Hello Everyone!
Guess what? I'm currently experiencing my first typhoon! Typhoon Bolaven is accosting us with wind and rain at this very moment, and other than the water leaking in under my window sills, I'm no worse for the wear. We did end up getting an entire day off for this storm, so I truly can't complain. I'm very curious to see how this plays out over the day. If anything major happens, I'll let you know about it next time.
I've been back here for about 3 weeks so far and keeping as busy as ever. I'm quickly getting back into the swing of things at work. Over the past 3 weeks, because students were still on vacation from their schools, we offered some extra classes at Oedae. This meant that some of the foreign (and native) teachers came to Oedae earlier in the day to teach these groups of kids. These classes focused on conversation more than anything else, so with my group of 5 kids, we talked about their daily routines, what their rooms looked, their favorite places and other common topics. I did have a couple frustrating kids that caused more stress than they should have, but otherwise it was an interesting change of pace.
Additionally, because of that extra class, my schedule at Haba has been different for the past 3 weeks as well. This week I will begin teaching my 4-year-olds again (another teacher has been covering for me), which will be fun. I've stopped by their room from time to time, and they're just as cute and excitable as ever. Now in this second half of the year, I'll be switching gears a bit; for the past months I have been trying to just have fun with the kids and increase their vocabulary. From this point onward, however, I want to set them up for being the best 5-year-olds they can be. I currently have my 5-year-old class that's doing really well, which primarily comes from the students' own abilities (and some of my teaching style). If I can help these younger kids end up like my current 5-year-olds were at the beginning of the year, I will consider it a job well done. And expect thanks from the next teacher to have them. haha.
In the 5-year-old classroom I'm going through the same kind of shift -- moving closer to a "prepare for the next year" mindset. I'm hoping, truly hoping, that these kids will be able to read and write simply sentences by the end of the year. Typically that's what we focus on with 6-year-olds, but this group of kids is great, and I think they can do it. Since I've been back, we've worked on some phonics things together that usually go over well. For example, one day we simply went through the alphabet and listed an animal whose name begins with the letter in question. I began by asking "What's the first letter of the alphabet?" They responded with "A." "What sound does 'A' make?" "Ah, ah …" "Good. Now what animal begins with 'ah, ah'?" "Alligator." Then we all made large mouthes with our arms and pretended to eat things. And we proceeded this way through nearly all of the alphabet (we ran out of time, so W, X, Y and Z didn't get the same attention). Beyond this exercise, we've started reading the same storybook a few times a week, The Hole in the Tub, by Joy Cowley. This story features our ever-vigilant heroine Mrs. Wishy-Washy and the nefarious Cow, Duck and Pig who constantly get muddy and need a good scrubbing (or wishy-washying, if you know the stories). We're going through this book very slowly and carefully, call and repeat style one or two word(s) at a time. After we read the story, I then ask them either how to spell a word (like Cow) or after writing the word on the board, which word it is. In either case, we hit hard the phonics, and as far as I can tell, the kids are picking it up. Granted, I have a few students (approximately 3 or 4 of my 12) who do much better than others, but across the board they have been steadily improving.
Now when it comes to my 7-year-olds and Oedae students, we just keep going with what we're doing. We study basic grammar concepts, add more vocabulary as it comes up and try to tie in various everyday topics with anything we learn. Here's one thing that's been on my mind recently (and it came up again just last night with my older kids): I think that any sense I've had of how quickly students develop and learn things has been entirely skewed since coming here and working with all these kids. For example, last night in my 14-year-old class (and I'll remind you that these kids are 12 and 13 in American age), we had the topic of "Internet Anonymity" in our debate book. At first, all the students believed that the it's good for their to be no anonymity online, which is an opinion that I don't know if I can easily or readily support. The first rationale given by one girl focused on famous people who've committed suicide (or gone into depression or something of the like) because of online attacks from anonymous sources. I asked if having names attached to comments would really decrease the stress that comes from these kinds of comments, and they said no, but hopefully if people had to own up to their words, they would be more careful about what they're writing. Point well taken. I wanted the students, though, to think about censorship and freedom to speak (criticize) in regards to politics. Sometimes, if an oppressive government exists, the fear of negative repercussions stifles open disapproval and change. Explaining this concept, or rather, leading the students to this idea proved to be an insurmountable challenge in our 1 hour together last night. And part of the problem came from this: the students explained that some of these concepts they didn't know in Korean, so they simply couldn't express them in English (this came in response to some specific questions that I asked). This gave me pause and reminded me that I am working with young kids, and I really don't know what they ought to know by this point in time … let alone even what they currently do know. So as a request to any of my teacher friends back home, I would love to see any academic benchmark information that you have for American students -- what they should be able to do and at which grades/ages. I tried searching online, but I apparently didn't use the right keywords because nothing productive came up.
Not only have the past 3 weeks been full of work, but I've had a lot of cool playtime as well. My first weekend back, I spent my first weekend (overnight, really) in Seoul. One of my coworkers had a sister in town, so 4 of us went up to see some sights. We ended up seeing one palace (Chang Gyeong Gung Palace) that had been destroyed and restored a couple (few?) times between its original build and now. Because I'm not a sightseer nor have I gone to any places like this before, it was very interesting to see the convergence of old and new: it was most striking when we walked along one long sidewalk (outside the palace) where to our right was the restored outer wall and to our left was a multi-lane road. Inside the palace, nothing specifically took my breath away (that's probably why I don't sightsee very often), but the idea that I was standing in a now-vacant seat of power still felt weighty. In addition to that palace, we did walk inside another one, but I don't remember the name (I think it was actually Namdaemoon, which is a large, old gate in the city). Again, it offered about the same kind of feelings to me. Beyond those places, we visited a couple markets (Insadong and Namdaemoon Market). The latter felt a little bit like a Korean Gatlinburg with all the shops on each side, but you could definitely find lots of different things here. Lots of traditional, random things. I think the coolest thing was something I saw in both places (and check out the youtube link at the bottom of this message to see it for yourself). There's one traditional Korean dessert/snack that's made of 16,000 strands of honey wrapped around nuts. It's pretty delicious. And pretty amazing. I took a video of the second stand that we came across, and the vendors explained what was happening in both English and Korean. Here's the funny part: this show was oh, so similar to the first one I saw. It's as if all those guys had been trained in their stage performance by the same person.
My second weekend back, I got to go rafting for the first time here. One of my friends recently invited/introduced me to a group that does various volunteering/service projects in the area. This group also has a big outreach to foreigners in the area, offering them classes (Korean, Taekwondo, K-Pop dancing, etc) and doing some weekend excursions. This particular Saturday we took a bus about an hour and a half away and spent a few hours on the water. Now, because of the rain that we've had recently and because no one had helmets we didn't get the "white water rafting" experience that some had hoped for, but it was really enjoyable nonetheless. I have to say that my raft was pretty much the best. We lazily (at times) and speedily (at others) went down a stretch of the river and splashed water at other rafts and swam and generally had a relaxed time. After that, we went to a nearby observatory to look at the sun and watch a couple videos about the moon. Again, it was great. While at the observatory we played a game of elimination in which each person received a paper wristband in one of a few different colors, and our objective was simply to tear off the bands from opposing colors. I valiantly slayed many an opponent, but at the end, just as a was going back on the bus, one insidious woman (whose band I had taken earlier, haha), barred the doorway and just managed to snag mine. This group was fun and playful, and I look forward to doing more with them as I can/have time. Also, you'll see another video link at the bottom for "Karaoke on the Bus." Karaoke is a readily-available pastime here, and as you'll see, it even can be done on a bus. haha. Now, upon watching the video after taking, I realized that the singing is pretty terrible, but meh, that's the way it goes. haha.
Just this past weekend, a couple fun things happened. First, we again had our large Spelling Bee for Oedae's elementary students on Friday. At this event, we split up by grade levels and administered a spelling test for all the students. With teaching lots of lower-level students, I didn't have many in the running from the get-go, but even my strong students were knocked out before the final rounds. The spelling bee part of the afternoon felt very long and boring (even to me … let alone all those kids who were knocked out early and spent the better portion of the ensuing hour being hushed and shushed until the rest were finished), but afterward we spent a little time playing a game and eating snacks. Below I've included links for some other videos -- not of the students, but of my fellow staff members. At first the kids had done this game, but just before completely finishing, Don decided to throw a curve and have the teachers try it. It was a lot of fun. Then, on Saturday, I ended up spending the better part of the day with a few other teachers going to a Jjim-jil-bang (찜질방). This is a my second time going to such an establishment, and I don't think I described it last time. You can do a wikipedia search for more information, but it's basically a place people go to relax that includes a large, gender-segregated public bath, rooms of varying temperatures and textures, massage areas and a bunch of other relaxing things. In the public bath area, you'll find locker room showers (for everyone to clean before and after entering the pools) and many pools of water with different temperatures. In this specific place, there was a large pool of comfortable water with lots of jets. There was also a smaller pool of frigid water with a couple jets, and then the middle of the room had 3 more large hot tubs (essentially). Going there for the day was fantastic. The one I had visited before wasn't quite as nice, but it still left me feeling refreshed and exhausted at the same time. If ever you come to visit me … or just make a trip to Korea … you should definitely try one of these, even (especially) if it pushes you a bit out of your comfort zone. This was a little funny: most neighborhoods have their own Jjim-jil-bang (or more than one, for that matter), but we went to one a little ways away to avoid running into students (because these are places where families and people of all ages go), and low and behold, Matt still ended up seeing one of his kids at this place. The little 5-year-old was with his dad, and he came over to say hi to Matt teacher a few different times. haha. After that, we wrapped up the night with some Pho Bay and Matt and I played a game. All in all, it was a well-spent Saturday.
Alright. I think that's about it for now. This typhoon is still in full swing here, and I assume it'll be this way for a while yet. As always, I'd love to hear about things on your side of the world, so hit me up with a reply whenever you're able.
Lots of love to you all,
pfn,
bg
Korean Traditional Honey/Nut Dessert:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbxyIscP8k4&feature=youtu.be
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Ben's Korean Adventures- Edition 21
Hello everyone!
I am currently sitting in the plane, getting ready to take off from Grand Rapids and make my way back to Korea. Woo hoo!
Over the past two weeks I've gotten to visit with so many friends and family members; it's been great. I will admit, I am pretty excited to head back to Korea, but right now that's primarily because I'm truly ready to sleep in my own bed again. haha.
I am hoping that this time around things will progress a little better than they have the last few times I flew, and maybe that will be the case. Already I was upgraded to first class for my initial flight, although I did have to drop some weight at the baggage check.
Ok. Checking in again while in the air heading toward San Francisco. So that last flight ended up leaving about 35 minutes late because somehow it hadn't been refueled before we needed to go. And then the refueling truck ran out of fuel. haha. That's the way it goes. I made my flight with just enough time to stop and grab some breakfast before boarding. While sitting on this plane I watched some guys loading up luggage, and I actually saw them put one of my suitcases in the hold, but I didn't catch the other one. Here's hoping that it was just loaded before I started watching, although considering my track record (0 for 2 in the " luggage arriving on time at final destination" category) I'm already anticipating it to not be there on time. I would very gladly be wrong about this expectation though.
