I Wish I Was a Little Bit Taller...

South Korea, South Korea... you continue to amaze me in the ridiculous things that you do to achieve beauty, when most of you are already incredibly attractive! I don't get it! I thought it was bad enough that there are stories floating around about kids getting surgery so they have bigger, "more Western" eyes (to get a double eyelid), or having their jawbones shaved so their faces aren't so square. But this, this might be taking it a little far...

what are you sorry for?

Ellen and Jason (from my Elementary) continue to have problems. I came upstairs to class today and Ellen had Jason in a headlock - it was actually pretty funny, but I had to get all teacher-y adult-like and break them up. Ellen had tears streaming down her cheeks and rage in her eyes. After I separated them she kicked him not once but three times. "Ellen!" I scolded, but she just glared and cried. "What is your problem?!" and then, "Jason. What did you say or do to her today?" Silence from both of them, of course. I said I wasn't going to start class until I found out what was going on, but that was probably a dumb threat on my part seeing as how we had a spelling test today and, well, it's Friday, so come on. Anyway, after five or so minutes of prompting, I found out that Jason said something about killing Ellen on the bus on the way to school. For real!? Why are all my boys threatening all my girls that they are going to kill them!? But then Ellen started to explain more about what it was that Jason said to her, and it was something involving a king and how she was less than a king and he was going to kill her... huh? Maybe he was trying to teach her poker or some other card game. I don't know. It was hard not to laugh as I forced them into apologizing to each other - Jason for what he said and Ellen for taking matters into her own hands and beating him up. Man, these kids!

And then, to top it off, Jason made a gun out of rolled up paper and taped handles and extra cartridges on it and everything. Oh my gosh! These kids. I don't even know. Yesterday, Jennie's kid Leo threw a temper-tantrum and pushed her multiple times, all the while screaming and crying. I remember a day, not so long ago, when I thought that teaching Korean children would be a breeze compared to Statesiders. Oh, how wrong, how completely, horribly wrong I was. I suppose they have their moments, but they're pretty shocking a lot of the time. Another example, kind of irrelevant, but just to show you what a punk David is. Last week, David was eating this candy called, "Hi-Chew" in class, equivalent to a "Mamba" back home, but only one flavor per package. He's playing with the candy more than he's eating it, so I tell him to put his "candy" away, but then he says, "Teacher, it's jelly, it's not candy." And I say, "Yeah, it's candy." And then he says, "No, candy hard." And I say, "No, candy can be soft or hard, and jelly is jelly, not candy. In America, we call it gummy candy." And then the little smartass says, "Teacher. This Korea. This not America." And he won after that because I couldn't say what I wanted to say because I'm a teacher now. Just sayin'. TGIF, eh?

They aren't Children...

So a Korean co-teacher and I agreed after sharing stories about Alex. He's a two-face apparently. Olivia and Alex were arguing today, about who knows what, but all of a sudden - when I'm at the board with my back to the class, of course - Olivia comes and tugs on my shirt. "Kate Teacher." "Yes, Olivia." "Alex [and here she spits on herself]" "What?!" "Alex -" she gets ready to spit again, after wiping the first dribble off her chin, but I say, "Stop!" and then, "that's called 'spit' and what? Alex spit on you?" She nods. I turn to Alex. "Did you spit on Olivia?" A blank stare response. "Alex..." and then I ask the other kids, but Arthur and Danny were actually working, so I turned to reliable Roy and he nodded his head. So, Alex got sent to the 'Thinking Feet' (time out) and Olivia got two 'X's (strikes) because (A1 she hadn't been listening all morning) I had told her to stop taking Alex's book away, but she continued to do it even after Alex asked her to stop, but then he resolved to spit on her... so it goes.

Alex and Olivia have had problems in the past. During a break in Elementary this afternoon, I was recounting the story to a co-teacher and she was the one who mentioned Alex's two faced-ness. I guess he's been running around telling other kids he would kill them... in Korean. News to me! Yikes! He's a little angel with teachers, but turn your back and it's like Macaluy Caulken in "The Good Son" all over again! Sheesh.

Also, one of my Elementary students was drawing guns in class today; big guns, small guns, any type of guns. I complimented him on his artistic talent and then told him if we were in America he'd probably be sent to the principal's office and get a call home, but I stopped myself there because I suppose 9 is too young to be hearing about school shootings and stuff of that nature. I mumbled off with a "America has a problem with guns..."

