Sunday Feb 28
438 days...wow....I've been here a long time!
I have officially left Korea..I am writing this blog from Tokyo at 12:25PM at the Narita International airport. It's currently snowing here. I'm sitting in the terminal and watching it through the windows. I have a 7 hour layover. I purchased a day pass for 500Yen which is about $5.00. Whatever happened to free wifi? Its great that they have a plug in here. I don't have to worry about running down my battery and losing power!
When I got to the Incheon airport I went to exchange some currency. I had a lot of change so I had to go to the branch at B1. I had 32,000 won in coins! That came out to $27! Sweet.
Everything is going smoothly so far. Check in was quick. Why do they always tell you to show up 2 hours before? I was checked in and went through security in a matter of minutes. Then I had to sit around for a while. My first flight took off and arrived on time. My first flight was with Korean Air. I was surprised that they gave us a small meal on a 2 hour flight. I slept for most of the flight.
Now I'm at the airport for a long layover. I'm going to surf the web and watch some movies.
TO BE CONTINUED........
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Day 437
Saturday Feb 27
I got a call from one of the leaders at my school. She told me if I wanted to come back in 2011 just keep in touch with my recruiter and send in my documents when it comes close to time to come! Yeah! I get to come back!! I survived 1 year at that school. I can survive 1 or 2 more.
I spent a ton of time cleaning today. cleaned the entire apartment.
One of my friends in my neighborhood mentioned going out to Gangnam tonight. I decided to join them.
They were already in Gangnam when I met up with them. We went to a Turkish restaurant called Pasha. It was pretty good and expensive. It was a nice restaurant. Me and the girl from my neighborhood were going to order the same thing, but then she asked if I wanted to get something different and share. So she ordered number 1 and I ordered number 2 and we split each one. I ordered a chicken breast stuffed with rice, pine nuts, turkish seasoning,etc. It was pretty good. She ordered marinated beef with onions, green peppers. It was pretty good too.
Afterwards they were going to another girl's house to play a game. I decided to go back home since I needed to finish packing, cancel my cell phone, and take out the trash. The subway was going to take an hour so I took it a few stops and then took a cab the rest of the way home.
I stopped at the LG store before heading out. The guys that I spoke too didn't have much English ability. I told them I wanted to cancel. They told me I had to wait until March 2 to cancel. I asked him how I was suppose to cancel and he gave me a phone number to call. I'm afraid that when I call I might not get an English speaker. I'll try calling customer service on Tuesday. I might also have a problem with cancelling. they need to see a copy of my arc card. well i'm leaving and I wont have it anymore.
I came home and packed up my things. My big suitcase is packed to the limit and is really heavy. My other one is going to be really full also. I'm hoping my carry on doesn't weigh too much. I have to carry around so much stuff! I have 2 laptops so one will be in my carry on and the other in my laptop bag. Its such a hassle going through security!
I got a call from one of the leaders at my school. She told me if I wanted to come back in 2011 just keep in touch with my recruiter and send in my documents when it comes close to time to come! Yeah! I get to come back!! I survived 1 year at that school. I can survive 1 or 2 more.
I spent a ton of time cleaning today. cleaned the entire apartment.
One of my friends in my neighborhood mentioned going out to Gangnam tonight. I decided to join them.
They were already in Gangnam when I met up with them. We went to a Turkish restaurant called Pasha. It was pretty good and expensive. It was a nice restaurant. Me and the girl from my neighborhood were going to order the same thing, but then she asked if I wanted to get something different and share. So she ordered number 1 and I ordered number 2 and we split each one. I ordered a chicken breast stuffed with rice, pine nuts, turkish seasoning,etc. It was pretty good. She ordered marinated beef with onions, green peppers. It was pretty good too.
Afterwards they were going to another girl's house to play a game. I decided to go back home since I needed to finish packing, cancel my cell phone, and take out the trash. The subway was going to take an hour so I took it a few stops and then took a cab the rest of the way home.
I stopped at the LG store before heading out. The guys that I spoke too didn't have much English ability. I told them I wanted to cancel. They told me I had to wait until March 2 to cancel. I asked him how I was suppose to cancel and he gave me a phone number to call. I'm afraid that when I call I might not get an English speaker. I'll try calling customer service on Tuesday. I might also have a problem with cancelling. they need to see a copy of my arc card. well i'm leaving and I wont have it anymore.
I came home and packed up my things. My big suitcase is packed to the limit and is really heavy. My other one is going to be really full also. I'm hoping my carry on doesn't weigh too much. I have to carry around so much stuff! I have 2 laptops so one will be in my carry on and the other in my laptop bag. Its such a hassle going through security!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Day 436...last day of school
Friday Feb 26
click on album to view: (My gifts on the last day from my sweet students)
I Went to post office to mail a box of things I sent 8000 g-17 pounds for 28,000 won…about $25.I sent it by surface mail. South Korea's postal system is great!! Its cheap to send mail from Korean to the USA but its expensive to send mail from the USA to Korea. It's going to take a while but I didn’t put anything valuable or anything that I needed right away.There were a lot of people in the post office.I heard them clapping and I was wondering what was going on over in the corner. I looked over and they were watching the Olympics.The south korean skater was on tv. She won a gold medal. That's the biggest news in South Korea right now.
My team leader gave me a hairbow as a gift. I wear my hair in a ponytail almost every day. Its cute. It looks like a crown.
My first class was good. When I walked in the girl gave me a present. She told me it was chocolates. She also wrote me a note. It said "Hello Valerie teacher. I am is Anna. The while hard teach thank you. then good bye. From Anna...How sweet! We covered 3 pages in our spelling book today and then I let them play a game till the end of class. They love hangman.
My 2nd class was also good. Before class 2 of the students brought me a little heart card. I'll post a pic so you can see what it says. Today I decided to only do 3 articles since it was our last day. They were interested in the articles. They asked a lot of questions about the blood and the blue whale. Then we had some free time. They like to play around on my computer so I thought i'd show them Google Earth. They were fascinated by it. I showed them a close up of some neighborhoods in South Korea. One boy pointed and showed me where his house was. Another student showed me his elementary school. I gave the kids my phone number and email so they could keep in touch. When I was leaving the kids were teling me they loved me. One of the boys makes me laugh. He kept telling me "I don't love you. I like you." He told me in class and then he told me after my last class. Is that suppose to be good or bad? Is it better for someone to like you or to love you? He's a sweet kid. He used to tell me I was beautiful all the time. He's 13. I think he has a crush on me. how cute. One of the kids told me last semester "he likes you".
My 3rd class was good. The boy was watching figure skating on his cell phone during class. We covered 3 articles.
My 4th class was actually good. When class started they were begging for a party because it was my last day and one of the student's last day. He told me he was going to die. he was just kidding. It was his last day at our school. They were asking for a game. I gave in and let them study one page and then we would play a game. Surprisingly, they were very well behaved today! We had a good productive game where you start a word with the last letter of the last word. 3 of the boys in the class wanted my phone number. They also gave me theirs. One of the boys told me he was sad because I was leaving. Actually my biggest troublemakers in the class wanted my phone number. Those 3 boys rarely paid attention, but outside of class they were sweet.
After work we went to a restaurant to eat Galbi. It was delicous. We ate a lot. I ate a lot of salad and Galbi. I was so full! The top boss came to see me. He ate with us for a little while.It was the first time I had met him. After we finished eating we said our goodbyes. Our team leader told me she would miss me. I told her I wanted to come back next year. She was excited. She would love to have me come back to the school. She wants to keep in touch with me through email. So hopefully I'll be working at the same school again!!
I know everyone in America, yes everyone,would be heartbroken, but I might consider staying 2 years next time. (I'll come home to visit) In that time I could save up enough money for a nice car (Hyundai Genesis Coupe!).I even want to buy a Korean car. I wanted that car before I even thought about coming to Korea. Next time I'm going to try to live as frugally as possible and save a lot!
Maybe I'll just find a temp job for 2010. I'll stay at my parents and just work enough to cover the essentials. Round 2 of Korea will be 100X better because I know what I'm doing. maybe i'll take some time to travel while I'm in the USA. I may even consider getting certified in TESOL.(Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages). I want all of my students to be excellent English speakers!
Now I have one year to practice my Korean. I want to have some level of fluency when I come back. I need to search hard for a Korean friend in the USA. Or I could even use skype or a webcam to communicate with someone in Korea.
I leave on Sunday...I can't believe its been 14 months! Its going to be so weird seeing everyone again!
Sorry its so long..If you made it this far you are a great person. I feel like one of those people who just won't shut up.
click on album to view: (My gifts on the last day from my sweet students)
 |
| last day |
I Went to post office to mail a box of things I sent 8000 g-17 pounds for 28,000 won…about $25.I sent it by surface mail. South Korea's postal system is great!! Its cheap to send mail from Korean to the USA but its expensive to send mail from the USA to Korea. It's going to take a while but I didn’t put anything valuable or anything that I needed right away.There were a lot of people in the post office.I heard them clapping and I was wondering what was going on over in the corner. I looked over and they were watching the Olympics.The south korean skater was on tv. She won a gold medal. That's the biggest news in South Korea right now.
My team leader gave me a hairbow as a gift. I wear my hair in a ponytail almost every day. Its cute. It looks like a crown.
My first class was good. When I walked in the girl gave me a present. She told me it was chocolates. She also wrote me a note. It said "Hello Valerie teacher. I am is Anna. The while hard teach thank you. then good bye. From Anna...How sweet! We covered 3 pages in our spelling book today and then I let them play a game till the end of class. They love hangman.
My 2nd class was also good. Before class 2 of the students brought me a little heart card. I'll post a pic so you can see what it says. Today I decided to only do 3 articles since it was our last day. They were interested in the articles. They asked a lot of questions about the blood and the blue whale. Then we had some free time. They like to play around on my computer so I thought i'd show them Google Earth. They were fascinated by it. I showed them a close up of some neighborhoods in South Korea. One boy pointed and showed me where his house was. Another student showed me his elementary school. I gave the kids my phone number and email so they could keep in touch. When I was leaving the kids were teling me they loved me. One of the boys makes me laugh. He kept telling me "I don't love you. I like you." He told me in class and then he told me after my last class. Is that suppose to be good or bad? Is it better for someone to like you or to love you? He's a sweet kid. He used to tell me I was beautiful all the time. He's 13. I think he has a crush on me. how cute. One of the kids told me last semester "he likes you".
My 3rd class was good. The boy was watching figure skating on his cell phone during class. We covered 3 articles.
My 4th class was actually good. When class started they were begging for a party because it was my last day and one of the student's last day. He told me he was going to die. he was just kidding. It was his last day at our school. They were asking for a game. I gave in and let them study one page and then we would play a game. Surprisingly, they were very well behaved today! We had a good productive game where you start a word with the last letter of the last word. 3 of the boys in the class wanted my phone number. They also gave me theirs. One of the boys told me he was sad because I was leaving. Actually my biggest troublemakers in the class wanted my phone number. Those 3 boys rarely paid attention, but outside of class they were sweet.
After work we went to a restaurant to eat Galbi. It was delicous. We ate a lot. I ate a lot of salad and Galbi. I was so full! The top boss came to see me. He ate with us for a little while.It was the first time I had met him. After we finished eating we said our goodbyes. Our team leader told me she would miss me. I told her I wanted to come back next year. She was excited. She would love to have me come back to the school. She wants to keep in touch with me through email. So hopefully I'll be working at the same school again!!
I know everyone in America, yes everyone,would be heartbroken, but I might consider staying 2 years next time. (I'll come home to visit) In that time I could save up enough money for a nice car (Hyundai Genesis Coupe!).I even want to buy a Korean car. I wanted that car before I even thought about coming to Korea. Next time I'm going to try to live as frugally as possible and save a lot!
Maybe I'll just find a temp job for 2010. I'll stay at my parents and just work enough to cover the essentials. Round 2 of Korea will be 100X better because I know what I'm doing. maybe i'll take some time to travel while I'm in the USA. I may even consider getting certified in TESOL.(Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages). I want all of my students to be excellent English speakers!
Now I have one year to practice my Korean. I want to have some level of fluency when I come back. I need to search hard for a Korean friend in the USA. Or I could even use skype or a webcam to communicate with someone in Korea.
I leave on Sunday...I can't believe its been 14 months! Its going to be so weird seeing everyone again!
Sorry its so long..If you made it this far you are a great person. I feel like one of those people who just won't shut up.
Kim Yu-na wins first gold in Olympics
Korean world champion Kim Yu-na won the gold medal in the women's figure skating competition in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics on Friday (KST).
It is the first time that Korea has grabbed the Olympic gold medal in the figure skating and it is the second in Asia.
Kim burst into tears after finishing her free skate at the Pacific Coliseum which gave her gold by a massive 23-point margin on her arch-rival Mao Asada of Japan.
Kim received a world record of 228.56 points, renewing her own record of 210.03 set in last October.
“I can't believe this day has finally come for me," said Kim "I still can't believe my performance.”
Wearing a simple blue dress with a sparkling band around her neck, the 19-year-old skated to the Concerto in F by George Gershwin.
She never before had cried after a skating competition but tears flowed on Friday as she nailed all jumps--triple lutz-triple toe loop combination, four other triple jumps-- all with highly positive grades of execution. The 11,000 plus crowd in Pacific Coliseum gave her standing applause.
“Watching previous figure skaters, I always wondered why they cried after their performance. Crying for the first time today, I still don't know why I did." Kim told AFP. Mao Asada skated immediately after Kim. She managed to execute two back-to-back triple axels, the second combined with a double toe loop. But halfway through her routine she ran into trouble, double footing a triple flip and singling the following attempted triple toe loop, according to AFP.
"I didn't see Kim's score," said Asada. "I couldn't watch her skate but I knew she had a solid performance as I heard the crowd's applause."
Mao scored 131.72 for an overall 205.50 and enough to take silver. Canada's Joannie Rochette earned 202.64 to grab bronze. Kim's fellow teammate Kwak Min-jung finished 13th with 155.53 points.
Kim's victory gives South Korea its first Olympic figure skating gold and adds to an already impressive showing at the games by the country's speed skaters, with big-name companies expected to increase their ad budgets for athletes who won medal, according to Yonhap news agency.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Day 435
Thursday Feb 25
What is your favorite English blog on Korea? (There are over 300 English blogs on Korea. 3 or more votes in the "Other" section gets a blog added to the list.)
http://10magazine.asia/2903/april-readers-10
Vote for me(in the other section)...there's no prize...i guess just bragging rights...My blog isn't as popular as the ones that were nominated but it would be cool to see my name on the list...
____________________________________________________
I went to the pension office today to apply for a refund. There was no one in line so I was first. Didn't take very long. The man at the counter spoke very little English. He laid down this sheet in front of me which was like a script of what I was suppose to do. Anyway, by the end of March I should have abour 1300 usd show up in my American bank account. sweet.
Today in my first class we did our last speaking lesson in the book. The title was "My worries".4 of the students have no worries.One worries about studying.
My 2nd class was decent except for the chatty boys being loud all during class. At least everyone participated.One boy said “I don’t know” for every answer.Our topics today were "my dreams" and ‘do you like to______’. Their dreams were: Fashion stylist, doctor, mouse, bike, and a singer. The 2 talkative boys chose the crazy answers of mouse and bike.
