been studying some korean at work today... though I should be making lessons instead in all honesty.
There are optional summer camps that the native teachers can do to make extra money (about $400 per week) but my school will not let me do it. Considering that I get paid my normal salary in addition to the extra money, i would've been making about $850 in a week (with no expenses). It's a little harder work than I would be doing if I stayed in town. But they are forcing me to stay, except for my 10 days of vacation. However, I will get to teach English to the other teachers which I think will be great. We never have time during the school day so during summer I will actually be able to teach them for an hour every day. I think it will help alot because they all learned English in High School. It's just that they forgot it and they have no confidence now. Once they hear me speaking and are forced to speak they will have words that they are confident in using.
Next month I will do 4 evening classes for adults. They have good English language skill so I can have fun doing conversations and expressing ideas and opinions. Each class will be two hours long. So it will be a good change of pace, but I don't like the idea of having extra classes to plan. They start the week after my birthday.
Tomorrow we have shortened classes and then after class we will have a soccer game of teachers vs. students. I'm playing in both games, but not sure what position I will play yet. Hopefully, I can play defense of goalie because my stamina isn't what it used to be when I would play midfielder. The games are only 15 or 20 minutes long, though.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
내 비말요
Today has been a horrible day. I am going on zero hours of sleep and got into a big disagreement with the person who matters most to me here.... not necessarily in that order.
But even though today is awful, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I think people are always in a hurry to get through their lives. Humans always tell themselves that tomorrow will be better than today. But I don't ever want to skip a moment. I think I've learned alot about myself and what/who is important to me.
Tomorrow is uncertain, but why should you fear it...? And how can we expect a better tomorrow than that which we create for ourselves?
But even though today is awful, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I think people are always in a hurry to get through their lives. Humans always tell themselves that tomorrow will be better than today. But I don't ever want to skip a moment. I think I've learned alot about myself and what/who is important to me.
Tomorrow is uncertain, but why should you fear it...? And how can we expect a better tomorrow than that which we create for ourselves?
지금
Finally I have uploaded the video that Sujin and I made for our special presentation class to the man from the provincial office of education. check out the link below. The cute waitress is Hyejin, and the other actress is Sujin.
I had a great weekend visiting far-away friends... but I have to get ready for work and plan today's lesson. More to come later !
I had a great weekend visiting far-away friends... but I have to get ready for work and plan today's lesson. More to come later !
Friday, May 1, 2009
Hey Mr. Big
I neglected to mention that last weekend I went to Seoul for the second time. I met some new friends, and some people I hadn't seen in two months. The club in Hongdae was great, but my favorite part was just meeting new people, such as I did on Friday on the bus to Incheon and on Saturday before the clubbing. Also, I was able to find a CD shop and get a Regina Spektor CD as a gift for a friend in Gimcheon.
Today, I had a short day of school so I came home and did some Chinese calligraphy for the first time in 4 months. I'm not used to using rice paper... it wrinkles very easily when it gets wet... but I think it is better than the newsprint I was using back home. It turned out pretty good, besides the writing in Chinese.
Tonight I went to a classical/opera concert in Gimcheon. It was free... I think because people will not perform in our city... so the city has to completely pay for the event to get them to perform here. It was actually pretty entertaining, much to my surprise. I liked the Phantom of the Opera song... and there was one song in English from a famous musical. Also, there were three songs in German which I was able to understand a little of. The orchestra was quite good and there was a famous singer who did two songs. It was more than I expected for it being free. I went with 민채, and also with the Health teacher(I can never remember her name) and her 8-year-old daughter, 해은(Hay-une). The daughter was really cute and after the concert we went to a popular cafe/restaurant that I had been to once before. It was easy to entertain 해은... usually just speaking korean or giving her food seemed to work well.
This is where the concert was.
Today, I had a short day of school so I came home and did some Chinese calligraphy for the first time in 4 months. I'm not used to using rice paper... it wrinkles very easily when it gets wet... but I think it is better than the newsprint I was using back home. It turned out pretty good, besides the writing in Chinese.
Tonight I went to a classical/opera concert in Gimcheon. It was free... I think because people will not perform in our city... so the city has to completely pay for the event to get them to perform here. It was actually pretty entertaining, much to my surprise. I liked the Phantom of the Opera song... and there was one song in English from a famous musical. Also, there were three songs in German which I was able to understand a little of. The orchestra was quite good and there was a famous singer who did two songs. It was more than I expected for it being free. I went with 민채, and also with the Health teacher(I can never remember her name) and her 8-year-old daughter, 해은(Hay-une). The daughter was really cute and after the concert we went to a popular cafe/restaurant that I had been to once before. It was easy to entertain 해은... usually just speaking korean or giving her food seemed to work well.
