few years, I have looked forward to Thanksgiving because it was a chance to see one or two of my siblings, who have this habit of living far away, and taking a taking a break from school.

This year, I’ve really experienced Thanksgiving in a new way.  I haven’t heard a single news commentary about Thanksgiving traffic, which grocery stores will be open the latest and, unfortunately, the coverage of Black Friday shopping.  The only things we have been talking about regarding Thanksgiving is how much we’re looking forward to it, what we’re cooking and what our families are doing.  It’s been so nice!  I even got to teach some of my students about the history of Thanksgiving. 

Thursday night and Friday morning were reserved for phone calls to the family.  I had my staple pasta dinner and Skyped with almost everyone.  Saturday, I went to my first Thanksgiving dinner at Camp Henry.  One of the teacher’s I work with was introduced to some guys at Camp Henry and they decided to throw a Thanksgiving dinner for a bunch of foreign teachers here.  As soon as we reached the barracks, we got a whiff of amazing, delicious and decidedly American food.  I knew I was going to have a good meal as soon as I smelled it.  Everyone was so friendly and welcoming.  A couple of the guys opened their rooms, so we could talk and hang out while the cooking was finished in the common room.  Right before we ate the primary organizer, Michael, explained how he got the idea to do this.  First he met one ESL teacher and then a few more and Michael and his friends decided to have some barbeques so that the American teachers could have a little taste of home.   And then they decided to do it for Thanksgiving too.  In his words,  “We have access to all this stuff you all don’t and it’s the least we could do.”  After a short prayer, the soldiers insisted we get in line first and Thanksgiving started.  The food was AMAZING.  Turkey, fried chicken, mac and cheese, stuffing, gravy, cornbread, collard greens, green beans and more.  We just can’t get any of that food in the Korean grocery stores.  And then there was dessert.  Pecan pie, sweet potato pie, red velvet cake and the most delicious pound cake ever.

Afterwards, we hung out, played cards, drank and talked.  All of our hosts were so kind and kept checking in and making sure we were comfortable.  They also started a donation jar for the Christmas dinner.  Everyone I thanked was so humble about everything.  In general, Westerner’s here look out for each other, but this was going above and beyond. 

On Sunday we had Thanksgiving with all the teachers from school.  We ordered a turkey from a company here in Daegu and they delivered it with stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce.  Everyone brought a side and we all got together in one of the teacher’s apartments.  I attempted to make candied sweet potatoes but just got a mushy sugary mess.  Luckily I was also making some garlic/lemon broccoli, which turned out well.  Somehow I got lost going to the other apartment, so I was late and then we had to figure out how to carve the turkey etc.  It wasn’t as fancy as the dinner at the base but it was with everyone I spend most of my time with here, so that was pretty nice.  Afterwards a bunch of us sat around and played cards and drank wine.

I definitely missed everyone, but I can’t complain about my first Thanksgiving abroad!  It was wonderful and I have so much to be thankful for this year:)

Good Article

Hey Guys!

I found this while I was looking for an article to help with my lesson plans.  It explains some of the mentality behind education in Korea.  I see a lot of my students working under this intense pressure, as early as 9 or 10 years old.  Let me emphasize that SOME of them are nervous wrecks.  And some of them are naughty little munchkins.

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/For-South-Korean-Youth-an-Education-Crossroads-134057088.html

Hope all is well!

Picture update

 This is the entrance to my apartment building which we call the Villas.

 My street, looking towards school.

 Farther down the street on my way to Avalon.

 This is my street again, but looking back towards the Villas.

 Photographic evidence.

 View of the lake, looking towards downtown I believe.

I can't wait to go on one in the summer!

Some random thoughts...

Well, I know it’s been a long time since my last blog update, so I want to update you all the best I can.  My week-days are slowly starting to form a routine here, which is nice.  Maybe I’ll give you a detailed run down of all that soon, but for this post I’d like to do something different.  This week especially I’ve had a lot of interesting run-ins, so I think I’ll just post some of my thoughts and observations.

-              *Yesterday when I was walking down by the lake I encountered a man in a sweatshirt that said Philadelphia and I got really excited.  As he ran towards me I realized his shirt said “Philadelphia 78ers.”  I had to try really hard not to laugh.

-               *I also found a coffee shop called “Legends of the Fall.”  I promise I’ll get a coffee there before I leave.

