Go, Dog, Go

When I first found out I was teaching reading and phonics I was bit overwhelmed. I student taught in 2nd grade and I didn’t have to teach phonics from the beginning stages. I felt this internal stress that if these children couldn’t read it was all my fault. On the flip side I was also told that I would have the most rewarding class because you can see the progress the kids are making. It wasn’t until the end of July, beginning of August when I started to teach vowels that I began to really understand what people had been saying to me. The classes were beginning to take what we had been working on in class, and using it on their own. It is one thing for the students to sound words out with me helping them or doing it as a class, but actually seeing them do it on their own is a whole other experience. One day a few weeks ago I had Cedar class (Toriann’s class and the only class who spoke no English in March) and one of the student’s Ricky, had finished his work early and we only had about 5 minutes in class left, so I told him to get a book from the classroom library. He chose “Go, Dog, Go.’” Growing up this was my favorite book and the first book I read on my own. I have never read this book to the class, but I have it in our classroom library because it has small, simple words to sound out and I enjoy the book. Well Ricky, who is by far one the cutest 6 year old boys we have, started reading this book out loud. This was a boy who for the first month of school said only said a few token phrases he heard from us teachers. His first month at school we called him the “opps, sorry” boy because that’s all the English he knew. We all loved Ricky at this point and he just continued to grow in his use of the English language. Fast forward 6 months later and Ricky is reading “Go, Dog, Go” on his own. I stopped what I was doing and went and sat next to him, and just smiled and listened to him read. Ricky is a smart boy, and so I know not all his reading ability came from our 40 minutes a day in class together, but I do take a little pride in his achievement of reading.
Throughout my 6 months of teaching I have had moments where I doubt that I should really be a teacher. I would get frustrated and feel like I was losing my patience and wasn’t even sure I was teaching them anything. This past month though I can see how the students are using what we have practiced in phonics class and applying it to reading class. I have learned a great deal about what I would do differently if I taught this again, but I am finally feeling at peace with my decision to teach, and in coming to Korea to teach. I also learned a great deal about myself in the process. When it comes to teaching I have these unrealistic expectations where I expect change so quickly with the students. I also expect perfection within myself in teaching. When I finally realized this was my issue and could let go of these thoughts, it made teaching all that much easier and more enjoyable.
My other student who I have seen great change in is Brian. Brian came to school in May and was completely spoiled by his parents. He couldn’t eat on his own and would do everything in the slowest manner possible; mostly I think to annoy me! I quickly learned he is an extremely bright child, which actually made me more upset with him that he wouldn’t do things on his own. Well I was incredibly hard on him these past few months to become more independent and not to throw temper tantrums when he didn’t get his way. Ever since break he has been more independent and listens when I tell him to do something. There are still those times he is told more than once, but he is so much better than he was before. All his little “Brianism” as we call them, are now much more adorable because he actually does his work and follows directions. I never actually thought I would get to the point with Brian where I world miss him on days when he was sick and I never thought Brian would get to the point of being so independent.
I posted a few pictures of my class. Birthdays, swim days, Star of the Week sharing, and random cute moments. Enjoy =)

DMZ- Peace, Beauty and Hope

When I first thought of coming to South Korea I really didn’t know a great deal about South and North Korea. I knew North Korea was dangerous and had poor human rights for its citizens, but I honestly did not too much about its history and why the peninsula of Korea was divided. My only other experience of coming to a place where it was a divided nation was my summer spent in The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. With this past experience, I assumed the two Koreas were similar in their reasons for being divided. Simply put Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland split because the people of both countries deciding they had different religious beliefs and wanted to follow the government that had their similar belief. However, after doing some research before coming to Korea I learned it was a completely different reason for the separation of the countries here. Again, simply put, without going into great detail, it was because a difference in ideologies and beliefs that led Korea to a North and South. However, the people of Korea had no say in what Korea they resided in; it was purely based on where they lived at the time. North Korea today is run by a totalitarian, one party leader, where the government has complete control over every aspect of its people.
Here are a few things I have learned since coming to Korea about North Korea.

• It has been stated that North Korea has the worst human rights in the
world.
• North Korea has the 5th largest Army in the world and the world’s largest
standing Army. North Korea has the highest percentage of military personnel
per capita of any nation in the world, with approximately 1 enlisted soldier
for every 25 citizens.
• It is the most isolated country in the world. North Koreans have no access
to world news, computers, radios, television, etc.

When there have been North Koreans who make it to South Korea, they are always amazed by how South Korea life actually is. In North Korea they are told living conditions are even worse in the South and they are fortunate to be in North. South Korea has progressed in its economy and way of life at a fast rate since the 50’s and it is nowhere near the same country people would have remembered when it was a unified peninsula.

Knowing all this ahead of time before I actually went to the DMZ was what made the whole experience so surreal and disturbing. Tours of the DMZ include any number of tunnels that the North Koreans built to attack the South. I had a chance to go into two of the tunnels. It is incredible how long and wide these tunnels are and the South Korean government believes there are more tunnels being built and constructed daily. Tours also take you to numerous viewing spots where you can see North Korea and its capital. You can’t take any pictures of the capital or even the closest parts of North Korea, so I have none to show. But I do have a few pictures from another viewing point where you can see North Korea in the distance. North Korea also set up a “town” to show from one of the viewpoints. This town is supposed to show a peaceful, prosperous country where life is good. Although everyone is aware it is a mock town and in actuality it is used for military to sleep in.
The actual area of the DMZ is beautiful. It is about 2 ½ miles wide and 151 miles long. Since no one inhabits this land, it is extremely persevered and absolutely breathtaking to view. There are many endangered animals that are able to be preserved on this land because it hasn’t been touched in over 50 years. This too is part of what is so disturbing about the whole experience. You are looking out onto some of the most amazing landscape you will ever see, and then realize it is only on the other side that people are experiencing the worst human rights in the world and have no freedom at all.

Along with many of the tours you go on you sit through various videos put on by the South Korean side of the DMZ. Again, these videos were surreal. It barely touched on the reason a DMZ was even needed and focused on the beauty of the area instead. And each one ended with the idea that one day it would be a unified peninsula again. The slogan all over the DMZ at each observation deck was “Peace, beauty and hope.” One thing I have learned over my 6 months in Korea is how Koreans don’t always acknowledge the real issues. Instead, much of Koreans pretend everything is just great, without trying to address and change real issues. This experience to the DMZ had that same feeling for me; that one day everything will be peaceful, but to achieve this peace no one is ever going to address the real issues.

While touring the DMZ I felt completely safe. It was quiet and calm, and at every check point the Korean military were happy to see us. They all seemed so young and bored just standing there. They would often wave at us from a distance. This too made you forget why you were there, until you see the constant land mine signs every two minutes, and then you remember why you are there and how it is potentially the scariest and most dangerous place in the world.

Beijing

I started a blog about Beijing, but have been struggling to finish it for some reason. I think partly because Beijing itself did not impress me, it was hot, humid and smoggy! We never saw the sky, and it was made me a little depressed. However, seeing all the sights that Beijing had to offer was amazing, and thus I have plenty of pictures to show. So, here are some pictures of my time in Beijing. I spent the majority of my time with Beth, Toriann and Mark. We met up a few times with Will (who teaches in Beijing and who we spent time with in Shanghai).

Sights we saw: Forbidden City, Summer Palace, two duck restaurants, Tienanmen Square and the Beijing Zoo.

If I ever get the motivation to write more about Beijing I will come back and post more!

Being a Christian in Seoul

During my six months in Seoul I have been around the least amount of Christians ever in my life. This fact alone is really not that concerning or alarming to me, but I have also never felt so personally attacked because I am a Christian. I have a good amount of people in my life who I love and respect a great deal, who do not share in my beliefs, yet we both share a mutual respect for each other and it has never once got in the way of our relationships. In fact, quite a few of these people have said on numerous occasions how they admire me more for this belief. During my six months here I have met numerous people who are atheist. This does not bother or make me uncomfortable. However, the outspoken opinions and views of those who are non believers of any faith does bother me. I do not go around saying I think people who don’t believe the way I do is wrong and that they are “irrational” or “unintelligent”. However, I am called both these things. I understand people not respecting organized religion or complaining about how people use religion in a negative way to harm others or to promote their own agendas. However, I don’t do either of those things, yet, I am placed in the same bracket as those who are. Also, most people who get to know me see I am not like this and thus can respect me and my beliefs. My family and friends don’t see my time of pray or at church as a waste of time, they instead respect me and I in turn respect them.
This year so far has taught me a great deal about myself and my own personal relationship with God. I have struggled a lot in my life with maintaining a strong relationship with Christ, and it has faltered a lot over the years. I am surprised with myself that in the face of so much opposition and doubt that is surrounding me, I am actually doing really well and feel a stronger connection to God than I have in a while. Considering I just went to church for the first time since I got here, this is saying a lot for me. I have found in the past I have used and needed church to keep this connection strong, and with the lack of church in my life I thought I would be distance. This first six months has reminded me just how fortunate I am to have the amazing friends and family I have in my life, Christian or not.