We had our newspaper class in my 3rd class today. We had a good class. I gave them my email so they could write me if they wanted to. The girls all wrote it down.
In my last class we also did the speaking lesson on "my dreams". 2 of the students don't have a dream. 2 students didn't know how to say it in English. I also gave them my email so if they wanted to write me. The girls wrote it down, but the boys didn't care.
Tomorrow they are having a farewell party for me. We are going out to eat chicken.
I have to take some money to school to pay for my bills. Once I pay the money that will cover my bills I get my salary. Why not just take it out of my check?
I'm going to load up a box and send it by surface mail so my suitcases won't be so heavy. I've heard sending things by surface mail is pretty cheap. The only downside is it takes a long time-a month or more. That's fine with me. There isn't anything in the box that I need right away.
1 more school day...tomorrow I will have a spelling class, 2 newspaper classes and a speaking lesson and then I am done!
I still have so much to do! Saturday I'm going to spend the whole day cleaning!
My time is coming to a close. I think I'm experiencing a lot of emotions although I don't express those emotions to anyone in person. I'm a very private person and I hold myself together pretty well. I can be hurting a lot inside, but on the outside I appear to be happy. I'm happy, anxious, sad, angry, regretful, and whatever else you can think of..I'm not ready to leave it all behind. My opinions have changed drastically since I arrived. I think I started counting down the day I got here! I hated it for the first few months. I kept thinking "what the hell am I doing here?" Now as it comes to the end I have started to appreciate this experience and I don't want to leave. I have to leave behind a few friends who were geniunely interested in being my friend. There were others who I really wish I had a chance to spend more time with. I wish I would have asked out that guy that I really liked even though there's a 99% chance it wouldn't have worked out. regrets are tough.
I really hope I can come back for round 2.
What is your favorite English blog on Korea? (There are over 300 English blogs on Korea. 3 or more votes in the "Other" section gets a blog added to the list.)
http://10magazine.asia/2903/april-readers-10
Vote for me(in the other section)...there's no prize...i guess just bragging rights...My blog isn't as popular as the ones that were nominated but it would be cool to see my name on the list...
____________________________________________________
I went to the pension office today to apply for a refund. There was no one in line so I was first. Didn't take very long. The man at the counter spoke very little English. He laid down this sheet in front of me which was like a script of what I was suppose to do. Anyway, by the end of March I should have abour 1300 usd show up in my American bank account. sweet.
Today in my first class we did our last speaking lesson in the book. The title was "My worries".4 of the students have no worries.One worries about studying.
My 2nd class was decent except for the chatty boys being loud all during class. At least everyone participated.One boy said “I don’t know” for every answer.Our topics today were "my dreams" and ‘do you like to______’. Their dreams were: Fashion stylist, doctor, mouse, bike, and a singer. The 2 talkative boys chose the crazy answers of mouse and bike.
We had our newspaper class in my 3rd class today. We had a good class. I gave them my email so they could write me if they wanted to. The girls all wrote it down.
In my last class we also did the speaking lesson on "my dreams". 2 of the students don't have a dream. 2 students didn't know how to say it in English. I also gave them my email so if they wanted to write me. The girls wrote it down, but the boys didn't care.
Tomorrow they are having a farewell party for me. We are going out to eat chicken.
I have to take some money to school to pay for my bills. Once I pay the money that will cover my bills I get my salary. Why not just take it out of my check?
I'm going to load up a box and send it by surface mail so my suitcases won't be so heavy. I've heard sending things by surface mail is pretty cheap. The only downside is it takes a long time-a month or more. That's fine with me. There isn't anything in the box that I need right away.
1 more school day...tomorrow I will have a spelling class, 2 newspaper classes and a speaking lesson and then I am done!
I still have so much to do! Saturday I'm going to spend the whole day cleaning!
My time is coming to a close. I think I'm experiencing a lot of emotions although I don't express those emotions to anyone in person. I'm a very private person and I hold myself together pretty well. I can be hurting a lot inside, but on the outside I appear to be happy. I'm happy, anxious, sad, angry, regretful, and whatever else you can think of..I'm not ready to leave it all behind. My opinions have changed drastically since I arrived. I think I started counting down the day I got here! I hated it for the first few months. I kept thinking "what the hell am I doing here?" Now as it comes to the end I have started to appreciate this experience and I don't want to leave. I have to leave behind a few friends who were geniunely interested in being my friend. There were others who I really wish I had a chance to spend more time with. I wish I would have asked out that guy that I really liked even though there's a 99% chance it wouldn't have worked out. regrets are tough.
I really hope I can come back for round 2.
Washing Machine Accident Claims 3rd Child
***Why are kids wanting to climb inside the washing machine? I never had the urge to jump into the washing machine as a kid. I don't think the thought ever crossed my
mind! Thats got to be very uncomfortable. My front loading machine is tiny. 3rd child in 2 years!
Don't leave a 7 year old alone!
_________________________________________________
A seven-year-old child was found dead inside of a front-loading washing machine last week. It was the third such death of a child involving an LG washing machine. The child locked himself inside and suffocated, according to police in Daejeon, where the child lived.
"The machine in question is a model that can't be opened from the inside," a police officer said.
What led him to crawl inside remains uncertain, police added. His parents were out at the time of the accident, said an officer familiar with the case.
"I found him locked inside the machine after returning from school, which was at around 7:50 p.m.," an elder brother of the deceased was quoted as telling a 119 emergency official. "He had hid himself there several times while playing hide-and-seek with me."
Rescuers tried to resuscitate him but he died on his way to the hospital.
"Our washing machines have a warning label so we are not liable for the death," an LG official said. "However, we feel morally responsible for the accident that involved our product and have decided to install a latch that can be opened from the inside."
On Tuesday, LG Electronics announced a voluntary recall of some of its front-loading washing machines, including the 2007 model that was updated due to safety concerns. About 1.05 million machines are subject to the recall, an LG official said.
Installing a new lock system costs about 20,000 won to 30,000 won, so if all the machines are turned in for lock replacement, it would cost the company up to 30 billion won.
The LG official said that actual requests will likely be much lower in number.
On Sept. 9, 2008, a nine-year-old child suffocated inside a front-loading washing machine made by LG. About two weeks later, another nine-year-old died in a similar accident.
The accidents forced LG to adopt a new door design that makes it possible for a person locked in to open the door. The new design has been applied to all models of the company since October 2008.
The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards plans to kick off a nationwide campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the risks involved with such front-loading machines.
mind! Thats got to be very uncomfortable. My front loading machine is tiny. 3rd child in 2 years!
Don't leave a 7 year old alone!
_________________________________________________
A seven-year-old child was found dead inside of a front-loading washing machine last week. It was the third such death of a child involving an LG washing machine. The child locked himself inside and suffocated, according to police in Daejeon, where the child lived.
"The machine in question is a model that can't be opened from the inside," a police officer said.
What led him to crawl inside remains uncertain, police added. His parents were out at the time of the accident, said an officer familiar with the case.
"I found him locked inside the machine after returning from school, which was at around 7:50 p.m.," an elder brother of the deceased was quoted as telling a 119 emergency official. "He had hid himself there several times while playing hide-and-seek with me."
Rescuers tried to resuscitate him but he died on his way to the hospital.
"Our washing machines have a warning label so we are not liable for the death," an LG official said. "However, we feel morally responsible for the accident that involved our product and have decided to install a latch that can be opened from the inside."
On Tuesday, LG Electronics announced a voluntary recall of some of its front-loading washing machines, including the 2007 model that was updated due to safety concerns. About 1.05 million machines are subject to the recall, an LG official said.
Installing a new lock system costs about 20,000 won to 30,000 won, so if all the machines are turned in for lock replacement, it would cost the company up to 30 billion won.
The LG official said that actual requests will likely be much lower in number.
On Sept. 9, 2008, a nine-year-old child suffocated inside a front-loading washing machine made by LG. About two weeks later, another nine-year-old died in a similar accident.
The accidents forced LG to adopt a new door design that makes it possible for a person locked in to open the door. The new design has been applied to all models of the company since October 2008.
The Korean Agency for Technology and Standards plans to kick off a nationwide campaign aimed at raising public awareness of the risks involved with such front-loading machines.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Day 434
Wednesday Feb 24
I emailed my friend from the gym. I sent him the pictures that I took at the gym of me and him. I also wanted to know his age. He is 30 in Korean age. (same as me). He asked me “how old are you? 20 or 21 maybe? HAHA. Wow he thought I was really young!
We didn’t do any work in my first class. When I came in the girl was writing something on the white board and she told me to turn around till she was finished. It said ‘I love you.’ Then All 3 students wrote their own messages on the chalkboard. They made me face the opposite way so I couldn’t see. They all wrote “I love you. Thank you very much”. They are so sweet. Then they wanted to take pictures of me on their cell phones. The youngest boy was having a fun time taking my picture over and over. He has these templates on his phone and he kept putting my head in all of them. It was cute. I just let them have a free day.
In my 2nd class we did a short speaking lesson. All of the kids told me “I don’t have my book.” I made a copy for everyone before class since today was normally writing class but I wanted to do speaking. One of my kids was not feeling well so he just laid his head down during class. Today’s topic was “My dreams”. It was the last lesson in the book. I was interested in knowing what their dreams were. Their dreams are: teacher, English teacher,dentist, veterinarian, scientist, and work at the UN. We had free time after. I gave my email and American phone number to 2 of the students. 2 of the students have given me their emails.
In my 3rd class we also did a lesson about dreams. The girl wants to be the ‘world king’ like Obama. The boy doesn’t know what his dream is. He didn't want to participate at all in class today. They were excited to see me write Korean on the board. I translated a few of the words to help them out. Hard words like achieve and realize. Sometimes its hard to describe words like that so I give the translation. The girl liked looking at my Korean-English dictionary. She wanted to know what words I knew so I told her what little Korean I do speak.
Last class was okay. We started the last chapter of the book. They asked me “is Monday when the crazy teacher comes?" They were asking me questions about the new teacher. I don't know anything about him or her. I won't even meet them since I'm leaving before they arrive. We learned a new set of words and covered 3 pages. They participated some of the time. Some of them didn't want to do their work, but I told them if they didn't do it we wouldn't have any free time.
I went to eat at a Korean restaurant tonight. It was a very small place. There's only 4 tables in the whole restaurant. I was trying to tell the waitress what I wanted but she couldn't understand me. I just pointed to it on the menu. I had 뚝불고기. It was delicious. I always end up burning my tongue. The dish is very hot. I didn't cool it off enough before eating and it hurt!
I arranged for a pickup for things that will be given to Salvation Army. I have 3 small boxes full. They are coming to my house on Friday at 10am.
I have to go to the pension office tomorrow to apply for my refund. I also need to take my comforter to the dry cleaners to be washed.
I made a list of everything that the new teacher should do. I think its very through.
I still have so much to do! 3 days to do it all!
I was disappointed by the girls on American Idol. It just wasn't that great. I'm ready to hear the guys.
2 more school days...I'm going to miss my students! They don't want me to leave. I don't want to leave but....
I emailed my friend from the gym. I sent him the pictures that I took at the gym of me and him. I also wanted to know his age. He is 30 in Korean age. (same as me). He asked me “how old are you? 20 or 21 maybe? HAHA. Wow he thought I was really young!
We didn’t do any work in my first class. When I came in the girl was writing something on the white board and she told me to turn around till she was finished. It said ‘I love you.’ Then All 3 students wrote their own messages on the chalkboard. They made me face the opposite way so I couldn’t see. They all wrote “I love you. Thank you very much”. They are so sweet. Then they wanted to take pictures of me on their cell phones. The youngest boy was having a fun time taking my picture over and over. He has these templates on his phone and he kept putting my head in all of them. It was cute. I just let them have a free day.
In my 2nd class we did a short speaking lesson. All of the kids told me “I don’t have my book.” I made a copy for everyone before class since today was normally writing class but I wanted to do speaking. One of my kids was not feeling well so he just laid his head down during class. Today’s topic was “My dreams”. It was the last lesson in the book. I was interested in knowing what their dreams were. Their dreams are: teacher, English teacher,dentist, veterinarian, scientist, and work at the UN. We had free time after. I gave my email and American phone number to 2 of the students. 2 of the students have given me their emails.
In my 3rd class we also did a lesson about dreams. The girl wants to be the ‘world king’ like Obama. The boy doesn’t know what his dream is. He didn't want to participate at all in class today. They were excited to see me write Korean on the board. I translated a few of the words to help them out. Hard words like achieve and realize. Sometimes its hard to describe words like that so I give the translation. The girl liked looking at my Korean-English dictionary. She wanted to know what words I knew so I told her what little Korean I do speak.
Last class was okay. We started the last chapter of the book. They asked me “is Monday when the crazy teacher comes?" They were asking me questions about the new teacher. I don't know anything about him or her. I won't even meet them since I'm leaving before they arrive. We learned a new set of words and covered 3 pages. They participated some of the time. Some of them didn't want to do their work, but I told them if they didn't do it we wouldn't have any free time.
I went to eat at a Korean restaurant tonight. It was a very small place. There's only 4 tables in the whole restaurant. I was trying to tell the waitress what I wanted but she couldn't understand me. I just pointed to it on the menu. I had 뚝불고기. It was delicious. I always end up burning my tongue. The dish is very hot. I didn't cool it off enough before eating and it hurt!
I arranged for a pickup for things that will be given to Salvation Army. I have 3 small boxes full. They are coming to my house on Friday at 10am.
I have to go to the pension office tomorrow to apply for my refund. I also need to take my comforter to the dry cleaners to be washed.
I made a list of everything that the new teacher should do. I think its very through.
I still have so much to do! 3 days to do it all!
I was disappointed by the girls on American Idol. It just wasn't that great. I'm ready to hear the guys.
2 more school days...I'm going to miss my students! They don't want me to leave. I don't want to leave but....
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Day 433...more changes in plans....
Tuesday Feb 23
Got up bright and early and headed out to get my crown at the dentist. It was a quick appointment. I sat in the chair at 10:58am and I got out of the chair at 11:07!
I gave each class a party. All the students were excited. I took them down to Home Plus to get whatever they wanted that was 1,000 won or less. Then I gave them candy and an eraser. We listened to music during class. I only took one photo of the whole class in each class. The Tuesday/Thursday kids didn't see the camera and want to play around with it like my Mon/Wed/Friday classes did.
I only had one class where we did work. We had our newspaper class today. It didn't go too well. This week is just busy work since we are through.The boys were talking the entire time and I was trying to talk loud enough to talk over them. Telling them to be quiet didn't help. Oh well. Today our articles were 'the history of the telephone','what is blood?', and 'the blue whale.' They don't really seem interested in the material. They were surprised about the size of a blue whale. I found a picture on in the internet that compared a blue whale to a bus and grey whale. Blue whales are the larges animals. They weigh about 109 tons! Their heart weighs about 450 kg. (990 Pounds!)
After one of my classes there was a sheet of paper laying on my desk. As I looked closer I found out it was my flight reservation. Its for the 28th of February. I'll actually be home on Sunday! I have 3 flights. 2 layovers.
