Hey hey it's Pepero Day

So while everyone in the States is observing Veteran's Day (thank you for your service!) over here in Korea it's Pepero Day.

Pepero itself is a snack made from sticks of cookie dunked in chocolate. It's the same as pocky essentially. There are a bunch of varieties- strawberry dipped, almond, chocolate filled, etc.- and they're available year round. However, November 11th is always Pepero Day because of course when you write 11/11 it looks like a bunch of sticks of pepero.

Pepero Day is pretty equivalent to Valentine's Day and White Day. The stores all put up massive displays and you can buy extra big boxes of it or the bakery made variety with sprinkles or "I Love You" written across it. If you've ever watched a Korean game show you may have seen pepero before when it's used in a kissing game. They play it a lot in We Got Married (우리 결혼했어요) which features a variety of Korean stars who are paired up for the show. Each person in the couple takes one end of pepero in their mouth and then begins eating it so that they get close to kissing, à la Lady and the Tramp. Of course since they're so shy about that here (take a drink every time a Korean drama fades out or cuts away from a kiss!) the game is basically to see which couple is willing to get close enough for a kiss before biting off and therefore have the shortest stick of pepero at the end. So Pepero Day is definitely a holiday that couples can indulge in but there is plenty of pepero exchange between friends too.

Walking to work I passed a bunch of students heading home and saw them carrying boxes with bows on them and gift bags and even one girl who had to use both arms to carry a heart-shaped pepero box display. At work one of the students in my first class gave me a box of pepero, the chocolate filled kind which is the best obviously. Then in my second class one of the students brought in extra large, individually wrapped sticks for everyone in the class. Another student even gave me a big box of pepero from Paris Baguette which is slightly fancier and probably cost much more. Very sweet!

I am for any holiday that encourages the eating of cookies dipped in chocolate so long live Pepero Day!

Trivia of the Day:  "The Liancourt Rocks, also known as Dokdo or Tokto (독도, literally "solitary island") in Korean or Takeshima (たけしま/竹島, literally "bamboo island") in Japanese, are a group of small islets in the Sea of Japan (East Sea). Sovereignty over the islets is disputed between Japan and South Korea. The islets are currently administered by South Korea, which has its Coast Guard stationed there. The Liancourt Rocks consist of two main islets and 35 smaller rocks. Two Korean citizens—an octopus fisherman and his wife—are permanent residents on the islets. A small Korean police detachment, administrative personnel, and lighthouse staff are stationed in non-permanent supporting positions on the islets. Although claimed by both Korea and Japan, Liancourt Rocks are currently administered by the Republic of Korea. Both nations' claims extend back at least several hundred years. Significant arguments supported by a variety of historical evidence have been presented by both parties, which have been challenged by counter-arguments with varying degrees of success. North Korea supports South Korea's claim.

The Liancourt Rocks are a point of heated contention*, alongside other Japan–Korea disputes. The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs considers its position "inalterable". South Korea, for its part, maintains a nationwide educational program which sends the students of 62 elementary, middle, and high schools on field trips to the rocks on a regular basis. The government has also written a textbook about the rocks, intended to be used in elementary schools across the country, and manages a year-round national educational tour. When Japan's Shimane prefecture announced a "Takeshima Day" in 2005, Koreans reacted with demonstrations and protests throughout the country, extreme examples of which included a mother and son slicing off their own fingers, and a man who set himself on fire. In 2006, five Korean "Dokdo Riders" embarked on a world tour to raise international awareness of the dispute. Another notable protest featured South Koreans decapitating pheasants in front of the Japanese Embassy."

*The Dokdo debate is serious business! My students get all worked up about it (although this is true any time Japan is mentioned) and it's been used several times during their end of class project. Most recently I had a group who drew a picture of the Korean peninsula as a buff person who was punching Japan and saying, "Dokdo is ours!".

Then.... some idiot turned on the lights

So despite my best intentions to actually stay on top of blogging this month, I've had a lot of other things on my plate and on my mind and so my little adventures have been moved to the back burner. But! This was Halloween month, possibly my favorite time of the year, and that means that some sort of post is entirely necessary.

Halloween in Korea was much better than I was expecting. My local Lotte Mart put out a pretty decent Halloween display that included decorations like pumpkin lanterns, glow-in-the-dark skeletons, banners, and window decals as well as kiddie costumes, masks, accessories like wands and pitchforks, and a range of witches' hats. It was nice to decorate my apartment since I always do the decorations at home and missed out big time this year for holidays.

This weekend I went into the city to celebrate and naturally the areas that are always crawling with foreigners were decorated up and there were tons of people in costume. I went as Minnie Mouse which was very easy to pull off and meant I could wear my red sneakers which made dancing for three hours a much more comfortable experience. We got some looks on the subway ride in but hey, as a non-Korean I get stared at all the time here anyway so I'd rather for once it be for an interesting reason.

At work yesterday we celebrated as best we could by wearing either costumes or at least funny ears or hats (our boss isn't big on anything that involves either teachers or students or staff enjoying themselves so we were lucky to even get away with that). I gave my students treat bags and they went crazy. You should have seen them with the candy corn. They've never had it before and had no idea what to even do with it. I had to explain that yes, it's edible and no, I have no idea what it's actually made of (I'm afraid to read the ingredient list to be honest, some things are best left a mystery). They really liked it though.

Probably the only flop of the Halloween season was carving a jack-o-lantern. A few weeks ago I managed to track down pumpkins at a local vegetable market but man, Korean pumpkins are not a pretty picture. They're a dull orange-brown color and very squat and awkward. I made the mistake of waiting too long to carve it (as well as leaving it on my coffee table which sits directly in the sun) and found it molding pretty fiercely when I finally decided to take a stab at it. Blech. So I didn't clean it out and put a candle inside because it was too nasty but I did still carve a face just for fun.

And then I promptly took it outside and threw it in the trash.

