Wednesday, November 28, 2012

A Hike and Speaking Tests

Weekend:
  • Honestly, I didn't do anything too exciting this weekend, namely because I just came back from Seoul so I needed to spend time with the host fam and I didn't want to spend a lot of money.  We went for a wonderful hike on one of the mountains in Suncheon.  It wasn't all that tall, but it wrapped around a couple times and it was nice to be able to be out in nature.  The path was really great, a bit narrow, but I kinda like that.  There weren't many people out either which also contributed to the peaceful ambiance.  Overall, it was a great hike!
  • Also caught up on sleep and slept in until a rather embarrassing time.  I also went into Gwangyang to go buy a few winter clothes (two pairs of sweatpants and a hoody for about $24.00!).  I ended up buying that Ohio University hoody that I posted on facebook haha.  I'm surprised I saw it here, but I have to represent my state!
Monday - Wednesday
  • All week I have been doing speaking tests with every student.  By the end of the week, I will have had a one on one talk with the 500ish students that I teach.  I had to switch my schedule all around to accomodate every class since we were notified a bit late that I would have to do the speaking test, but it worked out so we are happy.  It's just a bit tiring since now I have double the first graders I normally see.  Yesterday, I had 7 classes in a row!  It's funny how Fulbright has spoiled me a bit since I used to have days like this everyday in student teaching and I forgot how tiring it can be (Hence, the lack of posts).  
  • Of course, I have been faithfully going to my CrossFit classes and the workouts are still intense!  On Monday we had thrusters (where you do a squat with a bar and then stand and thrust it into the air, repeat 20 times) and sit-ups.  Tuesday, we did some lunges (which I am actually good at so they are one of my favorites) and today was a big mix of things.  My pal has had mini lessons about Korean words and culture at the workout board this week and they are pretty amusing.  Today's lesson was about shoe sizes (I couldn't tell him my Korean size because I don't know how and my shoes are too old and faded to see the label) and a mini-map of America to show him how far Ohio is from California beaches.  Except we had to erase and clean the board pretty quickly as there were prospective gym-goers working out and the owner wanted it erased.  Oh well.  I still got to keep my self-portrait up!  It's basically a drawing of me looking like a body-builder.  I'll take a pic of it tomorrow.
Busy, busy, busy!  I have to prep for tomorrow's tests.  Four classes this time. Sorry for the lack of updates, but nothing too exciting has happened so you haven't missed much!