I'll fly from Seoul to Tokyo on Korean Air. While I'm in Tokyo I'll have a 7 hour layover. What am I going to do on a 7 hour layover? I don't want to leave the airport and risk getting lost. Plus Japan is expensive and I don't want to spend my money. I'll try to find a plug for my laptop.
Then I'll get on American Airlines and fly to Dallas Fort Worth. When I get there I will have a 2 hour layover. Then I'll be at Charlotte around 9pm. 9 hours of layovers and 15 hours of flying. It's literally taking me a full day to get home, but because of the time difference I'll gain a few hours. I'll leave Seoul at 9am, fly/be bored for 24 hours, then I'll arrive in Charlotte at 9pm.
After all that travelling I'll just sleep until its time to leave for NYC on March 4.I wonder how long it will take me to get adjusted to the time change! I don't think I ever adjusted to the time change in Seoul!
How did I accumulate so many clothes? I know there's no way its all going to fit into 2 suitcases! I'm going to take it to Salvation Army. I'm going to have to make 2 trips. I've got a small box full and my grocery cart thingy is filled to capacity. There's probably enough clothes in the cart to fill another 2 small boxes. I would ship some stuff home, but I don't want to pay a lot for international shipping. I can always buy new clothes at home. If I had a car it wouldn't be a problem. I'd just stuff in all in my car, but I dont have one. I have to take the subway so i can only take what I can carry. I don't have enough stuff to arrange a pickup.
I'm scared my big suitcase is going to be over the limit. It can weigh 50 pounds. If its overweight it will cost 50,000 won! Maybe I should take out some of the heavier items like books and just ship them home. I don't want to pay extra!
So much to do in the next 4 days!! I still have to go to the pension office to apply for a refund.
Its going to be hard to get rid of everything before leaving. I want to come back. I wish I had a place to store a few things that I will need if I do come back. I dont want to purchase them again and its too much to ship home. Things like a transformer, mirror, extra shampoo/body wash, drying rack, hangers, pillow, mattress topper. I don't want to pay a storage fee for a unit and I dont know of anyone that would want to keep my things for me. yikes!
Got up bright and early and headed out to get my crown at the dentist. It was a quick appointment. I sat in the chair at 10:58am and I got out of the chair at 11:07!
I gave each class a party. All the students were excited. I took them down to Home Plus to get whatever they wanted that was 1,000 won or less. Then I gave them candy and an eraser. We listened to music during class. I only took one photo of the whole class in each class. The Tuesday/Thursday kids didn't see the camera and want to play around with it like my Mon/Wed/Friday classes did.
I only had one class where we did work. We had our newspaper class today. It didn't go too well. This week is just busy work since we are through.The boys were talking the entire time and I was trying to talk loud enough to talk over them. Telling them to be quiet didn't help. Oh well. Today our articles were 'the history of the telephone','what is blood?', and 'the blue whale.' They don't really seem interested in the material. They were surprised about the size of a blue whale. I found a picture on in the internet that compared a blue whale to a bus and grey whale. Blue whales are the larges animals. They weigh about 109 tons! Their heart weighs about 450 kg. (990 Pounds!)
After one of my classes there was a sheet of paper laying on my desk. As I looked closer I found out it was my flight reservation. Its for the 28th of February. I'll actually be home on Sunday! I have 3 flights. 2 layovers.
I'll fly from Seoul to Tokyo on Korean Air. While I'm in Tokyo I'll have a 7 hour layover. What am I going to do on a 7 hour layover? I don't want to leave the airport and risk getting lost. Plus Japan is expensive and I don't want to spend my money. I'll try to find a plug for my laptop.
Then I'll get on American Airlines and fly to Dallas Fort Worth. When I get there I will have a 2 hour layover. Then I'll be at Charlotte around 9pm. 9 hours of layovers and 15 hours of flying. It's literally taking me a full day to get home, but because of the time difference I'll gain a few hours. I'll leave Seoul at 9am, fly/be bored for 24 hours, then I'll arrive in Charlotte at 9pm.
After all that travelling I'll just sleep until its time to leave for NYC on March 4.I wonder how long it will take me to get adjusted to the time change! I don't think I ever adjusted to the time change in Seoul!
How did I accumulate so many clothes? I know there's no way its all going to fit into 2 suitcases! I'm going to take it to Salvation Army. I'm going to have to make 2 trips. I've got a small box full and my grocery cart thingy is filled to capacity. There's probably enough clothes in the cart to fill another 2 small boxes. I would ship some stuff home, but I don't want to pay a lot for international shipping. I can always buy new clothes at home. If I had a car it wouldn't be a problem. I'd just stuff in all in my car, but I dont have one. I have to take the subway so i can only take what I can carry. I don't have enough stuff to arrange a pickup.
I'm scared my big suitcase is going to be over the limit. It can weigh 50 pounds. If its overweight it will cost 50,000 won! Maybe I should take out some of the heavier items like books and just ship them home. I don't want to pay extra!
So much to do in the next 4 days!! I still have to go to the pension office to apply for a refund.
Its going to be hard to get rid of everything before leaving. I want to come back. I wish I had a place to store a few things that I will need if I do come back. I dont want to purchase them again and its too much to ship home. Things like a transformer, mirror, extra shampoo/body wash, drying rack, hangers, pillow, mattress topper. I don't want to pay a storage fee for a unit and I dont know of anyone that would want to keep my things for me. yikes!
English Speaking Dentist: Tufts Dental (US Dental)
I went to this dentist even though it was quite a hike (over an hour subway ride). I heard good things about Dr. Sohn on various sites.
I started having a toothache and I contacted Dr. Sohn. I was scheduled an appointment right away. I ended up having 2 root canals.
I was pleased with my experience. Dr. Sohn was trained (and practiced) in the USA at Tufts University and speaks good English. Dr. Sohn and her staff were very nice and professional.
I highly recommend this dentist.
Phone: 02-553-7512
Email: E-mail:askdrsohn@gmail.com
UPDATE (2013)--It is now called US Dental and has moved to a new location
New Website: http://www.drginasohn.com/english/index.asp
New Directions: http://www.drginasohn.com/english/sub-2/link_url.asp?ma_url=sub_3
Day 432...change in plans!
Monday February 22
MWF students-click on album to view
We had a good first class. We took our test first. We only covered one page of material and then we played a game.They liked their gift I gave them.A pack of pencils and an eraser..Then I asked to take pictures and the fun began.Once I took one picture they wanted to take lots of pictures.Each person got a chance to be the photographer.They did a good job.
My 2nd class was great.They wouldn’t let me come in the room for a little bit. I'm just standing outside the door waiting to come in.They were writing messages on the chalkboard…Things like ‘we love you’ ‘thank you for teaching us English’ ‘be well’ ‘you are a very good and kind teacher’’you only think good stuffes’(that was my fav) (hehe) ‘don’t forget us’.They are so sweet…one of my favorite classes…the biggest and best behaved class.I told them I would buy them a snack at home plus so we all went down there(Home Plus Express is on the 1st floor of our building. We are on the 2nd).They were so surprised and happy.Then we came back and had a party.I gave them candy and an eraser.I also let them listen to Korean music.Then I took some pictures and the kids took a lot of pictures.The majority of my photos were taken by the kids.A student gave me a sharp as a present. I gave 2 girls my American cell number and one girl wanted my email also. She wants to be my penpal..great! I'll have to tell them how to call internationally.
3rd class was good.I took them to home plus and they got a snack.Then I gave them candy.One of the kids was excited bc there was a cola flavored candy in the the assorted bag.We listened to some music and the boy asked to play a game.There is an internet connection in the room so I let him play an online game and me and the girl played hangman.
My last class was good. I told them we'd have a 쫄볶이 party. There's a restaurant near our school that sells 쫄볶이 for 500 won so I got one for all 7 students. Me and 2 of the students went out to get it while the others stayed in the classroom. I have discovered the secret to getting them to behave:쫄볶이. They were so pleasant in class. Everyone was pretty quiet. We listened to some Korean music and they talked amongst themseleves. One of the boys was doing a 'one shot' with a coke. He kept trying to see how much he could drink at one time. I think he drank a whole 1.5 liter of coke in class.
I found out some shocking news today. The Korean teacher told me that they couldn't find a flight for me with this being a holiday weekend. She asked if I could stay until the 3rd or 4th. I told her I had to be home by the 4th. She said the new teacher can't show up to work until March 2(Tues) (March 1 is a holiday-Independance day).I have to pass on all of my knowledge to the teacher on Tuesday. I think they are having an experienced teacher come. She said that 'he' had to stay at his school until the 26th. Then I'll be leaving on Wednesday. I am going to be so tired! I'm going to spend basically a whole day travelling home (18+ hours on an airplane). Then, I have to get up early on March 4 and catch another flight to NYC for vacation.
I wanted to be home earlier, but if there's no flight then there's nothing I can do. I think there's usually only one flight per day to the USA. At least I have more time to clean and pack. I get another 3 day weekend to spend in Seoul (What should I do?). Leaving on a weekday might be more of an advantage also because I'll get paid and then I can go to the bank and withdraw it all.I can exchange it all at the airport. I won't have to worry about paying a transfer fee to wire it home through IBK.
After school I went to see my friends at the gym. I hadn't seen them in 3 months since my membership was up. It was so good to see them again. We talked for a while and I got a picture with my him. I got his email so I can keep in touch. I wanted to see my personal trainer, but he quit last month. I didn't get to formally say goodbye to him. The last time I saw him was in December at Lotte Dept Store.
My handsome friend
MWF students-click on album to view
 |
| Students Fall Semester |
We had a good first class. We took our test first. We only covered one page of material and then we played a game.They liked their gift I gave them.A pack of pencils and an eraser..Then I asked to take pictures and the fun began.Once I took one picture they wanted to take lots of pictures.Each person got a chance to be the photographer.They did a good job.
My 2nd class was great.They wouldn’t let me come in the room for a little bit. I'm just standing outside the door waiting to come in.They were writing messages on the chalkboard…Things like ‘we love you’ ‘thank you for teaching us English’ ‘be well’ ‘you are a very good and kind teacher’’you only think good stuffes’(that was my fav) (hehe) ‘don’t forget us’.They are so sweet…one of my favorite classes…the biggest and best behaved class.I told them I would buy them a snack at home plus so we all went down there(Home Plus Express is on the 1st floor of our building. We are on the 2nd).They were so surprised and happy.Then we came back and had a party.I gave them candy and an eraser.I also let them listen to Korean music.Then I took some pictures and the kids took a lot of pictures.The majority of my photos were taken by the kids.A student gave me a sharp as a present. I gave 2 girls my American cell number and one girl wanted my email also. She wants to be my penpal..great! I'll have to tell them how to call internationally.
3rd class was good.I took them to home plus and they got a snack.Then I gave them candy.One of the kids was excited bc there was a cola flavored candy in the the assorted bag.We listened to some music and the boy asked to play a game.There is an internet connection in the room so I let him play an online game and me and the girl played hangman.
My last class was good. I told them we'd have a 쫄볶이 party. There's a restaurant near our school that sells 쫄볶이 for 500 won so I got one for all 7 students. Me and 2 of the students went out to get it while the others stayed in the classroom. I have discovered the secret to getting them to behave:쫄볶이. They were so pleasant in class. Everyone was pretty quiet. We listened to some Korean music and they talked amongst themseleves. One of the boys was doing a 'one shot' with a coke. He kept trying to see how much he could drink at one time. I think he drank a whole 1.5 liter of coke in class.
I found out some shocking news today. The Korean teacher told me that they couldn't find a flight for me with this being a holiday weekend. She asked if I could stay until the 3rd or 4th. I told her I had to be home by the 4th. She said the new teacher can't show up to work until March 2(Tues) (March 1 is a holiday-Independance day).I have to pass on all of my knowledge to the teacher on Tuesday. I think they are having an experienced teacher come. She said that 'he' had to stay at his school until the 26th. Then I'll be leaving on Wednesday. I am going to be so tired! I'm going to spend basically a whole day travelling home (18+ hours on an airplane). Then, I have to get up early on March 4 and catch another flight to NYC for vacation.
I wanted to be home earlier, but if there's no flight then there's nothing I can do. I think there's usually only one flight per day to the USA. At least I have more time to clean and pack. I get another 3 day weekend to spend in Seoul (What should I do?). Leaving on a weekday might be more of an advantage also because I'll get paid and then I can go to the bank and withdraw it all.I can exchange it all at the airport. I won't have to worry about paying a transfer fee to wire it home through IBK.
After school I went to see my friends at the gym. I hadn't seen them in 3 months since my membership was up. It was so good to see them again. We talked for a while and I got a picture with my him. I got his email so I can keep in touch. I wanted to see my personal trainer, but he quit last month. I didn't get to formally say goodbye to him. The last time I saw him was in December at Lotte Dept Store.
My handsome friend
Monday, February 22, 2010
Day 431
Sunday Feb 21
I feel like I'm writing a novel today!
Today I decided to venture out on the number 2 subway line to check out Tomatillo restaurant at Yeoksam Station and Star Avenue in Jamsil.
I went to Tomatillo first. Check out my other entry about it.
Gangnam Media Pole:
On my way out of the subway station I saw some b-boys dancing. I was walking down the stairs and one of the guys said to me, "he's going to show popping. He's one of the best b-boys in South Korea." I watched for a while. I made 2 videos on my digital camera. I made another entry for them.
My time in South Korea is coming to a close. I keep thinking about how much I'm going to miss Seoul. Out of all the places I've lived I've never loved a city like I love Seoul. Its really a great place. I love how easy and cheap it is to get around. I don't even need a car! Its very safe. I walk around at night without a care in the world. I would NEVER do that in Charlotte, NC. I'd probably end up dead. I want to come back. I have to come back! There are so many things I didn't do in South Korea.
I would have stayed longer. Its hard when you feel torn because you love being independent in a foreign country where you have a great life, but your family and friends really miss you and want you to come back. I feel needed here. I'm scared of going back to the USA where no one wants to hire me!! Why? I'm a really hard worker and a fast learner, but they look and see that I have no experience and pass me by.
I want to come back in 2011 and teach at the same school. I hope that will be possible. (If it is maybe I'll just take a year to travel and do some temp work.)
Next time I'll do things differently. I'll start up Part 2 of my journey on my blog and maybe even blog daily again. I'll travel to all the provinces (and maybe even hit up Australia and Europe-knock out 2 continents towards my 'travel the whole world' plan), try more Korean food, make my blog bigger and better, create a Youtube channel, save a lot of money, don't eat fast food, diligently study the language, carry on a conversation in Korean, put my whole heart into seeing my students succeed, and make a lot more friends esp Korean friends. I think it will be a lot easier the 2nd time around.
And maybe I'll find a nice Korean man who speaks English and we'll get married and I'll move to Seoul (or he will move to the USA) and have lots of cute Korean babies.
Last night I found a collage funtion on Picasa. I've been using Picasa for quite a while and I never tried to make a collage. Then I had the bright idea to make a collage of my trip today. I wish I would have discovered it sooner. My blog could have been a lot more interesting!
I was thinking today that photo journalism would be a great career for me.
I'm contemplating buying a new camera...another dslr...the one I'm considering is very expensive. It's $800 on ebay and comes with 3 lens and a lot of accessories....I'm hoping I'd be able to sell my Nikon D40 for at least $400(with lens and accessories). Its less than 2 years old, i just bought a new battery and charger, has a remote, 18-55 lens, and a bag.