This is where the concert was.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
good work!
I forgot to update to mention that 수진 and myself did great on our presentation to the officer from the Province. Actually it wasn't quite as big as I thought it would be, maybe only 12 people watching the lesson. The officer had a lot of good things to say, but I think he was a bit too idealistic. Obviously with only a 50-minute class you are not going to be able to accomplish everything... so some days will focus more on grammar or sentence formation or vocabulary, and some days will have alot of speaking, or writing, etc. But because he only saw one class, he couldn't see the scope of everything I have done. Nonetheless, he really liked the class... especially the video that we made for the class starring myself, 수진, 혜진, and 5 of the students (with 희옌 working the camera). Because we are the only high school with a native teacher in Gimcheon (of 11 or 12 high schools) I think they really wanted to see my lesson to see whether they should consider the effectiveness of a native teacher at the high school level.
I got into a bit of a disagreement with my best Korean friend last night. Today we had a birthday celebration in the morning and then 민채 is monitoring the mid-term exam for students, so we haven't had a chance to talk. I'm always the the type to forget disagreements overnight, so I hope we can make up today.
Yesterday we started mid-term exams. They will last for a week... but the students work very hard all day studying so we are only having about 4 hours of exams each day and then school ends early. After school yesterday about 30 teachers went out to a restaurant near 직지사 and had a great lunch. Then they had a big field out behind the restaurant where we could play a game that was a cross between volleyball and soccer. Yes, you're confused. Let me explain. It is on a volleyball court... with two differences. Firstly, the net is about 3 feet off the ground. Secondly, its on dirt, not sand. Then you use your feet and/or head instead of your hands. Between each hit, the ball can bounce once legally if it is within the boundaries, and your team can have 3 hits, like in volleyball, before you have to send it across the net. There were many other activities to keep everyone happy... such as playing with puppies, picking herbs, playing a traditional gambling game, drinking beer, and talking in the shade.
I've been slacking on posting picutres... so here are some that I have on my work computer:
The photo that all of the teachers took together. On the top row, the 3rd man is 이종식 and the fourth man is 한상철. Both of them co-teach English classes with me. In the 2nd row from the top, the third teacher is 서태오. He took me and some other teachers out to dinner one night, then showed us his miniature airplanes in action and took us back to his house to meet his wife and have tea/fruit. On the far right of that row, the first woman is Ms. 조 the music teacher. She is getting married in three weeks and I'm excited to go to the wedding. On the end is 조경숙. She is a 2nd grade English teacher and has 1 class with me each week.
Third row from the top: the 3rd teacher is 정학영. He is the head of all of the English teachers and picked me up on my first day. At the end of this row there are six women. So, here they are, in order. (1) The health teacher (2) the chemistry teacher 진은겅 (3) 츼예진, one of my best friends here. She is in Japan right now on vacation... in Osaka (4) 신희옌, the biology teacher. Or is she the Chemistry teacher? I can't think today. She's really nice too and I spend alot of time with her (5) my main co-teacher and good friend 배수진. She always helps me when I have problems learning how to live in Korea and is always thinking of ways to help me (6) my best Korean friend 정민채. She always helps me study Korean and is probably the one person here who never tires of speaking English to me. I think even the English teachers sometimes get tired of trying to speak English to me, but she will speak to me for hours, even though she is not an English teacher and has a hard time expressing herself at times.
On the bottom row, the two men in the middle with light pink ties are the vice principal and principal. The first man on the left is the Japanese teacher. He introduced me to his daughter once and was really happy to see her speaking to me in English. I was impressed that his daughter, who is maybe 13 years old, speaks better English than my high school students. The first among the last three teachers in the row is 김명환. He has taken me out to dinner and is always very nice to me. His english is quite good, especially considering at his age it was not taught much in school. Next is 이인민, who co-teaches 12 classes with me each week and instructs me in tennis. Last is 김태슨, the PE teacher. He is good at every sport and is very friendly. He gave me presents to send home to my family (i'll mail them soon) and he took me out to a great dinner once. (Not featured in this photo is the secretary who plays hackeysack with me).
I didn't mention these three in the last photo because I had this photo. We are enjoying the cherry blossom trees behind my school. First is 허민, a math teacher who is a few yeard older than me. Next is 박주원, he also picked me up on my first day and is a 3rd grade (12th grade) English teacher. He is pretty cool and always wants me to introduce him to women. On the right is the statistics teacher 옌구. We sometimes have lunch together and teach each other words in our languages, even though i forget most of them because I don't write them down.