Zombies and Why I Wouldn't Survive an Attack

I couldn't help but think about this as I walked home from doing yoga and eating yummy, tasty borscht at Elaine's house. Weird, I know. Zombies are something I think about on a regular - if not daily - basis here, in Korea. Maybe it has something to do with the fast-paced and drunken lifestyle over here (fast-walking, stumbly folks is what I'm getting at with that); the fact that I'm different from everyone and feel somewhat like I'm on the outside looking in (whereas if I were in Zombieland, I'd be on the inside looking out of barred windows, sweating and scared for my life); how sometimes, in the morning when I'm running, I'll hear the quick clip-clop of heels running behind me, and in not wanting them to pass me (them being business-clad men and [usually] women) I'll run faster and some part of my brain will turn it into a necessary situation... like outrunning zombies. Or, sometimes when I'm playing LIONASAUR with my kids in the playroom, they'll all be tugging me down and roaring themselves (basically acting like zombies), and that's when I get really scared because they have a good grip and they'd be all cute and confused-looking (because they might not know how they got turned into a zombie, or why they wanted to eat me) and that's the time when they would spring. I think about these things.

Oh. But the whole thing, besides all those things, that sparked me to think about zombies in the first place - well, the first place this evening (cause I was thinking about it in the playroom today, but we'll get to that, there's still time) was when I was walking home, in the dark (well semi-dark, this is "urban-ish" Korea, and the night is neon), next to a busy road, on a big, slightly dimmed sidewalk, and a woman sneezed not once, not twice, but three times that I heard in passing (there very well could have been more). That made me think about infection, and what isn't the ultimate infection, but zombie-ism? Right? Right. So I was thinking, what if this woman was a zombie? I'm a little tired right now, would I be able to run away? And, if I could run away, would I be able to run away right away, because I'd probably be pretty confused at first, and then maybe in my confusion, if I did run away, what if I ran into this busy road next to me and I'm hit by the traffic - which is a worry every day, I mean, I've told you about the crazy drivers here. So, enacting that scenario in my mind made me want to study up on zombies and be well versed in the subject so I could protect myself in case something of the sort were to ever happen (though, c'mon, I think it goes without saying that I'm joking right now... am I clarifying this for your sake or mine, that remains to be seen) and I thought back to the time when I saw David Sedaris in Kansas City, with my brother, Alex, and he read some from Max Brooks' The Zombie Survival Guide and it was funny, but there were rules and tips, tips about survival - there aren't guns in Korea, so if an infection/invasion were to take place, what would I do? Then, in thinking about zombies... okay, so they attack people... is it because they're really hungry, or are they just like extreme Scientologists, trying to recruit anyone and everyone they can? I just don't know. Like I said, I'm not that well versed in zombie knowledge and I need to do my studying.

And then I thought about that movie Dawn of the Dead (that's the one with the little girl who eats the woman's husband in the bathroom in the beginning scene, right? because it's the dawn when it begins...) and that made me think of my kids being zombies (which again, like you read above is something that I think of sometimes), because today in the playroom, I was just being the regular ole Lion, and I ran up the "stairs" (red, yellow, blue smooshy-ish round log-like steps) after them, and started into the green tunnel so they would race down the bumpy slide, but then instead of coming out of the tunnel, I stayed in it y'see, and I turned around so I would surprise 'em if/when they came up the steps (of sorts). But, oh! They surprised me, because they all came up at once and my roaring didn't surprise them back down the steps as I thought it would, and they advanced on me so that I had to scoot myself backwards to the safety of the slide, but it didn't stop there because they were all trying to get through the tunnel to get at me, and they're roaring and pulling on my pant legs to keep me within biting distance, and this was just for fun and they probably weren't even trying that hard, but if they had been hungry zombies, I'm sure I would've been a goner! I have to say my heart rate was a little elevated until I was down the slide and able to stand up and regain my reign over them. Phew!

This is probably a bad idea to be A1 - writing/thinking about zombies before bed, and B2 - writing before bed, because now the juices are flowing and I'm gonna pull one of those, okay, time for bed, but oooh, this is a good thought, and thinking about that is making me think about this, and if I don't write it down now I'm totally not going to remember it tomorrow, and then before I know it it's going to be later than I want it to be. Also, no pictures included, because the A1 area and that website's audio has probably already done a number on my subconscious.

That's all. (hoping for no invasions tonight)

OLLEH! Turkey Day

UPDATES!! So much to say, and where to begin? I suppose I'll rant and ramble more than I normally do if I say everything at once, so I'll try to break them into different posts... starting with Thanksgiving - WOW!! How is already December 9th!?!? Ka-razy, cause this is Korea!!

When in Korea, eat Thanksgiving dinner with chopsticks  (check)

The Saturday following Thanksgiving, my friends, Elaine (a Canuck) and Patrick (a Brit), threw a Thanksgiving dinner party at their home - they're established here, and they actually have a really nice three bedroom, two story (well, private rooftop) flat. It was really nice. There were foreigners and Koreans gathered around a delicious spread with two Army base turkeys in the center. It being Korea and being a turkey dinner hosted by non-Americans (not to say no one else has Thanksgiving or other turkey-centered holidays) no one knew how to carve a turkey, we'd all just watched in the past. What to do? YOUTUBE!! Yeah, yeah. E and P's friend, Mike, did the honor.

There was sitting on the floor, and low lighting, and mashed potatoes, and pie, and fun times. After dinner and clean up we even played a round of Cranium; no Thanksgiving is complete without a board game or two. All in all I was really happy, especially since I expected the day to be full of tears and missing my fam. **Pictures to come as the bell for Elementary is soon to toll - or in my school's case, melodize.

