3 months in Korea

It's been a while since I updated my adventure. Just got a little lazy.

I can't believe another month has gone since I arrived here. WOW!!

Since my last update, I have been to 2 Halloween parties (pictures to come at a later date),taught 2 - 6 hour Saturdays at English Town and visited 2 different cities - Mokpo once and Yeosu twice. I like to keep busy and move around as many of you know. I didn't see much of Mokpo but Yeosu is BEAUTIFUL so that is why I went there twice. Also I met another English teacher, Karen, from the Pittsburg, PA area who is teaching in Yeosu and that is where one of the Halloween parties was. It's amazing how a 3 hour bus ride doesn't seem like a big deal when you are starved for things to do and people to see. Anyway the weekends are the times to have fun with friends and see parts of the country.

Yeosu is in the south of the peninsula and is surrounded by water. Very picturesque. It has about 300,000 people and is also surrounded by mountains (as is most of Korea - 70% mountains).

Last Saturday after teaching for 6 hours, I took one bus to Gwangju (1 hour) and another bus to Yeosu (2 hours) to meet up with Karen and another teacher, Laurien. We went to Pizza Hut for dinner (yum, yum!!) and then back to Karen's for facial masks. We took some pretty funny pictures of ourselves. Can you say "goalie hockey masks"?? or "Amityville Horror"?? Too funny!!

Sunday we went exploring and happened on a kimchi festival. Let me tell you kimchi is a major commodity here - very spicy, pickled cabbage and other vegetables. The heat comes from red pepper paste which they put in everything!! Yowza!! Very spicy. I can't handle it even though I gave it the "old college try" initially when I arrived. It's just not for me so needless to say my school meals are not too interesting because most of the food is spicy and kimchi reigns supreme. They have it 3 times a day with everything!! I wish I could say I'm losing weight. I'M NOT!!

This week at the Girls' Middle School, I have been teaching my girls "My Favourite Things" from The Sound of Music. We have done a lesson on "favourites" so this was a follow up to the lesson. They love to sing and I thought they would enjoy that song - and they did!! I will have to try to find some other songs for them to sing. It's a good, fun way to teach English. We have the DVD of the movie at the school so I will show it to them as the end of the year approaches when they definitely won't want to learn English.

Last week with my High School students, I was racking my brain to find something that would grab their attention. I thought since they don't want to learn English (not all but some), that I would get them to teach me Korean. So that's what we did. I divided them in 6 groups and gave each group a phrase in English and asked them to tell me the Korean. The phrases were ones that I could use in the classroom if they weren't paying attention or being disruptive like, "please stand up, sit down, go out in the hall, be quiet and listen, etc. Then I asked the students to think of some other phrases that they could teach me as well (I assured them that I did not want to learn any "bad words or phrases"). One that I particularly liked because it is short and easy to say and I could say it with great gusto was "na ga" which when translated simply means "GET OUT"!! So I had a lot of fun with that one and the students got a great kick out of my use of the phrase. Of course they think I was joking (which I was then but maybe not the next time!!) There really was a method to my madness. Now I have to learn all these phrases.

This lesson served 2 purposes - first, it gave me some ammunition to use with the students and second, it showed them that I am willing to learn Korean and not afraid of making mistakes when I speak. As I keep telling them , mistakes help you to learn.

Another weekend is upon me and I am on my way to Seoul for the 5th time since I got here. Sheilagh, Karen, Laurien and I are going to do some Christmas shopping so we can get it in the mail in time for Christmas. It should be fun!

One other quick little anecdote before I sign off. Last week on Friday, November 11, was a special day in Korea. It is called Pepero Day. It has something to do with November 11 being 11.11 when written numerically. So they give out long slim chocolate covered biscuits on that day to represent 11.11. Go figure. You won't have a figure if you eat all these chocolate covered biscuits. Anyway, I got some from my students but the best "gift" I got was from 2 of my "slower" students (girls). They both came in to the English lab at separate times with little hand made "angels" that they had made out of coloured corrugated paper. Well, let me tell you, it was all I could do to choke back the tears. The one girl doesn't say a word in her classes, so I am told, but the first day I had her, I was able to get her to say her name in English. Her Korean English teacher told me I was a miracle worker. Although this girl is mentally slow, she made the most exquisite paper angel (3 D) and the best part, is SHE GAVE IT TO ME!! How rewarding is that!! The other girl's angel was equally as special. I was blessed!!

It seems that I have run out of things to say. So, goodnight Sweet Princes and Princesses.