Friday, November 23, 2012

School Festival

Thursday
  • Every year, schools all across Korea have large festivals showcasing the talents of their students and giving them a chance to let loose a little bit before the final push of the year (the Korean school calendar ends in December, not June).  There is lots of singing, dancing, carnival-style games, and some great food.
  • The performances were pretty great.  I was really impressed at how elaborate everything was.  When I say elaborate, I mean like those fire torch things that synchronize with music and cannons that shot streamers.  It was a legit show.  Each homeroom class had a little dancing or acting number they did and I was so impressed by how well rehearsed everyone was.  It really looked like everyone was in sync and really getting into the performance.  I can't imagine anything like this at an all boys school in America!  There were many costumes too, the most popular being school girls and dinosaurs.
Some of the dinosaurs dancing
These guys weren't quite as elaborate, but they had really neat masks!
  • There were also the carnival games and a soccer tournament.  Among the games were a three point shooting contest, a screaming machine that measured your decibels, an eating contest, and a horrible contest to see who can stand on a block of ice the longest!  I opted to do the first two and just witnessed the latter two.  It was fun to see my students having fun and enjoying themselves so much.
Not my idea of a fun time!
The Eating Contest. Obviously something shocked the guy in the back. And one of the dinosaurs was participating.
The 3 point contest. I made three out of ten shots.
  •  There was also two food stations.  One had deok-bokki (an amazing spicy deok/rice dish) and sweet potatoes that two students were cooking in an outdoor oven.  I'm not a huge fan of sweet potatoes but I definitely couldn't refuse my students!  They told me to come back anytime and that I didn't need any food coupons to get some :)
  • The best part of the festival was just getting to see and interact with my students outside of the classroom.  So many of them just came to life and it was just wonderful to see them have so much fun.  Even if they weren't able to really speak much to me, their beaming smiles and friendly high-fives said much more than any English they could have told me.  Definitely making seeing my students outside class more often a huge priority for next semester.
Friday:
  • I got up at a rather unpleasant time this morning, but it was worth it because I got to Skype with some family back home!  Every year, my fathers side of the family comes to my house to have a nice lil shindig so I got to see a lot of the aunts and uncles and my grandma.  It was really nice to see them!  I felt bad because I couldn't talk too loudly since the weather change has destroyed my voice in the morning and I was afraid I would wake up my host-family.  But it was really nice to see them and I can't wait to join them for Thanksgiving next year!
  • I did my appearance lesson for the last time today.  Ugh.  It's a good lesson and all and the students get the picture, but I have taught it so many times!!!  It has gotten a bit old.  But it went well as usual so it was worth it.  Basically we talked about eye colors, hair textures, skin color, etc. then the students had to read each other descriptions of famous celebrities to each other while one person read and another drew, then they switched.  It was good.  I also did my Thanksgiving lesson with my 2nd graders today.  They have come up with some great designs for their turkeys and some great things to be thankful for.  When I get back to school Monday, I'll try and write down some of the more memorable ones.
  • My co-teacher took me out to lunch today.  She asked where I wanted to eat and I said as long as the restaurant had chairs, I'd be fine.  Well turns out the only restaurant in Gwangyang with chairs is actually a coffee shop that has mediocre food so we had to succumb to the floor.  It was tasty though so I didn't mind too much.  
  • Crossfit was great today.  We had another free day where we get to pick our workouts.  I chose to do some kettlebell swings, overhead squats, situps, and double unders.  My pals tried to pressure me into doing more, particularly a nasty set of 100 burpees, and I had to fake them out to get out of it haha.  They just rolled their eyes at me everytime I would cheer them on in the workout.  A few of the shyer ones are definitely opening up a lot more and trying to use more English and stuff and it's great!  It's really one of my favorite parts of the day.  I am definitely going to miss it when I'm not here in the winter!
That's about it.  I might have a new addition to my winter break plan, but I have to see if it will work out before I can commit.  It would be really really exciting though and it is something I have always dreamed about doing and never thought I would actually have the chance!  But I have to see if I can iron out the kinks before I reveal any details :)  Only a month-ish left of school yet and then I start my exciting winter break!  Good stuff!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Preparation and Tests!

Monday - Wednesday:

  • Well I've been a bit busy at school so I haven't been able to post the last couple of days.  The main reason why I have been so busy is that I was told on Monday that I will have to do speaking tests for all 500ish students next week.  Oops.  I knew there was a possibility of the tests for 1st graders (but wasn't definite) but the 2nd grade one threw me a little off guard, but it's getting fairly taken care of but there are still a couple of things to work out.
  • This week for the lessons we are learning about Thanksgiving!  I am doing this with the 2nd graders.  We are going old school and we are making hand-turkeys!  I wasn't sure how they would react if they would like it or not but they have actually been really into it for the most part! I am having them make and draw their turkey and then they have to write what they are thankful for.  I am hanging up the best ones on my desk in the teachers office for everyone to see!
  • The 1st graders are doing the sports lesson this week and they seem to be getting a kick out of it.  Some students were a bit devastated about the test, but I couldn't really tell them any earlier since I didn't know!
  • Today (Wednesday), students were preparing for the festival tomorrow and doing different rehearsals and things like that so no one had class in the afternoon.  My co-teacher invited me to go on a hike with her and a Physics teacher, Mr. Ree.  I saw the mountain we were going to climb and thought it wouldn't really be a problem.  We could get up and down and back to school in an hour.  Took 2.5 hours -__-  Oh well, it was a great view.  I saw both Gwangyang and Suncheon from the same spot so that was cool.
  • Nothing too new with the gym.  Just doing the workouts and all of that.  Today, we did box jumps, thrusts, and burpees.  I think I have finally mastered the double-under too!  That is when you are doing the jump rope and instead of just jumping over the rope the normal one time, you do it twice.  I was practicing everyday after the WOD and I got about 25 in a row today!

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Thanksgiving in Korea!

