Girlie Day

On Friday Nicole and I had a luxurious day of relaxation and bliss.  

We started out at the Flying Pan brunch spot in Itaewon.  I loved this place!  

  

Unlike Butterfingers which is very modern in its decor, the Flying Pan is cute with a classic country cottage style that doesn't go overboard.  There are many restaurants and coffee shops in Korea that take the cute and make it obnoxious.  Flying Pan is not in that category.  

I ordered the eggs benedict (without the ham) and although it wasn't the layered benedict on English muffins that I was expecting, it was quite good.  My only complaint was that I wish the tomato had been sliced so that I could better eat it on my benedict.  

Nicole got some kind of salad and an Americano.  We each also got the little potato salad on the side.  I normally don't like potato salad, but this may have been some of the best potato salad I have ever tasted!  

Our bill for the meal came to about w44,000 total ($36.86).  True, it's not cheap, but it was a splurge day.  

After our delicious brunch we took a short taxi ride to Hannam-dong to go to Spa Day.   I'd highly recommend this place as well.  (see website)  I got the Package D which was a full body massage, facial, and foot massage and cost me w150,000 ($125 -- much cheaper than in the US for a nice place like it was).  Nicole got a back/neck/shoulders massage and a pedicure.  We were there for 2.5 hours!  It was perfect.  

Suwon Fortress

On Thursday, May 20th we had an extra day off from school.  I have heard that the principal can choose up to 3 days during the school year that he wants to have off "just because."  This was one of those days for us.  Thus, with the day off for Buddha's birthday, we had a 4-day weekend.   I was supposed to do this amazing white water rafting trip but it got canceled at the last minute.  That though, is another story.  Today I am posting about the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress.  

The fortress is the most well-known symbol of Suwon and it was due time that I walked all around it.  To walk fully around the fortress takes about 2 hours.  I did not walk all the way around, but I did walk most of it.  The fortress was built in the late 18th century over two years, from 1794 to 1796 under King Jeongio of the famous Joseon Dynasty.  The fortress walls were built partially in response from the Japanese invasion of Korea in the late 1500's.  The fortress took approximately 700,000 man-hours to build.  It reminded me a lot of the Great Wall of China in its appearance and feel (I had the great opportunity to walk the Great Wall of China in the summer of 2004).  The weather on Thursday was hot and warm and perfect for a nice stroll around the city of Suwon.  It was interesting for me to see that although there are a lot of skyrise apartments in Suwon, there are also tons of small traditional homes.  In my neighborhood (which is not anywhere near the wall -- it took me about 35 mins on bus to get here, the same amount of time it takes me to get to Seoul!) there are few small traditional-style buildings.  

  (more pictures can be seen on my facebook.)  

2/3 finished

At this point I am more than 8 months into my contract.  It means I am 2/3 done.  My co-teacher asked me today about when I want to fly back to the U.S..  I'll be flying back on September 7th or 8th (TBD). 

My next few months will be the following: 

June 2: National election day (no school)
July 23: Last day of school before break
July 24 - Aug 1: vacation
Aug 2 -  Aug 20: teach summer camp
Aug 21 - Aug 25: vacation
Aug 26 - Sept 3: school (Last day of teaching 9/3/10)
Sept 4 - 6: packing and cleaning
Sept 7: fly back to San Diego

June will seem like it goes on forever, but I imagine that once July hits, the time will just fly by. Plans for June include: camping, beach trip, and tea plantation.  Also, documentary filming. During my vacation time (July/August) I hope to go to the Jisan Valley Rock Festival, Jeju Island, and hopefully to Japan.  

SoKo Scavenger Hunt

I had an awesome weekend.  The weather was beautiful, the sun was shining, and I got to do some super fun things.  By far, the highlight of the weekend was the Scavenger Hunt (sorry Lotus Lantern festival, but you are no match at all for the Scavenger Hunt.  In fact, dear Lantern Festival, you don't even make the Top 5!  It's not your fault though, my weekend was top-notch.)

