Going back to some classic Kpop, let's listen to a little Jinusean: Phone Number.
Yesterday in Phonics 2 we had a problem with, guess who, Haram again. He wouldn't participate in class and just sat with his chair pushed back like a bump on a log. This happened after he had lost all his stamps for speaking too much Korean, so I think that was part of the deal, but finally he agreed to play our memory game if I gave him back one stamp. He lost it like 5 seconds later for speaking Korean again, but at least it got him to participate. I found out today that after that class, they fought in the car and Haram got so mad that he walked home. So, needless to say, today we had a big old RJ (restorative justice) meeting with the whole class to get to the bottom of it. I mostly just sat there and tried to understand as much Korean as possible, but I only got that Dongwon was either singing or listening to a song and Haram told him to be quiet/shut up rudely, and then Dongwon later kicked Haram. Not really sure what it was all about because it wasn't translated for me, but the great part is that after the meeting, the last 20 minutes of class went really well. Haram was really careful to write down the homework sentences and write "homework" above them so that he would remember, which is HUGE, so I was super encouraged. Maybe tomorrow will go well!
Yellow class was hilarious yesterday, because Jack, the one boy in the class was not there, so Eileen and Susan were extra silly. There is a song that goes with each unit in the Backpack curriculum, and when we sang it, they decided to create a dance that involved mostly chicken neck bobs and some pharoah-pharoah style hand motions. I wish I could have filmed it. I brought it back in class today, but Eileen wasn't there, so Susan felt too shy to join me. So, I chicken-bobbed and pharaohed it up by myself while Susan and Jack just laughed at me. The things I do to convince kids that I am a fun teacher.
Last night we all went over to Sunny's house for a little welcoming for Kate/goodbye to Janet meal. Sunny's family shares living space with their church, so we ate in their sanctuary area.
The table was long enough to fit all 14 of us, counting Sunny's children. Sunny's husband cooked the bulgogi on a small table in front of us, and we nibbled at the salad as we waited. Everyone ate communal style, none of that American "everyone get your own plate and portion" method. I embarrassed myself with my poor chopstick skills yet again...who knew cucumbers were so difficult to hold? In general I feel I've been getting worse. Even this morning Yoonhyung commented on how badly I was doing. Korean understanding success, chopsticks fail.
The way a meal here usually goes for me is that I attack the food with vigor at the beginning, maybe with too much vigor, and then feel like I ate an entire watermelon in about 15 minutes. Probably not the best plan, but the food is so delicious that you just kind of want to shove it in your mouth as fast as possible.
I just love sitting around talking...well, I guess I don't always contribute much to the conversation but it is just one of my favorite things to just listen, and kind of take in just being together. That's going to sound like cheeseball city to anyone reading this, but however hallmark-card-worthy that sentiment is, I enjoy it nonetheless.
We closed out the evening with singing round the piano and a group photo. It is probably one of the last big dinners we will have before Janet leaves on Sunday, so it was a little bittersweet.
But tonight we will have another girls night, watching the Bacherlorette, eating snacks and drinking wine, so we're still stuffing in the memories together.
I hope this doesn't all sound too much of the same to you all!
Thanks for reading!
-Abby
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Monday, June 24, 2013
Grace and Peace and dinner party with students!
Here is a deliciously upbeat song from a band that is fast becoming a favorite: New (옥상달빛).
Grace and Peace is a church in Hongdae where Karen, Jae, Kaia, Yongjin and Yoonseo attend, so this sunday I decided to give it a visit. I'm so glad I did, because it was a great time! Kate and Deborah came along too for a first time visit.
As soon as we arrived in Hongdae near the area where the church meets, I could see the influences of the university art students. There is so much graffiti and street art that you just kind of want to walk around and look at the walls. It's like an outdoor exhibition. The church meets in a Greek restaurant, right across from a little outdoor market where artisans sell handmade wares. We saw them setting up as we arrived.
As soon as we walked in, I spotted the most adorable little dude ever sitting at a table, coloring a lady with massively long blue hair. I am a super sucker for kids drawing, so I sat by him and tried to ask about his picture in Korean and color with him a little bit. Nothing like trying to talk to a preschooler to make you feel like your language skills are like poop. Still, I think we communicated pretty well. He called me Imo and drew a picture of me with bundles of red hair exploding all over the page, all while laughing like it was the best thing ever. He was quite fascinated with my hair too, which I found out later from his dad was because he loves the movie Rapunzel, so he likes ladies with long hair. Haha.
