Kimchi

 

This is me making kimchi- Korea's national dish. It is made of cabbage, lathered with spices, then fermented. It is eaten at every meal in Korea.

I was very slow at doing this- in between every layer of cabbage, you had to put the spice mix- but the ladies were very kind and gave me the smallest cabbages!

Learning to be assertive!

This past week, we have tried to set up our after school program. It has been a HUGE headache! There are three other teachers involved (besides me), trying to organize it- which would normally be a good thing. However, the communication here SUCKS, and as a group we don't all sit down to talk about how to run the program, so it is very difficult. My teaching schedule for the program changed five times this week, three of them being on Friday.

We finally figured out that I will teach after school from 4:30-6:30 four days a week, for 12 days. This is good and I even have snacks for tomorrows group!

Here were some of the other proposals: M-Th 730-830 am & 5:30-6:30 pm; M-Th 5:30-6:30 & work on some Fridays and Saturdays until we reach 25 hours; Save all 25 hours until winter break, when I am already teaching 40 hours (max. in contract for winter break is 40 hours); M-Th 5:30-6:30 for 15 days before winter break, then 10 hours during winter break.

I finally got frustrated and angry on Friday. My co-teacher says, "We have it figured out. You will teach your 25 hours during winter break. You will still teach the 40 hours for the school, but then you will come back in the afternoon and teach for 2 1/2 more hours." So I had an 45 minute conversation with her about why that was never going to happen, and that my contract said so (to which she replied, "The contract is only for the people who don't WANT to work over the 40 hours." and I replied that that was in fact me!). Then since all of the teachers involved can't sit down and have a meeting at one time, I had to explain this whole process to the other teachers and have the SAME arguments with them.

I hope that this newfound assertiveness will serve me well in the future. If nothing else, I have experienced why it is SO important for people to communicate well with each other. At Centre, I got to see great communication between two teachers in a two teacher ag. program. I now know why it is so important, especially if you want to have a great program. Definitely something to remember in my next job.

Anyways, Friday finally ended and I headed to Seoul. I had lost my voice on Tuesday, and wanted to go to an English speaking doctor. The schools here don't have substitute teachers, so I couldn't leave in the middle of the week to go. I got some medicine and am feeling much better already.

In Seoul, I did some touristy things. I went to Namdaemun Market- which is the largest outdoor market in Korea. It was HUGE and so cool! Within this market, I found an area with imported goods. They had things that I haven't seen for four months: McCormick's seasoning, toritilla chips, gummi worms and bears, cheetos, doritos, sprinkles for cakes/cookies, country time lemonade, cake frosting, ritz..... I just stood there and stared! I couldn't believe it!!! There were also Christmas stores which kind of makes you miss home. Then, I went to the War Memorial of Korea. It was very interesting. I didn't actually go inside to the museum, but just looked around outside. They had tanks, and planes, and missiles, and army trucks all from different wars and in different styles.
Cait and I ate at On The Border (again) Friday night, I had Krispy Kreme Saturday morning (and even got a free donut because the light was on), and Burger King for lunch Saturday. It is so nice to have a meal without rice once in awhile.

This week we also had "teacher's sports day." This is where all of the schools in the county get together and the teachers compete in different activities. So we played tug-of-war, had a three legged race, and other kinds of races. We also grilled pork. It was a lot of fun- the only downside was that it was on the coldest day of the year (so far).

This week, I am also closer to getting our pen pal email project started. I now have collected my students' emails (21 of them), and have emailed them to my home middle school. I am very excited to get this started!

Quotes of the week:

Co-teacher to me: "You should not eat too much food outside." "Why?" I replied. "Because it will give you diahrrea." You should remember this advice when you start to grill next spring!

A student wrote this to me in an email, "Teacher you are beautiful." What a compliment coming from a middle school student (but I'll take it!) :)

A student talking about her future pen pal, "Teacher, I want a tall, handsome boy." I replied, "So do I." She laughed and said, "But I am serious." (Because I guess I wasn't being serious)

This one is actually really sad/upsetting, just remember it is from a totally different point of view than we are used to.
1st grade co-teacher to me: "I will visit my mother this weekend." Me: "Where does she live?" Co-teacher, "She is my neighbor." Me: "Oh, so you get to see her a lot then." Co-teacher, "No, I only see her three times a year usually." Me: "Why?" Co-teacher, "Because I should be closer to my husband." Me: "But you could visit her more often if she is your neighbor." Co-teacher, "We don't do that in South Korea."
Don't worry mom, even if we are not neighbors, I will still visit you more than three times a year (except maybe when I am in Korea).

