I move to my new apartment on Saturday, which I'm sure I've mentioned like 600 times.
Tomorrow is my last day to come to Shinheung Girls Middle School. Next week I have an English camp at another nearby middle school.
Today I have to move a bunch of my boxes and stuff from my office.
Yesterday I had my last dinner with two of my co-teachers (the two I am by far the closest to)
We went to the same place where we had our first teacher dinner, mostly just by coincidence.
It was fun and talk-filled, but seriously, it was so so so so sad. Seriously. I cried like a baby. We took some polaroids and ate and chatted, and we all cried. And they gave me this beautiful pair of earrings from J.Estina and I just can't tell you how thankful I am to them.
They have helped me when I didn't know enough Korean, or when I didn't know where to look for something, or when I needed to sneak out early to go to the post office or bank, or when I just wanted help with anything. They have so much stress as homeroom teachers and with paperwork and discipline and extra classes I never could understand how they managed it, but they always did everything they possible could to make my life that much easier.
It's not like I'll never see them again, but I won't see them in the same capacity, and it's just so crazy.
A huge chapter of my life is closing. And a new chapter is opening. It's exciting, but bittersweet.
I'm no longer in the beginning of my Korean life.
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Sorry
I feel a little bad because I've let this blog kind of fall by the wayside a little, which is unfortunate. I've been really busy with the other blog and giveaways and stuff (if you are into kpop, check it out here)
Plus tumblr really is a much easier platform, and nicer on the eyes.
Nonetheless I will try to recap the last few weeks, but it's been a haze in a lot of places.
I tested 650+ students for speaking exams. Every student at my school grade 1-3. Grade one had a dialogue which they had to translate to Korean and memorize. The dialogue was pretty simple. But the students had real trouble memorizing it, I noticed. And grade 2/3 received three questions. They had to choose one and prepare a speech answering the one question. This went better than the dialogue, but not that great. Grading was the most difficult thing as I got no guidance regarding the division of grades (I am under the impression that ideal distribution would be like a bell where the largest number of students got a middle score. I was later informed that 20-30% of all students should receive a 10/10. lol My grading scale had to change quick.
Then I had my open class. Open class is a period when your class is open for your principal, other teachers from your school, teachers from other schools (foreign teachers and native teachers), and district supervisors to come in and watch and evaluate your lesson. Then there is a open discussion afterwards. Luckily, I knew most of the people who came in to watch and I got great feedback. Also, my class was PERFECT. So that was a relief because the class I had tends to be crazy talkative.
Now, exams are all finished, and I've got 6 more days of school left (I think it's only five days of classes, if my memory of last year serves me right). Today was my first day telling my students that I won't be around next semester. It was actually really really sad. I had some not very good classes today, and it was still sad. When I have class with my grade ones, and the grade threes (who are the only students I've taught the WHOLE time I've been here) it's gonna be super hard. I didn't cry today, but I almost did.
Well, what's next?
I have been accepted to study Korean at Sogang University (not a big deal, the acceptance, they accept everyone; the big deal is what level I test in to). I will be attending Korean classes Mon-Fri 9a.m. to 1 p.m. no breaks.
To help pay for this little endeavor, I've also secured (well, contract isn't finalized, but I've been offered) a part-time job at a pre-kindergarten hagwon (private after school program). The students are super young, 24 months to 4 years, and really adorable. I've visited the pre-k before and my good friend works there. I've currently been offered a job Tues-Fri 4-6p.m. so 8 hours a week, with a possibility for the addition of Monday and/or Saturday classes (up to about 15 hours/week). I'm really excited about this job and how great the timing works into my schedule (it still leaves evenings free for studying and plenty of time in the afternoon for lunch and class prep/studying.
The problem?
a) Housing: It's really difficult finding housing in Seoul. Especially without a ton of money. You see, monthly rent is often quite cheap (consistently less than 600usd/month, usually close to 450-500usd/month for a furnished studio in the middle of the 5th biggest city in the world is pretty damn cheap). However, Korea has key money, which is basically a gigantic deposit. I'm used to a first and last month's deposit policy. Here, however, it's not uncommon to pay 5-10,000 US Dollars in a deposit (which is returned at the end of the contract assuming no damages are incurred) before the contract starts. This policy stems from the 전세 system, which is this crazy idea to pay an enormous deposit (25,000 usd+) on an apartment and then pay absolutely no rent for the next 12 months and receive your original 25,000usd back upon contract termination. Basically free rent (the landlord profits from the interest earned on that deposit typically). Ten-fifteen years ago, this was almost the only system in place. THese days, they are moving to a 월세 system, or monthly rent system. But, still, the huge deposits are a result of the previous area of monster deposits. Needless to say, I don't have a spare 5-10,000usd hanging around for me to use on a deposit, so I'm super limited. Add my two beautiful kitties to the mix, and it's been tough. Hoon is looking at a place tomorrow, and I'm checking a place out Saturday that hopefully might work.
b) Visa Oh My God. Immigration is the most obnoxious thing ever. You see, I am currently here on a teaching visa, and actually my part-time employer has offered to sponsor my visa (same kind) which is very kind (part-timers often don't get visa sponsorship... without a connection at the place, I'd never have had this kind of support). However, I am going to be in America at the time of my current visa's expiration and Immigration seemed to have no idea how to handle this situation and the prospect of extending my visa, claiming I couldn't file to extend my visa until the very day it is set to expire. They repeatedly said to me, well, just come back on the 25th of August. As if it is feasible for me to change my non-refundable plane ticket and all my plans at the drop of a hat. When I said that wasn't possible, they just sucked air through their teeth and said, well that's a problem. Then they indicated that I would have to go on a visa run. To those of you unfamiliar with this term (almost everyone who isn't currently teaching abroad) a visa run is when you make a trip to a foreign country in order to apply for a new visa (this is if you currently are not on any teaching visa, only like a tourist visa) because you cannot apply in Korea for that visa. Most people go to Osaka for this procedure, and typically your employer will cover it. However, I don't know why I'd have to do a visa run if I am here now ready to submit all the required documentation a month and a half before my current visa expires. They are telling me to just let my visa expire and then travel abroad. When I will be in America, abroad, for three weeks. Right, sure, no problem. WHAT? WHY CAN'T I EXTEND MY VISA BEFORE I LEAVE? That's crazy.
Finally I found someone with a brain who told me that actually all I have to do is go now to immigration once and then again to the same office after I return to mark a change of workplace. Welp, that's simple enough. Why didn't someone tell me in the previous 5 hours I spent trying to figure this situation out???
Now I'm at a cafe, and it's getting late and I should hit the sack.
The reason I can't write at my apartment is because the kitties managed to chew the ethernet cable (the little plastic part at the end). They bent the plastic just enough to make my internet non-usable. So I cancelled my internet and go to a cafe twice/week to get the wifi. The rest of the time I only use my phone or my work computer to access the internet. It's cheaper this way anyhow. I'd probably be going to a cafe this often anyways. and now I don't have to pay the 38,000 won/month that my internet cost.
Thanks for listening to this ramble.
This weekend a follower of my tumblr is coming to town and I'm looking forward to meeting up with her. Also, wish me luck with my doggone housing search!
xoxo
Wally
Plus tumblr really is a much easier platform, and nicer on the eyes.
Nonetheless I will try to recap the last few weeks, but it's been a haze in a lot of places.
I tested 650+ students for speaking exams. Every student at my school grade 1-3. Grade one had a dialogue which they had to translate to Korean and memorize. The dialogue was pretty simple. But the students had real trouble memorizing it, I noticed. And grade 2/3 received three questions. They had to choose one and prepare a speech answering the one question. This went better than the dialogue, but not that great. Grading was the most difficult thing as I got no guidance regarding the division of grades (I am under the impression that ideal distribution would be like a bell where the largest number of students got a middle score. I was later informed that 20-30% of all students should receive a 10/10. lol My grading scale had to change quick.
Then I had my open class. Open class is a period when your class is open for your principal, other teachers from your school, teachers from other schools (foreign teachers and native teachers), and district supervisors to come in and watch and evaluate your lesson. Then there is a open discussion afterwards. Luckily, I knew most of the people who came in to watch and I got great feedback. Also, my class was PERFECT. So that was a relief because the class I had tends to be crazy talkative.
