this and that...

I had my last and final, "open class" (principal, VP & parents sit in on).  I am so relieved they are over.  I watched my video and it is amazing how nervous I felt, but it does not show up in my voice, mannerisms or gestures in the least.  Very happy about that.  For these classes we are encouraged to get a little more dressed up for obvious reasons.  So I wore my basic, go-to black dress and a simple cardigan.  One of my students, Kim Min-ju (AKA double-handed happy waver) kept lipping out, "WOW" to me in the middle of class.  She then did a looney-tune's hour glass hand gesture, like when one of the characters is talking abut a sexy girl.  I just about lost it when I saw her do it.  She was very subtle (for a 5th grader), so nobody else saw her do it but me.  She did it a couple more times, and since this class was pretty important, I had to avoid looking at her for the rest of the class.  First time, I have ever had anyone make that gesture to me.   Only in Korea.  I love my kids.

 

My co-teacher at my main school (good school) sat down with me the other day and wanted to know what my decision was about staying in Korea for another year.  I decided against it.  I really, really miss home and I have a big giant home-sickness ache in the pit of my stomach.  I love it here, I really do.  I feel that I am fortunate to have had this experience, and would not trade it for anything.  At the same time, I just really want to get back home, to what is familiar.  Missing my "real life" a bit.  Also, when i think about going home, I get such a nice feeling of excitement.  When I think of staying in Korea for another year, I almost feel somewhat forlorn about that.  So that, in and of itself is a good enough answer for me.

 

I'm going to start bragging in this nex paragraph, so i apologize in advance and....well...bear with me!  :)   I am incredibly excited because I have tickets booked from Korea to Malaysia on the day my contract ends (Feb 25th).  From Malaysia we have a train booked to Singapore and from Singapore we are taking a plane to Thailand.  From Thailand I have not decided what will happen next.  After my travel partner (another teacher here) goes back to the states, I will stay behind in Thailand and either stay on the beach in a $12 dollar a night beach hut, I might take a $100 dollar flight to Bali and stay in a $20 dollar a night hotel, or I may end up journeying across through both Cambodia & Vietnam.  Right now everything is up in the air, after my travel partner leaves.  It is insanely inexpensive to travel around SE Asia.  The flights that we booked were less than $70 dollars per ticket (and just over $100 to get to Malaysia)....and the train (1st class sleeper) is a whopping $20 dollars.  I am looking at this as a once in a lifetime opportunity and since it is unlikely that I will come back this way, I really want to take advantage of my proximity and the inexpensiveness of this travel.  The expensive ticket (just getting to Korea in the first place) has long since been purchased and paid for, so this is now the easy part.  It will be incredibly nice to unwind and destress, without and agenda and without pressure or obligation, before going back home and getting on with my life.  Right now I plan on being back in Colorado mid March to early April.   Unless I am offered an amazing job in Bali or Koh Phangan, Thailand. 

 

pocket treats...

Just in case you thought I was exaggerating with my description of gross, gifted pocket treats from my little bundles of joy, I thought I would post a photo.  Today, my 4rth grade class showered me with gifts.  It was incredibly sweet.  They give me this stuff with such sincere enthusiasm and I can't help but smile and offer up an equally sincere "thank you".  They pull this crap out of the deep dark corners of their backpacks & pockets, place it in my hand and say, "teacher, eat" miming out the action of 'eating'.  I say, "oh yes, I will, thank you", all the while being eternally grateful for the 1 second attention span of kids!





It's rare to get something still in the plastic, so that was a pleasant surprise.  Also, in case you are wondering, yes that is 'ramen noodle' pieces.  yummy! 



to stay or not to stay...

Covering your mouth when you sneeze or cough is not a common occurrence in this country.  Today I was followed around by one of my students and he kept sneezing these full-on open mouthed sneezes on me and then as soon as I thought I was spared, I would turn around and get a big, fat, wet cough right in the face.  One of the ironies about this country is that general 'cold prevention' is done by wearing surgical masks, rather than from people not coughing or sneezing on you (covering your mouth when you cough/sneeze is purely optional).  If you don't want to get sick, wear a mask.  End of story.

