MT-"Students! Somebody pick a letter already! I'm gonna die up here!"
SS-"English!!" giggles, and ducks his head as I toss chalk at him...
MT-"So, this video, "Simons Cat"-"
SS1- "TEACHER! We saw! Cat!"
SS2- "Bang head!"
SS1- "Bang...BRAIN!"
SS3- "BANG! BANG! BANG!"
SS2- "Eyes...poke...bang!"
SS1- "Car! Hit! Cat! DEAD!"
Needless to say they were very pleased to have watched the cat get run over by the car this morning (ew). I gathered that they had run over and thoroughly inspected the newly ground cat meat. Ew. Ew. Ew.
Here is the infamous "Simon's Cat" video to get you past the horror of squashed cat burger.
Anyeong!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
School Lunch
I still have a difficult time getting used to eating school lunch with the kids, not that it's any sort of nuisance, on the contrary I think it's a great opportunity to observe the students doing what they do best, cause mischief with their friends. However, I DO have a difficult time acclimating to some of the food that is sloshed in my direction. When I was young I watched things like Doug and The Peanuts and would moan appreciatively everytime there was a gross pan of the cafeteria food. As an elementary student I vividly remember concocting wild stories that would transpire with me pulling an entire dog rib cage out of my chicken sandwich. Needless to say, none of this even has an inkling of bearing on the reality of my food here in Korea, for lunch today we had pig intestines (black), dak bocki- compressed rice cake in red sauce, fish bologne, quail eggs, rice with almond and oyster slivers, and sea snail ooze soup. *Barf* I'm sorry, but none of that sounds exceptionally indulgent if you ask me, however, when in Rome....So I gracefully scarf down everything on my tray. I'm getting exceptional at taking/cutting up my bites so that they are small enough that I don't have to chew them, I can merely insert and swallow. The skills you learn abroad.
Anyeong!
Anyeong!
Friday, November 26, 2010
My Very Own Dance Space
When I ride the bus I sometimes like to put my headphones on and rock out. This is sometimes necessary if i'm feeling particularly testy or i've had a bad day. The busses in Korea aren't that bad, in fact I have a pretty solid relationship established with them: they get me where I want to go and I pay for them to run. Solid eh? Anyway, the busses can sometimes be a massive pain in my arse, for instance if they are busy I end up swaying in the aisle, crushed between pairs of sweating prepubescents, leaned on by a slight, gnarled old adjumama, and/or disgustedly slammed up against a hacking business man sweating in a suit with his sparkly tie askew.
Needless to say when stuck in traffic amidst the masses of koreans I sometimes feel the need to disappear into a place where i'm ok, where it's warm, there's a beach, maybe a cocktail, and lovely pounding dance music. I recently discovered an artist called "Milkman", he is a mashup artist, which means (this is for those people like my father who will be perplexed by the term "mashup" :p) that the artist takes several songs from different people, creates a general beat and then "mashes" all the songs together into one song. It's pretty ingenius. Needless to say it adequately quenches my need for escape when a bouquet of body aroma and a symphony of hacking coughs consume my entire existence.
The only potential downfall to this escape is that I almost always choose something with a driving dance beat and this causes me to first bob my head ever so slightly, then my foot starts to tap, and then as the bus trundles along and i'm left swaying from side to side, my arms slowly begin moving about in a dance manner, and the next thing I know i'm veritably rockin' out to my own music on the bus. This causes the Koreans around me to slowly begin filtering out of my way (wouldn't you if there was the potential danger of a flying elbow in your way??). Which is nice for me because now i no longer have an adjumama's cart squashing my toes, but it's not so nice when I realize that I look like a lunatic. Whatever. I'll create my own dance space wherever I want. There's nothing wrong with rocking out...I hope...
Anyeong!
Needless to say when stuck in traffic amidst the masses of koreans I sometimes feel the need to disappear into a place where i'm ok, where it's warm, there's a beach, maybe a cocktail, and lovely pounding dance music. I recently discovered an artist called "Milkman", he is a mashup artist, which means (this is for those people like my father who will be perplexed by the term "mashup" :p) that the artist takes several songs from different people, creates a general beat and then "mashes" all the songs together into one song. It's pretty ingenius. Needless to say it adequately quenches my need for escape when a bouquet of body aroma and a symphony of hacking coughs consume my entire existence.
The only potential downfall to this escape is that I almost always choose something with a driving dance beat and this causes me to first bob my head ever so slightly, then my foot starts to tap, and then as the bus trundles along and i'm left swaying from side to side, my arms slowly begin moving about in a dance manner, and the next thing I know i'm veritably rockin' out to my own music on the bus. This causes the Koreans around me to slowly begin filtering out of my way (wouldn't you if there was the potential danger of a flying elbow in your way??). Which is nice for me because now i no longer have an adjumama's cart squashing my toes, but it's not so nice when I realize that I look like a lunatic. Whatever. I'll create my own dance space wherever I want. There's nothing wrong with rocking out...I hope...
Anyeong!
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Dear Mommy...