The service was neat too, instead of having a sermon, this week we heard the testimony of one of the members. Yoonseo translated for all of us foreigners, which was fantastic, because I actually felt like I could be a part of the service, instead of just kind of watching and catching a verb and noun here and there and the modal endings of sentences. Every service I attend though, it makes me more determined to learn Korean. Even with translation, I feel the distance that comes with language barriers. It's like listening to someone through a tin can.
After service, Yoonseo treated us all to some great iced coffee, and then we went out to check out the market. So many beautiful things! After Kate discovered it and bought one, I also bought a really neat leather bracelet which makes me feel totally chic. I also could have got a shirt that proclaimed that "I have the courage to touch the butt" for a mere 5,000 won, but somehow I felt like it's message wouldn't be appreciated anywhere but at home, so I held off on that. Maybe I will get it later if it's still there.
We checked out other shops in Hongdae as well, including the fantastic ArtBox, which I am glad does not exist in Deokso or I would be poor as potatoes in a week. This is not a good place to live for a person who has a hard time resisting cute notebooks. Also, everyone in Hongdae was stylin, let me tell you. I was dressed up for church and still felt like a bumpkin. Menswear here is also especially good--there were some fine specimens strolling about yesterday wink wink nudge nudge.
I rode back with Deborah to see her off at the subway station, probably the last I will see of here before she leaves Korea in July. A season of goodbyes is coming up, and I'm not looking forward to it.
We stopped at a fruit stand on our way back to get a watermelon for the dinner party with students last night, and bought probably the biggest watermelon I have ever seen. It was the size of a small child, so I buckled it in for safety. The fruit seller ahjumma also gave us two yellow melons no charge because I was pretty. Good to know my fabulous beauty is good for something: scoring free melons. I'll try it at Paul's Country Market when I get back to the U.S. Zowie!
The dinner with students was a rather grand occasion. It was to repay the kindness of the three families that took us to the Folk Village, though we were unable to match that level of generosity. In reality, I had nothing to do with anything--while we were at church the other teachers masterminded it all. I carried some watermelon and watched Sarah W. speak Korean. So I was pretty essential, if you know what I mean.
The kids helped Janet make hamburgers while we served bread and beer to the adults upstairs on the roof. When the burgers were finished, we all dug in, and then the kids went down with Janet again to make a blueberry cake, which I ate very deliciously later, to borrow the Korean expression.
The fathers were glad for an excuse to drink without their wives saying anything, but I've found it best to just pretend I don't drink around people I don't know well enough to say "I'm not drinking anymore," and them not think I'm rude. In truth, I've started to like wine a lot more, but not really recreationally, if you know what I mean. Alcohol I am convinced for me serves the same purpose as a good cup of tea, for settling down and having some nice friendly chat time or soothing alone time. None of this go crazy and drink into oblivion stuff. 내 스타일 아니야.
The evening ended nicely with some intense clean up and an equally intense game of Dutch Blitz. It was like a game with the Long sisters, with plenty of kind and considerate language. I was stomped by the other teachers, but they walked me to the bus stop so all is forgiven.
Today's teaching went really well, I thought, and I actually got around to taking some pictures of my classes! I got some pictures of all but the Phonics 1 class, so hopefully I'll upload those soon. I'm now just chilling at home, getting ready to do some Korean study. I want to start studying at least a half and hour a day, and challenging myself to ask and answer at least 1 question a day in Korean, slowly building it up so that I am speaking more and more. I hope I can stick to it.
Well, that's all for now!
Thanks for reading!
Grace and Peace is a church in Hongdae where Karen, Jae, Kaia, Yongjin and Yoonseo attend, so this sunday I decided to give it a visit. I'm so glad I did, because it was a great time! Kate and Deborah came along too for a first time visit.
As soon as we arrived in Hongdae near the area where the church meets, I could see the influences of the university art students. There is so much graffiti and street art that you just kind of want to walk around and look at the walls. It's like an outdoor exhibition. The church meets in a Greek restaurant, right across from a little outdoor market where artisans sell handmade wares. We saw them setting up as we arrived.
As soon as we walked in, I spotted the most adorable little dude ever sitting at a table, coloring a lady with massively long blue hair. I am a super sucker for kids drawing, so I sat by him and tried to ask about his picture in Korean and color with him a little bit. Nothing like trying to talk to a preschooler to make you feel like your language skills are like poop. Still, I think we communicated pretty well. He called me Imo and drew a picture of me with bundles of red hair exploding all over the page, all while laughing like it was the best thing ever. He was quite fascinated with my hair too, which I found out later from his dad was because he loves the movie Rapunzel, so he likes ladies with long hair. Haha.