When I got home I started packing. So far I've got one big suitcase full of clothes and other random items. I'm afraid all my clothes aren't going to fit into 2 suitcases! I'm also afraid that my bags are going to weigh too much! Fitting a year's worth of things into 2 suitcases and a carry on is tough!! I have two laptops. I put one of them in my luggage. I know they say not to do it, but one laptop is having problems so its no big deal if something were to happen. Packing up is always my least favorite part of moving! I even have a box of things that I'm going to take to Salvation Army. I have way too many clothes, but I just don't want to part with some of them!If I want to be able to get my suitcases home I'm going to have to get rid of some things. If it gets down to that I'll just have to pick my favorite items to keep and donate the rest to salvation army. I can always buy new clothes when I get home. I also started cleaning and emptying out cabinets and drawers. I still have a lot of cleaning and packing to do. I also have a lot of trash!
I feel like I'm writing a novel today!
Today I decided to venture out on the number 2 subway line to check out Tomatillo restaurant at Yeoksam Station and Star Avenue in Jamsil.
I went to Tomatillo first. Check out my other entry about it.
Gangnam Media Pole:
On my way out of the subway station I saw some b-boys dancing. I was walking down the stairs and one of the guys said to me, "he's going to show popping. He's one of the best b-boys in South Korea." I watched for a while. I made 2 videos on my digital camera. I made another entry for them.
My time in South Korea is coming to a close. I keep thinking about how much I'm going to miss Seoul. Out of all the places I've lived I've never loved a city like I love Seoul. Its really a great place. I love how easy and cheap it is to get around. I don't even need a car! Its very safe. I walk around at night without a care in the world. I would NEVER do that in Charlotte, NC. I'd probably end up dead. I want to come back. I have to come back! There are so many things I didn't do in South Korea.
I would have stayed longer. Its hard when you feel torn because you love being independent in a foreign country where you have a great life, but your family and friends really miss you and want you to come back. I feel needed here. I'm scared of going back to the USA where no one wants to hire me!! Why? I'm a really hard worker and a fast learner, but they look and see that I have no experience and pass me by.
I want to come back in 2011 and teach at the same school. I hope that will be possible. (If it is maybe I'll just take a year to travel and do some temp work.)
Next time I'll do things differently. I'll start up Part 2 of my journey on my blog and maybe even blog daily again. I'll travel to all the provinces (and maybe even hit up Australia and Europe-knock out 2 continents towards my 'travel the whole world' plan), try more Korean food, make my blog bigger and better, create a Youtube channel, save a lot of money, don't eat fast food, diligently study the language, carry on a conversation in Korean, put my whole heart into seeing my students succeed, and make a lot more friends esp Korean friends. I think it will be a lot easier the 2nd time around.
And maybe I'll find a nice Korean man who speaks English and we'll get married and I'll move to Seoul (or he will move to the USA) and have lots of cute Korean babies.
Last night I found a collage funtion on Picasa. I've been using Picasa for quite a while and I never tried to make a collage. Then I had the bright idea to make a collage of my trip today. I wish I would have discovered it sooner. My blog could have been a lot more interesting!
I was thinking today that photo journalism would be a great career for me.
I'm contemplating buying a new camera...another dslr...the one I'm considering is very expensive. It's $800 on ebay and comes with 3 lens and a lot of accessories....I'm hoping I'd be able to sell my Nikon D40 for at least $400(with lens and accessories). Its less than 2 years old, i just bought a new battery and charger, has a remote, 18-55 lens, and a bag.
When I got home I started packing. So far I've got one big suitcase full of clothes and other random items. I'm afraid all my clothes aren't going to fit into 2 suitcases! I'm also afraid that my bags are going to weigh too much! Fitting a year's worth of things into 2 suitcases and a carry on is tough!! I have two laptops. I put one of them in my luggage. I know they say not to do it, but one laptop is having problems so its no big deal if something were to happen. Packing up is always my least favorite part of moving! I even have a box of things that I'm going to take to Salvation Army. I have way too many clothes, but I just don't want to part with some of them!If I want to be able to get my suitcases home I'm going to have to get rid of some things. If it gets down to that I'll just have to pick my favorite items to keep and donate the rest to salvation army. I can always buy new clothes when I get home. I also started cleaning and emptying out cabinets and drawers. I still have a lot of cleaning and packing to do. I also have a lot of trash!
Star Avenue
left click on the image to make it bigger. I'll also include the album so you can see photos full size.
click on album to view:
Sunday Feb 21
The exhibition halls feature various contents about Korea’s representative stars.Lotte World Star Avenue’s Star Showcase features Hallyu star Bae Yong-Jun and Choi Ji-Woo, actors Park Yong-Ha, Song Seung-Heon, Ji Sung and Kang Ji-Hwan, music stars TVXQ, Rain and Big Bang. The sets from “Daejanggeum (Jewel in the Palace)” and “East of Eden” are also erected.
I didn't go inside but there are different areas to see:
Star Showcase: Outfits, props and items from top stars. (this is the area I have pictures of)
Star Center: HD video displaying the stars and you can write emails to the stars.
Drama Star: you can read scripts from Dramas like you were the main character.
Music Star: choose a song and perform it
With Star: take a picture riding a motorcyle from "East of Eden." recite lines from famous dramas. Imagine your picture on a top star's album cover. and take pictures with cardboard cutouts of the stars.
How to get there: Line 2 Jamsil Station Exit 4. B2 of Lotte World. Its not actually inside of Lotte World but on the perimeter at the South Gate near Lotte Duty Free store.
Price: 10,000 won to go inside. I took pictures of the free stuff.
click on album to view:
 |
| Star Avenue |
Sunday Feb 21
The exhibition halls feature various contents about Korea’s representative stars.Lotte World Star Avenue’s Star Showcase features Hallyu star Bae Yong-Jun and Choi Ji-Woo, actors Park Yong-Ha, Song Seung-Heon, Ji Sung and Kang Ji-Hwan, music stars TVXQ, Rain and Big Bang. The sets from “Daejanggeum (Jewel in the Palace)” and “East of Eden” are also erected.
I didn't go inside but there are different areas to see:
Star Showcase: Outfits, props and items from top stars. (this is the area I have pictures of)
Star Center: HD video displaying the stars and you can write emails to the stars.
Drama Star: you can read scripts from Dramas like you were the main character.
Music Star: choose a song and perform it
With Star: take a picture riding a motorcyle from "East of Eden." recite lines from famous dramas. Imagine your picture on a top star's album cover. and take pictures with cardboard cutouts of the stars.
How to get there: Line 2 Jamsil Station Exit 4. B2 of Lotte World. Its not actually inside of Lotte World but on the perimeter at the South Gate near Lotte Duty Free store.
Price: 10,000 won to go inside. I took pictures of the free stuff.
Restaurants: Tomatillo and Kraze Burger
Sunday Feb 21
click on the photos for a better view:
First stop was Tomatillo. I had never heard of this restaurant until my friend, Hyunwoo, did a video about the one in Jonggak. I decided I wanted to see what it was like.
I went in and looked at the menu. I knew I wanted to try the chili cheese nachos. I was thinking about ordering something else, but I thought it would be too much food since I was eating alone.
I ordered chili cheese nachos which were 7,000 won. I also got a refillable soda for 2,500 won. They give you a pager that will buzz when your order is ready. It didn't take long for my order to come up.
I liked the chili cheese nachos. There were hot peppers on the top so I pushed them to the side since I don't eat spicy food. I don't know if its authentic Mexican food or not. I've only eaten at a real Mexican restaurant once and I only had a taco salad. I do frequent Taco Bell in the US but I know thats not even close to real Mexican food!
There are various locations for Tomatillo. I went to the one right near Yeoksam station. Take exit 2 and Go inside the Gangnam Finance Center. It's on B2 right as you are coming down the escaltor.
Prices: the prices are good. The most expensive thing on the menu is 7,000 won.
Tonight I went to Kraze Burger at Yeoksam station (Line 2). Its right in front of exit 3.
I had never tried Kraze Burger so I decided to go there. The burgers are a bit expensive (compared to a fast food restaurant)(this is a sit down restaurant). The restaurant says its 'American Gourmet Dining.'
I tried the 'Matiz'. It was a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, bacon, homemade pickles, onion, and bbq sauce. It costed 8,200 won. I think it was worth it. I enjoyed the burger. A can of coke was 2,500 won. In total I spent 11,700 won for a burger and coke.
Yeoksam Station
Line 2
Exit 3
Expect to pay at least $7,000 won for a burger (@$7.00 usd)
click on the photos for a better view:
First stop was Tomatillo. I had never heard of this restaurant until my friend, Hyunwoo, did a video about the one in Jonggak. I decided I wanted to see what it was like.
I went in and looked at the menu. I knew I wanted to try the chili cheese nachos. I was thinking about ordering something else, but I thought it would be too much food since I was eating alone.
I ordered chili cheese nachos which were 7,000 won. I also got a refillable soda for 2,500 won. They give you a pager that will buzz when your order is ready. It didn't take long for my order to come up.
I liked the chili cheese nachos. There were hot peppers on the top so I pushed them to the side since I don't eat spicy food. I don't know if its authentic Mexican food or not. I've only eaten at a real Mexican restaurant once and I only had a taco salad. I do frequent Taco Bell in the US but I know thats not even close to real Mexican food!
There are various locations for Tomatillo. I went to the one right near Yeoksam station. Take exit 2 and Go inside the Gangnam Finance Center. It's on B2 right as you are coming down the escaltor.
Prices: the prices are good. The most expensive thing on the menu is 7,000 won.
Tonight I went to Kraze Burger at Yeoksam station (Line 2). Its right in front of exit 3.
I had never tried Kraze Burger so I decided to go there. The burgers are a bit expensive (compared to a fast food restaurant)(this is a sit down restaurant). The restaurant says its 'American Gourmet Dining.'
I tried the 'Matiz'. It was a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, bacon, homemade pickles, onion, and bbq sauce. It costed 8,200 won. I think it was worth it. I enjoyed the burger. A can of coke was 2,500 won. In total I spent 11,700 won for a burger and coke.
Yeoksam Station
Line 2
Exit 3
Expect to pay at least $7,000 won for a burger (@$7.00 usd)
Saturday, February 20, 2010
People in Korea you should know: Ever4one and QiRanger
Today I met Ever4one (Hyunwoo Sun) and QiRanger(Steve)(That is their Youtube/Twitter Usernames). Hyunwoo is a native Korean and he teaches Korean classes online. Steve is an American English teacher outside of Seoul.
Both guys operate a youtube site with interesting content about a variety of topics. They both have over 2,000 subscribers and lots of videos to watch.
Hyunwoo Sun is a very interesting Korean guy. If you are in Korea or even just visiting you should definitely meetup with him. He loves to meet new people. I first found out about him while searching for Korean learning resources. He used to teach at a site called KoreanClass101. I would listen to their podcast lessons there. Then somehow I came across his youtube site and some of his other websites. I'm am inspired by his passion for learning languages. His native language is Korean. He also speaks English, Japanese, French, Spanish and Chinese (ranked by his level of fluency). He owns his own company where he shares his love for learning languages with others. He also teaches Korean lessons on Talk to Me in Korean. He loves to breakdance and travel. He manages a lot of blogs and websites.
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ever4one
Website: http://www.why-be-normal.com/
http://www.hyunwoosun.com/
Information about living and traveling in Korea: http://www.sendmetokorea.com/
Learning Korean: http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/
http://learnkorean.ning.com/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/ever4one
I don't know as much about Steve. I do know that he is an English teacher in South Korea and he is from America. I like his videos on Youtube. He's a very good speaker. Some of them almost seem like you're watching a documentary.
Here are his links:
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/qiranger
Blog: http://www.qiranger.com/
Day 430....meeting an online friend
Saturday February 20
Today I met one of my online Korean friends(Hyunwoo Sun) in Gangnam. He was also meeting up with another friend(Steve) and his friend's fiancee(Jo). I've been following Hyunwoo for quite a while and finally decided to meet him. I found out about Steve through Hyunwoo. Hyunwoo sent me his youtube link and I watched some of his videos last night.
First we went to eat lunch at a Korean restaurant. Jo asked for a picture menu. They had pictures of the food on a laminated sheet of paper. It reminded us of flashcards. There was a picture and the food listed in Hanguel. As I was looking through I was excited when I found out they had 뚝배기 불고기. (I should have taken a picture. oh well. too late now!) That was the first dish I ever tried in Korea. I think I actually tried it on my 2nd day in Korea. Its my 2nd favorite dish after 삼겹살. Even when I didn't know any Korean I would go into 김밥천국in Uijeongbu and order that dish(one of my American friends told me how to pronounce it). Its really delicious. The best 뚝배기 불고기 I ever tried was in Uijeongbu at a 김밥천국. I've had it at a lot of different restaurants and no two restaurants taste alike. Every one has their own special way to make it. Its not like Mcdonalds where the big mac tastes the same no matter where you go. I was actually disappointed when I found out that the Kimbap Heaven near my house didn't offer 뚝배기 불고기.
They are surprised to find out that I write in my blog every day. I'm not a big talker, but my creative outlet is writing (although I'm not a very good writer). I like to share my experiences with others. This blog was created to keep my family updated and to share my experiences as an Expat who was leaving America for the first time. At times blogging can feel like a chore, but its one thing that I set out to do (blog every day during my journey) and I really wanted to stick with it. I like to share what its like day to day for an English teacher:My experiences, cultural differences, failures, successes, and funny things the kids say. I also like to include information and pictures of interesting sites that I visit.한국은 대단한 나라입니다
When we finished eating we headed out to a cafe. While walking to the cafe Hyunwoo made a video introducing me and Steve. We stayed in the cafe for a little while and then decided to head out for some adult beverages. We ended up going to the Tree Hof. They had adult beverages and nachos and I just observed. I don't like alcohol. The taste just isn't very pleasing to me. We headed out around 6pm.
Me and Hyunwoo were going in the same direction on the subway so we rode together. The subway was packed! Line 2 is the most crowded subway line in Seoul. When we were getting on at Gangnam station it reminded me of that video on youtube where there were so many people getting on the subway that they literally had to be pushed in. It was almost that bad. If you ride line number 2 forget about personal space. Personal space does not exist in South Korea! That took me a while to get used to. He was getting off at the stop after mine so we just talked to each other during the subway ride.
and now I'm home. My next post will be introduce Hyunwoo and Steve. I think they are definitely two people that you should check out on youtube.
나중에 봬요!
Day 429
Friday Feb 19
I put my 'bucket list' up on 43 things.com. I like their set up. You can see how many people have the same goal as you. You can also mark it off as you achieve it. I've acheived 5 things (all in 2009). If you want to check it out to see what I would like to accomplish before I 'kick the bucket' you can go to this link:
http://www.43things.com/person/valeriebeth09
I sent a message to my recruiter on facebook. He said he's waiting on the travel agency to book my ticket. I really hope they can get one for the 27th! It really bothers me at times that Koreans are master procrastinators. A flight should not be booked at the last minute! Especially a long international flight that doesn't depart very often!
We had a good spelling class today. 1 student made 100 on their test. The other 2 made a 60 and 30. We covered 3 pages in class and then played a game for about 5 minutes.