I was talking about Thanksgiving today and I stated that the most important part about Thanksgiving is that family gathers together to love one another (or bitch at one another in a loving fashion). I told my students a fictitious story that involved me calling my mother this morning (due to lack of internet this is impossible). The following story is pretty funny even though I made up the part where I called my mother this morning...
Molly Teacher (MT)- "So I called my mother this morning and she told me that she was in the kitchen cooking turkey!"
Students (SS)- Ooooh!! Teacher!
MT- 네! (yes!) 칠면조 추세요! (I want turkey!)
SS- Aaaaaaah! Me too teacher!
SS1-I want see you 오마(mother)!
Co-teacher (in korean)- You've already seen her mother, she brought photos in on the first day of class to show you!
SS1(in korean)- Oh, I thought that was her friend...
So there you go Beth Jones! You don't look like my mother, you look like my attractive female friend! YAY! Love you much!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Molly Teacher (MT)- "So I called my mother this morning and she told me that she was in the kitchen cooking turkey!"
Students (SS)- Ooooh!! Teacher!
MT- 네! (yes!) 칠면조 추세요! (I want turkey!)
SS- Aaaaaaah! Me too teacher!
SS1-I want see you 오마(mother)!
Co-teacher (in korean)- You've already seen her mother, she brought photos in on the first day of class to show you!
SS1(in korean)- Oh, I thought that was her friend...
So there you go Beth Jones! You don't look like my mother, you look like my attractive female friend! YAY! Love you much!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
"Sem"
My students have started calling me "Sem" which I believe is short for Sun Sang Neem which means teacher. I'm going to take that "Sem" is an indication that they are finally beginning to trust me, like me, and (dare I even say it?) look up to me. I like this, to be honest, when I'm standing up at the podium lecturing away and I see their little faces light up in joy or understanding at something i'm teaching I am filled with so much pride for how much they understand! It is not easy listening to, and understanding, some foreign blonde stranger rattling away about something called a pilgrim.
On a completely different note... I got a little bit of a scare what with North Korea going off their rocker yesterday and shooting up the Northern islands. But what I discovered was far more important, something my extremely wise mother once told me was that if I could find a job that I enjoyed 90% of the time I would be in a good place. Terri, age 4 (Thank you Dayna for this little gem) said that "Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” Teaching these kids makes me smile when i'm tired, they make me smile when i'm angry, and most importantly they make me prattle on and on and on to everyone I know about how freakin' cute they were today or what adorable thing they said yesterday. So this must mean that something good is happening in my life and that i'm in the right place. If I just hold on to that piece of self advice there's no telling what i'll be able to weather (but seriously North Korea, CUT IT OUT!!).
Anyeong!
On a completely different note... I got a little bit of a scare what with North Korea going off their rocker yesterday and shooting up the Northern islands. But what I discovered was far more important, something my extremely wise mother once told me was that if I could find a job that I enjoyed 90% of the time I would be in a good place. Terri, age 4 (Thank you Dayna for this little gem) said that "Love is what makes you smile when you’re tired.” Teaching these kids makes me smile when i'm tired, they make me smile when i'm angry, and most importantly they make me prattle on and on and on to everyone I know about how freakin' cute they were today or what adorable thing they said yesterday. So this must mean that something good is happening in my life and that i'm in the right place. If I just hold on to that piece of self advice there's no telling what i'll be able to weather (but seriously North Korea, CUT IT OUT!!).
Anyeong!
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Muhaksan
I decided that I finally needed to take up the gauntlet and climb Mount Muhaksan, aka that big lump of rocks that sits between my quaint city of Jungri and the neon light college district known as Daccurri. I'm not exactly sure what I expected when I set out on this trek yesterday afternoon, but what developed was, at the very least, detrimental to the wellbeing of my butt. Now this may seem a bit bizarre, "Your butt you say?" and my response is definintely, "Yes, my butt."
I got on the bus in front of the Lotte Martuh and went to Daccurri, I disembarked at the Mcdonalduhs and began my trek. Since I didn't really want to spend that 4,000W to get a taxi to the start of the mountain I trekked up there with my feet. Now this may not seem like too much of a problem until you realize that I had to traverse the length of Kyongnam University and that the University is literally straight up and down. Once I arrived panting and heaving at the start (mind you START) of the mountain trail I turned around to look at Daccurri splayed out before me. I could see the harbor in the distance and the city much closer. A light fog veiled the uglier parts of the city and the overall view was spectacular!
I started out on the path, as I was walking up the grueling trail, stopping every few minutes to heave air into my poor lungs I realized that while I was breathing like a dying dinosaur these osteoperosis riddled Ajummas (Korean grandmas, or Adjumamas as my friend Claire would say) were trundling right on by me! BEASTS! I was instantly humbled. These woman were incredible, talking full speed, while tackling a mountain that was literally straight up and down while passing a panting waygookin (foreigner). Wow, just wow.
After about an hour and a half of grueling uphill hiking I finally summited...something. I'm definitely convinced I didn't make it much farther than the first minor hill but I felt as though I were Queen of the world! I sat down, pulled out my book and began to read. Sitting there in the woods, separated from the hustle and neon lights of Korea I remember WHY I love mountain biking and hiking! It's so peaceful! Silly me for forgetting. Anyway, I finished up and began my laborious trek down the mountainside.