Now, exams are all finished, and I've got 6 more days of school left (I think it's only five days of classes, if my memory of last year serves me right). Today was my first day telling my students that I won't be around next semester. It was actually really really sad. I had some not very good classes today, and it was still sad. When I have class with my grade ones, and the grade threes (who are the only students I've taught the WHOLE time I've been here) it's gonna be super hard. I didn't cry today, but I almost did.
Well, what's next?
I have been accepted to study Korean at Sogang University (not a big deal, the acceptance, they accept everyone; the big deal is what level I test in to). I will be attending Korean classes Mon-Fri 9a.m. to 1 p.m. no breaks.
To help pay for this little endeavor, I've also secured (well, contract isn't finalized, but I've been offered) a part-time job at a pre-kindergarten hagwon (private after school program). The students are super young, 24 months to 4 years, and really adorable. I've visited the pre-k before and my good friend works there. I've currently been offered a job Tues-Fri 4-6p.m. so 8 hours a week, with a possibility for the addition of Monday and/or Saturday classes (up to about 15 hours/week). I'm really excited about this job and how great the timing works into my schedule (it still leaves evenings free for studying and plenty of time in the afternoon for lunch and class prep/studying.
The problem?
a) Housing: It's really difficult finding housing in Seoul. Especially without a ton of money. You see, monthly rent is often quite cheap (consistently less than 600usd/month, usually close to 450-500usd/month for a furnished studio in the middle of the 5th biggest city in the world is pretty damn cheap). However, Korea has key money, which is basically a gigantic deposit. I'm used to a first and last month's deposit policy. Here, however, it's not uncommon to pay 5-10,000 US Dollars in a deposit (which is returned at the end of the contract assuming no damages are incurred) before the contract starts. This policy stems from the 전세 system, which is this crazy idea to pay an enormous deposit (25,000 usd+) on an apartment and then pay absolutely no rent for the next 12 months and receive your original 25,000usd back upon contract termination. Basically free rent (the landlord profits from the interest earned on that deposit typically). Ten-fifteen years ago, this was almost the only system in place. THese days, they are moving to a 월세 system, or monthly rent system. But, still, the huge deposits are a result of the previous area of monster deposits. Needless to say, I don't have a spare 5-10,000usd hanging around for me to use on a deposit, so I'm super limited. Add my two beautiful kitties to the mix, and it's been tough. Hoon is looking at a place tomorrow, and I'm checking a place out Saturday that hopefully might work.
b) Visa Oh My God. Immigration is the most obnoxious thing ever. You see, I am currently here on a teaching visa, and actually my part-time employer has offered to sponsor my visa (same kind) which is very kind (part-timers often don't get visa sponsorship... without a connection at the place, I'd never have had this kind of support). However, I am going to be in America at the time of my current visa's expiration and Immigration seemed to have no idea how to handle this situation and the prospect of extending my visa, claiming I couldn't file to extend my visa until the very day it is set to expire. They repeatedly said to me, well, just come back on the 25th of August. As if it is feasible for me to change my non-refundable plane ticket and all my plans at the drop of a hat. When I said that wasn't possible, they just sucked air through their teeth and said, well that's a problem. Then they indicated that I would have to go on a visa run. To those of you unfamiliar with this term (almost everyone who isn't currently teaching abroad) a visa run is when you make a trip to a foreign country in order to apply for a new visa (this is if you currently are not on any teaching visa, only like a tourist visa) because you cannot apply in Korea for that visa. Most people go to Osaka for this procedure, and typically your employer will cover it. However, I don't know why I'd have to do a visa run if I am here now ready to submit all the required documentation a month and a half before my current visa expires. They are telling me to just let my visa expire and then travel abroad. When I will be in America, abroad, for three weeks. Right, sure, no problem. WHAT? WHY CAN'T I EXTEND MY VISA BEFORE I LEAVE? That's crazy.
Finally I found someone with a brain who told me that actually all I have to do is go now to immigration once and then again to the same office after I return to mark a change of workplace. Welp, that's simple enough. Why didn't someone tell me in the previous 5 hours I spent trying to figure this situation out???
Now I'm at a cafe, and it's getting late and I should hit the sack.
The reason I can't write at my apartment is because the kitties managed to chew the ethernet cable (the little plastic part at the end). They bent the plastic just enough to make my internet non-usable. So I cancelled my internet and go to a cafe twice/week to get the wifi. The rest of the time I only use my phone or my work computer to access the internet. It's cheaper this way anyhow. I'd probably be going to a cafe this often anyways. and now I don't have to pay the 38,000 won/month that my internet cost.
Thanks for listening to this ramble.
This weekend a follower of my tumblr is coming to town and I'm looking forward to meeting up with her. Also, wish me luck with my doggone housing search!
xoxo
Wally
Monday, May 30, 2011
2 Weeks.
Seriously, this has been the best past week and a half ever. Seriously, ever.
I will review.
May 20th: My best friend got married. Even though I wasn't there to see it, I'm basically freaking out I'm so happy. Also, Hoon's cousin had his schools festival and it was fun to watch heckle.
May 22nd: Everland. Everland is a huuuuuge amusement park outside Seoul and it's simply amazing. It's just awesome. I will post about Everland (pictures included) soon.
May 23rd-25th: No classes as grades 1&2 were on a school trip and Grade 3 had an exam and a class picnic.
May 23rd: Language Cast. I spent an hour in the Korean-only room, and it was awesome. I really like Language Cast. Like, really really like it.
May 25th: I went to the YG Entertainment Building. I delivered my (and my students') birthday gifts/letters for Taeyang via an awesome suited man and in spite of the mean old security guard who was attempting to block my delivery in every way possible.
May 26th: finalized all airplane flights for trip to America in August
May 27th: Hoon's university. Meeting Hae-gun until 10 p.m. It wasn't exactly what we had planned, but it was really fun nonetheless.
May 28th: Cirque du Soleil: Varekai. The best circus ever, and Hoon's first ever circus visit. It was awesome. I will also post separately reviewing this performance.
May 29th: Frisbee
May 30th (today): confirmed my application to Sogang University's language program was received.
I hope things can continue to go this well for me.
Also, I have (counting today, which has hardly started) only 30 more days of teaching before the semester ends. a full 4 of those days will be after exams are finished (which means MOVIE) and another 5 of those days will be review for the English exam. Plus, 3 will be independent study days (there is a three day break between exams... students just spend every moment studying. That means only 18 more REAL days of teaching. YES.
I will review.
May 20th: My best friend got married. Even though I wasn't there to see it, I'm basically freaking out I'm so happy. Also, Hoon's cousin had his schools festival and it was fun to watch heckle.
May 22nd: Everland. Everland is a huuuuuge amusement park outside Seoul and it's simply amazing. It's just awesome. I will post about Everland (pictures included) soon.
May 23rd-25th: No classes as grades 1&2 were on a school trip and Grade 3 had an exam and a class picnic.
May 23rd: Language Cast. I spent an hour in the Korean-only room, and it was awesome. I really like Language Cast. Like, really really like it.
May 25th: I went to the YG Entertainment Building. I delivered my (and my students') birthday gifts/letters for Taeyang via an awesome suited man and in spite of the mean old security guard who was attempting to block my delivery in every way possible.
May 26th: finalized all airplane flights for trip to America in August
May 27th: Hoon's university. Meeting Hae-gun until 10 p.m. It wasn't exactly what we had planned, but it was really fun nonetheless.
May 28th: Cirque du Soleil: Varekai. The best circus ever, and Hoon's first ever circus visit. It was awesome. I will also post separately reviewing this performance.
May 29th: Frisbee
May 30th (today): confirmed my application to Sogang University's language program was received.
I hope things can continue to go this well for me.
