I woke up two hours earlier than usual so I could finish two separate lesson plans that will be due today. One was a bit of a surprise. I was only given one day to write it all out. The other is one I forgot about (but shouldn't have), and consequently ended up doing at the last minute. Still, everything (for the most part) is finished. It's just a matter of formatting for the first, most important lesson plan, which will be used for TaLK Day.
Why didn't I work on this important work yesterday? Well, I tried. Sort of. The teachers that I hold "secret" dinners and outings with sprung a secret dinner last night. It was the first one in several months, and despite any negative or uncomfortable feelings I develop during our gatherings, I look forward to these dinners. For me, they are like once-in-a-lifetime encounters. Uncomfortable feelings would include not understanding most of the conversation because it is all in Korean. I overlook these things for the sake of culture, and a chance to maintain friendships I'm sure I won't regret having later. ...We stayed out for a few hours (dinner, game station .. you know, batting cage, whack-a-mole, etc...then a bar where we played darts). I must say that it was my first time trying a (virgin) pina colada, and it tasted so much better than the pina colada-flavored juice I'd accidentally mistaken for pineapple juice and bought earlier in the week. But I digress.
I walked home, turned on my computer, and (first mistake) lay on the bed. Even though you should never sit somewhere super comfortable when getting ready to do important work (if you're already drowsy), I think sitting anywhere else wouldn't have made a difference. Sure enough, I found myself dozing after typing every few sentences. It wasn't even midnight, but I decided to sleep and wake up early. So catches us up to today's story!
I left the house feeling pretty ready for the day. Today, though a busy day for sure, is the last day of the week, and the beginning of a 5-day weekend. Chuseok (kind of like a Korean Thanksgiving) is this weekend, and there's a national holiday on Wednesday, so nearly every school will have a 5-day weekend.
I walked to the convenience store to recharge my bus pass. It takes a minute at most. Afterwards, I continue down the street, and this man (who must work at the Wedding Hall he's always standing in front of) appears suddenly and greets me. I've tried avoiding talking to him, or walking by the wedding hall in general, but it's really difficult. This road is the road I have to take... and besides, I hadn't seen him in several weeks. He stops me and asks me my name (since, by now, he's greeted me at least twice before). I ask him his name (I hope I can remember... but I hope more that he's not dangerous) in return. He tries saying something, else, but I don't really understand if it's Korean or English. I tell him, "Have a good day," and walk away.
Then, I continue to the bus stop, where a halmoni (a grandma-aged lady) handed me two mints after standing with me for a few minutes. I'd done a good job of not noticing if she was staring at me (I've been practicing this, because honestly, I tend to notice everything, and it'll be good for my health if I learn to ignore a few things). I was just minding my own business, drinking choco milk, so I was genuinely surprised when she got up from the seat and walked over to me. She didn't say anything, just smiled and handed them to me.I gratefully took the mints. I thanked her politely in Korean. I was feeling all happy when a strange thought entered my mind, like the bad angel on your shoulder, whispering in your ear. Maybe she's thinking this girl'll have bad breath after eating and drinking all that she's going to have bad breath. I'll save her from such a fate! Why'd I think such a crazy thought? Ha, because Koreans have a lovely habit of brushing (sometimes communally) after most (if not all) meals. All the teachers and students head to the bathrooms with their brushes and paste after lunch each day. It'd been twenty minutes since I brushed my teeth, and already I was sipping on chocolate milk. Guilty self-conscience.
I get to school and all the kids and teachers are wearing hanboks. Oh yes, I remember. There was a message about this to all the teachers yesterday. I'm not sure why, exactly, they're wearing them today. Maybe because of Chuseok coming. When I sat down at my desk, I heard a student whisper something to another 1st grader. "Shannon.... hanbok...." was all I heard. .... Ah, yes, child. You've realized that I'm not wearing one? Well, I don't have one. Don't make me feel bad. Get back to your work.