I was about halfway down the mountain when I encountered a particularly tricky bit of climbing, there were branches placed into the mountainside much like stairs to help those silly foreigners like myself, who are obviously not as nimble and agile as the ajumamas, down the mountainside. As I was carefully placing my feet, one after another on the steep slopes, head bowed, thoroughly concentrating on my task when suddenly I heard, "JOESHIMAY!!" ( BE CAREFUL!) I stopped, panicked, looked up like a startled deer, lost my balance, slipped ever so slightly, and sat down straight on my butt. That caused my feet to slip out from underneath me, thus careening me straight down the more technical part of this trail (bump bump bump over the stairs) and straight into a thorny bush.
I began picking myself up as an Adjoshi (Grandpa) came hobbling over to me, muttering in Korean the whole time. He picked me up by the left arm, man was he STRONG for someone who looks as though I could snap him in half with my left hand, and promptly began to scold me in Korean. I didn't catch half of what he said but I said I was ok and began dusting myself off. He snarled something at me in korean and began dusting me off himself. I tuned into what he was saying and he just kept repeating, "babo weigookin. joeshimay." (Stupid foreigner. Be careful.) I thanked him politely for helping me and continued on my way.
I am, however, CONVINCED that had he not bellered JOESHIMAY!! As though there was some sort of snake or other large predatory animal stalking me that I would not have fallen, thus endangering the wellfare of my butt. I love Korealand because the people are so very nice and will go out of their way to help me, but sometimes they are just too helpful!
Oh my poor poor butt!
Anyeong!
I got on the bus in front of the Lotte Martuh and went to Daccurri, I disembarked at the Mcdonalduhs and began my trek. Since I didn't really want to spend that 4,000W to get a taxi to the start of the mountain I trekked up there with my feet. Now this may not seem like too much of a problem until you realize that I had to traverse the length of Kyongnam University and that the University is literally straight up and down. Once I arrived panting and heaving at the start (mind you START) of the mountain trail I turned around to look at Daccurri splayed out before me. I could see the harbor in the distance and the city much closer. A light fog veiled the uglier parts of the city and the overall view was spectacular!
I started out on the path, as I was walking up the grueling trail, stopping every few minutes to heave air into my poor lungs I realized that while I was breathing like a dying dinosaur these osteoperosis riddled Ajummas (Korean grandmas, or Adjumamas as my friend Claire would say) were trundling right on by me! BEASTS! I was instantly humbled. These woman were incredible, talking full speed, while tackling a mountain that was literally straight up and down while passing a panting waygookin (foreigner). Wow, just wow.
After about an hour and a half of grueling uphill hiking I finally summited...something. I'm definitely convinced I didn't make it much farther than the first minor hill but I felt as though I were Queen of the world! I sat down, pulled out my book and began to read. Sitting there in the woods, separated from the hustle and neon lights of Korea I remember WHY I love mountain biking and hiking! It's so peaceful! Silly me for forgetting. Anyway, I finished up and began my laborious trek down the mountainside.
I was about halfway down the mountain when I encountered a particularly tricky bit of climbing, there were branches placed into the mountainside much like stairs to help those silly foreigners like myself, who are obviously not as nimble and agile as the ajumamas, down the mountainside. As I was carefully placing my feet, one after another on the steep slopes, head bowed, thoroughly concentrating on my task when suddenly I heard, "JOESHIMAY!!" ( BE CAREFUL!) I stopped, panicked, looked up like a startled deer, lost my balance, slipped ever so slightly, and sat down straight on my butt. That caused my feet to slip out from underneath me, thus careening me straight down the more technical part of this trail (bump bump bump over the stairs) and straight into a thorny bush.
I began picking myself up as an Adjoshi (Grandpa) came hobbling over to me, muttering in Korean the whole time. He picked me up by the left arm, man was he STRONG for someone who looks as though I could snap him in half with my left hand, and promptly began to scold me in Korean. I didn't catch half of what he said but I said I was ok and began dusting myself off. He snarled something at me in korean and began dusting me off himself. I tuned into what he was saying and he just kept repeating, "babo weigookin. joeshimay." (Stupid foreigner. Be careful.) I thanked him politely for helping me and continued on my way.
I am, however, CONVINCED that had he not bellered JOESHIMAY!! As though there was some sort of snake or other large predatory animal stalking me that I would not have fallen, thus endangering the wellfare of my butt. I love Korealand because the people are so very nice and will go out of their way to help me, but sometimes they are just too helpful!
Oh my poor poor butt!
Anyeong!
The Three Person Story
So i'm having my students write what I have dubbed as "The Three Person Story." Essentially I give them a piece of paper with Introduction, Development, and Conclusion written on the paper. One person writes the intro, one the development, and another the conclusion but they are NOT allowed to look at each stage of the story; that way when they read the whole story it's a little disjointed but it's mostly funny. It gives them an excellent opportunity to utilize the new vocabulary I give them while also employing their Enlgish writing skills without the fear of looking funny in front of their peers because EVERYONE'S story is ridiculous. My favorite by far is as follows:
Introduction (도입)- Molly teacheris family meet! they are eat turky eat pie and Boom Family face pie! Oh happy day.