Now I'm just recovering from a candy coma and trying to wrap my head around the fact that it's November. November! Almost a year exactly since I came to Korea! It's been a big year, an amazing year, and sadly a year that is quickly coming to a close. I'm officially leave at the end of this term and I have mixed emotions about everything. I had wanted to stay on for an extra six months but things didn't quite work out with my contract renewal so on November 28th I'll be on a plane home to Massachusetts. I'm so excited to see everyone at home! But I'm in love with Korea and I'm going to miss it here immensely.

Recently I've been buzzing around between trying to clean and pack things up here, establish work and school plans for my return home, and experience as much of Korea as I can before I have to say goodbye. It's been exhausting and I've been feeling guilty about not being a better blogger because I think it's a great outlet for me but you know, priorities. Besides, I started this blog before I got here so I may just hang on to it for a month or two when I return home and have some time to share pictures and things that I didn't get a chance to post before. And post my version of the ultimate Korean packing list because I must have read dozens of those before coming here and they were really useful.

Stay tuned!

Trivia of the Day: Korean horror, sometimes referred to as K-Horror, is the term given to horror films made as part of the cinema of Korea. Korean horror features many of the same motifs, themes, and imagery as Japanese horror. Korean horror has been around since the early years of Korean cinema; however, it wasn't until the late 1990's that the genre began to experience a renewal. Many of the Korean horror films tend to focus on the suffering and the anguish of characters rather than focus on the gory "blood and guts" aspect of horror.

September I hardly knew ye

Cripes! The start of a new term at work, my internet throwing successive tantrums, a recent trip out of the country, and my general laziness and tendency to say, "Naw, I'll write something tomorrow" has led to an unintended two and a half week hiatus. Whoops. So I figured I needed to sit myself down and get something out before this month just completely passes me by.

First and foremost: Fall is here! It arrived exactly thirteen days ago on a Monday morning. How do I know this? Because fall is just that awesome. It comes with a crispness in the air and a coolness that you can feel even under the remaining summer heat. It's not pushy though like Winter which comes barreling in to set up camp for four months. It pops up, gives you a quick wink to let you know it's in town, and then lets Summer fade out. When I came downstairs that Monday morning I paused for a second and oh hey, there it was. Fall is the best season ever and I'm so so happy I'm abroad in a country that experiences a beautiful Autumn like the one back home.

And to ring in the harvest season, Korea celebrated Chuseok (추석) this past week. Chuseok is a three-day holiday that you'll hear most foreigners describe as the Korean Thanksgiving. Everyone goes back to their hometowns (or as most of my kids said to "grandma's house" wherever that may be) to spend time with family and in the words of my students to "eat yummy foods". It's one of the most important Korean holidays.

The holiday this year was from Sunday the 11th to Tuesday the 13th so a group of us girls from work took the opportunity to take a mini-vacation to Shanghai. You'd think that considering we'd only just started the new term we wouldn't be in need of a break yet but those first couple weeks are tiring so it was a more than welcome stay away. More on that adventure soon! That is when I actually finish up on Vietnam. Heh.

CDI always makes up missed class days though so I had to work both days this weekend which was not too fun. Luckily I only had one class today though that was out by 1:30pm so I'm spending the rest of the day relaxing and catching my breath. Literally. Somehow I came down with bronchitis and I have a real nasty cough and that obnoxious chest pain. Dr. Google and her associates however recommend basic home treatment like liquids and rest so I'm holding off on a trip to the pharmacy just yet. So far sitting next to my humidifier is helping a lot actually. In the event of needing more than just charades and coughing at the pharmacist though, this site seems to offer a decent Korean-English dictionary for medical terms. Or at least it's a Korean-English dictionary for medical terms. Whether or not those terms are accurate I haven't a clue...

So that's that in my life right now. I anticipate the next few months being pretty busy but I want to make sure to share some more of what's been happening lately. My first ever K-pop concert! Flying in style and delicious food in Shanghai! A visit to a house shaped like a giant toilet!

At least one of those adventures means I forever have the perfect ice breaker for awkward situations at parties. This really has been a successful year.

Trivia of the Day: Ganggangsullae (강강술래) is a 5,000-year-old Korean dance that was first used to bring about a bountiful harvest and has developed into a cultural symbol for Korea. It incorporates singing, dancing, and playing and is exclusively performed by women. The dance is mostly performed in the southwestern coastal province of Jeollanam-do. It is often associated with the Chuseok holiday and Daeboreum. Traditionally, this dance is performed only by women at night without any instruments. Young and old women dance in a circle at night under the moonlight. They go outside in traditional Korean clothing, hold each other's hands, make a circle, and start rotating clockwise. The lead singer sings a line and everyone sings the refrain 'ganggangsullae'. The song tempo progressively becomes faster. They sing about their personal hardships, relationships, and desires. During the dance, the women play a variety of games. The dance can last until dawn.

Blergh

Things have been kind of crazy lately, both at work and personally. This past weekend was busy and since it's really been a crummy week I haven't been much in the mood for sorting through pictures and updating. I think complaining on a blog can become a real bad habit though so I won't be doing that!

This is just a fly-by post then to say I'm still alive and kicking. I haven't been looking forward to a Friday this bad in a long time and I'm hoping things will start looking better on the other side of the weekend.

Basically the best thing happening in my life right now is that my local supermarket is now stocking Cheerios. Can I thank the Korea-US Free Trade Agreement for this miracle?

Things!

So it seemed about time I take a breather and check in. We've been keeping real busy these past two weeks and it hasn't left much time for blogging. I'm actually not sure how long it typically takes most people to put an entry together but I've always been slow about it. I like to mull over what I'm writing and I take awhile picking out pictures to post and I'm easily distracted so more often than not my blogging sessions are interrupted with side trips to Oh No They Didn't! and Facebook. And when I sit down to write I want to get it all out in one go, none of that saving-to-finish-later business. That means usually I'm sitting at the computer for let's say about 3-5 hours when I'm assembling a typical entry. Also I like to write at night.