Today was the first time I saw the first graders take a test. They separated their desks and up walls so neither they nor their neighbors could cheat. Still, I saw kids attempting it from time to time. The test looked hard. I saw a lot of kids staring at their papers. I wonder what it was about.
Now, lunch is in 20 minutes, and the kids are listening to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" on repeat. They have to learn this song for some performance (did I already mention?) later on next month. It's so cute hearing them say, "Hush my dah-ling, don' feah my dah-ling, the lion sleeps tonight!" They're learning well.
'Til next time,
-Shirby
Showing posts with label school holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school holidays. Show all posts
Friday, September 28, 2012
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Surprise, Surprise
This morning, I walked up to the school and saw some of the kids dressed in highlighter-yellow jackets. There was a huge, 2-story firetruck behind them. I stopped and stared. A fire safety demonstration? Why were these kids so lucky as to get to go into the truck, climb up to a top balcony, and rope down the side, landing on thick safety mats? All I remember from my childhood fire safety demos is visiting the station and watching the guys drive the truck around, stop somewhere far away, and spray high-pressured water in the field nearby. "You can try it," my mentor teacher told me. I politely declined. Don't ask me why. I don't know if I'm really not interested, or if I'm just upset and the unfairness. Either way, the truck's gone by now. When the 1st graders came back to the classroom, one of them acted out what happened inside the truck. Something about it being really dark inside, and looking around, and finding a direction to walk in. At this point of the charades story, he was dogpiled by two other classmates, and I couldn't hear the rest of it.
Work at school's getting a little bit trickier... for reasons I didn't expect.
Last Thursday was Sports Day at school. I found out late, that I'd be participating in it. I'd be running in a relay race. Oh, really? When? Well, I got most of my information from other students. I'd be partnered with 6th grader? Ok.... So, in the end, I participated in this race, though I didn't really understand how the race was orchestrated. I didn't understand who won or lost, just took the baton and ran when it was my turn. Don't get me wrong, it was really fun. I'm glad I got to participate. I even got some compliments from some 6th graders after the race. Still, I'd have liked to known what was going on so I could enjoy the race better. I'd tried so many times to get info from the others, but no luck. Let's just mark this down as another one of those "don't ask questions, just do it" moments.
And yet again, I am discovering that the students have to learn and perform English pop songs for some sort of special day in the near future. My mentor teacher told me a bit about it. A few bits of important information here and there. "Actually, you have to do this, but I will help you." ... I was asked to come up with a list of pop songs for grades 1-2 and 3-6 to learn. Songs with dances were best. I had a day and night to pick the songs, so the next day I came to school with a decent list of songs. Turns out none of them were good. Well, honestly, I thought SOME of them were good. Not "too fast," or "complicated," like she said they were. She ended up picking a song she knew. The kids don't like it, but I think they won't have a problem learning it. This story is still ongoing. Today, I picked "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for the 1-2 graders. She OK'd the choice, but I'll have to come up with a dance for it. Well...I hope I can come up with something good, and worthy.
Oh, and so I think all of my classes, from now until the performance day, will be used to practice the song and dance routines. Does that mean I have to make a lesson plan for October...? I'm looking forward to this upcoming Chuseok holiday. Hopefully it will give me some time to think.
One final thing to mention. The evening of Sports Day, I said my goodbyes to the teachers and got ready to head the bus stop. My mentor teacher stopped me and told me I had to stay. She and the other teachers would first have a meeting, and then we'd all go have dinner together. Ok, I thought. I went to the gym-a-torium to play on the piano while they had their meeting. After awhile, I saw my mentor teacher walking out of the other building, heading to her car. Oh, I thought, maybe she's pulling her car around. I'd better get going. In the time it took me to walk down the stairs into the courtyard, she had driven away towards the restaurant with some other teachers. I called her phone. "Oh! Shannon, what happened to you?" "I'm here at the school. Did you forget about me?"