The service was neat too, instead of having a sermon, this week we heard the testimony of one of the members. Yoonseo translated for all of us foreigners, which was fantastic, because I actually felt like I could be a part of the service, instead of just kind of watching and catching a verb and noun here and there and the modal endings of sentences. Every service I attend though, it makes me more determined to learn Korean. Even with translation, I feel the distance that comes with language barriers. It's like listening to someone through a tin can.
After service, Yoonseo treated us all to some great iced coffee, and then we went out to check out the market. So many beautiful things! After Kate discovered it and bought one, I also bought a really neat leather bracelet which makes me feel totally chic. I also could have got a shirt that proclaimed that "I have the courage to touch the butt" for a mere 5,000 won, but somehow I felt like it's message wouldn't be appreciated anywhere but at home, so I held off on that. Maybe I will get it later if it's still there.
We checked out other shops in Hongdae as well, including the fantastic ArtBox, which I am glad does not exist in Deokso or I would be poor as potatoes in a week. This is not a good place to live for a person who has a hard time resisting cute notebooks. Also, everyone in Hongdae was stylin, let me tell you. I was dressed up for church and still felt like a bumpkin. Menswear here is also especially good--there were some fine specimens strolling about yesterday wink wink nudge nudge.
I rode back with Deborah to see her off at the subway station, probably the last I will see of here before she leaves Korea in July. A season of goodbyes is coming up, and I'm not looking forward to it.
We stopped at a fruit stand on our way back to get a watermelon for the dinner party with students last night, and bought probably the biggest watermelon I have ever seen. It was the size of a small child, so I buckled it in for safety. The fruit seller ahjumma also gave us two yellow melons no charge because I was pretty. Good to know my fabulous beauty is good for something: scoring free melons. I'll try it at Paul's Country Market when I get back to the U.S. Zowie!
The dinner with students was a rather grand occasion. It was to repay the kindness of the three families that took us to the Folk Village, though we were unable to match that level of generosity. In reality, I had nothing to do with anything--while we were at church the other teachers masterminded it all. I carried some watermelon and watched Sarah W. speak Korean. So I was pretty essential, if you know what I mean.
The kids helped Janet make hamburgers while we served bread and beer to the adults upstairs on the roof. When the burgers were finished, we all dug in, and then the kids went down with Janet again to make a blueberry cake, which I ate very deliciously later, to borrow the Korean expression.
The fathers were glad for an excuse to drink without their wives saying anything, but I've found it best to just pretend I don't drink around people I don't know well enough to say "I'm not drinking anymore," and them not think I'm rude. In truth, I've started to like wine a lot more, but not really recreationally, if you know what I mean. Alcohol I am convinced for me serves the same purpose as a good cup of tea, for settling down and having some nice friendly chat time or soothing alone time. None of this go crazy and drink into oblivion stuff. 내 스타일 아니야.
The evening ended nicely with some intense clean up and an equally intense game of Dutch Blitz. It was like a game with the Long sisters, with plenty of kind and considerate language. I was stomped by the other teachers, but they walked me to the bus stop so all is forgiven.
Today's teaching went really well, I thought, and I actually got around to taking some pictures of my classes! I got some pictures of all but the Phonics 1 class, so hopefully I'll upload those soon. I'm now just chilling at home, getting ready to do some Korean study. I want to start studying at least a half and hour a day, and challenging myself to ask and answer at least 1 question a day in Korean, slowly building it up so that I am speaking more and more. I hope I can stick to it.
Well, that's all for now!
Thanks for reading!
Sunday, June 23, 2013
A Visit to the DMZ
Since the DMZ is a little bit of a sobering subject, here's a less upbeat song: Expired by Tablo.
On Saturday I went with Anna, Annie and Janet on a tour of the DMZ, including a visit to one of the tunnels that North Korea made underneath South Korea as an attempt at infiltration in the 70's.
I'll start first with arriving at the tour center. Though I've been here only three weeks, it was still odd to see so many foreigners all on one place. Even weirder was being able to eavesdrop on the conversations of people you didn't know. It felt like everyone was talking so loudly, but it might have been just that I could actually understand it that it seemed so intrusive.
One of the most interesting parts of the tour for me, though probably the most tiresome to actually see was the tunnel. It would have been pretty boring I think, except that I just finished reading The Orphan Master's Son a week ago and so the images of Jun Do in the tunnels were still fresh in my mind. As I walked through in the cool underground air, hunched over to avoid the low hanging ceiling dripping with water, I could imagine the way the character describes his experiences in the book. I wished that they could turn the lights off for just one short moment to feel what it was like down there in the dark. We could see the holes where dynamite was places to blast through, and also the black marks painted onto the solid granite walls by the North to make it seem as if they had been mining for coal.