Also, I have (counting today, which has hardly started) only 30 more days of teaching before the semester ends. a full 4 of those days will be after exams are finished (which means MOVIE) and another 5 of those days will be review for the English exam. Plus, 3 will be independent study days (there is a three day break between exams... students just spend every moment studying. That means only 18 more REAL days of teaching. YES.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Sick Kittens, more gifts, and sleepless nights
I don't know what is wrong with me, but it seems that all the little things around me are sort of falling apart. It's a miracle I can stand in front of my classes with any semblance of legitimacy given my general lack of preparation as of late. I really try to get everything in order, but I manage to let go of all the strings holding everything together and I have to flip into crazy mode to get everything back together. Examples: a) Last Wednesday I started teaching a class thinking it was the first time I had seen them that year, and I was suddenly reminded that I had, in fact, taught them once already and had nothing prepared to teach them that day. Luckily I whipped out the name cards and stuttered my way through a new explanation. b) Wednesday is the shittiest day every weekbecause I teach four classes, and two of them are to learn previous week's lesson while the other two are on the upcoming week. This means that I have to prepare a new lesson on Tuesday when I have a shit schedule and don't really want to make anything. This week, Tuesday came and went with a search on waygook to find things but nothing solidified. Wednesday morning I threw something together but decided to change the second half of class to accomodate a new lesson (in an attempt to get my classes back on track, and with a new week's lesson starting on THURSDAY!) So I looked online for ideas and nothing really great came of it. I'm trying to change my approach to teaching, trying to incorporate what they are learning in their other English classes, so my class doesn't seem so left field to them. Unfortunately, I can't get all my thoughts down together. So, Wednesday I essentially found nothing and then at 4:15 (I leave at 4:30) I discovered that due to a schedule change my class would start at 8:30 as opposed to 9:00 which is a huge difference when you have nothing prepared. So I brought the texts home but hardly looked at them between frisbee practice, desperately trying to stay awake on the subway, eating, and passing out at 11:00. I woke up early and left for work at 7:30 this morning just so I could arrive early enough to work undistracted until my class begin at 8:30. Luckily, my lesson plan went over just fine. PHEW.
On another note, Nova is sick. I have been taking him to the vet everyday since Monday (it is now Thursday and supposed to be my last day of vet visits) and that has been a huge time drain. I have to go home, get nova ready for the vet, go to the vet, come back home, all before I can do anything I need to do. He gets two shots everyday, one on his back and one is his back left leg. He hates them, but he is getting better at dealing with the shots. He had a big ol' scratch on his nose as well (I to this day still have no idea where it came from... maybe his nose was too dry and cracked. That's my suspicion) and the scab got pulled off Sunday night and he started bleeding EVERYWHERE, which was pretty effing terrifying. Luckily I had noticed the scab on his nose on Saturday so I at least knew that it wasn't something that Baram had caused or something. Luckily, the blood didn't seem to bother anyone buy me. Nova just kept playing around with his nose all bloody, getting blood on some textbooks, his paws, Baram, my planner, and my floor. Luckily that is healing. Then on Monday I came home to Nova throwing up and with more gunk built up in his eyes than could ever possibly be considered healthy. So straight to the vet who doesn't speak english. I stammered out a foolish sounding explanation of what happened and stuff, and he says a bunch of things I didn't understand but nodded to anyways. He gave the shots and we were off told to return each day for another round of shots.
On a more positive note, I've gotten some more presents this week.
I got Hello Kitty stickers, more hella sexy Taeyang/Daesung/TOP pictures and the 2011 FILA BIGBANG back to school planner. Jackpot, right? Well, I'm definitely pretty darn happy with the turnout, I'd say. I was really surprised about the planner, but I guess she's not a huge bigbang fan and just got it with some big fila purchase so now I have it!! hehehehehe. It's amazing.
Also, Monday was White Day, but I couldn't meet Hoon because we were crazy busy. Instead, he came over on Tuesday and I made that delicious tomato cream sauce pasta and some deliciously amazing rice krispie treats (thanks melly for shipping me some marshmallows and krispies). Hoon basically fell in love with the krispie treats. He ate almost an entire batch. It was cray cray. I was really surprised that he got me anything for White Day because he thinks that all the Korean couple days are played out. But I like them. And he knows I like them, so he got me a big box and filled it with lots and lots and lots of candy and gave me this adorable clear plastic hello kitty zipper cosmetic bag. SOOOO cute. And, he wrote me an amazingly sweet letter on Hello Kitty stationary. Even down to the little details (the kitty stationary and padding the box with the shredded paper to make it pretty) he did a perfect job. I am so thankful. Also, white day is awesome!
On another note, Nova is sick. I have been taking him to the vet everyday since Monday (it is now Thursday and supposed to be my last day of vet visits) and that has been a huge time drain. I have to go home, get nova ready for the vet, go to the vet, come back home, all before I can do anything I need to do. He gets two shots everyday, one on his back and one is his back left leg. He hates them, but he is getting better at dealing with the shots. He had a big ol' scratch on his nose as well (I to this day still have no idea where it came from... maybe his nose was too dry and cracked. That's my suspicion) and the scab got pulled off Sunday night and he started bleeding EVERYWHERE, which was pretty effing terrifying. Luckily I had noticed the scab on his nose on Saturday so I at least knew that it wasn't something that Baram had caused or something. Luckily, the blood didn't seem to bother anyone buy me. Nova just kept playing around with his nose all bloody, getting blood on some textbooks, his paws, Baram, my planner, and my floor. Luckily that is healing. Then on Monday I came home to Nova throwing up and with more gunk built up in his eyes than could ever possibly be considered healthy. So straight to the vet who doesn't speak english. I stammered out a foolish sounding explanation of what happened and stuff, and he says a bunch of things I didn't understand but nodded to anyways. He gave the shots and we were off told to return each day for another round of shots.
On a more positive note, I've gotten some more presents this week.
I got Hello Kitty stickers, more hella sexy Taeyang/Daesung/TOP pictures and the 2011 FILA BIGBANG back to school planner. Jackpot, right? Well, I'm definitely pretty darn happy with the turnout, I'd say. I was really surprised about the planner, but I guess she's not a huge bigbang fan and just got it with some big fila purchase so now I have it!! hehehehehe. It's amazing.
Wow. Love me some BIGBANG and Hello Kitty
Also, Monday was White Day, but I couldn't meet Hoon because we were crazy busy. Instead, he came over on Tuesday and I made that delicious tomato cream sauce pasta and some deliciously amazing rice krispie treats (thanks melly for shipping me some marshmallows and krispies). Hoon basically fell in love with the krispie treats. He ate almost an entire batch. It was cray cray. I was really surprised that he got me anything for White Day because he thinks that all the Korean couple days are played out. But I like them. And he knows I like them, so he got me a big box and filled it with lots and lots and lots of candy and gave me this adorable clear plastic hello kitty zipper cosmetic bag. SOOOO cute. And, he wrote me an amazingly sweet letter on Hello Kitty stationary. Even down to the little details (the kitty stationary and padding the box with the shredded paper to make it pretty) he did a perfect job. I am so thankful. Also, white day is awesome!
Really love my man!
xoxo
A
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Updates from the start of the school year
Well, another school year has started and this means, a couple hundred new students who are completely enthralled with a) my blonde hair, b) my eyes which are green/gray/brown with gold flecks, c) my long eyelashes, d) my height or e) my extremely good grasp of English and ability to type English quickly on a keyboard.
This also means that I get a round of introduction lessons and a pretty painless first two weeks of school. My grade threes are creating facebook accounts and joining class groups so I can send out class information and extra credit opportunities to the students to use English in fun ways outside of the classroom. Hopefully there will be enough participation to do scavenger hunts, crosswords, video game quizzes, etc.
My grade one and twos will be making name cards this week. This of course means we get to do a whole bunch introductions and I get to learn lots of ridiculous things about my students. For example, a grade two student (this is a girl who is 14 years old mind you), wrote, "My dream is to be a femme fatale." Legitimately, that's what she wrote. As her future job goal. Ridiculous.
My grade ones are adorable and love me and today I got some gifts from my students: a Hello Kitty pen and some really really really sexy Taeyang stickers. SCORE.
Frisbee practice has started up and it looks like we're going pretty hard this year with practicing and stuff. It's gonna be intense me thinks... Track workouts, strategy meetings, all sorts of fun stuff to keep me super busy.
