Lion Teacher

Ahoy! So much to fill you in on and so little time..well actually I'm okay on time...you're probably the ones who do not have enough time to read a lengthy blog...unless your procrastinating doing actual work. In that case I'm fully supporting you in your endeavor to avoid getting anything productive done.

To begin, this week has been a Dorothy-style-Emerald-City-Producing-Tornado of a week. Don't get me wrong, it has been a tornado full of fun, but still I'm ready for a quiet next few days after this one ends.

Last Friday, Ryan came to visit Korea for his first time from Thailand. I picked him up bright and early from the subway bringing a pair of gloves with me to help him with the shock that was the snowy, Bucheon a.m. He was definitely a good sport about it only wearing the layers he could find in Thailand (all of them...at once..). We dropped his things off and I brought him to school to watch the birthday party and song contest for the month. For several of the classes it was their first time to see a male teacher ever! They were very shy and unsure of how to act. Ryan's ability to make usually outgoing students suddenly speechless was incredibly amusing. The older students, mainly my Texas class and Katrina's Alaska class warmed up to him right away asking him questions such as "Are you a lion?" and "Why do you have brown hair?" Many also asked if he was the new teacher for Little America! After he saw all of the dances I dropped Ryan home to nap until dinner later than night as I still had to teach until about 7:15!

Shanna showing everyone how it's done

My last birthday photo with them! :(

As usual, here is a nauseatingly cute video of my Texas class dancing in their LAST SONG CONTEST! It has been a blast teaching them these dances. They were able to do so much crazy choreography and rarely complained if I made them to something ridiculous. A sign of true professionals.

That night, Ryan, Katrina, Seol, Shanna, and I went to a restaurant nearby to let him try one of our favorite dishes, Dduk Galbi. Its basically a large pan filled with chicken, vegetables, and ramen covered with the standard Korean red chili pepper paste that adorns the majority of Korean dishes. At the end of the trip, Ryan said that was one of his favorite dishes, so that's a plus! After a few drinks at the local watering hole we made our way home to prepare for the next day.

Waking up a bit early, we headed into Insadong to take a look at the Gwanghwamun gate and palace. Ryan's trip gave me the opportunity to go to several places around Korea that I hadn't been yet and wanted to! This was one of those stops on my list.

This area has a tendency to remind you that Korea isn't one big city with buildings covered in bright neon lights and horribly translated English phrases. The mountains surrounding you and the palace itself are peaceful and make your mind travel to a time before norebangs and song contests. I had researched this temple and saw that there was a "changing of the guard" ceremony every hour. I wasn't exactly sure what it would entail but it sounded like something we would enjoy watching! When we arrived we saw brightly dressed guards standing outside the doors. They did not look real, so I thought they were just wax statues put there to represent what they might have looked like. That was until one of them blinked and even then...who knows what kind of crazy blinking wax statues they could come up with here. They were in-fact real people. We saw them do a little exchange of posts as we left. Kind of a mini-version of the changing of the guard ceremony I suppose.

As Ryan and I walked in I thought back to the Grand Palace in Thailand. Korean palaces might be the complete opposite of that. They tend to be very simple and have more of an understated beauty rather than a bedazzled coating. Both are gorgeous in their own ways. I got a lot more pictures of the roofs of the temples that I love so much! The colors are just incredible.

Kungfu Panda anyone?

 

As we made our way around the maze of a palace until the changing of the guard ceremony was supposed to begin, we looked at the schedule and found out there were actually only three times during the day that it took place...and we were right in the middle between two of them. Not feeling up to wandering outside for another two hours, we made our way to Insadong to find a place to warm up. I blogged about Insadong previously with the traditional stores and tea rooms. I found the Starbucks that couldn't open there for a while because it would ruin the traditional Korean feel unless they had their sign in Hangul!

Seuh-ta-beok-seuh keo-pee

And Ryan obviously needed a picture wearing more layers than he has in 2 years with snow and some Korean flags.

