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:)