And my babies survived their first few weeks at home TOGETHER without mommy. Nova barely escaped death once when Baram decided to push a bath gift set box (containing a full bottle of body wash and a full bottle of body lotion) off a table and onto Nova's leg. Luckily I was home to hear Nova's howl of pain and I cared for him while scolding Baram who thought that immediately after doing this, with Nova walking around on just three legs, it was the perfect time to play fight with Nova. I had to keep them separate as little Nova kept crying and I was so worried. But the next morning (it was about 11pm when it happened, and no emergency clinics to be found) he was hopping all around everywhere and attacking Baram with as much playful energy as he had been before the injury. So everything seems to be all fine now. But, he's got a vet appointment to get his shots next week and I'll be double checking with the doc to verify everything is all clear.
That's it for now.
xoxo
A
This also means that I get a round of introduction lessons and a pretty painless first two weeks of school. My grade threes are creating facebook accounts and joining class groups so I can send out class information and extra credit opportunities to the students to use English in fun ways outside of the classroom. Hopefully there will be enough participation to do scavenger hunts, crosswords, video game quizzes, etc.
My grade one and twos will be making name cards this week. This of course means we get to do a whole bunch introductions and I get to learn lots of ridiculous things about my students. For example, a grade two student (this is a girl who is 14 years old mind you), wrote, "My dream is to be a femme fatale." Legitimately, that's what she wrote. As her future job goal. Ridiculous.
My grade ones are adorable and love me and today I got some gifts from my students: a Hello Kitty pen and some really really really sexy Taeyang stickers. SCORE.
Frisbee practice has started up and it looks like we're going pretty hard this year with practicing and stuff. It's gonna be intense me thinks... Track workouts, strategy meetings, all sorts of fun stuff to keep me super busy.
And my babies survived their first few weeks at home TOGETHER without mommy. Nova barely escaped death once when Baram decided to push a bath gift set box (containing a full bottle of body wash and a full bottle of body lotion) off a table and onto Nova's leg. Luckily I was home to hear Nova's howl of pain and I cared for him while scolding Baram who thought that immediately after doing this, with Nova walking around on just three legs, it was the perfect time to play fight with Nova. I had to keep them separate as little Nova kept crying and I was so worried. But the next morning (it was about 11pm when it happened, and no emergency clinics to be found) he was hopping all around everywhere and attacking Baram with as much playful energy as he had been before the injury. So everything seems to be all fine now. But, he's got a vet appointment to get his shots next week and I'll be double checking with the doc to verify everything is all clear.
That's it for now.
xoxo
A
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Korea
A full update on my life was promised so here goes. The good and the bad.
1. I got food poisoning on Wednesday/Thursday. I was up all night doing, you know, food poisoning-related things, and not sleeping at all. I called in sick because at 6:30 when my alarm went off I was like oh good, I've slept a total of 40 minutes or so, and I just threw up 20 minutes ago. This doesn't bode well. So I slept all effing day and ate nothing while trying to let my body recover. Korea is dealing with some serious livestock diseases, but i don't think that's what got me. I think it was veggies that came in contact with raw meat and then weren't cooked thoroughly. But anyhow, I'm all better now thanks to lots of sleep, and plenty of water.
2. On Tuesday I bought two first floor standing tickets to the Big Bang Big Show which I am SUPER excited to see. I'm basically dying, I'm so happy. I will be among the first people to see Big Bang perform new songs live after a two year hiatus from Korean promotions. Granted, they have performed at YG Family Concerts and last year's Big Show, but nothing new, so this is super exciting. Their album will release the day before the concert and I will go get it and memorize every song in 24 hours if it kills me. Then I will buy the official Taeyang usb drive at the concert sales booth and then I will fangirl spazz for 2 hours while my boyfriend questions why he ever started dating me.
3. I bought the Taeyang Solar Concert DVD. I made a youtube video about in case anyone hear reads my blog but hasn't subscribed to my youtube channel (Uh... SUBSCRIBE NOW PLEASE). Anyways, it's awesome except for this one hilarious and awful English mistake where a page reads, "Let's get start it" which obviously makes no sense. This is disappointing because YG has tons of high level English speakers, and you'd think that for once they would check something like this. Over 100,000 of these DVDs were produced and no one thought to go to a native English speaker and say, hey, is this right? Listen, YG, I'm your girl. I can do this free of charge (except every English grammar proofreading required document must be personally delivered by either Taeyang or Se7en, but that can be arranged, right?)
4. Frisbee practice started this weekend. We had practice on Saturday and Sunday and I am sooooo tired. But it was really fun, and I'm really really looking forward to more practices in increasingly warmer weather.
5. Last weekend I played in a volleyball tournament. I've never had so much fun playing volleyball. Somehow, I think I got better at volleyball via not playing it for 8+ years. I remember kind of sucking back in my freshman year of high school and thinking, welp since I literally can't do anything except blocking (I was a beast at blocking but I couldn't hit, which made me mostly useless) I'm gonna go ahead and quit and focus on bball. And I did just that. But volleyball was awesome and it makes me wanna play a whole bunch more.
6. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I am actually pretty excited for it. Hoon and I are going to have a quiet night in. I am going to make dinner (maybe a revised hopefully even more delicious than last time tomato cream sauce pasta with garlic bread if I can figure out how to make garlic bread without an oven; can't I just crush some garlic, mix it with basil and butter, spread on a thick slice of baguette and sautee?) and give him my gift. In Korea, V-Day is different than back in the States in that only a girl gives a gift and the boy will give a gift to his girlfriend or crush or significant other on White Day which is on March 14th. So I will give a gift, which I will take a photo of and post later, and we'll do something again in another month. I like this time because Feb 5th was our 200 day anniversary (they celebrate every 100 days or at least the first couple, plus 1000, and then they stop, I think), then valentines day, then white day, then one month later is Hoon's birthday, and then two weeks after that is my birthday so it's like nonstop celebrations until May rolls around (but then our one year anniversary will be in July~ hahaha)
7. I might go skiing this upcoming weekend with Hoon and his family. Except we will go only one day and only at night, from like 9 p.m. until maybe 5 a.m. which will basically kill me (I have to go to frisbee the following day at 11) but I am really looking forward to it. Hopefully I can not totally suck at skiing so Hoon won't think I'm a completely uncoordinated loser.
8. I am trying to convince Hoon to get some of his Physical Education classmates to make a frisbee team to send to Jeju. I said I could be the coach. I think it'd be really fun and since they are all athletes (we're talking seriously jacked, run a marathon and then benchpress twice their weight, and then swim 4 miles and then take a 100 question exam on history of sports, sports rules, and human physiology without hardly breaking a sweat-type athletes... this includes the girls) they would probably dominate all the other beginner uni teams because they can run for hours without getting tired. Plus then I'd be obligated to get in better shape and practice frisbee with them too. Win-win, you see?
9. My school had graduation on Friday. I went, and it was only a little sad for me because I was still recovering from food poisoning and had to concentrate really hard on not falling over from fatigue during the ceremony. But, now that I think about it more, I'm pretty bummed. I've known all these students for two years, and they are AMAZING girls. I've gotten to known some of them (maybe about 15 or so) really well and I will certainly miss their smiles, hilarious jokes, helpful Korean lessons, sincere interest in English, enthusiasm for my class, and all-around good attitudes. The prospect of having these students in my classes later in the week helped me get through all the whiny, misbehaving, snarky students I had to deal with from time to time. I will miss them!!!
Also, in case you didn't know yet, I have a tumblr at www.reallywally.tumblr.com. It's basically 100% Korean culture all the time. Emphasis on kpop, but also with touches of food, drama, models, konglish and other interesting tidbits.
That's it.
xoxo
A
1. I got food poisoning on Wednesday/Thursday. I was up all night doing, you know, food poisoning-related things, and not sleeping at all. I called in sick because at 6:30 when my alarm went off I was like oh good, I've slept a total of 40 minutes or so, and I just threw up 20 minutes ago. This doesn't bode well. So I slept all effing day and ate nothing while trying to let my body recover. Korea is dealing with some serious livestock diseases, but i don't think that's what got me. I think it was veggies that came in contact with raw meat and then weren't cooked thoroughly. But anyhow, I'm all better now thanks to lots of sleep, and plenty of water.