Weekend:
  • It was Thanksgiving day!!  Well at least the Fulbright Thanksgiving.  The fantastic Fulbright Office invited all of us ETAs up to Seoul to have an AMAZING Thanksgiving dinner with them and some of the Embassy staff, including U.S. Ambassador Kim and his family. 
  • The food was awesome.  We had turkey!!! Turkey is not really eaten in Korea since they don't live here so it was really special.  We also got to partake in other traditional Thanksgiving fare such as stuffing, mashed potatoes, pie, salad, rolls, gravy, real butter, and a ton of other stuff!
  • Our group was also lucky to see some performances.  We saw traditional Korean songs as well as some acts performed by my talented fellow ETAs.  It was great!
  • Afterwards, I hung out with a few pals that I don't usually get to see.  We met up with Luke's girlfriend and her aunt and had a really great time.  It's always refreshing and fun to see my Fulbright buddies!
  • Luke was also fantastic and he helped me get a new computer!  A Samsung that is pretty basic, but it's what I wanted.  It was about $550 so it wasn't too bad!  Definitely worth it since my other one was basically kaputt.
  • Sunday was pretty relaxing. Just wandered around Seoul for a while and then took the bus back.  I bought another copy of Atlas Shrugged to read on the bus.  I actually got through 120 pages or so.  The train ride up made me think of it the whole time so I figured I mind as well get it as it will definitely keep me occupied for a while since it's huge!
Have to plan my lesson for tomorrow!  Thinking about Thanksgiving and holiday traditions.  We have our festival this week so a lot of students will be in and out so it can't be anything too terribly important since a lot of students will be missing it.  It will still be educational though.  We'll see how it goes!

Friday, November 16, 2012

Without Power

Friday:
  • So yesterday my co-teacher mentioned in passing that I wouldn't have any electricity in my classroom today so I was technically given a days notice about the upcoming event.  Nevertheless, I brought my trusty red USB drive in the slight hope that I misinterpreted my co-teacher. Nope. The entire school had no power.  No lights, no heat, no computers, nothing. Except the bells to signal when to go to/leave class.  
  • Luckily, I only have 2 classes on Friday so I didn't have to teach too many classes in the dark.  I wasn't able to do the lesson that I had planned, so I had to come up with some back up ones.  I cranked out the old high school year book for one class and then played a word game (six degrees of separation?) with the more advanced 2nd graders.  The yearbook class was a lil tricky since not all of the students could see it, but the word game class was a pretty big hit.  Unfortunately, that class is already behind due to missed days, etc. so they are now even further behind! Ugh.
  • Also went out to eat for lunch with a few teachers.  We drove like 20 minutes to a restaurant where they had handmade tofu and this amazing noodle soup. It was sooo good.  Definitely the best tofu I've ever had. 
  • It was a free day at the gym today which meant we get to pick our own workout from a few on the board (or make our own with Teen-Seok's (the instructor/owner) guidance).  I always enjoy these days because I like having the choice, but today I was not feeling super energetic for some reason.  Once I got into it, it was better but I was pooped by the end!  
  • And they all keep trying to feed me more too! Lately, there has been a lot of food on the front table and the keep beckoning me to come over. Today there were some tasty-looking baked goods and some permissions(spelling?). I have a bit after the workout, but I can't really eat anything before or else I feel sick.  I think we've had some sort of food every day this week out on that table.  Good thing I'm burning the calories during the workout haha.
  • Tonight, Hui-Chan, my host sister, left for the Philippines to study English for three months.  I am sad to see her go, but it's going to be a really great learning experience for her and she is going to do really well.  She is very smart, one of the top students in her class.  She won't be back until February!  
Tomorrow, I will go to Seoul and I get to see my Fulbright friends!!!  I am super stoked!  I will also get a new computer! Should be great.  The adventures continue...