In my second class we finished the speaking tests and then we did 2 newspaper articles.They were interested in the first article.It was about elephants playing basketball. They said it was cute, has many meat, delicious, yummy, tasty..haha…some of them wanted to look at the picture twice. One of the students asked me why we didn’t eat elephants. I don’t know. He said they have a lot of meat.(The boys in my class love meat!) I told my class that next week was my last week. They asked why. I told them I was going home. They wanted to know when I was coming back. (I don’t know). I asked them if they wanted to have a party and they all said yes. I’m going to miss that class. ( I almost regret not being able to stay. I kinda wish I could have stayed! I love my students and I don't want to leave, but its too late to turn back now.)
Its really hard to know that I'm leaving and going back to the land of the unknown. I had a good life here. Now I have to go back to the USA and probably be unemployed for a few months and spend all the money I saved just so I can pay car insurance and student loans. I really don't want to settle for another job making minimum wage. Been there, done that. It was no fun. I also don't want to end up in a dead end job that I hate. I want to do something that I enjoy.
In my 3rd class we did the newspaper articles. They weren't so excited about the articles. Only 2 of my classes seem to be genuinely interested in the articles. The other classes just don't care.
The 4th class was decent, but not as good as they should have been if they were expecting to have a party.I told them not to talk or cheat during the test but they still did. We finished the chapter, reviewed and took the test. One student made a 22.Another student didn’t even try and made a 30. Some of the answers I got were: Simpsons, drader, don’t know, crazy boy, Yife, boys, city. (the words were: son, daughter, parents, cousin, uncle, aunt, husband, wife) One boy just wrote no yes no yes for how many blanks there were. He didn’t even try. I want to see them succeed but the apathetic ones make me wonder what I could have done to make them interested. Highest grade was 82.
I really wish I had students who wanted to be here and who really put forth an effort and study hard. I want to see a lot of progress, but some of my students didn't even try. I wish I knew what I was doing so I could make a difference. I want them to be able to have fluency someday.
Tomorrow afternoon I'm meeting a really interesting Korean guy who I've been following on the internet. I subscribe to his Youtube channel and read the blog that he writes about Korea. I also read the lessons he teaches on Talk to Me in Korean. (a website for learning Korean). He is a native Korean who loves to learn languages. His English is really good. I wish my students to had his passion for learning.
I put my 'bucket list' up on 43 things.com. I like their set up. You can see how many people have the same goal as you. You can also mark it off as you achieve it. I've acheived 5 things (all in 2009). If you want to check it out to see what I would like to accomplish before I 'kick the bucket' you can go to this link:
http://www.43things.com/person/valeriebeth09
I sent a message to my recruiter on facebook. He said he's waiting on the travel agency to book my ticket. I really hope they can get one for the 27th! It really bothers me at times that Koreans are master procrastinators. A flight should not be booked at the last minute! Especially a long international flight that doesn't depart very often!
We had a good spelling class today. 1 student made 100 on their test. The other 2 made a 60 and 30. We covered 3 pages in class and then played a game for about 5 minutes.
In my second class we finished the speaking tests and then we did 2 newspaper articles.They were interested in the first article.It was about elephants playing basketball. They said it was cute, has many meat, delicious, yummy, tasty..haha…some of them wanted to look at the picture twice. One of the students asked me why we didn’t eat elephants. I don’t know. He said they have a lot of meat.(The boys in my class love meat!) I told my class that next week was my last week. They asked why. I told them I was going home. They wanted to know when I was coming back. (I don’t know). I asked them if they wanted to have a party and they all said yes. I’m going to miss that class. ( I almost regret not being able to stay. I kinda wish I could have stayed! I love my students and I don't want to leave, but its too late to turn back now.)
Its really hard to know that I'm leaving and going back to the land of the unknown. I had a good life here. Now I have to go back to the USA and probably be unemployed for a few months and spend all the money I saved just so I can pay car insurance and student loans. I really don't want to settle for another job making minimum wage. Been there, done that. It was no fun. I also don't want to end up in a dead end job that I hate. I want to do something that I enjoy.
In my 3rd class we did the newspaper articles. They weren't so excited about the articles. Only 2 of my classes seem to be genuinely interested in the articles. The other classes just don't care.
The 4th class was decent, but not as good as they should have been if they were expecting to have a party.I told them not to talk or cheat during the test but they still did. We finished the chapter, reviewed and took the test. One student made a 22.Another student didn’t even try and made a 30. Some of the answers I got were: Simpsons, drader, don’t know, crazy boy, Yife, boys, city. (the words were: son, daughter, parents, cousin, uncle, aunt, husband, wife) One boy just wrote no yes no yes for how many blanks there were. He didn’t even try. I want to see them succeed but the apathetic ones make me wonder what I could have done to make them interested. Highest grade was 82.
I really wish I had students who wanted to be here and who really put forth an effort and study hard. I want to see a lot of progress, but some of my students didn't even try. I wish I knew what I was doing so I could make a difference. I want them to be able to have fluency someday.
Tomorrow afternoon I'm meeting a really interesting Korean guy who I've been following on the internet. I subscribe to his Youtube channel and read the blog that he writes about Korea. I also read the lessons he teaches on Talk to Me in Korean. (a website for learning Korean). He is a native Korean who loves to learn languages. His English is really good. I wish my students to had his passion for learning.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Day 428
Thursday Feb 18
We had more snow today. I guess it happened overnight. It wasn't snowing when I left in the morning. There was maybe a half inch and it was mostly gone by night time. That makes it the 6th snow of the year I think. 1 big snow and 5 tiny snows.
I went back to the dentist for another appointment today. Today's appointment was longer than all the other appointments. I got a temporary crown and I have to go back on Tuesday to get the permanent crown. I got finished right in time to make it to school at my normal time. I'm glad I took my bookbag with me to the dentist. It worked out perfectly. When my train made it back to my station it was the exact train I would have caught if it was a normal day. The 1:39 train heading into the loop.
My first class was good. Today we took our writing test. Most of them did pretty good. The newest student didn't do so well. He made a 51. 2 of my students were absent. I told them today that next week is my last week. One of them asked why. I told her I was only here for a year.
My 2nd class was exactly like it always is. The 2 boys talk constantly. First, I gave the speaking test to the student who was absent on Tuesday. He did a pretty good job. I had to ask him some of the questions a few times to get him to answer then correctly. Then I gave the students their writing test. 3 of the students did well. One of the talkative boys got the highest grade. The newest student didn't do so well because he didn't follow directions. On one part he was suppose to use "was and were", he used is, am, are which made no sense in a past tense sentence. Then on the 2nd part he was suppose to use "go and went". He used is and are again. The other kids laughed when they found out he didn't follow directions.
My 3rd class was the newspaper class. They seemed to like the articles today. Today's articles were: Elephants play basketball, world's tallest teen girl, man runs up the empire state building and the busiest subway line in Seoul. They liked the picture of the elephants playing basketball. They all laughed. One of them wanted to take a picture of the picture on her camera phone. They gasped when they found out that the tallest teen girl was 210 centimeters. (She's 6'10 for the Americans who don't use the metric system..btw did you know that America is the only country that doesn't use the metric system?) She's taller than Michael Jordan and she's only 16! They liked the picture.
We had our writing test in our last class. I put some Korean words on the board to help them with terms they seem to have a hard time with. They have a hard time with after, last, order, and adjective. 3 of the kids did really good. One kid just gave up. He was guessing on everything. When he turned in his paper he told me to just mark everything wrong. He made a 5. Last month he made a 16. His average for the 2 months that he's been here is a 16. He just doesn't try hard when it comes to writing.
I watched American Idol. They were choosing the rest of the top 24. There were a few people who I didn't recognize in the top 24. Some people just don't get any screentime and you wonder 'who is that?'. 2 of the really good singers didn't make it. The Korean made it. He got a lot of screentime being seen on camera but they didn't show him singing at all during Hollywood week. I wanted to hear him sing! I really like the little 16 year old boy. He's so cute and polite. Andrew Garcia is one of my favorites. I like Katie Stevens and Crystal Bowersox.
6 more school days....Monday and Tuesday i'm having parties for all of my kids. The new teacher is suppose to come on Wednesday so I'll be sharing all of my wisdom with him/her for my last 3 days. I'm going to make out a list of what I need to cover this weekend.
As far as I know my flight still hasn't been booked and I'm suppose to be leaving in about 8 days! I sent my old recruiter a text message on Wed and Thurs and he didn't respond. If he doesn't respond by tomorrow I'll try calling him.
We had more snow today. I guess it happened overnight. It wasn't snowing when I left in the morning. There was maybe a half inch and it was mostly gone by night time. That makes it the 6th snow of the year I think. 1 big snow and 5 tiny snows.
I went back to the dentist for another appointment today. Today's appointment was longer than all the other appointments. I got a temporary crown and I have to go back on Tuesday to get the permanent crown. I got finished right in time to make it to school at my normal time. I'm glad I took my bookbag with me to the dentist. It worked out perfectly. When my train made it back to my station it was the exact train I would have caught if it was a normal day. The 1:39 train heading into the loop.
My first class was good. Today we took our writing test. Most of them did pretty good. The newest student didn't do so well. He made a 51. 2 of my students were absent. I told them today that next week is my last week. One of them asked why. I told her I was only here for a year.
My 2nd class was exactly like it always is. The 2 boys talk constantly. First, I gave the speaking test to the student who was absent on Tuesday. He did a pretty good job. I had to ask him some of the questions a few times to get him to answer then correctly. Then I gave the students their writing test. 3 of the students did well. One of the talkative boys got the highest grade. The newest student didn't do so well because he didn't follow directions. On one part he was suppose to use "was and were", he used is, am, are which made no sense in a past tense sentence. Then on the 2nd part he was suppose to use "go and went". He used is and are again. The other kids laughed when they found out he didn't follow directions.
My 3rd class was the newspaper class. They seemed to like the articles today. Today's articles were: Elephants play basketball, world's tallest teen girl, man runs up the empire state building and the busiest subway line in Seoul. They liked the picture of the elephants playing basketball. They all laughed. One of them wanted to take a picture of the picture on her camera phone. They gasped when they found out that the tallest teen girl was 210 centimeters. (She's 6'10 for the Americans who don't use the metric system..btw did you know that America is the only country that doesn't use the metric system?) She's taller than Michael Jordan and she's only 16! They liked the picture.
We had our writing test in our last class. I put some Korean words on the board to help them with terms they seem to have a hard time with. They have a hard time with after, last, order, and adjective. 3 of the kids did really good. One kid just gave up. He was guessing on everything. When he turned in his paper he told me to just mark everything wrong. He made a 5. Last month he made a 16. His average for the 2 months that he's been here is a 16. He just doesn't try hard when it comes to writing.
I watched American Idol. They were choosing the rest of the top 24. There were a few people who I didn't recognize in the top 24. Some people just don't get any screentime and you wonder 'who is that?'. 2 of the really good singers didn't make it. The Korean made it. He got a lot of screentime being seen on camera but they didn't show him singing at all during Hollywood week. I wanted to hear him sing! I really like the little 16 year old boy. He's so cute and polite. Andrew Garcia is one of my favorites. I like Katie Stevens and Crystal Bowersox.
6 more school days....Monday and Tuesday i'm having parties for all of my kids. The new teacher is suppose to come on Wednesday so I'll be sharing all of my wisdom with him/her for my last 3 days. I'm going to make out a list of what I need to cover this weekend.
As far as I know my flight still hasn't been booked and I'm suppose to be leaving in about 8 days! I sent my old recruiter a text message on Wed and Thurs and he didn't respond. If he doesn't respond by tomorrow I'll try calling him.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
regrets....
As my time comes to a close I think back and ponder what I could have done while I was here.
I do have a few regrets. I could have used my time more wisely.
I spent a year in Korea immersed in the culture. I had so much time to learn the language, but I didn't try hard enough. I could have been pretty good by now. I can't carry on a simple conversation. Its never a waste to learn something new even if I have no use for it in the USA. I let that hold me back. I know that once I go home I'll never get to use Korean in day to day life. I don't come from an area that has a Korean poplulation.
I wish I would have saved more money. I was caught up in the luxurious lifestyle. I had free rent, everything was cheap, not many bills, and a lot of disposible income. I wish I would have spent it more carefully so I could have saved about half of my salary. I think when I go home I'll have about $4,000 which won't go very far when saving up for a slightly used car. And now I'm not even sure that I want the car that I originally planned to get. I wanted a 2009 corolla (its when the body style changed).But now I'm scared with all the recalls. I really want a Hyundai Genesis Coupe, but its way too expensive (for an unemployed person!). I'll have to land the dream job first.
I wish I would have done more travelling. I could have visited all of Korea. I had the chance to be able to travel all over Korea, but I barely made it out of Seoul. I wish I would have went to at least one city in every province. (There are 8 provinces) I only went to cities in 2 of the provinces in the northern part of the country.
I wish I would have made more friends-Korean and Expats. I made a few friends, but I didn't try too hard. I guess I didn't try hard enough because I knew I'd eventually have to say goodbye. I don't like goodbyes.
I wish I would have eaten healthier. I thought if I was in a foreign country I'd get away from all the fast food. Nope. I was wrong. I think South Korea has just as much fast food as America. They won't make clothes for fat people, but they will put a Mcdonalds on every street corner. (crazy!) I had a really hard time finding food that I liked here. Most of the korean food was too spicy. Korea didn't offer some of the choices I could have picked at home like lean cuisine. I could have went to subway but there wasn't one close enough that I could walk or get there quickly. I could have eaten sandwiches, but the bread tastes funny here. Yeah. excuses. It was just hard for me so I turned to the only thing I liked-fast food. I ate way too much. yikes. I also drank way too much coke. I had to have my coke fix everyday.
I wish I would have went to the Noraebang more often. It's a singing room. Like private karaoke. I thought they were probably expensive so I only went once with my school and they paid. I heard that they are only about 5,000 won. I could have been improving my singing, but it probably wouldn't have been fun alone.
I should have brought a bigger coat! If I knew this winter was going to be so brutal I would have brought a warmer coat! I have never been so cold in my life! (It rarely gets cold in the Southeast in the US!) I am so ready for spring!
I do have a few regrets. I could have used my time more wisely.
I spent a year in Korea immersed in the culture. I had so much time to learn the language, but I didn't try hard enough. I could have been pretty good by now. I can't carry on a simple conversation. Its never a waste to learn something new even if I have no use for it in the USA. I let that hold me back. I know that once I go home I'll never get to use Korean in day to day life. I don't come from an area that has a Korean poplulation.
I wish I would have saved more money. I was caught up in the luxurious lifestyle. I had free rent, everything was cheap, not many bills, and a lot of disposible income. I wish I would have spent it more carefully so I could have saved about half of my salary. I think when I go home I'll have about $4,000 which won't go very far when saving up for a slightly used car. And now I'm not even sure that I want the car that I originally planned to get. I wanted a 2009 corolla (its when the body style changed).But now I'm scared with all the recalls. I really want a Hyundai Genesis Coupe, but its way too expensive (for an unemployed person!). I'll have to land the dream job first.
