EEK!!

Ok, there is nothing to EEK about. I just ran out of subject lines to reel you in. Gotcha! Just reporting on a day-in-the-life-of.

Min Chan would teach the last ten to fifteen minutes of class today, so that was nice. Of course it was in Korean, but I'm letting that one go. He asked me later what I thought about English immersion classes, as Gyeonggi-do Education Office is thinking of following this pattern for future years of education. I told him that if the basics are taught FIRST, then immersion is possible and could be quite effective. But if not, then the students are bound to struggle, and will most likely fail.

Some salesman came into the teacher's lounge to loan the teacher's a new Blokus game. Blokus is a board game with simple rules, but difficult strategy. This was confusing, so I asked one of the teachers when the man was going to come back to collect the game, and he said "I don't know. Maybe we can keep it." Haha...weird.

Min Chan is the leader of a Boy Scout Troop. This winter he will take them skiing. So, after lunch, many salesmen come to see him about various programs and resorts in other provinces.

I used to be shocked by Korean discipline. Now I just have to kinda snicker when a student comes in the teacher's lounge during or after lunch to hand in a dissatisfactory paper. Because the teacher will then just motion for the student to bend his or her head down so they can pull on that student's hair. Then the student will say something and the teacher will raise his or her hand, and the student will run away. It's all kinda done in a humorous, somewhat painful way.

Mashed sweet potato with ketchup and cheese, rice, bean sprout soup, kimchee, and some kind of meat mixture. I just opted for the soup and potato thing. I really want to bring my own lunch, but they don't have a microwave, so if I wish to do so, it must be cold. Since it is about 60F or so in school these days, I wanna eat something warm. Thirty-five thousand won a month on half a lunch a day. I never eat the whole lunch menu and never get seconds. Oh well, I suppose.

Need to go shopping today. I forgot to bring my cart to school, so I suppose I will just get milk. Eek..carrying cold milk home in my cold hands when it's really cold outside...not looking forward to it. HomePlus stopped selling plastic bags for groceries, so I just use my backpack or cart.

I made it!

Saturday was a bust, as I didn't go hiking anywhere. Shucks.....lady-time's a bummer and a definite activity-killer. Eh, well. I cleaned. That night I went to meet this guy named Justin who I had found on Facebook. He works at English Village in Deabu-do, which is apparently an island near Oido. He gets picked up by his school every morning and dropped off in Siheung every night. He lives hear Oido station, but he was coming from Ansan, so we met at Jeongwang and had some smoothies at Paris Baguette. I am totally turned off by coffee these days. I mean, I never even drank the stuff until college, and even then, it was the ridiculously sweet junk you get at Starbucks and such. Koreans drink way to much of it. There are two-three story coffee houses on every corner in Seoul. And if you go near down-town, you might see five in a row. Holly's, Coffee Bean, Nescafe, Starbucks, Tom&Tom's, and more! Anyway, back to Justin. Seems like a great guy. Majored in History, but has his certificate in teaching, much like what can happen in Florida. In other words, he's legit. Of course, bless his heart, he though that is what he'd be doing here.. Boy was he sorely mistaken. He sees right through their lack of professionalism, which, btw, isn't usually the case in public schools.

I woke up at 6:40am, way too late to catch the train, way too late to make it to Itaewon by 9am, and way too late to meet up with Alida who had agreed to go with me. Well, she wasn't so happy, and rightfully so, but at that point, there was nothing I could do. I cleaned, which by the way, needs to happen like everyday in my apartment due to its size, and then got ready for church in Ansan. Left the house by 10am to catch the train by 10:40am so that I could be in Ansan by 11am, and church by 11:30am. Saw June, a Korean friend of mine, and talked with her for a while before going out to lunch with Justin and some other new guys from church. Determined to finally go to this church in Itaewon, I hopped on the train by 3:30pm so that I could make it to church in time for the 5pm service.