Before making this phone call, the kindergarten teacher spotted me and told me to wait for her. She'd drive me to the restaurant. I relayed this info to my mentor teacher, and headed to the restaurant with the kindy teachers instead. After dinner, all the teachers were gathered out front (like usual), laughing and chatting and discussing what they'd do after dinner. My mentor teacher was one of the few who didn't drink during dinner, yet she somehow disappeared. I thought she'd walked off with the first group of teachers who were heading to the noraebang, so I headed over with the second group. When I arrived and saw she wasn't there, I realized she'd forgotten me again. The next day at school, she asked me how I'd gotten home. I told her the other teachers had kindly helped me get a taxi. She explained something about being tired and going to pick up her husband before heading home. End of conversation, literally. No apology. Well, I'm not sure how to take that.....
It's lunch time so I have to stop writing. TTYL
'Til next time,
-Shirby
Work at school's getting a little bit trickier... for reasons I didn't expect.
Last Thursday was Sports Day at school. I found out late, that I'd be participating in it. I'd be running in a relay race. Oh, really? When? Well, I got most of my information from other students. I'd be partnered with 6th grader? Ok.... So, in the end, I participated in this race, though I didn't really understand how the race was orchestrated. I didn't understand who won or lost, just took the baton and ran when it was my turn. Don't get me wrong, it was really fun. I'm glad I got to participate. I even got some compliments from some 6th graders after the race. Still, I'd have liked to known what was going on so I could enjoy the race better. I'd tried so many times to get info from the others, but no luck. Let's just mark this down as another one of those "don't ask questions, just do it" moments.
And yet again, I am discovering that the students have to learn and perform English pop songs for some sort of special day in the near future. My mentor teacher told me a bit about it. A few bits of important information here and there. "Actually, you have to do this, but I will help you." ... I was asked to come up with a list of pop songs for grades 1-2 and 3-6 to learn. Songs with dances were best. I had a day and night to pick the songs, so the next day I came to school with a decent list of songs. Turns out none of them were good. Well, honestly, I thought SOME of them were good. Not "too fast," or "complicated," like she said they were. She ended up picking a song she knew. The kids don't like it, but I think they won't have a problem learning it. This story is still ongoing. Today, I picked "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for the 1-2 graders. She OK'd the choice, but I'll have to come up with a dance for it. Well...I hope I can come up with something good, and worthy.
Oh, and so I think all of my classes, from now until the performance day, will be used to practice the song and dance routines. Does that mean I have to make a lesson plan for October...? I'm looking forward to this upcoming Chuseok holiday. Hopefully it will give me some time to think.
One final thing to mention. The evening of Sports Day, I said my goodbyes to the teachers and got ready to head the bus stop. My mentor teacher stopped me and told me I had to stay. She and the other teachers would first have a meeting, and then we'd all go have dinner together. Ok, I thought. I went to the gym-a-torium to play on the piano while they had their meeting. After awhile, I saw my mentor teacher walking out of the other building, heading to her car. Oh, I thought, maybe she's pulling her car around. I'd better get going. In the time it took me to walk down the stairs into the courtyard, she had driven away towards the restaurant with some other teachers. I called her phone. "Oh! Shannon, what happened to you?" "I'm here at the school. Did you forget about me?"
Before making this phone call, the kindergarten teacher spotted me and told me to wait for her. She'd drive me to the restaurant. I relayed this info to my mentor teacher, and headed to the restaurant with the kindy teachers instead. After dinner, all the teachers were gathered out front (like usual), laughing and chatting and discussing what they'd do after dinner. My mentor teacher was one of the few who didn't drink during dinner, yet she somehow disappeared. I thought she'd walked off with the first group of teachers who were heading to the noraebang, so I headed over with the second group. When I arrived and saw she wasn't there, I realized she'd forgotten me again. The next day at school, she asked me how I'd gotten home. I told her the other teachers had kindly helped me get a taxi. She explained something about being tired and going to pick up her husband before heading home. End of conversation, literally. No apology. Well, I'm not sure how to take that.....