Let's see ... how about a little catch up? Just before leaving the country to come visit, my main class of 7 year olds finished their big English performance. Everything went really well with the show. The kids had a song/play/dance called "The Ox and the Frog" as well as a full play called "The Farting Contest". Both of these are funny little productions, and they went off without difficulty. Only two little glitches happened. As the first student gave his personal introduction and started to say, "When I grow up I want to be a ...", he froze. He simply stood there and looked a little unsure about what came next. Probably only 30 seconds or so passed before he picked up his lines again and finished off the sentence he had missed, but it seemed to last forever in that moment. You should know, whenever the kids step up to say some lines, our homeroom teacher will usually mouth the lines to help the students along. When I later asked Ji Hye about this student, she confessed that as he had said his lines, she had actually mouthed the wrong word to him, so he had had a moment of complete doubt and uncertainty; should he say "scientist" as he had practiced for the past weeks, or should he say "champion" as his teacher had mouthed. Haha. So instead of either he had just frozen.
During the whole performance series I controlled the CD player, so it was naturally my responsibility to make sure that everything was cued at the right time. I have had a paper copy of the script from the very beginning of our practices that lists all the track numbers and when they come up in the play. Now, as you can imagine, after going through these plays as many times as we have, I had pretty much memorized the order and timing of all the tracks, yet on that night, I had still kept the paper by my side just to make sure that all would go smoothly. We had used a CD earlier in the day that skipped or did some other unacceptable thing in the dress rehearsal, so come the real deal, we had even opted for a different CD that we thought had been burned pretty recently. During the performance the kids finished the first parts and cleared the stage to change costumes and prepare for the main play. I was supposed to start track 16 once I saw all the kids on the edge of the stage. The kids stood there, poised for action, so I pushed play. The kids didn't move onto the stage. They merely stood there and gave me the "deer in the headlights look." I could practically here some of them saying, "Ben teacher, what in the world are you doing?!" So I immediately paused the track thinking that maybe they weren't actually ready. I looked to the teacher helping them get ready for reassurance, and she motioned for them to start, so I clicked play once more. This time, Ji Hye peeked around the front row of parents to stare me down and once again give the "What's going on?" look. I then double checked the CD player and my paper script, and sure enough, both said "16." So I just raised my hands in the classic "Well I don't know" pose, and the kids came onto the stage. That's when I realized this important fact: my new CD, chosen to ensure that things went without difficulty, actually just didn't have the track that was supposed to be there. Haha. Go figure. The kids and Ji Hye had both known this immediately, but I hadn't realized until after it played a bit longer because I didn't recognize the song it actually was playing (the track formerly known as "17"). As it turns out, that CD had been made a long while ago because in some classes the teachers don't use that one song. Haha. Joke's on me. I think that's one of the few times that I've turned all shades of pink and red around the parents and kids since being here ... even if the embarrassment stemmed from something seemingly beyond my control. Lesson learned: always preview everything before the big day.
Checking in again. I'm now on my flight over the Pacific. Oh, yeah. So this is my first long flight in which there are not tv screens for each of the seats. This does throw a baby wrench in the gears, but I'll just have to make the best of it for the next 11 hours. (a bit later) Yet again, I have no fortune when it comes to sleeping on the plane (boo). As has been the case before, I feel the fatigue, but I don't feel sleepy at all ... even if I block out light and sound to the best of my abilities and try to lay back for a while. I'm so jealous of all those who can accomplish this amazing feat (ie- both of the guys sitting next to me. haha).
I'm in Korea! A couple hours ago by now I arrived in the Incheon Airport and placed my feet again on Korean soil. I went through Immigration, retrieved all my luggage and passed by Customs with no difficulty, and I am presently waiting to catch my bus back to Gwangju, which leaves within the hour. And I just ate my first Korean food since being back (mmm … delicious). I am still so excited to get home and go to sleep tonight. Whew. It will be great. I think that I'll wrap up this message now. We'll see how my readjustment and catching up on sleep go this week (because starting tomorrow I jump right back into the busy schedule that I left 2 weeks ago … plus there's a little extra through the end of this month), but I'm hoping to go through pictures and videos from the past month and get some things posted. This upcoming weekend I'll be traveling around a bit with some friends here, so I have a feeling that there won't be another big update for a week or so, but that's ok, right? Right. haha.
I am so glad that I got to catch up with a bunch of you during my time back in the States, and if we didn't connect this time, next time I will be around for longer … so we'll see one another face-to-face then. And as always, there's always Skype. I can usually make plenty of time for video chats or even just phone calls.
Lots of love,
bg
Monday, June 4, 2012
Ben's Korean Adventures, Edition 20
Hello everyone!
Today I am writing you with 25% less wisdom than I've ever written
before; yes, as you can guess, I did have my first wisdom tooth
extracted just about 48 hours ago, but I'll save that story for a
little bit later.
So much, yet so little has happened since the end of February when I
last sent a message like this. In general, my life's pattern has been
one of work, study, sleep; work, study, sleep; work, study, play,
sleep; work, study, sleep and so on (with that play time coming mostly
on the weekends). I feel pretty pleased with my present habits,
although it can be a bit exhausting at times, and it doesn't leave me
much wiggle room, but that's ok. And in some ways, this flow feels a
bit like college life again; I teach just as many hours as I would
have been in class learning, and I study now probably just as much as
I did back then (because I never really was such a good studier ;).
Now, I'll kick off this message just by giving a quick overview of the
last few months:
looking back over that time, here's what I've got: I've gone to a
beach twice now (it's still not warm enough to really enjoy the water,
but I did at least get in the water for a few minutes the second time
around); I've visited some green tea fields and I've gone camping;
I've made my first solo trip back up to Seoul (although it was only
for an appointment, and it was only a single day, so I ended up
spending a solid 9-10 hours of that day just riding public transit);
I've met a bunch of new people (many of whom are really cool and worth
spending more time with); I've struggled with and overcome yet another
cold/strange sickness; and I've continued to feel increasingly
confident with my abilities as a teacher for my students. That's
pretty much it in a nutshell.
The camping trip I took happened just last weekend, and it was really
sweet. I went in a group of 8 people (myself included), and I really
only partially knew 2 of the other people, so it was a bit of an
adventure on multiple levels. We went south to an island off the
Korean peninsula, and this was my first time taking a really long
ferry ride (which lasted about 2.5-3 hours). We stayed on Doe-Cho-Doe
island, setting up camp close to the shoreline. We had a pretty
secluded spot, which was so nice for some relaxing and resting.
Granted, I came back more physically exhausted than I wanted (simply
from having to sleep on the ground and doing all the things that I
normally would do on a given day), but it was such a satisfying
fatigue. If you're looking for a new place to camp with a great view,
just come on over to my turf, and I'll hook you up with a sweet spot.
haha.
My health has been such a troublesome thing since January or so. Off
and on I've been getting sick (mostly with chest or nasal stuff) for
the past 4-5 months. This time around, I did to go a doctor again and
received a shot and prescription for some medication. For the last
2ish weeks now, I've been feeling much better (with no apparent
ailments), but the frequency and speed with which the past ones have
come on, makes me a little wary. I think that this has been one of
the more interesting, albeit bothersome parts of living here because
back in the States, I never had this kind of trouble. Among some
friends here, I've acquired the reputation of simply always being
sick, and for the most part, that's been true. I'm hoping that this
is the last of my sicknesses, though.
As I mentioned earlier, I did go and have a wisdom tooth pulled out
just 2 days ago. This is the first time I've had such a procedure
done, so anything I "knew" about extractions prior had come from
friends' experiences, hearsay anecdotes or media portrayals. As it
turns out, a blend of all those things proved to be true for me. The
whole experience was a little strange and quick; for the past couple
years, I've gotten mixed recommendations from dentists about whether
or not to have the wisdom teeth out. More recently, one had said I
should, so I had planned to visit this nearby dentist to get another
opinion and maybe set up a date for getting one out. Little did I
know, that I would be walking out of his clinic 2 hours later, one
tooth shy of my previously full set. haha.
This guy, Dr. Kim, has had his practice for the last 25 years, and the
feeling in his office only reinforces that notion. I would guess that
little has changed (at least) in the past few years. The office was
pretty open, such that as I sat and waited, I could see him working on
either of the clients in his two chairs. Likewise, anyone who wanted
to see how he extracted my tooth merely had to glance over to get all
the action. Additionally, just the way tools were stored and
everything was handled gave me an interesting sense. This is not the
first time I've gone to a professional who seemed really, really laid
back and confident in his abilities and not quite as uptight as some
American counterparts that I've met in the past.
As I left, I received a prescription, so I went to fill it at a nearby
pharmacy. And just for the record, I'm pretty sure I went to the most
perfect pharmacy I've ever seen before. I was helped by a wised old
man who, perhaps, had been distributing these kinds of drugs for 2-3
times my lifespan. He definitely looked the part of head pharmacist,
and when he even told me consumption directions in English, I felt
like he had single-handedly made me a cake and iced it as well. It
was great. Since then, I really haven't experienced any discomfort or
swelling or any other side effects that many complain of. At first I
wholly attributed this to my exceptional healing abilities and pain
tolerance, but upon further consideration, I would guess that my
lovely drug medley probably contains some anti-inflammatory and/or
pain-killing components as well as antibiotics.
By this point, I have now been teaching my new classes for a bit over
3 months. As is to be expected, this time around is much, much better
than it was last year. The longer I teach here, the more confident I
become in my own abilities as well as my understanding of how the kids
learn well and/or what the learn well. I've received a great group of
students across the board, and I find that the only real difficulties
I encounter these days stem from some of my oldest students not being
willing to openly engage in conversations and practice the English
that they know. The kids, as always, are cute and loving and fun to
be around, and I think that we're making some better strides this year
than I did last year with similarly-aged students (even though I
started with those students halfway through the year). I'm excited to
see where these students end up and how much they're able to reproduce
by the end of our time together.
Last but not least, as I described in my previous email to you all, I
will be making a trip back to the States come the end of July. As I
said before, I will be in Indiana from July 31-August 4 and in GR from
August 6-10. Right in between there, I'd like to hit up Cedar Point
for a day of fantastic fun on Sunday, August 5th. So mark your
calendars and keep that time open for a sweet day. And, let me know
if you'll be around and want to spend some time together. I've heard
back from some, and soon (within the next few weeks), I'm gonna try to
nail down/lay out some more specific plans for my time back.
As always, I'd love to hear about your own lives and adventures, so
hit reply and jot down a note for me if you feel so inclined.
Lots of love to you all!
pfn,
bg
Today I am writing you with 25% less wisdom than I've ever written
before; yes, as you can guess, I did have my first wisdom tooth
extracted just about 48 hours ago, but I'll save that story for a
little bit later.