The most intense part of the tour was when we arrived at the joint security area near the actual division line, the one that you see so often in BBC photos. The ROK soldiers stand around in the first stance of Taekwondo, so still they look like wax figures, eyes fixed on the North Korean soldier watching us all from his side. We were repeatedly reminded that behind the windows of the large building facing us, other North Korean soldiers were monitoring us, so we should not gesture or wave or do anything that might be misinterpreted. It was almost eerie. The three short blue buildings along the center were divided in two, so that if you went inside and stood on one side, you were technically in North Korea. We did have the chance to do that, so I can say that I have stood on both South Korea and North Korea at once.
In some ways that was kind of symbolic of the underlying sentiment I got from a lot of these tour stops. There are definitely bad relations with the North, almost like a family member that is acting ridiculous enough that everyone is not sure if they will end up hurting themselves or others. There isn't much respect there, but there is still a bond. Every time the South and North were mentioned together, it was with the language of "when reunification happens," not "if." The difference in meaning in those two words is powerful, and it is a way to hold onto hope in a situation that seems pretty much stagnant, at least to the eyes of an American looking from the outside. I wonder if I will be alive to see it happen. I hope so.
On Saturday I went with Anna, Annie and Janet on a tour of the DMZ, including a visit to one of the tunnels that North Korea made underneath South Korea as an attempt at infiltration in the 70's.
I'll start first with arriving at the tour center. Though I've been here only three weeks, it was still odd to see so many foreigners all on one place. Even weirder was being able to eavesdrop on the conversations of people you didn't know. It felt like everyone was talking so loudly, but it might have been just that I could actually understand it that it seemed so intrusive.
One of the most interesting parts of the tour for me, though probably the most tiresome to actually see was the tunnel. It would have been pretty boring I think, except that I just finished reading The Orphan Master's Son a week ago and so the images of Jun Do in the tunnels were still fresh in my mind. As I walked through in the cool underground air, hunched over to avoid the low hanging ceiling dripping with water, I could imagine the way the character describes his experiences in the book. I wished that they could turn the lights off for just one short moment to feel what it was like down there in the dark. We could see the holes where dynamite was places to blast through, and also the black marks painted onto the solid granite walls by the North to make it seem as if they had been mining for coal.
The most intense part of the tour was when we arrived at the joint security area near the actual division line, the one that you see so often in BBC photos. The ROK soldiers stand around in the first stance of Taekwondo, so still they look like wax figures, eyes fixed on the North Korean soldier watching us all from his side. We were repeatedly reminded that behind the windows of the large building facing us, other North Korean soldiers were monitoring us, so we should not gesture or wave or do anything that might be misinterpreted. It was almost eerie. The three short blue buildings along the center were divided in two, so that if you went inside and stood on one side, you were technically in North Korea. We did have the chance to do that, so I can say that I have stood on both South Korea and North Korea at once.
In some ways that was kind of symbolic of the underlying sentiment I got from a lot of these tour stops. There are definitely bad relations with the North, almost like a family member that is acting ridiculous enough that everyone is not sure if they will end up hurting themselves or others. There isn't much respect there, but there is still a bond. Every time the South and North were mentioned together, it was with the language of "when reunification happens," not "if." The difference in meaning in those two words is powerful, and it is a way to hold onto hope in a situation that seems pretty much stagnant, at least to the eyes of an American looking from the outside. I wonder if I will be alive to see it happen. I hope so.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Little memories
I don't have a big long blog post today, but have a listen to this Miss A song that I like to play when I'm feeling particularly Second Wave feministic: I Don't Need A Man.
So here are a few memories from today:
Phonics 2. I still felt pretty frustrated with Haram today, but today he did surprise me a little. We ask conversations questions at the beginning of class, and usually the Phonics 2 students always give the same memorized answers, but today Haram changed his answer and made a new one. He is the first one in the class to try doing that, so that was actually really encouraging. He still struggled a lot with writing and staying still, to the point of almost driving me nuts, but that one little improvement was exciting.
Yellow 2. I was bored of the same old conversation questions with Yellow, so I taught them the "would you rather" question format and they loved it! Even Susan, who usually doesn't love talking or thinking super creatively was excited to participate and make up hard questions for her classmates. I think we'll play again on another day too. I don't want to wear it out too fast though.
My Blue 6 was back to normal again! Well, I am still having a lot of Korean being spoken, so I think I need to start taking stamps for it, but everybody seems to be friends again after the Pancake Debacle was wrapped up. I was really impressed with their journals today too! Actually interesting, and not the same old same old that I keep getting with my Yellow class, who granted, have been writing their journals for much longer.
Tomorrow our new teacher is coming, which is super exciting! It will feel weird to not be the newest one anymore.
Well, I'm going to try to study Korean for a little while tonight, so that's all for now!