Development (전개)- Stupid Jack put the pumpkin pie in Gun. Jack is put guns cranberries, turkey and Mashed potatoes too.
Conclusion (결말)- The rabbits go to bed. Sleeping to night. The rabbit is the hot night. It's hiding rabbits Soto meets. Enjoy times.
As stated by 민수 (Min Su) Oh happy day!
Anyeong!
*Update*
Another student ended his story by stating: "and then he is died and the North Koreans trampled him" Morbid much?? Yet i'm still oddly amused and comforted by the language of "trampled" here.
Another students ended HIS story by stating: "Teacher, happy ending." I have such smart students ^.^
Introduction (도입)- Molly teacheris family meet! they are eat turky eat pie and Boom Family face pie! Oh happy day.
Development (전개)- Stupid Jack put the pumpkin pie in Gun. Jack is put guns cranberries, turkey and Mashed potatoes too.
Conclusion (결말)- The rabbits go to bed. Sleeping to night. The rabbit is the hot night. It's hiding rabbits Soto meets. Enjoy times.
As stated by 민수 (Min Su) Oh happy day!
Anyeong!
*Update*
Another student ended his story by stating: "and then he is died and the North Koreans trampled him" Morbid much?? Yet i'm still oddly amused and comforted by the language of "trampled" here.
Another students ended HIS story by stating: "Teacher,
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Taboo
I was playing taboo with my students, we learned about 7 different american superstitions like Friday the 13th, and knock on wood. The goal is for the students to guess what the superstition is without using some key phrases THUS enabling them to tap into their extenisve but little accessed vocabulary resources. Well one student was trying to figure out “fan death”; which is a Korean superstition that states if you leave your fan on while you sleep and your doors and windows are closed you will die. This is the conversation that followed:
Student 1- verb to die?
Student 2- fan!
Wait…what?! Students….
Anyeong!
Student 1- verb to die?
Student 2- fan!
Wait…what?! Students….
Anyeong!
The Demise of Universal Equality and Understanding
"Students, what is slang? Slang? Yes! Su Bini?"
"Black People Teacher."
"Black People Teacher."
Monday, November 15, 2010
We Wish You a Merry Curisumas.
I'm looking into planning my winter intenisve English camp and I wanted to teach my kids christmas carols! So I thougth "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" would be a fabulous choice and I want my kids to understand what they are reading so I got onto Naver (like Google except in Korean for Koreans) and typed in "We Wish Your a Merry Christmas." Well some korean lyrics appeared under the lyrics just like I wanted so I copied and pasted the whole set into a word document. Well during a break I asked Eunyeong if she would look over my lyrics to make sure that they were correct (note that I hadn't read through the lyrics myself) she leaned over and burst out laughing. I looked at her perplexedly then quickly glanced back at my computer screen. I began reading:
We wish you a merry christmas
(위 위슈어 메리 크리스마스)
We wish you a merry christmas
(위 위슈어 메리 크리스마스)
We wish you a merry christmas
(위 위슈어 메리 크리스마스)
And a happy new year
(앤 어 해피 뉴이열)
Sure enough i'm an idiot. While the letters below the English are definitely Korean they are also a DIRECT saying of the English word. For example, 위- we 위슈어- weeshyouuh 메리- mary 크리스마스- koorisuhmasoo... 앤- an 어-oh 해피-hapi 뉴- nyew 이열-eyewl.
So much for being competent at navigating the internets.
Anyeong!
We wish you a merry christmas
(위 위슈어 메리 크리스마스)
We wish you a merry christmas
(위 위슈어 메리 크리스마스)
We wish you a merry christmas
(위 위슈어 메리 크리스마스)
And a happy new year
(앤 어 해피 뉴이열)
Sure enough i'm an idiot. While the letters below the English are definitely Korean they are also a DIRECT saying of the English word. For example, 위- we 위슈어- weeshyouuh 메리- mary 크리스마스- koorisuhmasoo... 앤- an 어-oh 해피-hapi 뉴- nyew 이열-eyewl.
So much for being competent at navigating the internets.
Anyeong!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Adoration
"Teachah! Bebayro?" Today is bebayro day, which means everyone gives one another bebayro which is chocolate covered breadstick cookies. I said, "배배로 없어요." (I don't have any bebayro) There was a general sigh of discontentment, my students all began turning inward, I recognized my cue to leave and was about to spin on my right heel when one of my (more annoying and less studious but adorable nonetheless) students said, "Molly teachah! Here!" He then broke off the part of the bebayro without chocolate and handed it to me. I crossed my eyes and stuck my tongue out with him as the other students burst into uproarious laughter.
Students, they think they're so funny.
Anyeong!
Students, they think they're so funny.
