"Hey everybody!
Buy this book! It's really great! There are essays in there from the most distinguished authors on the planet.
http://www.jstwrite.com/index_files/Page2844.htm"
-Guest Blogger Dr. Stevil
Friday, October 26, 2007
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Scenes of Gunpo
Today we walked on nearby Surisan and tooled around in Sanbon, the closest shopping square.
Un-hustle and Un-Bustle
Today was a wonderful, restful lazy Sunday. I just stepped back from the movement and restless hustle of life lately. Thank God! :)
North Korea was an amazing place, surprisingly pretty, but it meant a weekend spent mostly on the bus.
Then this week miscomunication hung in the air like a haze... It felt particularly acute this week somehow. The days blended into a rolling, evolving, meeting and class that were scheduled, cancelled, and then uncancelled. No one knows when my Christmas vacation days will be, exactly, so I can't plan a trip. Steve and I and friends want to go to China and take this amazing opportunity to see the Great Wall and explore. I went into school and asked cheerfully and modestly one morning this week about the timing oif my vacaction, and left the room more confused than when I entered it. Multiple options were discussed, but the school administrators wouldn't approve any one schedule. Including weekends, I get three weeks off in January, they just won't commit to which three weeks. It is an amazing blessing to get this vacation time at all. However, as the calendar days tick by and the timing of the vacation day issue does not resolve itself, I have begun to get annoyed!! I cannot plan a trip, or save to buy an air ticket to China, without a schedule. Basically, I am going to literally pay for the school's disorganization, in the for of a higher priced air ticket. Grr. :(
Then Thursday was a really good classroom day. Several classes, particularly the higher level third grade and sixth grade classes are really starting to challenge theselves and speak more, it's exciting. However, then Friday morning was the old "Who's on First" scene to the extreme! Ready for confusion? Mr. K., the teacher who cannot speak ANY English who is subbing for my co-teacher during her maternity leave came and told me at 4:30 on Thursday, when I had already made work/prepared for the next day that English classes were cancelled Friday morning for a school race, "unless rain." Philosophical issues aside (sports are more important than learning English?) Friday's classes turned into a logistical quagmire.
Then, Friday morning, of course, it rained. So, I prepared to teach, but when I saw athletic equipement in the halls I went, five minutes before school on Friday, and asked the fifth and sixth grade teachers about the schedule. The teachers said "cancel 5 and 6." But the sixth grade teachers said "no cancel 6th grade."Later, when I showed up with my books and a newly made game and worksheets to teach sixth grade English to some very confused teachers and students, I wondered what was happening. One sixth grade teacher tried to tell me it was fifth grade time (in half English). But by then I thought that all fifth grade English was "cancelled," and had announced that to all the students. Ridiculously confused yet? I certainly was. It turns out of course that the teachers I spoke to confused the English word "cancel' with the Englsih word "switch." they had just wanted to switch classes, but couldn't comunicate that.
Although the meaning of the miscommunication eventualy bore itself out, I spent a lot of time on Friday feeling frustrated and isolated!! Where is the English speaking co-teacher a foreign teacher is supposed to have to guide and support them? I felt trampled by the school staff, their lack of support, and there unrealistic assumtpions about how many new Hangul words I can learn/retain a week. Communication is a two way street, but it feels ironic sometimes that they say they want to be "welcoming," to me and "help" the students learn English, but then most of teacher's themselves seem to me to be making little effort to learn more or communicate in English.
Yes, Friday was definitely NOT a high point in my year so far.
So...this weekend I tried to take it easy, stay local, and look at the things around me that are available and interesting in my new Korean hometown. School is a great challenge, greater than I expected, frankly,and the school staff keep hurling the proverbial ball of communication back into my court all the time. All I can do is make the best of that. And get creative but realistic, and quickly. This year is not going to be as flexible and as much of a learning experience in creative teaching as I'd hoped. But I am sure going to learn about communication and self-advocacy. I have to just to stay afloat.