This is the new teachers on the first day. They've all been named in the above photos, so I won't waste my time doing so again. But we all get along well because we are new teachers who started at the same time. Actually, I remember my first day 혜진 was very nice to me and always helping me know what to do and where to go during the ceremony, even though I had never met her before.
I got into a bit of a disagreement with my best Korean friend last night. Today we had a birthday celebration in the morning and then 민채 is monitoring the mid-term exam for students, so we haven't had a chance to talk. I'm always the the type to forget disagreements overnight, so I hope we can make up today.
Yesterday we started mid-term exams. They will last for a week... but the students work very hard all day studying so we are only having about 4 hours of exams each day and then school ends early. After school yesterday about 30 teachers went out to a restaurant near 직지사 and had a great lunch. Then they had a big field out behind the restaurant where we could play a game that was a cross between volleyball and soccer. Yes, you're confused. Let me explain. It is on a volleyball court... with two differences. Firstly, the net is about 3 feet off the ground. Secondly, its on dirt, not sand. Then you use your feet and/or head instead of your hands. Between each hit, the ball can bounce once legally if it is within the boundaries, and your team can have 3 hits, like in volleyball, before you have to send it across the net. There were many other activities to keep everyone happy... such as playing with puppies, picking herbs, playing a traditional gambling game, drinking beer, and talking in the shade.
I've been slacking on posting picutres... so here are some that I have on my work computer:
The photo that all of the teachers took together. On the top row, the 3rd man is 이종식 and the fourth man is 한상철. Both of them co-teach English classes with me. In the 2nd row from the top, the third teacher is 서태오. He took me and some other teachers out to dinner one night, then showed us his miniature airplanes in action and took us back to his house to meet his wife and have tea/fruit. On the far right of that row, the first woman is Ms. 조 the music teacher. She is getting married in three weeks and I'm excited to go to the wedding. On the end is 조경숙. She is a 2nd grade English teacher and has 1 class with me each week.
Third row from the top: the 3rd teacher is 정학영. He is the head of all of the English teachers and picked me up on my first day. At the end of this row there are six women. So, here they are, in order. (1) The health teacher (2) the chemistry teacher 진은겅 (3) 츼예진, one of my best friends here. She is in Japan right now on vacation... in Osaka (4) 신희옌, the biology teacher. Or is she the Chemistry teacher? I can't think today. She's really nice too and I spend alot of time with her (5) my main co-teacher and good friend 배수진. She always helps me when I have problems learning how to live in Korea and is always thinking of ways to help me (6) my best Korean friend 정민채. She always helps me study Korean and is probably the one person here who never tires of speaking English to me. I think even the English teachers sometimes get tired of trying to speak English to me, but she will speak to me for hours, even though she is not an English teacher and has a hard time expressing herself at times.
On the bottom row, the two men in the middle with light pink ties are the vice principal and principal. The first man on the left is the Japanese teacher. He introduced me to his daughter once and was really happy to see her speaking to me in English. I was impressed that his daughter, who is maybe 13 years old, speaks better English than my high school students. The first among the last three teachers in the row is 김명환. He has taken me out to dinner and is always very nice to me. His english is quite good, especially considering at his age it was not taught much in school. Next is 이인민, who co-teaches 12 classes with me each week and instructs me in tennis. Last is 김태슨, the PE teacher. He is good at every sport and is very friendly. He gave me presents to send home to my family (i'll mail them soon) and he took me out to a great dinner once. (Not featured in this photo is the secretary who plays hackeysack with me).
I didn't mention these three in the last photo because I had this photo. We are enjoying the cherry blossom trees behind my school. First is 허민, a math teacher who is a few yeard older than me. Next is 박주원, he also picked me up on my first day and is a 3rd grade (12th grade) English teacher. He is pretty cool and always wants me to introduce him to women. On the right is the statistics teacher 옌구. We sometimes have lunch together and teach each other words in our languages, even though i forget most of them because I don't write them down.
This is the new teachers on the first day. They've all been named in the above photos, so I won't waste my time doing so again. But we all get along well because we are new teachers who started at the same time. Actually, I remember my first day 혜진 was very nice to me and always helping me know what to do and where to go during the ceremony, even though I had never met her before.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
내일
I stayed in Gimcheon last weekend. All of the teachers besides me have to work on Saturdays. So after school on Saturday I hung out with 민채. When we were taking a walk after dinner we ran into someone who works at our school... actually, it was the vice principal. So we talked to him briefly and then went along... he was waiting for some friends or family on a bench. I hope he doesn't think it was anything romantic because it was just me and 민채 alone. My three or four best friends at the school are women. The two young English teachers are naturally the best at English (because they had to study it for so much longer than the older teachers) and they sit right next to me, so we get along well. So I'm in the clique with them and a couple of the other young women, who speak good English for not being English teachers.
