Tis the season...

I have to say, I’ve found Christmas here to be quite pleasant.  Spending time away from the US during Christmas made me realize how much the commercial industry is important for the holiday.  Christmas decorations did start here around the end of November, but they weren’t nearly as overwhelming.  Most shops featured a small Christmas tree display of some kind.  While all the trees were plastic, they ranged from white and modern to green and traditional.  Many shops hung little ornament displays in their windows as well.  And as Christmas got closer, most coffee shops and stores began playing Christmas music.  For the most part they played the traditional pop songs like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” and “Santa Baby.”  It was just the right amount of Christmas hype for me!

Among the many exciting things that happened in December, one of the top five was definitely my discovery of our local Daiso, or Dollar Store.  I know this sounds incredibly anticlimactic but it’s really helped me settle into my new apartment!  I was able to find lots of great things like cheap paper towels, a paper towel holder, a new trashcan, little storage bins, some wall hooks, scented candles, a mini Christmas tree and some mini Christmas stockings.  However, the Daiso is a dangerous place… because I could probably buy everything in the whole store if I’m not careful.

Two of my coworkers had their birthdays on the 23^rd and the 25^th and they both happened to be turning 25, so they decided to host a “Made in the 80s/Quarter of a Century” party on Christmas Eve.  One of the birthday girls had us over to her apartment and the other girl made a great 80s trivia quiz, which led to a very heated competition.  Despite being born in 1989, I have to say I rocked the 80s trivia for my team, especially with my knowledge of 80s tennis stars (thanks to Mom!).  All and all, we had a really great Christmas Eve;)

Christmas Day I spent in bed, mostly chatting with my lovely family.  Then I cooked up some broccoli stir fry and we all headed over to another Westerner’s apartment for our Christmas dinner.  I really couldn’t have asked for a better Daegu Christmas.  We had drawn names for a small secret santa and Ashley’s apartment had a Christmas tree and lots of lovely twinkle lights.  We sat around and exchanged gifts and then had  lovely Christmas feast with turkey and lots of sides.  We spent several hours sitting around and chatting afterwards.  It was a really warm and relaxed Christmas celebration; everything it should be.

I hope everyone had a great holiday too!  I was thinking of all my friends and family a lot in the days before and following Christmas.  Love to you all!

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!