More Cancelled Class and Winter Camp Planning

Thursday 11.15

  • First thing I know this morning is that my first class is cancelled!  We have our school festival coming up so I think a lot of preparations are being made for this.  I did have my club class though....but only 2 showed up because everyones busy.  So we just talked a lil and I showed them pics of my hometown on google maps. Actually turned out fairly well!  I've been having a tricky time with this class since they seem to either be bored with my lessons or its too easy or something. I don't know.  I'm going to try and really re-structure some of it next semester.
  • Winter Camp plans are finally coming into place! Thank goodness!  I have a 4 day, 3 night winter camp in early January that a few of my fellow ETAs and I are running and I am realllly excited about it.  It's going to be some of the more advanced students so everyone will be speaking English and we get a lot of freedom with our lessons and clubs.  I'm planning on doing a cooking club to teach the boys how to cook American food haha.
  • The host family and I went out to dinner tonight since Hui-Chan, my host sister, is leaving for the Philippines tomorrow to study English for three months.  I will definitely miss her but it's a great opportunity for her.
  • Going to Seoul on Saturday. I think I am going to officially buy a new computer since this fan is dying fast.  It shouldn't be too pricey and an ETA friend and his Korean friend will help me so that's great.  
  • I also started looking into possibly planning some spur of the moment winter break plans but we'll see :) I don't have a ton of time off since I am doing my internship in Busan so I wasn't really planning on doing a lot of traveling since my pals are mostly traveling in January when I work, but I have been looking at some prices and it's tempting! I have to do a little more research.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The Fire Drill and a day off

Tuesday:

  • The biggest highlight of the day was THE fire drill.  So on Monday we had a drill for the fire drill.  I've heard rumors about how fire drills worked in Korean schools, but I was still unprepared/blown away. It was announced that at 2:00 we would start it and I would have no class because of it.  2:00 came and all of us in the office had to go outside.
  • When we got there, we were briefed as to what will occur (at least I think this is what happened since it was all in Korean).  I was pretty distracted by all of the students hanging out of the windows and waving/seeing what was going on.  All of the teachers were outside so basically all of the students were inside without any adults, which is another thing that would never happen in the states.  Then we headed back inside and waited for it to officially begin.  I walked back inside and my co-teacher told me she had that she couldn't join me since her task was to shout "Fire! Fire!" throughout the hallways. And she told me I shouldn't be laughing and smiling so much since it was supposed to be serious.
  • Next thing I knew some of the male teachers were getting a fire house set up and taking it outside.  Then it started.  I don't remember exactly everything that happened because it was just sensory overload.  Teachers were shouting, the PE teacher was outside soaking the front of the building with the fire hose, students were running outside towards the basketball court to get a good view of the action, and I was just standing there trying to take it all in.  I managed to make my way outside and I looked up to see what exactly the PE teacher was hosing down and I saw some purple smoke spewing from the fourth story window.  Apparently someone set off a smoke bomb to simulate the fire. I couldn't control myself as I burst into a fit of giggles.
  • In the midst of my laughing, I hear my name being called from behind me.  I turned to see three of my students standing in the middle of the parking lot waving at me and shouting "Fire!" Then I saw an ambulance flying into the parking lot and heading directly towards my friendly but oblivious students.  I started shouting at them and waving them towards the basketball court before they get mowed down and one of the Korean teachers also warned them to get away and they finally did.
  • I was then motioned to go towards the gazebo where a few of the other teachers were at and I just watched what happened.  A fire truck came after the ambulance and they also got their hose out and started soaking the school.  By this time, the purple smoke bomb has gone out so it's just spraying the school for fun.  Then I see someone in the corner of my eye and it appears to be a student being carried off by two teachers in a stretcher to the ambulance where he is loaded in. Eventually the fire truck discontinues the soaking of the school and leaves the premises with the ambulance and we all calmly head back inside like nothing happened.  This concludes the most interesting and hilarious fire drill I have ever and probably ever will see.
  • I also went out to lunch with a few teachers beforehand.  Only my co-teacher was an English teacher so they all did not really speak English expect for a few words here and there.  So it was mostly just me eating a fish soup and nodding and smiling. I would answer some things here and there through my co-teacher.  We all really wish we could speak with each other and my co-teacher has told me this before, but unfortunately, it really isn't possible with our language abilities :( We are still trying though and we are planning on meeting at least once a week or so to try it out and see what we can do.  It can be very frustrating sometimes when we all really are interested in getting to know each other but simply don't know how.
Wednesday:
  • I have a day off!  I slept in very late, woke up and had a small breakfast, did some laundry, got some lunch, and have pretty much been loafing around.  I had a break because students are taking another test of some sort so I have no classes.  A couple of my host sisters friends came over.  I was putting my laundry on the drying rack and I hear a bunch of girls come to my door and say "Hello" and then I hear one "Hey what's up?" in perfect English and with no Korean accent. I looked up and saw all Korean school girls, but apparently one of them has lived in Canada for several years so she is completely fluent and doesn't have an accent at all!  Just goes to show you that you never know who speaks fluent English here!