2. On Tuesday I bought two first floor standing tickets to the Big Bang Big Show which I am SUPER excited to see. I'm basically dying, I'm so happy. I will be among the first people to see Big Bang perform new songs live after a two year hiatus from Korean promotions. Granted, they have performed at YG Family Concerts and last year's Big Show, but nothing new, so this is super exciting. Their album will release the day before the concert and I will go get it and memorize every song in 24 hours if it kills me. Then I will buy the official Taeyang usb drive at the concert sales booth and then I will fangirl spazz for 2 hours while my boyfriend questions why he ever started dating me.
3. I bought the Taeyang Solar Concert DVD. I made a youtube video about in case anyone hear reads my blog but hasn't subscribed to my youtube channel (Uh... SUBSCRIBE NOW PLEASE). Anyways, it's awesome except for this one hilarious and awful English mistake where a page reads, "Let's get start it" which obviously makes no sense. This is disappointing because YG has tons of high level English speakers, and you'd think that for once they would check something like this. Over 100,000 of these DVDs were produced and no one thought to go to a native English speaker and say, hey, is this right? Listen, YG, I'm your girl. I can do this free of charge (except every English grammar proofreading required document must be personally delivered by either Taeyang or Se7en, but that can be arranged, right?)
4. Frisbee practice started this weekend. We had practice on Saturday and Sunday and I am sooooo tired. But it was really fun, and I'm really really looking forward to more practices in increasingly warmer weather.
5. Last weekend I played in a volleyball tournament. I've never had so much fun playing volleyball. Somehow, I think I got better at volleyball via not playing it for 8+ years. I remember kind of sucking back in my freshman year of high school and thinking, welp since I literally can't do anything except blocking (I was a beast at blocking but I couldn't hit, which made me mostly useless) I'm gonna go ahead and quit and focus on bball. And I did just that. But volleyball was awesome and it makes me wanna play a whole bunch more.
6. Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I am actually pretty excited for it. Hoon and I are going to have a quiet night in. I am going to make dinner (maybe a revised hopefully even more delicious than last time tomato cream sauce pasta with garlic bread if I can figure out how to make garlic bread without an oven; can't I just crush some garlic, mix it with basil and butter, spread on a thick slice of baguette and sautee?) and give him my gift. In Korea, V-Day is different than back in the States in that only a girl gives a gift and the boy will give a gift to his girlfriend or crush or significant other on White Day which is on March 14th. So I will give a gift, which I will take a photo of and post later, and we'll do something again in another month. I like this time because Feb 5th was our 200 day anniversary (they celebrate every 100 days or at least the first couple, plus 1000, and then they stop, I think), then valentines day, then white day, then one month later is Hoon's birthday, and then two weeks after that is my birthday so it's like nonstop celebrations until May rolls around (but then our one year anniversary will be in July~ hahaha)
7. I might go skiing this upcoming weekend with Hoon and his family. Except we will go only one day and only at night, from like 9 p.m. until maybe 5 a.m. which will basically kill me (I have to go to frisbee the following day at 11) but I am really looking forward to it. Hopefully I can not totally suck at skiing so Hoon won't think I'm a completely uncoordinated loser.
8. I am trying to convince Hoon to get some of his Physical Education classmates to make a frisbee team to send to Jeju. I said I could be the coach. I think it'd be really fun and since they are all athletes (we're talking seriously jacked, run a marathon and then benchpress twice their weight, and then swim 4 miles and then take a 100 question exam on history of sports, sports rules, and human physiology without hardly breaking a sweat-type athletes... this includes the girls) they would probably dominate all the other beginner uni teams because they can run for hours without getting tired. Plus then I'd be obligated to get in better shape and practice frisbee with them too. Win-win, you see?
9. My school had graduation on Friday. I went, and it was only a little sad for me because I was still recovering from food poisoning and had to concentrate really hard on not falling over from fatigue during the ceremony. But, now that I think about it more, I'm pretty bummed. I've known all these students for two years, and they are AMAZING girls. I've gotten to known some of them (maybe about 15 or so) really well and I will certainly miss their smiles, hilarious jokes, helpful Korean lessons, sincere interest in English, enthusiasm for my class, and all-around good attitudes. The prospect of having these students in my classes later in the week helped me get through all the whiny, misbehaving, snarky students I had to deal with from time to time. I will miss them!!!
Also, in case you didn't know yet, I have a tumblr at www.reallywally.tumblr.com. It's basically 100% Korean culture all the time. Emphasis on kpop, but also with touches of food, drama, models, konglish and other interesting tidbits.
That's it.
xoxo
A
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Announcement
I would like to take this time to make this announcement.
As of today, Saturday, February 12, 2011 (Korea time... Friday February 11, 2011 EST), this blogger is officially 100% debt-free. I have no debt whatsoever. I have no credit card bills to pay (at the moment) and my 11,000 USD loan from undergrad university studies has been completely paid off exactly 649 days after my graduation (Also know as about 9 weeks shy of 2 years).
I would consider this my single greatest accomplishment since graduation. I can't decide if that's a little depressing that I consider that my greatest (when I take into consideration all the dope things I've done in the last 649 days: traveled to 6 countries on three continents, lived abroad for a year and a half, essentially taught myself Korean, taught English [mostly] successfully to over 900 students, etc) or it's really that great.
Anyways, CONGRATULATIONS TO ME
Oh, and this week seems to be full of exciting events for both me and my friends. My dear friend Kel had her first beautiful baby girl, Elorah earlier this week, and another dear friend, K-T will be married in less than 24 hours.
Congratulations to my wonderful friends half way across the world. I love you!
xoxo
A
As of today, Saturday, February 12, 2011 (Korea time... Friday February 11, 2011 EST), this blogger is officially 100% debt-free. I have no debt whatsoever. I have no credit card bills to pay (at the moment) and my 11,000 USD loan from undergrad university studies has been completely paid off exactly 649 days after my graduation (Also know as about 9 weeks shy of 2 years).
I would consider this my single greatest accomplishment since graduation. I can't decide if that's a little depressing that I consider that my greatest (when I take into consideration all the dope things I've done in the last 649 days: traveled to 6 countries on three continents, lived abroad for a year and a half, essentially taught myself Korean, taught English [mostly] successfully to over 900 students, etc) or it's really that great.
Anyways, CONGRATULATIONS TO ME
Oh, and this week seems to be full of exciting events for both me and my friends. My dear friend Kel had her first beautiful baby girl, Elorah earlier this week, and another dear friend, K-T will be married in less than 24 hours.
Congratulations to my wonderful friends half way across the world. I love you!
xoxo
A
Monday, February 7, 2011
Happy V-Day bitches
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Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Sometimes I wonder...
What's the point. I am feeling pretty annoyed right now. I don't really have a right to be, but I'm still annoyed. I'm pretty aware that I'm being a shitty, but I don't care.
Well, now that that mystic brooding is over, onto some other shit.
I haven't been up to translating the lyrics lately because I'm tired all the time and I've been kind of down. Winter blues maybe?
Anyhow, my students have been really great. I'm not actually teaching any classes right now, but about 5 former grade 3s (I guess now that the year is over, they are technically high schoolers or something. I don't know exactly) come in to study every morning (with some other korean teacher) but they always come to my office early and we've been cooking. Yesterday we had a horribly failed attempt at ddeokbokki (떡볶이- fried spicy rice cake) and today we had an amazingly successful go at banana pancakes with peanutbutter&nutella syrup/sauce and whipped cream. Tomorrow we will be making 김치전 which is one of my all time favorite treats so I hope they turn out well.
Also, I anticipate I'll be compiling a hot list in the next week or so. Maybe I'll do a video instead of regular written post. Who really knows?
xoxo
A
Well, now that that mystic brooding is over, onto some other shit.
I haven't been up to translating the lyrics lately because I'm tired all the time and I've been kind of down. Winter blues maybe?