Show and Tell and Kisses

The kids have taken a liking to kissing lately. Kisses. Lots of kisses (there are still hugs, but the kisses have been piling up). I still haven't figured out why they're doing it; I haven't pegged it to a certain time of day yet, though I have noticed it during Show and Tell more than during the Theme book half hour. Maybe it's because they're more free to run around and they know that playroom time is next. They always yell "Thank you, Kate Teacher!" in joy when I announce it's time to go to playroom, like it's something we never do (though we do it the same time every day, for the most part).

But the kisses. They're cute, at first. Danny usually starts, then Olivia joins in and eventually Arthur comes over, Alex and Roy might be playing with my hair - really, now that I'm typing all this, I realize they're just doing this as a distraction technique. Maybe they think that if they can keep me laughing long enough that I'll skip Show and Tell, and Potato, and skip on over to the playroom. Nope. Sorry kids, but it isn't going to happen like that! So, yeah, maybe you're wondering about how I said the kisses start out cute, but confused by how they aren't cute the whole time my face is being covered in little kids spittle - oh. You just got it, yeah?

(the germs, oh the germs; I can feel the snot bubbling and receding with the breath on my skin.)

It's awful, and you can't just wipe away a kiss, no matter how sloppy it is, that person is bound to be offended - I assume the rule is the same for kids. GROSS! I don't want your slimey kiss! is what a wipe always seems to convey. And it's true, I don't; I also don't what whatever sort of cold/infection you have that's making your snot a dark green/brown - ewww! And I have to blow their noses, and I know where they're hands have been; when Danny giggles and covers my mouth with his hands, it takes everything for me not to vomit. Okay, I'm being a little dramatic, but the gross factor outweighs the cute factor in this day and age of killer airborne diseases and no sick day options... just saying. Yeah, I still can't help but laugh, but in the inside I'm hoping and praying I don't catch whatever they've got.

xoxo

Math: much to my dismay, continues to haunt me to this day

I HATE MATH! I always have. From the time I was a little kid and my dad would quiz me on flash cards; I don't like flash cards, let alone math flash cards. I'm gonna take my time in figuring out the answer(!), I don't need this added stress. Man, oh man. Math, seriously = the bane of my existence. I cried during my freshman and senior math finals in college... I really did (I passed, just so you know)... but that's neither here nor there, well, it's there, but I digress.

Now, I'm a math teacher. Granted it's "kindergarten" math, but still. Oooh! Did you notice those sarcastic quotation marks? Yeah. Didja? I say this snidely because I recently started teaching my FOUR YEAR OLDS (Korean aged five, but Danny just turned, so he was three before? Nooo; three year olds aren't that verbal... are they? I don't know any babies outside of the ones I teach.) place values and counting by tens. Hello! For real?! They just learned how to count to twenty; can't even add, and now you want them to figure out the one's and the ten's placements? Oh! And they can't even understand what I'm saying for the most part. Math is universal, yeah right!

I can blame the stupid workbook we use as much as I want, but in reality it's my fault for not looking ahead and seeing that this would be impossible stuff for them to process. I should've taught them counting by ten's before the place value thing, and then maybe p.v's would've been easier? Oh, these shoulda-coulda-woulda shenanigans! Tomorrow, I'm scrapping what we've already learned - well, at least going back and building on the confused foundation.

Teaching place value was confusing enough, but today we had to "fill in the missing numerals," line one started out with 1  __  3  4  __  __  7  __  __  10 and line two jumped to the 30's then 70's on line 4, 50's on line 5, 90's on line 6, and so on in the confusion. WHY?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!! That's not helping them learn the numbers, at all. Arthur was the only one who understood, and he flew through it. I spent the last 20 minutes flying around from Danny and Olivia to Roy and Alex, only to end with my head in my hands trying to think how I could re-work this; Danny said, "Oh!" with a sigh, Olivia whined, "Kate Teacher." Alex picked his nose and giggled, and Roy looked at me so sadly (I could see it coming) and burst into tears.

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATH!!!!! I SHAKE MY FIST AT YOU!!!!!