My schools really want me to sign on for another year.  I am incredibly flattered that they like me and that I have done a good enough job that they are asking this of me.  I have to give them an answer by this Friday.  In exchange for me signing on again, they'll work with me on changing the class schedules, so that I won't have any more "after school classes".  ("after school classes" are basically supplemental/extracurricular classes that have a free-form structure (AKA chaotic & stressful).  All my classes at bad school are "after school".  These classes are taught w/out a coteacher so it is me against a roomful of kids who thrive on making me crazy).  I love these kids...all of them at both schools.  Even all the one's at bad school, but when a Korean teacher is not present they are terrors, particularly when they are in a group (which is all 10 classes I have w/ them at bad school).  On an individual basis, they are all good & respectful (even the 2 I just mentioned--minus sticking their tongues out at me when I pass them in the hall and such--but I can deal with that).  So the 'deal' they are making with me, would be a really good one.  My stress level would be a lot more manageable.

I had a class at "good school" today, where the school principal and VP sat in on it.  After it was over, they had to "rate" me in about 10 different categories on a scale of 1-5 (5 being the best).  Being the sneaky person that I am, I snuck a glance at my scores and was very pleased to see that I was given, '5's' in all categories!  After this class, the principal and VP told my co-teacher to get me to stay.

I am really enjoying my time here these days and am sad and surprised that the end is so close.  As many of you know, it was very difficult for me the first few months, where I would call you up and sob my brains out because of the major culture shock and absolute loneliness that I felt.  But, now...honestly, I am loving it.  I love Korea and all it's crazy, quirky ways.  I am seriously considering signing on for another year, but need to take the next couple of days to think about it pretty seriously and weigh out the pro's and con's.  I may see if they would be willing to give me a 6 month contract, because I could do that, but not sure I am up for an entire year.  Not to mention, one of the reasons I am loving Korea more and more is because I have a couple of great, new friends here, who have really made my time here tons more enjoyable. Sadly, these people are all leaving in February.  Anyway, I will think it over and see what happens.

Son Miyung-ai (Kimbap lady) and I have started eating dinner together about once a week.  The first time, I was just ordering when her mom came into the shop and they all sat down at the table with me and we shared a wonderful meal together, speaking in very broken English & Korean.  It's hard to describe the amazing feeling of acceptance and also surrealness to find yourself in Korea sharing a meal with 2 older Korean women.  It was one of those moments where you look around and think, 'there is nowhere else in the world I would rather be, then doing what I am doing with the people I am doing it with'.  Tonight I had dinner there and she and this little girl (apx 4 years old), who is the daughter of the small market owner, right next door, both sat down with me and shared another meal.  Again, incredibly strained and almost impossible conversation took place, but yet another another very special Korean moment.  Getting accepted & invited into Son Miyung-ai's world has been been indescribably special to me.  I am very grateful to her, beyond words, for her and her hospitality. 

tidbits: 

They sell Halls cough drops in the candy aisle here.  They are even labled as "invigorating candy".    

As always, I love reading people's shirts here.  Here are a couple more that I recently saw, that just struck me funny.

Scream Blue MURDER (In HUGE letters, with MURDER written in caps across the butt)

Juror, Away from my Murderer (This one really confused me.  What could it possibly mean???)

Had my first burrito in Korea last weekend!  At a "real" Mexican food restaurant!  We went to this city called, Busan, (about an hour away) and I just about lost my brains when I saw a Mexican food place (the people I was with had no hope of eating anywhere else).  It was not what I would call a "normal" burrito, but it was close enough.  I have been craving Mexican food for months now. 

USA Kimbap

My wonderful kimbap lady, Son Myung-ai, makes me  incredibly happy.  It has been such a blessing that I have been fortunate enough to cross paths with her and develop this inexplicable bond through both language and cultural barriers.  She is like a Korean mother to me.  She took me shopping through the street market this past weekend, walking hand in hand.  This is very common in Korea, for both men, women & children of all ages to be walking arm in arm or hand in hand.  It is just a physically close & affectionate society (when they aren't barreling past you to get on the bus first).  Anyway, it was just really neat going to this market that I frequent with her and seeing it through her eyes.  I also bought some apples from one of the stands and was given the best apples I have had since arriving in Korea.  The woman went to her special stash, so I think it helped having Son Myung-ai with me.  She also bought me a pair of socks.  Here is a picture of them:

That's what Kimchi is made from.  It's called a Daikon, which is basically an Asian radish.