Since we've been doing a lot of early days to get the most out of a trip into the city and since my new schedule means I'm not home until 11 o'clock every night I really haven't had a chance to sit down and work on anything. Work has been a bit stressful and I have a lot weighing on my mind in regards to what my plans will be when I'm back home in the US. On the plus side though we've been up to some great stuff lately so eventually (I promise!) there will be lots of new pictures and stories. Plus that full Vietnam recap! I know those entries will pretty much take me twice as long as usual so I'm waiting for a long, do-nothing-day to get going on those.

In the meantime, here is a random list of goings-on on my end recently:

- Rain. Torrential rain. Drizzly rain. Plain rain. Just-enough-drops-to-warrant-opening-that-umbrella-rain (the most annoying kind, to be honest). My introduction to the Monsoon season began in Vietnam and is continuing in Korea. It is an extremely damp experience, I have to say.

- My Friday afternoon class (my five girls who I absolutely love) met my boyfriend when he came in to see the school and they went crazy. One of them started bringing in her friends who are in other classes so she could point at him and say "Boyfriend!" before they all started screeching. They were discussing us in the hallway and I heard both "handsome" and "beautiful couple". Also when we came back from Vietnam a few of them asked "How was your vacation?" but one of them asked "How was your date?" haha.

- I have not gone grocery shopping in three weeks. A few needed items have been scooped up at the downstairs convenience store but mostly this is just a testament to how much we have been eating out/grabbing breakfast on the way out the door. Oh well, Lotte Mart and I needed a serious break from each other. $13 for a box of strawberries? Girl, please.

- In September I'm going with four of the girls from work to Shanghai for Chuseok! Chuseok is roughly the equivalent of Thanksgiving and we'll have at least a four-day weekend. Our flights are booked and now we're working on getting visas. I'm thrilled about all the traveling I've been able to squeeze in during my time here and this trip falls nicely in between my summer vacation and possible departure in December. I know when I go home it will most likely be some time before I can plan any more big trips so I'm happy to be getting my fill now.

- A new pizza place just opened downstairs so we tried it out on Sunday night. It wasn't bad and the wheat crust was pretty good, albeit a legit shade of purple. They even gave us a few freebies to assure we'll come back and I was excited because next to the bottle of Coke in the bag looked like three of those mini containers of Parmesan cheese but of course it was actually three containers of sweet pickles. Ugh, I'm always fooled by the sweet pickles here.

- I recently walked past a girl wearing a shirt with Karl Lagerfeld's face on it and it was the best shirt ever. I know she bought it here because the markets are overrun with weird clothing designs and celebrity faces (hello, there was one featuring a collage of Sponge-Bob, Michael and Janet Jackson and someone who may have been Taylor Swift) and I have made it my mission to track it down. Don't fail me now, Korea.

- Tomorrow night Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 debuts here and so ends my childhood (actually I will never let this happen, who wants to grow up and admit they're never getting that letter from Hogwarts? Life's more fun this way). I'm especially excited because the past few HP movies came out later in Korea than the US and it would be a bummer to have to wait when so many people have already seen it. So after work we're going to catch one of the late shows and I already know it will be amazing. I haven't missed an opening night since Goblet of Fire (or maybe it was Prisoner of Azkaban, though these days opening night means "midnight") and I'm so so excited to have one last Harry Potter premiere to watch with awesome people :)

Also, I am assigning "Go see the new Harry Potter movie" as homework for all my classes this week. If only our school took field trips...

Trivia of the Day: Dokkaebi (도깨비) is a common word for a type of spirit in Korean folklore or fairy tales. Although usually frightening, it could also represent a humorous, grotesque-looking sprite or goblin. These creatures loved mischief and playing mean tricks on bad people and they rewarded good people with wealth and blessings. Dokkaebi are described as the transformed spirits of inanimate objects. The most common objects said to become Dokkaebi are usually useful everyday implements that have been abandoned by their owners or left in perpetual disuse, and include such wide-ranging objects as brooms, fireplace pokers, pestles, flails, and sometimes even trees smeared with maiden's blood. They are different from ghosts (귀신) in that they are not formed by the death of a human being, but rather by the transformation of an inanimate object.

Most Korean legends have Dokkaebi in the stories. They are about Dokkaebi pranking on mortals or punishing them because of their evil deeds. One of them goes like this:

An old man lived alone in a mountain when a Dokkaebi visited his house. With surprise, the kind old man gave the Dokkaebi an alcoholic beverage and they become friends. The Dokkaebi visited the old man often and they had long conversations together, but one day, the man took a walk by himself in the woods near the river and discovered that his reflection looked like the Dokkaebi. With fear, he realized that he was gradually becoming that creature. The man made a plan to prevent himself from becoming a Dokkaebi and invited the creature to his house. He asked, "What are you most afraid of?" and the Dokkaebi answered, "I'm afraid of blood. What are you afraid of?". The man pretended to be frightened and said, "I'm afraid of money. That's why I live in the mountains by myself." The next day, the old man killed a cow and poured its blood all over his house. The Dokkaebi, with shock and great anger, ran away and said, "I'll be back with your greatest fear!" The next day, the Dokkaebi brought bags of money and threw it to the old man. After that, Dokkaebi never came back and the old man became the richest person in the town.

Work stuff

Wednesday nights this term have very quickly become my night of the week to survive.

The day starts off pretty well with a 4:30 Reading Par class. I have only six students and they're all amazing. Five of them I taught last term and they all leveled-up from Bridge to Par. I was psyched to get them again for both Reading and Listening class. They're all bright and willing to do work and we have lots of fun. And since it's the exact same Par class I taught my very first term (the books only change every other term) and I have my old copy, it's completely prepped already which means I have little to do in order to teach that class besides print hand-outs and vocab tests.