So much, yet so little has happened since the end of February when I
last sent a message like this. In general, my life's pattern has been
one of work, study, sleep; work, study, sleep; work, study, play,
sleep; work, study, sleep and so on (with that play time coming mostly
on the weekends). I feel pretty pleased with my present habits,
although it can be a bit exhausting at times, and it doesn't leave me
much wiggle room, but that's ok. And in some ways, this flow feels a
bit like college life again; I teach just as many hours as I would
have been in class learning, and I study now probably just as much as
I did back then (because I never really was such a good studier ;).
Now, I'll kick off this message just by giving a quick overview of the
last few months:
looking back over that time, here's what I've got: I've gone to a
beach twice now (it's still not warm enough to really enjoy the water,
but I did at least get in the water for a few minutes the second time
around); I've visited some green tea fields and I've gone camping;
I've made my first solo trip back up to Seoul (although it was only
for an appointment, and it was only a single day, so I ended up
spending a solid 9-10 hours of that day just riding public transit);
I've met a bunch of new people (many of whom are really cool and worth
spending more time with); I've struggled with and overcome yet another
cold/strange sickness; and I've continued to feel increasingly
confident with my abilities as a teacher for my students. That's
pretty much it in a nutshell.
The camping trip I took happened just last weekend, and it was really
sweet. I went in a group of 8 people (myself included), and I really
only partially knew 2 of the other people, so it was a bit of an
adventure on multiple levels. We went south to an island off the
Korean peninsula, and this was my first time taking a really long
ferry ride (which lasted about 2.5-3 hours). We stayed on Doe-Cho-Doe
island, setting up camp close to the shoreline. We had a pretty
secluded spot, which was so nice for some relaxing and resting.
Granted, I came back more physically exhausted than I wanted (simply
from having to sleep on the ground and doing all the things that I
normally would do on a given day), but it was such a satisfying
fatigue. If you're looking for a new place to camp with a great view,
just come on over to my turf, and I'll hook you up with a sweet spot.
haha.
My health has been such a troublesome thing since January or so. Off
and on I've been getting sick (mostly with chest or nasal stuff) for
the past 4-5 months. This time around, I did to go a doctor again and
received a shot and prescription for some medication. For the last
2ish weeks now, I've been feeling much better (with no apparent
ailments), but the frequency and speed with which the past ones have
come on, makes me a little wary. I think that this has been one of
the more interesting, albeit bothersome parts of living here because
back in the States, I never had this kind of trouble. Among some
friends here, I've acquired the reputation of simply always being
sick, and for the most part, that's been true. I'm hoping that this
is the last of my sicknesses, though.
As I mentioned earlier, I did go and have a wisdom tooth pulled out
just 2 days ago. This is the first time I've had such a procedure
done, so anything I "knew" about extractions prior had come from
friends' experiences, hearsay anecdotes or media portrayals. As it
turns out, a blend of all those things proved to be true for me. The
whole experience was a little strange and quick; for the past couple
years, I've gotten mixed recommendations from dentists about whether
or not to have the wisdom teeth out. More recently, one had said I
should, so I had planned to visit this nearby dentist to get another
opinion and maybe set up a date for getting one out. Little did I
know, that I would be walking out of his clinic 2 hours later, one
tooth shy of my previously full set. haha.
This guy, Dr. Kim, has had his practice for the last 25 years, and the
feeling in his office only reinforces that notion. I would guess that
little has changed (at least) in the past few years. The office was
pretty open, such that as I sat and waited, I could see him working on
either of the clients in his two chairs. Likewise, anyone who wanted
to see how he extracted my tooth merely had to glance over to get all
the action. Additionally, just the way tools were stored and
everything was handled gave me an interesting sense. This is not the
first time I've gone to a professional who seemed really, really laid
back and confident in his abilities and not quite as uptight as some
American counterparts that I've met in the past.
As I left, I received a prescription, so I went to fill it at a nearby
pharmacy. And just for the record, I'm pretty sure I went to the most
perfect pharmacy I've ever seen before. I was helped by a wised old
man who, perhaps, had been distributing these kinds of drugs for 2-3
times my lifespan. He definitely looked the part of head pharmacist,
and when he even told me consumption directions in English, I felt
like he had single-handedly made me a cake and iced it as well. It
was great. Since then, I really haven't experienced any discomfort or
swelling or any other side effects that many complain of. At first I
wholly attributed this to my exceptional healing abilities and pain
tolerance, but upon further consideration, I would guess that my
lovely drug medley probably contains some anti-inflammatory and/or
pain-killing components as well as antibiotics.
By this point, I have now been teaching my new classes for a bit over
3 months. As is to be expected, this time around is much, much better
than it was last year. The longer I teach here, the more confident I
become in my own abilities as well as my understanding of how the kids
learn well and/or what the learn well. I've received a great group of
students across the board, and I find that the only real difficulties
I encounter these days stem from some of my oldest students not being
willing to openly engage in conversations and practice the English
that they know. The kids, as always, are cute and loving and fun to
be around, and I think that we're making some better strides this year
than I did last year with similarly-aged students (even though I
started with those students halfway through the year). I'm excited to
see where these students end up and how much they're able to reproduce
by the end of our time together.
Last but not least, as I described in my previous email to you all, I
will be making a trip back to the States come the end of July. As I
said before, I will be in Indiana from July 31-August 4 and in GR from
August 6-10. Right in between there, I'd like to hit up Cedar Point
for a day of fantastic fun on Sunday, August 5th. So mark your
calendars and keep that time open for a sweet day. And, let me know
if you'll be around and want to spend some time together. I've heard
back from some, and soon (within the next few weeks), I'm gonna try to
nail down/lay out some more specific plans for my time back.
As always, I'd love to hear about your own lives and adventures, so
hit reply and jot down a note for me if you feel so inclined.
Lots of love to you all!
pfn,
bg
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Ben's Korean Adventures, Edition 19
Hello again,
Ok, I actually wrote this a little while back, but I wanted to do some better spacing, so I didn't send it until … now. It's got some things from the past monthish, and the last paragraph I just added now. Following the time gap shouldn't be too much work for you, I assume.
So in Korea, 2 New Years are celebrated -- the solar (that I've always been accustomed to recognizing) and the lunar. I didn't really experience any traditional Korean activities for this past Lunar New Year other than what happened in school. As with a few other Korean holidays, all the kids wore their colorful traditional clothing (the hanboks) to school, and we shared a meal together, and we were given gifts from the Director and the Owner of our schools. It was very interesting participating in this little ceremony with the students because all the kids went down to the gym, knelt before those two, and bowed to show respect. Those 2, in turn, wished a blessed year upon all of us and gave gifts. Beyond this small activity, the holiday did give us some time off from work, so 5 of us teachers went traveling. We went to a northern part of the country, specifically to a city called Chuncheon.
We went up to this are for a few reasons. First of all, Chuncheon is known for a specific kind of food: "dak galbi", which is basically a spicy chicken stir fry. The other teachers all really like this dish, and actually they ended up having it once a day for all 3 days we spent up there, although I, a first timer, must admit that it wasn't as magical for me. haha. I only ate it one of those times, since this was about the time that my cold began to kick in and my general well-being was in question over our stay there. Next, we wanted to use this city as a home base for our trips to other places in the area. Chuncheon itself houses a small island called Gang Won Do that we visited on our first full day there.
It just so happened that the ferry to the island docks right next to the hotel where we stayed, so on Sunday morning we got up and walked over to catch a ride to the island. This part of our trip turned into a bittersweet amusing time because as it turned out, Gang Won Do is a beautiful little island, but it's really meant for the summertime and not the winter. All around the island we saw sports spots (like a volleyball court or soccer field or pool) that really couldn't be used at the time when we went there. Even as we stepped off the ferry, we realized that something was a little odd. It looked like a completely deserted place. As it turned out, there were maybe a dozen and a half other people around the island, such that the return trip on the ferry was much more lively than it had been the first time coming over (when it was just 7 of us -- 5 teachers and 2 crew). So … stop one of our vacation was a little underwhelming … that's the way it goes sometimes, right? Right.
That same day we jumped in a bus and made our way to Hwacheon. Now, this for this stop, we had done a little more research collectively and had a better idea of what to expect. Hwacheon is home to a huge winter festival during that time of the year with all sorts of wintery activities and displays. It's supposed to be one of the top 3 festivals in all of Korea, so it's a big deal. The area has a large river that completely freezes over, such that on this long stretch of frozen water people can ice fish in one area and use ATVs in another and have some sweet sledding in yet another spot. As we went along this river, there were easily 8-12 distinct sections of the ice that we used for varying activities. I had never really thought about all the things one could do on the ice before, and each one seemed pretty cool. I, myself, only went sledding on one part, and it was a blast.
Because the ice fishing remains at the forefront, we saw lots of fish-related artwork around the city. There was one spot where, apparently, students or others had made papier-mâché fish and all these were lined up on a fence with awards attached. Nearby rested other, much large fish of a similar sort, and perhaps the most impressive of these fish displays, didn't really become so interesting until evening set in. Along one stretch of street, essentially a fish net had been strung up, and up and down the net were tons of small fish and other sea creatures that had been caught. As the sun set, this net was lit up with strands and strands of lights. It was pretty gorgeous.
2 other ares of the city really caught my attention. In one outdoor part, people had made huge snow sculptures. Most of them had some connection to a popular figure or movie (like Shrek or Pororo), but a few were just other things (like a house). All were really big and really sweet. In another part of the city, and this was my favorite thing by far, we got to see an indoor ice sculpture area. It was wicked sweet. This building was basically a huge freezer to keep all the sculptures cold, and it was just so impressive. A few of the sculptures were intended for human interaction (like a big bus or another car in either of which one or a few people could sit and pose), while others were meant just to amaze (like a giant ship or building model). Within this area, I had two favorite sculptures. The first one was just a big ice slide. haha. I used one of the gunny sacks provided and surfed down … almost wiping out at the bottom. Ah … it was great. The second was a little more intense and intricate. At one end of a room, you could see just a huge wall of ice that went to the ceiling, and toward each end, there was a single doorway leading into the ice wall. Behind the wall existed a little ice bar. unfortunately, no drinks were being served at this bar, but it pretty much looked like a small, functioning, literally hole-in-the-wall establishment complete with tables, booths, a bar and even a shelf behind the bar for bottles, and it was all made of ice. It was sweet.
Our final day, we made a trip to Naminara Island. This place was simply gorgeous. This island has become a big touristy spot, but it's still pretty sweet. We saw so many random/arbitrary things, and some of them made no sense at all, but here they were … right on this island. We found a small music museum. That was my first time going to a Korean museum, and I quickly realized something that I hadn't considered before; museums become a little less appealing when all the descriptions of things are in a language that I can't read. haha. I think that some of the names of things were in English, but otherwise I ended up just looking at a lot of old instruments and thinking, "Oh, that's kind of cool … even if I don't know what it's for." Naminara also had a bunch of ostriches running around. This was, perhaps, the most ridiculous thing that we encountered on the island. I haven't yet looked into how the ostriches came to be on the island, but I've decided that if I know, perhaps some of the mystery would dissolve away, and who wants that? I don't. haha. There was also a UNICEF village near the center of the island and a few other seemingly unexplainable things. I look forward to visiting this place again, though, when it's warmer.