I wish I would have done more travelling. I could have visited all of Korea. I had the chance to be able to travel all over Korea, but I barely made it out of Seoul. I wish I would have went to at least one city in every province. (There are 8 provinces) I only went to cities in 2 of the provinces in the northern part of the country.
I wish I would have made more friends-Korean and Expats. I made a few friends, but I didn't try too hard. I guess I didn't try hard enough because I knew I'd eventually have to say goodbye. I don't like goodbyes.
I wish I would have eaten healthier. I thought if I was in a foreign country I'd get away from all the fast food. Nope. I was wrong. I think South Korea has just as much fast food as America. They won't make clothes for fat people, but they will put a Mcdonalds on every street corner. (crazy!) I had a really hard time finding food that I liked here. Most of the korean food was too spicy. Korea didn't offer some of the choices I could have picked at home like lean cuisine. I could have went to subway but there wasn't one close enough that I could walk or get there quickly. I could have eaten sandwiches, but the bread tastes funny here. Yeah. excuses. It was just hard for me so I turned to the only thing I liked-fast food. I ate way too much. yikes. I also drank way too much coke. I had to have my coke fix everyday.
I wish I would have went to the Noraebang more often. It's a singing room. Like private karaoke. I thought they were probably expensive so I only went once with my school and they paid. I heard that they are only about 5,000 won. I could have been improving my singing, but it probably wouldn't have been fun alone.
I should have brought a bigger coat! If I knew this winter was going to be so brutal I would have brought a warmer coat! I have never been so cold in my life! (It rarely gets cold in the Southeast in the US!) I am so ready for spring!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
day 427
Wednesday Feb 17
I went out at 2am and got something to eat at Kimbap Heaven. Its nice having a cheap 24 hr restaurant near my house. I had Jeol Pan Bulgogi. Its great!
I watched "The Bachelor" last night. Alli called him back and decided she made a mistake. He chose not to take her back. He's down to the final 2. Will it be Vienna or Tenley? I pick Tenley. Who will he pick? I don't know. I'm ready to see the women tell all. Its sure to be full of drama. I just hate we have to wait an extra week to see the finale. Why not do the finale and then the women tell all and bring back the woman he chose? That would make more sense.
I watched last night's episode of American Idol. They still haven't shown the Korean guy sing yet-he made it to the top 46. So far they have shown 7 of the top 24.
I wore my hair down today instead of in a ponytail. All the students seemed to like it.
Spelling class was good today. They seemed excited to not be doing the newspaper class. I chose to do spelling so we can attempt to finish the book. We only have 5 classes left. There are 30 lessons and we are on lesson 22. Giving the students tests takes way too much time in this class. I told the new student to study his words and we would have a test today. I let him write his words 3 times each hoping it would help him before the test. It took him a while to write the words. Then He only attempted 4 of the words. One of the other students wanted to grade his paper so I let her. He made a 30. I just don't know what to do for the students who just can't get the spelling right. We go over the words numerous times and it just doesn't stick with them. We only had time to cover 2 pages in class today. Then I played a short game with them.
We had a speaking and writing test in my second class. They love to pick the order that they go in. Everyone was yelling "me first, no I want to go first". Then someone suggested drawing names again. So thats what we did. Everyone got to draw someone's name to determine the order. They also had their writing test. They asked a ton of questions. I used problems right out of the book. One student did really good. He got a 92. The lowest grade was a 40. We only had time to do 4 of the speaking tests. We will have to finish the rest on Friday.
We also took 2 tests in my 2nd class. We did writing first and then speaking. They both did good on speaking. the girl did really good on writing and the boy got a 68.
My 3rd class was better today. They all wanted to do the newspaper class, but I chose to do speaking because we need to finish the book. I told them if they were good today and friday that we would have a party. I plan to have a party with all of my classes since I am leaving next week. I told them that I would be gone after next week. One student said "bad teacher." Another student asked "Will our new teacher be fat?" WHAT?! I said I havent met the new teacher. Today we talked about numbers and family members. Everyone did a good job. Friday we will finish the chapter and have a test.
7 school days left....I'm finished with the real teaching part...this week I'm giving tests in every class. We are also having the newspaper class. Next week the first 2 days will be parties and for the last 3 I will be teaching sample lessons so the new teacher can watch.
Hopefully I only have 9 more days left in South Korea. I'm waiting on my old recruiter to book my flight home. He said he would see if there were any flights on the 27th. I really hope there are!!
I went out at 2am and got something to eat at Kimbap Heaven. Its nice having a cheap 24 hr restaurant near my house. I had Jeol Pan Bulgogi. Its great!
I watched "The Bachelor" last night. Alli called him back and decided she made a mistake. He chose not to take her back. He's down to the final 2. Will it be Vienna or Tenley? I pick Tenley. Who will he pick? I don't know. I'm ready to see the women tell all. Its sure to be full of drama. I just hate we have to wait an extra week to see the finale. Why not do the finale and then the women tell all and bring back the woman he chose? That would make more sense.
I watched last night's episode of American Idol. They still haven't shown the Korean guy sing yet-he made it to the top 46. So far they have shown 7 of the top 24.
I wore my hair down today instead of in a ponytail. All the students seemed to like it.
Spelling class was good today. They seemed excited to not be doing the newspaper class. I chose to do spelling so we can attempt to finish the book. We only have 5 classes left. There are 30 lessons and we are on lesson 22. Giving the students tests takes way too much time in this class. I told the new student to study his words and we would have a test today. I let him write his words 3 times each hoping it would help him before the test. It took him a while to write the words. Then He only attempted 4 of the words. One of the other students wanted to grade his paper so I let her. He made a 30. I just don't know what to do for the students who just can't get the spelling right. We go over the words numerous times and it just doesn't stick with them. We only had time to cover 2 pages in class today. Then I played a short game with them.
We had a speaking and writing test in my second class. They love to pick the order that they go in. Everyone was yelling "me first, no I want to go first". Then someone suggested drawing names again. So thats what we did. Everyone got to draw someone's name to determine the order. They also had their writing test. They asked a ton of questions. I used problems right out of the book. One student did really good. He got a 92. The lowest grade was a 40. We only had time to do 4 of the speaking tests. We will have to finish the rest on Friday.
We also took 2 tests in my 2nd class. We did writing first and then speaking. They both did good on speaking. the girl did really good on writing and the boy got a 68.
My 3rd class was better today. They all wanted to do the newspaper class, but I chose to do speaking because we need to finish the book. I told them if they were good today and friday that we would have a party. I plan to have a party with all of my classes since I am leaving next week. I told them that I would be gone after next week. One student said "bad teacher." Another student asked "Will our new teacher be fat?" WHAT?! I said I havent met the new teacher. Today we talked about numbers and family members. Everyone did a good job. Friday we will finish the chapter and have a test.
7 school days left....I'm finished with the real teaching part...this week I'm giving tests in every class. We are also having the newspaper class. Next week the first 2 days will be parties and for the last 3 I will be teaching sample lessons so the new teacher can watch.
Hopefully I only have 9 more days left in South Korea. I'm waiting on my old recruiter to book my flight home. He said he would see if there were any flights on the 27th. I really hope there are!!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Day 426
Tuesday Feb 16
I had to get up bright and early again for a dentist apointment. I have one more appointment and then I am done. Today's appt was very short. Thursdays will be a longer appointment.
Today I gave speaking tests in all of my classes. Everyone did pretty good. The lowest grade I gave anyone was a 85. The highest was a 97 I think.
Nothing new to report. Today I'm taking the easy way out and making a short entry.
I had to get up bright and early again for a dentist apointment. I have one more appointment and then I am done. Today's appt was very short. Thursdays will be a longer appointment.
Today I gave speaking tests in all of my classes. Everyone did pretty good. The lowest grade I gave anyone was a 85. The highest was a 97 I think.
Nothing new to report. Today I'm taking the easy way out and making a short entry.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Day 425
Monday Feb 15
Today was my last day off.
I decided to go to Insadong to shop for souveniers. Wow. I think everyone else decided to do the same thing! It was crowded! I checked out a few stores and walked up and down Insadong street a few times before buying anything. Basically everyone is selling the same things. I finally bought a few things in a souvenier shop.
Then I thought I would go check out a restaurant nearby called "Tomatilla" (a mexican restaurant). Well it was closed! I ate at burger king instead.
Then I headed home.
I have a lot of things to do tonight.
*make writing tests for 5 classes
*make printouts for newspaper class
I have to go to sleep early tonight. I have a dentist appt at 10am.
9 school days left! 3 of those days will be spent giving tests. 2 days will be spent having end of semester parties. So there's not much more actual work to be done. I'm just wrapping things up.
I'm leaving in less than 2 weeks and I don't even think my plane ticket has been booked yet. Why? I'll have to ask this week at school. It needs to be booked soon because I need to go to the pension office and apply for a refund and I have to show my ticket.
Today was my last day off.
I decided to go to Insadong to shop for souveniers. Wow. I think everyone else decided to do the same thing! It was crowded! I checked out a few stores and walked up and down Insadong street a few times before buying anything. Basically everyone is selling the same things. I finally bought a few things in a souvenier shop.
Then I thought I would go check out a restaurant nearby called "Tomatilla" (a mexican restaurant). Well it was closed! I ate at burger king instead.
Then I headed home.
I have a lot of things to do tonight.
*make writing tests for 5 classes
*make printouts for newspaper class
I have to go to sleep early tonight. I have a dentist appt at 10am.
9 school days left! 3 of those days will be spent giving tests. 2 days will be spent having end of semester parties. So there's not much more actual work to be done. I'm just wrapping things up.
I'm leaving in less than 2 weeks and I don't even think my plane ticket has been booked yet. Why? I'll have to ask this week at school. It needs to be booked soon because I need to go to the pension office and apply for a refund and I have to show my ticket.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Day 424-Seollal and Valentine's Day
Feb 14 Sunday
Two holidays in one day. Seollal is the big family holiday. My part of Seoul was really quiet today. Tons of things were closed. Even E-Mart was closed. Kimbab Heaven was open.
I bet Valentine's wasn't so big this year. If you are spending time with your family in your hometown then you dont have time to spend with your significant other esp if you live in different hometowns. Here's a good comparison: What if Valentine's Day and Christmas happened on the same day? Christmas would be more important. That could never happen but I'm trying to make a point of how Seollal is more important.
Valentine's Day in South Korea is different from America. In America girls usually expect chocolates/flowers from their man. In SK, the girls are suppose to give chocolates to the boys. In March, on white day, the men reciprocate. Then if you didn't receive anything on either day you get together with other singles and eat black noodles together on black day in April. All of these holidays are on the 14th of the month.
I slept half of the day away. I finally woke up around 5pm after going to bed at nearly 5am.
I ate dinner at Kimbap Heaven. I wanted to eat at Mcdonalds but it was closed. Lotteria was also closed. Kimbap Heaven never closes. Its open everyday 24 hours.
I watched "The Invention of Lying." Very weird movie. I'd say 3 stars or that might be a bit generous! They live in a world where telling the truth is all they know. I liked the slogan for Pepsi. It made me laugh because its so true for me. Pepsi: when there's no coke. (yes, i prefer coke!) Everyone tells the truth until one day one man tells a lie and then things escalate out of control. He just keeps telling more lies.
Well that's all for today. Tomorrow I have another day to rest! I'll sleep in although not as long. I want to go out and buy souveniers for myself and my family.
Two holidays in one day. Seollal is the big family holiday. My part of Seoul was really quiet today. Tons of things were closed. Even E-Mart was closed. Kimbab Heaven was open.
I bet Valentine's wasn't so big this year. If you are spending time with your family in your hometown then you dont have time to spend with your significant other esp if you live in different hometowns. Here's a good comparison: What if Valentine's Day and Christmas happened on the same day? Christmas would be more important. That could never happen but I'm trying to make a point of how Seollal is more important.
Valentine's Day in South Korea is different from America. In America girls usually expect chocolates/flowers from their man. In SK, the girls are suppose to give chocolates to the boys. In March, on white day, the men reciprocate. Then if you didn't receive anything on either day you get together with other singles and eat black noodles together on black day in April. All of these holidays are on the 14th of the month.
I slept half of the day away. I finally woke up around 5pm after going to bed at nearly 5am.
I ate dinner at Kimbap Heaven. I wanted to eat at Mcdonalds but it was closed. Lotteria was also closed. Kimbap Heaven never closes. Its open everyday 24 hours.
I watched "The Invention of Lying." Very weird movie. I'd say 3 stars or that might be a bit generous! They live in a world where telling the truth is all they know. I liked the slogan for Pepsi. It made me laugh because its so true for me. Pepsi: when there's no coke. (yes, i prefer coke!) Everyone tells the truth until one day one man tells a lie and then things escalate out of control. He just keeps telling more lies.
Well that's all for today. Tomorrow I have another day to rest! I'll sleep in although not as long. I want to go out and buy souveniers for myself and my family.
I like this ring....
I want to get married someday...Where is he?
I'm not even ready to date right now..I feel like I've let myself go...why would the type of guy that I like even want to be seen with me? It would take a very special man to actually want to date me right now. I'm just stating the harsh truth. I'm just saying its no surprise as to why I am single.
anyway I was reading an article about the sparkliest engagement rings and I found my new favorite...its only $950 dollars...which is actually a bargain for who ever wants to marry me...2 months salary is the "normal" amount for a ring, right?...even if he makes only $20,000 thats over $3,000 he "should" spend....so if he gets the ring I want he can save a lot of money! I don't care about fancy things. Heck I dont even care about diamonds. I love Sapphires because I love blue.
Here's a picture:
I'm not even ready to date right now..I feel like I've let myself go...why would the type of guy that I like even want to be seen with me? It would take a very special man to actually want to date me right now. I'm just stating the harsh truth. I'm just saying its no surprise as to why I am single.
anyway I was reading an article about the sparkliest engagement rings and I found my new favorite...its only $950 dollars...which is actually a bargain for who ever wants to marry me...2 months salary is the "normal" amount for a ring, right?...even if he makes only $20,000 thats over $3,000 he "should" spend....so if he gets the ring I want he can save a lot of money! I don't care about fancy things. Heck I dont even care about diamonds. I love Sapphires because I love blue.
Here's a picture:
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Seollal Migration Gets Underway
Buses and vehicles carrying millions of homebound travelers clogged major roads linking Seoul and rural towns Friday as the Lunar New Year, the country's biggest holiday, falls on Sunday.
With 3.6 million people expected to move in and out of the capital ahead of the holiday that continues through Monday, virtually all trains, planes, buses and highways bound from Seoul were packed with crowds from Friday morning.
Nationwide, an estimated 22.45 million people are expected to be on the move across the country for the three-day holiday. The number is up about 10 percent from the figure last year. The Korea Highway Corporation said more than 360,000 cars and buses drove out of the bustling capital of 12 million and a higher traffic volume is expected on Saturday.
The Lunar New Year, or "Seollal" in Korean, which begins Sunday, is the most celebrated day in the traditional Chinese calendar and New Year-related travel is the largest annual migration in the country.
The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) asked drivers in Gangwon Province to exercise particular caution. Nearly 80 centimeters of snow has covered roads passing through mountainous areas in the province over the past few days and more snowfall is expected during the holiday, the KMA said.
Other cities in the province, including Sokcho and Donghae, were also blanketed with some 30 centimeters of snowfall, it added.