My second class is a whole different story though. See within Level 1 and Level 2 all the classes are basically the same except for varying degrees of difficulty. So even if the highest level class in Level 2 has a few added components, the class structure is essentially the same as all the others so it's easy to adjust to. I'm teaching two Eagle classes this term (the order being Bridge, Par, Birdie, Eagle, Albatross, Albatross+) and it's the highest I've done so far but since the structure is the same it's not too bad. I knew I would be teaching Eagle since they had me observe an Eagle class last term and I was ready for it but then they threw me a curve-ball.

In addition to Level 1 and Level 2 classes, CDI also offers iBT courses- iBT being the Internet-Based Test for the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language). For students who want to study at American schools or universities they may have to take this exam and so many CDI students start preparing for it early. It's broken into Reading, Listening, Writing, and Speaking. Since we already cover those first two in our regular classes there is a separate course offered called iBT Speaking & Writing. The format of the S&W class is completely different from all the other classes and takes a while to get used to.

And Wednesday nights at 7:30 this term that's my class.

Last week, the first S&W class of the term, I could have accidentally set a student's hair on fire and it still would not have been any worse than I was already doing. I was totally unprepared for how different it would be and the sheer amount of paperwork involved. Like, multiple grading rubrics, all sorts of student evaluation forms, note-taking papers for speaking, note-taking papers for writing, hand-outs, syllabuses (shush, both plural forms are correct), essay sheets, homework papers, etc. etc. etc.

I had a stack of papers half a foot high and no way of organizing them yet. I'd been so concerned over the new Eagle class I was doing that I under-prepared for S&W and practically went in blind. Since the class I observed in week 13 was the last of the term, the format was different from week 1 of the new term and I was so confused about what I was supposed to be doing. The MP3 files for playing lectures wouldn't work and I had to read out a conversation in "Girl Voice" and "Guy Voice" so the students could differentiate. It probably doesn't sound so bad but really, when you are messing up left and right and making a fool of yourself it's frustrating and embarrassing. I was mad at myself for not being better prepared and mad at the administration for throwing me into this at the last minute without much guidance. I ended up crying in the break room and again when I was leaving for the night. Such a disaster.

So yesterday I prepped my Eagle class early and then before work hit up the stationary store on the first floor of our building for some much needed supplies. I got myself all organized last night and then went in early today to prepare. Two and half hours, a bulging accordion folder, a take-home-paper-grading folder, and two post-it-noted books later I was ready.

I wouldn't say the class went wonderfully but it wasn't the failure I produced last week. I was crazy organized and even had a little clipboard all set up like I was friggin Dolores Umbridge so I could walk around while the kids were responding to questions. The MP3 files worked and I didn't babble at them at 900mph which I'm pretty sure is what I was doing last week. I even got them to laugh a few times! Which is not unusual when you're teaching elementary kids but much less likely in a room of 15-year-olds (which it is).

I'm hoping that at some point this class will make sense to me and the kids will actually learn something but for now all I want is to survive each Wednesday night without another disaster class. That isn't asking too much right?

Here's to hoping that all potential future educators start off with baby steps.

Trivia of the Day:  Hanbok (South Korea) or Chosŏn-ot (North Korea) is the traditional Korean dress. It is often characterized by vibrant colors and simple lines without pockets. Although the term literally means "Korean clothing", hanbok today often refers specifically to hanbok of Joseon Dynasty and is worn as semi-formal or formal wear during traditional festivals and celebrations. Modern hanbok does not exactly follow the actual style as worn in Joseon dynasty since it went through some major changes during the 20th century for practical reasons. Throughout history, Korea had a dual clothing tradition, in which rulers and aristocrats adopted different kinds of mixed foreign-influenced indigenous styles, while the commoners continued to use a distinct style of indigenous clothing that today is known as Hanbok.

First week frazzles

It's week one of our summer term and things have been busy busy lately. I'm teaching three new classes including a class called Speaking and Writing that's specifically geared toward helping students prepare for taking the TOEFL exam someday. I honestly didn't even know that class existed until I found out during week 13 that I would be teaching it, so I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed. It will actually be a nice change since it's completely different from everything else I teach but since it's so new to me I'm already looking forward to getting that first class it of over and done with.

It's also that time when old teachers leave and new teachers arrive so there's been a lot of coworker get-togethers lately. Those tend to go well into the night so I've been pretty tired and just haven't had a chance to sit down and update much here. But things have been going well. The weather is amazing right now and for the past couple weekends a few of us went on trips with Adventure Korea, a group that basically organizes outings to different places in the country. So I have loads of pictures and things to share and hopefully once this first week is over I'll have some down time to take care of that. 

Last week was also a bit crazy because my boyfriend and I were finalizing vacation plans. Trying to decide on flights and hotels though while you're talking over Skype with a crummy connection really doesn't make for smooth planning. But we're all booked now! We have non-stop flights to and from Vietnam and just finished booking hotels for the week. We're starting the week in Hanoi, traveling down to Hue for a few days, and then coming back up to Hanoi to fly out. We also considered Ho Chi Minh which would have been awesome but I don't think a week would be enough to see all that and there's no point in rushing around to different cities just to say you saw them if you won't actually get to see much of them.

So that's what's been going on lately. Nothing crazy exciting, just keeping busy and enjoying the springtime and tackling new classes. Much more interesting updates to come soon!

Trivia of the Day: Park Chan-wook (박찬욱)) is a South Korean film director, screenwriter, producer, and former film critic. One of the most acclaimed and popular filmmakers in his native country, Park is most known for his films Joint Security Area, Thirst and what has become known as The Vengeance Trilogy, consisting of 2002's Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy in 2003 and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance in 2005. His films are noted for their immaculate framing and often brutal subject matter.Despite extreme violence in his films, Park is regarded as one of the most popular film directors in Korea, with three of his last five feature films (Joint Security Area, Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance) all drawing audiences of over 3 million. This makes Park the director of three films in the thirty all-time highest grossing films in South Korea. In addition to being a film director and screenwriter, Park is also a film critic with several published editions to his name. None have been translated into English as yet.