We stopped by the honey candy stand again to show Ryan how to make it and got some necessary silly Korean socks. Then we headed to our next stop- a cooking class! I had been doing a lot of research (Dad, aren't you proud of me?) about places to do a class that would not only have an English option, but also be close by the palace today and I found Kimchi World. Our helper was so sweet as she taught us to make both kimchi and ddeokbokki. First we got suited up in aprons and plastic gloves along side a group of about 40 young Korean girls. Ryan and I, the only two who showed up for the English class that day, were a bit outnumbered, but it worked out! We coated our fermented cabbage in the spicy red chili pepper paste, wrapped it up like a baby, and put it in a jar. I now have to huge jars of kimchi in my fridge at the moment. I know what I will be living off of for a while! Next she brought out a tray of frozen dduk. I was hoping to actually make the rice cake itself instead of just heating it up, but beggars can't be choosers and it tasted good in the end!

I really want to do more cooking classes while I am here! I hope to be able to make a variety of Korean recipes when...eventually...I return back to the states. (Cooking class blogs to come) After the cooking class it was time to get back on the subway to meet up with Shanna and the rest of the clan for her last weekend out in Seoul! Traveling around by subway is very simple here but it can definitely take a toll on you. Especially with several transfers, which we had to make throughout the day. By the time we got to the lobby of the hotel for Shanna's party at the Wine Buffet, we were wiped. We had to rally up and prepare for a long evening of dancing and most likely karaoke though, so no rest for us! The night was SO much fun. We headed to Suzie Q's, which is a favorite bar of mine in Hongdae, and jammed out to excellent music with even better company. Later on we ended up at a norebang (of course) and sang through some favorites until we were sufficiently ready to fall into bed. It was an incredible yet exhausting day.

The next day I did not have anything planned early (knowing full well the Wine Buffet and singing would make it difficult to do much more than make a peanut butter sandwich the next morning). That evening however I booked tickets to see a Nanta show in Myeongdong! For those of you who are unsure of what Nanta is exactly, it involves 5 performers acting out a story about an old catering business and they have to cook certain foods in a short amount of time. But instead of just cooking it normally, for what kind of show would that be, they drum and create rhythms using the cooking utensils. It is like a Food Network version of Stomp. The humor in the story is typical slapstick and fart-jokes, but when they start actually drumming and showing their talented it is really amazing what they can do! You should take a look at some videos of Nanta on youtube so you can get a better idea (Yay more procrastination opportunities!) Also...guess who got to go up on stage?...Guess who purposefully bought tickets on the end of a row...(guilty)

Ryan got to try the soup they made (he said it tasted of potatoes) and also get married to the beautiful young lady forced to go up on stage as well. It was hilarious to see them interacting with him up there. I'm glad my instincts to buy aisle seats payed off! He got a photo of him and his wife as a souvenir as well. Never lose that Ryan, you'll need it to find her and run slowly into eachother's arms while a cheesy love song plays in the background!

After the show, it was time to go to Seoul Tower. Another touristy Korean landmark I had yet to visit. It was a bit of a trek getting there. Lots of walking to find the bus station, waiting for the right bus, and then being on the opposite end of the bus route from the tower. Once we made it up there we looked around for a place to grab some food. In the end all of the restaurants were super duper fancy shmancy...so we decided that what-the-heck might as well celebrate and we splurged on an absolutely delicious meal in an Italian restaurant at the top of the tower with a view of Seoul at night. The food was amazing! Teeny tiny portions of salads, soups, pastas, and steak all almost as yummy as our ddeokbokki from the day before (completely kidding)...

Seoul Tower lit up at night

Santa! I KNOW HIM!

Did anyone at home feel me staring at them?

Let's hope you don't have a crazy fear of heights

It was nearly 10:30 by the time we started the journey home, which meant we wouldn't be getting back to my apartment until around midnight. With work the next day, I knew I would be exhausted, but it was definitely worth it!