Great Wall

The Great Wall


The Great Wall is something Toriann and I have been talking about for a few years now. We always said that one day we would make there and hike the Great Wall together. When we both decided to teach in Korea we naturally assumed this would be the time to go to the Great Wall. We began planning our trip to China a few months ago and quickly realized we might not actually get to go together to the Great Wall. I was flying to Shanghai first with my cousin and Toriann was meeting Mark in Beijing. Mark and Torainn were planning on going to a guest house near the Great Wall for two nights, and it was not the part of the Wall the tour buses traveled to. Before leaving Shanghai to go Beijing Beth, Casey and I had decided we would join a tour group and head to the Great Wall on Thursday. When we got to Beijing and begun talking to Toriann and Mark they informed us their plans had changed a bit and thought it would be a good idea for us all to head to the Great Wall together and have lunch with them at their guest house. This idea made both Toriann and I very excited, it meant we were going to experience the Great Wall together after all the years of talking about it. The driver came got us at 8 am and Casey was supposed to meet us, but due to some complications she ended up not coming and it was just the four of us. We were a little unsure exactly where we were going to be dropped off once we got to the Great Wall and how much we were actually going to want to hike of it since it was so ridiculously hot! After about a 3 1/2 hour drive we arrived at the guest house. We stepped out of the van and the first thing I saw was the Great Wall. The weather turned out not to be quiet as hot as excepted and we were excited for the hike in front of us. We all decided where our final destination should be when hiking; it was the highest watch tower we could spot from the guest house. Since we were beginning the hike from the guest house, this meant there was so no one else around. The section of the Great Wall is not usually too crowded to start off with, but it is closed right now to the public unless you are staying at the guest house. They are doing some repairs to that section of the Wall, which at first made me a little nervous, but once on the Wall I realized it was just fine. The first part of the hike was probably the worst part; It had the steepest inclines of that section of the Wall. Once we finally got past this section we were drenched in sweat from head to toe, but there was a cool breeze, so it made the hike bearable. We hiked about 2 hours to get to our final spot, stopping numerous times to take pictures and just take in what we were seeing. Once we reached our final destination, we celebrated with our Oreo cookies we bought at the hostel earlier in the morning. The hike on the Great Wall was probably one of the greatest traveling moments of my life. I feel so blessed to have been able to share that moment with Toriann and my cousin. I could not have asked for better people to hike the wall with or a better experience. Before going to China I imagined I would be on some tour with 1,000s of other people trying to cram for a spot to take a picture on the Great Wall. Instead, I was able to hike the Wall without seeing another person the entire time.
After our hike we went back to the guest house where we had the best Chinese food I have ever tasted in my life. It was the perfect way to end our perfect experience on the Great Wall. Beth and I left after lunch and returned back to Beijing. On our drive back we reflected again on how surreal the whole day was and just how fortunate we were to share this moment together.

Welcome to China!

My journey to China began with my co-worker Casey and my cousin Beth; our first destination was Shanghai. The journey to get to the airport to go to China proved to be more challenging than expected and at times I was even unsure we were going to make it to Shanghai. We had to wake up at 5am to make our 8:40 flight. Between 5 and 8 more things went wrong than I could have planned for. I realized I lost my wallet(I had my passport though), Casey overslept, the first bus to the airport was full, we waited in the wrong line at the airport, and they wanted to see my Alien Registration Card before I boarded, which was in my missing wallet. We finally made it through security a little after 8, grabbed a coffee and boarded the plane! We figured everything that could go wrong on our trip happened in the first 3 hours of our morning, so our trip was bound to be great! (My wallet was returned to me a week after I got back to Seoul, only in Korea would a Taxi driver mail you your wallet)

We arrived in Shanghai around 9:30, where Casey, Beth and I met Casey's friend Will. He is teaching in Beijing and flew over to meet us in Shanghai because he hadn’t been there yet. It was so helpful having someone who understands Chinese culture and can navigate better than we can in China. We started off our trip by taking the Maglev, a fast bullet train, with speeds of 240 miles per hour. I have to admit I actually got a little scared on this! The only other one of these in the world is in Japan, which I think I will be forced to go onto again when I am there next month. We arrived at our hostel, which was one of the best hostels I have stayed at. Part of the reason I choose the hostel was because of its name, the Koala Garden Inn. And I have to say the name proved true. It was an adorable hostel, will very friendly staff members surrounded by the art district of Shanghai.

After refreshing a bit, we headed to Renmin Park, where we found a nice restaurant that over looked the pond at the park. We sat back, enjoyed a beer, and took in the scenery. Next, we headed to Park hotel, right across the street from Renmin park. We read this hotel had some amazing views of Shanghai so we figured we would see for ourselves. The hotel was beautiful and the views were just as breathtaking as the book described. After this we headed to the Bund to see more views of the city. Our goal was to go on a boat cruise since it was sunny and clear out, but we accidentally bought tickets for a ferry instead. The ferry was crowded and all in doors, we quickly bailed and deiced it was ok to lose the 40 cents the ticket cost us. We headed back to Renmin Park, where we had seen Happy hour signs for a restaurant attached to the Art Museum. Taking taxis in China is an experience in itself. First, the drivers speak no English at all, and even when you show them on a map., written in Mandarin, they still can’t figure out where you want to go. I am very thankful for Will being there and having some experience with taxi drivers. Also, everything in China is cheap, including taxi rides. The average cost for a taxi ride was about $1.50. When we arrived at the Art Museum we had a little trouble finding the actual restaurant but once we did, we understood what all the hype was about. The restaurant was on roof top of the museum with an amazing view of the city. They weren’t really too eager to serve us the happy hour menu, but after some convincing on our parts, they finally gave in! Although extremely overpriced and snobby, the view made up for everything else.
Our second day in Shanghai was the definitely the highlight of our time in Shangahi. We started off going to the Bazaar. Here we learned the art of negotiation. It was a game to see how low we could make the shop owners go to get what we wanted. Beth and I definitely bought our share of goods that day. We learned what happens when you insult them with too low of a price and how when you walk away 9 times out of 10 they follow you and give you the price you want! After the Bazaar we went to Yuyuan Gardens and feed the fish in the ponds. We then headed to the Bund again to take the sightseeing tour. This was the most ridiculous experience ever! The book described it as such, but to actually go on it is like nothing I can even explain accurately. It is an underground gondola that transports you to one side the river to the other. You go through numerous psychedelic light rooms, some of the ones I remember are: “The Magma Room” and my favorite “Paradise and Hell.” When they said this last one everyone on the gondola stopped and became silent and then just burst out in laughter. Other highlights included blow up Santa dolls. It was a mind blowing experience, and well worth every penny! Once on the other side of the river we walked to Jin Mao tower, China’s second largest building. The plan was head to the observation deck on the 88th floor, but the line was too long and we were tired and hungry. Instead we headed to the 87th floor at the Cloud 9 bar. We enjoyed an experience drink and took in the views. I recently decided that I am skyline snob and really appreciate pretty skylines. I compare most to Seattle, but Shanghai may outrank Seattle in the most breathtaking category. At the end of the day we all agreed this was a perfect day and we couldn’t have asked for a better day together.

Day three in Shanghai, also out last day, was a bit more of a culture shock experience. We went to the Jade Buddha temple. I have never been to a Buddhist temple before, but I have been to other religious temples and thought I knew what to expect. I can usually find some sort of peace and spiritual experience at any religious building despite it not being Christian. However, at the Jade Buddha temple I had an uneasy feeling the whole time we were there. From the moment we walked in all it was a shopping experience and the workers of the temple trying to push merchandise on us. There was nothing spiritual about this place at all. Even in the various rooms where people were supposed to pray to Buddha, they were selling items and taking really loudly. I saw some people who I am assuming were Buddhist kneeling and doing their ritual practices, but even so it seemed like such a production and show. Then, to see the actual Jade Buddha we had to be extra money. I didn’t want to out of principal for how sacrilegious the whole experience was, but I chose to only to say I went there and no one should waste their money. The Jade Buddha was a sigh to see, but not worth the rest of the experience. I left feeling like I had lost something in myself by how corrupt the whole experience was. I want to go to another Buddha temple because I can’t imagine them all being this disrespectful to Buddhism.