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Fire Drills and Eel Soup

Monday 11-12
  • Today I started new lessons with my 2nd graders.  I am doing a fun lil lesson about different sports and then a game using flyswatters and hitting the correct answer on the board/screeen.  I only did it twice yesterday, but it seemed to work out well both times!  Even students who normally sleep and stay silent were up at the board at least once so that was awesome! I bought the two flyswatters yesterday for 1,000 won which is just under one dollar so it was a pretty good deal!  One already has a crack from students hitting each other, but it's all good.
  • We also had a fire drill today.  Or I later found out that it was actually just a drill for the fire drill which will be tomorrow.  I am still a bit confounded by the whole thing.  Bascially all of the teachers piled out of the building, then the students followed.  The students went back in while the teachers stayed outside and went over a script of what to do and say during the fire drill.  The hose was brought out but not used...I'm guessing they are going to crank it out tomorrow!  Should be quite the experience.
  • I also had to stay late today to help one of the English teachers write questions for her test.  It took a while because the questions have to be in a very specific format that mimics the style of the standardized tests they have to take, but we got it done!  She and the other first grade teachers took me to dinner where I had my first taste of eel soup.  It actually tasted much better than it sounds and I will definitely have it again!

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Weekend!

Late Friday & Saturday:
  • On Fridays, I only have classes until lunch time so I usually leave after lunch, and that is exactly what I did this Friday! I just went back to the apartment and relaxed for a little bit until I went to the gym.
  • The workout on Friday was a free day so we got to choose from a list of 7 or so workouts.  For some reason, I chose to swing a 12kg kettleball up and down 200 times and I chose to do 100 burpees.  I was pretty tired and I had to rush so I could get to the bus terminal to pick up Ryan!
  • So my Fulbright ETA friend Ryan lives about 1 hour and 20 minutes away in Jinju.  He is pretty isolated too so he decided to pay a visit to me in Suncheon!  So we hung out with the host family for a little bit and then headed to dinner.  We were wanting some western food, so we went to the local Outback Steakhouse.  It was a bit pricey for my liking, but it was tasty!
  • When we got back, we played with the host family and headed to bed early because the next morning we were heading to the Seonamsa Temple, which is the most famous temple in Suncheon. It was very beautiful and we took a lot of pictures.  I took mine with my 35mm so I can't really put them on here, but Ryan took some with my phone so here a few:
Along the hike that we took

Me, my host father, and my host sister

Ryan and I

Traditional Korean Houses on a beautiful Autumn day

Ryan, Me, and my host family (minus Yung Chan, the other twin boy)
  • It was really nice to hang out with Ryan and show off my city and host family a little bit.  Hopefully, I can do this more often with other visiting ETAs!

Sunday:
  • Sunday was a day I was a little excited for but was dreading at the same time.  It was the day of the Suncheon Marathon.  I did not run a full marathon.  I intended to do a 5k, but was signed up for a 10k so I had to do that instead.  At Crossfit, we do many types of workouts but running is usually pretty rare, and when we do it, it's for a mile (or 1.6km) max so I didn't exactly prepare myself very well for this.
  • There was seven of us running, all of us doing the 10k, thanks to the one individual who signed all of us up.  We met at the gym and we all drove together in the gym van (which I just learned about upon entering it.  I had no clue we had our own van!) We picked an extra passenger up on the way and then headed to a large soccer stadium to get ready.
  • Unlike American races, we already had our numbers and computer chips and everything so we just had to show up.  We did one lap and a couple of stretches and then we were ready (My HS cross country coach would NOT be happy with that).
  • We lined up by the line and everyone was ready to go but the emcee of the race just kept talking and talking and talking.  My listening skills in Korean are not the best, but I could tell most everyone around me was getting annoyed, especially since it was getting cold and it was lightly raining.  After 10 minutes of rambling, he let everyone start and we were off.
  • These big races take a while to start since there are so many people so it was just walking for the first minute or so, but I soon plowed my way through the crowds and managed to get to a place where I could comfortably pass people or get out of the way of speedier folk.  That was pretty much it I guess.  I don't know how to describe running a 10k in a fascinating manner haha. My final time was a little over an hour, but I'd say it was actually under because of the delayed/walking start and that was my goal so I did it!
  • After the race, we all headed back to the gym to shower and order some lunch.  We were all in dismay to discover that the hot water was not working.  I tried to shower with the cold water, but I quickly scurried out of the shower after approximately 5 seconds of the the water touching my leg.  Everyone else braved it, but I could not face it.  Those that know me, know that I do not do well with the cold.  Luckily about a half hour later, I checked again and the hot water was back!  
  • Then we had our feast.  It was a ton of food and we just sprawled it out on the gym floor and went to town.  I had some black bean noodles which was amazing and then some of the others had a spicy seafood soup.  There were also some egg rolls and some glazed vegetables.  It was awesome!  It was a great way to wrap up the day.  It was awesome to get to hang out with my gym pals outside of the regular class.  Communication can be a little tricky but between my very little Korean (I don't even have a toddler's vocabulary) and their various levels of English, we made it work and everyone had a great time!  Here are a few pictures from the day:
All of the Crossfit Suncheon runners!