Mondays are another long day of teaching for me, so Ryan had to fend for himself a bit in the afternoon. He came to see the kids again in the morning, and then Seol was an amazing tour guide for him in the afternoon taking him around to see more of Seoul. That night we took Ryan to have Galbi, or Korean barbeque. Something he HAD to have before heading back to Thailand of course. We talked a lot about the event that would be taking place the next morning at Little America...

My Texas class was graduating!!! Although six months isn't really a long time, I have grown so attached to my kindergarten class! I loved teaching them songs and silly games. Just being able to spend half the day with them was a blast. I had 10 completely different, absolutely crazy, but lovable students that molded together to form an exhaustingly funny group of kids. I can't imagine a better class to have as my first one at Little America. I learned so much from them and wish I could have had them a whole year instead! I can't complain too much. I am teaching them in first grade next term, but still...going from a whole day to only 45 minutes in the afternoon is going to be very different!

In the usual Little America fashion, we had been rehearsing the graduation ceremony over the last week; perfecting transitions, speeches, and songs. Winning a rock-scissor-paper match against Katrina, I got the pleasure of being the host for the event. The students gave speeches about their favorite parts of kindergarten (I think every version of my name was said in my class' speeches). Katrina and I gave out awards to the students for things like "Excellent Handwriting" and "Good Manners". We then had to make speeches about our students individually. I enjoyed watching the parents' reactions to what I said about their child. Some parents have really perfected the smile and nod that I use so often when I've over extended my Korean knowledge in a conversation. Overall the ceremony was perfect. The students did a great job and we took a TON of pictures afterwards. 

 Here is a video I made of the ceremony including pictures of them as well as a little clip of one of the songs they sang. The song choice was rather...odd...The students began with "You Raise Me Up" and then moved to "Skidimarink". Slightly different tunes. Either way if I hear those song one more time I might spontaneously combust.  Just a warning.

Don't you love the cap and gowns? My favorite part of those outfits was that whenever they had to bow, or jump, or just stand there, someone's hat would fall off. I said goodbye to my little ones and then got ready for elementary classes that afternoon. That night the new foreign teacher arrived from Newfoundland, Canada! I picked her up from the same hotel I stayed in when I first arrived here and got a flashback to how I felt my first night here. These six months have flown by. I feel like I was just riding in the car with Solomon from the airport! Anyway, I was able to take Kaitie out to dinner and talk about what her experience would be like here. She seems very excited and I can't wait to have someone else join our team  at Little America (wow I sound like an old employee-moral-booster video from the 90's)! Today, Wednesday, we had our Orientation for the new students coming to kindergarten this next term. Unfortunately I do not get to teach the newbies, but I got to meet and play with them today. They are so cute and excited to be there!

I found out that I will be teaching three girls next term; Judy, Jenna, and Jean (ay-yay-yay all these J-names). Going from a class of 10 to a class of 3 will be interesting but I am really looking forward to it! I get to decorate my new classroom accordingly (aka all pink and princessy) I also hope to make it into Itaewan this weekend to get some kids books and pillows. I want to make a reading corner in the room for them. Maybe I'm getting a bit ambitious, but we will see how it goes. I also get to come up with my monthly songs for them! Any suggestions for three girls? They are a lower leveled than my Texas class, so nothing too complicated. I was thinking some Shirley Temple? We will see what I can come up with.

Overall, I'm ready to begin this new term with a new (and slightly busier) schedule with some new students. I'm keeping a few of my classes and gaining others. Can't wait to get started next week!

Some AMAZING-SUPER-DUPER-CALIFRADGILISTIC news came yesterday via Skype! My parents and Edward will be making their way to Seoul in March!!! I couldn't hide my excitement with them nor my coworkers today. I'm bouncing around in my seat as I type this (a skill I assure you). I can't wait to show them what life is like over here and also just be able to hug them not via a computer! The trip itinerary planning starts....NOW!

Korean phrase of the post in honor of Shanna, Alex, and Tina who are all leaving Little America this week (no...I'm not going to cry...you're going to cry...*sniff*)

가지마세요! (ga-jee-ma-say-yo): "Don't leave!"

xoxo