Hello again!
Guess what? Yep. I totally forgot to write about Halloween in my last message. I knew there was something I was forgetting … and then I forgot that I was forgetting something … and here I am now, writing about it later. Oh, memory … how I wish you were better sometimes.
So, Halloween; it was a lot of fun. From what I gather, that holiday isn't much of a big deal over here. I did dress up for the occasion because we celebrated it at school, but I think that happened primarily (if not only) because we are an English school, so we try to teach about English (American) culture as well as English language. Our schedule for the day was switched around a bit because Don and another teacher read scary Halloween stories to the kids throughout the day, so we ended up teaching for only a little while on Monday, and the rest of the day we had snacks or other things to do. Now, I know that you're probably chomping at the bit to know about my costume. Whatever could I possibly have been? A superhero? A teletubby? An angry bird? Nope. I was none other than a bad (mad?) scientist. You know, the kind whose experiment just blew up in his face. haha. (the aforementioned potentials were, by the way, costumes from some of my coworkers) The idea came to me a couple days before Halloween, so I didn't end up pulling things together until the night before, but I think it came together fairly well. I had thought this to be a funny, lighthearted costume; no big deal, right? Well, as it turned out, apparently some of the kids were actually scared of a black-faced me because I had gelled/spiked my hair and used black eye shadow to darken my whole face (minus the spot that my glasses would sit). I even had black-rimmed glasses whose lenses I had colored for the occasion as well. Now, most of the kids found my costume funny, I think, but there were those exceptions whose reactions made the whole experience all the better. One boy, as he washed his hands outside our teachers' room, noticed me casually and immediately did a double-take, which wasn't just a glance -- it was a full-fledged stare. I'm pretty sure that had I stopped and stood there longer, his eyes would have remained locked on me the whole time. And there were a couple kids who normally are rather affectionate during class, but one of them in particular, would not smile when I was around. He maintained a straight face during my time in has class, and I'm almost certain that there was a hint of fear in the back of his eyes. What had been intended as a funny thing … remained a funny thing … but for entirely different reasons than I had anticipated. Beyond the kids' shock at just my appearance, I was a little shocked at how hard it was to explain what I was trying to imitate. In reflecting upon this later, I had banked on the idea that cartoons or other kid-friendly media would have shown them some kind of scientist or character whose experiment goes haywire and blows up. I remember seeing this kind of thing all the time as a kid, so I still don't know if this notion is lacking from Korean kids' lives or it's just the age factor coming into play. The kids are pretty young after all. The closest that any of the little kids came to understand was to call me a doctor (because of my lab coat), but that still didn't cut it. Now, when I went to teach the older kids later in the day, most all of them understood what I was portraying; whether or not they found it funny was another issue … but that I'll definitely attribute to the age factor.
It's now later in the week (Friday, to be exact), and I'm just wrapping up an impromptu holiday -- Pepero Day! In South Korea there's a treat called Pepero, which essentially a small pretzel dipped in chocolate (that was created in 1983). For the last X number of years, Pepero Day has been celebrated on November 11th because "11/11" just so happens to look like 4 pepero sticks. Go figure. Whatever the case may be, I ended up getting a bunch of pepero today, and they were delicious. haha. Also, one other thing before I send this out: last night we had the big performance that I've written about before. It was quite the show, let me tell you. Each age group had different kinds of talents to showcase, so while we started with violins and a chorus setting, we ended the night with a fan dance and drum ensemble. Some of the groups were a little ridiculous (and unfortunately due to limited space on my memory card, those are ones you won't get to see), yet others far exceeded my expectations … and all of them were super cute. Korean kids just have a way of doing that, you know? Ok, maybe you don't … at least not until you watch some of the videos below. Right now I've just posted them to youtube, and I haven't given them names or descriptions; I'll try to add those details as soon as I can. For now, though, I encourage you to scope them out. The kids that I actually teach are spread out among the different groups, although video with the single highest concentration is a fashion show starring … da da … 3 year olds (who, remember, are 2 by American standards). haha. That video especially is super cute. Also, I do ask your pardon for the video quality … I was up in the balcony, and one guy sitting a couple rows in front of my just couldn't keep his head still at times, so … hopefully none of you has motion sickness? haha.
Alright. If I'm successful (and it's the reason this is such a short message to begin with), this message will be leaving Korea headed to you at exactly the perfect moment fitting Pepero Day: 11:11pm on 11/11/11. Enjoy ;).