After this experience we found a local Chinese restaurant where Will ordered us some amazing Chinese food! We enjoyed a long lunch and then headed back to the hostel before we left for our over night train to Beijing. I was sad to leave Shanghai, but excited to meet up with Toriann and Mark in Beijing!

Open Class

Two weeks ago we had a day called, “Open Class.” This is a day when the parents come in and watch their child for a few hours. We found out about open class a month and a half before the actual day. The fact that we found out about this so far in advance led me to believe this must be important. It is a common trait for my school, along with most Korean schools, to not give much advance notice of events or deadlines. We had to come up with a lesson plan a month before open class and meet with the director to discuss it. Since the 6 year old teachers rotate classes throughout the day, we would be teaching our lesson 4 times to all four of our classes, and four sets of parents. With the little interaction I have had with Korean Moms I knew this could potentially be disastrous. One problem I have with the Korean culture is that no one ever takes responsible or excepts blame for a given problem. The fault is always directed at someone else .Knowing this made me a little apprehensive about how any potential problem with a child would be with placed on us teachers.
The atmosphere in our school the weeks leading up open class was one of stress. The Korean teachers got the brunt of the stress and I felt bad for them. I felt confident with my lesson and my only worry was how the students would react with their Mom’s watching them. The kids act different with the foreigner teachers than they do with the Korean teachers, so already I was expecting a difference in their behavior.
The day of open class finally came and I have to say overall the day went pretty well. My first two classes were a little quieter than normal, but after a little while they began to speak up and did really well. The last two classes, who are the two lower level classes, acted the same as they normally do. My only problem came in Toriann’s class, which is my last class. One of the boys has been acting up more than normal in all of our classes and he did the same in front of his Mom. Being that I was their last class and they normally have lunch before my class, but the schedule was all messed up due to the parents being at school, may have lead to part of the problem too. I think the kids were a little tired at this point, and Kevin was no different. From the moment Kevin walked into my classroom he was bothering someone. He started with Ricky, poking him, hitting him, just annoying him. His Mom stepped in right away, which I thought would stop his behavior. It didn’t though. He kept bothering Ricky, so I stepped in and told him to stop. He did, but then moved on to the next person to bother. By this point his Mom had stopped trying and so I had to step in again. I finally gave him a warning that maybe he couldn’t finish the activity if he couldn’t leave his friends alone. That worked, but Kevin’s Mom didn’t appreciate that too much. The Mom ended up complaining about me claiming I said Kevin’s name too much during the classroom. I didn’t really have a lot to say to that because I did say his name a lot, he was hitting other children so I told him to stop! Although, Ricky’s Mom liked me a lot and thought I was a great teacher. I laughed a little because at least the Mom of the child who I was helping not get hurt by Kevin liked me.
Another result of working in a Korean school is that no matter what parents say, regardless of the reason why, the director will make someone come and talk to the teacher about it. So, this meant Claire, my direct supervisor had to come and speak to me about Kevin and the amount of times I said his name. Claire is amazing and knows how ridiculous all of this is and has seen Kevin in action before, so knows his behavior. She came and told me what happened and really didn’t say anything else because she knew I didn’t do anything wrong. It bothered me a lot mostly because I like people to like me, and if they chose not to, I want it to be for a real reason, and not because their son was acting up and I wouldn’t let him. Claire had said the director was going to talk to me about it, but I knew she never would because everyone knew I didn’t do anything wrong. And I was right; she never spoke to me about it. However, Gordon, who I appreciate more than he realizes, defended me in our staff meeting. The director wanted us to go around and discuss how open class went. Well, Gordon likes to defend us in his own little way, slipping in little comments here and there in meetings. This time it was me he defended. He talked about how the students that act up normally for us did just that when their parents were there. He then went on to list names of the students who acted up in his class, one being Kevin, and went on to say that he used Kevin’s name often during class because he was misbehaving. It meant a lot to me to have Gordon do this because the director respects him a lot and listens and trusts Gordon a great deal.
Open class is over and work has been a lot less stressful ever since! A little update on my class. Brian, my new boy who didn’t even know how to use utensils when he first came to school has grown a great deal in the last two months. He still needs a great deal of attention, but he is becoming more and more independent everyday, and it’s been great to see how all the work we have been doing with him is paying off. My other semi-new boy, Jayden, is great. He was a little handful at first, but I truly love this kid. I sometimes look at my students and think how much I will miss them, and Jayden is one I will definitely miss the most. He is a very sweet natured child and really does try and help others, he just has too much energy at times. Today we had a field trip and yesterday at lunch the kids took it upon themselves to decide who everyone’s partner should be on the field trip. Jayden decided he should be my partner and all the kids agreed. It was really cute to see everyone’s reasoning for why each child was to be paired with whom. It is amazing how much they have grown up in the past 4 months. My other new girl, Julie, who cried for the first month and a half of school, is doing really well now. Her English is not as great as the other’s in my class, and I think that makes her quieter than she really is, but she is gaining confidence everyday and speaks up more and more.

An art show, a Palace, Ginseng chicken and the shopping capital of Seoul

One of my co-workers invited me to brunch where one of his friends was displaying some of his art work. I enjoy brunch and Koreans are not much of breakfast eaters so whenever I am invited to a brunch place I most likely will go. Toriann and I met up with our co-worker Gordon for brunch, which ended up during into lunch and a pitcher of sangria. After our lunch and sangria, we headed to Deoksugung Palace. Deoksugung Palace is the smallest of the palaces in Seoul. The palace has a mix of new and old buildings and is quite the change from other palaces in Seoul. The other palaces I have been to, I end up forgetting I am in Seoul because the grounds seem so secluded from the rest of the city. However, at this palace, you see both the traditional palace buildings, and the urban skyline. We spent a little over an hour exploring the small palace grounds and taking in some of the local folk music that was being showcased. After our visit to the palace, Gordon took us to a ginseng soup house. The soup is called Samgyetang, and translated means, ginseng and chicken soup. It is supposed to be eaten on the hottest day of the year, in August and bring you good luck. The chicken is stuffed with rice and boiled in ginseng broth. It was an experience eating this chicken with chopsticks and a spoon. I have become quite an experienced and talented chopstick user, but this was a little over my expertise. The chicken was basically just cut in half and stuffed with rice, meaning it still had all its bones. I felt like I had to work so hard just to eat the chicken! Still, it was another new Korean dish I tried and it was an experience.

Finally we walked to Myeong-dong, the shopping capital of Seoul. I had heard about this area, but had yet to visit it. It was busy, crowded, bright, and loud. It had many western stores, along with all the Korean chain stores. It was streets and streets of stores filled with people. I am not a fan of overly large and crowded places and found myself feeling slightly overwhelmed. Next time I go it will be after work sometime, and not on a Sunday evening. We ended our day by going into a little food mart and found these tiny beers called mini beers. We found this funny and thought we too should indulge in a mini beer. It was a great day spent with friends exploring more of the city.

World Cup Mania

It has been a long time since I last blogged. I think about it often, but it has been a busy month and every time I think about starting to write it is usually right about the time I should be going to bed and so I never start. Well, this month has been quite a month filled with mostly good adventures with a few challenges mixed into it. It is almost hard to know where to start, and most likely I will break this blog into a few blogs because I will get too overwhelmed writing it all. I will start with the World Cup mania I have experienced in Seoul.
It is a safe bet to say that of all the countries in the World Cup America is one of the least enthusiastic supporters of the sport. The fact that we are the only ones to call it soccer and not football says a lot in itself. Well the country of Korea goes crazy for the World Cup! Being that I am here in Seoul, I thought it best to join in the enthusiasm of the World Cup and cheer Korea on. The day of the games the whole country stops its normal daily routine and goes into World Cup pandemonium. The first South Korea game Toriann, Casey, Megan and I met up with one of my new friends and his co-workers at a bar in Itaewon and watched the game. The crowd was a fairly decent mix of foreigners and Koreans. It is amazing how easily I can get caught up in a sport and truly enjoy watching it. I think I get this trait from my Mom! This evening of watching the World Cup was the beginning of our obsession with the World Cup. South Koreans have a cheer they say, which in English means, “Go Korea.” My kids taught me the cheer and clap one day at school so I was better prepared to join in the next time I watched a game. The next World Cup game with Korea in it was on a Thursday evening so Toriann and I headed to a bar in our co-workers neighborhood after yoga and this place quickly became our new favorite place to watch the games. We returned there the following night to watch the U.S. and then again the next night to watch North Korea. We also went on Monday and Tuesday of the following the week, making that five times in a manner of one week. The girls who work there now know us and our beer preference. The last time we went to Orange Tree (or as I refer to as Orange town) was for the night of the South Korea game and then a few hours later to the U.S. game. It was quite a depressing evening since both teams lost. We are headed there again tonight (Saturday) for the Germany vs. Argentina game.
Through this time of the world cup I gained a new insight into how South and North Koreans feel about each other. I assumed that South Koreans would not be cheering for North Korea. However, I quickly learned this was not the case. South Koreans were very upset when North Korea lost. While we were at Orange town watching the game there were a few Koreans there cheering for North Korea. This was my first clue that I was mistaken in who South Koreans would cheer for. On Monday I went to work and talked with some of my Korean co-workers and they expressed their sadness for North Korea losing. Through my conversations and observations I learned that South Koreans still feels attach to North Koreans since it was really not that long ago that were one country. Many South Koreans have family in North Korea and thus want to support them. It is really just the government they do not support, and rightfully so. Being from the U.S. and only knowing what I hear in the U.S. news about South and North Korea I never would have understood this or ever thought this to be true. When I have these moments and learn something new about a culture and country it reminds me why I enjoy traveling so much and why it’s so important to me.