Anyeong!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Mystery Field Trip
"Molly, tomorrow you need go on a field trip. Go to Stadium by Home Plusuh, main front gate, and wear big shoes. Oh, and man with red flag will help you."
THAT'S what I was told about my adventure today. So like the good little teacher that I am I showed up at the main front gate at 8:30 this morning with big shoes aka tennis shoes and looked for the man with red flag. I stood there in the cold glaring up at the sun and the stadium wishing ill thoughts on everyone who thought this little "field trip" was something I should do. I finally ran into some other native teachers I know and we began walking around the stadium searching in vain for "man with red flag." We finally happened upon this man, he was a short, thin, korean man, with a red flag! He beamed at us, raised the flag and then tweeted on a whistle sharply and pointed us in the direction we were going and beamed at us. I couldn't help but smile back at this absurdly pleased Korean, whistling, red flagged man.
After we boarded the bus we were informed that today we would be making pottery and going to a temple. Oh boy! Once at the pottery station I managed to make a...erm...bowl? MERRY CHRISTMAS MOMMA! You can expect an extremely misshapen bowl in either a pine or acorn color to arrive on your doorstep just in time for Christmas, granted it's inner inefficiencies don't explode in the kiln. This you can then add to the collection of misshapen pottery you've received for being the sole recipient of my misguided attempts at pottery.
After the pottery experience we had a "Natural foods diet" lunch, which means we ate a lot a vegetation. I had acorn jello for first time! It's black, and has seaweed flakes on top, it tastes like nothing but seaweed and has the consistency of slightly more hardened jello. Ew. I won't be repeating that experience again unless it's been deemed of the utmost of an insult to not eat it (which could conceivably be everyday until Jan). After the acorn jelly we went to a temple where Nerina (a South African friend of mine who's totally bad ass in all senses of the word) and I walked along a beautiful river pathway and discussed life while the river rushed by at our feet, needless to say it was a divine end to the day!
Anyeong!
THAT'S what I was told about my adventure today. So like the good little teacher that I am I showed up at the main front gate at 8:30 this morning with big shoes aka tennis shoes and looked for the man with red flag. I stood there in the cold glaring up at the sun and the stadium wishing ill thoughts on everyone who thought this little "field trip" was something I should do. I finally ran into some other native teachers I know and we began walking around the stadium searching in vain for "man with red flag." We finally happened upon this man, he was a short, thin, korean man, with a red flag! He beamed at us, raised the flag and then tweeted on a whistle sharply and pointed us in the direction we were going and beamed at us. I couldn't help but smile back at this absurdly pleased Korean, whistling, red flagged man.
After we boarded the bus we were informed that today we would be making pottery and going to a temple. Oh boy! Once at the pottery station I managed to make a...erm...bowl? MERRY CHRISTMAS MOMMA! You can expect an extremely misshapen bowl in either a pine or acorn color to arrive on your doorstep just in time for Christmas, granted it's inner inefficiencies don't explode in the kiln. This you can then add to the collection of misshapen pottery you've received for being the sole recipient of my misguided attempts at pottery.
After the pottery experience we had a "Natural foods diet" lunch, which means we ate a lot a vegetation. I had acorn jello for first time! It's black, and has seaweed flakes on top, it tastes like nothing but seaweed and has the consistency of slightly more hardened jello. Ew. I won't be repeating that experience again unless it's been deemed of the utmost of an insult to not eat it (which could conceivably be everyday until Jan). After the acorn jelly we went to a temple where Nerina (a South African friend of mine who's totally bad ass in all senses of the word) and I walked along a beautiful river pathway and discussed life while the river rushed by at our feet, needless to say it was a divine end to the day!
Anyeong!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Things Are Changing
Things are changing here in Korealand and i'm hoping for the better. While I always tend to reject change immediately as invalid and useless, this time the change is something I yearned for at the beginning of my teacher term so I suppose there's no use bitching about it...isn't this what I wanted?
It all started yesterday, my friend Emily who works at a middle school about a 30 minutes walk from here held an open class. An open class is quite simple, you teach your class and any number of people are invited or allowed to attend. This allows for other teachers (like clueless muah) to observe and gain insight, principles can come to compare their native teachers to other teachers, as well as an opportunity for parents and relatives to come in and see how their children are being educated. Three of my co-teachers and I, along with our principle went into Emily's class and observed.
The first noticeable difference (and the biggest) is that Emily has a beautiufl classroom filled with life size pictures of cities, a TV space for kids to come in and watch movies, a stage, microphone, sliding chalk and white boards and circle tables that enable the group mentality. While I taught with Emily during summer camp I definintely saw her classroom but now i've been here for four months, and every day I traipse about my school carrying whatever materials I need for class. EVERY. DAY. up stairs, down stairs, through cold corridors, amongst the masses of sweating and swearing students, oi it's tiring! The second noticeable thing is that Emily and her co-teacher worked like a team, each of them had a speaking part in the lesson and each of them worked off one another like a dream team. There are few things with Emily's situation that will not be applicable to me, like she only has 1 co-teacher (I think) whereas I have 8, and they have been teaching together for the last 8 months. So that won't be applicable but some people will try anything to maintain perfection.