So after our few days, we came back home. As I've mentioned a few times by now, it was during this trip that I caught the worst cold of my life. Whew. It was terrible, lasting just over 3 weeks, and it definitely gave me more sympathy for others who have long sicknesses. Especially in Hwacheon, it was frigid during our trip, and we just spent too much time outside. But it was a blast, and I realized during out first day up there, that that was my first time away from my apartment overnight since I'd come to Korea. Woohoo. Maybe I'll become a traveling fiend yet. Probably not, but maybe. haha.
That sickness really made me disinclined to do much of anything after work beyond coming home and crawling into bed, so there's been little to report since that Lunar New Year vacation save one thing -- our final English festivals at work. During the school year, Haba students put on 2 big performances for their parents. I came here only a little after the first one had happened, so I really didn't know what we were getting into, but since the beginning of January, we've been prepping hard and heavy for this festival. Now the activities involved are determined by the age group as well as the level of our class, so while some groups of students only sing, dance and recite lines, other have to do those things plus some more. In Edison Class, my students prepared a play (a watered down version of "The Wizard of Oz"), a song with dance and a short presentation on Community Helpers (ie- firefighters, mail carriers, etc). This took a lot of time and effort and energy, and it all came to fruition last Wednesday. My class did their performance, and it went pretty well. At this point we now have one more week together before they more on to a new class and new teachers.
[Insert about a week]
By now my classes have finished. Woo hoo! I've finished off one school year, even though I only started halfway through. This time around, I get to start from the beginning and see it through to the end. I'm pretty excited for it. Just this past Saturday, we had a large meeting with parents and some students and all the teachers. It was at this time that we learned of all our classes and co-teachers and things like that, and we were also presented to the attending parents and students. It was neat to see everyone in the gym at the same time because sometimes I forget that we do have a pretty large staff. I found out that … da da da … I'll be teaching students who are 7, 5 and 4 years old, thus I will have a lot of new material to learn and present to the students. Today and yesterday we spent time mapping out a lot of our textbooks for the next year, which is something that didn't happen last year. I think that planning on this macro scale will be a huge help … at least to hopefully alleviate some of the pressure during the end of the year crunch time. And one more thing that I'll sneak in here for those of you who diligently read all the way to the end, I did just talk with my director today about extending for a second year, so consider this a heads up; I'll be here for a little while yet.
Let's see. I think that's about it for now. I hope that you're keeping it real.
Much love to you all.
pfn,
bg
ps- if you want to see photos from the trip, visit here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.697487103244.2140210.15300236&type=1&aft=710431442684&l=40b2c70a5b
if you want to see videos of the icy things in Hwacheon, visit here:
http://youtu.be/dgB65hmVZgU (Ice Tunnel)
http://youtu.be/tAG-sBJOR7s (Sledding)
http://youtu.be/13x4sST5kgM (Fish Net Street)
http://youtu.be/pTFyO0gW3ok (Ice Sliding)
if you want to see videos from the play, visit here:
http://youtu.be/07kf85JZjIo (Funny Intro)
http://youtu.be/ynt_alRchK0 (I am the Queen song … with mistake)
http://youtu.be/kqul2_N-5ZA (Don't Give Up You Can Do It song … with odd lyrics)
Ok, I actually wrote this a little while back, but I wanted to do some better spacing, so I didn't send it until … now. It's got some things from the past monthish, and the last paragraph I just added now. Following the time gap shouldn't be too much work for you, I assume.
So in Korea, 2 New Years are celebrated -- the solar (that I've always been accustomed to recognizing) and the lunar. I didn't really experience any traditional Korean activities for this past Lunar New Year other than what happened in school. As with a few other Korean holidays, all the kids wore their colorful traditional clothing (the hanboks) to school, and we shared a meal together, and we were given gifts from the Director and the Owner of our schools. It was very interesting participating in this little ceremony with the students because all the kids went down to the gym, knelt before those two, and bowed to show respect. Those 2, in turn, wished a blessed year upon all of us and gave gifts. Beyond this small activity, the holiday did give us some time off from work, so 5 of us teachers went traveling. We went to a northern part of the country, specifically to a city called Chuncheon.
We went up to this are for a few reasons. First of all, Chuncheon is known for a specific kind of food: "dak galbi", which is basically a spicy chicken stir fry. The other teachers all really like this dish, and actually they ended up having it once a day for all 3 days we spent up there, although I, a first timer, must admit that it wasn't as magical for me. haha. I only ate it one of those times, since this was about the time that my cold began to kick in and my general well-being was in question over our stay there. Next, we wanted to use this city as a home base for our trips to other places in the area. Chuncheon itself houses a small island called Gang Won Do that we visited on our first full day there.
It just so happened that the ferry to the island docks right next to the hotel where we stayed, so on Sunday morning we got up and walked over to catch a ride to the island. This part of our trip turned into a bittersweet amusing time because as it turned out, Gang Won Do is a beautiful little island, but it's really meant for the summertime and not the winter. All around the island we saw sports spots (like a volleyball court or soccer field or pool) that really couldn't be used at the time when we went there. Even as we stepped off the ferry, we realized that something was a little odd. It looked like a completely deserted place. As it turned out, there were maybe a dozen and a half other people around the island, such that the return trip on the ferry was much more lively than it had been the first time coming over (when it was just 7 of us -- 5 teachers and 2 crew). So … stop one of our vacation was a little underwhelming … that's the way it goes sometimes, right? Right.
That same day we jumped in a bus and made our way to Hwacheon. Now, this for this stop, we had done a little more research collectively and had a better idea of what to expect. Hwacheon is home to a huge winter festival during that time of the year with all sorts of wintery activities and displays. It's supposed to be one of the top 3 festivals in all of Korea, so it's a big deal. The area has a large river that completely freezes over, such that on this long stretch of frozen water people can ice fish in one area and use ATVs in another and have some sweet sledding in yet another spot. As we went along this river, there were easily 8-12 distinct sections of the ice that we used for varying activities. I had never really thought about all the things one could do on the ice before, and each one seemed pretty cool. I, myself, only went sledding on one part, and it was a blast.
Because the ice fishing remains at the forefront, we saw lots of fish-related artwork around the city. There was one spot where, apparently, students or others had made papier-mâché fish and all these were lined up on a fence with awards attached. Nearby rested other, much large fish of a similar sort, and perhaps the most impressive of these fish displays, didn't really become so interesting until evening set in. Along one stretch of street, essentially a fish net had been strung up, and up and down the net were tons of small fish and other sea creatures that had been caught. As the sun set, this net was lit up with strands and strands of lights. It was pretty gorgeous.
2 other ares of the city really caught my attention. In one outdoor part, people had made huge snow sculptures. Most of them had some connection to a popular figure or movie (like Shrek or Pororo), but a few were just other things (like a house). All were really big and really sweet. In another part of the city, and this was my favorite thing by far, we got to see an indoor ice sculpture area. It was wicked sweet. This building was basically a huge freezer to keep all the sculptures cold, and it was just so impressive. A few of the sculptures were intended for human interaction (like a big bus or another car in either of which one or a few people could sit and pose), while others were meant just to amaze (like a giant ship or building model). Within this area, I had two favorite sculptures. The first one was just a big ice slide. haha. I used one of the gunny sacks provided and surfed down … almost wiping out at the bottom. Ah … it was great. The second was a little more intense and intricate. At one end of a room, you could see just a huge wall of ice that went to the ceiling, and toward each end, there was a single doorway leading into the ice wall. Behind the wall existed a little ice bar. unfortunately, no drinks were being served at this bar, but it pretty much looked like a small, functioning, literally hole-in-the-wall establishment complete with tables, booths, a bar and even a shelf behind the bar for bottles, and it was all made of ice. It was sweet.
Our final day, we made a trip to Naminara Island. This place was simply gorgeous. This island has become a big touristy spot, but it's still pretty sweet. We saw so many random/arbitrary things, and some of them made no sense at all, but here they were … right on this island. We found a small music museum. That was my first time going to a Korean museum, and I quickly realized something that I hadn't considered before; museums become a little less appealing when all the descriptions of things are in a language that I can't read. haha. I think that some of the names of things were in English, but otherwise I ended up just looking at a lot of old instruments and thinking, "Oh, that's kind of cool … even if I don't know what it's for." Naminara also had a bunch of ostriches running around. This was, perhaps, the most ridiculous thing that we encountered on the island. I haven't yet looked into how the ostriches came to be on the island, but I've decided that if I know, perhaps some of the mystery would dissolve away, and who wants that? I don't. haha. There was also a UNICEF village near the center of the island and a few other seemingly unexplainable things. I look forward to visiting this place again, though, when it's warmer.
So after our few days, we came back home. As I've mentioned a few times by now, it was during this trip that I caught the worst cold of my life. Whew. It was terrible, lasting just over 3 weeks, and it definitely gave me more sympathy for others who have long sicknesses. Especially in Hwacheon, it was frigid during our trip, and we just spent too much time outside. But it was a blast, and I realized during out first day up there, that that was my first time away from my apartment overnight since I'd come to Korea. Woohoo. Maybe I'll become a traveling fiend yet. Probably not, but maybe. haha.
That sickness really made me disinclined to do much of anything after work beyond coming home and crawling into bed, so there's been little to report since that Lunar New Year vacation save one thing -- our final English festivals at work. During the school year, Haba students put on 2 big performances for their parents. I came here only a little after the first one had happened, so I really didn't know what we were getting into, but since the beginning of January, we've been prepping hard and heavy for this festival. Now the activities involved are determined by the age group as well as the level of our class, so while some groups of students only sing, dance and recite lines, other have to do those things plus some more. In Edison Class, my students prepared a play (a watered down version of "The Wizard of Oz"), a song with dance and a short presentation on Community Helpers (ie- firefighters, mail carriers, etc). This took a lot of time and effort and energy, and it all came to fruition last Wednesday. My class did their performance, and it went pretty well. At this point we now have one more week together before they more on to a new class and new teachers.
[Insert about a week]
By now my classes have finished. Woo hoo! I've finished off one school year, even though I only started halfway through. This time around, I get to start from the beginning and see it through to the end. I'm pretty excited for it. Just this past Saturday, we had a large meeting with parents and some students and all the teachers. It was at this time that we learned of all our classes and co-teachers and things like that, and we were also presented to the attending parents and students. It was neat to see everyone in the gym at the same time because sometimes I forget that we do have a pretty large staff. I found out that … da da da … I'll be teaching students who are 7, 5 and 4 years old, thus I will have a lot of new material to learn and present to the students. Today and yesterday we spent time mapping out a lot of our textbooks for the next year, which is something that didn't happen last year. I think that planning on this macro scale will be a huge help … at least to hopefully alleviate some of the pressure during the end of the year crunch time. And one more thing that I'll sneak in here for those of you who diligently read all the way to the end, I did just talk with my director today about extending for a second year, so consider this a heads up; I'll be here for a little while yet.
Let's see. I think that's about it for now. I hope that you're keeping it real.