Update on life in Korea

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I realized I haven’t really written about my life here in Korea for a while. I have had a few changes to report on. First, I moved apartments. My original apartment had a problem with ants, and I had a feeling the problem was never going to go away. After a few times of my landlord coming to spray chemicals in in to my small living space, I decided I would ask about moving apartments. I was impressed by how easy it the whole move was, very unlike Korean culture to do something speedy and efficiently. Fortunately, my work pulled through for me and I moved out within a week of asking about it. My new place is about the same size, but seems larger because of the set up and furniture. My furniture is definitely nicer and my bathroom is an improvement. It is larger and the sink and shower knobs are not connected, resulting in no more accidental showers when all I really wanted to do was wash my hands. I am also living right next door to Casey, one of my co-workers and friends. This is a little awkward at times because our apartments are not all that sound proof so we can often hear each other talking on Skype. It’s a good thing we get along so well, or this could have been a bad move. All in all I am very happy with my new place and as Toriann says, “it’s has a much homier vibe.”

I am continuing to go to yoga two times a week and love it! It is amazing how bad I am at relaxing my body. I have always struggled with being able to completely relax, and yoga is a wonderful chance for me to achieve this. My yoga instructor is great; she can switch from Korean to English like it’s all the same language. I am learning a few Korean words through this as well, such as breathing, and slow. Being able to say “slow” is helpful with my classes, especially the ones who try and rush everything they do! My instructor is also great at helping me relax through breathing. I am also amazed by how my body can stretch when breathing properly. I am going to buy a yoga mat and start doing yoga on my own too. We usually get to yoga a little early so we can stretch and relax before class begins. Having these 20 minutes to myself before class is truly a blessing. I have found myself using this time to reflect and pray. I know the whole point is to actually clear your mind of everything, but I am still learning this technique. I figure I might as take the time to pray than worry about teaching or other such nonsense. I think beginning yoga was one of the best decisions I could have made here in Seoul.

I decided awhile ago that I needed to volunteer somewhere while in Seoul too. Back home I taught Sunday school every Sunday and enjoyed my time with the kids. I wanted to do something here too, but since I’m not connected to a church here, I figured I had to find some other place to volunteer. I found a group that goes to a community center and tutors children who can’t afford to take English classes. These children come from single parent homes, something that is not too common in Seoul. I went last Saturday and was not really sure what to expect. I met the group at a subway stop and we ventured together on a local bus to the community center. We arrived and the kids were VERY excited to see us. I was unaware that we were supposed to bring something along with us to teach the children, because they had no curriculum available for us. We taught in groups of 3 and together my group came up with a lesson for the hour long session. Our fist group consisted of 5 children, who were incredibly hyper and excited to have us there! I have taught children who come from low income areas, but it was a whole different situation here in Seoul. Being that I am a foreigner, children already don’t give you the same respect , and they spoke very little English, and were too old to try and convince to be quiet and listen. It was quite the hour with the first group. The second group we were a little more mentally prepared for. Our second hour went much smoother, but still the kids were loud! After the two groups we had snack and walked to a local park to play with the kids. Again, they were happy we were there and even though they spoke very little English, we could communicate through playing and laugher. It was a great afternoon exploring a new part of Seoul and spending time with a new group of children. I don’t think I will commit to every Saturday until the fall because a lot is going on this summer, but I will continue to go when I am free. I will also come more prepared next time with lessons and activities!

I am slowly making new friends outside of my co-workers too. I have am fortunate to work with some great people, but it’s nice to make friends outside of them too. I have enjoyed exploring new areas of Seoul with new friends and am looking forward to continuing to meet new people. One of my new favorite places to go is a restaurant called roofers. Since it is sunny now, being outside on my days off is perfect. Roofers is in an area of Seoul called Itaewon, only a 15 minute bus ride away. I love sitting on the roof with friends and simply enjoying the sun and good company. On Tuesday we celebrated Toriann and are our co-worker, Gordon’s, birthday there. We had off on Wednesday for Election Day, so it was a great evening of relaxing on the roof and enjoying dinner and drinks with friends. Another one of my favorite activities is walking to the river and sitting in the sun. This weekend had both of these activities in them, making me a very relaxed, happy person!

This weekend I also went to a see Macbeth in Korean, with English subtitles. It was actually quite easy to follow, and you begin to realize how important body language and the way people articulate are actually important. I am not sure I would want to see all plays this way, but it was a good experience. This is a sort recap of my life here right now. I am going to try and post blogs a little more often than I have been lately!

A Day at the Zoo

I heard about our third field to the zoo about two weeks ago and got really excited. I love going to the zoo in Seattle with the kids I would nanny for and knew we were in store for a good time. Apparently in Seoul there is a sad zoo and happy zoo. There aren’t really any animal rights in Korea, so the zoos do not have to follow any rules. I kept asking which zoo we were going to and no one really knew for sure until the day before we left and I found out it was the happy zoo. Feeling better about our trip to the zoo, I was eager for the day to arrive.

The weather was great, a little warm, but not hot. We were having a picnic lunch at the zoo so the kids brought their own lunches. Of course Korean Moms being how they are over packed food and drinks for their kids. The kids were carrying around these heavy backpacks filled with at least two water bottles, juice boxes and more food to feed not only their child but at least a few other children. Liz even told the parents they would be carrying their own backpacks, so they shouldn’t put too much into them. Of course they didn’t listen because everything in Korea is based on appearances and looks and if the children didn’t have the best options for lunch, then they are seen as not as wealthy, or some crazy other thought. I could go off on this topic for a long time, but I will get back to the field trip and save that for another blog.

We arrived at the zoo around 10:45 and had about 40 minutes to wander around until the seal and dolphin show. Oak and Pine class always stay together on field trips because it makes it easier for Liz our Korean helper to take pictures of the children. I let Gordon lead since he has been to the zoo before and he led us to the monkeys first. Jayden, one of my boys, had brought a bag full of bananas to school and told me he was going to feed the monkeys. I tried to explain this probably wasn’t going to happen, but he had it in his head he was going to. I figured, well maybe you can in Korea, they have strange rules here, who knows. So we get to the monkeys and I told him again he couldn’t. Then he proceeded to ask Liz and then Gordon. After we all sad no, he had this very sad, defeated look on his face and I felt bad for him. He recovered quickly though and was on to his next crazy idea. Next we made our way to the seal and dolphin show. We had a good time at the seal and dolphin show and it reminded of the Sea World seal show. The children were funny to watch. Some got so into the show and would laugh and clap along, while others looked so serious and I am not sure they knew exactly what to make of it all. After the show we had our picnic lunch. Where, we had to throw out any leftover food because again, it’s all about appearances here and the children can’t go home looking like they didn’t eat all their food or share it with others. Some food that was unopened we saved and gave it to them after school or kept it in the teacher’s lounge for another day. After lunch we had another 40 minutes to explore the zoo some more. We only had one partner group fall down, which considering we had 19 students, we were pretty happy with the results. As we were helping the girls who feel down, I got pooped on by some birds. This incident did not surprise me at all. I can’t even count how many times this has happened to me over my lifetime!

By the end of the day the children were pretty tired. I was Brian’s partner and had to basically drag him along the last part of the trip. He was falling asleep as he was walking. If you look at the pictures of us in front of the sea otter, you can notice the boy in front of me, Brian, is slowly falling down in each picture. On the bus ride home three of my students fell asleep on me! Brian not being able to stay awake though doesn’t surprise me. He falls asleep in Gordon’s class after lunch quite often. He has even fallen asleep at lunch before too. Another annoyance in Korean culture is that they don’t make their child go to bed a certain time. The kids go to bed whenever they feel like it, causing many of our children to be exhausted at school. This is ironic because these same parents expect their child to read, write and be at an academic level that is beyond a 4 or 5 year old. Again, I have digressed, I will write another blog about all this someday. All in all though the zoo was a success and I can’t wait until the next field trip.