Much love to you all.
pfn,
bg
ps- if you want to check out some of the performances, look here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5cugvaC9IE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnQjcGU2EJI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb-w4ZhrOR0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-hW2ZxlnV0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBAzNo66B6o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLICT6NfooA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQtmDsezkwM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrXXMnQyyH8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXn4MGyVAgQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1NlHUA2nUw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siluILd1DO4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc7E7zMHklo
Friday, November 11, 2011
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Ben's Korean Adventures, edition 14
Hello, hello from a damp, rainy Korea! Yes, I am still alive and kicking … just in case you were at all concerned. I feel that my exciting interesting experiences are dwindling in frequency, so partly because I'm just caught up in the daily grind and partly because I don't have as much to share, it's now been a while since the last time I wrote. This email should cover most of the highlights from the last few weeks, so sit back and enjoy.
A few weeks back we had a Saturday event at Haba for students and parents. During the afternoon we took a short hike through the nearby mountain and returned to the school to have a barbecue with everyone. Toward the end of the event Don told me that this was the best turnout yet, and I think they've held this for the few to half-dozen years. The event itself was very interesting for me. I had known about it for a few weeks, and I was looking forward to seeing the students and their parents outside of the school day. When we were actually there, though, it was a little odd because interacting with kids during the school day remains markedly different from interacting with them outside that time and with their parents around. Maybe 12-15 of my students showed up that day, and of that group only 2-3 of them seemed to act the same way that they would during class. It made me wonder, "During parent-teacher conferences back home, did my teachers ever feel weird being around parents rather than students? Or is my situation stemming from the language barrier alone?" Regardless of the normalcy of my feelings, it did feel a little strange to be around the parents. And that not only came from the language barrier, but I also felt that, with each interaction, I was being tested to see if I really was teaching the children good things and/or if the kids would communicate with me only in English and what degree of fluency would they exhibit in my presence. I realize that was probably mostly in my imagination, but then again, if it wasn't … I must have passed because I'm still teaching here. haha. During the hike, I ended up talking with the aunt of one student both about her nephew and general teaching/being a foreigner things. She is a bilingual teacher for another school in the area, and so we chatted about what it's like working with foreigners. At many times, for better or worse, I am representing all Americans, so I have to careful about what I do. In her time teaching, she's worked with an American, an Englishman and a Canadian co-teacher, and she knows that it's silly to stereotype a whole country's population based on a single relationship, yet those kinds of interactions have affected, to some degree, how she perceives other foreigners teaching in Korea. As you can guess, one thing I took from this conversation was a renewed appreciation for how much of a token person I am right now. Also in the course of our conversation she kept telling me about awesome things or cool perks at her school for their native English teacher and asking me about specifics of my job and benefits and commitments. I'm not exactly sure, but I think there may have been some passive recruiting going on. haha. Needless to say, I was thoroughly amused by that prospect.
Whew. It's now pouring outside. How is it that I just so happen to choose to do laundry on the most humid days? I don't get it. Hopefully everything dries well. On the topic of laundry, washing (and specifically drying) clothes has been an interesting, rather frustrating piece of living here. I do have my sweet little washing machine in the kitchen, but this is my first year without a clothes dryer in a while. Growing up (and even to this day), my family would also hand dry everything, but since going to college and living in other apartments/houses around GR, I've grown quite accustomed to having a dryer. The most interesting aspect to me has been the reversal of what's the "easiest" to wash and dry. Whereas with a dryer, I never really thought about having too many socks or towels in a single load, now I have be careful to space them out … since my drying rack only has room for so much at a time, and if things don't dry quickly enough, they smell gross. Thus I've been consistently doing a load of laundry every other weekend (if not more often). Ugh. What a pain. But at least I have a constant supply of clean clothes, right? Right. haha. This paragraph's small, so although I'm changing topics, I'm just gonna keep going. (That should have probably been an aside, but that's ok, no? C'est la vie.) The past few weeks have been full of some pretty awesome cooking adventures -- both for Korean and "American" food. Twice now I've made some Korean food with HyeRim and JiHye, and both times it's turned out pretty well. One Thursday they showed me how to make Kimbop, which is the food I mentioned in my last message. We made a couple different types of Kimbop, and it was rather simple. We bought a kit from the store that had most of the ingredients that we used, and then we had to prep a few other things on the side. I haven't yet attempted this on my own, but in the near future I should give it a go. For the second meal, we made/ate Donkus, which is essentially a pork tenderloin. For this meal we had the dunks and a few other things that we wrapped up in rice paper. For those of you who haven't worked with rice paper before (which I imagine is the vast majority of those reading this), it's a very funny thing to use. It comes in crisp, dry sheets, and one must dip it in hot/warm water to soften it before wrapping other things. And, of course, when it's softened, it becomes rather sticky. Wrapping up all the food was fun and quite the challenge simultaneously, and it made for some funny situations when the food started to unwrap or the paper tore before consumption. The last food adventure came about 2 weeks ago now. I invited JiHye and HyeRim and HyeRim's husband over for an American meal because during the dunks meal, we talked a little bit about what an American meal would look like. They were under the impression that dinner would be some sandwiches and other small things, and I eagerly corrected them from this misconception. Perhaps during lunch someone might usually have that kind of meal, but a traditional dinner is much more. Getting the ingredients and implements necessary for that meal required a trip to a larger supermarket across the city and a fair investment of time and talents and money, but by the end of it, we had a sweet meal of goulash, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli followed up with some ice cream and danish for dessert. Mmm. It was delicious. Also, in typical Ben style, I made enough of all those things to eat them nearly every day for the next week. Goulash and mashed potatoes for breakfast … kind of awesome. haha.
