It's a very wierd thing to celebrate your birthday in the future. The teacher's knew about it but it was pretty quiet, since for everybody back in the States the 29th for me was still the 28th for them. I went to a museum with one of the teacher's and then at night I went to an Italian restaurant with another friend. The next day, when I was officially 23, everybody back home figures out it's my birthday and all day long I was getting facebook messages and emails. It was very nice. (cough, cough, NONE OF WHICH WERE FROM MY PARENTS!)
The same guy whom I went to the Italian restaurant with took me to the soccer game. A friend of his had a friend who knew someone who worked at the stadium and got us 3 free tickets. I'm not sure exactly how it worked. But basically a very nice Korean man who worked at the World Cup Stadium (named, aptly so, for the World Cup South Korea hosted in 2002.) came and walked us up to fantastic seats in the first row of the second section. And we didn't have to pay for any of it. It was the semifinals of the K-League (Korean League) and was a really intense game. We had 30 minutes of overtime with the final score being 4-2 (6 goals scored in a professional soccer game? That's unheard of!) including a header goal set up by the only black man in South Korea (well, thats not true, the baseball team has one African-American).
PS- I changed my profile picture to the official banner of FC Seoul where the motto is "Impossible is Nothing." I haven't gotten to show you all too many pictures of mistranslated English in Seoul (of which there are MANY) but I thought this was a good example.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
FC Seoul 4 - Ulsan Hyundai 2
Number 8 is one of only 2 black men that I have seen in Korea. And he helped set up a really awesome goal where a forward headed it in during the final 15 mins of overtime.
The cheering section. Spent the entire time dancing and blowing horns. A Korean rendition of "If You're Happy and You Know It" was sung from them every once in a while.
World Cup Stadium, home of FC Seoul and of the 2002 World Cup.
No beer or hotdogs for Koreans at sport matches. It's strictly Korean fare.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Happy Thanksgiving!
We may all be scattered around the globe but I'm very thankful that I at least have family 6,000 miles away!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Hiking: Korean Style
I went back to the same mountain I went a few weeks ago when I saw the temple, this time do more hiking. And let me tell you...hiking in Korea is a hoot! First, it's mostly older people wielding ski poles and booking along the trail, in way better shape than anybody else. Secondly, 90% of trails consist of climbing up or down stairs. Sometimes the stairs are really crude stone steps, while others are just plain wooden stairs put in by the park. And the other 10% consists of slipping and sliding treacherously along cliffs that may or may not be trails.
Today I went with some teachers for about 4 hours (but probably 3 in Reddy time because some of those girls were slllloooowww! And if I'm saying their slow than they were definitely going snail pace.)
Today I went with some teachers for about 4 hours (but probably 3 in Reddy time because some of those girls were slllloooowww! And if I'm saying their slow than they were definitely going snail pace.)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Galbi w/ Coworkers
2 teachers and myself went out for bbq after work tonight and this picture was snapped. In the middle of the table is the vat of coal with meat grilling on top of it while the rest of the surface area of the table is, literally, covered with side dishes: tofu, egg, kimchi, salad, lettuce leaves, soup, garlic, onions, rice, mashed potatoes (Korean style...), lettuce greens, cabbage, radish.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Seaweed
I spent 18 years in California, hating that annoying marine shrub that wounds itself around us every time we went into the beach. But, nearing the ripe old age of 23, I've discovered a healthy appreciation for what we call Seaweed. And who knew it tasted so good?
The top picture is of gimp, a dried and salted piece of seaweed. Koreans eat them like potato chips out here. I know it sounds wierd, but its the most delicious thing I've discovered (aside from Barbecue that is). The seaweed is paper thin but crunchy. The main danger of eating too many is you can get lots of green stuff stuck between your teeth.
The bottom picture is of beepembops (that's the phonetic spelling) and I eat at least one every day, usually for lunch. They cost about a buck and consist of seaweed, rice, and a filling of some sort of protein. They come wrapped up in a ball and you microwave it for a minute or two and then kind of smash the ball open with your chopsticks. Usually the center is tuna or chicken, but this particular beepembop came with Kimchi, the fermented cabbage I mentioned earlier. Not my favorite Korean staple (if you think dried fruit made you gassy, try being around people who eat fermented cabbage for at least 2 meals a day, every day...) They come wrapped up in a tin foil ball with writing I don't understand on it, so I never really know what I'm going to find in the middle. Kind of like a cereal box. It's just rice and seaweed, so the only flavor is what the center provides. It's not the most delicious food I've encountered here, but it's so cheap and filling I really enjoy it.