Anyhow, my students have been really great. I'm not actually teaching any classes right now, but about 5 former grade 3s (I guess now that the year is over, they are technically high schoolers or something. I don't know exactly) come in to study every morning (with some other korean teacher) but they always come to my office early and we've been cooking. Yesterday we had a horribly failed attempt at ddeokbokki (떡볶이- fried spicy rice cake) and today we had an amazingly successful go at banana pancakes with peanutbutter&nutella syrup/sauce and whipped cream. Tomorrow we will be making 김치전 which is one of my all time favorite treats so I hope they turn out well.
Also, I anticipate I'll be compiling a hot list in the next week or so. Maybe I'll do a video instead of regular written post. Who really knows?
xoxo
A
Friday, December 31, 2010
Desk Warming
Today is an unfortunate day. It's New Year's Eve and my plans with my boyfriend got scraped because he has to go to church with his parents and I can't even come to help him endure the torture (it's a long, messy story... under normal circumstances, he'd have invited me). At least I've made alternate plans with a couple girlfriends here. Otherwise I'd be totally devastated and alone tonight.
Then, after I got to work this morning, an English teacher comes into my office asking for another English teacher with whom I share my office. Unfortunately, she's not in yet. Teacher leaves, then returns to inform me that the vice principal wants me in the main office with the other teachers so as to avoid using the heater unnecessarily. This means I'm now stuck on a computer running only internet explore version 5 or something and so I can't comment on youtube videos or watch hulu (no vpn), I can't really do any serious work because it's weird sitting at some other teacher's desk, nor can I sleep without feeling really guilty or leave early (which I had planned on doing almost every day... only about 15-30 minutes early, which I make up for by always arriving some 15-20 minutes early every single other day of the year). Plus, I can't use facebook chat due to the old verion of ie. And I can't download the new version of ie (I think I can't download anything) and I'm super depressed.
The only good thing that happened today is that my principal and a bunch of other administrators and teachers all agreed that they really love me and that they want me to work at my school forever. Unfortunately, I'm planning on going to Seoul to study Korean for somewhere between four and eight months next year. Also, I may or may not be going home for a few months at the end of 2011.
Oh, Happy New Year. I hope your NYE sucks at least a little less than mine... :-/
Then, after I got to work this morning, an English teacher comes into my office asking for another English teacher with whom I share my office. Unfortunately, she's not in yet. Teacher leaves, then returns to inform me that the vice principal wants me in the main office with the other teachers so as to avoid using the heater unnecessarily. This means I'm now stuck on a computer running only internet explore version 5 or something and so I can't comment on youtube videos or watch hulu (no vpn), I can't really do any serious work because it's weird sitting at some other teacher's desk, nor can I sleep without feeling really guilty or leave early (which I had planned on doing almost every day... only about 15-30 minutes early, which I make up for by always arriving some 15-20 minutes early every single other day of the year). Plus, I can't use facebook chat due to the old verion of ie. And I can't download the new version of ie (I think I can't download anything) and I'm super depressed.
The only good thing that happened today is that my principal and a bunch of other administrators and teachers all agreed that they really love me and that they want me to work at my school forever. Unfortunately, I'm planning on going to Seoul to study Korean for somewhere between four and eight months next year. Also, I may or may not be going home for a few months at the end of 2011.
Oh, Happy New Year. I hope your NYE sucks at least a little less than mine... :-/
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Video Project
I'm working on this big video project right now. It's a huge pain in the butt.
However, you may (or may not) be happy to hear that my youtube channel has gotten over 100 subscribers so I will definitely be doing that High High CD giveaway for one lucky subscriber. Don't forget to enter for your chance to win at www.youtube.com/user/reallywally! I'll be doing more give aways soon.
Hopefully I'll post the final project when I finish, but I suspect it will be a while.
Anyways, today I bought a Christmas present for the boo. And I bought myself a pair of nice leather gloves that are really cute. And I attended a mostly boring training session about winter camps. waahoo.
Oh, and I'm hoping that Saturday will be start of a particularly awesomely awesome series of about 8-9 days, which will include Christmas. I CANNOT WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS!
Also, I'm really hungry.
xoxo
A
However, you may (or may not) be happy to hear that my youtube channel has gotten over 100 subscribers so I will definitely be doing that High High CD giveaway for one lucky subscriber. Don't forget to enter for your chance to win at www.youtube.com/user/reallywally! I'll be doing more give aways soon.
Hopefully I'll post the final project when I finish, but I suspect it will be a while.
Anyways, today I bought a Christmas present for the boo. And I bought myself a pair of nice leather gloves that are really cute. And I attended a mostly boring training session about winter camps. waahoo.
Oh, and I'm hoping that Saturday will be start of a particularly awesomely awesome series of about 8-9 days, which will include Christmas. I CANNOT WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS!
Also, I'm really hungry.
xoxo
A
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
끝났당~
today is my last day at Haesa Go and I am so effing happy. For about ten seconds at the end of my first class I was a little sad but then I remembered the hell that those students put me through and I thought yeah eff em. I dont mean to be negative but this was a total waste of my time consisting of literally no guidelines, completely no organization of class levels and generall across the board poorly behaved students. I am positively thrilled that its over. I say this with two classes left. But I dont really care. That first one was the tough one.
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Sunday, December 12, 2010
A day in the life of a Korean High School Student.
This video is awesome. It's the third most viewed video of the week. Freaking awesome.
The opening screen reads: 고등학생의하루 Which just means High School student's day.
The final screen is 끝 which means finish.
Here's the video:
p.s. my youtube channel is the 89th most viewed Korean channel of the week!!!!!
The opening screen reads: 고등학생의하루 Which just means High School student's day.
The final screen is 끝 which means finish.
Here's the video:
p.s. my youtube channel is the 89th most viewed Korean channel of the week!!!!!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Hot List December
The hottest things of this winter!
1. Kanye West: My beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Holy Jeezus Yeezy, you killed it on this one. It's getting unbelievably high ratings from every review site out there (pitchfork gave it a perfect 10? now that's impressive). This album is an epic. It's a story and it's an apology and its a huge fuck you with love from Kanye. Packed with anthems about douchebaggery, throbbing lines from Bon Iver, top notch featured artists (see: Jay-Z, RZA, Kid Cudi, John Legend, Nicki Minaj and more), a closing track by Cornel West, and a Chris Rock comedy bit interspersed with a woman voice breathily saying "Yeezy taught me," this cd has all the heartbreak of 808s with only 10% of the autotune, all the bling of graduation, and so much more. Buy it if you haven't already. It's pure fire.
2. SNOW
It had snowed only once so far here (Twice, but one was at 2 a.m. for 10 minutes and I don't count that) but I am anticipating snow and the hope for snowmen and snow fights and cute moments with my boyfriend. Also, trying to go skiing this break.
3. Haesa Go finished!
Like I mentioned before I've got only one more week. Tonight is a movie. Two weeks from now I have final prep, final exam administration and a last day party or celebration of some sort. Thank God.
4. Angry Birds
This ipod app is seriously addicting. I'm gonna download the paid version tonight and I just can't wait!!! It's so simple, but it's so fun. Good for passing time.
5. YG FAMILY CONCERT
Sunday!! Today I managed to snag tickets for a MUCH better set of tickets than I had before. My old tickets were standing, but towards the back. Now I'm in the front-most section just right of center. I just logged onto gmarket randomly and discovered it, and was sooooo happy! Now I just need to sell the old tickets and get to the concert venue hella early on Saturday to snag some concert goods!
6. prank vs. prank youtube channel
This maybe too early for me to definitively say, but this youtube channel seemed hella awesome last night while I was watching videos. The premise is this couple lives together and constantly plays pranks on each other. It was really funny.
7. Bangs
I forgot how much I liked them. Currently I have them sideswept, but I'm thinking about going full Korean and doing some blunt cut bangs. I always imagined them as being super horrible, but the more I think about it, the more I could see it being really cute. Also, when I style my bangs in the morning I get a glimpse of what they'd look like blunt and slightly curled (since essentially thats what they are, except at the end I sweep them to the side).