Hmm. Other than those things, there haven't been too many other highlights from the past weeks -- at least ones that relate to specifically being in Korea. Next week we have a big performance with all the kids at Haba, so on Thursday night I get to see a bunch of sweet songs and dances and whatnot. I'm planning to video as many of them as I can so that you'll get to see the kids in action, but we'll see how that goes. Also during the past couple weeks I've bolstered my interest in podcasts -- specifically ones that deal with science and technology and other cool things. If you're looking for something cool to hear/watch, I recommend checking out the Ted Talks and WYNC's Radiolab. The Ted Talks cover a very wide array of topics (from things like how to properly tie your shoes to the brain's basic functions and everything in between) from the perspectives of different speakers -- different experts in their fields. I watch videos, which last somewhere between 5 and 20 minutes a piece. Radiolab, on the other hand, is a radio show (so only audio) that has the same hosts each time, and in this show, they typically spend about an hour talking through specific topics and interviewing experts and others to gain a deeper, broader understanding of the topic at hand. These shows have been exceptionally fascinating and handy to have around when I'm walking to school or doing the dishes or cooking or something. The day I made the big meal, I'm pretty sure I went through about 3 hours worth of the shows, and it was like a drug. Intellectual stimulation and addiction at its finest!
Alright. Time for some Korean studies! Woo hoo! Have a fabulous day … and don't forget to fix your clocks. Welcome daylight savings!
Much love to you all.
pfn,
bg
ps- if you want to watch some of the cooking videos, I've uploaded them here:
Kimbop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaoKPkhVPVM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVzgckNvYT8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD-bxNBGDcw
Donkus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoWdbz0L5Y8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FbR8uxgBWw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh3wZr2uoj8
A few weeks back we had a Saturday event at Haba for students and parents. During the afternoon we took a short hike through the nearby mountain and returned to the school to have a barbecue with everyone. Toward the end of the event Don told me that this was the best turnout yet, and I think they've held this for the few to half-dozen years. The event itself was very interesting for me. I had known about it for a few weeks, and I was looking forward to seeing the students and their parents outside of the school day. When we were actually there, though, it was a little odd because interacting with kids during the school day remains markedly different from interacting with them outside that time and with their parents around. Maybe 12-15 of my students showed up that day, and of that group only 2-3 of them seemed to act the same way that they would during class. It made me wonder, "During parent-teacher conferences back home, did my teachers ever feel weird being around parents rather than students? Or is my situation stemming from the language barrier alone?" Regardless of the normalcy of my feelings, it did feel a little strange to be around the parents. And that not only came from the language barrier, but I also felt that, with each interaction, I was being tested to see if I really was teaching the children good things and/or if the kids would communicate with me only in English and what degree of fluency would they exhibit in my presence. I realize that was probably mostly in my imagination, but then again, if it wasn't … I must have passed because I'm still teaching here. haha. During the hike, I ended up talking with the aunt of one student both about her nephew and general teaching/being a foreigner things. She is a bilingual teacher for another school in the area, and so we chatted about what it's like working with foreigners. At many times, for better or worse, I am representing all Americans, so I have to careful about what I do. In her time teaching, she's worked with an American, an Englishman and a Canadian co-teacher, and she knows that it's silly to stereotype a whole country's population based on a single relationship, yet those kinds of interactions have affected, to some degree, how she perceives other foreigners teaching in Korea. As you can guess, one thing I took from this conversation was a renewed appreciation for how much of a token person I am right now. Also in the course of our conversation she kept telling me about awesome things or cool perks at her school for their native English teacher and asking me about specifics of my job and benefits and commitments. I'm not exactly sure, but I think there may have been some passive recruiting going on. haha. Needless to say, I was thoroughly amused by that prospect.