Much love to you all.
pfn,
bg
ps- if you want to see photos from the trip, visit here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.697487103244.2140210.15300236&type=1&aft=710431442684&l=40b2c70a5b
if you want to see videos of the icy things in Hwacheon, visit here:
http://youtu.be/dgB65hmVZgU (Ice Tunnel)
http://youtu.be/tAG-sBJOR7s (Sledding)
http://youtu.be/13x4sST5kgM (Fish Net Street)
http://youtu.be/pTFyO0gW3ok (Ice Sliding)
if you want to see videos from the play, visit here:
http://youtu.be/07kf85JZjIo (Funny Intro)
http://youtu.be/ynt_alRchK0 (I am the Queen song … with mistake)
http://youtu.be/kqul2_N-5ZA (Don't Give Up You Can Do It song … with odd lyrics)
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Ben's Korean Adventures, Edition 18
Hello everyone!
This time around, I want to focus only on what an average day could look like for me. Right now, we're actually in the transition time between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next, so this general day will be changing a bit for me in just a couple weeks, but this is what it's been like for the past few months at least.
Most days I will get up around 7:30 or 8am and maybe shower or make breakfast or do anything else during those precious first minutes awake. Lately breakfast has been great, and I usually indulge in banana pancakes or fried egg sandwiches or an omelet or some other delicious thing like that. And then, sometime around 8:50-55, I head out for the kindergarten (Haba). Living 4 minutes and 30 seconds (by foot) away from work really has its perks. It reminds me of when I lived in the dorms during college; I always knew exactly how long it took to go from my doorway to my classroom seat, and I would hardly allow more time than that for the trip. So also, I get to the kindergarten usually only minutes before my student shows up, but that's ok because usually the first students are a minute or two late as well.
4 days a week I've been meeting with one of two students at 9am to work on specific things for that student. We practice pronunciation or listening comprehension or something along those lines. These meetings usually go really well, and I enjoy starting off the days when talking with just one kid at a time. Then, around 9:30, the bulk of our students begin to arrive. Students come to school in our school buses (which are actually just larger vans -- I think that seeing an American-sized school bus navigate the tiny streets in my city would be a terrifying, yet awe-inspiring sight) or with their parents. I think that most of the kids arrive by van, but I'm not wholly sure.
9:40 marks the actual beginning of our class time. Once the kids get settled down and ready to work, it usually ends up being closer to 9:45-50, but it's somewhere in that first 10 minutes that we'll get down to business. Our school day is broken up into 6 periods, with breaks after every 2 of them. I spend periods 1 & 2 with my 6 year-old students (Edison Class), have a 20-minute break, and go on to spend periods 3 & 4 with my younger kids. On Mondays and Fridays, I teach both 3 year-olds (Angel Class) and 5-year-olds (Rainbow or Sun Classes), while on the other days, I only meet with the 2 5-year-old classes. Next comes lunch time. All of the kids eat lunch in their respective classes with their homeroom teachers, and the English teachers are served lunch in our room.
Our school lunches usually consist of something like this: white rice, kimchi, soup and other things. The rice and kimchi and soup all appear every single day, since these are Korean staples. I would guess that any of you could imagine rice or kimchi (assuming you've had and/or encountered it before) and think of what I'm talking about. The soup, however, may be a little different. Most of the time, the soup is more like "broth with a few things in it" than what I'd typically expect as my kind of soup because frankly, when I make soup … I often leave hardly enough room for broth or other liquids (for better or worse). There are some days when lunch isn't as tasty as others, but I think that I've only really not wanted to eat it once since being here. I will say this: it is what it is … a mass produced school meal, and as such, it's not as great as a restaurant meal, but I think it's still pretty solid.
After lunch, at 1:20, I go back to Edison Class and spend the remaining 2 periods (5th and 6th) with them. Our main school day ends at 2:40, and then come all the exciting after school things. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I teach an Speaking Class to a group of 6-10 6 year-olds at 3:00. These kids all come from classes that I don't teach during the day, and I have to say, it's one of the most refreshing classes that I have. Because it's not one of the regularly-scheduled classes, we have lots of flexibility with the curriculum. We do use a textbook and complete activities in that book, but we spend a lot of time just doing things that get the kids to use English, and use it well. These kids have memorized Shel Silverstein's "Boa Constrictor" and love singing/moving to "The Hokey Pokey" and "London Bridge" (and in the latter, we use 4-5 different verses that many of you have probably never heard before). I'm a firm believer that language associated with songs and games (essentially just fun things) will stick better than words memorized in a rote manner. I'm reminded of this idea each year when Christmas comes around; it's been years and years since I studied French as a student, yet I still remember so many French carols with such clarity. I'm hoping that these kids will be able to recite that poem years and years from now.
Once I've finished at Haba, it's time for the afternoon Academy, Oedae (sounds like "Way Day"). On Monday, Wednesday, Friday I have 3 classes, at 3:50, 4:30 and 6:00, while on Tuesday and Thursday I only have the 4:30 class. In all of these classes I teach students who are between 10 and 12 years old. Their English is generally pretty good, so we go through exercises focusing on grammar and usage and just practice, practice, practice. Just to give you a taste, here are the grammar points we've covered recently for each of the classes (numbers corresponding to the order of classes): 1. reporting what someone had said. Let's say that 2 people are talking about something, and if I want to tell you what one person said, I would say something like "Mrs. Webster said that blah blah blah." This learning focuses on paying attention to a conversation between 2 people and repeating the information while giving credit to the appropriate person. 2. frequency of activities. How often do you study? I study every day. or I study 5 times a week. or I study on Mondays. or I always study. You get the drift. 3. reflexive pronouns. I can do this myself. The dog licks itself. They go to the store by themselves.
These last three classes have had their ups and downs. Lately it's been on an upswing with all of them. Some of the students I like a lot and have so much potential, while some others apparently would have much better lives if I weren't their teacher (which they will soon get to put to the test). So on those later days, I finish teaching by 6:40, and then I have the evening open to do as I will. Last semester, I had been meeting with some friends to study Korean or teach English about 3-4 nights a week, so as you can imagine, I was pretty busy during that time. Since Christmas, though, that schedule has been completely changed, and it's now been a few weeks since we've met at all. Lately also I had been sicker than I've been in a long time (or possibly ever), so having more time to rest and relax was a great thing. Once things get settled with the new school year, we'll see how it gears up again. Additionally, as you imagine, there are always lots of things to do no matter where you are, so I've ended up filling empty time with games and podcasts and writing and reading and sleeping and eating and cooking and doing all those things that I liked to do in the States. Life here feels pretty normal -- minus the fact that still everyone speaks a language that I don't readily understand. haha.
Now, here's my final note about the daily schedule: since I began writing this message, I've found out more about my classes for the new year (coming into effect at Oedae tomorrow and at Haba in 2 weeks). As it turns out, I will obviously have a bunch of new students at Haba, but a little to my surprise, I will also have a wholly new schedule at Oedae as well. I will now have 4 classes after the kindergarten, and most of those kids will be 8 year-olds, fresh from the kindergarten. I'm also gaining a later night class that'll meet only on Wednesday and Friday, but it'll last until 8:30. These students are apparently the highest level the Academy teaches, so really, just as I was getting pretty comfortable with the 10-12 year-olds, I will now be switching students to both considerably younger and those considerably older. We'll see how this goes.
Alright. I hope this finds you well. As always, drop me a line, letting me know how you and yours are. I just got caught up on my emails today, so it's about time I get some new ones. haha.
Much love to you all.
pfn,
bg
This time around, I want to focus only on what an average day could look like for me. Right now, we're actually in the transition time between the end of one school year and the beginning of the next, so this general day will be changing a bit for me in just a couple weeks, but this is what it's been like for the past few months at least.
Most days I will get up around 7:30 or 8am and maybe shower or make breakfast or do anything else during those precious first minutes awake. Lately breakfast has been great, and I usually indulge in banana pancakes or fried egg sandwiches or an omelet or some other delicious thing like that. And then, sometime around 8:50-55, I head out for the kindergarten (Haba). Living 4 minutes and 30 seconds (by foot) away from work really has its perks. It reminds me of when I lived in the dorms during college; I always knew exactly how long it took to go from my doorway to my classroom seat, and I would hardly allow more time than that for the trip. So also, I get to the kindergarten usually only minutes before my student shows up, but that's ok because usually the first students are a minute or two late as well.
4 days a week I've been meeting with one of two students at 9am to work on specific things for that student. We practice pronunciation or listening comprehension or something along those lines. These meetings usually go really well, and I enjoy starting off the days when talking with just one kid at a time. Then, around 9:30, the bulk of our students begin to arrive. Students come to school in our school buses (which are actually just larger vans -- I think that seeing an American-sized school bus navigate the tiny streets in my city would be a terrifying, yet awe-inspiring sight) or with their parents. I think that most of the kids arrive by van, but I'm not wholly sure.
9:40 marks the actual beginning of our class time. Once the kids get settled down and ready to work, it usually ends up being closer to 9:45-50, but it's somewhere in that first 10 minutes that we'll get down to business. Our school day is broken up into 6 periods, with breaks after every 2 of them. I spend periods 1 & 2 with my 6 year-old students (Edison Class), have a 20-minute break, and go on to spend periods 3 & 4 with my younger kids. On Mondays and Fridays, I teach both 3 year-olds (Angel Class) and 5-year-olds (Rainbow or Sun Classes), while on the other days, I only meet with the 2 5-year-old classes. Next comes lunch time. All of the kids eat lunch in their respective classes with their homeroom teachers, and the English teachers are served lunch in our room.
Our school lunches usually consist of something like this: white rice, kimchi, soup and other things. The rice and kimchi and soup all appear every single day, since these are Korean staples. I would guess that any of you could imagine rice or kimchi (assuming you've had and/or encountered it before) and think of what I'm talking about. The soup, however, may be a little different. Most of the time, the soup is more like "broth with a few things in it" than what I'd typically expect as my kind of soup because frankly, when I make soup … I often leave hardly enough room for broth or other liquids (for better or worse). There are some days when lunch isn't as tasty as others, but I think that I've only really not wanted to eat it once since being here. I will say this: it is what it is … a mass produced school meal, and as such, it's not as great as a restaurant meal, but I think it's still pretty solid.
After lunch, at 1:20, I go back to Edison Class and spend the remaining 2 periods (5th and 6th) with them. Our main school day ends at 2:40, and then come all the exciting after school things. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday I teach an Speaking Class to a group of 6-10 6 year-olds at 3:00. These kids all come from classes that I don't teach during the day, and I have to say, it's one of the most refreshing classes that I have. Because it's not one of the regularly-scheduled classes, we have lots of flexibility with the curriculum. We do use a textbook and complete activities in that book, but we spend a lot of time just doing things that get the kids to use English, and use it well. These kids have memorized Shel Silverstein's "Boa Constrictor" and love singing/moving to "The Hokey Pokey" and "London Bridge" (and in the latter, we use 4-5 different verses that many of you have probably never heard before). I'm a firm believer that language associated with songs and games (essentially just fun things) will stick better than words memorized in a rote manner. I'm reminded of this idea each year when Christmas comes around; it's been years and years since I studied French as a student, yet I still remember so many French carols with such clarity. I'm hoping that these kids will be able to recite that poem years and years from now.