'The Lion' Has Evolved

I can't remember if I started writing about the evolution of the Lion during playroom time, or not... There were a couple weeks when I wouldn't start Lion-ing it up right away and the kids would forget about me and play anyway, then someone would notice and me out, "Lion! Kate Teacher! Lion!" (around the time I started nodding off - I know! Not a good supervisor!) and I'd [shake off the sleep] pretend that I didn't want to play, only to spring up when they weren't looking and roar at 'em. One day we were sharing the playroom with another class, and some of those kids were being dinosaurs, so naturally, my kids wanted to be dinosaurs - so there were lions and dinosaurs! A few days after that, a few of my kids would ask me to be the lion, but some wanted me to be a dinosaur, so I became LIONASAUR!! They loved it. Then we started learning about farm animals and wild animals, and soon there were lions, dinosaurs, sharks, tigers, gorillas - anything that roared or was seemingly scary. Then one day we read a story about dragons, so dragons showed up in the playroom. Not only was the dragon loud, but he also had a new weapon of breathing fire (Alex would call out, "Me dragon." then he would run over to me and point to himself "Dragon, Kate Teacher." and point to his mouth, "Fire. Here." and then he would yell, "Fiyah!" in a kind of spray spitting roar). As the lion, I've gained multiple archenemies from the animal kingdom and mythical realm, including chomping sharks and spinning arms attacking dinosaurs; in addition to the already present Power Rangers, ninjas, and Batman/Superman/Spiderman combo of Alex, the weapons have evolved from "baow-baow" guns and "chang-chang" swords to squatting bombs and some sort of magic zapping power explosion... or something. My weapon is tickling, which isn't a really good weapon for me as it usually works against me because in tickling the kids, they get all spazzy and I usually (if not always) get kicked in the face. Kicking, pushing and hitting, on normal terms are NOT allowed in the playroom, or anywhere in LCI, or just ever - just an FYI, in case you were wondering.

I always look forward to what kinds of shenanigans will be pulled each day, but the playroom continues to be my favorite time of kindergarten. The time I don't have to pretend to be a serious teacher and most anything goes.

Bye. Bye.

Every day starts out with, "Hello, class!" or "Good morning, class!" followed by the respective response from each student, "Hello/Good morning, Kate Teacher." Throughout the day there are many times that call for a "bye-bye" from the students, followed by hysterical laughter. When we review flash cards, "bye-bye, ocean"; when we finish Phonics, "bye-bye, ponics" (note: h left out on purpose, though they're gradually getting better with their f sounds); when someone asks to go to the bathroom or get a drink of water, "bye-bye, so and so"; when we are cleaning up play time, "bye-bye, Koala Baby." And there are instances of "bye-bye" making absolutely no sense, like when we're in the middle of a story or talking about the weather, and everyone in the class gets a "bye-bye." There are also cases of the "no bye-bye," especially at the end of the day; I leave the kids at the elevator at the end of the day, waving from outside the box, and I say, "bye-bye, class! See you tomorrow." and one student might respond, "bye-bye!" but then someone (usually Alex or Roy) will throw out the "no bye-bye" and I'll hear a chorus of "no bye-bye! no bye-bye!" to which I pretend to cry, then race down to the fourth floor so when the doors open there I pop out from the side, smiling and waving, saying, "Hello! Hello!" They love that.

There's no real point to this post, it's just something cute and strange that my students do that I don't really understand. Roy is getting better about actually telling me something when he giggles and says, "Kate Teacher." I learned today that he has two mouse at home, and used the opportunity to teach him the plural: mice. Then, I asked him what color his mice were and he said red. I still don't think we're on the same page, but at least we're getting closer.

Bop-bop, sing along

I found this song a week ago on that hype music blog, it felt like something my friend Alli might like, so I sent it to her, and I really like it, too... and maybe you?

It also reminds me of these semi-reoccurring nightmares I've been having where I find myself home, in America, all of a sudden and I don't know how I got there, just that I know I shouldn't be home yet because my time isn't over here. It's kind of like how a Korean businessman might go out to dinner with his friends/co-workers on a Tuesday evening and then wake up on his colleague's couch (or, let's be Korean - floor) Wednesday morning with no recollection of getting there; slightly terrifying in the first waking moments. In my dream I always seem to recognize that it's a dream and I hope and pray that I'll wake up in my small, smelly (drainage problems seem to be the norm in the apartments my co-teachers and I were given) studio hearing the quick clip-clopping of Koreans running outside towards their morning commute.

Just call me Santa Teacher!!

I meant to tell you last week, when they first asked me, but I was sidetracked by the ramblings of life. I'M GOING TO BE SANTY CLAUS!! Yes. I will be working on Christmas Eve, but it seems that it will be more of a fun day than anything else. I lurff fun days at school. Don't get me wrong, every day is a fun day, but I'm talking days filled with festivities and little scheduled programming.

Last year on Christmas, there were only three teachers, one of which was a guy, Adam. Adam, dressed as S.C, went to each of the kids' houses and gave 'em a present (I saw pictures and the kids were so happy) in the early morn'. That was when the school first opened up and there weren't that many kids. Now we have close to 100 and no guys, so we're going to have party fun times up on the 6th floor, and I get to wear a costume. I love dressing up and making people happy.

Amy Teacher asked me. And have I told you about her? Oh! She's so great. Yeah, I think I've said good things before. I didn't tell you though, that when I dressed as the Penguin for Halloween, she, Sunny and Katie couldn't contain their laughter and each clapped and posed for a picture with me. Ever since, Amy always tells me that I should be a comedian; my Western ways in her conservative Korea has her in stitches on the daily. She clapped and laughed when I said, "Yes! Of course! Oh, thank you!" and then she smiled and said, "You should be a comedian." And I looked away, shooed away the idea with my right hand and said, "Oh, stop." She's pregnant with a boy and will be leaving us at the end of December :( this place won't be the same.