SO today my principal called a meeting with the English teachers (I wasn't invited, i'm slightly bitter but I wouldn't have understood anyway so oh well I guess). During this meeting he informed them that he wanted us to read more and that he wanted my co-teachers to become more involved in my lessons. I wasn't there but i'm sure I heard a great sigh of depression emit from each of them. These teachers work their butts off every single day and one day a week all they had to do was translate the trickier parts of my lecture. Now they have yet another class to plan with someone that they don't really understand. Oi vey. Not only this, but i've not been teaching from a text book, instead i've been making up as I go, week by week. So now I also have to change how i'm teaching, what i'm teaching, and how I approach the kids.
So, while i'm actually pretty excited to work more closely with them (now maybe i'll be able to approach them and politely ask them to STOP SPEAKING KOREAN IN MY ENGLISH CLASS) and the fact that i'll actually be using a book like a normal teacher and not just some funky city-wide celebrity teacher with blonde sparkly hair from America; I'm also a little bit nervous and a lot bit apprehensive. They each have a different teaching style and a different idea about how and what I should teach. While I try to cater to each of them generally I just end up with a general lesson plan that I hope they can help mold to their own teaching styles; but now that I must teach with each of them i'm going to have to create 8 versions of my 1 lesson plan for 25 classes, 3 grades, and 2,700 students. holy jesus.
This is what I initally wanted...right? Cooperation and assistance...? eeep.
Anyeong!
It all started yesterday, my friend Emily who works at a middle school about a 30 minutes walk from here held an open class. An open class is quite simple, you teach your class and any number of people are invited or allowed to attend. This allows for other teachers (like clueless muah) to observe and gain insight, principles can come to compare their native teachers to other teachers, as well as an opportunity for parents and relatives to come in and see how their children are being educated. Three of my co-teachers and I, along with our principle went into Emily's class and observed.
The first noticeable difference (and the biggest) is that Emily has a beautiufl classroom filled with life size pictures of cities, a TV space for kids to come in and watch movies, a stage, microphone, sliding chalk and white boards and circle tables that enable the group mentality. While I taught with Emily during summer camp I definintely saw her classroom but now i've been here for four months, and every day I traipse about my school carrying whatever materials I need for class. EVERY. DAY. up stairs, down stairs, through cold corridors, amongst the masses of sweating and swearing students, oi it's tiring! The second noticeable thing is that Emily and her co-teacher worked like a team, each of them had a speaking part in the lesson and each of them worked off one another like a dream team. There are few things with Emily's situation that will not be applicable to me, like she only has 1 co-teacher (I think) whereas I have 8, and they have been teaching together for the last 8 months. So that won't be applicable but some people will try anything to maintain perfection.
SO today my principal called a meeting with the English teachers (I wasn't invited, i'm slightly bitter but I wouldn't have understood anyway so oh well I guess). During this meeting he informed them that he wanted us to read more and that he wanted my co-teachers to become more involved in my lessons. I wasn't there but i'm sure I heard a great sigh of depression emit from each of them. These teachers work their butts off every single day and one day a week all they had to do was translate the trickier parts of my lecture. Now they have yet another class to plan with someone that they don't really understand. Oi vey. Not only this, but i've not been teaching from a text book, instead i've been making up as I go, week by week. So now I also have to change how i'm teaching, what i'm teaching, and how I approach the kids.
So, while i'm actually pretty excited to work more closely with them (now maybe i'll be able to approach them and politely ask them to STOP SPEAKING KOREAN IN MY ENGLISH CLASS) and the fact that i'll actually be using a book like a normal teacher and not just some funky city-wide celebrity teacher with blonde sparkly hair from America; I'm also a little bit nervous and a lot bit apprehensive. They each have a different teaching style and a different idea about how and what I should teach. While I try to cater to each of them generally I just end up with a general lesson plan that I hope they can help mold to their own teaching styles; but now that I must teach with each of them i'm going to have to create 8 versions of my 1 lesson plan for 25 classes, 3 grades, and 2,700 students. holy jesus.
This is what I initally wanted...right? Cooperation and assistance...? eeep.
Anyeong!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Group Mentality?
So yesterday as I was leaving school I walked out the front door, some of my students started bellering "Teachah! Goodbye Teachah!" I turned around, smiled, and waved back at them. They started yelling "Teachah! Teachah!" I turned around again, "mo?" (what?) "Teachah! Where you from?" I looked at them disapprovingly and burst out in consternation, "Where am I from?!" the 15 3rd grade boys burst into smiles, then one of them started chanting "Migook! Migook!" (USA USA) another one started "USA! USA!" then a third boy looked at me quizzically "hug?" I stared back, my brain was scrambled and I didn't respond. They (of course) took that as a yes and 15 adolescent boys raised their arms and rushed towards me, they encircled me and began jumping up and down bellering "Migook! USA! Migook! USA!" I just burst into laughter and started jumping with them, I mean, what's a girl to do except join in?
Anyeong!