A ton of people were there!


This is the expression on his face 98% of the time.  This is the owner of the gym and he is a very happy man.

And then he made us do a couple of squats. I clearly do not look pleased and I look like I am going to tumble backwards any second.

Now I have to get working on my lesson for tomorrow.  I have the idea, but now I just have to work out the logistics of delivering it.  I'm the worst Sunday night lesson planner haha!

Friday, November 9, 2012

Thursday and Friday

Thursday:
  • No school!  All 3rd grade students had the 수능 test today so I did not have to come into school.  I took advantage of that and slept in very late. 
  • I bought my first ramen in Korea and it was pretty much a complete fail.  I totally messed up the cooking process and it didn't turn out nearly as well as it could have.  It was cheese ramen too!  It's probably the closest I will get to mac n cheese until I return to America.  I know now for next time!
  • Speaking of food, I decided to make dinner tonight since my host mother was monitoring the test all day (it was 9 hours!!) so I made some spaghetti and meatballs with garlic breadsticks and a salad.  All in all, it turned out really well and was probably the best meal I have made so far!  It's a little tricky trying to think of things to make without an oven so I'll have to think a bit for the next meal I do.
  • Crossfit was pretty tough today.  I went to the 7:00ish class since I had to make dinner.  We did some pull-ups, lunges, and lifting.  My arms are the weakest part of my body and that's pretty much all we focused on today!  Hopefully today will be better.
Friday:
  • I only have 2 classes on Friday so it's pretty nice!  We are going to be talking about jobs and careers in both classes and then play a game I made up called "Tanks" where the teams/tanks get to attack each other and give each other minus points.  They get a huge kick out of that haha! 
  • Later tonight, I am having my first ETA visitor!  I don't get many visitors because I am pretty far out from everyone else (the closest group of ETAs are an hour and twenty minutes away) and my city isn't too terribly large or have any really great attractions so I usually go to everyone else.  I'm excited to be able to get to show someone what Suncheon is about though!  Probably going out to eat and walking around town and meeting the host family.  Should be fun!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Wednesday 11/7

Wednesday 11/7

  • I only had one class today!  My school is preparing the national college entrance exam which is tomorrow so we did not have afternoon classes.  This is easily one of the most important days in the lives of the 3rd graders(seniors) as it will determine where they go to university, what they can major in, and essentially what kind of job they can get.  Intense!
  • It was a good class.  Did more laws.  When I first walked in there was no monitor at the desk for the computer.  I was pretty worried but the students were struggling to hide their pleasure at the possibility of having a free period.  But then I turned on the TV that is connected to the computer and lo and behold there was the desktop!  I clapped gleefully as I scanned across the class seeing all of the disappointed faces and hearing groans.  It turned out to be just fine though and most of the students were really getting into the game that we played.
  • I went to check out a local sandwich shop that I saw over the weekend during a walk and I picked up a delicious BLT and went to the store to get some sour cream and onion chips.  It was a great lunch!
  • Of course, I went to the gym and I did my crossfit routine.  Today we did kettlebell swings, box jumps, and these awful things called grasshoppers.  I posted a decently fast time so I was pretty happy!  I have the 10k this weekend that one of the gym-goers signed me up for.  I went into it thinking it would be a 5k but discovered yesterday that my name is under the 5k!  The owner of the gym/instructor and I are going to try to get back into the 5k since he doesn't want to the 10k either haha!
  • I think my computer is finally on its way out :(  First the keyboard went out and I had to buy a new keyboard that I plug into the usb port, then my battery has been pretty bad.  It only lasts about 10 minutes off of the charger.  And this week the internal fan has been acting all loud and crazy.  The fan still works because my computer is not getting hot or anything, but it's pretty noisy.  Even if the computer goes out on me, I still have the school computer and I have a smartphone so I can send emails and things but I'm hoping it will last a little!  I don't know if I could get the fan replaced since it's an HP and they are pretty uncommon in Korea.  I'll think about it and see how it goes. 
And that's about it!