On Sunday night, we had a big meeting amongst native English teachers to introduce everyone that hadn't met yet. I had already met them all, other than Lindsay. But I'm glad that I went because she is pretty cool. We did bowling/drinking (or, for some of us, drinking/bowling), then noraebong (or for some of us, drinking/noraebong), and then we just got rid of any pretenses and went drinking. Of course, the numbers dwindled at each step of the way, but I usually think that small groups are better than big groups anyhow. The guys in my town have their own clique which consists of the sauna/dinner/noraebong (karaoke)/bar routine pretty regularly. It can be fun every once in a while.
Tomorrow I have to present my lesson to an officer of the Province that I work in. As the teachers are employed by the state, myself included, its a pretty big deal. Even the principal is worried. He is making us do the same lesson for the students twice (and pretend like its the first time). He sat in on the first class and critiqued us. I dont mind presenting in front of the officer from the province, or the principal, vice principal, and 20 other teachers from my school and nearby schools... but I don't like our principal's methodology. Now, we not only have to worry about having a good lesson, but we also have to worry about making all of the necessary changes to appease our principal and also to make it seem like we haven't already taught this material to the students. Today, 혜진 and 휘연 did their class presentations... but there were only three people watching and none of them were officers from the Province. Nonetheless, they were getting evaluated from the principal and I was glad to hear that their classes went great today. Tomorrow is dinner to celebrate our impending success!
On Sunday night, we had a big meeting amongst native English teachers to introduce everyone that hadn't met yet. I had already met them all, other than Lindsay. But I'm glad that I went because she is pretty cool. We did bowling/drinking (or, for some of us, drinking/bowling), then noraebong (or for some of us, drinking/noraebong), and then we just got rid of any pretenses and went drinking. Of course, the numbers dwindled at each step of the way, but I usually think that small groups are better than big groups anyhow. The guys in my town have their own clique which consists of the sauna/dinner/noraebong (karaoke)/bar routine pretty regularly. It can be fun every once in a while.
Tomorrow I have to present my lesson to an officer of the Province that I work in. As the teachers are employed by the state, myself included, its a pretty big deal. Even the principal is worried. He is making us do the same lesson for the students twice (and pretend like its the first time). He sat in on the first class and critiqued us. I dont mind presenting in front of the officer from the province, or the principal, vice principal, and 20 other teachers from my school and nearby schools... but I don't like our principal's methodology. Now, we not only have to worry about having a good lesson, but we also have to worry about making all of the necessary changes to appease our principal and also to make it seem like we haven't already taught this material to the students. Today, 혜진 and 휘연 did their class presentations... but there were only three people watching and none of them were officers from the Province. Nonetheless, they were getting evaluated from the principal and I was glad to hear that their classes went great today. Tomorrow is dinner to celebrate our impending success!
Monday, April 13, 2009
괜잖아 질까요
Two Sundays ago I was somewhat bored so I decided to explore Gimcheon on my own. I think I took a bad route cus I mainly went along the highway, which was pretty desolate and never connected to the main part of town. I did eventually find my way to Gimcheon College though, which was interesting. And there were a couple good sights.
My town and school has many cherry blossom trees!
Last weekend I went to Busan. I met a cool korean woman and we stayed up all night on Friday exploring 헤운데 beach and another beach. The Diamond Bridge was really cool at night. I got to eat some mexican food (ITS SO HARD TO FIND IN KOREA) and we explored the 헤운데 area, which is popular among tourists and among Koreans.
On Saturday, I met up with American friends having got no sleep. We went to the aquarium near the beach and had Indian food. Then we went downtown and explored a bit before making our way to 부산 tower. I wanted to meet up with my friend Emmy for dinner, but due to some faulty communications we only got to meet for five minutes before parting ways. On Saturday night I stayed at a 찜질방 for 6,000 Won ($4.50). Pretty good deal considering I got to shower, hot tub, sauna, and sleep for that one price.
The view from Busan Tower. The city stretches far in every direction and on the other side is the bay to the Sea of Japan. On the mountains in the background, many refugees lived during the Korean War. At one point in the war, almost all of Korea had been taken over by the north except for Busan... so it was the best place for refugees.