Once I've finished at Haba, it's time for the afternoon Academy, Oedae (sounds like "Way Day"). On Monday, Wednesday, Friday I have 3 classes, at 3:50, 4:30 and 6:00, while on Tuesday and Thursday I only have the 4:30 class. In all of these classes I teach students who are between 10 and 12 years old. Their English is generally pretty good, so we go through exercises focusing on grammar and usage and just practice, practice, practice. Just to give you a taste, here are the grammar points we've covered recently for each of the classes (numbers corresponding to the order of classes): 1. reporting what someone had said. Let's say that 2 people are talking about something, and if I want to tell you what one person said, I would say something like "Mrs. Webster said that blah blah blah." This learning focuses on paying attention to a conversation between 2 people and repeating the information while giving credit to the appropriate person. 2. frequency of activities. How often do you study? I study every day. or I study 5 times a week. or I study on Mondays. or I always study. You get the drift. 3. reflexive pronouns. I can do this myself. The dog licks itself. They go to the store by themselves.
These last three classes have had their ups and downs. Lately it's been on an upswing with all of them. Some of the students I like a lot and have so much potential, while some others apparently would have much better lives if I weren't their teacher (which they will soon get to put to the test). So on those later days, I finish teaching by 6:40, and then I have the evening open to do as I will. Last semester, I had been meeting with some friends to study Korean or teach English about 3-4 nights a week, so as you can imagine, I was pretty busy during that time. Since Christmas, though, that schedule has been completely changed, and it's now been a few weeks since we've met at all. Lately also I had been sicker than I've been in a long time (or possibly ever), so having more time to rest and relax was a great thing. Once things get settled with the new school year, we'll see how it gears up again. Additionally, as you imagine, there are always lots of things to do no matter where you are, so I've ended up filling empty time with games and podcasts and writing and reading and sleeping and eating and cooking and doing all those things that I liked to do in the States. Life here feels pretty normal -- minus the fact that still everyone speaks a language that I don't readily understand. haha.
Now, here's my final note about the daily schedule: since I began writing this message, I've found out more about my classes for the new year (coming into effect at Oedae tomorrow and at Haba in 2 weeks). As it turns out, I will obviously have a bunch of new students at Haba, but a little to my surprise, I will also have a wholly new schedule at Oedae as well. I will now have 4 classes after the kindergarten, and most of those kids will be 8 year-olds, fresh from the kindergarten. I'm also gaining a later night class that'll meet only on Wednesday and Friday, but it'll last until 8:30. These students are apparently the highest level the Academy teaches, so really, just as I was getting pretty comfortable with the 10-12 year-olds, I will now be switching students to both considerably younger and those considerably older. We'll see how this goes.
Alright. I hope this finds you well. As always, drop me a line, letting me know how you and yours are. I just got caught up on my emails today, so it's about time I get some new ones. haha.
Much love to you all.
pfn,
bg
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Ben's Korean Adventures, Edition 17
Hello all,
As promised, I've decided to give you some more updates about a few different things. First, last month I did end up going to a dentist a couple times, which was an interesting adventure. The last time I visited a dentist in the States, I had been encouraged to have my wisdom teeth removed. I never did really follow up on that until I came here and found out that one my coworkers actually had had hers extracted since being in Korea. In her case, she experience pain and probably did need them out; in my case, because I've never specifically had trouble with them, I was only going off what I had been advised to do. Thus I contacted the same dentist, who happens to have studied at none other than the University of Michigan (which I discovered when I was there and told him where I had moved from), because the operation had gone well for my coworker, and she recommended this particular dentist highly. Because he studied in America, he does speak English, which, for me, remains one of the necessary abilities of one who would work in my mouth. As you can surmise, I contacted this dentist intending to have my wisdom teeth removed, and it was only after our second meeting that things changed a bit.
Let me also give you a little taste of how my first trip there actually played out. This dentist works out of a nearby university, and because the bus ride is a little out of the way and because I was in a time crunch, I ended up taking a taxi. Most places I go in the city require a 10-15 minute taxi ride; this university was about 30 minutes away. So I arrived pretty much at the exact time that I should have been in the dentist's office because I didn't expect the commute to take quite so long, but no biggie right? Right. My coworker had given me a general idea of where I should go and what the check-in process would look like, so I was feeling pretty confident with how it would work out. I went inside to the check-in area and grabbed a number (quick aside … that could easily turn into a much longer one: I'm pretty sure that I've seen more "take a ticket" machines during my 6 months here than I've ever seen before in the rest of my life. Pretty much anytime there's a possibility of a wait, guess what, go visit the number machine. I'm still not sure if I prefer the "wait in line" or the "take a ticket" model … but I've readily noticed its prevalence since being here and figured it's worth mentioning to you as well) and took a seat. Now you'd think that since I've been here this long (granted, it was technically only about 5 months at that point … and so much has change since then … haha … maybe not … since I'm now hearty to the 6 months mark) I would have anticipated that even though I was at a university, the tellers would probably still only speak Korean, but somehow I had just hoped that it would go really smoothly. As you might guess, it wasn't as smooth as I had hoped, but somehow we muddled through all the information-gathering so that I could be a real, live registered patient.
It's in times like those that I'm continually impressed and simultaneously simply relieved how it can all just work out with such a barrier between us. Think about the times when you've gone to a dentist and doctor and had to fill out forms or give information; it's often not the most straightforward, easily accomplished process. Now think about doing that when all the forms and all questions asked are being given in another language. Whew. I can only sum it up like this: immediate perspiration and stress spikes through the roof. And somehow, as I alluded to before, each time this happens, I'm a little caught off guard once again. Somehow I feel comfortable enough with the situation (of being a foreigner in Korea) and my general daily interactions (with people only speaking Korean) that I kind of forget my immediate language barrier. This reminds me of something from the past: I really like watching movies or shows in languages other than English, thus subtitles become invaluable to the movie-watching/movie-understanding experience. There have been countless times when I've simply forgotten that I was "reading" the movie rather than just listening to it, and I've gotten up to do something, and suddenly it clicks: "What did he just say? Oh yeah, that's right. I still can't actually understand Japanese. haha." In this same way, I approached the counter without really considering how difficult it could be to process a new client when the client doesn't speak the right language. That process took a bit of time, but I soon made it into my dentist's office.
On this particular day (it was a Tuesday), I had intended to get a routine cleaning and x-rays. Both of these, the dentist had said, were necessary before something like wisdom teeth removal, and I agreed. So first he set me up to get an x-ray. This was the first time I've ever stood up for a dental x-ray, and it was pretty sweet. I stepped up to a large machine and had to bite a certain piece (to keep me stationary), and then an arm rotated the x-ray device around my head to get a complete 360 degree shot. I felt like I was engaging such high-tech equipment here … but that's probably just because I'm used to a small practice where I've always gone in my hometown of Auburn. In a city that's population doesn't exceed 15,000, I'm pretty sure that there's not such a demand for the most advanced dental equipment, so I'm not gonna chalk up this new device to Korea only … although it did make my experience here all the more exciting. As it turned out though (or didn't turn out, actually), the x-ray machine was somehow broken, so after being bombarded with x-rays first in the dentist's office, I had to go to a different place nearby to get a second set taken. It was also just before I left for that second place that I found out there weren't enough staff available, so my cleaning would have to wait until the next week.
That following week (it was a Tuesday again) I returned to the same place, and this time having a better idea of how things could go, I made sure to be super early -- I'm talking like, 15 whole minutes. Yeah, for those of you who know me well, that's super early. haha. And even though I was early, I jumped right into the chair, and things got started. As it turned out, after reviewing my x-rays, the dentist said that I really didn't need to have my wisdom teeth out after all. I was pretty glad to hear this, so I ended up only getting a cleaning that day, and we said our goodbyes for the next 6 months, until I could make my glorious return and assume the throne once again in pristine office 5b. Now all in all, this trip to the dentist was pretty different from anything I've experience before, and I can't necessarily attribute all that to being in Korea. As I already said, I had always gone to the same dentist's office, and it's the kind of place, because my immediate family goes there as well, that even as I didn't go very regularly during college years, each time I returned, the staff members often made small talk that was pretty specific to my family or life. Interacting with the Graves family leaves an impression -- mostly because after you've finished with one or two or three … there are still a ton more to come through the pipeline. haha. So lots of information is passed from Graves family member to staff member each time. In this most recent trip, though, all that familiarity was stripped away. Additionally, whereas before I would be able to see things and help the dentist from time to time (maybe with something as simple as "Hold this suction tube;" "Well, ok!"), here I played no role other than simply opening my mouth and keeping it that way. And actually, when I was tipped back, a black covering was placed over me that had only an opening for my mouth, so truly I was more cut off from everything around me than I had ever been before. It proved to be a very strange, yet exceedingly interesting experience from start to finish. Frankly, I'm really looking forward to going back in a few months and doing all the motions yet again.
So that was my trip to the dentist. I did survive, and it was great. haha. Let's see … what else for now: language update. Truly, if I studied more, I would be in a better position and know more, but regardless I have continued to study here and there and pick up things from general conversations, and I still enjoy this process a lot. I've decided that during this first year, I want to finish off my current textbook, paying most attention to vocabulary building and the understanding of grammar and mechanics that conversational ability. Before coming here, I had a romantic, naive impression of learning a second language, and some small part of me (probably more than I'm willing to admit) thought, "Oh, no big deal … attaining fluency should be no problem … yeah, just give me 6 months or so." haha. Maybe for some this wouldn't be a big deal, but I'm constantly realizing that I simply don't possess the appropriate motivation or desire or time to make fluency my own reality anywhere in the near future. And I'm ok with that. I will keep studying as I can and enjoying the process of small revelations here and there.
Ok, while considering the length of this message already, I've decided to postpone the "day in the life" part for another day, and instead I'll add one more part about my last weekend. On Saturday I got to take a trip up north with my friend Dianne. We met up with a bunch of people from a club she's a part of in a very small village called Bongha. Bongha is the hometown of the last South Korean president, President No. Going into this trip I really didn't know anything about our current president, let alone the one prior, and even now I still don't know much, but learning the little bit that I did was very, very interesting, and it made me realize that finding out more about Korea's recent (or distant) political or social or religious (et cetera) history is something I really should do … and now feel a little more compelled to do. From time to time, I've read little, general articles about Korean things, but I've not spent intense time looking at more details about how the country really has changed and developed as a whole. Turning back to my trip, learning about President No in particular was very intriguing. From what I understand, President No was one who wanted to "fight the good fight," but I think that something went awry toward the end of his presidency (and by the way, South Korean presidents serve for 5 year terms without the option for reelection). The next president to be elected has been very different, and there are some very strong opinions about the current president and his actions/policies (that I'll handily leave out of this message), which have caused some to look back upon President No with a more endearing perspective. All the while, there were still quite a few people who only loved President No throughout his term. After he finished, President No returned to his hometown, and he got back into living life. He interacted with anyone and just seemed to be a nice guy. But then he decided to end his life and jumped off a peak from the mountain that is practically in his back yard. When I learned this, I was really shocked. I encourage you to look into this for yourself if you want more real details, but it stands out to me as one of the saddest stories I've heard in a long time. And so we came to this village to pay respect to President No and learn more about him. Now, when the tour guide was pointing out things and speaking in Korean, I didn't really pick up much, but it was neat nonetheless. People who loved President No have put together money and built a memorial to him next to the city, at the base of the mountain, and while there, we walked through a small ceremony to show respect to the past President. It really was a touching experience -- mostly just being there and witnessing the responses other had to what was being said and shown. On a lighter note, we did all eat lunch together, and during lunch I made some new friends, the most notable of whom was a goofy guy with whom I drank some rice wine with our arms interlocked. haha. Oh how Koreans love to drink -- especially with foreigners.