So here are a few memories from today:
Phonics 2. I still felt pretty frustrated with Haram today, but today he did surprise me a little. We ask conversations questions at the beginning of class, and usually the Phonics 2 students always give the same memorized answers, but today Haram changed his answer and made a new one. He is the first one in the class to try doing that, so that was actually really encouraging. He still struggled a lot with writing and staying still, to the point of almost driving me nuts, but that one little improvement was exciting.
Yellow 2. I was bored of the same old conversation questions with Yellow, so I taught them the "would you rather" question format and they loved it! Even Susan, who usually doesn't love talking or thinking super creatively was excited to participate and make up hard questions for her classmates. I think we'll play again on another day too. I don't want to wear it out too fast though.
My Blue 6 was back to normal again! Well, I am still having a lot of Korean being spoken, so I think I need to start taking stamps for it, but everybody seems to be friends again after the Pancake Debacle was wrapped up. I was really impressed with their journals today too! Actually interesting, and not the same old same old that I keep getting with my Yellow class, who granted, have been writing their journals for much longer.
Tomorrow our new teacher is coming, which is super exciting! It will feel weird to not be the newest one anymore.
Well, I'm going to try to study Korean for a little while tonight, so that's all for now!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Baptism
Today, have a listen to Scarecrow by Lee Hi...I still have a hard time believe she is only 16 years old. Super voice!
Sunday I went to church with my host family again, and it was a special sunday because the Jesus Heart church was meeting up with their mother congregation Jesus Village Church for a baptism service for two members. Kaia, one of the NARPI staff, came with us, and we were going to also see Deborah, the SALTer in Chuncheon. We drove out past Chuncheon, past the 38° Parallel, and close to the DMZ, about 40 minutes away, I think. Everyone gathered around a creek on the side of the road. There were probably around 40 people, 50 counting children.
We sang together, heard a message about the meaning of baptism, then heard testimonies from the mentors of the two people being baptized and finally their own personal testimonies. This was all in Korean of course, so unfortunately I didn't understand much at all, but it was still nice to be there at such a special moment and see everyone celebrate these two people and the step they were taking.
The church members brought flowers for the people being baptized, and even brought out a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday in honor of this "spiritual birthday" of sorts. It was really neat! We had a big "love feast" type meal of bibimbap all together outside under a tarp. The kids splashed in the stream and caught tadpoles and the adults chatted. Everyone who had good English took the time to chat with the foreigners too, which was really kind. It was just a really lovely time, enjoying the fellowship. As were were going to go, one of the members of Jesus Heart Church, Kyeongjoo, invited my host family and I and Kaia to come visit his mother's home, which was just an half hour away. We readily agreed and clambered into the borrowed Connexus van yet again.
The home was located in a pretty historic area, right in the middle of three hills where a big battle took place during the Korean war. I forget the exact number that Kyeongjoo's brother in law told us, but definitely many thousand. When walking around near the stream near the house with his son, he once found the rusty remains of a rifle. All the wood had rotten away, leaving just the metal barrel and trigger. He showed it to a friend who ran an army supply shop, who said that the type of trigger it had identified it as a Chinese weapon, so it must have been used by either Chinese or North Korean soldiers during the war. He showed it to us, and it was very sobering to think about how many bodies must have been laying all over the ground in that area 6 decades ago. The hills looked so beautiful, it was hard to believe they had once held so much death.
Kyeongjoo brother and law told us his family's history and how he had got involved with the Mennonite community. He shared with us the vision he had to one day, when the Koreas were reunited, help turn the group mentality of communism in North Korea to a community centered around the love of Christ and peace, rather than the state. It was really cool to hear, and made me realize that not matter how many jokes I hear about "North Korean refugees," there is still a deep desire here to be connected again with the other half of the peninsula.
We stayed there for around an hour or so, talking, seeing the property, taking pictures. After we said our goodbyes we drove to Chuncheon for some dalkkalbi, where I was stuffed to the rafters and badly wanted floss for like the millionth time here. I tell you, nothing gets stuck in your teeth like Korean food. It took a long time coming back because of Sunday traffice, and then we decided to stop for some patbingsoo because Kaia had never had any. We finally got back at about 10:15, and then I was up this morning at 7:30 to start the teaching week again.
I'm excited...on Thursday a new teacher is coming, and I'm looking forward to helping make her feel welcome!
Sunday I went to church with my host family again, and it was a special sunday because the Jesus Heart church was meeting up with their mother congregation Jesus Village Church for a baptism service for two members. Kaia, one of the NARPI staff, came with us, and we were going to also see Deborah, the SALTer in Chuncheon. We drove out past Chuncheon, past the 38° Parallel, and close to the DMZ, about 40 minutes away, I think. Everyone gathered around a creek on the side of the road. There were probably around 40 people, 50 counting children.
