In case of fire...

I know I just updated yesterday, but today was too funny to not write about.

Firstly, I decided this week is halloween week in my classes. So instead of teaching out of the book, I brought in a ton of candy and have just been playing halloween games in every class. Teaching entire classes of 36 korean children how to properly say "boo" so that they sound like a scary ghost is really quite amusing. I'm also doing this to win back the love of my 2nd graders (8th graders), who I am pretty sure hated me last week. And its working pretty well. Candy is a powerful tool. Though it also turns the kids into monsters who will stop at nothing to get more candy.

Secondly, Korean fire drills are about the most exciting thing ever. I had no idea. At the beginning of sixth hour today, one of the teachers informed me that we would be having a fire drill during that period. Two minutes later, a air raid siren began blasting through the school as everyone ran towards the front doors. First, of course, everyone had to stop to change into their outside shoes. I feel like the changing of the shoes could eventually be an issue in case of a real fire. Once I finally got outside, I wished that I had brought my camera to school today. There were three barrels that were fully on fire, as well as pink smoke everywhere. Kids were all over the place, some were even going into stores across the street from the school. Unlike at home, there are no assigned areas to go, and the teachers don't check to make sure all of their kids are present. We then watched as some of the teachers dragged a gigantic hose across the schoolyard to put out the fires in the barrels. It was a very dramatic display, and well worth my time.

And then to top the day off, i had two students, about 10 minutes apart, that were attempting to talk to me, only to end up falling face first down some stairs. In both situations, when I tried to help them and make sure they were okay, they wouldn't talk to me because they were too embarrassed. First I made the kids fall off the bike, and now I made these two fall down the stairs. I just don't know what to do.

Being a teacher is hard work!

Well, I survived teacher initiation. Last week, I got to experience the dreaded Open Class. While this is a stressful event for any teacher, my school decided to go over the top with it. The middle school I work at is a model school for English education, which means that they have an experimental program different from most of the schools here. Friday was the culmination of 12 months of this experimental program. Over 300 people were invited to come and watch/evaluate the English teachers teaching, followed by a big presentation of the research and a question/answer session with Koreans, as well as myself. They also video taped my class to send to the City Education Office. We created our lesson plans two weeks ago and spent the entire week practicing, preparing, fixing, and working on the lesson. On Thursday, the entire student body was commissioned to clean every inch of the school. Pretty much, I was more nervous than I had been in a long time.

 Friday came.

 I still had three other classes that morning, but I wasn't really paying attention during them. Finally it was time to start the open class. The video camera was on, people were crowding into the back of my classroom and there were about 4 people with huge cameras taking pictures. And it went alright. I did manage to completely forget about a section of dialogue that I was supposed to go over with the students, but in the end, I think it went pretty well. My co-teacher actually told me that she got a lot of complements on how confident my voice sounded. She then told me I should be nervous more often…Apparently I speak better when I am nervous. After the class ended, I was ushered to the gym for the big presentation of reports and the question/answer time. I was paying attention to every word spoken during that two hour presentation, and it was all in Korean. I just kept thinking that if I zoned out, it would be right then that they would switch to English and start asking me questions. Luckily, it never happened. Because they went over on time, my question/answer time got cut. They all apologized, but it was completely fine with me. :) It really doesn't bother me to talk in front of a class of students, but it is much different in front of an assembly of 300 people, most of whom are English teachers or city officials.

I also went hiking this weekend on Tae Hwa San Mountain . As a result, I came away having learned that hiking in America and hiking in Korea is very different;  especially when done with Koreans.
  1.  All Koreans hike. Really. It does not matter what age you are.
  2.  A full hiking outfit is a must. Only long pants are acceptable. And very tractioned shoes.
       And high socks. Oh, and also a vest if you have one. If you do not have adequate hiking
       clothes, it is obvious that you are not a real hiker. Guess who wore capris, short socks
       and regular tennis shoes...oh right. Me.
  3.  Koreans run up and down the mountain. Again, age makes no difference. And this is a
       literal one. You could even use the word prance. One of the men I hiked with on Sunday
       literally pranced up and down the mountain at top speed.
  4.  There is no point in gradually rising paths, paths that lead straight up or straight down the
       mountain are best. It is even better if they are rocky or all sand.
  5.  Do not slip or fall at any time, because your fellow hikers will spend the rest of the hike
       saying “slow” or “careful” over and over and over and over. Then they will give you a
       walking stick that is taller than you are, which actually just makes things more difficult.
  6.  It is apparently poisonous snake season. Or at least that is what the Koreans said.
  7.  Smurf (little blue guys) is pronounced “Smop” by Koreans. This will save you from a five
       minute conversation where you try to figure out what a “Smop” is.

It was actually a really fun experience. And the mountains are beautiful during fall. Looking out from the top of the mountain, it was the first time I realized that Cheonan is really in the country, even though it seems like a pretty big city.

바보

Sometimes it feels like I am on a special day-long episode of "Are you smarter than a middle schooler?"

and the answer seems to be no.


It is amazing how much basic knowledge I have forgotten.
Good thing the kids are there to let me know every time I make a mistake...:)

Aigoo

I keep forgetting I have one of these....

Being an adult is exhausting! Or at least pretending to be an adult is exhausting. Most days I still feel like I fit in better with my middle school students than the teachers...

Though I now understand why some people go to sleep at like 9:30.

I still don't of course, but I can at least understand it now.


There was a dance festival last week in Cheonan, and I was able to go to the parade on Saturday night. It pretty much made up for missing Old Settlers.

And, instead of handing out candy, floats in Korea hand out produce. I left the parade with a bag of grapes, a pear (Korean pears look like apples, but they are the size of grapefruit), some walnuts, a tiny bottle of wine and a pen. They were also throwing bags of hard boiled eggs off one of the floats, but I managed to miss those...

It was awesome. We made friends with some very enthusiastic Korean girls and took a picture with almost every person in the parade.

Also, for the first time in my life, I literally made two small children off of a bike today. Without even touching them. They were so focused on seeing me and saying hello that the boy hit the curb and the bike (and children) fell over.

Were they concerned that they were now laying on the ground with a bike on top of them?

Of course not. I actually don't think they even noticed. Instead they still yelled hello to me and just stared as I tried to help them up.

I love this place.

P.s. I got my first Korean haircut today. And it was a success. And it was only 10000 won. And my hair stylist was wearing a three piece suit with a silk scarf, which is actually pretty normal for here. And this is what it looks like.

 

 As for music, I will leave you with two songs. Beach House has pretty much dominated my Ipod listening, while Shinee is playing pretty much everywhere here. Both are pretty great. Ha.