Anyeong!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Cold Hallways and Rice Tea
Two perplexing (more perplexing than usual) things about Korea are as follows:
1. They don't heat the hallways, only the classrooms. The government issued a mandate instructing public schools to save energy, so they only heat the classrooms (this fact was provided by my co-teachers, no idea how reliable it actually it). So basically I leave the teachers room, freeze on my trek to class because the windows are wide open, boil in the classroom because there are 35 sweating prepubescents nervous in front of me, and then freeze on my way back to my desk. It's deeply disturbing.
2. If they can make it out of rice they will. I am currently drinking rice tea, yes, rice tea. It's very interesting. I add sugar because it's not sweet at all so it kind of tastes like what would happen if you were to add water to rice after it's cooked, let it sit for a while and then drink only the water. Weird.
Anyeong!
1. They don't heat the hallways, only the classrooms. The government issued a mandate instructing public schools to save energy, so they only heat the classrooms (this fact was provided by my co-teachers, no idea how reliable it actually it). So basically I leave the teachers room, freeze on my trek to class because the windows are wide open, boil in the classroom because there are 35 sweating prepubescents nervous in front of me, and then freeze on my way back to my desk. It's deeply disturbing.
2. If they can make it out of rice they will. I am currently drinking rice tea, yes, rice tea. It's very interesting. I add sugar because it's not sweet at all so it kind of tastes like what would happen if you were to add water to rice after it's cooked, let it sit for a while and then drink only the water. Weird.
Anyeong!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Stomping, Squamping, It's all the same really.
Eunyeong- What is the sound of stepping? Squamping?
Molly- Do you mean stomping?
Eunyeong- Yes! Stomping…stomping…I thought squamping? I’m so silly!
Molly- Do you mean stomping?
Eunyeong- Yes! Stomping…stomping…I thought squamping? I’m so silly!
He brought his purse, I brought mine.
So I went on a date with a Korean man named Seung Heun last night. He brought his purse to dinner, I also brought my purse. I just love Koreans, the men are seriously the most ladylike men i've ever encountered. We literally walked, arms linked, through the streets with my purse dangling off my left shoulder and his "murse" (man purse) dangling off his right shoulder. If we had been anywhere else in the world people would have turned and stared, But not in Korealand! So we met up at (guess where?!) McDonalds, I took a different bus last night so I ended up being on the bus for about 45 minutes which is irritating to say the least. But I finally made it to Daccurri and we departed for dinner. Spaghetti dinner. I swear, every single Korean i've ever met takes their dates out for spaghetti, the spaghetti is always delicious but the worst part is that they serve pickles with their spaghetti! How's a girl supposed to enjoy her cream covered noodles of delight with seafood if there's a damned pickled in the middle of it all!? The sweetly vinegard morsel just sets off the whole meal. Anywho, I scarfed my pickles first and foremost and we chatted and chatted, my Korean is getting better so we speak about 30% Korean and 70% English and we both have to continually look up words in our dictionaries. It's actually quiet comical, I frequently feel like i'm on a date with a dictionary. After dinner we continued on with the typical Korean date and went to have wahpulls (waffles) and play Nintendo Wii. Because Korean dates frequently involve Wii i'm actually getting pretty darned good at Mario Bros! I might just have to invest in one? Anyway, i'm off to teach the Chicken Dance to my kids haha!
Anyeong!
Anyeong!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Hojo Round Deux
Well i've been busy gallavanting off in Seoul and my father made me realize this morning that I haven't posted about Hojo round deux! haha oh dear...
Well it all started when I arrived at our designated meeting place: Mcdonalds (or Macdonuhlduhs in Korean). A side note concerning McDonalds, all the foreigners i've ever met seem to have an uncanny radar ability to locate McDonalds, no matter where you are we always seem to find it, and it tends to be the only place that we can locate in a new area for any length of time. This just happens to be the case with this new area of Masan that i'm visiting: Daccurri. So it only stands to foreigner logic that this would be the place I would choose to meet up with Hojo. When we met up he gave me this awkward hug thing that involved both his arms going around the right side of me and me trying desperately to figure out what he was doing, the occasional awdward snuffle from him or me (I couldn't tell) and then us stepping back and me tripping and falling off two stairs. *sigh* why?
Anyways, we decided that we should go and eat something, he asked me what I wanted and, like I always do with my new Koreans, I told him that I wanted to try his FAVORITE korean dish! Boy, I didn't even realize what i'd gotten myself into. He smiled and cocked his head "Jinja?" (really?) I said "Nay! Jinja!" (yes! really!). So off we went, we walked about three blocks and then stopped off in this itty bitty little restaurant underneath a bridge. Maybe the bridge was bad luck?? Who knows, but we sat down, he pulled a menu toward us, but I placed my hand on the menu and said, "Order whatever your two favorites are and let's share them!" (this was serious mistake number 4 i've made in the Hojo saga) well he ordered something and I didn't catch what it was so I asked him what he ordered. He looked a little perplexed and said that he wasn't sure he could explain it. So he pulled out his dictionary and began looking up words. I sat there in silence, gazing about the restaurant. I noticed a picture above the counter, it was chickens feet, I thought to myself, "God I hope he didn't order chickens feet." At that moment the waitress came out carrying a steaming plate of red sauce covered...something. Just as she set it down Hojo looked up at me with beaming eyes, pleased as punch to have translated what we were eating, I looked down at the plate and he said: "Chicken feet and cow intestine!".