At any rate, I took some wonderful time to myself Friday night and realized that I am I am lucky to have a safe, cozy corner of the universe to live in and a wonderful boyfriend to come visit me. Saturday night plans were ever changing, but in the end we tried the new Korean b-b-q place that opened on my street. We were quite the curiousity item in there, particularly as Steve is bald (very few Korean men are bald except for monks). The place is clean and yummy and the two of us enjoyed as generous portion of BEEF galbi and veggies, plus beer, for about US $12! Score!
So, life here in Gunpo is never boring, and never unchallenging.
North Korea was an amazing place, surprisingly pretty, but it meant a weekend spent mostly on the bus.
Then this week miscomunication hung in the air like a haze... It felt particularly acute this week somehow. The days blended into a rolling, evolving, meeting and class that were scheduled, cancelled, and then uncancelled. No one knows when my Christmas vacation days will be, exactly, so I can't plan a trip. Steve and I and friends want to go to China and take this amazing opportunity to see the Great Wall and explore. I went into school and asked cheerfully and modestly one morning this week about the timing oif my vacaction, and left the room more confused than when I entered it. Multiple options were discussed, but the school administrators wouldn't approve any one schedule. Including weekends, I get three weeks off in January, they just won't commit to which three weeks. It is an amazing blessing to get this vacation time at all. However, as the calendar days tick by and the timing of the vacation day issue does not resolve itself, I have begun to get annoyed!! I cannot plan a trip, or save to buy an air ticket to China, without a schedule. Basically, I am going to literally pay for the school's disorganization, in the for of a higher priced air ticket. Grr. :(
Then Thursday was a really good classroom day. Several classes, particularly the higher level third grade and sixth grade classes are really starting to challenge theselves and speak more, it's exciting. However, then Friday morning was the old "Who's on First" scene to the extreme! Ready for confusion? Mr. K., the teacher who cannot speak ANY English who is subbing for my co-teacher during her maternity leave came and told me at 4:30 on Thursday, when I had already made work/prepared for the next day that English classes were cancelled Friday morning for a school race, "unless rain." Philosophical issues aside (sports are more important than learning English?) Friday's classes turned into a logistical quagmire.
Then, Friday morning, of course, it rained. So, I prepared to teach, but when I saw athletic equipement in the halls I went, five minutes before school on Friday, and asked the fifth and sixth grade teachers about the schedule. The teachers said "cancel 5 and 6." But the sixth grade teachers said "no cancel 6th grade."Later, when I showed up with my books and a newly made game and worksheets to teach sixth grade English to some very confused teachers and students, I wondered what was happening. One sixth grade teacher tried to tell me it was fifth grade time (in half English). But by then I thought that all fifth grade English was "cancelled," and had announced that to all the students. Ridiculously confused yet? I certainly was. It turns out of course that the teachers I spoke to confused the English word "cancel' with the Englsih word "switch." they had just wanted to switch classes, but couldn't comunicate that.
Although the meaning of the miscommunication eventualy bore itself out, I spent a lot of time on Friday feeling frustrated and isolated!! Where is the English speaking co-teacher a foreign teacher is supposed to have to guide and support them? I felt trampled by the school staff, their lack of support, and there unrealistic assumtpions about how many new Hangul words I can learn/retain a week. Communication is a two way street, but it feels ironic sometimes that they say they want to be "welcoming," to me and "help" the students learn English, but then most of teacher's themselves seem to me to be making little effort to learn more or communicate in English.
Yes, Friday was definitely NOT a high point in my year so far.
So...this weekend I tried to take it easy, stay local, and look at the things around me that are available and interesting in my new Korean hometown. School is a great challenge, greater than I expected, frankly,and the school staff keep hurling the proverbial ball of communication back into my court all the time. All I can do is make the best of that. And get creative but realistic, and quickly. This year is not going to be as flexible and as much of a learning experience in creative teaching as I'd hoped. But I am sure going to learn about communication and self-advocacy. I have to just to stay afloat.