Alright. I think that's it for now. This weekend I'll be heading away with some other teachers for the Lunar New Year, so I'm sure I'll have some more great stories for you for next time. I wish you all the best (don't worry; just in case you happened to be momentarily perplexed by the conundrum ensuing from wishing a superlative to multiple people simultaneously -- since we all know that there is, technically and actually, only one "best" -- I am actually wishing you individual, relative, personal "best"s that are not mutually exclusive), and I'll catch you again sometime later. haha.
Much love to you all.
pfn,
bg
ps- if you want to see some photos from my trip to Bongha, visit here:
As promised, I've decided to give you some more updates about a few different things. First, last month I did end up going to a dentist a couple times, which was an interesting adventure. The last time I visited a dentist in the States, I had been encouraged to have my wisdom teeth removed. I never did really follow up on that until I came here and found out that one my coworkers actually had had hers extracted since being in Korea. In her case, she experience pain and probably did need them out; in my case, because I've never specifically had trouble with them, I was only going off what I had been advised to do. Thus I contacted the same dentist, who happens to have studied at none other than the University of Michigan (which I discovered when I was there and told him where I had moved from), because the operation had gone well for my coworker, and she recommended this particular dentist highly. Because he studied in America, he does speak English, which, for me, remains one of the necessary abilities of one who would work in my mouth. As you can surmise, I contacted this dentist intending to have my wisdom teeth removed, and it was only after our second meeting that things changed a bit.
Let me also give you a little taste of how my first trip there actually played out. This dentist works out of a nearby university, and because the bus ride is a little out of the way and because I was in a time crunch, I ended up taking a taxi. Most places I go in the city require a 10-15 minute taxi ride; this university was about 30 minutes away. So I arrived pretty much at the exact time that I should have been in the dentist's office because I didn't expect the commute to take quite so long, but no biggie right? Right. My coworker had given me a general idea of where I should go and what the check-in process would look like, so I was feeling pretty confident with how it would work out. I went inside to the check-in area and grabbed a number (quick aside … that could easily turn into a much longer one: I'm pretty sure that I've seen more "take a ticket" machines during my 6 months here than I've ever seen before in the rest of my life. Pretty much anytime there's a possibility of a wait, guess what, go visit the number machine. I'm still not sure if I prefer the "wait in line" or the "take a ticket" model … but I've readily noticed its prevalence since being here and figured it's worth mentioning to you as well) and took a seat. Now you'd think that since I've been here this long (granted, it was technically only about 5 months at that point … and so much has change since then … haha … maybe not … since I'm now hearty to the 6 months mark) I would have anticipated that even though I was at a university, the tellers would probably still only speak Korean, but somehow I had just hoped that it would go really smoothly. As you might guess, it wasn't as smooth as I had hoped, but somehow we muddled through all the information-gathering so that I could be a real, live registered patient.
It's in times like those that I'm continually impressed and simultaneously simply relieved how it can all just work out with such a barrier between us. Think about the times when you've gone to a dentist and doctor and had to fill out forms or give information; it's often not the most straightforward, easily accomplished process. Now think about doing that when all the forms and all questions asked are being given in another language. Whew. I can only sum it up like this: immediate perspiration and stress spikes through the roof. And somehow, as I alluded to before, each time this happens, I'm a little caught off guard once again. Somehow I feel comfortable enough with the situation (of being a foreigner in Korea) and my general daily interactions (with people only speaking Korean) that I kind of forget my immediate language barrier. This reminds me of something from the past: I really like watching movies or shows in languages other than English, thus subtitles become invaluable to the movie-watching/movie-understanding experience. There have been countless times when I've simply forgotten that I was "reading" the movie rather than just listening to it, and I've gotten up to do something, and suddenly it clicks: "What did he just say? Oh yeah, that's right. I still can't actually understand Japanese. haha." In this same way, I approached the counter without really considering how difficult it could be to process a new client when the client doesn't speak the right language. That process took a bit of time, but I soon made it into my dentist's office.
On this particular day (it was a Tuesday), I had intended to get a routine cleaning and x-rays. Both of these, the dentist had said, were necessary before something like wisdom teeth removal, and I agreed. So first he set me up to get an x-ray. This was the first time I've ever stood up for a dental x-ray, and it was pretty sweet. I stepped up to a large machine and had to bite a certain piece (to keep me stationary), and then an arm rotated the x-ray device around my head to get a complete 360 degree shot. I felt like I was engaging such high-tech equipment here … but that's probably just because I'm used to a small practice where I've always gone in my hometown of Auburn. In a city that's population doesn't exceed 15,000, I'm pretty sure that there's not such a demand for the most advanced dental equipment, so I'm not gonna chalk up this new device to Korea only … although it did make my experience here all the more exciting. As it turned out though (or didn't turn out, actually), the x-ray machine was somehow broken, so after being bombarded with x-rays first in the dentist's office, I had to go to a different place nearby to get a second set taken. It was also just before I left for that second place that I found out there weren't enough staff available, so my cleaning would have to wait until the next week.
That following week (it was a Tuesday again) I returned to the same place, and this time having a better idea of how things could go, I made sure to be super early -- I'm talking like, 15 whole minutes. Yeah, for those of you who know me well, that's super early. haha. And even though I was early, I jumped right into the chair, and things got started. As it turned out, after reviewing my x-rays, the dentist said that I really didn't need to have my wisdom teeth out after all. I was pretty glad to hear this, so I ended up only getting a cleaning that day, and we said our goodbyes for the next 6 months, until I could make my glorious return and assume the throne once again in pristine office 5b. Now all in all, this trip to the dentist was pretty different from anything I've experience before, and I can't necessarily attribute all that to being in Korea. As I already said, I had always gone to the same dentist's office, and it's the kind of place, because my immediate family goes there as well, that even as I didn't go very regularly during college years, each time I returned, the staff members often made small talk that was pretty specific to my family or life. Interacting with the Graves family leaves an impression -- mostly because after you've finished with one or two or three … there are still a ton more to come through the pipeline. haha. So lots of information is passed from Graves family member to staff member each time. In this most recent trip, though, all that familiarity was stripped away. Additionally, whereas before I would be able to see things and help the dentist from time to time (maybe with something as simple as "Hold this suction tube;" "Well, ok!"), here I played no role other than simply opening my mouth and keeping it that way. And actually, when I was tipped back, a black covering was placed over me that had only an opening for my mouth, so truly I was more cut off from everything around me than I had ever been before. It proved to be a very strange, yet exceedingly interesting experience from start to finish. Frankly, I'm really looking forward to going back in a few months and doing all the motions yet again.
So that was my trip to the dentist. I did survive, and it was great. haha. Let's see … what else for now: language update. Truly, if I studied more, I would be in a better position and know more, but regardless I have continued to study here and there and pick up things from general conversations, and I still enjoy this process a lot. I've decided that during this first year, I want to finish off my current textbook, paying most attention to vocabulary building and the understanding of grammar and mechanics that conversational ability. Before coming here, I had a romantic, naive impression of learning a second language, and some small part of me (probably more than I'm willing to admit) thought, "Oh, no big deal … attaining fluency should be no problem … yeah, just give me 6 months or so." haha. Maybe for some this wouldn't be a big deal, but I'm constantly realizing that I simply don't possess the appropriate motivation or desire or time to make fluency my own reality anywhere in the near future. And I'm ok with that. I will keep studying as I can and enjoying the process of small revelations here and there.
Ok, while considering the length of this message already, I've decided to postpone the "day in the life" part for another day, and instead I'll add one more part about my last weekend. On Saturday I got to take a trip up north with my friend Dianne. We met up with a bunch of people from a club she's a part of in a very small village called Bongha. Bongha is the hometown of the last South Korean president, President No. Going into this trip I really didn't know anything about our current president, let alone the one prior, and even now I still don't know much, but learning the little bit that I did was very, very interesting, and it made me realize that finding out more about Korea's recent (or distant) political or social or religious (et cetera) history is something I really should do … and now feel a little more compelled to do. From time to time, I've read little, general articles about Korean things, but I've not spent intense time looking at more details about how the country really has changed and developed as a whole. Turning back to my trip, learning about President No in particular was very intriguing. From what I understand, President No was one who wanted to "fight the good fight," but I think that something went awry toward the end of his presidency (and by the way, South Korean presidents serve for 5 year terms without the option for reelection). The next president to be elected has been very different, and there are some very strong opinions about the current president and his actions/policies (that I'll handily leave out of this message), which have caused some to look back upon President No with a more endearing perspective. All the while, there were still quite a few people who only loved President No throughout his term. After he finished, President No returned to his hometown, and he got back into living life. He interacted with anyone and just seemed to be a nice guy. But then he decided to end his life and jumped off a peak from the mountain that is practically in his back yard. When I learned this, I was really shocked. I encourage you to look into this for yourself if you want more real details, but it stands out to me as one of the saddest stories I've heard in a long time. And so we came to this village to pay respect to President No and learn more about him. Now, when the tour guide was pointing out things and speaking in Korean, I didn't really pick up much, but it was neat nonetheless. People who loved President No have put together money and built a memorial to him next to the city, at the base of the mountain, and while there, we walked through a small ceremony to show respect to the past President. It really was a touching experience -- mostly just being there and witnessing the responses other had to what was being said and shown. On a lighter note, we did all eat lunch together, and during lunch I made some new friends, the most notable of whom was a goofy guy with whom I drank some rice wine with our arms interlocked. haha. Oh how Koreans love to drink -- especially with foreigners.
Alright. I think that's it for now. This weekend I'll be heading away with some other teachers for the Lunar New Year, so I'm sure I'll have some more great stories for you for next time. I wish you all the best (don't worry; just in case you happened to be momentarily perplexed by the conundrum ensuing from wishing a superlative to multiple people simultaneously -- since we all know that there is, technically and actually, only one "best" -- I am actually wishing you individual, relative, personal "best"s that are not mutually exclusive), and I'll catch you again sometime later. haha.
Much love to you all.
pfn,
bg
ps- if you want to see some photos from my trip to Bongha, visit here:
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Ben's Korean Adventures, Edition 16
Hello, hello!