Back to semi-relevance! One of my friends, Elaine, was telling me about how she had her fiance, Patrick, dress up as Santa for her private lesson kids one year and even though they only met him one time before, for five minutes, they still said, "Hello, Patrick Teacher!" when he came in, and when it was time for Santa to leave, they turned to Elaine and asked, "Oh, does Patrick Teacher really have to go; can't he stay a little longer?" So she's pretty convinced that I'm gonna get called out, but I'm thinking with full costume, beard, hat, pillow stomach and all, that I should be okay. Right? Kids are kind of dumb. I mean they're smart, but the thinking process seems to glaze over when presents are involved... then again, they weren't all that excited when I was the Penguin for Halloween, I thought maybe it was because they were costumed up, too and probably also because I didn't have any candy... I also thought they'd be the best behaved students in the world... yikes - they've shattered all my preconceived notions of them thus far, so yeah, they're gonna know it's me... especially if I'm there in the morning and not for the festivities... I'll let you know how we pull this one off.

So, that's in one month. On Monday, 11/30, I'll have been here 3 months. And on 12/26, I'm going to CHINA! Ch-ch-ch-CHINA!! That's right, I'm gonna Penguin all over the Great Wall. Whoa, I'm going to the Great Wall. That's weird to write, and it doesn't really seem real, but nothing really has these past few months.

SANTA CLAUS OUT!

they're just little babies...

To help prove that point, Arthur pooped his pants today. I know; poor little guy. It was after lunch, during art, when I first noticed the smell; I thought Roy was just gassy - he usually is. Then, art was over and it was time to sit on the mat and read some stories. I went to the library to grab some books since the C's rearranged everyone's schedules and we're all overlapped in communal rooms, and when I came back all the kids were over on the mat, except Arthur. I asked him to join us, but he just stood next to the table, shrugging his shoulders and smiling awkwardly. I went over to him and crouched down, "Hey, Arthur buddy. Are you okay?" and it looked like he was tearing up. I noticed he had rice all over his shirt and asked him if he wanted to change his shirt, then there was the smell again. "Oh, Arthur. It's okay." Pause; he looked down. "Do you need to go to the bathroom?" Nothing. "Did you have an accident?" I think there was mumbling of a "yes," but maybe he doesn't even know what "accident" is. I called down to the front desk and told them I thought Arthur had an accident and Sunny came up to take care of him. Poor kid. I was surprised that this is the first time anything like this has happened, me teaching for three months, and them being little babies and all... oohhh.

HALLOWEEN PHOTOS!!

Aikes! And the wait is over! I just realized I never posted anything about Halloween!! So here's some stories and some photos to go along.

No regular Friday. The kids on the third floor are decked out and ready to go. Some of them already started eating candy, at 9:50a, can't say I blame 'em.
Little Eric (in Colleen's class) was dressed as a pumpkin, but kept hopping around like a frog... maybe he thought he was wearing something else?
Remember how I told you Roy was tall for his age? Well, he's tall for this costume, too. I couldn't help but giggle every time he adjusted his hat. He always says "Kate Teacher" then laughs, I think he has something hilarious to tell me, but he just can't get the words out. Oh, Roy. Sweet, sweet Roy.
My kids working on their pumpkin "masks", in the shadow of the flippers.
We trick or treated on the third floor; the kids were grabbing for candy - to take, to give. CANDY!
Class shot. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
The "masks" (faces) are completed. See?
Alex was Spiderman. I sang to him what I think the theme song is, "Spiderman. Spiderman. Does anything that a spider can. Is he a spider, or is he a man? I don't know, but he's Spiderman." and he sang it the rest of the day. Awesome.
Hanging out on the 6th floor, listening to directions for some crazy hula-hooping game where the kids are matched up against one another - two at a time - and they hula hoop 10 times then run to the end of the room to bob for a piece of candy on a tray... sooooo not Swine Flu safe!
Top was a Power Ranger - sweet sword. All in all, Halloween at school was fun, but the day had only just begun, and the grown ups had to go home and get ready to Trick or Drink that night!! We went to five different houses around the neighborhood, each had a shot to take, then we went to the local foreigner bar to have some drinks and meet up with other friends.

Aidan had a sweet evil skeleton lego costume - that he MADE!! So awesome - wish I got a full length shot; he couldn't use his arms - but you can see there's a door on his right side where he could reach out for things - because he had to carry his legs which were detached boxes from the rest of the structure. And that's Andrea using Aidan's costume as a shelf for her beer.
During the Trick or Drink shenanigans, Andrea and I kept finding small doors (naturally we documented them), this is the smallest one. WHY!?!
Josh and Jeremy dressed as the Williams sisters and harassing locals, "Who's hotter? Me or her?"
Saturday night I went to Seoul with Andrea, Morganne, Jennie and Colleen. We met up with our friends Ashton, Ted, Colin, Jason and Lorna at this place called THE HIVE. I joined a costume contest. I won third place, and a bottle of Canadian whisky. A guy dressed as an iPod won 2nd (and 200,000 won!), and Ashton (as Jesus) won 1st place - two tickets to Jeju-do. I think it was the air guitar that made all the difference; I was dubbed the "Funky Penguin; Andrea found it for me on the street.
I was so happy I won!
Swine Flu!
That's the face that won me the whisky. It was a good night. Shenanigans in Seoul, for sure. As usual.