At any rate, I took some wonderful time to myself Friday night and realized that I am I am lucky to have a safe, cozy corner of the universe to live in and a wonderful boyfriend to come visit me. Saturday night plans were ever changing, but in the end we tried the new Korean b-b-q place that opened on my street. We were quite the curiousity item in there, particularly as Steve is bald (very few Korean men are bald except for monks). The place is clean and yummy and the two of us enjoyed as generous portion of BEEF galbi and veggies, plus beer, for about US $12! Score!
So, life here in Gunpo is never boring, and never unchallenging.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
The Waiting Is The Hardest Part
Forgive me for not being on here in forever! I've been busy waiting. And trying to get this blog to open in English, as opposed to Korean, when I visit the PC bang. And waiting:
In September I waited for:
1. My Airfare reimbursement (3 weeks)
2. My moving allowance (2.5 weeks after I'd moved
3. Steve to get back from his business trip to Africa (that waiting stank)
4. Home internet service to be installed
5. The former occupant of my Officetel to retrieve his belongings and recycle the random stuff he left in the corner
6. The #6 purple bus to take me to the subway station across the rice paddy field from my school
7. My first pay check-which went to last years' teacher, by mistake !!!!!!!!!!!! (AAH!)
8. My alien registration card to come in the mail (STILL waiting!)
9. Being assigned a night children's English class at city hall.
10. Attendance lists so I am not calling little Su-Jin "Su-Jeoung," and vice versa...
11. Myself to wrap my head around my schedule and get a clue.
My schedule is starting to make sense, the kids names are still a mystery, and a clue? Well, I have hope anyway!
In September I waited for:
1. My Airfare reimbursement (3 weeks)
2. My moving allowance (2.5 weeks after I'd moved
3. Steve to get back from his business trip to Africa (that waiting stank)
4. Home internet service to be installed
5. The former occupant of my Officetel to retrieve his belongings and recycle the random stuff he left in the corner
6. The #6 purple bus to take me to the subway station across the rice paddy field from my school
7. My first pay check-which went to last years' teacher, by mistake !!!!!!!!!!!! (AAH!)
8. My alien registration card to come in the mail (STILL waiting!)
9. Being assigned a night children's English class at city hall.
10. Attendance lists so I am not calling little Su-Jin "Su-Jeoung," and vice versa...
11. Myself to wrap my head around my schedule and get a clue.
My schedule is starting to make sense, the kids names are still a mystery, and a clue? Well, I have hope anyway!
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Five Day Training Fiesta
Week two I was spirited away to the outskirts of Suwon for a 5 day training. It was a nice hotel in a tranquil place, but it felt a bit like being transplanted into summer camp, just when my officetel started to feel more like home. The large "resort" near a lake boasted a garden terrace and a well groomed golf course. Good, if one golfed.
They placed us four to a room to accomodate our large group of approx. 190 "Native speaker"English elementary school teachers from all over the province. I arrived last and slept on a small twin bed between a Canadian teacher and a Scottish teacher. Thus my sleep was often interrupted and I felt a bit like the inside parts of a sausage, or "sausag-ee" as the Koreans call it! :)
The training was mostly positive. The timing was a bit annoying, though. I promised Steve I would book plans for the upcoming 4 day Chuseok break, but this proved too difficult to do while at the conference. The resort offered only TWO computers for a 600 person resort. Apparently the hotel assumed that you'd bring your own laptop, but we teachers all assumed more would be provided. I was also deluged with e-mails and text messages from hiking club about a weekend long trip Steve and I are taking with in October. Their requests for documents and deposit payments were hard to cover as I had difficulty just getting on the computers in my time off.
Within the five days of payed training, there were some endkless lectures, BUT, there were also three days of very helpful information on class activities and inter-cultural communication. And lots of great web resouces, which are crucial because the textbooks here are pretty DULLLLLLL... Many of the best ideas came from my fellow new teachers. We shared silly stories and confusing situations in our new nieghborhoods. I realized how sheltered I'd been in the "faux Korea" of my relatively Westernized area of Seoul last year!! There were three abrasive American men there on their first travels abroad, so there were definitely two public moments when one could see all the Americans who weren't speaking (including me) blush and sink lower in their seats. Oye. Then there was the American guy who traveled there with all of his moneey in Korea AND his credit cards in one wallet, no money belt, no bank account yet, no back up funds. Of course the poor idiot got his wallet stolen by someone at the hotel. I felt bad for him, but he was openly mocked by some for his total lack of common sense. Poor loser.