Buddha’s birthday equals a weekend at the beach

When I first heard about Buddha’s birthday, I thought, where should I go over the long weekend? What I was unaware of was this is the same belief the rest of South Korea had. After a few days of trying to find flights everywhere from Japan to Cambodia, I quickly realized this was a plan that was not going to happen. My friends and I gave up and decided to stay in Seoul and explore the city a little more. Two weeks ago I got the idea to look up train tickets to Busan, the second largest city in South Korea. I heard they were selling out quickly, but I figured I might as well look into it. I found a 10 pm train and a hostel right away. I chatted over Skype with both Toriann and Casey and asked what they thought; they both gave me an overwhelming “Yes!” So I bought the tickets, booked the hostel and called our other friend Megan to convince her to come as well.

Our weekend at the beach, despite a few days of bad weather, was wonderful! First, I love taking trains, so that in itself was a great time. We did get asked to talk a little softer; I guess our laughing was too much for the Koreans around us. On Friday we spent the day at the beach and it was amazing. It was perfect beach weather. The four of us girls spent the afternoon laying out, playing card games, doing crossword puzzles, reading, and swimming in the sea. I don’t think I could have asked for a better afternoon than Friday. It was truly a day filled with genuine friendship and laughter, something I have been missing from my friends at home. We left the beach and headed back to our hostel to shower and change to go for the evening and find some dinner. When we got back to our hostel we met our two new roommates. Two guys who are here teaching English as well. They were with a lager a group and we ended up spending the evening with them. That evening when we were all going to sleep we stayed up for hours telling ridiculous stories and laughing. In all my hostel stays, I have never had more entertaining roommates. It all added to the perfect day we had been having.
Saturday’s weather did not cooperate like Friday and it rained ALL day. We ventured out a little before noon before the rain had really started with the hope it would stop raining and the sun would come out. Our plan was to go to a restaurant on the beach and wait out the rain. Again, we had the same idea as the rest of Busan. We spent hours eating lunch and playing card games. While we were playing games, we met a group of foreign teachers from England. We played some card games with them for awhile, before deciding the rain was never going to stop and headed home around 8 to shower and get warm and dry! Megan and Toriann were too tired to go out, but Casey and I wanted to meet up with some people we knew from Seoul. We showered and got dried off from the rain, only to experience the rain again. I think I am spoiled by Seattle rain. We rarely have more than a drizzle and it hardly storms quite as hard as it does here in South Korea. I think the summer monsoon season is going to be hard for me.
We headed back to Seoul on Sunday after a long brunch at a nearby restaurant to our hostel. Even though it rained two out of the three days we were there, I had a wonderful time. I realized I really miss simply being with my friends from home and enjoying our time together. This weekend I felt like I had that time and it was truly needed and appreciated.

Sadly, I didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few.

Don’t worry, be happy!

Jayden, one of my students goes around saying, “don’t worry, be happy” all the time. I have decided to take this motto and put it into practice in reference to North Korea. I know people at home read the newspapers and watch the news and hear about the new turmoil between North and South Korea and worry, but here in Seoul no one is really concerned. At school a few of us foreign teachers were talking after school about this topic. Two of them have been in Seoul for a few years and said what I have heard before, that North Korea threatens Seoul every year. We then asked a few of our Korean teachers what they thought. Again, they reiterated what others have said, this happens all the time and no one is concerned. I could go into all the political reasons as to why North Korea will never actually act on these threats, but in truth the real reason I am not all that concerned has more to do with my personality. I have never been a person not to worry and stress about things that are out of my control, I always trust that I will be alright as long as I make reasonably safe choices. (I put the reasonable part because some may say coming to Korea at all was not that reasonable) I know there is a small chance something could happen while here, but the same is true of living in Seattle. To put some of your minds at ease back home, I did register with the U.S. Embassy, and I know the excavation route, it’s about an hour walk from my apartment. In the end I will take Jayden’s daily advice to me, “don’t’ worry, be happy.”

A Week of firsts

This week was full of firsts not only for me, but for my new student Brian. Brian’s first day was Monday and I quickly learned he was not as mature as the rest of my class. Within the first few minutes I learned he had never used scissors before. This fact alone is not that uncommon, all of Toriann’s class needed help too learning how to use scissors, again, a reason Brian should be in her class and not mine. Then came lunch time, where I learned his Mom would feed him! His first day at lunch I couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t eating, but then I saw him try and hold his spoon and realized he didn’t know how to do. I sat by him and helped him, but he really had no interest in trying, he wanted someone to do it for him. This mentality translates to everything he has to do in class, he never wants to do anything from himself. On Tuesday when we had our ice cream party I figured it was the perfect motivation to get him to use a spoon. Instead he chose to sit there for about 45 minutes and only tried once to use his spoon to eat his ice cream. By Friday though he managed to use a fork to pick up his chicken and eat it. I have to keep reminding myself that it isn’t his fault he is this way, he has been babied his whole life and that he will eventually learn how to be independent. But, it is going to be a long process to get there! He actually threw a real temper tantrum in class on Thursday because his chicken was too spicy at lunch. I was shocked at first, and then afterward all I could do was laugh with my co-workers because the whole situation is too ridiculous. It will be an interesting time being the person to teach him everything, but at least he will finally learn how to eat by himself!

Next up is my first time being on Korean television and standing up for myself at work. I wrote about how I was upset about the camera crews coming on Monday. Well Monday morning came around and I arrived to work not really knowing what to expect. It turns out Julie was sick, so the camera crews were not coming anymore. Instead they came on Thursday. But, before school on Thursday one of the administrators came down to talk to me, the one I don’t really like very much. She doesn’t speak English, so she had the teacher down the hall translate. I guess Julie’s mom called that morning and explained that Julie had been crying in the morning more than she ever has before about not wanting to come to school. But, the camera crews were at her house too, and she doesn’t like them. The administrator told me all this and then asked “what can you do to make her not cry?” Well this just set me off because the whole reason I have all the new students is because of her. I told her; 1)Julie needs to come to school for a full week. 2)Don’t give me 4 new students in a month, one who shouldn’t even be in my class. 3) Don’t give into her when she is crying and then I ended with telling her she was crying when she was eating ice cream on Children’s Day. What child does that if not for attention? I was so annoyed with this, but proud of me for standing up for myself and not just taking what she said. This is something I would not have done After she left I asked Joanne, the teacher who was translating what she thought I should do about Julie, who everyone now calls the crying girl. Joanne had no ideas either, and said, really if a child cries when they eat ice cream, there is really nothing you can do! So, Julie comes on Thursday and I was mentally prepared for the worst. Turns out we had to change our schedule around to make it look more enjoyable for the camera crews to film. They wanted to film Gordon teaching drama class. Pine and Oak class went downstairs during second and third period to do an impromptu drama class and then free time on the play structure. I was also informed I had to do an interview with the camera crew. I really had no idea what I was going to say about this girl who cries and doesn’t even talk to me or anyone else. To top it off I was having a weird allergic reaction and my eye was all red and watery, and I randomly developed a large red zit by my lip. I was not very thrilled about this idea. Also, I am not too fond of being the center of attention when it comes to these types of things, making this whole incident even harder for me to handle. Toriann and Gordon gave me a little pep talk and we all headed down stairs for drama class. The kids were a little confused as to why we were having drama in the middle of the day and not at the end of day, or why we were doing it on Thursday not their normal day of Tuesday. But since the week had been so out of order anyway due to children’s day, they just went with it. I enjoyed being able to see what they do in drama class, and Toriann and I participated, which the kids thought was great! Afterwards they wanted us to play with the kids, so we did. Then they pulled Julie and I aside and asked me a few questions. While they were filming this, the rest of my class thought this was fun and came by and climbed all over me. I had to kind of makeup answers, since really I didn’t know Julie all that well; she has only been at school about 5 days total. I did a good job making everything sound great and then we continued to play. All in all, it ended up being just fine and Julie didn’t cry once! In fact she was great! On Friday she came to school and didn’t cry either. I found out that at her last school she would cry and the director would come down and give her lots of attention and presents. I had told Liz the day before to tell the administrators to stop coming down and giving Julie special attention because she was crying more just to get that attention. I think it helped because on Friday she was perfectly fine and she even talked to the other kids in class! At lunch Ray said to me “Miss Alison, Julie smiled and talked!” He was so proud of himself that he got her to smile and talk, it was really sweet. Julie even talked to me more; I think she is finally becoming comfortable in class and with me.