We sang together, heard a message about the meaning of baptism, then heard testimonies from the mentors of the two people being baptized and finally their own personal testimonies. This was all in Korean of course, so unfortunately I didn't understand much at all, but it was still nice to be there at such a special moment and see everyone celebrate these two people and the step they were taking.
The church members brought flowers for the people being baptized, and even brought out a birthday cake and sang Happy Birthday in honor of this "spiritual birthday" of sorts. It was really neat! We had a big "love feast" type meal of bibimbap all together outside under a tarp. The kids splashed in the stream and caught tadpoles and the adults chatted. Everyone who had good English took the time to chat with the foreigners too, which was really kind. It was just a really lovely time, enjoying the fellowship. As were were going to go, one of the members of Jesus Heart Church, Kyeongjoo, invited my host family and I and Kaia to come visit his mother's home, which was just an half hour away. We readily agreed and clambered into the borrowed Connexus van yet again.
The home was located in a pretty historic area, right in the middle of three hills where a big battle took place during the Korean war. I forget the exact number that Kyeongjoo's brother in law told us, but definitely many thousand. When walking around near the stream near the house with his son, he once found the rusty remains of a rifle. All the wood had rotten away, leaving just the metal barrel and trigger. He showed it to a friend who ran an army supply shop, who said that the type of trigger it had identified it as a Chinese weapon, so it must have been used by either Chinese or North Korean soldiers during the war. He showed it to us, and it was very sobering to think about how many bodies must have been laying all over the ground in that area 6 decades ago. The hills looked so beautiful, it was hard to believe they had once held so much death.
Kyeongjoo brother and law told us his family's history and how he had got involved with the Mennonite community. He shared with us the vision he had to one day, when the Koreas were reunited, help turn the group mentality of communism in North Korea to a community centered around the love of Christ and peace, rather than the state. It was really cool to hear, and made me realize that not matter how many jokes I hear about "North Korean refugees," there is still a deep desire here to be connected again with the other half of the peninsula.
We stayed there for around an hour or so, talking, seeing the property, taking pictures. After we said our goodbyes we drove to Chuncheon for some dalkkalbi, where I was stuffed to the rafters and badly wanted floss for like the millionth time here. I tell you, nothing gets stuck in your teeth like Korean food. It took a long time coming back because of Sunday traffice, and then we decided to stop for some patbingsoo because Kaia had never had any. We finally got back at about 10:15, and then I was up this morning at 7:30 to start the teaching week again.
I'm excited...on Thursday a new teacher is coming, and I'm looking forward to helping make her feel welcome!
Friday, June 14, 2013
Pancakes on Pancakes
Because today was super, have a listen to a song named "Good" or "I like it/Okay": Joah by Jay Park.
Today was activity day at Connexus, and it was cooking week, so we made pancakes with all of our classes. It was quite the undertaking, and towards the afternoon my small classroom was getting pretty roasty toasty, but it was still very fun. I think my favorite group were actually the Phonics groups, starting with Phonics 1. The three little girls were just so delighted to be making pancakes at English school and were giggling at everything. It was also more just focused on having fun, because there wasn't a whole lot of English instruction to do besides teaching vocab. So I taught them the names of all the ingredients, but mostly we just had fun being together.
In Phonics 2, only the girls came, so again it was an all-girl class, which they LOVED. "Teacher, Dongwoo not come today....Haram not come?" "Yes, today it's only girls!" "Teacher YESSS!" and then giggles and squeals galore. Conversation time went like this:
"Sungyeon, how are you today?"
"I'm...excited..because today...GIRLS!"
"Can you ask Hyesu?"
"Hyesu how are you?"
"I'm excited because today GIRLS!"
Needless to say, they were pretty pumped.
The only downside to the day was that in my last class, the Blue 6 class that I love, there was an argument between two of the boys. I didn't know what about, but I could understand enough Korean to figure that the older of the two was upset about the way the younger boy was talking to him. It turns out it was over who got to eat more pancakes, which is totally dumb, but they had a meeting with our office fairy Minji who used her restorative discipline skills to get to the bottom of it. We might have a follow up on Monday about it, but I think everything was ok.
That might seem like a really dumb thing to address, a little fight over pancakes, but those things build up, and the learning atmosphere really is better when the students are friends, and aren't secretly annoyed or having chips on their shoulder or something. So, it's important to pay attention even to the little problems. It's a new way of thinking for me, because it was something that would have been impossible to do at the LIU afterschool because of lack of staff and training for it, but I can really see the value in it.