It as a big group of mostly twenty-something Canadians and I felt a bit shy, believe it or not. There was a lot of small talk, which is sometimes interesting and sometimes boring. I forces myself to sit with different groups, and di click with a few folks.There was way more diversity than I'd seen at Poly School conventions, though. I was pleased to meet light-skinned blacks from the UK , Korean-Americans, and a bi-racial man with an Indian last name. It's a credit to our province that they don't see all "Native English Speakers" as blue-eyed blondes like some schools in Korea do. In the end my more mellow roomates turned out to be cool, I went out to the local bar once or twice and I met four cool people from my city. One grew up right near my cousin Missy; small world. All the folks in my area exchanged emails and I plan to invite them to a little brunch that I am planning when I get myself organized in October.
By Friday we were all tired but a few friendships were budding and we'd started a website for ourselves which wil be great for sharing lesson plans and connecting with folks once the winter hits and it's harder to meet people outside whether hiking mountains or going to local events.
They placed us four to a room to accomodate our large group of approx. 190 "Native speaker"English elementary school teachers from all over the province. I arrived last and slept on a small twin bed between a Canadian teacher and a Scottish teacher. Thus my sleep was often interrupted and I felt a bit like the inside parts of a sausage, or "sausag-ee" as the Koreans call it! :)
The training was mostly positive. The timing was a bit annoying, though. I promised Steve I would book plans for the upcoming 4 day Chuseok break, but this proved too difficult to do while at the conference. The resort offered only TWO computers for a 600 person resort. Apparently the hotel assumed that you'd bring your own laptop, but we teachers all assumed more would be provided. I was also deluged with e-mails and text messages from hiking club about a weekend long trip Steve and I are taking with in October. Their requests for documents and deposit payments were hard to cover as I had difficulty just getting on the computers in my time off.
Within the five days of payed training, there were some endkless lectures, BUT, there were also three days of very helpful information on class activities and inter-cultural communication. And lots of great web resouces, which are crucial because the textbooks here are pretty DULLLLLLL... Many of the best ideas came from my fellow new teachers. We shared silly stories and confusing situations in our new nieghborhoods. I realized how sheltered I'd been in the "faux Korea" of my relatively Westernized area of Seoul last year!! There were three abrasive American men there on their first travels abroad, so there were definitely two public moments when one could see all the Americans who weren't speaking (including me) blush and sink lower in their seats. Oye. Then there was the American guy who traveled there with all of his moneey in Korea AND his credit cards in one wallet, no money belt, no bank account yet, no back up funds. Of course the poor idiot got his wallet stolen by someone at the hotel. I felt bad for him, but he was openly mocked by some for his total lack of common sense. Poor loser.
It as a big group of mostly twenty-something Canadians and I felt a bit shy, believe it or not. There was a lot of small talk, which is sometimes interesting and sometimes boring. I forces myself to sit with different groups, and di click with a few folks.There was way more diversity than I'd seen at Poly School conventions, though. I was pleased to meet light-skinned blacks from the UK , Korean-Americans, and a bi-racial man with an Indian last name. It's a credit to our province that they don't see all "Native English Speakers" as blue-eyed blondes like some schools in Korea do. In the end my more mellow roomates turned out to be cool, I went out to the local bar once or twice and I met four cool people from my city. One grew up right near my cousin Missy; small world. All the folks in my area exchanged emails and I plan to invite them to a little brunch that I am planning when I get myself organized in October.
By Friday we were all tired but a few friendships were budding and we'd started a website for ourselves which wil be great for sharing lesson plans and connecting with folks once the winter hits and it's harder to meet people outside whether hiking mountains or going to local events.