After a very long hiatus, I have returned. "From where?" you might ask … well, I'm not really sure, but regardless … I'm back! haha
The last time I actually wrote was in early October, although I did drop a line to you all around Halloween as well. Since then, it really has been life as normal and a continuation of daily routines. Being here for just a week under 6 months now (wow!), I feel very much at home. Granted, there are things (mostly people and the ease of ordering board games online … haha) that I miss, but being here is really good. I think this feeling also stems from the fact that this is my first time truly living on my own, but the two are practically indistinguishable now. All this to say, things have been moving along very smoothly on this side of the world.
Recap from the past couple months: this has been the first time I've ever been away from my immediate family for "The Holidays," and although it proved to be a little strange, I think that both Thanksgiving and Christmas remained enjoyable nonetheless. I spent Thanksgiving at school teaching for the better part of the day, and then I had a Thanksgiving dinner (unlike any prior) with a couple teachers. We decided to eat some low-maintenance comfort foods, which ended up including tuna melts and ice cream and other simple foods that are presently escaping my memory. Then, during the following weekend, I went to a foreigner-heavy Thanksgiving potluck that was de-lic-ious. As many of you know, my taste in foods isn't usually what I'd label as "refined," but still … the food was great. The best part came definitely at the end when we shared some carrot cake that one guy had made. Wow. That's pretty much the only way I can sum it up. Wow. By far (and not just because of this context), it was the best (carrot) cake I've ever had. Going to this party was great as well; the party-goers comprised a group of people I haven't spent much time around, yet all of whom seem enjoyable and nice and pleasant. Since that party I've even been able to hang out with a few of them some more; making some more foreign friends with good people is always welcome here.
And then there was Christmas. Since I've been here I have Skyped with my parents once and some of my siblings on a couple occasions, but it wasn't until my Christmas morning/your Christmas Eve that I got to video chat with nearly all of my immediate family in one go, and it was … fun. haha. Even for that short time it felt vaguely similar to the opening scenes of Home Alone. For anyone who doesn't immediately understand this reference, here's a little insight: I'm the second of nine children in my family, and maybe because most of my siblings are boys, it's always loud (to say the least) when they're around. Our little video session immediately brought me back to the all the memories of busyness and energy and everything else for Christmas morning … or pretty much any other morning at home, for that matter. It was a very fitting time to see everyone like that. Other than the video call, I ended up spending both Christmas Eve and a solid chunk of Christmas Day with friends here, and we hung out, watched a movie, ate sushi and played games. When it was all said and done, I think it ended up being a very successful holiday. And then I went back to school the next day. haha.
Yes, as I just stated, I did, in fact, teach both the day and two days after Christmas. We did receive a "holiday vacation," but it didn't start until the Wednesday after Christmas, and then it stretched through the following Tuesday (thus I went back to school this past Wednesday). Having a week off was great. It was just like any other break in the past -- sleep in late, stay up late and fill the in-between time with … anything. Mmm (intoned with pure delight). Part of that intermediate time did include the dawn of a new year, and that also ended up being pretty enjoyable. I went to a friend's house New Year's Eve night, and then we all headed downtown around 11pm. In downtown a stage had been set up for the evening, and by the time I arrived things were in full swing. A number of bands or singers performed 2 songs a piece, so even though I arrived pretty close to midnight I still got to see/hear 6-10 different groups perform. And then midnight happened, and 2012 commenced.
Here are two particularly memorable things from that night: first, I was the only foreigner as far as I could see in the crowd of Koreans near the stage when the countdown began, so whereas typically when the ball drops we all hear, "Happy New Year" from every direction, I initially didn't hear that once (because it's obviously all in Korean), but then an arbitrary guy who'd been standing nearby for the last 30 minutes or so turned and wished me a "Happy New Year" in English. Ahh. It felt great. After the clock struck 12, I did stick around to watch other groups on the stage, so I ended up catching a taxi back home close to 1:30/45ish. Now, as a piece of background information, my confidence with taking taxis has increased exponentially over the past couple months. I've now taken quite a few by myself, and I always feel pretty certain that I can tell the driver where I need to go, and we'll get there. On this particular evening, though, I said where I wanted to go, and the driver repeated it back to me, and I confirmed what I thought was the same thing as my initial instruction. So we left downtown and began the trip back home, and during this part of the journey I didn't pay very close attention to where we were headed because of a number of factors, and then, when we had been driving for longer than I thought we should have been, I looked more closely outside and found that nothing looked familiar. haha. And then I noticed some signs with places I knew, and I deduced that -- ta da -- we were headed to somewhere other than the comfort and warmth of my home. At the same time, however, there was that ever-present doubt in the back of my mind that maybe we were still headed to the right place because really, how much of Gwangju do I actually recognize? Not that much. Fortunately, though, soon thereafter we began to slow down close to where the driver was taking me, and he quickly realized that this wasn't my home. haha. I repeated my destination for him again, and with a big "Ahhhhhhhhh" of understanding and a chuckle of amusement, he then turned around, and we began again on our merry way. So after a very long taxi ride, I finally returned home. I'm very fortunate to have had a great driver who wasn't annoyed with my poor directions, since the burden for the mistake does rest on my shoulders, and from that adventure a new lesson has been learned: always repeat and repeat and repeat -- just to make sure (because probably my pronunciation isn't so great).
I think that's enough for now. Next time, look forward to reflections on my Korean dental appointments, a language update and "a day in the life" … and whatever else I can come up with between now and then :). I truly hope that all of you are well and happy as this year is kicking into gear, and if I haven't heard from you in a while, drop me a line and let me know what's going on. I do love hearing from others and knowing a little more about happenings in the States.
Much love to you all.
pfn,
bg
After a very long hiatus, I have returned. "From where?" you might ask … well, I'm not really sure, but regardless … I'm back! haha
The last time I actually wrote was in early October, although I did drop a line to you all around Halloween as well. Since then, it really has been life as normal and a continuation of daily routines. Being here for just a week under 6 months now (wow!), I feel very much at home. Granted, there are things (mostly people and the ease of ordering board games online … haha) that I miss, but being here is really good. I think this feeling also stems from the fact that this is my first time truly living on my own, but the two are practically indistinguishable now. All this to say, things have been moving along very smoothly on this side of the world.
Recap from the past couple months: this has been the first time I've ever been away from my immediate family for "The Holidays," and although it proved to be a little strange, I think that both Thanksgiving and Christmas remained enjoyable nonetheless. I spent Thanksgiving at school teaching for the better part of the day, and then I had a Thanksgiving dinner (unlike any prior) with a couple teachers. We decided to eat some low-maintenance comfort foods, which ended up including tuna melts and ice cream and other simple foods that are presently escaping my memory. Then, during the following weekend, I went to a foreigner-heavy Thanksgiving potluck that was de-lic-ious. As many of you know, my taste in foods isn't usually what I'd label as "refined," but still … the food was great. The best part came definitely at the end when we shared some carrot cake that one guy had made. Wow. That's pretty much the only way I can sum it up. Wow. By far (and not just because of this context), it was the best (carrot) cake I've ever had. Going to this party was great as well; the party-goers comprised a group of people I haven't spent much time around, yet all of whom seem enjoyable and nice and pleasant. Since that party I've even been able to hang out with a few of them some more; making some more foreign friends with good people is always welcome here.
And then there was Christmas. Since I've been here I have Skyped with my parents once and some of my siblings on a couple occasions, but it wasn't until my Christmas morning/your Christmas Eve that I got to video chat with nearly all of my immediate family in one go, and it was … fun. haha. Even for that short time it felt vaguely similar to the opening scenes of Home Alone. For anyone who doesn't immediately understand this reference, here's a little insight: I'm the second of nine children in my family, and maybe because most of my siblings are boys, it's always loud (to say the least) when they're around. Our little video session immediately brought me back to the all the memories of busyness and energy and everything else for Christmas morning … or pretty much any other morning at home, for that matter. It was a very fitting time to see everyone like that. Other than the video call, I ended up spending both Christmas Eve and a solid chunk of Christmas Day with friends here, and we hung out, watched a movie, ate sushi and played games. When it was all said and done, I think it ended up being a very successful holiday. And then I went back to school the next day. haha.
Yes, as I just stated, I did, in fact, teach both the day and two days after Christmas. We did receive a "holiday vacation," but it didn't start until the Wednesday after Christmas, and then it stretched through the following Tuesday (thus I went back to school this past Wednesday). Having a week off was great. It was just like any other break in the past -- sleep in late, stay up late and fill the in-between time with … anything. Mmm (intoned with pure delight). Part of that intermediate time did include the dawn of a new year, and that also ended up being pretty enjoyable. I went to a friend's house New Year's Eve night, and then we all headed downtown around 11pm. In downtown a stage had been set up for the evening, and by the time I arrived things were in full swing. A number of bands or singers performed 2 songs a piece, so even though I arrived pretty close to midnight I still got to see/hear 6-10 different groups perform. And then midnight happened, and 2012 commenced.
Here are two particularly memorable things from that night: first, I was the only foreigner as far as I could see in the crowd of Koreans near the stage when the countdown began, so whereas typically when the ball drops we all hear, "Happy New Year" from every direction, I initially didn't hear that once (because it's obviously all in Korean), but then an arbitrary guy who'd been standing nearby for the last 30 minutes or so turned and wished me a "Happy New Year" in English. Ahh. It felt great. After the clock struck 12, I did stick around to watch other groups on the stage, so I ended up catching a taxi back home close to 1:30/45ish. Now, as a piece of background information, my confidence with taking taxis has increased exponentially over the past couple months. I've now taken quite a few by myself, and I always feel pretty certain that I can tell the driver where I need to go, and we'll get there. On this particular evening, though, I said where I wanted to go, and the driver repeated it back to me, and I confirmed what I thought was the same thing as my initial instruction. So we left downtown and began the trip back home, and during this part of the journey I didn't pay very close attention to where we were headed because of a number of factors, and then, when we had been driving for longer than I thought we should have been, I looked more closely outside and found that nothing looked familiar. haha. And then I noticed some signs with places I knew, and I deduced that -- ta da -- we were headed to somewhere other than the comfort and warmth of my home. At the same time, however, there was that ever-present doubt in the back of my mind that maybe we were still headed to the right place because really, how much of Gwangju do I actually recognize? Not that much. Fortunately, though, soon thereafter we began to slow down close to where the driver was taking me, and he quickly realized that this wasn't my home. haha. I repeated my destination for him again, and with a big "Ahhhhhhhhh" of understanding and a chuckle of amusement, he then turned around, and we began again on our merry way. So after a very long taxi ride, I finally returned home. I'm very fortunate to have had a great driver who wasn't annoyed with my poor directions, since the burden for the mistake does rest on my shoulders, and from that adventure a new lesson has been learned: always repeat and repeat and repeat -- just to make sure (because probably my pronunciation isn't so great).
I think that's enough for now. Next time, look forward to reflections on my Korean dental appointments, a language update and "a day in the life" … and whatever else I can come up with between now and then :). I truly hope that all of you are well and happy as this year is kicking into gear, and if I haven't heard from you in a while, drop me a line and let me know what's going on. I do love hearing from others and knowing a little more about happenings in the States.
Much love to you all.
pfn,
bg
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)