It's Hot. It's Cold.

November 18. 2009

I’m sorry I haven’t blogged in a while. I was distracted by Ms. Ayn Rand’s “The Fountainhead” which I finished on Saturday, and felt ever so melancholy for having done… what an experience that book turned out to be. I’m not sure if I understood every rambling drawn out character’s rationale, like crazy ole Ellsworth Toohey, but basically I gather that her Objectivism standpoint is that of Mr. Howard Roark’s character, to gain happiness through whatever it is for yourself. I’d like to think I live that life, by treating others how I want to be treated, or rather to do what makes me happy as long as it’s not hurting myself or others... granted all the characters did it in a 1930’s way of speaking, it being the 1930’s-ish and all, and on a higher plane of intellect than I just summarized, but that’s what my mind took away as the jist. But now, I’m rambling just as much as Ayn Rand, and without the delicious descriptiveness. There is no sign of Howard Roark’s creativity in Korea, except maybe in Kyung Hee University’s campus, but that would be more on the scale of Peter Keating or some other smuck like him since the campus is in Greco-Roman architecture. Really, I digress. Because I came to tell you about things I’ve been doing in Korea, and why I haven’t written lately is because I recently – after finishing “The Fountainhead” – became addicted to Showtime’s “Dexter.” My! That is some good television. And stuff here is starting to seem so normal, as much as it’s like, “Whoa. This is Korea. I live here.” I’m also feeling pretty comfortable. Sure, I can’t really speak the language, but for 50 hours out of the week it isn’t really necessary, and then I have my guide book, and I can order food and drinks, otherwise, or I’ll just mumble my “hello”s “goodbye”s and “thank you”s. Really, it’s all working out.

This Saturday, I even went into Seoul on my own to get a cell phone. I had to take the bus to Gangnam, then I took the subway to Gangbyeon Station (just North of the Han River) “slash” Techno Mart. The guy spoke pretty much perfect English. Techno Mart was crazy! Huge! I should’ve taken pictures, I suppose. But I didn’t. The elevated (over the river) station descended down and connected to Techno Mart underneath the street. There was a shopping mall on the lower levels and then it all turned into appliances. The sixth floor was full of cell phone booths and my co-teachers had already purchased from this guy, so I knew exactly where to go, B-29 something or other. I was in there for a while, but I didn’t take my coat off because I didn’t expect to be there for that long… and it was warm. Very warm. Places here are warm. Public places. Not my school so much. They like to open windows when they clean, to freshen the air(?) and get the dust out(?), and yeah, it’s around 30 outside right now, but there’s dust and the windows need to be open. I wore my coat in class on Monday. Again, digressing. So, Techno Mart was warm, and the movie theater was crazy warm on Friday. For some reason or another, I went to go see 2012 with Andrea, Jennie and Morganne (well, I did want to see it, because you know, 2012… possibility? and I love Woody Harrelson). My! It was awful; really, really bad! Three bad movies in three consecutive weekends: Paranormal Activity (creepy for maybe three minutes, and the rest I wanted the demon to end Katie and Micah for just talking all the time and being lame and trying to be like Blair Witch Project, but not even that good – yikes!), Where The Wild Things Are (Max was a jerk the entire time, never changed, and the whole dream adventure seemed to be a crystal meth/crack induced haze where he was riding the rails with hobos who were the Wild Things – did any conversation make sense at all? No.), and 2012… (something that could legitimately happen, so the ancient world prophesized, was so Hollywood-ized that now it just seems so fictionalized that it could never happen and is a huge joke… we’ll all be laughing on 12.22.12, yes?)

Oh, also. In Gangnam Station, a Korean man stopped me to take a survey about living in Seoul. “Uh. Well, I don’t live in Seoul. I live in Suwon.” “That’s okay. You’re here now.” And he shoved the paper and pen in my face. So, I filled out his survey, saying how awesome Korea is and the people are and how I don’t think the water is safe to drink and then I handed it back to him, and as a thank you, he gave me a box of band-aids. Stay safe! But if you can’t, here are these. Thanks? Okay. And then he directed me which side to take so I’d get to Gangbyeon, and not the other side of Korea. I do love Korea. I do.

Yes.

