korean

This is sort of cool -- there was a phone bill in my mail just now, and I was able to read the name of the person it was addressed to, even though it was in Korean. It wasn't mine.

When I first got here, I wanted so much to speak Spanish to people when I needed something: my instinct was just to use any foreign language to communicate. I would think out sentences or questions in my head, realizing how much more easily I would be able to get around in a Spanish-speaking country than here. I still think out questions sometimes, but now I find that it's a mixture between Spanish and Korean. Weird.

detectives

Today, a student in one of my classes had given lollipops to all the other kids. Towards the end of class, the students realized that one of the boys didn't have a lollipop, and carried out a full-fledged investigation to determine whether or not he really did have one and just wanted another, or if he hadn't received one at all. I told them "English, please," and they actually did conduct the investigation in what very little English they know. Smelling the boy's breath, counting lollipops, counting wrappers in the trashcan -- they were pretty thorough. The verdict was that he had not received one, so they gave him one. I wish I'd had my camera.

A good day.

Today was a good day. Tuesdays and Thursdays had become unusually difficult, with 8 classes in a row each afternoon. Today, though, 3 of them were cancelled for at least the next two weeks -- so that's 3/day, 6/week. I wish I could tell you how good this is. Although, as crazy as it sounds, I was sort of looking forward to completing an entire month of such an exhausting schedule. I guess that's the runner in me. And all those overtime won would have looked pretty in the bank.

Also, I am 99% positive I got food poisoning from some bulgogi pizza I ate Sunday night -- Amber had the same pizza and same symptoms the next day. Felt like vomiting all day, couldn't eat, dizzy, turned to fever in the evening. 12 hours of sleep seemed to do the trick, because this morning I was right as rain -- so again, a good day. Strange that I got sick from pizza, though, because live octopus, dog, and a bowl of silkworm larvae had no side effects. :) Probably the last time I eat pizza here.

***And of course, it's a good day because Cormac McCarthy won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction!! woohoo! I told you he was good. Click here to join the Cormac McCarthy Society: cormacmccarthy.com

Ok, too much talk, not enough pics, so UT McElmeel is getting anxious. I don't know if these count, but....

Here are two pictures by my kindy kids. I like both drawings, but Martha's is my favorite (yes, I named her), and all of her work is like this -- sort of innocently grotesque. She's one of my favorite students, for sure. The unit was on the body, emphasis on "I have ten fingers" and "I have ten toes." So please don't overlook the toes on the picture of the girl. Her fingers looked the same, until the Korean helper made her draw them thicker. Oh and see, the boy's name is Joey. I named him, too. :)

I fixed the settings on here, now anybody can post a comment. Since I know you want to all talk about that bug.

Bug.

I hope this bug wasn't an endangered species, because it sure chose the wrong apartment ceiling to chill on -- even though I had to have Amber kill it for me. Actually, I hope it was endangered -- maybe the last of its kind. Doesn't it look like something from Men in Black? You should have seen it move. Oh my goodness.

textbook fun

This is my favorite flashcard by far. I especially like the left eyebrow.



Also, I found this conversation really heartwarming...I really like the boy's face when he says "It's a watch." It was fun to watch the students act it out, too. In this job, I have to look for pleasure/happiness in unlikely places. Because really, seeing this page made my day -- so did the 'dancing' flashcard. But how could it not.

Palace pics

These are pictures of the Gyongbuk (sp?) National Palace in Seoul.

A reenactment of some sort of ceremony just outside the palace...changing of the guards? I'm not exactly sure.

Seoul pictures

Me and another teacher I met up with.

A really cool building we found in the neighborhood outside the palace. The area was very artsy and made me miss Portland.

Below:

Two views of Seoul from a little hill/mountain I hiked up -- I was shocked by the vastness of the city. Layers upon layers upon layers of buildings through the haze.

good pic, I think.

This is a little park I found. Those apartments in the background are everywhere. So that's where people live (but not me; I live in a little place). I really like this picture, but can't figure out how to post it so that it's always at the top -- so that it's my main blog picture. Any advice?

students

These are some of my younger students. I teach 15 kindy classes a week and 25 elementary/middle school-aged classes. This is clearly why hagwons pay so well.

5 years old

6 years old

I'm not sure how old these kids are, but probably about 6 or 7? This is the regular class size for afternoon classes, so it gets pretty crazy sometimes. They look cute right now, but you just try to teach them and it's a completely different story. Although this is one of my favorite afternoon classes, because the kids do know some English but they're still young enough to be excited about being at school. Oh, see that boy in the front with the blue shirt? He gets a kick out of the fact that I have hair on my arms, and asks to feel it almost every day.

A rare moment when those really little guys are being cooperative and doing their work. No, the kindergarteners are actually the best classes. I didn't take pictures of any of the older students because I didn't have time to between asking them to take their books out for the millionth time and threatening their lives.

apartment pics

Pictures of my room for those of you who wanted to see it.