-              * The other day my friend and I went to our corner grocery after work to pick up a few things.  While we were waiting in line a bunch of middle-aged Korean guys came in.  They picked up a few things and got in line behind us.  All of a sudden, one of them spoke to us, “hello!” This is pretty normal here, so we said ‘hi’ and smiled back.  Then he turned to Nicole and said, “For your service,” and handed her a tomato he was buying.  Of course all his friends started laughing, and she said thank you.  And then he started to tell us, “In Korea, we have the best… the best…the best…” His friends were cracking up but I tried to be helpful and said “Tomatoes?”  And he got very excited and said, “Yes, yes!”  Then he got another tomato and gave it to me, “You, you are beautiful.  You have a tomato.”  By then Nicole and I had paid for our food so we left.  Once we got outside, Nicole said “I’m pretty sure these are persimmons.”  So now there’s a random Korean man who thinks persimmons are called tomatoes and I know that they don’t sell tomatoes at our corner grocery store but they do sell a lot of persimmons.

-               *We celebrated Pepero Day here on Friday!  Pepero’s are shortbread type sticks dipped in chocolate.  Sometimes they’re sprinkled with nuts and stuff.  It’s a big deal to the students.  They give each other Pepero and write little notes and stuff.  It’s a bit like Valentine’s Day, except it’s actually branded here.  Our Teaching Assistants bought us all a box and a few of my girl students gave me a little Pepero.  Needless to say, the kids were bouncing off the walls on Friday.

-              *When I walked to the park yesterday I ran into a lot of families with young kids.  Our neighborhood is mostly a late night place, so even at noon the only people out are old people and people with babies.  And there really aren’t that many of them.  Anyway, on my walk to the park I had two or three young kids come up to me and shout “HELLO!!!”  It’s really adorable.  One kid just kept saying it over and over again, and finally I had to leave and say “Bye-Bye!”  Maybe he learned a new word.  I love this about Korea and I really try my best to be polite and talk to anyone that says “Hi” to me in English, unless they’re creepy which happens occasionally.  Now that I’ve been here a few weeks, I’m really wanting to learn Korean.  It helps that I’m starting to become familiar with some shopkeepers and restaurant owners.  Mostly I want to be able to tell them that I like their food or their shop, since they are all really helpful and try to speak some English.  Anyway, the bottom line is the majority of the Koreans I have met so far have been really lovely.

-              *Also, everyone should know that when I tell people I’m from Philadelphia they usually say one of two things: “Philadelphia Cream Cheese?” or “Ohhhh, I know the baseball team…”  Yep.  We make fatty and delicious cheese and are the home of the Phillies.

Well, that’s all I can think of for now.  I hope my random anecdotes and thoughts made sense!  I should have some pictures to put up of my neighborhood and the lake soon.  Hopefully I’ll have a more organized blog to post next time!

Halloween!

This was everyone at our Halloween party before we went downtown.  This is most everyone that works in elementary with me and a few of the middle school teachers and a few other westerner friends.  I'm the mouse in the teapot from Alice in Wonderland...but we're all bloody because Alice went crazy and killed us.  Anyway, we had a good time!

Firsts

So, on Saturday I had my first trips to Costco and the Dadamibang (I really don’t know if that’s how you spell it…).  Costco’s about 20-30 minutes away from our apartments in east Daegu, I think it’s near the north side of town.  First of all, Costco was crawling with people on a Saturday evening.  The great thing about Costco is it has a lot of American things that you can’t find in local groceries.  So I stocked up on granola bars and cheese.  Granola bars are great to have at school so you don’t starve.  And, well, cheese just isn’t in local groceries here.  So I bought some sliced cheese and learned  from one of the other teachers that you can freeze it.  Which will be nice since I’m only one person and it’s a giant thing of cheese.

While we were there we picked up some giant Costco pizzas to bring back because a bunch of us were going to go watch a movie at the Dadamibang.  The Dadamibang, if that’s what it’s really called, is a super video rental place because you get a video and a room with couches and stuff to watch the movie.  We watched Tangled, which was great, I think my nieces and nephew would like it if they haven’t already seen it!