I was in a real good mood after lunch on Friday (so close to the weekend!) and feeling like joking around with my kids, especially since when I came back they were running around the room, laughing and seemed genuinely happy to see me and to get to work on Science. So, I was explaining (read: talking at them) the project/experiment to them and getting some blank looks, and I turned to Danny and said, “Do you understand?” and he said “Yes.” And I said, “Really?” and he said, “Yes.” “So you know about moving pictures and you can see how animation is made through sequence of slightly different images to make a moving picture?” and he said, “Yes.” “Really?” “Yes.” “Oh, okay. But, it doesn’t really matter what I say you’re just going to say ‘yes’ because you’re an agreeable boy?” “Yes.” “And I don’t even have to ask you a question I can just raise my voice a little at the end like I’m asking a question?” “Yes.” And I smiled, and he giggled. “Danny?” “Yes. Play Room?”

OLLEH!!

My kids love to say “OLLEH!” when they’re excited. At first, I was really impressed because I thought, Wow! They can speak Spanish, too!? and my kids are four (Western age), so I thought it was pretty cool, right? Then I noticed that my elementary students were doing it, too – and all of them would sing the “Ole, ole ole ole, ole, ole!” song that you hear at futbol games. Maybe it was them saying ole that made me want Korean to be Spanish and why sometimes when I was out in the world, away from school, I would find myself slipping into saying, “Si” and “Por favor” and the like, only to receive even stranger looks than I’m normally accustomed to.

Come to find out, they’re not saying, “ole!” but “olleh!” – which, yes, is “hello” backwards. Yeah. I know. What’s the deal with that? I asked Amy, and she said she didn’t know, but then again I think maybe she didn’t understand my question, because Koreans will always answer “Yes” or “I don’t know” to any question… I suppose the “I don’t know” is better than the “Yes” but it’s just as equally frustrating because you think that you phrased the question in such a way that it should be understood. I digress. So, I asked my kids and they said it means “Wow. Perfect”, whereas “Yay” is just “Wow” or “Wow” is “Wow” - whatever. “Olleh!” is some cell phone company, or if it’s not the actual company, it’s some sort of brand or plan, or something, but then again it’s on a building here in town, so yeah, let’s say the company. And there’s this commercial – where the shouting of “olleh!” comes from – that sings the song and after “Olleh!” flashes up on the screen, so do “Wow!” and “Perfect!” I still don’t understand why – kind of like everything Koreans do that is inexplicable to my Western ways – but at least now I know where it comes from… Also, thank goodness my kids aren’t saying it as much as they used to, so the popularity is dying off. They used to say “OLLEH!” for everything, and yeah, at first it was cute, but then it turned into me threatening to take away Play Room time if they said one more time. What have I become!?

If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.

Two of our teachers – Colleen and Rachel – are leaving tomorrow. Well, they’re not leaving Korea; Friday is their last day at school. It’s weird to think about – impossible almost. These ladies have made my past two months so incredibly enjoyable with their good nature and zest for life, that I can’t imagine a work place, let alone Korea, without them. But then that got me to thinking about relationships and saying “goodbye.” You always hope that it’s only temporary – at least when you’re leaving a place, but how can you be so sure. Leaving America and the only soil I’d ever known as a home was one of the hardest things I’ve had to do, but now, being here, it isn’t so bad because I know those people I left – well, most of them – will be in my life when I return. I think my resiliency to that shock of leaving was made easier by the fact that I moved around a lot as a child. Maybe not a lot in the sense that “Army Brats” do, but it was more than I preferred at the time. Okay, so there were only two major moves to permanent residences in the Midwest (and one was when I was two, so it doesn’t really count… but let’s just say it was in my blood – my being since I was a youngin’), but every summer I would say “goodbye” to Nebraska or Missouri and plane it to New Jersey for a summer spent with my Dad – leaving friends with my Mom and making new friends at camp or in some high rise on the Hudson River’s Jersey side. Maybe it was the fact that most of my Mom’s best friends in life come from adolescence, making it through all the moves, abroad and otherwise. One of her friends even moved away in fourth (or seventh – I can never remember which) grade and they kept in touch through letters all those years. Maybe knowing that helped me to realize that no matter where you go, or where someone else goes, if they are important enough to you (or you to them) that they will be with you. Maybe this is a “duh” thing to you (and I guess it is to me, too, but it was never something I really thought about before), but saying goodbye is so difficult that it’s sometimes hard to lose sight of this lifelong picture; being without a person – that you could never imagine being without, that you have never been without – for some extended period of time is such a hard thing to grasp that it feels like it’s the absolute end, my friend. This all occurred to me while I was running on Wednesday night, and let me tell you, it was a beautiful feeling. They (those wise old fools) say that distance makes the heart grow fonder, and perhaps it’s because you have time to realize more about yourself and more about how wonderfully lucky you are to have that person in your life. Of course, I’ve dealt with it before – though they were smaller cases, and usually only in dealing with family, who of course you know you’re going to be reunited with – but this is the first time I think it’s honestly going to come into play… what with being half way across the world from almost everybody I’ve ever known (a couple of girlfriends from college live in Seoul!) and not having an opportunity to see anyone at all – save Skype. It was a refreshing feeling to think of all the wonderful people that I’ve friended in my twenty-some years and hope that we’re together for another twenty some odd years, or more.