Well, that's all for now! I'm a little early on my blog writing this time, so enjoy!
Today was activity day at Connexus, and it was cooking week, so we made pancakes with all of our classes. It was quite the undertaking, and towards the afternoon my small classroom was getting pretty roasty toasty, but it was still very fun. I think my favorite group were actually the Phonics groups, starting with Phonics 1. The three little girls were just so delighted to be making pancakes at English school and were giggling at everything. It was also more just focused on having fun, because there wasn't a whole lot of English instruction to do besides teaching vocab. So I taught them the names of all the ingredients, but mostly we just had fun being together.
In Phonics 2, only the girls came, so again it was an all-girl class, which they LOVED. "Teacher, Dongwoo not come today....Haram not come?" "Yes, today it's only girls!" "Teacher YESSS!" and then giggles and squeals galore. Conversation time went like this:
"Sungyeon, how are you today?"
"I'm...excited..because today...GIRLS!"
"Can you ask Hyesu?"
"Hyesu how are you?"
"I'm excited because today GIRLS!"
Needless to say, they were pretty pumped.
The only downside to the day was that in my last class, the Blue 6 class that I love, there was an argument between two of the boys. I didn't know what about, but I could understand enough Korean to figure that the older of the two was upset about the way the younger boy was talking to him. It turns out it was over who got to eat more pancakes, which is totally dumb, but they had a meeting with our office fairy Minji who used her restorative discipline skills to get to the bottom of it. We might have a follow up on Monday about it, but I think everything was ok.
That might seem like a really dumb thing to address, a little fight over pancakes, but those things build up, and the learning atmosphere really is better when the students are friends, and aren't secretly annoyed or having chips on their shoulder or something. So, it's important to pay attention even to the little problems. It's a new way of thinking for me, because it was something that would have been impossible to do at the LIU afterschool because of lack of staff and training for it, but I can really see the value in it.
Well, that's all for now! I'm a little early on my blog writing this time, so enjoy!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Jjimjilbang!
Listening music today is some good old Big Bang, since I heard this song on the radio while riding the bus to the jjimjilbang: Haru Haru (Day by Day) Please enjoy the great English in it too :-)
Last night Anna, Annie, Janet and I all went to a jjimjilbang together. A jjimjilbang is a segregated public bath, which you can read more about here if you are curious, but suffice to say that it FANTASTIC. Here are the details:
When we first arrived, we paid our 10,000 won and then received our super stylish brown and baggy jjimjilbang clothes and 2 lovely orange face-sized towels each. We checked our shoes first in a tiny little shoe locker, and were given a key on a plastic bracelet, which opened a bigger locker in the women's bath area where we could stow clothes and purses and such. Just like you're supposed to do at the YMCA (but I never do oops), we showered off first before hitting the awesome baths!
They had shallow pools of all different temps, ranging from 38 to 25 degrees celsius. One bath even had little lounge chairs with water jets built in to the bottom of the pool. When we got bored of that, we could visit the two saunas, either the super hot dry one which make out faces burn and my lungs feel like I was breathing the hot air around a fire, or the super humid one, which was like standing inside a giant cloud. Both were hard to stay in for very long. The hot one made my lungs burn, the other was humid it almost felt suffocating. But it felt great to go in for around 30 seconds and come out. I felt a little bad since every time we went to a pool, the Korean women vacated it after a few minutes, or some cases, like 30 seconds. I'm not really sure if it was because they felt awkward because a foreigner was there, or because we were too loud or what. Truthfully, we were kind of the only ones talking, but it would have been a little dull and awkward to us to just sit around in complete silence, so we might have been too noisy. We sat around a chatted and played Contact (you can learn to play it here) until we were throughly pruny, then went and donned our jjimjilbang uniforms and wore some towels hats using the traditional sheep/rams horn/ princess leia fold. I researched how to make them before coming :-)
Of course, since it was a public bath, I have no pictures, but here is a still from a drama that illustrates the towel hat, if you're curious:
We got home pretty late, since we started our journey at 8 pm and the jjimjilbang was around 40 minutes away, so I slept in as much as I could this morning (I have discovered that my host siblings are loud enough to pierce through earplugs...hooray) and skyped a little with the Gabster!
Classes went well today as well. Yellow class was especially fun. For review of what has happened in the last pages we have read in their current book, the lesson plan sometimes has us ask true/false questions to check comprehension. My yellow class started a tradition with their last teacher, Anna, that they would make one funny face to mean "true" and another to mean "false," and it is super fun, so I do it too. Today I suggested one raised eyebrow as the face to make when they thought the answer was true, and they thought it was hilarious. Jack, the one boy in that class gave it a try and it was one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen. It was half creeper man/half sauve guy and I just about lost it. Then Susan, one of two girls, said "Ooh Jack, so sexy!" and I just died. So funny.