Welp, that's all folks
xoxo
A
1. Kanye West: My beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Holy Jeezus Yeezy, you killed it on this one. It's getting unbelievably high ratings from every review site out there (pitchfork gave it a perfect 10? now that's impressive). This album is an epic. It's a story and it's an apology and its a huge fuck you with love from Kanye. Packed with anthems about douchebaggery, throbbing lines from Bon Iver, top notch featured artists (see: Jay-Z, RZA, Kid Cudi, John Legend, Nicki Minaj and more), a closing track by Cornel West, and a Chris Rock comedy bit interspersed with a woman voice breathily saying "Yeezy taught me," this cd has all the heartbreak of 808s with only 10% of the autotune, all the bling of graduation, and so much more. Buy it if you haven't already. It's pure fire.
2. SNOW
It had snowed only once so far here (Twice, but one was at 2 a.m. for 10 minutes and I don't count that) but I am anticipating snow and the hope for snowmen and snow fights and cute moments with my boyfriend. Also, trying to go skiing this break.
3. Haesa Go finished!
Like I mentioned before I've got only one more week. Tonight is a movie. Two weeks from now I have final prep, final exam administration and a last day party or celebration of some sort. Thank God.
4. Angry Birds
This ipod app is seriously addicting. I'm gonna download the paid version tonight and I just can't wait!!! It's so simple, but it's so fun. Good for passing time.
5. YG FAMILY CONCERT
Sunday!! Today I managed to snag tickets for a MUCH better set of tickets than I had before. My old tickets were standing, but towards the back. Now I'm in the front-most section just right of center. I just logged onto gmarket randomly and discovered it, and was sooooo happy! Now I just need to sell the old tickets and get to the concert venue hella early on Saturday to snag some concert goods!
6. prank vs. prank youtube channel
This maybe too early for me to definitively say, but this youtube channel seemed hella awesome last night while I was watching videos. The premise is this couple lives together and constantly plays pranks on each other. It was really funny.
7. Bangs
I forgot how much I liked them. Currently I have them sideswept, but I'm thinking about going full Korean and doing some blunt cut bangs. I always imagined them as being super horrible, but the more I think about it, the more I could see it being really cute. Also, when I style my bangs in the morning I get a glimpse of what they'd look like blunt and slightly curled (since essentially thats what they are, except at the end I sweep them to the side).
Welp, that's all folks
xoxo
A
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Early Christmas for This Lucky Teacher
My coteacher also told me that there is still money left in the budget for other materials so if I need anything at all I should let her know. To any of my esl- or teaching-literate friends, your suggestions or input are welcome.
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Monday, November 22, 2010
Things at Haesa Go
Things at Haesa Go have been a little shaky these days.
After a particularly rough week last week, things are finally starting to look up. To start with the negatives:
Monday: I called in sick to work because I felt like hell and couldn't possible teach for three hours.
Tuesday: 1st period. One student looked me in the eyes and repeated constantly for at least 10 minutes (followed by intermittent repetitions for the next 20 minutes) only "Teacher, you ugly, ugly, you ugly, you ugly." This was interrupted only by his answer to my question, "What does a zombie look like?" which was, "Zombie ugly like you." Another pair of students spent 30 minutes talking (not whispering) throughout my speaking, my instruction giving and preparation of an activity. I repeatedly asked them to stop and they completely ignored me. Another student found a sewing kit (not his) in the desk at which he was seated. He proceeded to open the kit, pull out a needle and begin playing with it. I told him to stop (uh, playing with a needle that isn't yours??? WHO DOES THAT?). I turned to write on the board and I turned around and discovered this student had put the needle in his ear (which had already been pierced, but that's entirely beside the point). Who puts a needle (let alone one that isn't his/her own) in his/her ear?????? So, livid at the general disrespect I had been shown by my class, I sent this student out of my classroom. One minute late, one of the constantly talking students raised his hand and blurted out, "teacher, bathroom." I said, yes, go and don't come back to my classroom. I was completely fed up with this class. It's unfortunate because two or three of my best students are also in this class and I feel awful for them. After I sent the two students out, two other students began complaining, "teacher, me too. Make me leave too." At the point, I lost it. I looked at the remaining students in the class (the bad ones at least) and I just said: "WHY? Why are you so rude? Why do you disrespect me? If I was Korean, would you do this? If I spoke Korean, would you do this? If I were the principal, would you be rude like this? You are always talking and you never do you work. You take my pens and you waste them. You throw away everything, you are unprepared for your tests. You are wasting my time and it isn't fair to me. Every day I come here with work that I did, and you don't care." They understood nothing and just looked at me and said 뭐? (What... in low speech). At that point I lost it. I started crying. Hysterically. And I made everyone leave.
What a fucking waste of my time. I almost quit on the spot. I'm glad I didn't because my 2nd and 3rd classes were quite good and I was happy.
I complained to the schools native speaker. I complained to my co-teacher at my middle school.
And the school informed me that there would be dire consequences for students who misbehaved (a separate class with disciplinary teachers).
Wednesday: I came to my first period, the boys were like corpses. Like dead bodies, seriously. No one looked at me. No one talked to me. Just sheer anger. They were mad at me????? what. the. fuck.
Anyways, today was better. My students were only a little bad as opposed to positively hellish. So I am now in a good mood.
I just wish I could make the first class less evil.
The good news: 4 more weeks. To be exact: 11 classes. That is, 33 hours. Then, I am done with that stupid place. Forever.
Good night!
A
After a particularly rough week last week, things are finally starting to look up. To start with the negatives:
Monday: I called in sick to work because I felt like hell and couldn't possible teach for three hours.
Tuesday: 1st period. One student looked me in the eyes and repeated constantly for at least 10 minutes (followed by intermittent repetitions for the next 20 minutes) only "Teacher, you ugly, ugly, you ugly, you ugly." This was interrupted only by his answer to my question, "What does a zombie look like?" which was, "Zombie ugly like you." Another pair of students spent 30 minutes talking (not whispering) throughout my speaking, my instruction giving and preparation of an activity. I repeatedly asked them to stop and they completely ignored me. Another student found a sewing kit (not his) in the desk at which he was seated. He proceeded to open the kit, pull out a needle and begin playing with it. I told him to stop (uh, playing with a needle that isn't yours??? WHO DOES THAT?). I turned to write on the board and I turned around and discovered this student had put the needle in his ear (which had already been pierced, but that's entirely beside the point). Who puts a needle (let alone one that isn't his/her own) in his/her ear?????? So, livid at the general disrespect I had been shown by my class, I sent this student out of my classroom. One minute late, one of the constantly talking students raised his hand and blurted out, "teacher, bathroom." I said, yes, go and don't come back to my classroom. I was completely fed up with this class. It's unfortunate because two or three of my best students are also in this class and I feel awful for them. After I sent the two students out, two other students began complaining, "teacher, me too. Make me leave too." At the point, I lost it. I looked at the remaining students in the class (the bad ones at least) and I just said: "WHY? Why are you so rude? Why do you disrespect me? If I was Korean, would you do this? If I spoke Korean, would you do this? If I were the principal, would you be rude like this? You are always talking and you never do you work. You take my pens and you waste them. You throw away everything, you are unprepared for your tests. You are wasting my time and it isn't fair to me. Every day I come here with work that I did, and you don't care." They understood nothing and just looked at me and said 뭐? (What... in low speech). At that point I lost it. I started crying. Hysterically. And I made everyone leave.
What a fucking waste of my time. I almost quit on the spot. I'm glad I didn't because my 2nd and 3rd classes were quite good and I was happy.
I complained to the schools native speaker. I complained to my co-teacher at my middle school.
And the school informed me that there would be dire consequences for students who misbehaved (a separate class with disciplinary teachers).
Wednesday: I came to my first period, the boys were like corpses. Like dead bodies, seriously. No one looked at me. No one talked to me. Just sheer anger. They were mad at me????? what. the. fuck.
Anyways, today was better. My students were only a little bad as opposed to positively hellish. So I am now in a good mood.
I just wish I could make the first class less evil.
The good news: 4 more weeks. To be exact: 11 classes. That is, 33 hours. Then, I am done with that stupid place. Forever.
Good night!