So what is this scavenger hunt I speak of?  Well, basically you go around Seoul doing crazy fun things and take pictures (or video) of it.  Here are some of my favorites from the list:

1 - Visit 5 different Family Marts

2 - Eat a food item you've never tried before

3 - Play in a playground

8 - Race an athlete along the Han River

12 - Photobomb someone or something

13 - Sing on the Subway

16 - Jump shot in a park

24 - Find an animal in Seoul

26 - Visit a palace and get a group shot

35 - Sit on someone's motorbike

41 - Get 3 free hugs

43 - Find 7 different coffee shop chains

48 - Order a Big Mac at Burger King
49 - Visit 2 Dos Tacos
50 - Hand stand at a monument
51 - Take a creative photo of Namsan tower

58 - Drop your pants in public
59 - Take a picture in a tank/military plane

81 - Find couples wearing couple clothing

82 - Take a picture with each denomination of Korean currenc

84 - Wear something matching - all members

90 - Eat street food

Now for the photos:   (Click on them to make them larger) 

  

      

 

Teacher's Day

Tomorrow is Teacher's Day.  I was not aware of this little holiday until today.  A co-teacher told me that on Teacher's Day students write their teachers letters of appreciation and thanks.  She told me this as she rifled through her small stack of letters.  "Oh, I see," I replied.  I wondered if I was going to get any letters today. 


But it's 2:30pm, school is over, and I didn't receive one single letter.  My other co-teacher had a stack of them too that she was reading at lunchtime.  I wondered if it was because students felt like they'd need to write in English, and feared that their skills aren't up to par to write a nice letter.


I wouldn't have minded.  I would have loved and treasured those letters for a long, long time.  But I didn't get a single one.  Just like on Peppero Day I only got 1 box of chocolates and it was from the boy with severe Autism so I know that he hadn't really wanted to give it to me, but rather that his parents made him.

It makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong.  That I'm a bad teacher, or that I'm not reaching out to the kids.  I do feel like they like me, or at least I think they do.  About a month ago my co-teacher said that "most of the 6th graders" like me.  They do get excited when the see me in the halls.  But maybe it's just because I'm still a novelty puppet.  Even after all this time, the kids' eyes widen when they see me.  They stop dead in their tracks when I run into them at the Home Plus supermarket.

It's just a silly letter, but I really wished just ONE student had thought to give me one.  I feel like I need some legitimate recognition that I'm doing a good job.  But now I just feel let down and like I'm failing the kids.  It's heartbreaking.  And this is why, even though I keep coming back to it year after year, I feel like teaching must not be for me.

***

To end on a good note-- funny things that kids have said today:

Fill in the blank:

It's on your head

(when the answer should have been "It's on your right." or "It's on your left."

You can't mi__ it! ----> You can't milk it!

(when the answer should have said "You can't miss it!")


Conversation among students when looking at this picture for our 'Slang of the Week'

Student 1: Why is the potato sad?
Student 2: Because he has no arms or legs.

World DJ Festival

This weekend I went to the 4th World DJ festival with my buddy Matt.  We got to the festival at around 5:15pm and I got back home from the festival at .. oh, 5:00am. Needless to say, it was a long and crazy night.  

I didn't know any of the DJ's that were playing so I was really there for the experience and because I love outdoor music festivals.  

I only brought along my little camera since I didn't want my nice one to be stolen so the quality of the night photos is sub-par.  I wish I could capture how many people there were at the main stage.  Thousands and thousands.  There was 1 large stage, 1 medium stage, and 2 small stages.  I didn't even discover the second small stage until I was trying to find my way out of the venue and accidentally stumbled upon it instead.  We spent most of our time between the main stage and the Jagermeister medium stage.  I was appreciative of my sitting mat I bought at Home Plus a few weeks ago.  It came in handy for saving our spot on the grass and maintaining an easy gathering point for whenever we got separated from each other (and we did-- often.) 