My Phonics 2 class went better than usual today too. For the first time in a while, Haram had his homework finished and was able to focus a little better as well. We were also able to do an objects labeling activity out of the classroom in the kitchen today, and I think all the kids really enjoyed that. I am worried now that Sungyeon isn't getting enough attention, because she is a little lowe level as well, though definitely better than Haram and more hardworking to. I've had to give Haram so much attention that I'm afraid she's been sliding a little. Today she seemed to be having a little bit of a hard time. Tomorrow I want to make she is tracking as well.
After class I came home and Yoonsang challenged me to a game of chess, which I don't really know the rules for, and totally stink at. Needless to say, he was going easy on me, and we didn't quite finish game, but were pretty even toward the end. But now I think I'd like to try playing again sometime, since he taught me the rules and I have a better idea of which moves are good ideas and which are disastrous.
Tomorrow is cooking activity day...we will be making pancakes with all the classes, which should be a grand and messy adventure.
Thanks for reading!
Last night Anna, Annie, Janet and I all went to a jjimjilbang together. A jjimjilbang is a segregated public bath, which you can read more about here if you are curious, but suffice to say that it FANTASTIC. Here are the details:
When we first arrived, we paid our 10,000 won and then received our super stylish brown and baggy jjimjilbang clothes and 2 lovely orange face-sized towels each. We checked our shoes first in a tiny little shoe locker, and were given a key on a plastic bracelet, which opened a bigger locker in the women's bath area where we could stow clothes and purses and such. Just like you're supposed to do at the YMCA (but I never do oops), we showered off first before hitting the awesome baths!
They had shallow pools of all different temps, ranging from 38 to 25 degrees celsius. One bath even had little lounge chairs with water jets built in to the bottom of the pool. When we got bored of that, we could visit the two saunas, either the super hot dry one which make out faces burn and my lungs feel like I was breathing the hot air around a fire, or the super humid one, which was like standing inside a giant cloud. Both were hard to stay in for very long. The hot one made my lungs burn, the other was humid it almost felt suffocating. But it felt great to go in for around 30 seconds and come out. I felt a little bad since every time we went to a pool, the Korean women vacated it after a few minutes, or some cases, like 30 seconds. I'm not really sure if it was because they felt awkward because a foreigner was there, or because we were too loud or what. Truthfully, we were kind of the only ones talking, but it would have been a little dull and awkward to us to just sit around in complete silence, so we might have been too noisy. We sat around a chatted and played Contact (you can learn to play it here) until we were throughly pruny, then went and donned our jjimjilbang uniforms and wore some towels hats using the traditional sheep/rams horn/ princess leia fold. I researched how to make them before coming :-)
Of course, since it was a public bath, I have no pictures, but here is a still from a drama that illustrates the towel hat, if you're curious:
Their outfits are way cuter than ours were
Anyway, I would highly recommend the experience! There aren't really many in the U.S., but I have heard that there is one in the Philly area, so if you're dying to try it out, have a look!
Classes went well today as well. Yellow class was especially fun. For review of what has happened in the last pages we have read in their current book, the lesson plan sometimes has us ask true/false questions to check comprehension. My yellow class started a tradition with their last teacher, Anna, that they would make one funny face to mean "true" and another to mean "false," and it is super fun, so I do it too. Today I suggested one raised eyebrow as the face to make when they thought the answer was true, and they thought it was hilarious. Jack, the one boy in that class gave it a try and it was one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen. It was half creeper man/half sauve guy and I just about lost it. Then Susan, one of two girls, said "Ooh Jack, so sexy!" and I just died. So funny.
My Phonics 2 class went better than usual today too. For the first time in a while, Haram had his homework finished and was able to focus a little better as well. We were also able to do an objects labeling activity out of the classroom in the kitchen today, and I think all the kids really enjoyed that. I am worried now that Sungyeon isn't getting enough attention, because she is a little lowe level as well, though definitely better than Haram and more hardworking to. I've had to give Haram so much attention that I'm afraid she's been sliding a little. Today she seemed to be having a little bit of a hard time. Tomorrow I want to make she is tracking as well.
After class I came home and Yoonsang challenged me to a game of chess, which I don't really know the rules for, and totally stink at. Needless to say, he was going easy on me, and we didn't quite finish game, but were pretty even toward the end. But now I think I'd like to try playing again sometime, since he taught me the rules and I have a better idea of which moves are good ideas and which are disastrous.
Tomorrow is cooking activity day...we will be making pancakes with all the classes, which should be a grand and messy adventure.
Thanks for reading!
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