I spent about 3 hours with her that day, when I specifically went in there for some kimbap, before I went to the grocery store.  After we got back to her shop she wanted to know what I was buying at the store and I told her tortillas and named a few other things.  She wanted to know what 'tortillas' were, so I explained them, and then pulled up google images to show her.  She then wanted to know what I did with them, so I again pulled up images and showed her a few pictures of tortilla wraps.  She smiles and says in a really excited tone of voice, "Ohhhhhh USA Kimbap!!!!".   It tickled me.  I will never be able to make a wrap again, without thinking, "USA kimbap".

Son Myung-ai asked me to tutor someone that goes to her church, for no small amount of money.  I thought about it pretty seriously, but many teachers get fired from their jobs when they are tutoring outside of their contract.  Although Ulsan is about the size of Denver, it has a very small city feel at times, with the strong sense of community.  When I walk down the street in my neighborhood, I am certain the majority of the regular stores I pass and people I see know that I am the teacher at Bangeojin Elementary.  With this in mind, I didn't want to start tutoring and have word get around that I am tutoring this person and run the risk of losing my job this far along in the contract.  Also, not to mention I would like to honor the contract and not be in a position to question my integrity.  When I spoke to Son Myung-ai a few days later, she told me that he has a "big mouth" and she worries for me.  She is also worried because he is single and he wants someone to do many things with and she worries that he will get the wrong idea about me.  With that said, that was my non-existent stint as an English tutor.

"Teacher!!!  White hair!!!" says one of my students today in total shock and amazement.  From there a small crowd of students gathered around my chair each taking a closer look at my head and getting a little too excited for my liking when they kept finding more!   The sad part about this, is that once a week I let a small group of students have one guess at my age, and if they get it right I will give them a piece of candy (I've had to 'pinky swear' on this at least a dozen times).  We've been playing this game for a couple of weeks now and so far nobody has guessed the correct answer.  Right before the white hairs were discovered, I was feeling pretty good about myself as a round of guesses included "23, 18, 25, 22".  After the discovery I noticed an alarmingly drastic difference in the guesses.  Almost immediately, I got "40, 39" and one of the students who guessed "23" then upped her guess to "35", but I don't let them change answers.  I had google translate up at the time of the discovery, and I put in there "korean children gave me white hair".  They laughed and said, "sorry teacher".

I accidentally let a slug loose in my apartment.  I have been eating on some kale for a little over a week and this morning I was getting ready to put some in my eggs.  It was looking a little wilty and then there was this weird black, smooshy thing in the bag, so I decided against using it.   I pulled out the leaves to stick them in the compost container and on closer examination of the bag, realized it was a slug that was hanging onto life.  Being the softy that I am, I put the slug on the kale leaf, in the compost container and thought to carry it outside to set it free and give it a chance at life (yeah, i know....).   I go about cooking my breakfast and the slug is coming to and looking like it was going to make it, but--well, how fast can a slug thats been in my fridge for a week move?  So I decided to finish my morning routine before taking it outside (about 15 minutes). Well, needless to say, the slug was not where I left it or any where in sight.  Who knows....I just hope I don't discover it by stepping on it.    If you've ever wanted inspiration to wash your "pre-washed" vegetables though...

Tid Bits:

I took Son Myung-ai on a virtual tour of the house & street I grew up on and then through Denver as well, using google maps 'street view'.  She was really excited to see it and kept thanking me over and over for sharing this with her. 

"Teacher....me??...Rock Star?"

I accidentally trained my 1st graders to associate getting the answer right with, "Rock Star" (said in a very enthusiastic tone of voice).  It was not even registering with me that I was saying this until today!  But, apparently I have said it enough that my kids now think that "rock star" means "doing a good job" or "getting the answer right".  Today, when they correctly wrote out the word 'cat' one of them said, "teacher?? me?  rock star?", pointing at their correct answer.  Then, systematically the rest of my 1st graders wanted confirmation of their correct answer with me saying, "rock star".   Oops.   My contribution to the Korean Educational System. 