"Many parts of the roads there will turn icy with the mercury forecast to drop below zero during the holiday," the KMA said in a statement. "Other cities in the middle parts of the peninsula will have snow, but not that much."
Day 423
February 13 Saturday
Today is the beginning of Seollnal (Korean New Year)...Look under 'south korean holidays' on my labels and I have a post about Lunar New Year.
Today I met up with the girl I met at McDonalds. One of her friends also came along. 2 more people joined us later in the day.
We started out in Insadong. We read about this cafe that was decorated like a train. The girl who was with me can actually carry on a conversation in Korean so she asked a man at a store for directions. The cafe no longer existed. bummer. It looked like a really neat place. So we walked around Insadong for a little while. There were lots of people there. We ended up going to a cafe called "Wednesday". They drank tea and we had some snacks. I'm not a tea person so I didn't get anything.
Then we decided to go to Dongdaemun market. We walked around there for a little while. The girl who joined us was looking for sunglasses at the market. She didn't find any at Dongdaemun. Dongdaemun was also crowded.
Then we caught a cab to Myeongdong. It was also crowded. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a snack and met up with 2 other people. Then we went to eat dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Me and the girl from my neighborhood split a dish of chicken cutlet. It was good. We stayed in the restaurant for a long time talking. Then we went into a shopping center and stayed there for a little while.
Then we all headed home. So today we went to 3 shopping districts in Seoul. Outdoor markets. I didn't buy anything. I only bought food and snacks.
I still need to get souveniers for my family and myself. I may try to do that on Monday.
Today is the beginning of Seollnal (Korean New Year)...Look under 'south korean holidays' on my labels and I have a post about Lunar New Year.
Today I met up with the girl I met at McDonalds. One of her friends also came along. 2 more people joined us later in the day.
We started out in Insadong. We read about this cafe that was decorated like a train. The girl who was with me can actually carry on a conversation in Korean so she asked a man at a store for directions. The cafe no longer existed. bummer. It looked like a really neat place. So we walked around Insadong for a little while. There were lots of people there. We ended up going to a cafe called "Wednesday". They drank tea and we had some snacks. I'm not a tea person so I didn't get anything.
Then we decided to go to Dongdaemun market. We walked around there for a little while. The girl who joined us was looking for sunglasses at the market. She didn't find any at Dongdaemun. Dongdaemun was also crowded.
Then we caught a cab to Myeongdong. It was also crowded. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts for a snack and met up with 2 other people. Then we went to eat dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Me and the girl from my neighborhood split a dish of chicken cutlet. It was good. We stayed in the restaurant for a long time talking. Then we went into a shopping center and stayed there for a little while.
Then we all headed home. So today we went to 3 shopping districts in Seoul. Outdoor markets. I didn't buy anything. I only bought food and snacks.
I still need to get souveniers for my family and myself. I may try to do that on Monday.
Day 422
Friday February 12
We had more snow today. I think thats like the 5th snow this year. One big snow. The rest were small. It didn't really accumulate. It barely covered the ground.
Before my first class my youngest student gave me a gift. It's a nice gift set. It has shower gel, soap and lotion.
My first class was good. The newspaper tests took a long time to do. Then I gave them their spelling test. The youngest boy made a 90 and the girl made a 50. The new student couldn't remember how to spell the words so I told him to study and I'll let him take it again on Wednesday. We only covered one page in our book today.
My 2nd class was good. It was our newspaper class. When I walked in they were all begging "me first, me first". I did it the fair way today. I put everyone's name on a sheet of paper and let the students draw a name. Our first article was about a dog. Of course, someone said the dog looked delicious. (they actually eat dog in South Korea). One of the questions was "where is the dog from" (it was from Italy). One of my students said Germany. I told him that was wrong and he told me 'its a German Shepherd'.haha. yeah, but he's from Italy! I had mixed responses about the English teaching robots. Most of the class wanted to learn from a robot because its fun, interesting, exciting and amazing. One said he wanted to learn from a robot so he could make it have an error. Then one boy had a great answer. He said he didn't want to learn from a robot because then Americans wouldn't have jobs. He's smart. He's concerned about people losing their jobs. One of the students said he wanted to pour water on the robot's head so he could watch it blow up. haha. my kids are crazy! They all thought the insect candy was gross and the girl in the picture was crazy.
My 2nd class was pretty good. It was also a newspaper class. Out of all the students only one boy said that the insect candy looked yummy. He actually wants to try it. All the other students in all my classes think its gross. The girl in my class said she wanted to learn English from the robot because robots don't hit students. Near the end of class the boy was looking at my computer and clicking on random things. I showed him google Earth. he thought that was cool.
I played around with Google Earth during my break. It's really neat. Some of the places are detailed. You can see places of interest and zoom down to street level and actually see people. Its not in real time though. Its preloaded images that were taken using a camera.
My last class was on their bad behavior again. First I gave them the newspaper test. Some of them were just sitting there carrying on a conversation and ignoring the test in front of them. I gave one student a zero because she thought it was funny to mark every single answer. I kept begging her to do her test so she just marked every answer.THen we reviewed for our test. During review one of the students just got up and left class. She was gone for a long time. Then 2 other boys just got up and walked out. They were copying her. Then we took our test. They were being loud and copying papers and calling out answers. Then we went over new words and half of them weren't paying attention. They all did pretty bad on the test. It was easy too. Words like pizza, salad, lemonade, popcorn, juice, gifts, party hats, girls, boys, balloons, cards. During the test one boy asked me how to spell 'cone' as in ice cream cone. It wasn't on the test so I told him. Then he thanked me because I gave him the ending letters to 'popcorn'. Then I informed him it was 'popcorn' not 'popcone'. Then one of the other students spells it out for him.
I got to leave school at 8:45pm.
3 day weekend!! (for Lunar New Year)
9 school days left...only 2 weeks in Korea....wow!
We had more snow today. I think thats like the 5th snow this year. One big snow. The rest were small. It didn't really accumulate. It barely covered the ground.
Before my first class my youngest student gave me a gift. It's a nice gift set. It has shower gel, soap and lotion.
My first class was good. The newspaper tests took a long time to do. Then I gave them their spelling test. The youngest boy made a 90 and the girl made a 50. The new student couldn't remember how to spell the words so I told him to study and I'll let him take it again on Wednesday. We only covered one page in our book today.
My 2nd class was good. It was our newspaper class. When I walked in they were all begging "me first, me first". I did it the fair way today. I put everyone's name on a sheet of paper and let the students draw a name. Our first article was about a dog. Of course, someone said the dog looked delicious. (they actually eat dog in South Korea). One of the questions was "where is the dog from" (it was from Italy). One of my students said Germany. I told him that was wrong and he told me 'its a German Shepherd'.haha. yeah, but he's from Italy! I had mixed responses about the English teaching robots. Most of the class wanted to learn from a robot because its fun, interesting, exciting and amazing. One said he wanted to learn from a robot so he could make it have an error. Then one boy had a great answer. He said he didn't want to learn from a robot because then Americans wouldn't have jobs. He's smart. He's concerned about people losing their jobs. One of the students said he wanted to pour water on the robot's head so he could watch it blow up. haha. my kids are crazy! They all thought the insect candy was gross and the girl in the picture was crazy.
My 2nd class was pretty good. It was also a newspaper class. Out of all the students only one boy said that the insect candy looked yummy. He actually wants to try it. All the other students in all my classes think its gross. The girl in my class said she wanted to learn English from the robot because robots don't hit students. Near the end of class the boy was looking at my computer and clicking on random things. I showed him google Earth. he thought that was cool.
I played around with Google Earth during my break. It's really neat. Some of the places are detailed. You can see places of interest and zoom down to street level and actually see people. Its not in real time though. Its preloaded images that were taken using a camera.
My last class was on their bad behavior again. First I gave them the newspaper test. Some of them were just sitting there carrying on a conversation and ignoring the test in front of them. I gave one student a zero because she thought it was funny to mark every single answer. I kept begging her to do her test so she just marked every answer.THen we reviewed for our test. During review one of the students just got up and left class. She was gone for a long time. Then 2 other boys just got up and walked out. They were copying her. Then we took our test. They were being loud and copying papers and calling out answers. Then we went over new words and half of them weren't paying attention. They all did pretty bad on the test. It was easy too. Words like pizza, salad, lemonade, popcorn, juice, gifts, party hats, girls, boys, balloons, cards. During the test one boy asked me how to spell 'cone' as in ice cream cone. It wasn't on the test so I told him. Then he thanked me because I gave him the ending letters to 'popcorn'. Then I informed him it was 'popcorn' not 'popcone'. Then one of the other students spells it out for him.
I got to leave school at 8:45pm.
3 day weekend!! (for Lunar New Year)
9 school days left...only 2 weeks in Korea....wow!
Day 421
Thursday Feb 11
yeah this one is late...sometimes blogging seems like such a chore..
Got up bright and early for my dentist appt. at 10am. It was snowing outside. It was just a wet mess. The sidewalks were slippery. (There was no accumulation.just a slippery mess). She was going to start on the easy cavity today. When she checked it out she said I’d have to have a root canal on that one too. She started it today. I still have 3 or 4 more visits.
When I came to school the Korean teacher asked me if I had lunch yet. I hadn’t. They wanted me to join them at a Chinese restaurant. We had some pork. It was good. We also had jjajangmyeon. It was also good.
My first class was not good. They were way too quiet. I’d ask a question and then wait a long time for the answer. No one wanted to answer. Finally one student said the answer. She’s the only one who was participating. The rest were just copying what I wrote on the board. They all read when I asked them to but they were quiet the rest of the time.
Second was just a normal day in that class. We went over a writing lesson using go, went, was, were and writing a story. boys were loud all during class. I let one boy go to the bathroom and then everyone jumped up and left the room. I have to beg the boys to do their work. I walk around the class to make sure they are doing it. If I don't check on them, they won't do it. I also did a short review for their test next week. Today we finished our writing book.
My 3rd class was with the first group that too quiet during writing class. They finally woke up! The articles go fast in that class and we always have free time. We rarely have free time in the other classes. One of our topics was about robots teaching English. I had mixed responses. 2 students said they didn’t want to learn with robots because they cant answer all their questions. A few people said yes because its amazing, accurate, and interesting. They were shocked at the insect candy. I showed the picture of a girl eating insect candy and one boy said “what the hell?” and a girl said “she’s crazy”.
In my last class we had a writing lesson about strong endings and descriptions. Then we had some free time.
I watched last nights episode of "American Idol." It was group day in Hollywood week.
Big mike has got some big man boobs (he is a personal trainer). There was so much drama on group day! Some groups were having a lot of trouble working together. They still haven't shown any clips of the Korean guy singing. He made it past group round, but they like to spotlight certian people and keep showing those people over and over. Some people get no exposure. A lot of groups did horrible on "Sweet Escape". They shouldn't have tried that song!
My school gave us a gift for Lunar New Year. Oh my. Another big box of pears. What the heck am I going to do with a big box of pears? I don't even like pears!
yeah this one is late...sometimes blogging seems like such a chore..
Got up bright and early for my dentist appt. at 10am. It was snowing outside. It was just a wet mess. The sidewalks were slippery. (There was no accumulation.just a slippery mess). She was going to start on the easy cavity today. When she checked it out she said I’d have to have a root canal on that one too. She started it today. I still have 3 or 4 more visits.
When I came to school the Korean teacher asked me if I had lunch yet. I hadn’t. They wanted me to join them at a Chinese restaurant. We had some pork. It was good. We also had jjajangmyeon. It was also good.
My first class was not good. They were way too quiet. I’d ask a question and then wait a long time for the answer. No one wanted to answer. Finally one student said the answer. She’s the only one who was participating. The rest were just copying what I wrote on the board. They all read when I asked them to but they were quiet the rest of the time.
Second was just a normal day in that class. We went over a writing lesson using go, went, was, were and writing a story. boys were loud all during class. I let one boy go to the bathroom and then everyone jumped up and left the room. I have to beg the boys to do their work. I walk around the class to make sure they are doing it. If I don't check on them, they won't do it. I also did a short review for their test next week. Today we finished our writing book.
My 3rd class was with the first group that too quiet during writing class. They finally woke up! The articles go fast in that class and we always have free time. We rarely have free time in the other classes. One of our topics was about robots teaching English. I had mixed responses. 2 students said they didn’t want to learn with robots because they cant answer all their questions. A few people said yes because its amazing, accurate, and interesting. They were shocked at the insect candy. I showed the picture of a girl eating insect candy and one boy said “what the hell?” and a girl said “she’s crazy”.
In my last class we had a writing lesson about strong endings and descriptions. Then we had some free time.
I watched last nights episode of "American Idol." It was group day in Hollywood week.
Big mike has got some big man boobs (he is a personal trainer). There was so much drama on group day! Some groups were having a lot of trouble working together. They still haven't shown any clips of the Korean guy singing. He made it past group round, but they like to spotlight certian people and keep showing those people over and over. Some people get no exposure. A lot of groups did horrible on "Sweet Escape". They shouldn't have tried that song!
My school gave us a gift for Lunar New Year. Oh my. Another big box of pears. What the heck am I going to do with a big box of pears? I don't even like pears!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Day 420
Wednesday Feb 10
My first class was my newspaper class with the lowest level. Our first article was about Vancouver. As soon as I said Vancouver the youngest student started talking about the olympics. We had a good class. We covered 5 articles. They had a little trouble finding the answers today so I had to help them out.
My 2nd class was good. When I went in class everyone was ready for their speaking test. On Monday I told them the test was on a wednesday. They were asking me about it. I told them it was on Wednesday. They told me today was wednesday. No, next wednesday. We did a writing lesson on dialouge and part of a story. They did good on the material. After class I was helping one of the students with her vocabulary. She was telling me how good my English was. hehe. My English should be good. Its my first language. 2 boys in the class were trying to flatter me hoping I'd end class early. They were asking me what page we would finish on. I always say I dont know because it depends on how much we can cover in class. Then they were saying things like "youre beautiful", "youre tall". silly stuff. Then one of the girls said they were lying. haha.
We also had a writing lesson in my 3rd class. We talked about is, am, are, was, were, go, went, past tense verbs. We finished the book today. One of my students told me that he hurt his thumb so I wrote the answers for him because he said he couldn't hold the pencil. They did a good job on the material.
My last class was back to having bad behavior. They were asking for a game, but I told them they had to be good and we might have a game. Well only one person read all the time. The rest only read sometimes. They weren't listening. They were talking while I was talking and while they should have been listening to the recording. So when I was talking I had to talk over them. One of the girls who was actually paying attention kept asking me to hurry, but Id keep stopping because I wanted the whole class to participate. One girl kept texting someone during my class.
They kept getting out of their seat to throw things in the trash. The boys like to shake up their pepsi and watch it overflow.
I watched last nights episode of American Idol. Hollywood Week. It was too short, They should have done a 2 hour show so we could see more people performing. They only feature a few people so there are so many people that you don't get to see. They keep up with all the people with the big stories. They showed the girl from Tennessee and she didn't make it. They also featured the guy who had cancer. I don't think he made it to the next round. They showed the girl with the 4 brothers with down syndrome. I don't think she made it through either. I wanted to see the Korean guy sing but they didn't feature him on the show. I liked the guy who sang his own version of "Straight Up". He was really good. I like it when they are able to take the song and rearrange it to make it sound different. There was a guy who had a wife going into labor. He did a good job. The next show should be group round. That's always interesting.