Every building in Korea is usually incredibly close together, which means there isn't much, if any, space to build out, so they must build up. Likewise, this church is five stories, with each story usually consisting of one portion (dining room on one floor, classrooms on another, and the sanctuary on another). Not too many people were at the service, but everyone that was there was incredibly welcoming. Too bad I couldn't stay for the whole service. I just thought it was an hour, but turns out it was three or more. I had no problem with staying for that long of a service, but my home was 2 hours awaywith one transfer, and when it gets late, I usually have to wait longer for a train that goes all the way to Oido. One hour worship, one hour sermon, and thirty more minutes of worship before I felt like I had to leave. I still didn't get home until 10:30pm, which means after a shower and crunches, I didn't get in bed until 11:10pm, and who nkows when I actually feel asleep. I was a zomby today. Hmm...a church that offers two services, one that is soo early I would loose sleep getting there on time, and one that is sooo late I would loose sleep staying there. What a pickle! I suppose the point is, I made it. I couldn't socialize with anyone there because I left, but, perhaps next time, eh?

The count-down to my return begins. I just finished making a 28-hoop long chain, signifying the 28 wks left until I am coming home!! I don't think they have construction paper, so I just look plain white computer paper and colored it with colored pencils. I didn't have regular tape, so I cut up the big roll into tiny tape pieces. This Friday, I will cut my first piece....yah!! I have loved my time in Korea. I love getting to know the culture and the people. I love making Korean friends, as long as they can speak broken English. There is nothing I really miss more than real relationships and being a dietitian. I'm bored with my job, there are no foreigners (or Koreans that speak English) that live near me, and I'm lonely. That is why I can't wait until I only have but one hoop left.

My friend Chorong, who is currently going to college in Seoul, will be taking her TOFEL test this week, and is very nervous about it. International students wishing to attend an American university, must pass this test. Some students wish to come to the US and enroll in an ESL program prior to taking the exam, but Chorong wants to go straight to school in the US, so opted to take the TOFEL here in Korea. She finishes her test on Halloween, so, afterwards, we will celebrate in Seoul. Jonggak station at 6pm...probably won't make it to the morning service at church..

Clowns

You wouldn't believe what I've been doing before class starts each period! I'm handing out awards from this past June's midterm English exam. It's about time! Each kid gets a pencil with an English phrase on it (courtesy of mom) with their award. Honestly, I had no idea whether or not the kids liked 'em. No happiness, no excitement, and when I was finished, they just went back to talking and carrying on as usual. I did get one thank you though. Later, I asked Min Chan if he though the kids liked them or not. He said yes, but I wouldn't have known. Koreans show emotion with their mind, which means you can't see it, while Americans show emotion with their face, voice, and actions. Apparently they were returning to their homeroom teachers and showing off their awards, which indicates to me, they must have like them. I had class 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, and 6-5 today. I will give the remainder of the awards over the next two days. The next exam is scheduled for December. I'm hoping that we can have a more speedy outcome.

Gyeonggi-do Education Office picked Songeun Elementary to participate in one of their experiments. So, one week prior, everyone was told they will have an open class on Thursday involving reading. So, English, Math, PE, and others had to somehow fit this into their curriculum...weird. Every class was taking place at 2pm as an "after-school" class, so that other teachers could come and observe. Min Chan actually took the reigns on this one, so I was pretty impressed. After we discussed ideas, we wrote up the lesson plan, and created the materials we needed.

Clowns. I was reading about clowns. On the right of the board was the "morning" (now afternoon) letter. On the far left were the lesson objectives, schedule, and what not for the visitors to read. In the middle of the board was the vocabulary taken from the story. Greeting, letter, rules, I read , read & repeat, students read, talk about vocabulary, play bingo. Each student had to listen to me describe each vocabulary word in order to fill in their card prior to playing the game. Example "They wear big, bright red noses and like to make people smile;" Answer is "Clowns." Only three people showed up at various times during the lesson. Shame..all that preparation (who'm I kidding?!) for nothing....