Non-adventurey

I realized that most of my posts on here are basically just a round-up of pictures and stories from things I did over the weekend. Saw a temple here, went to a museum there, got stared down on the train by a two-year-old boy who was also pointing his plastic cross-bow at my face and alternating arms so I wouldn't think I was safe, etc. You know, that sort of thing. Though I enjoy sharing the more interesting ways that I spend my time, it probably doesn't really paint an accurate picture of my life here.

Most nights, like tonight, I get back from work, put on my pjs, eat dinner, and just hang out for a few hours. When I wake up in the morning it's lather, rinse, repeat, except with putting on clothes for work and having lunch. Sure, there are nights when I get dinner with coworkers or we go out for drinks and there are mornings when I'm much more productive, hitting up Costco for deli turkey and provolone cheese (oh my god I miss deli meats and good cheese so much) or hiking the mountain or going shopping somewhere. But even on those days it's a pretty regular routine. Yeah I'm in Korea but I'm probably doing the same sorts of the things someone would be doing at home- just living their life. That's not to say I'm not loving it here and having a ball, just that I don't usually write about my regular routine and what's happening in the day-to-day.

I'm just a day or two shy of my 6-months-in-Korea mark. It's pretty amazing to me, how the time has gone. And I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for having made it this far. I didn't really think I would ever be the type to cut and run but you never know until you're knee deep in it, right? Half-way through though and I'm feeling good.

So we're in the middle of week 12 at work right now. Next week is our last of the term and once again there are some kids I'll be sad to see move on to other teachers and some kids who I will be soundly shoving out the door. Like the kid who sleeps during class and is all attitude when he's awake or the one who signs his vocab tests "God of Brian" instead of just Brian. He's so weird. I'll miss my angel class though with my student who loves Friends and writes her homework sentences about "Rachel" and "Chandler" and my elementary Memory class with the kid who had the biggest smile on his face when I told him his word for Pictionary was "Voldemort".

Next week then means summer term schedules come out and I can't wait to see what I'm teaching. I had to observe one of the higher level classes recently (well, one class above the highest level I teach now) so I'm expecting that's either because I'll be teaching something higher next term or in the future. That's a good sign as far as how I'm performing at work goes but mostly I just want to know when my two breaks off during the week will be! Girl has her priorities.

Just this past weekend my boyfriend booked his flight to Korea and will be coming in late June to stay for a month! To say I'm excited would be an understatement. I have a week off from work at the end of June so we're going to Vietnam. We finally decided this morning after bouncing between a couple different countries and as the planning process begins I'm getting pretty excited for it. I spent this evening searching for flights and hostels and trains and things to do and think it will shape up to be a great trip.

This morning I finally got around to setting up wire transfers at my bank so I can send money home. I probably should have taken care of it a while ago but it hasn't really been necessary yet. I've decided to go ahead and purchase a DSLR though, not in small part because my point-in-shoot is essentially dead, and want to order it from home through my account in the US. Anyway, the whole process at the bank was pretty easy. I went in with all my bank info- account and routing numbers, address, etc. and the teller spoke enough English (plus the form was in Korean/English) for me to explain what I wanted to do. Now, each time I want to send money home I can take care of it from an ATM which is nice and convenient. Okay so that isn't particular exciting news to anyone except me but I'm still new enough to managing real grownup-y type things in a foreign country that I feel good after taking care of something like this.

In an attempt to get myself on a better sleep schedule and be awake early enough to chat with my 5am riser back home before he's in bed, I've instituted an "Up before 11" rule for myself each morning. That probably sounds pitiful to most but for us night owls hitting the hay at 4 or 5, 11am is still prime sleep time. So far I'm adhering to it and was actually awake by 9:45 this morning. Incoherent, groggy, and not sure why the guy who drives a truck with speakers blaring "Would you like to buy some lovely bananas?" wasn't driving down my street waking me up like always yet until I remembered he shows up around noon... but still, I was awake. This will take some getting used to.

Trivia of the Day;  Thundersticks, sometimes known as cheerstix, bangers or bambams, are long, narrow plastic balloons that are used as promotional noise makers. The noise is created when two thundersticks are struck together. They are most often used at sporting events, political rallies and concerts. Thundersticks were first created in the Republic of Korea, and thundersticks gained popularity in the United States when used by fans of the Anaheim Angels during the 2002 World Series. Today thundersticks are used by fans of many sports teams in order to show their support.

Haha this trivia is for you Mom, since I know how much you hate Thundersticks and mentioned their use at the Wyverns game you saw here. At least you can now say you experienced Thundersticks in their original habitat!

Happy White Day!

So I was more or less zoned out during February and completely forgot to mention anything about Korean Valentine's Day. Luckily today though Korea celebrates what basically amounts to Valentine's Day Part II so I'll just cover it all now.

How it works here is that on February 14th, Valentine's Day, women give chocolate to men and then on March 14th, White Day, men return the favor by presenting women with candy. I was grocery shopping on Valentine's Day and there was a big display in the middle of the store with bins of chocolate and such (I was tempted to treat myself to some Hershey Kisses but they are super overpriced here). The local bakeries had decorations up but aside from that I didn't really see too much of the holiday, probably because I just worked that day. I asked my kids in class if people were giving out chocolate for Valentine's Day at school but was careful not to put them on the spot since even when you're an elementary kid that stuff can be touchy. One of the boys said, "None of the girls gave us chocolate so we will not give them any candy" but they're fourth graders so really they didn't care much either way.

Today I wished my students a happy White Day and some of them said they'd brought in treats for their friends. Then when I walked into my second class one of my students, who is usually a little punk, was like, "Here teacher, catch" and threw a candy at me. He had enough for the other kids too but they were all so surprised that when he threw them they thought he was throwing the candy at them and kept dodging out of the way. One of the girls was all, "When did you become so nice?". I think he was trying to pretend like it was no big deal but seemed pretty pleased with himself.