A
Friday, November 19, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Sports = Wearing Crazy Shit in your Hair
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Friday, October 29, 2010
A smorgasbord of things
1. Smorgasbord: I had never known how to spell this word. Thank you google for clarifying with your 'define:' search function. I also learned the correct spelling is: Smörgåsbord and that it is Sweedish, and that in Norway they actually say: koldtbord. Also, this is the title of a children's entertainment album.
2. Kitty cupcake and cake: On my 100 day anniversary with my boo, as I mentioned in a loving earlier blogpost, I got a really dope Hello Kitty cake. I ate it yesterday with him, his brother, and his brother's equally kitty loving girlfriend (저는 윤경언니같이 키티를 좋하해요! I learned this 같이 phrase yesterday while I was studying! YEAH) at the library where we were studying. It was strawberry flavored and freaking delicious. There was a big hello kitty cookie on top and it's adorable, and I simply cannot eat it, it's too cute. Half the cake still remains in my apartment fridge and must be eaten soon. Also, on the cupcakes take the cake blog, there was a featured Hello Kitty cupcake. Now, Cupcakes Takes the Cake frequently features Hello Kitty cupcakes, but usually they are particularly horrifying or just plain ugly. But these are the best ones I've seen perhaps ever on the site. They aren't perfect, but they are darn cute. Plus she's made of edible fondant. Makes me want to hop on over to etsy and snatch a dozen right on up!
3. Pictures. I will be posting a picture a day hopefully from my school's festival and sports day. I will be using my android blogger app to post them, so hopefully there won't be any crazy mess-ups.
4. Schedule Changes. Jesus Christ, can they just tell me when a schedule changes? I mean, perhaps they try to, but I'm not sure I buy it. Granted, my CoolMessenger (the school-wide instant messenger service that is a Korean-based program) is totally broken on my computer. 50% of the time I can't even log in, and the other 50%, I log in and it registers my newest messages as being from this past April or July. Yeah, it's really helpful for me to know that last April there was some 떡 in the 교무실 that we should help ourselves to, or that there is a time change and all afternoon classes will be cancelled on July 23rd. Completely freaking ridiculous. Today, I lucked out in that my schedule change positively effects me. But, it'd be nice to know, you know, in advance, that I have my most horrid class of the day cancelled. Instead, I had to go downstairs to the 교무실 (the teacher's office) and ask, hey, guys, what's the deal? Was there a schedule change? I was just lucky that an English teacher was there for me to ask.
5. Speaking exams. My grade three students (equal to grade 8 or 9 students stateside) are doing speaking tests with me now. All students must prepare a topic and write about it on a paper and then they memorize the entire thing and recite it to me. It's not exactly the way I'd like a real speaking test to go, but memorization is the norm here. The students were given three topics and they had to choose one. The topics are: 1. What do you think is the most important job and why? 2. If you could meet anyone from the past, who would you meet and what would you ask them? and 3. If you had 1,000,000 won what would you buy and why? The selection has been pretty evenly spread across the three topics, which reassures me that the topics I selected are fair and mostly equal. The 1000000 won question seems the most popular, but only slightly (maybe just about 40% of the students have chosen this topic) but also the most troublesome as 50 percent of the students don't know how to say 1,000,000 in english. Instead, they just say 1 billion, or 1 hundred thousand. I feel like they should figure out how to say, you know, the central words of their speech at least. But oh well. Teacher is the overwhelmingly most popular choice for most important job (followed closely by doctor). Also, three students (the first three students to do their speeches) selected King Sejong to be the person they'd most like to meet.
That's all for now folks
xoxo
A
A smorgasbord of children's musical fun!
2. Kitty cupcake and cake: On my 100 day anniversary with my boo, as I mentioned in a loving earlier blogpost, I got a really dope Hello Kitty cake. I ate it yesterday with him, his brother, and his brother's equally kitty loving girlfriend (저는 윤경언니같이 키티를 좋하해요! I learned this 같이 phrase yesterday while I was studying! YEAH) at the library where we were studying. It was strawberry flavored and freaking delicious. There was a big hello kitty cookie on top and it's adorable, and I simply cannot eat it, it's too cute. Half the cake still remains in my apartment fridge and must be eaten soon. Also, on the cupcakes take the cake blog, there was a featured Hello Kitty cupcake. Now, Cupcakes Takes the Cake frequently features Hello Kitty cupcakes, but usually they are particularly horrifying or just plain ugly. But these are the best ones I've seen perhaps ever on the site. They aren't perfect, but they are darn cute. Plus she's made of edible fondant. Makes me want to hop on over to etsy and snatch a dozen right on up!
vs.
No contest.
3. Pictures. I will be posting a picture a day hopefully from my school's festival and sports day. I will be using my android blogger app to post them, so hopefully there won't be any crazy mess-ups.
4. Schedule Changes. Jesus Christ, can they just tell me when a schedule changes? I mean, perhaps they try to, but I'm not sure I buy it. Granted, my CoolMessenger (the school-wide instant messenger service that is a Korean-based program) is totally broken on my computer. 50% of the time I can't even log in, and the other 50%, I log in and it registers my newest messages as being from this past April or July. Yeah, it's really helpful for me to know that last April there was some 떡 in the 교무실 that we should help ourselves to, or that there is a time change and all afternoon classes will be cancelled on July 23rd. Completely freaking ridiculous. Today, I lucked out in that my schedule change positively effects me. But, it'd be nice to know, you know, in advance, that I have my most horrid class of the day cancelled. Instead, I had to go downstairs to the 교무실 (the teacher's office) and ask, hey, guys, what's the deal? Was there a schedule change? I was just lucky that an English teacher was there for me to ask.
5. Speaking exams. My grade three students (equal to grade 8 or 9 students stateside) are doing speaking tests with me now. All students must prepare a topic and write about it on a paper and then they memorize the entire thing and recite it to me. It's not exactly the way I'd like a real speaking test to go, but memorization is the norm here. The students were given three topics and they had to choose one. The topics are: 1. What do you think is the most important job and why? 2. If you could meet anyone from the past, who would you meet and what would you ask them? and 3. If you had 1,000,000 won what would you buy and why? The selection has been pretty evenly spread across the three topics, which reassures me that the topics I selected are fair and mostly equal. The 1000000 won question seems the most popular, but only slightly (maybe just about 40% of the students have chosen this topic) but also the most troublesome as 50 percent of the students don't know how to say 1,000,000 in english. Instead, they just say 1 billion, or 1 hundred thousand. I feel like they should figure out how to say, you know, the central words of their speech at least. But oh well. Teacher is the overwhelmingly most popular choice for most important job (followed closely by doctor). Also, three students (the first three students to do their speeches) selected King Sejong to be the person they'd most like to meet.
That's all for now folks
xoxo
A
Monday, October 18, 2010
Busy Bee
Today I've been really busy. I just have so much to do and not enough time to do it. I didn't prepare my lessons completely until this morning, but I managed to finish with two minutes to spare and so I didn't get totally screwed. Actually it turns out my students really enjoyed the lesson. Or if they didn't enjoy it, they seemed to get it, and that's nice. I'm not sure it's because it was too easy (they seemed to not know some of it until I taught it), but they did a good job, and I'm happy.
Now I'm prepping my high school lessons for the week. Luckily, I can just recycle my grade 3 lessons with them since the high school boys are only one year older and not one level more advanced. This week we are working on the simple past. It was a tiny bit difficult for some of my girls, but I think the boys will be able to handle. Especially since there are only ten of them as opposed to 36.
I have to go to Itaewon sometime this week to pick up some books I ordered from What the Book? This will be my first time going to what is ostensibly South Korea's largest used and foreign book store. I've heard good things, but haven't made it out there. Itaewon is just such a bitch to get to from Incheon (too many transfers) and I'm so busy most weekends.
Next week is me and the bf's 100 day anniversary. But, nothing special planned. I have no school because our 100 day anniversary happens to fall on my school's birthday, but he has exams that week, and so he will be super busy. I'm supposed to be teaching at the high school but I figure I can call in sick. Maybe? Maybe I'll actually get a little sick and it'll warrant the calling in sick. meh. Either way, I'm not sure we'll be doing anything, which is kind of a bummer...
xoxo
A
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