I gave a private English lesson to this guy I met in Emart the other day. In exchange for me tutoring him on Wednesdays from 8:40-9:40pm, he tutors me in Korean at that same time on Thursday nights. However, he has no idea that I don't speak Korean, so even if he buys me a Korean book for little children, it doesn't help. The book he bought uses past, present, and future, as well as compound sentences, when I don't even know the language. While I'm certain that this is appropriate for a Korean child, its not for me.

Saturday evening I met Chorong at Jeongwang station and walked back to my house where I had pasta prepared. Finally, someone to eat my food. Of course, I can barely cook for two in my tiny pot without water constantly boiling over even on low temp. But we had dinner together and talked...a lot...until late when I walked her back to the station. Interesting fact though. I found out why I pay a deposit on my apartment though. My deposit has nothing to do with the condition of the inside of my apartment like in the US. Instead, it is just insurance in the event I can no longer pay the increasing price of my current apartment. In that case, my manager will give the money back to me so that I can look for another place to live. I am so relieved!! I was kind of stressed because I didn't know what condition my apartment should be in when I leave, since it was really dirty, had stickers on the cabinets, stains on the carpet upstairs, and smoke on the walls when I came. Bless her heart, did Chorong have a time explaining that one. But I was really grateful for it...

I had every intention of going to this church in Iteawon on Sunday. However, I ended waking up thirty minutes after I should have been on the subway...shucks! I met Alida there for coffee later anyway. We caught up on things, and later went to the opera near City Hall. I had never been to the opera before, but it was Alida's major in South Africa, so I thought I would go with her. The most expensive seats were 200,000W and the cheapest were 20,000W....big difference, eh? So, we got non-english subtitle seats. Since it was sung in French, I had no idea what was happening, but the live music and theatrical entertainment was nice. We were kinda kicking ourselves for not buying the English seats. They do Broadway plays at the same place, however, many performances are in Korean and done by Koreans, even Grease and Fiddler on the Roof. I just need to live near New York City, so I can experience Broadway in English. Expensive yes, but worth it, I definitely think so.

Ridin' Solo!!

After many weeks of back-and-forth emails to and from various travel agencies in Seoul and the surrounding areas, I have purchased and printed out confirmation of my airline tickets to Chiang Mai, Thailand and Kathmandu, Nepal for the two weeks of my winter vacation. For those of you that wish to know, total prices are as follows: Expedia (3.0mil), Xanadu (2.0mil), Soho (1.5mil), KISES STA (1.3mil), & Shoestring (1.25mil + individual purchase of BKK-CNX-BKK airfare). I went with STA. I had to send in a copy of my passport, visa, and alien card, as well as fill out an International Teacher's Identification Card, or be an international student, to get the low rate. What's an extra 50,000W anyway? Sure does save me the hassle of booking my own flight to and from Chiang Mai.

No class yesterday due to a school-wide midterm. No class today due to Min Chan being a substitute for another teacher. I spent my time yesterday catching up on emails and watching on-line TV. I'm keeping up shows like Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood, Raising Hope, Glee, and Army Wives that way. Kind difficult when you don't live in the states and your videos keep getting ripped from their sites due to copyright infringement...errgh! Today I have printed out numerous articles from the American Diabetes Association's webpage on new 2010 clinical practice recommendations, guidelines, revisions, news, etc. Now I must take on the task of reading it all. When I get back to the states, its KA's career take two....we'll see how that goes.

Fireworks

This Saturday evening was the annual firework display along the Han river, which runs through Seoul, the largest city in South Korea. The show would take place from 7:30-8:45pm, best seen from Yeouido Park. Sharmila and I decided to head out to see what all the hoopla was about. Of course, to be honest, I hadn't heard of it prior to her asking me if I wanted to go. We would have to transfer from line 4 (home) to Samjakji Station on line 6 and then to Gongdeok on line 5 before arriving at Yeouinaru Station, where we could walk to Yeouido Park. Well, turns out there was an easier route...oops!