On Sunday morning we left around 10am to go to the national park right on the edge of Daegu.  The leaves are just starting to turn here, there are some really brilliant ginkgo trees around.  We took the cable car half way up the mountain, which gave us nice views of the city.  It was a little chilly but not too bad.  Then we hiked around on trails for a little bit, scrambling over rocks and stuff and trying to stay out of the way.  Koreans are really intense about hiking, they all bring poles and backs and wear lots of colorful gear.  After climbing over some of the rocks, especially going down, I can understand the poles.  People liked to say ‘hi!’ to us a lot, especially Hannah and Ashley who are both blonde.  One couple was really nice and helped us with the map, and then took our picture and bought us popsicles when we got to the top (there was a little old lady selling popsicles out of a cooler).  And then we began our trek down, which was kind of longer and steeper than we were expecting.  And it was all a little more difficult because it rained on Saturday.  But we made it and by 2:30 or so I was back in my apartment and ready for a nap.  Have to admit I’m a little sore today.  But it was so nice to get out of the city and be in the woods, and better to know that the park’s right there!

Hope everyone’s well!  I’ll try and update this frequently but I’ve never been very good at journaling…so forgive me if it’s a wee bit sporadic or delayed.


xoxo
Charlotte

Arrival

I don’t think I could have asked for an easier trip from Baltimore to South Korea.  Everything went smoothly despite a few minor panic attacks on my part (the security line at BWI was really long; I wasn’t sure I got on the right bus to Daegu and then I thought my ride wasn’t there).  I still think I might have gotten on a slightly earlier bus than I was supposed to, but my ride showed up so it worked out alright!

Anyway, I arrived at Seoul-Incheon airport around 4pm on the 18^th October and then took 6:30 bus to Daegu and got in there around 10:30pm.  The bus driver was really sweet and came to explain things to me, like when we stopped at a rest station, even though he didn’t really speak English.  This has been my general experience with the Korean people so far.  They have all been extremely kind and helpful.

I was met at the bus station by Jon and Brendan from Avalon.  Jon’s the head foreign teacher for elementary, where I work, and Brendan is a teacher in the middle school and coordinates things for the foreign teachers.  We had maybe a 20 minute drive back to my apartment.  There was a lot to take in just driving around.  We arrived in my apartment and Brendan helped me set up my key pad/automatic lock thing and explained how my hot water and heat work.  I also got some dishes and silverware.  Then Jon took me to a convenience store around the corner to grab breakfast and some water.

I totally forgot about turning on the hot water, so my first shower was nice and cold, but live and learn.  I didn’t sleep very well, but that wasn’t a huge surprise.  In the morning the landlady came up to tell me the internet would be installed at 11:30am.  She was very nice and came in to direct the guy doing the installation and we chatted as best we could.  At 1:15 Lisa, who lives across the hall, walked me to school and I got a full tour of everything.  Then I went out to lunch with most of the foreign teachers. 

The foreign teachers go out to lunch together every day at 1:30 before heading back to school to prep for classes.  The first block of three classes goes from 3:50-6:10.  Then those kids leave and another set comes in from 6:20-8:40.  The last hour is for prep and making phone calls to students.  But I didn’t stay for all this on Wednesday. Instead I wandered around the main street here and tried to get my bearings.  I started to get tired around 4 and tried to get home. Well, I remembered how to get to my apartment but it quickly became clear that I didn’t remember what my apartment looked like at all.  So I trekked back to school and Jon walked me back to my apartment, which I had definitely walked by about 3 times.

Thursday and Friday I spent shadowing Josh, who has been with haegwon for 3-4 years.  He’s my teaching mentor and I’ll be taking over his classes while he goes back to the states for month.  Shadowing is good, its nice to be able to take in the class dynamics without the responsibility of teaching at the same time.  Josh has walked me through basic lesson prep and it seems pretty straight forward.  I’ve prepped the reading lessons for today and tomorrow, so we’ll see how they go...eek!  

Some pictures of my apt...

This will be my apartment until Dec 3rd when I'll move upstairs into Hannah's apartment.  This is a rental while I cover for Josh's vacation and wait for Hannah to leave.  I'm pretty sure her apartment is owned by Avalon, but I think it's pretty much the same as this one...

The First Post

My alternative titles for this blog were:

What am I doing? 

I hope they have boxed wine... 

안녕! (means 'hello' in Korean)

But this simple alliteration seemed to fit the bill.  Hopefully everyone will be able to read and see this blog once I send them the link.  If the format isn't good or it's difficult to read because of the colors, please let me know and I'll re-design.  I just got tired of playing around with the options so I just stuck with this.

Back to my Korean language tutorial!