Diary: "that's very hot!"

There's a popular Korean comedy duo whose catchphrase is "That's very hot!" For awhile now I've been hearing students repeat it and mimic the duo's "dance" moves. I must say, it got very annoying at times. I got this diary a few weeks ago with a student's own interpretation of the phrase!

That's very hot!
Oh, today is too hot!
I'm doing sweat shower!
but not refreshing.
on the contrary feel uneasy.
Maybe student too hot.
I don't like summer,
and I don't like mosquito.
(insert cute drawing of girl fanning herself here)
-by Nicole, 6th grade

Now, check out this video of the original skit from Korean TV. The guys are a little strange, but I understand why the kids repeated it all day long - it's quite catchy! There's no need to watch for long...you'll get the idea pretty quickly.

New Classes, New Faces

One of our foreign (English-speaking) teachers finished their contract at the end of May and the rest of us remaining teachers have taken over his classes. Most of us now have full or almost full teaching schedules so the month of June was a little crazy. I was assigned to begin teaching one of his Wake Up (beginner level) classes and another more advanced group of 5th graders. The young ones are very playful and enthusiastic. The girls are sweet, but the boys are at the age where everything is about making as many gross noises as possible and pretending to blow things up. It can be hard to keep them in their seats for more than a few minutes!

I'll keep this same teaching schedule through the end of August. It will be a challenge, but I will gladly welcome all the overtime money which will easily pay for a new camera to document my fall travels! Below are some pictures of my new class.

This is Katie - she doesn't usually look this bored, but got very camera shy.

Bora - super shy and quiet, but has a very sweet personality.

Alice - I love her and her colorful outfits!

Now for the boys - this is Harry, Martin, Jeff and Vince (poor kids, I don't know who chose their names). I asked them to pose for a picture and they were more than happy to do it. Then, after they saw the results they wanted to get creative with a few more shots!

Take two - still nice, but starting to get a little crazy!

Take three - out of control, but very creative pose! Good thing it was almost time to go home at this point because I was having a hard time getting them to calm down.

BKK to AMM...and other journeys

Recently, we've been spending a lot of time researching travel destinations online and eagerly reading some Lonely Planet guide books we've picked up. With only about three more months left on our teaching contract here in Korea it's time to make some plans for our "post-Korea" travels. Actually, we've been dreaming up these plans since day-one and have had to scale them back to fit our shrinking budget.

First up, Japan. We get just about a weeks vacation from school at the end of July and have decided to visit the land of geishas and sushi. We'll fly in and out of Tokyo and utilize the country's bullet trains to see the sights in Hiroshima, Kyoto and then end up back in Tokyo for a couple days. We found a good deal on flights, so just need to take care of the rail pass and we'll be set! It will probably be the hottest time of year to visit, but we're excited and will our best to make the most of it.

The big news is that we just purchased a plane ticket to fly from Bangkok, Thailand to Amman, Jordan for November 1st. Holly and I plan to spend the month of October traveling in Southeast Asia - China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand (bring on the beaches!). We'll spend time in some big cities (Shanghai) and more remote areas (Angkor Wat) and pack in as much adventure as our feet and wallets can handle! From there we'll be off to the Middle East to meet up with a friend living in the area and two other friends from home. It will be like our annual girl's trip, only on a much bigger scale! Together we'll go to Petra in Jordan, Mt. Sinai, Egypt, and Turkey (Istanbul and the Mediterranean coast). By that point I think I'll be exhausted and more than ready to head home for some home cooked meals and a soft bed! It will be the journey of a lifetime, but hopefully just the beginning of many more travels in the future!

Diary: "reckless motorcyclists"

This one made me laugh! I didn't know this student even knew the meaning of "reckless" or "blaring". She must have used her handy cell phone dictionary to translate the meaning of Korean words into their English equivalent!

Today was the reckless motorcyclists
sped by blaring their horns.
I think it is dangerous to ride a motorcycle.
We can hardly get any sleep in the summer
due to the reckless motorcyclists.
Motorcycle is very dangerous,
but bicycle is not dangerous.
-by Sally, 6th grade

Another Year Older

Last Friday I celebrated my birthday! It was strange to be so far away from home and miss celebrating with my family, but I want to say a huge "thank you" to everyone who sent cards, emails and packages! It made my day extra special. Since my birthday fell on a Friday I decided to make the most of my school day and planned "cookie parties" with some of my classes. This is what they call it when we let them bring snacks to eat during class, usually only on special occasions. I also brought a Korean treat called "choco pies" for the kids. It's pretty much like a Little Debbie snack cake with marshmallow in the middle, but they love it! Unfortunately, my birthday was not a good enough reason for the students to modify their behavior at all, so it turned out to be a frustrating evening. Holly and I went out to eat pizza after work with two of our coworkers, which was a nice way to finish off the day.