Once on line 4, even at Oido and Jeonwang, there were tons of people on the train, which was so baffling to us, as the subway isn't usually crowded until we get closer to Seoul. Well, each stop closer, more and more people piled on. Once we arrived at line 5 to head to Yeouinaru, the lines to get on the subway were rediculously long! I mean, Korea, Seoul in particularly, is crowded. But these lines were so long that there were police in the station to regulate the pushing and shoving on and off the subway. Now, I've been on subways that were so crowded you couldn't fall over if you tried because you were packed in like sardines, but this was worse.

One by one, Sharmila and I watched as four trains passed and we got closer and closer to the front of the line to get on the train. Well, I've learned to become excellent at the skill of snaking my way through people, so when it came to the fifth train, I squeezed my way on the train, feeling at though the top of my body was no long attached to the bottom because they were kinda in two different places. I could hardly stand up straight, much less turn around to see if Sharmila was there. "Ok...two stops..." I thought. The conductor made an annoucement followed by much groaning by everyone on the train... Well, I certainly had no idea what this meant, but no one was happy about it. Then I heard this Korea explain to his foreign friend that they were going to pass Yeouinaru because there were too many people in the station...nice.... When I got off at the following station, I called Sharmila to tell her not to get off at Yeouinaru, but to get off at the next station, Yeouido. "Shut up! This massive amount of people are for real going to see a fireworks show!!" We had planned to have dinner prior to the event, but since we were stalled on in the station for so long, we just grabbed some Kimbahp (Korean sushi roll with pickled radish, vegetable, and either spam, tuna, pork, beef, or chicken) and a drink from Family Mart (a popular convenience store). I had no idea what was in my roll though. I had the choice between red, green, or blue packaging, all with Korea on them, so I chose green. I think there was tuna there, but I'm not sure...it was dark...

Following the crowd, like cattle we were herded out of the station, and along the streets (to where?...I wasn't sure). After hearing the first BANG, we found a niche alongside the road, and stopped to watch with the crowd. Well, seemed to be that every time we thought we finally found a spot where no one would push us out of the way, we were sorely mistaken. So, eventually annoyed by this, we followed the herd elsewhere. Oh, so there's the park. We shuffled our way through the crowd, hoping no to step on those that had already found a spot, and eventually landed us an amazing peaceful location in the center of the park....in excellent view of the show!! Away from the craziness of the crowd, we were able to enjoy a nice International Fireworks presentation with great music that was in perfect sync with the display.

Sharmila and I were in no hurry to move when the show was over, so we just chatted for a bit whilst chilling on the grass. Once up and moving again, we decided to walk around, find a restroom and coffee house, and relax a bit before heading home. And, as expected, everyone was once again herded like cattle along the street to each subway station. Sharmila and I, finally spotting A Twosome Place, a nice coffee, cake, and Tea shop, we strolled in to order. All the while, policemen outside were patrolling the number of people going in the station and on the subway, as well as those crossing the street and traffic. Lucky for us two people stood up from their table just as our order came up. I figured local restaurants and vendors had to prepare for this night in advance in order to service the increase in costumers.

After an interesting discussion on Christianity and Hinduism while sipping our Dahlgi Fraps (strawberry smoothies), we finally got up and headed towards the station, as it was already 10pm, and the last train to Oido was perhaps at 11pm. Wow...no policemen telling us when we can enter the station.... So, we stuffed ourselves back on the train, going back the way that we came. Once at line 4, we waited, as usually, as both the trains bound for Ansan and Sadang passed before the train bound for Oido arrived. Ah...line 4....bound for home sweet home!!