Officetel Life
Week one I tried to unpack and improve upon my modest Officetel. The former occupant's belongings were my first problem. He moved on the subway and couldn't carry all his stuff, which stinks for him, but then he left a pile of stuff and a fridge full of food and made it stink for me. :( Hanging the curtain rod also became unrgent as the sun blasted in through the window at 5:30am. Good morning sleepy teacher! I tried to hang it with nails, it fell down. I went to the store and asked gfor screws and the clerk just shrugged at me, uncomprehending. I jerry-rigged it with duck tape; down it crashed. In streamed the early morning sun. Finally, I drew a diagram and marched back to the E-mart for the gosh darned screws.
It was a confusing week, but I tried to take it with a sense of humor. The shelves in my apartment are much too high for me, and they were designed and built by Koreans for Koreans. Hmm. I decided that they must have a sense if humor, as well. :) Steve wasd planning a business trip, then he wasn't, and then he was again. School rushed by, a stream of connections and miscommunications. Mrs. L. asked sweetly, "Did the students at Poly School UNDERSTAND your American accent?" Meaning, what, exactly? (My "American" accent? There's only one?)
I struggled with the CD rom system (which I am supposd to use in most lessons) at school, and with getting my internet set up at home. It seemed like right after my warm reunion with Steve he was off again, leaving me alone in my white bathrobe in his exectutive apartment. Then ther monsoons returned in earnest. The 80 or so Korean words that I know didn't fit into enough correct sentences to get around well in my neighborhood. One night as it poured rain, I couldn't have my favorite fried chicken delivered from the local Kochon Chicken, because I couldn't correctly pronounce the name of my street in Korean. Such is life in the Korean suburbs without the buffer of Korean helpers.
Then, thankfully I did have a fun night out on the town with my hillarious pal Angi. She has had her own joys and misadventures, and just laughing over a beer and stories, IN ENGLISH, restored me. School tires me out but socializing with fellow foreigners is key to defeating isolation.
It was a confusing week, but I tried to take it with a sense of humor. The shelves in my apartment are much too high for me, and they were designed and built by Koreans for Koreans. Hmm. I decided that they must have a sense if humor, as well. :) Steve wasd planning a business trip, then he wasn't, and then he was again. School rushed by, a stream of connections and miscommunications. Mrs. L. asked sweetly, "Did the students at Poly School UNDERSTAND your American accent?" Meaning, what, exactly? (My "American" accent? There's only one?)
I struggled with the CD rom system (which I am supposd to use in most lessons) at school, and with getting my internet set up at home. It seemed like right after my warm reunion with Steve he was off again, leaving me alone in my white bathrobe in his exectutive apartment. Then ther monsoons returned in earnest. The 80 or so Korean words that I know didn't fit into enough correct sentences to get around well in my neighborhood. One night as it poured rain, I couldn't have my favorite fried chicken delivered from the local Kochon Chicken, because I couldn't correctly pronounce the name of my street in Korean. Such is life in the Korean suburbs without the buffer of Korean helpers.
Then, thankfully I did have a fun night out on the town with my hillarious pal Angi. She has had her own joys and misadventures, and just laughing over a beer and stories, IN ENGLISH, restored me. School tires me out but socializing with fellow foreigners is key to defeating isolation.
The First Day of School
I arrived early, in my snazzy outfit, full of eager zest. Excited students smiled and waved- "Hello! Hi! Sunsangiiimmmmm! Hi!." :) Rumors spread quickly through the school that I was a lady and small girl after small girl peeked into my shared office to confirm these reports.
Mrs. L, my sweet and very pregnant co-teacher smiled at me over her great expanse of belly. She let me into my office and tried to explain my schedule, and the change that had already been made since she's printed out my schedule fifteen minutes earlier. I had a little post-flight cold and she spoke in a quiet, low voice, out of habit or shyness, I wasn't sure which. I strained to hear her. She alluded to lesson formats that I must already know, having spoken to the former foreign teacher. I wondered if he's told me enough. I had to ask her to repeat herself, louder, please, twice. She smiled, and tried to explain it to me in different words in the same quiet tone. I couldn't quite hear her, but I believe that she apologized that her English was not better. I complimented her English. Ah, inter-cultural communication...