On Sunday I went exploring on my own in some of the markets in downtown and got to experience shopping for counterfeit products and haggling over prices in Korean. Sometimes I was a little nervous though because I'm not sure about the quality of the products, or if it is sincere when the products say "Made in Korea." I got a few things, but I don't want to say what they are cus I want to send them home to family. I also want to get some of my fellow teachers to help me pick out things to send home. Then my korean friend took me to Shinsegae department store, which is supposed to be the best one in Korea (she may be biased cus she's from Busan). I got a swimsuit, which I desperately needed cus I want to go to some beaches when it gets just a touch warmer. Also, I got some takoyaki, which is my favorite street vender food in Korea. Its a Japanese dish made from cuttlefish, dough, and onions. They fry it in balls on top of the stove like Aeblskiver and then serve it with a hot sauce and mayo on top.
Next week the Principal, Vice Principal, and lots of other teachers and senior teachers will be sitting in on a class that I am teaching with my main (and favorite) co-teacher. She is really nervous and wants to put together the perfect lesson. So at the end of last week we brainstormed a bit and then today we put a lot of work into it over dinner and coffee. I feel really good about it... but she is putting in a lot of extra work and I fear that she is stressing herself out too much over it. But she is a new teacher and will be working at this school for the next 35 years, so she really wants to make a good impression.
Last Thursday, 정민채 was really sick and had to go to the doctor, who told her not to work for a week. So she comes in on Friday anyways, even though she looked like she would rather be dead. She fainted during her class and had to go the hospital. She looked much better at work today, but I am really worried that she is pushing herself too hard. This first month or two of school has been really hard on the young teachers because they are not used to working so hard and they have to create alot more material and work harder than the experienced teachers. I wish she would have stayed home to rest. Today she thanked me for my concern, because she could tell from my text messages that I was really worried about her. To be honest, I'm still a bit worried about her -_-oo
My town and school has many cherry blossom trees!
Last weekend I went to Busan. I met a cool korean woman and we stayed up all night on Friday exploring 헤운데 beach and another beach. The Diamond Bridge was really cool at night. I got to eat some mexican food (ITS SO HARD TO FIND IN KOREA) and we explored the 헤운데 area, which is popular among tourists and among Koreans.
On Saturday, I met up with American friends having got no sleep. We went to the aquarium near the beach and had Indian food. Then we went downtown and explored a bit before making our way to 부산 tower. I wanted to meet up with my friend Emmy for dinner, but due to some faulty communications we only got to meet for five minutes before parting ways. On Saturday night I stayed at a 찜질방 for 6,000 Won ($4.50). Pretty good deal considering I got to shower, hot tub, sauna, and sleep for that one price.
The view from Busan Tower. The city stretches far in every direction and on the other side is the bay to the Sea of Japan. On the mountains in the background, many refugees lived during the Korean War. At one point in the war, almost all of Korea had been taken over by the north except for Busan... so it was the best place for refugees.
On Sunday I went exploring on my own in some of the markets in downtown and got to experience shopping for counterfeit products and haggling over prices in Korean. Sometimes I was a little nervous though because I'm not sure about the quality of the products, or if it is sincere when the products say "Made in Korea." I got a few things, but I don't want to say what they are cus I want to send them home to family. I also want to get some of my fellow teachers to help me pick out things to send home. Then my korean friend took me to Shinsegae department store, which is supposed to be the best one in Korea (she may be biased cus she's from Busan). I got a swimsuit, which I desperately needed cus I want to go to some beaches when it gets just a touch warmer. Also, I got some takoyaki, which is my favorite street vender food in Korea. Its a Japanese dish made from cuttlefish, dough, and onions. They fry it in balls on top of the stove like Aeblskiver and then serve it with a hot sauce and mayo on top.
Next week the Principal, Vice Principal, and lots of other teachers and senior teachers will be sitting in on a class that I am teaching with my main (and favorite) co-teacher. She is really nervous and wants to put together the perfect lesson. So at the end of last week we brainstormed a bit and then today we put a lot of work into it over dinner and coffee. I feel really good about it... but she is putting in a lot of extra work and I fear that she is stressing herself out too much over it. But she is a new teacher and will be working at this school for the next 35 years, so she really wants to make a good impression.
Last Thursday, 정민채 was really sick and had to go to the doctor, who told her not to work for a week. So she comes in on Friday anyways, even though she looked like she would rather be dead. She fainted during her class and had to go the hospital. She looked much better at work today, but I am really worried that she is pushing herself too hard. This first month or two of school has been really hard on the young teachers because they are not used to working so hard and they have to create alot more material and work harder than the experienced teachers. I wish she would have stayed home to rest. Today she thanked me for my concern, because she could tell from my text messages that I was really worried about her. To be honest, I'm still a bit worried about her -_-oo
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