White Day originated in Japan but at some point became something that Koreans celebrate too. Actually as Grandma Wikipedia tells it, every month in Korea there is a love-related holiday celebrated on the 14th:

January: Candle Day
February: Valentine's Day
March: White Day
April: Black Day
May: Rose Day
June: Kiss Day
July: Silver Day
August: Green Day
September: Music Day
October: Wine Day
November: Movie Day
December: Hug Day

I'm not sure to what extent all those other random love ones are celebrated but after Valentine's and White Day, Black Day is probably the only one really worth further mention. Black Day is basically a Korean Singles Awareness Day. Following right after Valentine's and White Day, Black Day is a time for single folks to get together and eat jjajangmyeon, which is noodles with black bean sauce, and commiserate/celebrate being single. I like to think that it's more of a celebration because a bunch of people sitting around being depressed and eating black sauced noodles sounds miserable.

I like to think of Valentine's Day as a time to celebrate the people you love, whether it be friends or family or a significant other. Korea really pushes the whole "couple" thing though so I can appreciate why they would have an actual holiday here for those who aren't part of one. A lot of the couples here are extremely cutesy, it's sort of just the nature of things. They often say "I love you" very early on and you can find all sorts of "couples" items from matching rings to underwear and pajamas. I'm kicking myself that I don't have any pictures of the couple outfits in action (often matching sweatshirts or t-shirts) but I'll be on the lookout.

Trivia of the Day:  Seoul, the capital and largest city of South Korea, has been known in the past by the successive names Wiryeseong (위례성, Baekje era), Namgyeong (남경, Goryeo era), Hanseong (한성, Joseon era) or Hanyang (한양). During the period of Japanese colonial rule, Seoul was called Keijō (in Japanese) or Gyeongseong (경성) (in Korean) . Its current name is Seoul, and this name has been in use since at least 1882, at times concurrently with other names. Seoul originated from the Korean word “seo'ul” meaning "capital city". An etymological hypothesis presumes that the origin of the native word “seo'ul” derives from the native name Seorabeol (서라벌), which originally referred to Gyeongju, the capital of Silla, then called Geumseong (금성). Also believed to be the origin of the name Seoul is "Se-ultari," which literally means "new walls" or "new castle." Seoul was a walled castle city from its construction in the early 15th century until most parts of the walls were destroyed during the Korean War.

The power of a fresh start

The last full week in February was the end of our winter term at CDI. There are a lot of kids I'm bummed about not having again this term but overall I was just ready for a fresh start with new students and new material. By the time the last class rolled around on Friday night I was real burnt-out. The term ended pretty well though. I tried to fit in lots of games during the week and brought snacks for all my classes and donuts for my two Friday classes which were my favorites. Here are some of my Level 1 kids on their last day:

These were my Memory Mega kids. We had a rough start but by the end they were probably my second favorite class. Kids come and go so frequently at academies that if you have problem students there is a decent chance they won't last for long. This class lost a few of those trouble kids along the way and managed to pick up some really great ones. (Notice the room being distinctly divided into a "boys" side and a "girls" side. Oh kids). 

And these kids were in my Wednesday/Friday Memory Giga class. I called them my dream class because they absolutely were. If you have a crummy class then the four terms with new sets of students can be a real blessing but it's too bad to lose a group you enjoyed so much in the process.

Haha I love this last picture the most. In all the other pictures I got smiles and then there's this. Thanks for playing boys.

So far I think my new classes are going all right. My schedule is pretty decent and I don't repeat too many lessons which is great because when you end up having to teach a boring ass lesson (I'm looking at you "Christopher Columbus" lesson) more than once it can be draining. I only have one night off this term (Wednesday again which I like) which is good for my bank account though I do miss getting out early on Monday nights.

Mostly I've been a lot more confident already this term than I was last. It's hard when you start of brand new and all the kids know the schedule better than you do. I'm sure they could all tell my first few weeks that I was clueless. All my first new classes last week went smoothly though and I have better ideas for making my class more fun. There are tons of new faces but a few students from my old classes and that helps with the transition. Plus it makes for that many fewer new names to memorize which is always, always good in my book.

I have a few posts backlogged and some recent pictures I still haven't gotten around to sharing so hopefully those will be up soon!

Trivia of the Day:  The Unification Flag is a flag designed to represent all of Korea when both North and South Korea participate in sporting events. The flag was first used in 1991 when the two countries competed as a single team in the 41st World Table Tennis Championship in Chiba, Japan and the 8th World Youth Football Championship in Lisbon, Portugal. The two countries' teams marched together under the flag in the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, and the 2006 Asian Games in Doha; however, the two countries competed separately in sporting events. The flag was not used in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, due to the decision made by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), that the two teams would enter separately. The flag represents North and South Korea. The background is white. In the center there is a blue silhouette of the Korean peninsula, including the island of Jeju-do to the southwest and Ullung-do to the east. The flag has no status as the official flag of either country.

We're not going to Guam, are we?

Having to be at work by 9:30am for make-up classes this past weekend reminded me why the late afternoon work schedule is such a beautiful perk of this job. I have never been and will most likely never be a morning person. I just function better if I can get my eight hours of sleep from 3am to 11am. I'm much healthier and happier that way.

So Saturday found me grumpily heading into work for 10:30 and 1:30 classes to cover what we'll be missing during the five day break (three work days plus the weekend) we get for Lunar New Year. I wasn't really sure how many kids to expect but for the most part everyone showed up and I had a few temporary students here and there who weren't able to make their regularly scheduled class. Since it was the weekend all the teachers got to wear jeans (along with t-shirts they're really the only thing that our dress code dictates we can't wear) and we spent a lot of class time just playing games and letting the kids do those Highlights Hidden Picture searches that they love so much. I was exhausted by the time 4:30 and the end of my second class rolled around but it actually was a pretty easy day.