Saturday we planned to spend the day exploring Dongdaemun Market in Seoul and doing some shopping. As I said in my previous post, the torrential downpour kind of made this a challenge, but we didn't let that stop us! Thank goodness for underground shopping malls!! We also found a nearby Starbucks to take a break from the wetness. For dinner, we met all of our coworkers and Korean friend, Joey, at an Italian Restaurant called "Mad for Garlic." We'd heard good things about the food, which turned out to be true. In my opinion, the meal didn't seem extra garlicky tasting, but they did go a little wild with the "garlic" decor of the restaurant...garlic bulbs attached to huge pendant lights, custom sconces in the shape of garlic cloves, random strings of garlic hanging from the walls, etc. Actually, it was all very nice and I'm glad to have such great people in my life to share it with. See below for a photo (from the internet...I forgot to take any pictures that evening).

Summer in Full Bloom

Summer is officially here, and I'm sad to say the weather is much the same as the Midwest this time of year. The days have turned hot and muggy. As an added bonus, we've been told that monsoon season is fast approaching. Now, I'm not really sure what that is going to entail or how long it will last, but it sounds ominous. Saturday we got a taste of it - a downpour all day long that made our day of shopping in Seoul a little less fun.

I'm amazed at the array of plants and flowers that are always in bloom here. Recently, the giant rose bushes that cover many of the fences and line the sidewalks on our way to work were covered in thousands of flowers. It was so pretty! Below are a few pictures that give an idea of what it was like, but it was hard to really capture the full effect.

Korean 101: 저는 엉어 선생님 임니다

As you can probably guess from the title, I'm starting to learn Korean! The translation basically says "I'm an English teacher" and it's one of very few things I've learned so far. In order to assimilate more into Korean culture we decided to join a language class for beginners, along with co-workers Lee and Nicki, offered by our church. The class is on Saturday mornings from 10:30 - 12:00. Every day of the week is a sleep-in day since we start work at 2pm, but Saturdays were our "no pressure" days - with no job to get ready for we were free to take our time getting around. We were really excited and motivated the first couple of weeks, but now some of the attraction has worn off and it's not as easy to get out of bed for. However, I know in the end it will be a decision I won't regret.

We started out by learning how to introduce ourselves and give our job title and phone number. That was followed by the basic vowels, consonants and structure of Hangeul - the Korean system of writing. Words are written in syllables, with characters grouped together to form the different sounds, rather than one letter after the other as in English. Our teacher, Cindy, is very patient but it is hard for our mouths to learn to form some of the more unfamilar sounds. I don't seem to retain much from week to week but hopefully things will begin to sink in more as we go along. In an attempt to supplement my learning efforts I downloaded a cool application for my ipod that lets me practice the Hangeul alphabet flashcard style.

Last week we had a cooking lesson - how to make a traditional Korean dish, bibimbap (비빔밥). It has a base of rice followed by layers of different vegetables and topped off with hot chili paste. We learned the names of the ingredients and how to say phrases like "please give me some...", "put it in", and "please mix". The final test was getting up in front of the class to assemble our dish using only the Korean words. It was pretty intense, but I now know the words for cucumber, carrots and lettuce! As a reward, we got to eat our bibimbap...it was good, but not my idea of a perfect breakfast food!

Diary: "the nature is good"

In honor of Earth Day today here is a genius diary entry about protecting our planet!

Today is Arbor day. We plant tree on Arbor day.
But, I didn't plant trees. So, I was protecting trees.
If I have small tree I plant tree. But, I hadn't
tree. I think many of people didn't plant tree because
many people didn't afford to plant trees. So, many people
just protecting trees.
Nowdays, many people damaged nature. So, many of the
trees and flowers vanished. If many people vanish
plants constantly, maybe all of plants become extinct.
So, I think all of people protecting plants.
When all of people protecting plants well, the plants
grow up quickly. After, the nature is good.
-by Ron, 7th grade

Day at the Races

Yesterday we spent the afternoon with friends watching the horse races at Seoul Racecourse Park. Having never experienced a horse race before, I was pleasantly surprised at what an enjoyable and relaxing time it turned out to be. The race park was huge and, as usual, flooded with about 5 million Koreans. They had a special private lounge for foreigners to view the races in air conditioned comfort. Once we figured out how to interpret the odds and each horse's stats, we tried our hand at placing a few small bets. Amazingly, you can bet as little as 100 won (equivalent to about 6-7 cents) on a horse. A new race started about every 30 minutes so we were able to try out some different betting strategies each time. We all won at least a few thousand won, so in the end our losses were minimal.

