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