I have to get up early tomorrow. I have to get my root canal started at the dentist. My appt is at 10am.
11 more school days....2 more school days till a 3 day weekend!! (This weekend is a holiday--Lunar New Year) I get Monday off from school!
My first class was my newspaper class with the lowest level. Our first article was about Vancouver. As soon as I said Vancouver the youngest student started talking about the olympics. We had a good class. We covered 5 articles. They had a little trouble finding the answers today so I had to help them out.
My 2nd class was good. When I went in class everyone was ready for their speaking test. On Monday I told them the test was on a wednesday. They were asking me about it. I told them it was on Wednesday. They told me today was wednesday. No, next wednesday. We did a writing lesson on dialouge and part of a story. They did good on the material. After class I was helping one of the students with her vocabulary. She was telling me how good my English was. hehe. My English should be good. Its my first language. 2 boys in the class were trying to flatter me hoping I'd end class early. They were asking me what page we would finish on. I always say I dont know because it depends on how much we can cover in class. Then they were saying things like "youre beautiful", "youre tall". silly stuff. Then one of the girls said they were lying. haha.
We also had a writing lesson in my 3rd class. We talked about is, am, are, was, were, go, went, past tense verbs. We finished the book today. One of my students told me that he hurt his thumb so I wrote the answers for him because he said he couldn't hold the pencil. They did a good job on the material.
My last class was back to having bad behavior. They were asking for a game, but I told them they had to be good and we might have a game. Well only one person read all the time. The rest only read sometimes. They weren't listening. They were talking while I was talking and while they should have been listening to the recording. So when I was talking I had to talk over them. One of the girls who was actually paying attention kept asking me to hurry, but Id keep stopping because I wanted the whole class to participate. One girl kept texting someone during my class.
They kept getting out of their seat to throw things in the trash. The boys like to shake up their pepsi and watch it overflow.
I watched last nights episode of American Idol. Hollywood Week. It was too short, They should have done a 2 hour show so we could see more people performing. They only feature a few people so there are so many people that you don't get to see. They keep up with all the people with the big stories. They showed the girl from Tennessee and she didn't make it. They also featured the guy who had cancer. I don't think he made it to the next round. They showed the girl with the 4 brothers with down syndrome. I don't think she made it through either. I wanted to see the Korean guy sing but they didn't feature him on the show. I liked the guy who sang his own version of "Straight Up". He was really good. I like it when they are able to take the song and rearrange it to make it sound different. There was a guy who had a wife going into labor. He did a good job. The next show should be group round. That's always interesting.
I have to get up early tomorrow. I have to get my root canal started at the dentist. My appt is at 10am.
11 more school days....2 more school days till a 3 day weekend!! (This weekend is a holiday--Lunar New Year) I get Monday off from school!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
bikini jeans? What the heck?
I'm glad I don't keep up with fashion. I wouldn't wear most of it! I was on facebook and an ad caught my eye. 'bikini jeans'. I was wondering 'what the heck are bikini jeans?'
what's the fascination with low rise jeans?
well I went to the site.
Really? Who would wear these?
what's the fascination with low rise jeans?
well I went to the site.
Really? Who would wear these?
Day 419
Tuesday Feb 9
I was looking at the newspaper site that I have to use for my classes today. I'm not happy with the quality of articles for this week. They are all boring. The ones for the lower level are short. 4 sentences? really?
For the older kids I chose: Running is good for your brain, English robots, A dog who travelled 700km to find his owner, and insect candy
FOr the younger kids I chose: Learn from your mistakes, butter is bad for your heart, a new baby born in Haiti, world's oldest dog, and Vancouver
In my first class we had 2 speaking lessons on animals and famous people. The lessons were very short so they had a lot of free time.
My 2nd class was not good. The boys were constantly talking and not even paying attention and being too loud. Most of the time they didn’t even know where we were in the reading. If they paid attention I wouldn’t have to show them where we were reading from. Our topics were “leave me alone” and “parents”. We finished the book today.There was one funny moment. I asked one of the boys to read a question. He read the question from the wrong page. Then he found out that the page we were doing was on the floor. The boy beside him busted out laughing and then the whole class was laughing.One of our questions was "Does your family love you?". One student said his family doesn’t love him because he plays on the computer too much. Another one said “maybe”.There was one boy and one girl who always knew where we were and paid attention so I gave them a sticker. The other 3 boys did not get one
The 3rd class was my newspaper class. I started out with 10 students in the class and every desk was occupied except the one at the front of the class. Near the end of class another student came in so we ended up with 11 students and We had to move desks around so he'd have a place to sit. 2 of the students were from my MWF class. They missed class yesterday so they came today. They will be hearing the same material over again on Friday. One of our topics was English robots. I asked all the students if they wanted to learn from a robot. Some said yes because robots are cool. A few said no because they don't like robots. I personally think that English teaching robots are a bad idea. You need a human to teach you how to speak. The boys were loud in class. Most of them were not paying attention or even on the right page.
After class one of my students in the newspaper class told me that there was an earthquake.
I looked it up on the internet. An 3.0 earthquake hit at 6:08 which was during my newspaper class. I didn't even feel it.
In my last class we had 2 speaking lessons about lifeguards and lying. My students who came from my mwf class didn't bring their books so I had to make a copy. While I was making copies the copier kept getting jammed. I think it happened about 2 or 3 times in a row. Some of my students were sticking their head out the door trying to find out why I was taking so long. We had a good class. One of the lessons was about lying. One of the boys answers made me laugh. I was asking him if he ever lied. He told me that he did. He said if someone is ugly he will sometimes lie and tell them they are beautiful or handsome. haha. Then that same boy wanted to know what "truth" meant. He knew all about lying but didn't know what truth was. He said its okay to lie when he gets a bad grade but he doesn't want his mom to know about it.
My plans for this weekend fell through. The KTX bullet train was all booked. We could have taken an express bus but I really didn't want to ride a bus for nearly 5 hours. Plus its the holiday weekend so it might take even longer. I'll just do some exploring around Seoul and check out the traditional folk games and activities at Gwanghwamun.
I watched "The Bachelor". This show is just full of drama. I can't believe its only the 6th episode and they are already down to 3 girls-Vienna, Gia and Tenley. I don't know who he will end up picking. I don't really have a favorite. This week Ali chose to leave because of her job (just like Ed on the bachelorette). She had to choose love or job. She chose the sure thing. I was reading on the message boards and someone said she worked for Facebook. I probably would have done the same thing. Who would give up a job at Facebook? I think Facebook would be a sweet job to have. They probably have tons of perks. Then Jake was devastated because she left.
I was looking at the newspaper site that I have to use for my classes today. I'm not happy with the quality of articles for this week. They are all boring. The ones for the lower level are short. 4 sentences? really?
For the older kids I chose: Running is good for your brain, English robots, A dog who travelled 700km to find his owner, and insect candy
FOr the younger kids I chose: Learn from your mistakes, butter is bad for your heart, a new baby born in Haiti, world's oldest dog, and Vancouver
In my first class we had 2 speaking lessons on animals and famous people. The lessons were very short so they had a lot of free time.
My 2nd class was not good. The boys were constantly talking and not even paying attention and being too loud. Most of the time they didn’t even know where we were in the reading. If they paid attention I wouldn’t have to show them where we were reading from. Our topics were “leave me alone” and “parents”. We finished the book today.There was one funny moment. I asked one of the boys to read a question. He read the question from the wrong page. Then he found out that the page we were doing was on the floor. The boy beside him busted out laughing and then the whole class was laughing.One of our questions was "Does your family love you?". One student said his family doesn’t love him because he plays on the computer too much. Another one said “maybe”.There was one boy and one girl who always knew where we were and paid attention so I gave them a sticker. The other 3 boys did not get one
The 3rd class was my newspaper class. I started out with 10 students in the class and every desk was occupied except the one at the front of the class. Near the end of class another student came in so we ended up with 11 students and We had to move desks around so he'd have a place to sit. 2 of the students were from my MWF class. They missed class yesterday so they came today. They will be hearing the same material over again on Friday. One of our topics was English robots. I asked all the students if they wanted to learn from a robot. Some said yes because robots are cool. A few said no because they don't like robots. I personally think that English teaching robots are a bad idea. You need a human to teach you how to speak. The boys were loud in class. Most of them were not paying attention or even on the right page.
After class one of my students in the newspaper class told me that there was an earthquake.
I looked it up on the internet. An 3.0 earthquake hit at 6:08 which was during my newspaper class. I didn't even feel it.
In my last class we had 2 speaking lessons about lifeguards and lying. My students who came from my mwf class didn't bring their books so I had to make a copy. While I was making copies the copier kept getting jammed. I think it happened about 2 or 3 times in a row. Some of my students were sticking their head out the door trying to find out why I was taking so long. We had a good class. One of the lessons was about lying. One of the boys answers made me laugh. I was asking him if he ever lied. He told me that he did. He said if someone is ugly he will sometimes lie and tell them they are beautiful or handsome. haha. Then that same boy wanted to know what "truth" meant. He knew all about lying but didn't know what truth was. He said its okay to lie when he gets a bad grade but he doesn't want his mom to know about it.
My plans for this weekend fell through. The KTX bullet train was all booked. We could have taken an express bus but I really didn't want to ride a bus for nearly 5 hours. Plus its the holiday weekend so it might take even longer. I'll just do some exploring around Seoul and check out the traditional folk games and activities at Gwanghwamun.
I watched "The Bachelor". This show is just full of drama. I can't believe its only the 6th episode and they are already down to 3 girls-Vienna, Gia and Tenley. I don't know who he will end up picking. I don't really have a favorite. This week Ali chose to leave because of her job (just like Ed on the bachelorette). She had to choose love or job. She chose the sure thing. I was reading on the message boards and someone said she worked for Facebook. I probably would have done the same thing. Who would give up a job at Facebook? I think Facebook would be a sweet job to have. They probably have tons of perks. Then Jake was devastated because she left.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
3.0 Earthquake in Seoul
A magnitude 3.0 earthquake occurred with its epicenter located just outside western Seoul, Tuesday evening. Some citizens, apparently alarmed by a recent major tremor that hit Haiti, called fire stations and media outlets for confirmation of the temblor, although no injuries or serious property damage were reported.
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), the earthquake occurred at 6:08 p.m. in an area about 8 kilometers north of Siheung, a satellite town in Gyeonggi Province on the outskirts of the capital.
``The tremor continued for two or three seconds,’’ the administration said in a briefing. Residents especially in western Seoul reported that the quake was strong enough for them to feel the buildings they were in shaking.
The tremor was felt as far away as Yongin, Suwon and Goyang.
It was the strongest tremor out of three recorded in the bustling capital city of 12 million since 1987, when the administration began to monitor earthquakes in Korea. The other two occurred on Sept. 15, 2004 and June 14, 1990, but again they caused no damage.
A 31-year-old man, who was working at an Internet start-up in Siheung, about 40 km southwest of Seoul, told The Korea Times, ``I was startled, when the windows of the building I was in were trembling and I also heard some noise.’’
The quake was the seventh to hit the Korean peninsula this year alone, the KMA added.
_______________________________________
It was during my class..I didn't even feel anything!
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), the earthquake occurred at 6:08 p.m. in an area about 8 kilometers north of Siheung, a satellite town in Gyeonggi Province on the outskirts of the capital.
``The tremor continued for two or three seconds,’’ the administration said in a briefing. Residents especially in western Seoul reported that the quake was strong enough for them to feel the buildings they were in shaking.
The tremor was felt as far away as Yongin, Suwon and Goyang.
It was the strongest tremor out of three recorded in the bustling capital city of 12 million since 1987, when the administration began to monitor earthquakes in Korea. The other two occurred on Sept. 15, 2004 and June 14, 1990, but again they caused no damage.
A 31-year-old man, who was working at an Internet start-up in Siheung, about 40 km southwest of Seoul, told The Korea Times, ``I was startled, when the windows of the building I was in were trembling and I also heard some noise.’’
The quake was the seventh to hit the Korean peninsula this year alone, the KMA added.
_______________________________________
It was during my class..I didn't even feel anything!
More Korean Music that I like....
Have I ever mentioned how much I love Korean music? Just in case you didn't know-I love Korean music!
Here are some songs that I really like right now:
"Even If I Die, I can't let you go" by 2AM
"Calling You" Seo In Gook
"Wrong Number" DBSK
"Time to Love" T-ara and Supernova
"I do" Rain (I'm ready to say "I Do" to Rain)
Here are some songs that I really like right now:
"Even If I Die, I can't let you go" by 2AM
"Calling You" Seo In Gook
"Wrong Number" DBSK
"Time to Love" T-ara and Supernova
"I do" Rain (I'm ready to say "I Do" to Rain)
풀하우스--Korean Drama
This drama is great! I found it online with English subtitles.
Here's a clip:
**If I marry a Korean man my first boy child will be named: Young-Jae....I think its a great name
풀하우스 (Pul hauseu) (Full House)
So I've started watching another Korean drama. These Korean dramas are so addicting. This is the 3rd drama that I've watched.
Full House is a 16-episode South Korean television drama broadcast by KBS in 2004. This is a televised version of a comic story. It is also known as "浪漫满屋" in Chinese. A season 2 for Full House is said to be expected, and there has been 20 episodes written. It is to be expected to air in Autumn 2009.
This drama attempts to answer the question of whether two people can be in love only on paper. It also explores the meaning of the family by presenting that no matter how hard the present may seem, the world is still a good place to live on because of those who bring hopes into our lives through their presence alone.
This drama features diverse characters: considerate, caring, frank, patient, and sticking to life’s basic values. But no matter how different the personalities, everyone finds happiness in the end.
This drama is based upon a manhwa of the same title, Full House by the Korean author Won Sooyeon.
Plot Summary
Han Ji-Eun lives in a house called Full House, built by her father. She is an aspiring script writer. One day, her two best friends, for money reasons, trick her into believing she has won a free vacation, and while she is gone, they sell her house. On the plane, she meets Lee Young-Jae, a famous actor. Through comedic events they get acquainted during her vacation, and when she returns, she discovers her house has been sold to him.
Though they don't get along with each other, as she is messy and he has a bad temper and likes cleanliness, they agree to live with each other. At first, Ji-Eun works as his maid in order to buy her house back, but later, because of Young-Jae's wish to make the love of his life, Kang Hye-Won (Han Eun Jung) jealous, they get married. They set up a contract for the marriage to last six months. During that time, complications arise and Ji-Eun and Young-Jae become attracted to each other. Also, Ji-Eun starts to feel a strong bond with Young-Jae's family. However, Young-Jae's bad temper, along with the romantic attentions of Yoo Min-Hyuk (Kim Sung Soo), Ji-Eun's handsome and friendly publisher, starts to create a rift between the couple. So does Hye-Won, who starts to feel jealous when she sees Young-Jae and Ji-Eun getting close. Eventually, Young-Jae and Ji-Eun get a divorce and he moves away.When he returns, he realizes that Ji-Eun hasn't married yet and knows that he has fallen in love with her - and she with him. He proposes to her, this time for the right reasons, and finally, they get married for a second time.
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