I guess it’s like God in a way (not trying to be blasphemous) how you’re with me wherever I go, and that’s a good feeling, because after all, “we are here to help each other through this thing, whatever it is.”

Peace and love.

Also, this song makes me happy, and it seems fitting:

Dangerous Drivers

I've told you before, yes? The drivers in Korea are ka-razy!! Remember the example of teaching my kids "Red Light! Green Light!"? Eric earnestly said, "But my Mom doesn't stop at red lights." And it's true, they don't. A couple of Wednesday's ago, my student, David, was actually hit by a car. I was informed of this via a note taped to my laptop. I saw the note and thought, "Oh, great. What am I not doing right now?" - usually it's a reminder to use the hand sanitizer every morning or to make sure and send something home, but this time, it said:

To Kate

David was involved in a car accident. He can't take your class till this month. He'll be back on November.

Naturally, I'm thinking scared thoughts. Poor little David, what happened!? So, I ask my bosses and they say that he wasn't in the car, but hit by a car and that he's in the hospital, so I'm worried. I talk to Mr. C and he says David is in the ER and I ask, "How badly is he damaged; is he injured?" and Mr. C said, "Yes. He's damaged very much." - the lost in translation made it funny for almost an instant while trying to figure out what was being said in the moment and also with David (like an inappropriate moment when you want to laugh because you're getting yelled at by your parents and their faces are inhumanly red and you think, there's no way this is possible for that color of red to be on a face and it's not funny in the situation... but it is.). He got hit by a car when he was getting off his Korean school's bus, but hopefully he'd be okay and back in November. He was back yesterday.

Of course my Elementary students ask where David is the next class, and I told them he was hit by a car, but that he'll be alright and we should send him cards so he knows that we want him to get better and come back soon. I brought up some blank paper and I wrote, "David" "Get well soon" "Come back soon" "We miss you" blah, blah, blah in that same vein so the kids would have some idea of how to do this. I made one with a flower and a sunny day that said, "Get well soon!" and got a lot of reproductions.

This is Stephanie's card. Stephanie never listens - everything was written on the board, remember? But yet, we end up with "Davied came back soon!" He did... PS- Stephanie's last day was 10/30 because class was too hard for her and she's now having her mother tutor her instead (an English teacher who always seemed to do Steph's homework, seeing as how the kid never had a clue when it came to class but wrote lengthy and complex sentences compared to the other kids who copied sentences from the stories we read)

Inside. Also, she totally doesn't love Davied. Ellen honestly has a huge crush on him, though. Stephanie probably wrote it to spite Ellen; Jason said, "Ellen love David" and Ellen said, "No!" but totally looked down and blushed in embarrassment, then Stephanie pulled out that heart and "love" stuff... brat.

Just in case Davied was wondering, Stephanie likes one-eyed, one-eared rabbits, with hooks for feet/legs.

I really do love my job.

PICTURES FROM JEJU!!

Alright, so blogger's punk attitude about changing pictures around in the post kept me from doing this for a while, but I figured it's now or never. So here are a few faves from my Jeju/Chuseok trip. ENJOY!

Just in case... no fire escapes here, we repel!! It's safe and fun!!
Uggh! It's soooo early! But we're ready for vacation!
Look! Same, same!
Taaaaaaaking off!
Misty morning mountains.
Coming into Busan...
Beautiful blues of Busan.
Busan to Jeju.
Morganne and Andrea can't wait to get there!
Me and Colleen are exciiiiiiited!
Whipping through the mountains on the crazy cab ride.
Lady divers and harubang - two things Jeju is most known for. Other things include: Honeymoon Island, beautiful beaches, gianormous spiders (actually all of Korea) and fun times!
Fishermen, fishing.
"Don't fall!!" You will die.
A farmer, farming.
Delightful.
Group shot in front of a tangerine grove (we later won a crate of these, singing in a grocery store, back home in Youngtong!)
Look how big my feet look!!
Rainy view to the Southeast.
Group shot on the top of Jeffy's (Andrea and Morganne's friend we crashed with) apartment in downtown Seogwipo.
The cages for these animals made me want to go rogue and bust 'em out at night.
Harubang - Jeju is known for these Easter Island-like statues scattered across the island; they date back to some time or another.
WARNING: This spider will kill you.
Colleen and I stopped for a photo-op on our hike.
Nighttime waterfall. One or another - they all look the same, eh?
Crossing a Korean stepping bridge... no, sadly, not all bridges are like this.
Another waterfall AND a rainbow!
Pretty picturesque.
Talk about fresh food!
Fresh water waterfall - Donnaeko.
On top of the waterfall.
Ponies out to pasture!
Love Land. This is probably the least graphic picture from the set, and I think most artistic(?) - I like the lighting.

Andrea and Morganne laughing at the World's Funniest Home Videos.