It's lunch time so I have to stop writing. TTYL
'Til next time,
-Shirby
Thursday, June 14, 2012
The Last 10 Days
Hey there! Long time, no ... see! Haha.
What's been going on? I'll tell you.
Last week was pretty interesting. Wednesday was a national memorial day for Korea which meant no school. So on the Tuesday before, the school had a parent-teacher dinner. I'm not sure how it was set up, but I suppose a few parents RSVP'd to join the school teachers and administrative staff. I was invited, too. We took up the entire restaurant, minus two small rooms that were separated from the main room by a sliding door. We feasted on dak galbi (forgive me, I'll have to look up the correct spellings another time), nengmyun, mandu, and whatever else the host felt like lavishing us with. Of course, there was alcohol all around....
After the dinner, my mentor teacher's husband "appeared out of nowhere" (again!) with his two "outing buddies." Yes, that is what I will now call them: The Outing Trio. They appeared in the parking lot across the street, and we all talked and laughed about random things explained in broken English and Korean. I suppose at some point my MT's husband's stomach growled because he asked me where the nearest chicken restaurant was. Of course, this is not my side of town, but thanks to the errand-running adventure with the third grade teacher the previous week, I was able to oblige. "BHC...." I trailed off, trying to remember exactly where down the street it was. "BHC!" he exclaimed excitedly. I had picked a good brand. He praised me and quickly urged our small group (the trio, my MT, and two other teachers from the dinner earlier) to start walking. The BHC turned out to be a delivery-only shop, so we turned around and headed to the next best looking chicken restaurant, Hoo-La-La.
On Wednesday, I'd intended to eat dinner with one of the teachers from last night (I really wish we could all hang out more often), but I ended up boarding a train and going to visit Nurse Linda from the TaLK orientation. She lives an hour away from me, and I really wanted another chance to enjoy her and her son's company. They picked me up at the train station, home to a nice-looking building despite the area looking almost as scarce as a ghost town. This was a country side town. Her son, nicknamed, "Optimus Prime," ran towards me as I crossed the tracks. To him, I am "Shannon noona" (older sister Shannon). On this trip, I got to meet Linda's parents and see their lovely home. We spent the day grocery shopping, eating, playing, talking, studying Korean, listening to music, taking pictures, browsing the internet, and visiting a Buddhist temple. All of it was truly a great experience, but part of me wished that I could do one more thing that day. I got home late. 9PM or so. I'd been torn between getting to know an old friend and getting to know new ones. The new ones are closer to home. Having dinner with them this night would probably have been enjoyable, too. Sometimes, I dislike having to choose between these kinds of situations.
The rest of the week went by nicely. There was a bit of trouble teaching the first graders, but the source of the problem is an old one that lies deep within me. It's completely a part of my personality, and one that will take more than a few lucky "good" days with them to overcome. On Saturday, I and the other foreigners of Jecheon set off to Seoul to see the musical, Wicked. The play was performed by an Australian cast, and subtitles were displayed on message boards on either side of the stage. My group had nosebleed seats. We couldn't see the actor's faces in any detail, but that didn't stop the play from being totally exciting!
A few of us also managed to visit a Latin festival for about 30 minutes before the play. My friend Lein and I did sooooo much walking Saturday and Sunday. Between riding the subway back and forth across the city and walking around exploring everything (in an attempt to escape boredom, kill time, or find food), this trip kept us quite fit! Our group spent the night at a hostel in Hongdae, and on Sunday Lein and I broke away from the group again to grab breakfast and go visit the Trick Eye Museum. I hope to make a video of the that part of the trip. As soon as it's completed, I'll post the link here.
Lein and I also went home a bit early so as not to feel totally exhausted on Monday. I've decided that sleeping on the train is no longer enjoyable. Too much anticipation thinking that you'll miss your stop. Even with a timer, it's just like trying to sleep on an airplane, seat-wise. ... I take that back. The train seats are spacier and recline better. Still....