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

A Little Taste of America

Here are some highlights of the day so far:

  • One of the students brought some homemade chocolate chip cookies to the teacher's office!  It was the first time I have had these types of cookies since I have been in Korea.  It was definitely pretty tasty and I appreciated it!
  • We had this amazing soup for lunch with all sorts of vegetables like mushrooms, bean sprouts, etc. as well as some beef, kimchi, and noodles.  It was a bit spicy but really good!
  • My lessons have gone fairly well today.  The advanced students are waking up because of the game, but I think I lost some of my lower-level ones.  I had them write some laws today as part of the law lesson.  The paper said "It is illegal ____________ because__________" Here are a few:
  • "It is illegal to smoke outside because it smells very bad"
  • "It is illegal to no night study because students should be sleeping." [There were a ton like this]
  • "It is illegal couple because I am solo.
  • "It is illegal to breathe in the toliet because smells are terrible so you can knock down."
  • "It is illegal to make drug because people receive very big pain"
  • "It is illegal internal organs trade because not columny people sacrifice." [what?!]
  • "It is illegal I Love you teacher because _____" [semi-successful attempt at flattery and getting out of the assignment]
The grammar clearly isn't the best, but for the most part they get their main idea across which is what I am shooting for.  These were actually mostly my advanced students who wrote these but a couple were from my general-level.  I just chose the ones from today and only one out of the four classes I taught were general-level.  I'll look around for other interesting ones to post during the week. 

I have to help a teacher make some questions for their exam and then I am heading back to Suncheon for Crossfit.  Also discovered I only have one class tomorrow and I have no classes on Thursday because of the national test.  I'll probably just hang around town on Wednesday, but I want to go somewhere on Thurs.  I might hike with my one ETA friend in Gwangyang but we'll see!

Monday, November 5, 2012

My Monday

Look at me posting so quickly!  So here are the highlights for my Monday:
  • I had my four usual classes today.  I have three 2nd grade classes and one 1st grade. I taught my lesson about laws to the 2nd grade and the 1st grade learned about careers and jobs.
  • My best class was my first one, which is the advanced 2nd graders.  They are usually pretty dead since it's the very first class of the week and they were dead for the first 20 minutes, but once the game started, they began to slowly come back to life.
  • My least successful class was the third class which is my lowest level of 2nd graders.  A lot of them don't speak any English and my co-teacher translates almost everything.  Also a ton of people were sleeping today and some teachers randomly came in 30 minutes in to fix the speakers and I couldn't teach for about 10 minutes.  It was a pretty frustrating class but hopefully it will be better next week.  Definitely felt like an ETA, Entertaining Teacher from America rather than an English Teaching Assistant.  Oh well.
  • After school, I had my Crossfit class.  It wasn't too bad.  It was lifting (push pressing?) a 20kg bar and doing some burpees (basically pushup and jump squat combo) for 8 minutes.  I ran a mile afterwards and did some sit-ups.  One of my Korean friends was coming up to me before I started my run and felt my stomach and said "Bad. More sit-ups." He proceeded to do this for my chest, arms, and legs.  It seems only my legs met his standards which honestly is no surprise since my legs are completely out of proportion to the rest of my body.  On the plus side, he invited me to go hiking with him in a couple of weekends.
  • I got home and it was a late but tasty dinner.  We had fish, rice, seaweed soup, tofu, beef, cabbage, kimchi, clams, and octopus.  Dinners typically have a huge number of dishes rather than really big but few ones.  I learned clams are apparently the famous food of Suncheon.  I also had some octopus and I tried to remove the head, at least where the eyeballs were from the rest of it but my host father protested.  In the end, I did get the head off, but I wouldn't say it was a complete victory since the ink or whatever black liquid was surrounding the eyes leaked all over the rest of it.  Oops
So those were the highlights from my day!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

New Structure and Updates!