Whew. It's now pouring outside. How is it that I just so happen to choose to do laundry on the most humid days? I don't get it. Hopefully everything dries well. On the topic of laundry, washing (and specifically drying) clothes has been an interesting, rather frustrating piece of living here. I do have my sweet little washing machine in the kitchen, but this is my first year without a clothes dryer in a while. Growing up (and even to this day), my family would also hand dry everything, but since going to college and living in other apartments/houses around GR, I've grown quite accustomed to having a dryer. The most interesting aspect to me has been the reversal of what's the "easiest" to wash and dry. Whereas with a dryer, I never really thought about having too many socks or towels in a single load, now I have be careful to space them out … since my drying rack only has room for so much at a time, and if things don't dry quickly enough, they smell gross. Thus I've been consistently doing a load of laundry every other weekend (if not more often). Ugh. What a pain. But at least I have a constant supply of clean clothes, right? Right. haha. This paragraph's small, so although I'm changing topics, I'm just gonna keep going. (That should have probably been an aside, but that's ok, no? C'est la vie.) The past few weeks have been full of some pretty awesome cooking adventures -- both for Korean and "American" food. Twice now I've made some Korean food with HyeRim and JiHye, and both times it's turned out pretty well. One Thursday they showed me how to make Kimbop, which is the food I mentioned in my last message. We made a couple different types of Kimbop, and it was rather simple. We bought a kit from the store that had most of the ingredients that we used, and then we had to prep a few other things on the side. I haven't yet attempted this on my own, but in the near future I should give it a go. For the second meal, we made/ate Donkus, which is essentially a pork tenderloin. For this meal we had the dunks and a few other things that we wrapped up in rice paper. For those of you who haven't worked with rice paper before (which I imagine is the vast majority of those reading this), it's a very funny thing to use. It comes in crisp, dry sheets, and one must dip it in hot/warm water to soften it before wrapping other things. And, of course, when it's softened, it becomes rather sticky. Wrapping up all the food was fun and quite the challenge simultaneously, and it made for some funny situations when the food started to unwrap or the paper tore before consumption. The last food adventure came about 2 weeks ago now. I invited JiHye and HyeRim and HyeRim's husband over for an American meal because during the dunks meal, we talked a little bit about what an American meal would look like. They were under the impression that dinner would be some sandwiches and other small things, and I eagerly corrected them from this misconception. Perhaps during lunch someone might usually have that kind of meal, but a traditional dinner is much more. Getting the ingredients and implements necessary for that meal required a trip to a larger supermarket across the city and a fair investment of time and talents and money, but by the end of it, we had a sweet meal of goulash, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli followed up with some ice cream and danish for dessert. Mmm. It was delicious. Also, in typical Ben style, I made enough of all those things to eat them nearly every day for the next week. Goulash and mashed potatoes for breakfast … kind of awesome. haha.
Hmm. Other than those things, there haven't been too many other highlights from the past weeks -- at least ones that relate to specifically being in Korea. Next week we have a big performance with all the kids at Haba, so on Thursday night I get to see a bunch of sweet songs and dances and whatnot. I'm planning to video as many of them as I can so that you'll get to see the kids in action, but we'll see how that goes. Also during the past couple weeks I've bolstered my interest in podcasts -- specifically ones that deal with science and technology and other cool things. If you're looking for something cool to hear/watch, I recommend checking out the Ted Talks and WYNC's Radiolab. The Ted Talks cover a very wide array of topics (from things like how to properly tie your shoes to the brain's basic functions and everything in between) from the perspectives of different speakers -- different experts in their fields. I watch videos, which last somewhere between 5 and 20 minutes a piece. Radiolab, on the other hand, is a radio show (so only audio) that has the same hosts each time, and in this show, they typically spend about an hour talking through specific topics and interviewing experts and others to gain a deeper, broader understanding of the topic at hand. These shows have been exceptionally fascinating and handy to have around when I'm walking to school or doing the dishes or cooking or something. The day I made the big meal, I'm pretty sure I went through about 3 hours worth of the shows, and it was like a drug. Intellectual stimulation and addiction at its finest!
Alright. Time for some Korean studies! Woo hoo! Have a fabulous day … and don't forget to fix your clocks. Welcome daylight savings!
Much love to you all.
pfn,
bg
ps- if you want to watch some of the cooking videos, I've uploaded them here:
Kimbop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaoKPkhVPVM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVzgckNvYT8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD-bxNBGDcw
Donkus:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoWdbz0L5Y8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FbR8uxgBWw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh3wZr2uoj8
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