'Til next time,
-Shirby
What's been going on? I'll tell you.
Last week was pretty interesting. Wednesday was a national memorial day for Korea which meant no school. So on the Tuesday before, the school had a parent-teacher dinner. I'm not sure how it was set up, but I suppose a few parents RSVP'd to join the school teachers and administrative staff. I was invited, too. We took up the entire restaurant, minus two small rooms that were separated from the main room by a sliding door. We feasted on dak galbi (forgive me, I'll have to look up the correct spellings another time), nengmyun, mandu, and whatever else the host felt like lavishing us with. Of course, there was alcohol all around....
After the dinner, my mentor teacher's husband "appeared out of nowhere" (again!) with his two "outing buddies." Yes, that is what I will now call them: The Outing Trio. They appeared in the parking lot across the street, and we all talked and laughed about random things explained in broken English and Korean. I suppose at some point my MT's husband's stomach growled because he asked me where the nearest chicken restaurant was. Of course, this is not my side of town, but thanks to the errand-running adventure with the third grade teacher the previous week, I was able to oblige. "BHC...." I trailed off, trying to remember exactly where down the street it was. "BHC!" he exclaimed excitedly. I had picked a good brand. He praised me and quickly urged our small group (the trio, my MT, and two other teachers from the dinner earlier) to start walking. The BHC turned out to be a delivery-only shop, so we turned around and headed to the next best looking chicken restaurant, Hoo-La-La.
On Wednesday, I'd intended to eat dinner with one of the teachers from last night (I really wish we could all hang out more often), but I ended up boarding a train and going to visit Nurse Linda from the TaLK orientation. She lives an hour away from me, and I really wanted another chance to enjoy her and her son's company. They picked me up at the train station, home to a nice-looking building despite the area looking almost as scarce as a ghost town. This was a country side town. Her son, nicknamed, "Optimus Prime," ran towards me as I crossed the tracks. To him, I am "Shannon noona" (older sister Shannon). On this trip, I got to meet Linda's parents and see their lovely home. We spent the day grocery shopping, eating, playing, talking, studying Korean, listening to music, taking pictures, browsing the internet, and visiting a Buddhist temple. All of it was truly a great experience, but part of me wished that I could do one more thing that day. I got home late. 9PM or so. I'd been torn between getting to know an old friend and getting to know new ones. The new ones are closer to home. Having dinner with them this night would probably have been enjoyable, too. Sometimes, I dislike having to choose between these kinds of situations.
The rest of the week went by nicely. There was a bit of trouble teaching the first graders, but the source of the problem is an old one that lies deep within me. It's completely a part of my personality, and one that will take more than a few lucky "good" days with them to overcome. On Saturday, I and the other foreigners of Jecheon set off to Seoul to see the musical, Wicked. The play was performed by an Australian cast, and subtitles were displayed on message boards on either side of the stage. My group had nosebleed seats. We couldn't see the actor's faces in any detail, but that didn't stop the play from being totally exciting!
A few of us also managed to visit a Latin festival for about 30 minutes before the play. My friend Lein and I did sooooo much walking Saturday and Sunday. Between riding the subway back and forth across the city and walking around exploring everything (in an attempt to escape boredom, kill time, or find food), this trip kept us quite fit! Our group spent the night at a hostel in Hongdae, and on Sunday Lein and I broke away from the group again to grab breakfast and go visit the Trick Eye Museum. I hope to make a video of the that part of the trip. As soon as it's completed, I'll post the link here.
Lein and I also went home a bit early so as not to feel totally exhausted on Monday. I've decided that sleeping on the train is no longer enjoyable. Too much anticipation thinking that you'll miss your stop. Even with a timer, it's just like trying to sleep on an airplane, seat-wise. ... I take that back. The train seats are spacier and recline better. Still....
'Til next time,
-Shirby
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)