Later that night a bunch of us went to see The Green Hornet and then everyone basically went home to bed to be ready to do it all over again on Sunday. Sunday was worse though because I had three classes so I taught for nine hours in a row. Blaaarrrgh. I'd slept so badly both nights because my body was doing that thing where you're so paranoid you'll oversleep that you wake up almost every hour, certain that it's time to get up. But I got through it with a little help from Scattergories, peanut butter sandwiches, word searches, and a leftover chocolate donut. By the time classes ended at 7:30 I was more than ready to get home, shower the day off, and get into bed. Today I slept until noon. Nowhere in my memory can I recall ever having looked forward to a Monday so much.

As much as it sucked working the weekend, I think something about the more relaxed class structure helped me build a better rapport with my students. I do feel like the atmosphere in my classes is generally good but maybe since I'm still new I've been holding on to a lot of tension and focusing more on not screwing up than letting my kids enjoy themselves a bit here and there. I've been playing games once in a while with the younger kids for a few weeks now but the middle schoolers are such hard shells to crack that I didn't even know where to start trying with them. I just think being able to let my guard down a little this weekend gave me some good ideas about changes I should make in running my classes for the upcoming terms.

I only had one class today so I'm spending tonight cleaning my apartment and packing for Taiwan. We aren't checking any bags so I'll be packing light (ha!) and right now I'm trying to figure out what clothes I'm willing to wear more than once during a four day trip. I also scooped up a little mini travel toiletries kit from Lotte Mart which solves that no-liquids-over-three-ounces rule which I'm terrible about. Why is it that when regular items like shampoo and toothpaste come in wee bottles that suddenly they're fun? One of life's great mysteries.

Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to find the key shop that's supposedly somewhere across the street from my building to make a copy to leave behind. I only have the one and I hate the idea of losing it while in Taiwan. All of our apartment related stuff goes through work so if I were to get locked out of my place here there isn't exactly a landlord or someone living downstairs that I can ask to let me in. It's weird because this is the first time I'm going away somewhere where I really have to worry about this. I mean, if I left for a weekend in college I always made sure to have my key but I could always have asked my roommate to let me in if I got locked out or had an RA get a spare. And obviously at home there was always someone around but it's just one of those strange things that I only really think about now that I'm living alone. It makes me feel very... grown up, I suppose.

And on a completely unrelated note I now have a couch!

Brianna called me early Saturday night about a couch and table someone had left outside the elevators on her floor. I went up to check them out and saw a note written in Korean and taped to the couch that my clumsy attempt at using my phone's Korean to English translator worked out to mean something about "need". Whether this was, "Anyone who needs a couch feel free" or "I need to leave my couch here while I move out, please don't steal it" I wasn't sure. So Traci came to take a look since her translating skills are much better than mine and in the end we decided it said something like, "Need yourself take". That's good enough for me!

It's in really great condition and I love having something to flop down onto when I get home from work. After some consideration I also decided to snag the table, just to see how it would fit.

I rearranged everything (the table is actually facing the couch) and I think when I get back from Taiwan I'm going to actually put some time into decorating this place. Now that I have some furniture I feel like I should get a rug and hang some stuff on the walls. It's nice that it's slowly to starting to feel a bit homier.

After tomorrow I am going to be more than ready for a vacation. I just want to not think about work or vocab tests or have to bundle up to head to the grocery store. Our flight doesn't leave until late afternoon Wednesday but since we're flying first class (the tickets were a score considering that) we're going to take advantage of the lounge and the free drinks at the airport before taking off. Winston Churchill once said, "I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else" which is really just another way of saying, "A strong drink and a trip to Taiwan is the best possible way to cap off a nine day work week".

And who I am to fight against the words of Winston Churchill?

Trivia of the Day: An estimated 98% of South Koreans own mobile phones and use them not only for calling and messaging but also for watching live TV, viewing websites and keeping track of their online gaming statuses. South Korean corporations Samsung and LG are the second and third largest cell phone companies in the world, and South Koreans are usually among the first to experience innovative technology. New phones are expensive in South Korea, but this doesn't stop South Korean consumers changing their phones on average every 11 months.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled program

So I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Yet.

This week is Level-Up test week and though that part is actually pretty easy on teachers, our student reports were due today and those are a pain in the tuckus. Basically they're just like report cards. The form is all set up in a word document and then we go through for each class adding our name, the class level and time, and the student's Korean name and English nickname. So lots of copy/pasting. Fun times. Then we highlight boxes to indicate how well they're performing in certain areas of class- Weak, Average or Strong- as well as boxes that indicate their levels of participation, attention, and behavior. At the bottom we add comments for each student. I had roughly sixty-five reports to fill out which actually isn't awful but it took me forever. I think I wrote way more comments than necessary but I'd rather overdo it my first time around just in case.

But now that those are over I can breathe easy. So far this week I've only taught one class since my Level 1 (EC and Memory classes) kids have been taking the Level-Up practice test. Then I'll be giving the actual test out tomorrow and Friday to four classes. We grade the students' writing and speaking portions but the listening and reading sections are graded via scantron so that's pretty sweet. And this is our nine day week since we're working Saturday and Sunday to make up for Lunar New Year so I'm more than happy to be taking it easy over the next few days.

This past Saturday I went to Lotte World with Heather and Jim, the two co-workers that I'll be heading to Taiwan with. Lotte is the big name in Korea. There's Lotte Department Store, Lotteria (essentially the Korean McDonald's), Lotte Confectionery, Lotte Mart (where I buy my groceries), Lotte Hotel, Lotte Capital Co, Ltd., and even a baseball team in Busan called the Lotte Giants.

So of course it would only follow that Lotte would have its own amusement park.