*Sidenote. Korean food in general is incredibly healthy. These both cost between one and two dollars and the main ingredients in both are seaweed and rice. I find it interesting that the cheapest food options in Korea consist of such healthy ingredients while in America, our cheapest food is whatever is on the Dollar Menu at McDonalds.
The top picture is of gimp, a dried and salted piece of seaweed. Koreans eat them like potato chips out here. I know it sounds wierd, but its the most delicious thing I've discovered (aside from Barbecue that is). The seaweed is paper thin but crunchy. The main danger of eating too many is you can get lots of green stuff stuck between your teeth.
The bottom picture is of beepembops (that's the phonetic spelling) and I eat at least one every day, usually for lunch. They cost about a buck and consist of seaweed, rice, and a filling of some sort of protein. They come wrapped up in a ball and you microwave it for a minute or two and then kind of smash the ball open with your chopsticks. Usually the center is tuna or chicken, but this particular beepembop came with Kimchi, the fermented cabbage I mentioned earlier. Not my favorite Korean staple (if you think dried fruit made you gassy, try being around people who eat fermented cabbage for at least 2 meals a day, every day...) They come wrapped up in a tin foil ball with writing I don't understand on it, so I never really know what I'm going to find in the middle. Kind of like a cereal box. It's just rice and seaweed, so the only flavor is what the center provides. It's not the most delicious food I've encountered here, but it's so cheap and filling I really enjoy it.
*Sidenote. Korean food in general is incredibly healthy. These both cost between one and two dollars and the main ingredients in both are seaweed and rice. I find it interesting that the cheapest food options in Korea consist of such healthy ingredients while in America, our cheapest food is whatever is on the Dollar Menu at McDonalds.
Friday, November 14, 2008
A day of exciting news: early this morning the UPS guy came in with my giant box which held a lot of stuff- in particular a bag of chocolate chip oatmean cookies that the teachers and my winning students loooovvvveeedddd!!!
Also I just heard the Jets won the AFC East. Woo hoo!!
(I'm assuming we like them because of Brett Favre...)
Also I just heard the Jets won the AFC East. Woo hoo!!
(I'm assuming we like them because of Brett Favre...)
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Skype
I would like to take this opportunity to inform you all of a new program called Skype. It's pretty new (and Oprah listed it as one of her favorite things so, Mom and Dad, you may already be familiar with it) but I used it for the first time last night and it is AMAZING!!!
Basically, your internet acts as your phone line and your computers act as your phone. If you both have webcams (which I do but which I have not figured out how to enable yet...)you can have what is basically a video conference with the person. If you do not have a web cam you can talk through the speakers in your computer. I had never heard of skype until I arrived here, and since then I've heard of it from 15 people. I was skeptical until last night when I called my friend Weronika in Hokkaido, Japan yesterday. It was so freaking cool. We both just basically sit, talking at our computers but I could her voice as clearly as if it was on the phone. Also, it's completely free.
You can call other computers who have skype ( you make an id...mine is Nutmeg876541...and then you just look the person up via their id) Or, you can call landlines. It costs to call cell phones, but the other two choices are free.
I know I've been calling you all with a calling card, but if anybody's daring enough to try this program go to skype.com and download the software. It's free!
Basically, your internet acts as your phone line and your computers act as your phone. If you both have webcams (which I do but which I have not figured out how to enable yet...)you can have what is basically a video conference with the person. If you do not have a web cam you can talk through the speakers in your computer. I had never heard of skype until I arrived here, and since then I've heard of it from 15 people. I was skeptical until last night when I called my friend Weronika in Hokkaido, Japan yesterday. It was so freaking cool. We both just basically sit, talking at our computers but I could her voice as clearly as if it was on the phone. Also, it's completely free.
You can call other computers who have skype ( you make an id...mine is Nutmeg876541...and then you just look the person up via their id) Or, you can call landlines. It costs to call cell phones, but the other two choices are free.
I know I've been calling you all with a calling card, but if anybody's daring enough to try this program go to skype.com and download the software. It's free!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
First Week Flying Solo
Well, I did it. For five consecutive days, completely on my own, I taught elementary school. It was...well... I did it.
It was hard. It was really really hard. My morning students are all 5-6 year olds and have been learning English for a couple years now. They're incredibly smart...sometimes too smart. I spent last week with them so they knew I was coming, but they were still very close to their last teacher (the one I replaced) and the transition was not completely smoothe. There are 11 students in the class and while most of them were fine, there's a couple who definitely made it their goal to test me this week. One in particular, a boy named Chris, was quite belligerent in his attempts to defy me. Refusing to turn the pages in his book to the right page or write down the answers to various worksheets. I had to resort to taking away his breaks and, eventually at the end of the week, asking the Korean staff to call his mother and report his behavior. It was not a fun thing to do (actually it made me feel like an adult...yuck). All the teachers have been urging me to go in to the class with a harder hand. Apparently this group of kindergartners are notorious for being difficult and hard to manage, I guess the previous 2 teachers they've had all had similar problems in the beginning. But it's so hard to go into a class of little kids and just yell at them. The Korean staff has no problem doing it but, then again, corporal punishment is still allowed in Korean schools (though none of us are allowed nor would ever touch the children).