My last first for the week was yoga. I was really nervous because I have never done it before and I get anxious doing things I think I may not be good at. Turns out I did just fine and the teacher is amazing. I plan on going back on Tuesday and signing up. I figured no better time to learn yoga then here in Seoul. When I go back home I can finally try the yoga class at the gym I was always too scared to try.

Children’s Day

Growing up I always asked my parents why we had Mother’s Day and Father’s day and but never a Children’s day. My Dad would tell me it’s because every day is children’s day. So when I came to Korea and saw they have a holiday dedicated all to children I laughed to myself. However, after spending two months here I can see why Children’s Day is so important in Korean culture and I respect how the holiday brings families together. To appreciate this fully you have to know a little about Korean culture and how children grow up here. Korean parents micromanage every decision in their child’s life. Most children go to school all day long and even sometimes on the weekends. When the normal school day is over most students go to after school and then even to other activities after that. I teach after school classes to older elementary students, they come from a full day of school to my school for after school classes and stay until 5:30. Then they have other classes after that, either piano, violin, or some other academic class. Many do not get home until 10pm. This leaves very little family time and socializing time for them. That’s why having a whole day dedicated to children being allowed to be children is so important here.

At school we celebrated it on Tuesday by having a day filled with games, parties and random activities. Our day began with “Olympic games” where the 6 and 7 year olds competed in games led by the after school gym teacher. When we first walked into the gym all of us English teachers had our students sitting against the wall, but they were all talking to each other and not all sitting down properly. Once all the students came in the Korean gym teacher, who most these kids have never seen before, said two words in Korean and they were all quiet and sitting perfectly within a matter of seconds. We all looked at each other, and wondered at the same time why they would never do that for us! Regardless, it was great to see our students listening so well. The first relay race required the students to hold balloons within a ring and bring it down to the other side of the gym, then transfer the balloons to another ring and bring the balloons back to the start. It was funny to watch the student’s personality come out playing this game. One student, Katie, who we all called “independent” in her parent teacher conference, was so slow and careful bringing down the balloons. It made all us 6 year old teachers laugh because she takes her time whenever she feels like it. One of my boys, Ray, hates being the center of attention and looked completely miserable having everyone looking at him, although afterwards I asked him his favorite game and he said it was the balloon relay race. (check out the pictures below and you will see what I am talking about) The next game was a hopping relay race, which it turns out many of the student had a hard time doing. But, it was still fun to watch. Gordon and I were at each end helping the students get ready to jump, we ended up having to help a good amount of them hop all the way to the other side. The third game’s goal was to turn over the blue and red squares to whatever team color you were on, the object being to see which team had the most squares turned over at the end. Some of the students did not get this concept and just grabbed them and ran with them. My boy Tonghu seemed a little overwhelmed and simply decided to take a few and go back to the wall and sit with them. When one of the 7 year old boys game up to him to get them back so they could win the game he was not very willing to give them up. It was a funny altercation to witness and in the end the 7 year old boy gave up, showing again just how stubborn Tonhgu can be. After the games it was ice cream and face painting time. We had lunch and then a party packed with more sugar. We headed back down to the gym for a scavenger hunt. Again, the kids had a great time. It was great seeing them just being kids and not having to do work all day. It was also great that we didn’t have to plan anything and simple just help out with the games and activities.

We had Wednesday off for the official Children’s Day holiday and Toriann and I decided to go explore a new section of town. We like to find an area and simply wander with no real goal or destination. Other people don’t always enjoy this type of outing, so we choose to do it when other people don’t hang out with us. We set off to find the area we found by accident a month ago when we took the bus the wrong direction. We got off a few stops earlier this time and walked down by the stream. It was crowded and full of families spending the day together. I loved seeing children spending time with their families. The city had events all over the place just for the children. We passed numerous water foundation areas where kids were running through them. There were also many activities set up for children to participate in, such as painting tiles, going on a police motorcycle ride, and many more, all free. We stumbled across a tight rope walking show at a temple, which we stayed and watched for a while. We also found another temple that holds musicals outside of the temple. We are going to go sometime next week, when else when we will ever see a musical with a temple in the background. All in all Children’s day was wonderful!

A Perfect Saturday after a LONG week

After the field trip on Tuesday my week at school didn’t go as well as others have. I realized part of the problem is there has been a lot of change in my class and both the kids and I can feel it. We have had three new students in the past month, with one new one beginning on Monday. As an adult I have issues with change, so I can only imagine how having three new students in a class of 6 can feel on my students. The first new girl I had, Cindy, is doing amazing now. She had a rough start, but is fitting in just fine with the other students, and in fact was a HUGE help with my new girl Julie. The boy, Jayden is beginning to calm down a bit and he is slowly finding friends in the classroom. Julie though, is still having a hard time. She started last Thursday and came for Friday, but then was gone Monday-Wednesday of this past week. She has really only been here 4 days total. She is getting better, but still cries at any transition time. On Friday near the end of the day, I was informed by my Korean helper, Liz, that Julie’s mom is in some form of broadcasting and there would be a film crew coming on Monday to follow her around and make a documentary. I was thrown off by this and had about a million questions for Liz, none of which she could answer because no one had actually told her the whole story either. I was told to inform the rest of the teachers on my floor. I quickly found Gordon and relayed the message to him and he thought it was ridiculous too. I simply said, “she still cries! And Brain begins Monday.” Gordon agreed this was a bad idea and talked to our direct supervisor and told her what he thought. By the time we left 40 minutes later there was no change yet, so who knows what will happen on Monday morning.

I didn’t take this bit of news very well, in fact, I got really upset. Most of the other teachers at my school who are new have all had at least one moment where they have been anger, sad, frustrated and couldn’t quite deal with the culture differences here. I haven’t had one of the moments yet, Friday was my time to have that moment. I became really frustrated with Korean parents and the school and how they handle situations. Basically parents have full control of the school and what happens, regardless of what is best for the child and other students. I am the only one so far that has received new students. At first, I thought I was getting the new students because I was the smallest class, but now I have two more students than both Casey and Toriann’s class. I learned I am receiving the new students because the parent’s know that the classes are leveled; Gordon and I have group A and Toriann and Casey have group B. This leveling is simply based on how much English they know, not how smart the child is. However, parents hear there is a level and automatically want their child in the higher level. Cindy is a perfect example of this. She is a great child, but she is not at the same level as the rest of my class, and I always feel bad for her because I know she doesn’t get everything like the other students. Gordon told me Brian, my new student for Monday, is the same way. I wish the school would tell the parents no sometimes and consult us more often on these issues, but I realize this will never happen. I vented to my coworkers and didn’t really feel all that better. We even went out for a drink after work and Gordon offered that whatever time the camera crew shows up that we just change the schedule so they are in his class. I don’t really know what will happen tomorrow when I arrive to school, but I am sure it will be an interesting story!

Saturday was quite the contrast from Friday. It was one of the first truly sunny, warm days in Seoul. It is like in Seattle when spring finally comes and everyone is in a great mood. It was sunny, warm and I had no plans for the day. Toriann and I have been talking about walking around the city for awhile now, but it always seems like something was going on any day that was actually sunny. We decided to try and walk to a nearby mall that we knew how to get to from the subway, but couldn’t really figure out exactly where it was in relation to where we live. We studied the map and set out. It turned out to be about an hour walk, which was perfect. We decided it was too nice of a day to be inside the mall, so we quickly went in to get we wanted and then headed toward the river. As we walked toward the river we noticed how nice the neighborhood was and that we need to come back and explore more at a later date. We got to the water and realized we were across from the baseball stadium. We have heard that Koreans take their baseball quite serious, and were curious about attending a game. We figured we might as well walk across and at least see the stadium and maybe look into tickets for another day. We got across the river and realized a game was beginning in about 30 minutes. We both said at the same time that we should go to the game, it was sunny and warm out and what better way to enjoy the day! We were trying to find exactly where to buy the tickets and couldn’t find it, so we did what we always do when we are lost and asked the first foreigner to could find. We picked the right group of people! We ended up buying tickets with them and sitting with them. It was a group of about 15 teachers, who all live about an hour or so north of Seoul. They were a great group of people from all across the U.S., Canada, and England. The stadium itself was smaller than a baseball game from home, but it was crowded and the fans are equally, if not more, excited. The game was the Seoul Bears (who were told to root for ) against the other Seoul team (I forgot their name). Everyone buys foam bats and hits them together during the chants and in place of clapping. It was very exciting, and you easily get caught up in the excitement of it all. I wish I knew exactly what they were chanting, maybe the next game I will ask a Korean! We sadly forgot our camera, so we have no pictures, but next time we go.