Dumbie me missed my stop and ended up at Oido with Sharmila. Hoping into a taxi with three people already in it (they were short on taxis that night), I showed the driver my alien card with my address and he said that he understood. Taking me on some highway where I didn't need to be, I just kept my mouth shut, thinking that one of the other people must need to go further then me. One person leaves and pays, then another, then again, and then he drops me off somewhere near, even though it was the wrong place. I paid the man, and got out of the car. I had no idea where I was. So, two taxis later, I paid 14,000 Won to get home just caused I missed my station... I felt like such an idea. Finally, at 1:30am, I arrived home, and called mom and dad to chat for bit before going to sleep at 2am. Of course, this is the usual time to get home if I go into Seoul for the evening.

The next morning I woke up at 10:50am, jumped out of bed, got ready, and rushed to Jeonwang Station to meet Chorong's family in Gojan-dong in Ansan for lunch, stopping at E-Mart along the way to buy some mocha bread. Chorong text me to meet her in Jungang-dong instead. Turns out her grandmother of 90 years had fallen and either fractured or broken her rib, so we would have to postpone our meeting. So Chorong and I sat and starbucks and talked for about 3 1/2 hours. Oh, and has anyone tried the Espresso Chip Frappicino? It's amazing!!

No class tomorrow due to a school-wide midterm exam, so I'll just be bench warmin'.

English Song Contest

Every so often, Songwoon Elementary has an English contest of some sort that they recruit me for. However, I'm pretty sure I should, but don't, get paid for them. This time, the kids were competing singing English songs. One duet, probably third grade, sang "Holly Jolly Christmas" while wearing adorable little Santa's helpers dresses. Another adorable duo wore what appeared to be dance costumes made to look like cottage-style dresses and sang "She'll be coming 'Round the Mountain When she comes." Both their mothers were in the room 10min prior to the competition fixing hair and doing makeup as if this were in deed a real live dance performance. An older duo sang "Lucy" by Brittany Spears, and a really talented girl (fifth grade I guess) sang "Over the Rainbow." I enjoyed this competition the most. Even with the sometimes poorly pronounced English, it was entertaining. One cute little chubby kid sang "If You're Happy and You Know It," and didn't even know the words...hehe! "If you're happy and you know it, da da da.....If you're happy and you know it, and sha sue da la ow ed....." Cute though.

Ok, so the whole relaxing thing. Well, apparently that's not possible. I am my mother's daughter, and thinking too much is what we do. Although, I am my father's daughter, and flying by the seat of our pants with no worries is what we do. I try and exist with a happy medium.

I am very close to booking a flight for my winter vacation. If all goes well, I will be leaving Incheon, SK on January 16, 2011 with the intention of spending one week in Thailand and one week in Nepal. One agency can get me a flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, and another is leaving me to find a connecting flight or take the train/bus on my own. I wouldn't mind taking the train/bus option, as I have a friend Ta, who lives in Bangkok and is currently working in Seoul, that I met in Jeju with mom. It would be nice to see her and walk around Bangkok together before going to do my own thing in Chiang Mai. However I was told the bus would take overnight. A flight would take just under an hour, and cost about 70,000 for a round trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai an back. Sounds like a great option, however I can't seem to find flights that work with the times of my other flights...arrgh! I'll let you know how this works out.

Someone next door to me, or who knows, maybe downstairs (concrete and steal isn't sound-proof ya know), must have irritated their dog, cause it won't stop yipping. You see, the dogs in Korea are way too tiny to ever actually bark.

The day after I dropped mom off at the airport was Monday..which mean I went straight to work, sad that my mom wasn't their to greet me when I got home. However, today was the first non-working day without my mom, which meant my house was quite empty and sad without her glowing face. I came downstairs, but sadly did not find my mom sitting on the coach next to an open window knitting her afghan. I spent today cleaning, doing laundry, washing dishes, etc. I love living in Korea, but I don't particularly like living so far away from my parents. It's nice to know that I don't need them, but I just want them.