Great view of the track from the plush foreigner's lounge. It was a beautiful, sunny, spring day and in between races we got to admire the awesome mountain view.

Looking to the left...

...and the right. The finish line was just beyond the corner of the window so we got to see the horses racing to the end.

For the last 2 races of the day we went down to the track to experience the excitement up close.

This guy was standing right next to us and I couldn't resist taking a picture. What it made it even better was the picture of Mickey Mouse on the front.

Can't get away from the crowds! People were taking it all very seriously and intensely studying the race programs before placing bets.



Racing to the finish!

Moving Day

Here's something you don't see in America! It's a giant retractable arm used for moving people in and out of their apartments. A few months ago this was parked out in front of our building. Some new neighbors were moving into the apartment directly below ours. We kept hearing funny noises all morning and were quite surprised when we looked out the window!

Basically they load all their belongings from the moving truck onto the little platform and then hoist it up to the right floor. It's all unloaded through the sliding balcony doors. Genius!

As with everything in Korea, the whole process was over in a matter of minutes. I guess small apartments equals not a lot of clutter to fill them!

Cuteness

Last Thursday we had kind of a low-key day in my youngest class (2nd grade, I think, although they seem younger) because several students were absent, including one of the loudest and most disruptive boys. Normally, the students hate to have their picture taken, but they were unusually cooperative on this day.

Most of the class (minus 3 students). It's hard for them to all hold still at once.

Jenny, cutest little girl ever...and one of my favorites at ECC!

Group shot! All the girls then decided they wanted to take a picture with teacher.

Here's Julie - she's super quiet in class, but so so sweet. I have a couple of students who wear purple almost every day and she is one of them. I feel a special sort of connection with her!

Lisa's turn...I'm not sure why, but her shirt that day said "Little Bride". I'm guessing neither she nor whoever bought it for her have any clue what it says, but I thought it was pretty funny.

Diary: "my mom was a devil"

Here's another hilarious diary entry one of my new students wrote. I get the feeling his mother did something he wasn't too happy about...or perhaps she was just in a bad mood due to the cloudy weather!

Weather - It's cloudy.
My mom was a devil.
She isn't kind.
She let study a lot to me.
I am very very angry.
But she cook food for me.
Sometime she looks an angel.
-by Joe, 4th grade

National Treasures

The last weekend of February we took a trip, along with our co-workers, to the National Museum of Korea, which is located near the Yongsan area of Seoul. It was a beautiful, sunny day - a much needed respite from the chilly winter. We'd heard that the museum was well worth taking the time to see, but that we'd probably have to make several trips to see it all. Luckily, it was free on that particular Saturday (or maybe every Saturday - I'm not sure). They claim to be the largest museum in Asia and I've got believe they're right. I love museums, but this was a bit overwhelming. We could only get through about 3 galleries in the 3 or so hours spent inside.

Walking up with the museum in the distance. I'm sure the landscaping will be much more picturesque on our next visit! The museum is actually two separate buildings with a roof structure connecting them. The one on the left is meant to symbolize the past and the one on the right symbolizes the future.

A close-up of the main entrance reveals a great view of the famous Seoul Tower in the distance.

Our group before viewing the wonders inside the museum.

The museum uses natural daylighting to fill the expansive main corridor.

South Korea has a numbered system of cataloging their most prized artifacts, sites, buildings, etc. We saw quite a few of these "National Treasures" during our visit to the museum. Check out this Wikipedia link for more information or a better explanation. The photo above is a replica of National Treasure No. 287 - a bronze incense burner. I'm not exactly sure what happened to the original one...perhaps they have it in storage for safekeeping.

Something shiny and gold with a cool design that I thought was interesting. They are probably on the National Treasure list, but I'm not sure what they are called.

Here's a view of the main corridor. So far, it's the only place I've visited in Korea where I didn't run into someone every time I turned around. It still had the usual throngs of people, but the building was sized to handle the crowds.

National Treasure No. 86 - 10 story stone pagoda. It was originally constructed in 1348 and was one of the highlights of the museum.

Another view of the pagoda, looking down from level 3.

I don't know any details about this sculpture other than, obviously, it's a stone buddha. We saw many other beautiful things, so check out my flickr site for the rest of the photos!