My favorite part of teaching is seeing how quickly minds this young can absorb information. There English is not perfect, but considering they are 6 years old I find it pretty amazing they've learned this much in 2 years (far more than I ever learned after 6 years of french...and I didn't even need to learn a new alphabet!)
My least favorite part is arts and crafts. On the Friday before Halloween, the school celebrated by having both teachers and students dress up and go trick or treating in the hallway (I assembled a pirate costume over the course of 2 days...but the kids loved the parrot glued onto my shoulder so I thought it was successful) Part of the activities was doing face painting. At the time Emily, the teacher I've replaced, was still here and she did most of the face painting while I helped the students with a project. As she was runnign out of time, I helped out with the facepaint of the last two students.
I so don't have mom's talent for painting.
All I had to draw was a pumpkin and a bat. The pumpkin, I thought, would be easy. But there was no orange color and though I tried mixing red and yellow, it came out looking like an apple. The bat looked like one of those blobs that psychologists show to patients and ask them what they see in it. After break, when we came back down, every student that had gotten face paint still had it. Except for the two girls that I had drawn on.
The administrative aspects of the school are somewhat complicated. Since it's a private school that parents are paying a lot of money for, we tend to cater more to the parents than to the students. Our lesson plans and a certain percentage of our homework have to be in color, so that when a homework packet gets sent home at the end of the week, the parents will have something "pretty" to look at. A few months ago one parent called to complain that their child came home hungry so the entire schedule was rearranged to fit snack time directly after lunch to ensure that-though the children may be starving by the time lunch comes around- they get a snack right before they go home so none can complain of hunger to their parents.
I also got to spend the week living in my own apartment! Moving into a studio that is around the size of Kelli's bedroom in Brea was quite exciting for me. It's the first time I've ever lived on my own and while that has already gotten quite lonely, I really love having my own place. It's a cozy little apartment. A metal rod acts as my wardrobe and is located right next to my fridge, which I can't fully open without pushing back the kitchen table. The enclosed balcony acts as both a kitchen and laundry room. The kitchen has one sink and a gas burner in place of a stove, no oven but the kitchen came fully stocked with cooking utensils, silverware, a rice cooker, and a microwave. There's a washer (no drier) that is across from the kitchen. I'm doing laundry right now and after hanging up all my clothes to dry I can already tell that the balcony is going to be a very cramped area. The bathroom is decent, a western style toilet (I was worried about that one...) and a shower head and sink.
Compared to the apartment I spent last week in, this one is exponentially smaller and the furniture is all much, much older. But, the walls are wallpapered and the tile looks new.
And, best of all, there does not appear to be any mosquitoes.
It was hard. It was really really hard. My morning students are all 5-6 year olds and have been learning English for a couple years now. They're incredibly smart...sometimes too smart. I spent last week with them so they knew I was coming, but they were still very close to their last teacher (the one I replaced) and the transition was not completely smoothe. There are 11 students in the class and while most of them were fine, there's a couple who definitely made it their goal to test me this week. One in particular, a boy named Chris, was quite belligerent in his attempts to defy me. Refusing to turn the pages in his book to the right page or write down the answers to various worksheets. I had to resort to taking away his breaks and, eventually at the end of the week, asking the Korean staff to call his mother and report his behavior. It was not a fun thing to do (actually it made me feel like an adult...yuck). All the teachers have been urging me to go in to the class with a harder hand. Apparently this group of kindergartners are notorious for being difficult and hard to manage, I guess the previous 2 teachers they've had all had similar problems in the beginning. But it's so hard to go into a class of little kids and just yell at them. The Korean staff has no problem doing it but, then again, corporal punishment is still allowed in Korean schools (though none of us are allowed nor would ever touch the children).
My favorite part of teaching is seeing how quickly minds this young can absorb information. There English is not perfect, but considering they are 6 years old I find it pretty amazing they've learned this much in 2 years (far more than I ever learned after 6 years of french...and I didn't even need to learn a new alphabet!)
My least favorite part is arts and crafts. On the Friday before Halloween, the school celebrated by having both teachers and students dress up and go trick or treating in the hallway (I assembled a pirate costume over the course of 2 days...but the kids loved the parrot glued onto my shoulder so I thought it was successful) Part of the activities was doing face painting. At the time Emily, the teacher I've replaced, was still here and she did most of the face painting while I helped the students with a project. As she was runnign out of time, I helped out with the facepaint of the last two students.