So this blog has been kind of a fail lately.  Oops.  Sorry!!!  I really meant to write a few days but I always seem to put it off and find other things to do. I think I am going to restructure this so rather than writing my usual novel-length entries, it is short tidbits every couple of days.  A few ETAs are using this structure and they stick with it soooo hopefully that will work for me!

For today, I will just give the highlights of things I have done since last time (Chuseok):
  •  Teaching has been great!  I have done lessons about careers and jobs, natural disasters(filler/catch everyone up lesson), last week I did elections to commemorate the upcoming US and Korean presidential elections, and this week I am continuing this theme and we are going to learn about government and specifically laws.  
  • My club class has been good, but I feel like I need to put a lot more time into it.  It is hard to tell if the students are interested or think it is worth the time.  Then again, it is early in the morning and three days a week so perhaps this explains the lack of enthusiasm.
  • We are planning our winter camp!  It is coming up at the beginning of January.  I am trying to get a theme down this week so I'll let you know about that.  It is actually a 4day 3night camp which is highly unusual for ETAs so I think I am actually pretty lucky because I will get to know the students a lot better and see them outside of a classroom setting.  And I get to bring 3 ETA friends with me to help teach!
  • I went to Mokpo for a dinner and visit with my friends.  Mokpo is about 1.5 hours away.  Seemed like a neat city but I didn't get to stay too long unfortunately.  And the bus ride back took forever cuz we stopped at a bunch of different small cities along the way! It was so annoying but it was worth it so see my buddies!
  • Speaking of seeing buddies, we all had our first conference in Gyeongju!  It was sooo nice to see everyone and to catch up with each other.  We also had a lot of great sessions and got lots of great advice from my peers.  I went to sessions ranging from Money Management to Planning Winter Camps.  It was a great conference and it makes me excited for the next one...on Jeju Island!
  • The last major trip I went on was to Seoul last weekend.  I went with a few friends and we had a mini class reunion with our Korean teachers from Orientation!  It was so great to see them! I reallly miss my Korean teachers and I am sure you know from my last few posts that I am quite fond of them. I will probably see them again sometime during winter break.
  • Speaking of winter break, I landed myself an internship!  I am going to teach a couple of extra-curricular classes at Pusan National University in Busan.  I was thinking I wanted to live in Seoul for the break, but this internship seemed like a great fit.  The only issue right now is housing.  They offered a place in a guesthouse/hotel for $45.00 a night!  I was pretty shocked because we planned that I would be there for 4-6 weeks.  Yikes.  So we are trying to find a more affordable option because that will definitely NOT work, especially since I am not allowed to be paid.  Hopefully I will find something that won't completely break the bank!
  • Next Sunday I will be running in the Suncheon Marathon/5k.  I am obviously doing the 5k part because I am not crazy and silly enough to put myself through a marathon.  I am running with a few of my gym friends.  I am totally loving my gym and I am so sad that I will not see them for two months during the winter!  I always look forward to walking down the stairs to the gym and hearing the music blasting away and cringing everytime I see the WOD (Workout of the Day) on the board.  It's great though and always a ton of variety which helps!
  • I went to my first Korean wedding two weekends ago with my homestay mother.  It was definitely a lot different than American weddings.  It is very fast paced with a few different weddings going on at once and everyone was talking through the ceremony.  There wasn't a reception afterwards, but instead just a huge buffet lunch and we were back home by 4.  A lot different, but good!
I think those are the major happenings lately.  Next major thing I have to do is figure out winter break travel plans, if any.  I might just hang around Korea and travel throughout here instead since I will be in Busan for a decent amount of time, but who knows!  I don't have basically anything set in stone which is bad since ticket prices are probably going up.  If I were to travel, it wouldn't be until the end of Feb so I still have some time I suppose.

Okay now with a new format in mind, I think I will be good to go with the blogging world.  Thanks for putting up with it!  If you ever want to know what's going on, you can always just facebook or email me too!  I am much quicker with that haha.

Hope things are good!