The day was a blur of smiling children. Another surprise: I will not, in fact get my own unshared classroom and I will be roaming to other rooms most of the time. So much for the seating plan ideas I'd prepared! Every classroom was different, and had a different vibe. In class, we mostly met each other and played name games. I stuck to basics like the date and the weather. English and shyness levels varied widely, to understate it! Being chosen as teacher's helper for the day was either their biggest honor or worst nightmare! Giving stickers to the best participants was a big hit, though. Darn it, hardly any of them had chosen English names, so I have at least 12 Jun or Jin based names!! What can I do? Bless the Soyoung's because at least that's a unique name of a former high school classmate who I'll be able to remember.
Most of my fellow teachers seemed caring and supportive. Two are young and fun and really tried to help. One used good English to back me up. And, one guy left the room entirely for half my lesson, without telling me where he was going. Um,.er, that's not supposed to happen. Then there was the scary old school guy with the hitting baton. I had heard that corporal punishment still happens in some schools, but that didn't prepare me for the "Whack!" sound of his baton hitting a boys thigh durinmg English class! Scary! I was glad I only had to be in that classroom two hours a week.
Mrs. L, my sweet and very pregnant co-teacher smiled at me over her great expanse of belly. She let me into my office and tried to explain my schedule, and the change that had already been made since she's printed out my schedule fifteen minutes earlier. I had a little post-flight cold and she spoke in a quiet, low voice, out of habit or shyness, I wasn't sure which. I strained to hear her. She alluded to lesson formats that I must already know, having spoken to the former foreign teacher. I wondered if he's told me enough. I had to ask her to repeat herself, louder, please, twice. She smiled, and tried to explain it to me in different words in the same quiet tone. I couldn't quite hear her, but I believe that she apologized that her English was not better. I complimented her English. Ah, inter-cultural communication...
The day was a blur of smiling children. Another surprise: I will not, in fact get my own unshared classroom and I will be roaming to other rooms most of the time. So much for the seating plan ideas I'd prepared! Every classroom was different, and had a different vibe. In class, we mostly met each other and played name games. I stuck to basics like the date and the weather. English and shyness levels varied widely, to understate it! Being chosen as teacher's helper for the day was either their biggest honor or worst nightmare! Giving stickers to the best participants was a big hit, though. Darn it, hardly any of them had chosen English names, so I have at least 12 Jun or Jin based names!! What can I do? Bless the Soyoung's because at least that's a unique name of a former high school classmate who I'll be able to remember.
Most of my fellow teachers seemed caring and supportive. Two are young and fun and really tried to help. One used good English to back me up. And, one guy left the room entirely for half my lesson, without telling me where he was going. Um,.er, that's not supposed to happen. Then there was the scary old school guy with the hitting baton. I had heard that corporal punishment still happens in some schools, but that didn't prepare me for the "Whack!" sound of his baton hitting a boys thigh durinmg English class! Scary! I was glad I only had to be in that classroom two hours a week.
Setting In
After an endless flight and unexpected delays...I finally arrived in Seoul late Friday night. Steve was there to meet me at the airport, which was sweet and practical as my delay had annulled my plans to meet him. My nice driver helped with my huge bags and drove us South of the city. We did not turn into exactly the neighborhood I had been told about and was thus expecting, but drove further away from the Hofs (bars) and excitement of Sanbon station to the quieter Gunpo station area. Hmm, interesting...We fumbled with the electronic lock (no keys to misplace! :)) and peered in. Yay! I was relieved at the size of my officetel. Not palatial, by any means, but a few feet larger, and cleaner, than I had expected. One wrinkle was that the former tenant Phil, left a big pile of stuff in the corner of the Officetel. A large chair, an excercise machine, and heavy dumbells. He left a note saying that he would be back fior them. Hmm again. I crumpled into bed and slept for many hours...
by P
by P
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