A couple innings into the game we got hungry and went outside to find some food. As we were walking we ran into a group of guys we met about a month ago on our trip down south. We have seen them a few times since then as well. It was so random to run into them right outside the stadium. We ended up eating dinner with them and heading back into the stadium. They were in a different section of the stadium, but it was great to actually run into people we knew! As we were walking home, both Toriann and I agreed it was just the type of day we needed. I definitely feel refreshed and rejuvenated for Monday and the craziness that will probably occur!

Brad, no bread!

These past few weeks at school have been going really well at school. I think the students and all us teachers are finally feeling settled and into a routine. I can honestly say I enjoy going to work everyday and finally feel like I am teaching and getting through to the students. An example of why teaching ESL is so much fun. This past week we were talking about the letter b. When asking one of the classes what words begin with B, one student was trying to say bread. However, every time she said it came out as Brad. I wrote Brad on the board, just to be told numerous times by the class, “no brad, brad.” I had no idea what they were saying, finally one student said, you eat it. And then it dawned on me, bread! These miscommunications happen daily, and they make my job all that much more entertaining.
Update on my class, I now have 9 students, with one more starting next week. Gordon gives the placement test to see which class new students should go into. However, I am not sure what the actual point of giving them is because the administration makes up their mind all on their own where new student will go. Thus, the reason I have received all 4 of the new students. His opinion was for this new boy not to be in my class, but of course no one really listens! So, now Gordon and I have 10 students and the other two have 8 students. I thought 10 was the max, but I was informed today it is 12. I am not sure where 12 students are fitting in these classrooms, but I am hoping they finally give the other classes some new students before I hit 12!
Today we had our second field trip. We went to the Children’s Museum, which was a 100 times better than the last field trip. We spent a little over two hours exploring the 3 floors of the museum. Afterward we had lunch there, where the students brought their lunch. Gordon had told us ahead of time not to worry about our lunch because there would be plenty to eat with the children. I was a little skeptical, but of course, he was correct. These parents provided so much food for their children! Plus, some parents prepared food specifically for the teachers. Unfortunately much of the food is bimpop, and I can’t eat it because it almost always has some form of shell fish. But there was plenty of fruit, crackers, and candy to go around. My only main objection to the whole day is the amount of control the other Korean teachers try to take in our day. I understand they need to be there to help, but I do not like them taking over and speaking in Korean, when I have specifically told my class what to do. Spending most my day with Gordon’s class helps a little in this because most the Korean teachers know by now not to interfere with his class. However, the few occasions I am split up from him, they try and take over and give the exact opposite directions I have given. It is frustrating because the class gets confused, and I have no idea what they saying, and we can’t communicate because they don’t speak English. It always makes me feel like they think I have no control over my class, which is not true either. I asked after the field trip if we were allowed to bring this up and Gordon said of course, but that it probably won’t change too much. It is also frustrating because my Korean helper, Liz, is amazing, and if people would just let Liz help my class and Gordon’s class like she is supposed to, then much of the confusion would not be taking place. I always feel bad bringing up these issues to the director though because then all the Korean teachers end up getting in trouble. It is a crazy system here in Korea, where they treat us foreigners amazing, but treat each other with little respect. Over all though, the day went great and my kids did an amazing job, I was very proud of them and told them on our bus ride home!

Weekend Hiking Trip

I never wrote a blog about this, but thought I should post the pictures because it was an amazing weekend. I kept meaning to write about it, but then the week got away from me. Here is the jest of the weekend. It was a group of other foreign teachers here in South Korea. We met at 11:30 at night on Friday evening and took a bus to the Southern coast. We arrived at 5:30am at the base of the mountain and hiked up for a few hours. We stopped quite a bit along the way for sunrise, breakfast, and a few temples tucked away in the mountains. It was an exhausting morning, but wonderful too. It was refreshing to be out of Seoul for the weekend and get away from the buildings, smog and mass amounts of people. After the hike we headed to an island, where we did a little hiking, but nothing like the morning! After the island we went to watch the sunrise and hiked a few miles to the top of mountain. We ended the day with a bonfire at the beach. It was an exhausting day, but I met some great new people and felt refreshed for the following week!

“His name is Jayden, it used by Steven, but he doesn’t like that name anymore.”

After school on Thursday I was informed I was getting a new student on Friday and I was meeting this new student in 10 minutes. The short notice of the information did not surprise me all that much because it is Korean culture to not let you know anything until the very last minute. My new student came in with his mom and one of the administrator’s who doesn’t speak any English. This was a fun interaction to try and handle; a shy, scared boy, who clung to his Mom, and two Koreans who spoke no English, and me, who speaks no Korean. After a few minutes the boy let go of his Mom and came over to me and I showed him around the room. Turns out this boy speaks more English than the Mom and administrator combined. I kept trying to ask him his name and he wouldn’t tell me, which I found odd. And of course, no one else in the room could really help me. After they left I ran into Liz, my Korean helper, who informed me his name is Jayden. It used to me Steven, but he didn’t like that name anymore so his Mom changed it to Jayden. This explains why the boy had no idea what his name was when I was asking him. I honestly believe it would be easier if all the children kept their Korean names and we just had to learn how to say them. I had crazy names back in Renton, so I am sure I could handle it.

Jayden’s presence in my class now brings my total up to 8, at the end of the month, when Julie, my other new student begins, I will have 9 students. I was a little sad because this means my nice, small, easy going class is no longer there. Jayden’s first day went pretty well. He definitely is not the shy little boy he portrayed with his Mom in the room. He came right in and began talking to everyone and getting into anything and everything he could. He does speak a lot of English though, which is very helpful. He adds a lot of energy into the classroom, and definitely did about 10 things on Friday that if any of my other students would have done I would have taken a star away. Within the first 10 minutes of school he said 2 bad words in Korean. I knew one already because one of the other classes says it and I learned quickly it was a bad word. The other word my students informed me was bad. I have to say I love my original 6 students. They are so cautious about following the rules and get really upset when one of their classmates is not following the rules. Today I was in Gordon’s class talking to him real quick, and Tong Hu came in with a very serious look on his face and took my hand and led me back to class to show me how Jayden had dumped all the markers out and then walked away. The rest of my students would have never done this and knew I would not allow them to do that. I do think Jayden will be a good addition to the classroom, and will quickly learn what he can and cannot do in my class.

An update on the changes blog I wrote last week. After Casey and Toriann both calmed down a bit and the four of us 6 year teachers spoke again as a group, we decided to keep the classes as they are now reevaluate at the semester mark. Toriann and Casey decided to switch around a bit what they are teaching, in order to make both of them more comfortable and happy with what they are teaching. Gordon and I are staying the same, and the kids won’t really have to adjust because the schedule stays the same. It seems like such an easy change now and solution to the problem, but at the time when we were all talking the problem seemed so hard and complicated! It’s amazing what a weekend can do to clear everyone’s head and make the solution to the problem seem so simply. Again, it was good to know that both Gordon and the director support us and will help us. Gordon informed us again about how happy the director is with our floor and what a great job we are doing. I have found Koreans don’t give compliments and praise all that often, so I take this as a great sign of encouragement and respect from the director.

I went hiking last weekend, and added some of the pictures. The hike was only a few subway stops away from my house. Throughout Seoul there are various mountains you can hike and it makes you feel like you are out of the city for awhile. I realized one thing I miss a lot about Seattle is the landscape. Seattle varies from city skyline, to water, and mountains. In my Seoul, particularly my neighborhood, all I see is buildings. Now that spring is here it is a little better because the trees are in bloom. I miss Seattle’s beauty and realize how lucky I am to live in such an amazing city. Other pictures I included were of an area of town Toriann and I found by accident. We were trying to navigate the bus system and meet some girl’s we met awhile ago for dinner, but took the bus the wrong direction. We didn’t figure this out until we were half an hour from our house, meaning we were another hour from our real destination. We tried to find the bus going the opposite direction, but we couldn’t. In the end we decided the area we found was interesting and so different from where we live that we would just skip dinner with the girls and explore this new area. We found where the U.S. Embassy is in case we ever need it too. We decided we should play this game a few times a month, where we get on a random bus and see where it takes us. We were pretty proud of ourselves for using the bus on the way home too. We are never truly lost because we can always use the subway, it is just more fun to try and figure out the buses. When I finally learn to read Korean this task will be much simpler

Some new cute pictures of my class =)

Possible changes to come…..