Here is a photo of Matt and me.   

Advanced English Club

For the month of April, the English club did a unit on Nature and Natural Disasters.  My favorite projects that we did in April were the earthquakes and the plants classes. 

On earthquake day the kids learned about the Richter Scale and then I gave them a challenge: They had to build the highest building they could that could also withstand the biggest earthquake.  They loved working in teams to construct the buildings (with building blocks I borrowed from the 1st grade classroom) and seeing them topple over with a swift shake of their desks. 


For the plant lesson we focused on Earth Day and plants.  We used empty yogurt containers that I had been saving for months in expectation of this project.  They used colorful mosaic squares to cover the yogurt and then they put in potting soil and planted edible grass seeds.  Some students left theirs in the classroom so we could see it grow.  It's been just one week now and 3 of the 4 plants are seeing sprouts. It's exciting! 


This month the English Club is learning about music.  Today's class was just the intro day which is always a little bit on the boring side.  I let them listen to a bunch of different styles of music and then fill in the sentence: "When I listen to _______ I feel _______.  It makes me think of ________." 

Here are some of my favorite responses:

When I listen to surf rock I feel happy.  It makes me think of someone who is going [on a] picnic. 

When I listen to hard rock I feel dangerous.  It makes me think of gorilla and lion. 

When I listen to big band I feel excited.  It makes me think of Mary Poppins.  

When I listen to Hawaiian music I feel I want to go to swimming pool, or beach in Hawaii.  I feel it's summer in here because this song's feel is summer.  It makes me think of afternoon and I think I'm eating very expensive food in very good restaurant.  

When I listen to hard rock I feel crazy fantastic.  It makes me think of HeSun because she is a very crazy friend.  

Next week we are doing Pop music (which they are all very excited about) and a little bit of hip-hop (which I am very excited about).

The final week in May we will do a music video critique.

Children's Day!

Yesterday was a special day in Korea: Children's Day!  On Children's Day students & teachers get a day off and parents are supposed to do extra nice things for their kids.  Apparently this means letting your child eat as much ice cream as they desire because of the kids who had ice cream, 3 seemed to be the average number of cones eaten.   3 ice cream cones!  

I, however, did not eat ice cream.  Yesterday also happened to be Cinco de Mayo so I celebrated by eating a burrito from Dos Tacos and even treated myself to a margarita with my friends Jenn and Alex.  

After Dos Tacos we had some time to kill so we wandered down to the Kyobo bookstore.  The Kyobo bookstore isn't anything like What the Book.  It's like a massive Barnes & Noble.  I fell in love at first sight.  Alex and I practically squeed with delight.  (I bought the book A Thousand Splendid Suns.)  

Before we knew it it was 2:30 and we were going to be late to the game.  Naturally I started freaking out and anxiously rallied the two others so we could make our way to the stadium.  We got to the Seoul World Cup Stadium at about 3:15 (so we were 15 minutes late) but I admit that in the end it was ok.  We found some pretty decent seats and although it looks far away in the picture, it really wasn't that bad at all.  

 

Plus, we go to sit behind these awesome nuns.  

Action shot like whoa.  See the dirt kicked up? 

Red shirts like whoa.  

One thing to note about the game was that it was soooo loud.  People were screaming almost nonstop and the roar of the crowd was unbelievable.  Part of the reason it was so loud is because many people seemed to have these horns like the kids sitting next to us: 

Every time a goal was scored they'd shoot these fireworks into the air.  It was sweet and made the 4 goals that the Seoul team got even more exciting.  I couldn't capture the picture of the fireworks but I was able to snap a shot of the foggy haze that fireworks create afterward. 

It was a fabulous day and the perfect way to spend Children's Day.  The weather was warm and sunny and I was in good company.  What more can a girl ask for?  :D