We do not get Thanksgiving off (apparently since the pilgrims didn't land here, they don't celebrate it), but I am still going to be able to celebrate the holiday. The U.S. Ambassador to South Korea has invited the Fulbright grantees to the U.S. Embassy in Seoul to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal (i.e. turkey, potatoes and gravy, stuffing, pumpkin pie, etc!)! I am so excited about this, and to be able to see my friends. This will be on Friday evening, and I will spend the rest of the weekend in Seoul.

Have a great Thanksgiving.... eat some turkey for me!

Love and miss you

The most fun week EVER!!!

As a whole, for teaching, this past week has been the "most fun" so far.

With first grade, we are working on appearance and how to describe people (no her hair is not yellow, it is in fact blonde). So, we played Guess Who! What a great way to not only work on appearance, but also to work on asking questions, and comprehending answers.

With second grade, we made comics! Probably one of the best lessons I have done, because ALL of the students got involved. In Korea, special education basically doesn't exist, so all students are mainstreamed. So in the traditional Korean classroom, the students with special needs just sit at the back of the classroom and teachers ignore them. With this lesson however, they could participate (I let them write in Korean). Many students here read comic books, so being able to first fill in the bubbles, then make their own comic strip was great for them. They didn't even realize they were "learning" English.

I didn't think that I was going to teach third grade this week. However, the day before, the teacher told me that my schedule was changed and I would in fact be teaching them. At that point, it was too late to send stuff to copy (I can't use the copy machine here because, "you might break something"). Sooooo, we played boggle. We had prizes for the longest list of words, as well as words with the most letters in it.

This week, our county told us they had some grant money left over, and wants us to use it. So, I will begin teaching an after school program for students with the "best English ability" in our school. We will meet after school for two hours a day, for 12 or 13 days. It has to be project based, and we will end up with a product. I think that our project will be two-fold. First, the students will write a book. "The culture and history of Korea: From the perspective of Korean Middle School students" (this idea came from a teacher last year). I hope that they will really get into this, and take ownership in it.
Additionally, there are other ETA's who regularly teach an after school program. They have put together a photography contest. Students will take pictures on their cell phones, upload the pics to a computer, and add a story (in English) to describe their pictures. They will compete against other Korean middle school students. What a cool idea?!
Wish me luck, as I embark on these projects!

It is cold here now, most mornings it is right at or below freezing. It has only snowed once, and it didn't stick..... yet.

I hope you are all doing well!

Love,
Jacque

 

Quotes of the Week

The last couple of weeks have been pretty busy (it seems like I am always saying this!).

Last week I taught Halloween to all of my classes. This was a lot of fun, because they do not celebrate this holiday here. We watched a clip of The Simpson's Halloween (it had Korean subtitles!), then made Halloween costumes out of newspaper. We had so much fun! Halloween weekend I went to Seoul for Halloween- met some friends there and even found a bar that was decorated for Halloween!

Here are some funny quotes from the week:

I went to school one morning, and I was feeling sick/nauseus. I told my co-teacher. Her response: "I think you need acupuncture."

A p.e. teacher at our school told me this today. "You walk on the track very powerfully and strong." I'm not exactly sure what he meant, but I know that at some point he was watching me walk...... kind of weird and creepy!

I was doing a lesson on agree/disagree. The phrase was "Students should have to wear uniforms to school" then students had to agree or disagree and say why. Student response, "I disagree because I ugly." :)


This weekend I am again traveling to Seoul. There is a march and rally in support of human rights in North Korea. There are some North Korean escapees (if that is the right word) that will be speaking. Everything will be translated into English. It is so interesting to me that I just happen to be in South Korea while the tension is building for 6 party talks and such. I feel like I have so much to learn about the issue. I don't know if this march/rally will change anything, but what if it does?

I hope you are all doing well. I miss you and love you.