This past week was overall a good week in terms of teaching and my students, but something felt off all week for me and I couldn’t really verbalize or understand it. Toriann and Casey were having a hard week in terms of teaching, and so on Thursday after work, which happen to end on a really bad note for us all, we went out to get a beer and basically complained to each other. While were we out together we all discussed our frustrations with teaching here, all of which we had heard before, but still needed to say it out loud to each other. In the end we realized we simply just care too much about our students and whether or not they are learning. There are many people who come to Korea simply as an excuse to travel and party. Others come here to truly understand a new culture and teach children. The three of us all came here for the latter reason. Some of our co-workers, who thankfully we don’t directly work with, did come here for the first reason. It frustrates us because while we are really trying to teach and care for these children, they are doing the bare minimal and complain about how other teachers have it way easier in terms of teaching. After we finished complaining about what we don’t like about co-workers, staff, and how things are done at our school, we decided to actually come up with solutions to the problems.


The six year floor is set up right now where each class rotates to all four of us, and has one elective at the end of the day. Back home, these 6 year old children, are actually 5, and thus would be kindergarten. Those of you who are teachers reading this can understand how difficult it would be having kindergarten students changing classes every 45 minutes. Having 4 different teachers, all with different expectations and ways of teaching is hard on them. Not to mention the fact that they really don’t know English all that well, and are having to hear 4 different English accents throughout the day. Since I have some classroom management skills and teaching background it is easier for me handle the changes and help the classes settle down quickly. It is also easier for me to understand you need to be tougher in the beginning and by doing this you end up having more fun in the end because they know the expectations. If you have never taught, this lesson comes later and it is harder in the beginning. I tried to reassure both Casey and Toriann they are doing a great job, but I understand the frustrations too. In the end we decided it would be better for us teachers, and students if we went back to how the schedule was last year where they only switched two times in the day and had only two teachers. This would mean a change in what we all were teaching. Part of the struggle now is feeling a connection with all the students in all the classes. It is easy for our homeroom because we see our class in the morning for snack, first period, lunch and the end of the day; as well as one elective during the week. For the rest of the classes we only see them for 45 minutes. It is not a very long to build a connection with the children individually. Now, I know eventually this would come, but at the moment Casey and Toriann really aren’t that happy, and want to be making a difference. All of which I find admirable and can respect. Also, I do agree it would be easier for all involved in the long run and be more effective. After our brainstorming ended 5 hours after we had begun and we were proud of our idea but realized we needed Gordon’s input in this change since he is in our teaching group. We all respect Gordon a great deal because he has been doing this for a while and is an amazing teacher .Somehow I ended up being elected to be the one to talk to Gordon first before we all went to him. I think because I was the least emotionally about it, and Gordon and I think more alike when it comes to teaching. I agreed and said I would arrive to school early the next day to give myself time to speak to him.

Friday morning came and I arrived to school early to get some work done before Gordon and I talked. For those of you who know me well I get nervous in any kind confrontational setting regardless of who the person is or what the issue is. I almost bailed and didn’t talk to him because I know Toriann well enough to know that the next morning she would have gotten over her frustration and probably been okay if we didn’t change how the classes were set up after all. But, I also knew everyone would be unhappy in another few weeks and we would be right back here complaining again. So, I sucked it up and talked to Gordon. I am not sure why I was nervous because we all get along so well and Gordon is by no means a threatening person, but I think because I respect him as a teacher, I got nervous. Our talk went well, and he said a lot of the same things to me that I had already told the other two about how change takes time and everyone involved would get the hang of the rotation and the kids would settle down after some time. He also agreed he would support us no matter what we wanted and was fine with going back to the old way of teaching. He admitted he was a little sad he was not involved in our original conversation and hoped we would all always come to him with concerns. I explained the other two would talk to him later in the day, they just wanted me to explain our idea first. While we were talking Toriann and Casey arrived to school, and it became slightly awkward for us all knowing I had just had this talk with Gordon and they knew what it was about and yet we weren’t all talking together. So, Gordon, being Gordon, said, “can we have a group pow wow and just talk this out all of this?” In case I never mentioned before Gordon is what the school calls the head teacher. He has been at the school for almost 3 years now, shortly after they opened and is respected a great deal by the director. Because of this Gordon has many meetings with the director and will all us teachers. He informed us during our pow-wow that the director always comments on how we are doing a great job on our floor and she is very pleased with us. She is aware how hard we work and can see how much we care about the students. This made us all feel better, and was encouraging to know our hard work is noticed. I think Casey and Toriann definitely felt better, and we agreed to go to the director with our idea and see what happens from there. I did tell Gordon I didn’t want to give my phonics to him though, since he taught phonics last year. He agreed I could keep it if I agreed to take over math, which I am more than willing to! Wish us luck on our talk with the director!

Coast of South Korea

One of my co-workers Casey invited me, along with Toriann and Megan, to an event her recruiting agency was holding; a trip down to Jinhae, in the southern coast of South Korea. It was an all day event, with the main goal to see cherry blossoms. However, since it has been a long winter here in Korea, there were not many cherry blossoms actually in bloom. This did not stop us from having a great day, meeting new people and seeing new sights of Korea.

We set out at 5:40 in the morning to walk to the bus before the 6:20 am departure time. It was early, but we figured we had a few hours on the bus to sleep. The first two hours on the bus were extremely quiet, as everyone on the bus was sleeping. We stopped at a rest stop around 9 and the Koreans leading the tour woke us all up and after the stop made us a play a get to know each other game. We had to walk around the bus and get to know new people and tell them about ourselves. Having this occur at 9 in the morning when I had to get up at 5:00 was not the most appealing event to me, but I participated regardless. It was a good opportunity to meet a few new people and truthfully those people who I really didn’t want to get know any better. It also woke us all up. The four of us girls were sitting in the back of the bus and met three other guys who were also friends and sitting in the back of the bus. We quickly realized we got along well and ended up being the loud kids in the back of the bus for the remainder of the day.

Our first stop was to the Korean Naval base, it is opened to the public only during the time of the Cherry Blossom festival. While at the naval base we toured the famous Turtle boat. It was a boat used over 400 years ago to help defeat the Japanese’s attempt to invade Korea. Koreans are extremely proud of this boat. We met one of the navy men and he gave a very prideful and expansive explanation of how the boat defeated the Japanese. After exploring the naval base we headed back to the bus and went to downtown Jinhae to take part in festival. The town holds a festival every year in order to honor the famous Korean naval hero, Admiral Yi Sun-shin, who helped defeat the Japanese invasion of Korea over 400 years ago. This festival consists of streets in the downtown being closed off and more booths than there is even time to see. There was more seafood than I could imagine, and prepared in ways the that I couldn’t even imagine to be good. There was dried, flatten squid and stuffed fish heads amongst a few of them. I chose to eat the chicken on a stick, which was delicious. Another delicacy in Korea is cooked larvae. One of the guys on our bus bought a cup full to share with anyone who wanted one. I chose NOT to have one!!! Casey and Megan both did and I was very proud of them! They said the worst part was biting it and actually knowing it was a bug you were eating. After exploring the many streets of booths, we headed to the beach to see more of the coast.

We took a quick hour stop and strolled out a large dock overlooking the water and rocks. I forgot how much I enjoy seeing water. Living in Seoul all you see all day is buildings. This is quite the contrast to Seattle, where I could enjoy water, mountains, and the city life of buildings. After the coast we got back on the bus for our 5 hour bus ride back to Seoul. When we first got on the bus our tour leaders mentioned that Nori Bong would be taking place later in the evening. Nori Bong is what we call karaoke. I thought they were kidding, because how can you sing on a bus. I had failed to see the large tv in front of the bus, which turned into the place where the lyrics were shown. Turns out getting a group of young adults to sing on a bus isn’t really that hard of task, especially when you include free Soju. Soju is Korea’s famous alcohol, which happens to be incredibly strong. It was quite the bus ride back to Seoul. I can only imagine what our bus looked like to the other buses on the road, a group of 40 white young adults singing and dancing. When we arrived back in Seoul, Casey and I decided to hang out with our new friends from the back of the bus. They have this tradition where they go the batting cage when it is a warm evening and hits some baseballs. At first Casey and I were a little apprehensive about this because the ball was coming out of the machine faster than I remember it coming out from back home, but in the end I tried. I ended up loving it and actually did a fairly good job. Casey and I decided this should become a new tradition of ours as well. Next we headed to my favorite bar in our neighborhood because they have pretzels from Costco! You can’t find pretzels anywhere else in this city, and I love my pretzels and they are free =)
Despite the lack of Cherry Blossoms, it was a great day meeting new friends and seeing a new part of South Korea.