I nearly barfed.
My eyes literally popped out of my head and rolled about on the floor. I picked them up, dusted them off, pushed them back in, picked up my chopsticks and begun to eat. Now, since i've gone abroad i've eaten a myriad of obnoxious things from caterpillar coccoons to slurping steaming snails out of their snails (the coccoons tasted like dirt and the snails tasted like boogers) but never did I think that I would actually eat chicken feet and cow intestine. The chicken feet were...interesting to say the least, they are essentially skin and cartillage, so it's like chewing on skin, rubbery and elastic and then *crunch* you bite into some cartillage. Gag! The cow intestine is black and circular, like a tube and just as rubbery as eating hose, not to mention the entire dish was the spiciest meal i've eaten in Korea. I did my best but I only managed to scarf down about a 1/3 of the dish. Hojo was just happily eating away and smiling at me from across the table.
After dinner we had coffee, played scrabble (which took FOREVER) and then I went away home. I am supposed to meet up with Hojo again tomorrow so hopefully I can continue to avoid the pitfalls of previous adventures like kissing, and intestine. Here's hoping!
Anyeong!
Well it all started when I arrived at our designated meeting place: Mcdonalds (or Macdonuhlduhs in Korean). A side note concerning McDonalds, all the foreigners i've ever met seem to have an uncanny radar ability to locate McDonalds, no matter where you are we always seem to find it, and it tends to be the only place that we can locate in a new area for any length of time. This just happens to be the case with this new area of Masan that i'm visiting: Daccurri. So it only stands to foreigner logic that this would be the place I would choose to meet up with Hojo. When we met up he gave me this awkward hug thing that involved both his arms going around the right side of me and me trying desperately to figure out what he was doing, the occasional awdward snuffle from him or me (I couldn't tell) and then us stepping back and me tripping and falling off two stairs. *sigh* why?
Anyways, we decided that we should go and eat something, he asked me what I wanted and, like I always do with my new Koreans, I told him that I wanted to try his FAVORITE korean dish! Boy, I didn't even realize what i'd gotten myself into. He smiled and cocked his head "Jinja?" (really?) I said "Nay! Jinja!" (yes! really!). So off we went, we walked about three blocks and then stopped off in this itty bitty little restaurant underneath a bridge. Maybe the bridge was bad luck?? Who knows, but we sat down, he pulled a menu toward us, but I placed my hand on the menu and said, "Order whatever your two favorites are and let's share them!" (this was serious mistake number 4 i've made in the Hojo saga) well he ordered something and I didn't catch what it was so I asked him what he ordered. He looked a little perplexed and said that he wasn't sure he could explain it. So he pulled out his dictionary and began looking up words. I sat there in silence, gazing about the restaurant. I noticed a picture above the counter, it was chickens feet, I thought to myself, "God I hope he didn't order chickens feet." At that moment the waitress came out carrying a steaming plate of red sauce covered...something. Just as she set it down Hojo looked up at me with beaming eyes, pleased as punch to have translated what we were eating, I looked down at the plate and he said: "Chicken feet and cow intestine!".
I nearly barfed.
My eyes literally popped out of my head and rolled about on the floor. I picked them up, dusted them off, pushed them back in, picked up my chopsticks and begun to eat. Now, since i've gone abroad i've eaten a myriad of obnoxious things from caterpillar coccoons to slurping steaming snails out of their snails (the coccoons tasted like dirt and the snails tasted like boogers) but never did I think that I would actually eat chicken feet and cow intestine. The chicken feet were...interesting to say the least, they are essentially skin and cartillage, so it's like chewing on skin, rubbery and elastic and then *crunch* you bite into some cartillage. Gag! The cow intestine is black and circular, like a tube and just as rubbery as eating hose, not to mention the entire dish was the spiciest meal i've eaten in Korea. I did my best but I only managed to scarf down about a 1/3 of the dish. Hojo was just happily eating away and smiling at me from across the table.
After dinner we had coffee, played scrabble (which took FOREVER) and then I went away home. I am supposed to meet up with Hojo again tomorrow so hopefully I can continue to avoid the pitfalls of previous adventures like kissing, and intestine. Here's hoping!
Anyeong!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Korean Goddess
There are days when I think i'm so cool, I'm learning Korean faster than most of the expats I know in Korea, I have the most amazing family, I love my job, I have amazing friends both abroad and at home, and I am genuinely happy 98% of the time. And then there are days when I can't even communicate that I lost my check card and i'd like a new one. It's the days that make you really work that you grow in, the days that knock you off your pedestal and show you where you need to put more time, effort, and work into. Those are the days we should all live for, the days that teach us how to teach ourselves. Today was one of those days. I think i'll hide in my house and watch movies now. ^.^
Anyeong
Anyeong
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