Lotte World is the world's largest indoor theme park and close to about two hours from Incheon by subway. So we took an express bus to Gangnam (note to self: it was the 6405) that took about fifty minutes and then jumped on the subway to Jamsil Station. There's a shopping area and ticket booth for Lotte World right within the station so you can't miss it. There was a line though so we bought tickets at an outdoor booth which wasn't busy at all because of the cold. Tickets were ₩26,000 which seemed reasonable.

To the left and right are Lotty and Lorry, Lotte's equivalent of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. I think they're raccoons.

We actually didn't get on too many rides since the lines were pretty long. We were supposed to meet up with Traci and a few other folks and when I talked to her later she said this one wasn't all that exciting anyway. 

The food court was packed. We hovered for a while and when one older Korean woman noticed me looking pitiful I played it up and when her family left she very nicely offered us her table. That didn't stop a family of four from scooching in next to us but oh well, we just needed somewhere to sit.

What is it with amusement parks relying on giant creepy faces to attract children? That clock is one tick away from driving a white van through suburban neighborhoods to hand out candy. 

This poor guy. Look at that uniform. What a cruel, badly mismatched world we live in sometimes.

After getting some food and looking around we headed outside to enjoy some of the attractions there while it was still sunny. 

The outdoor area is called Magic Island and this is the Magic Castle. And I'm sure they know that they aren't fooling anyone about where they got their inspiration from. 

Inside this candy house we went on a ride called Fantasy Dreams. You hopped aboard a choo-choo which then drove you through a giant clown mouth into a Care Bear nightmare of lollipops and instrument-playing bugs and ginormous jacks-in-the-box popping out in one area and a rat wizard and some kind of abnormally enlarged singing vegetables and a gluttonous dragon chilling at the end. It was the trippiest thing ever and basically what I imagine the inside of Wayne Coyne's head to look like. 

Nothing like an authentic Korean churro.

We wanted to ride the bumper cars which was a good idea except that it was a much longer wait than the thirty minutes promised. The problem was that there was only one worker operating the cars and every time people hopped out she had to go onto the track to clear up the jams so it took forever.

There were really fun though. All the groups of people in front of us were driving their cars cautiously and actually trying to avoid each other. We weren't having any of that though and luckily we got to drive around with a bunch of teenage boys who enjoyed smashing the cars as much as we did.

I swear this park had every headband/animal ear combination you could want. Red bows, red sparkly bows, red sparkly ears, leopard print ears, leopard print bows, black sparkly bows, black furry ears, white furry ears, snow leopard ears, and on and on forever. A good majority of the teenagers were wearing some variation, boys and girls alike.

We escaped back inside for a while and ended up going through the

Dun dun dunnn! Basically it was a lame haunted house. And by lame I mean I did scream once but something popped out at me. I'm not built for even slightly spooky okay? I'm the girl that had an improvised rope/broken hair elastic system rigged to the string that turned off my closet light so that I could shut it off while safe in bed and thus avoid having to walk across the floor in the dark. Yeah.

After wandering some more we decided to head downstairs to the ice rink for some skating. Technically the rink isn't part of Lotte World so you have to exit through a turnstile but we did have our hands stamped and kept our tickets handy just in case we wanted to go back in after.

Skate rental and the fee for about 30 minutes on the ice was something like ₩13,000 total. Not a great deal but I haven't skated since I was a kid and it looked fun. The rink is stupidly designed in that you put your skates on in one area and then have to walk down a flight of stairs and back up another flight of stairs to get to the ice. It was awkward as hell and everyone was death gripping the railings. 

They were cleaning the ice when we made it to the waiting area around the rink and it literally took them thirty minutes to finish it. I've never seen it take that long, it was crazy. And after thirty minutes my feet were already killing from having all my weight on the blades and I hadn't even done anything yet. 

When I finally did get out there it was slow going. I was always okay at roller skating when I was younger but ice skating is another thing. I did make it around a few times though and despite a few near misses managed to not wipe out, woo! Heather had never ice skated before but successfully did a full lap and Jim spent the time taking surprise pictures of us wearing our bright yellow helmets (with chin straps) as we struggled to remain vertical. May those pictures remain in the confines of a memory card. 

I grabbed a quick chicken sandwich from Lotteria since I hadn't eaten lunch and then we headed up and outside to a T.G.I. Friday's close by for drinks. Since we weren't sure which bus to take back we just took the subway and the ride wasn't bad. Back in Yeonsu we all did some grocery shopping then called it a night.

Sunday was my do nothing day and it was wonderful. I spent half the day sleeping and the other half snuggled in my squashy old man chair watching Storm of the Century. It was a snowy day after all and I'm missing out on all the crazy New England weather right now so it was an appropriate choice on several levels. 

Wednesdays are usually the nights I go out after work for food and drinks with everyone since a lot of us have the second class off but I enjoyed myself too much last Wednesday and really just wanted a quiet night tonight. And I'm saving my pennies anyway since this time next week I'll be in Taiwan! It's going to be something like thirty or forty degrees warmer than Incheon and I cannot wait for that weather. It's also going to be down-pouring like crazy since this time of year is especially rainy in Taipei but I'll take living under an umbrella for four days in exchange for any sort of increase in temperature. 

Sister Springtime I am most looking forward to your arrival. 

Movie Trivia of the Day: Empress Chung is a 2005 North and South Korean animated film directed by Nelson Shin. Most of the animation work was done in North Korea by the Chosun April 26th Children Film Studio, and the score was also recorded in the North by the Pyongyang Film and Broadcasting Orchestra. In a move unusual for the Korean film industry, the character voices were recorded in both the South and the North due to differences in dialect. For the definitive international release version, the South Korean dub is the one used. It was the first film to have been released simultaneously in both North and South Korea, on August 12, 2005. The film was featured at the 2004 Annecy International Animation Festival, and was also recognised with several awards in Korea. The story is an epic adventure based on a famous Korean folk tale about a daughter who sacrifices herself to restore her blind father's eyesight.