Diary: "a little dog is delicious"

If you've read Holly's blog at all you know that our students are required to write weekly diary entries that often provide us with a hilarious glimpse into their daily lives. I thought I would share one particularly funny one I received from a 6th grade student last week. I couldn't help but laugh as I was once again reminded of the many differences between our cultures.

Today is my father's birthday.
My family went to the Jaechun.
Jaechun is my father's hometown.
We bought a cake. We did birthday party at noon.
My relatives and my father's friends celebrated
my father (of course me and my family, too).
My father looks very very happy and fun.
At evening, (a little horrible) we ate dog.
My father says, "I ate dog in China, but it was not good."
I don't hate eat dog, but I looked dog's ribs...I feel awful and I didn't eat dog.
My uncle says, "Big dog tastes is not good. A little dog is delicious."
I heard that, I felt not good. I never eat dog forever. Never!
-by Jason, 6th grade

Fall Flashback: Thanksgiving

Since I was so lazy about keeping up with this blog last fall, I'm going to do a series of "Fall Flashback" posts so I have a record of all the fun happenings that I'm likely to forget.

One of the most memorable times we had was celebrating Thanksgiving with our coworkers and various other English teachers living in Ansan. We had to work on the actual day of Thanksgiving, so decided to prepare dinner on Saturday evening the 29th, two days later. I was skeptical that we'd be able to pull it off, but everyone really came through. The biggest piece of the puzzle, a turkey, was supplied by a friend of our friends Derrick and Lavon who is in the U.S. military. He was able to purchase a pre-cooked frozen turkey on the base. Holly and I supplied corn, stuffing and beverages, three things that are pretty hard to mess up. Thanks to my mom for sending over the instant stuffing!

This is the tiny little oven was used to warm up the slices of turkey before diner. It worked great, but was not the most time effective way of doing things. Unfortunately, most Korean kitchens are not equipped with an oven as we are accustomed to. Our apartment only has 2 gas burners and a microwave.

Here are the results of everyone's hard work. The dinner was hosted by Derrick and Lavon at their apartment. They had to borrow a couple extra dining tables and chairs to make room for everyone.

My plate of delicious Thanksgiving goodness. We had broccoli with cheese sauce, mashed potatoes, rolls with butter and of course the turkey and stuffing.

Here's a group shot of all the dinner guests. After dinner we enjoyed some apple pie (from Costco) and ice cream while watching National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. All in all, it was a great evening and helped us all feel a little closer to home during the holidays.

Klimt in Korea

With the weather starting to warm up a tiny bit, we decided to venture out this past weekend and check one the many museums in Seoul off our "to do" list. We read online about an exhibit of works by Gustav Klimt at the Seoul Arts Center that sounded exciting and expertly followed the directions for getting there using the subway. It was 2 transfers away but definitely worth it. Seoul Arts Center is a large complex of buildings including 3 museums, an opera hall and a large music hall for theater performances. We may have to visit again sometime soon to take in an opera, ballet or Broadway musical.

Here's a view of the main entrance. It looked very promising and didn't disappoint. It was quite modern looking inside and the large open spaces reminded me of museums in the U.S. Typically everything in Korea is small and crowded.

Here is an outside view of the Hangaram Art Museum taken from the courtyard above the main entrance.

A view of the whole complex from across the busy street. On the left is the Art Museum and on the right is the Design Museum. The courtyard and giant opera house are in between the two.

The Design Museum had a small exhibition of furniture by Charles and Ray Eames, which made us feel like we were back in design school. Unfortunately, they left Ray's name out of all the signage. It was nice to walk through the room and realize that, for once, we knew so much more about what we were looking at than the Koreans who were there with us. The familiarity of it all was really comforting.

They had a few vintage pieces like these...

...and a lot not so vintage pieces like this lounge chair with the Herman Miller tag still hanging off the back of it. It was very sad looking, pushed up against the wall all by itself. Some other pieces also appeared as if they were just unloaded off a Design Within Reach truck.

As for the Gustav Klimt exhibit...it was a little underwhelming. Many of the works displayed were drawings and his poster designs. We had hoped to see more paintings since they are the most interesting of all his work. We did see the painting above of Judith and it was beautiful.

We both love Klimt's painting of "The Kiss", but unfortunately it did not make the trip to Korea from it's home in Vienna.

The rest of Valentine's Day was spent exploring a new area of Seoul, sitting at Starbucks (no trip to Seoul is complete without it) and at the end of the day we saw "He's Just Not That Into You" at the small theater by our school in Ansan called the Meganex.