I have honestly never been more aware of my choice of words and how much or how little I say in my life, like I have been with working with ESL children.  The entire time I have been in Korea, I have been limiting my use of "extra" words or complicated words and trying to be as clear and concise as possible, because if you say something like, "It sure is nice outside today, with that nice warm breeze" they then have to pick through all the extra words to try and make meaning of your sentence.  But if you limit your words to, "The weather is nice" you have a much higher success rate at them understanding you.  My point in this is: I can't believe I have been concentrating this insanely hard on my vocabulary and delivery for 8 months straight, yet still managed to let "ROCK STAR" slip in without me being remotely aware of it.  Who the heck says that anyway??!!   Ugh.  Not yet sure how I am going to untrain them, even though it cracked me up to no end when I heard it.  I mean, who wouldn't love a cute little kid looking at you with wide, innocent eyes making inquires about their rock star status?

Korean children love to share their food with you.  Nothing quite makes my day like a small Korean child, fresh from the bathrooms, reaching into the bottom of his book bag, producing squishy food.  They get a look of absolute seriousness on their faces, looking from me to the food, while I silently panic thinking, "ohh sh**, please don't give it to me, please, please" and like all battles with Korean children, I lose.  They say, "Teacher, here" and smile at me waiting for my enthusiastic response, which involves gestures like rubbing my stomach, saying, "Mmmmmmmmm thank you, my favorite".  You can't say "no" to the food that is gifted to you, no matter how creepy it is.  I mean, you get lint filled chocolate treats dug out of their pockets and placed before you (pocket treats are the grossest of all).  Today I scored, chips that were fondled & sampled by three different 5 year olds, before finally being gifted to me; a 95% eaten bag of popcorn that lived in the bottom of a 5 year old's backpack for who knows how many days; and a somewhat warm lolli-pop.   It was a good day at school.

mish mash photos

I've gone through my photos and I've taken so many random pictures these past months.  I've decided to put all of them together, into their own little mish mash series. 

This is the logo for a very old and very much so closed down bar.  The building was in pretty rough shape and although you can't see all the detail here, the sign is peeling off.  I just liked the look of it.

They put pictures on a lot of the stalls here so you know what kind of toilet you'll be getting.  The proper name is called, "Traditional Asian Toilet" although it's much uglier stepsister nickname is called, "The Squatty Potty".  I call it the latter.  :) 

I like the demonstration. 

The next few are in Ulsan Ecological Park.  It was quite lovely. 

There were these incredibly long tunnels of gourds, galore.  It was pretty cool walking through them.

and more gourds...

and more gourds...

and more gourds...

and more gourds...

I can't remember what kind of bird this is.  A heron?  Maybe?

This was at a coffee shop near my home.  We ordered cocoa and after we finished that, the host brought us some tea.  It was very pretty.

This was the view from my partment a few months back. Very dramatic skies here...at times.

Freaky spider.  Unfortunately this is not a rare sight to see.  HeeBee-GeeBeez just looking at it!

Korean cemetary

I find the mound style very interesting.

This is a little more tradional burial mounds.  You see these all over the place.  Just unmarked burial grounds.  There is usually a path to them, so someone is doing upkeep on them, but they are pretty non-descript.  This one was located about 15 feet off of a hiking trail.

These were located at the base of the hiking trail.

Just a random photo of a shed.  We were at a bus stop just above it. 

The next few are photos that Dan took.  This was taken just a couple blocks from my house.  You see people down on the beach drying seaweed all the time.  I was really happy to see that he got a picture of this woman.  This is a very common sight here.  You see tons of women in this squat position selling vegetables, working etc.  I have not had enough guts to ask to photograph them (yet).

Seaweed... 

In case you ever wondered how the SeaWeed is prepared, you should rest easier knowing that it is laying in the street with people walking, spitting, stumping out cigarette butts and other gross things (public urination is not uncommon).  I've seen many things laying out drying in the street...veggies & fish most commonly. 

Unfortunate end to some fish...

We're still in the "Dan Series"... I think this is some sort of love bridge.  People write their names (theirs & their lovers) and lock it to this railing and it binds their love.  :)  It is kind of neat.  I haven't been there yet.

Great photo Dan!  :)

Now, back to me...   In Seoul...rainy day.

Rainy Seoul Nights

This is a walk through, that connects from Seoul Station (railroad/subway) to the other side of a very busy street.  In each of those dividers are homeless people.  It was very depressing walking through there (and a tad smelly).

Accidental picture of some side street in Seoul

Back to Ulsan.  Love Motel Alley.

Scurdy-Cat

This looks like it used to be a store or a patio area...but now is overgrown with stuff & junk.