I so don't have mom's talent for painting.
All I had to draw was a pumpkin and a bat. The pumpkin, I thought, would be easy. But there was no orange color and though I tried mixing red and yellow, it came out looking like an apple. The bat looked like one of those blobs that psychologists show to patients and ask them what they see in it. After break, when we came back down, every student that had gotten face paint still had it. Except for the two girls that I had drawn on.
The administrative aspects of the school are somewhat complicated. Since it's a private school that parents are paying a lot of money for, we tend to cater more to the parents than to the students. Our lesson plans and a certain percentage of our homework have to be in color, so that when a homework packet gets sent home at the end of the week, the parents will have something "pretty" to look at. A few months ago one parent called to complain that their child came home hungry so the entire schedule was rearranged to fit snack time directly after lunch to ensure that-though the children may be starving by the time lunch comes around- they get a snack right before they go home so none can complain of hunger to their parents.
I also got to spend the week living in my own apartment! Moving into a studio that is around the size of Kelli's bedroom in Brea was quite exciting for me. It's the first time I've ever lived on my own and while that has already gotten quite lonely, I really love having my own place. It's a cozy little apartment. A metal rod acts as my wardrobe and is located right next to my fridge, which I can't fully open without pushing back the kitchen table. The enclosed balcony acts as both a kitchen and laundry room. The kitchen has one sink and a gas burner in place of a stove, no oven but the kitchen came fully stocked with cooking utensils, silverware, a rice cooker, and a microwave. There's a washer (no drier) that is across from the kitchen. I'm doing laundry right now and after hanging up all my clothes to dry I can already tell that the balcony is going to be a very cramped area. The bathroom is decent, a western style toilet (I was worried about that one...) and a shower head and sink.
Compared to the apartment I spent last week in, this one is exponentially smaller and the furniture is all much, much older. But, the walls are wallpapered and the tile looks new.
And, best of all, there does not appear to be any mosquitoes.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Success!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Election Day Coverage...
We're all glued to our computers here at the school, racing up stairs after every class to spend our 10 minute breaks perusing the news websites. It looks like OBAMA!!!
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Not to be a Smartass
Since I've posted lots of picture's below and have pushed the previous blog onto the next page, I feel obligated to re-post my latest comment which was written in response to Kelli's and Dad's comments. Apparently, Boris has gotten a bell and I think that's soooo cute! Also, I'm glad to hear Kelli's out rockin' the vote for Obama and was wondering if the parentals had decided if they were going to be feeling a little blue this November. Did everybody see the video of Colin Powell's endorsement of Obama? Obviously the vote of a former Bush cronie (albeit one with a higher IQ then the rest of the cabinet combined...) is hugely significant, but I really thought he made some poignant, insightful comments in his statement. In case anybody's interested in watching it again I thought I'd post up the link
(I'm helpful like that :)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27265490#27265490
(I'm helpful like that :)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27265490#27265490
Bukhan-San National Park
Today I took a tour to a national park/ Buddhist temple in Seoul with the Royal Asiatic Society's Korea Branch (RAS originated in London in 19th century as a way to spread knowledge of the East. The Korean branch was founded in 1900. It's basically a tour group for intellectuals. There was only 8 of us, it was very nice.)
"Buddha" Means Awake
In Buddhism, life is what is the nightmare. The word Buddha means Awake, which kind of defines the meanings of the religion. They're all striving to wake up.
A Buddha for the People
This is a "Jr. Buddha," as described by Dr. Mason. While Zen Buddhism is concentrated on the individual, meditation to reach enlightenment, this Buddha holds off on reaching Nirvana and instead chooses to help the people who are having trouble helping themselves. Many family members give offerings to this Buddha for assistance in their own lives or to help a floundering family member. If enlightenment is the door to Salvation, this is the man who is standing there holding it open, ushering in all the others before he steps in himself.
Very, Very Old
Parts of this temple are dated back 900-1100 years. The Dosean was an influential Buddhist, one of the first masters of Zen.
Dosean-sa
The Buddhist temples in Korea (like the Roman Catholic Church) own some of the most prime real estate in the country. Due to the Korean belief that mountains are very powerful, spiritual, and wise deities, nearly all temples are built in the middle of the mountains.
Tao
This is the gate leading up to the temple. The fourth symbol is the Korean character for the Tao. Korea religion in general (with the exception of Protestantism) is very welcoming to the influences of other religions; particularly those of Confucious, Taoism, Shaminism, and slight aspects of Hindu and Catholicism.
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