Teacha Teacha Learn Me Somethin'

"He doesn't deserve to be a teacher."

 

This is a quote from a Korean friend last week. For some reason, even as the conversation carried on, this phrase echoed in my head. Not only are teachers more highly regarded here in Korea, but this quote makes teaching an honorable and privileged position. The incredible dissimilarity between the views of teaching in the states versus this stance is incredible to me. Obviously I am slightly biased, however I believe that everyone should see teachers as invaluable members of society. We prepare children as the next generation for our societies around the world, as well as care for them for the majority of the day, usually even longer than their parents see them. Wouldn't you want your child to be with someone who considered their job to be a privilege as opposed to a burden? I know I am not the perfect teacher, nor will I ever be. I have days where I feel tired and unmotivated to teach, but this quote has given me a new energy. It reminded me how lucky I am to be in the profession of education. The students come excited to learn every day, therefore it is my duty to reciprocate that excitement in my classroom. I have the opportunity to make learning fun and hopefully plant the "life-long-learner" seed in them that has grown in me from my previous teachers. For all of my previous, current, and future incredible teachers, thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

Speaking of teaching...What is education without reading? For those of you who know me, I am kind of a bookworm. Only a little bit...Therefore when I was researching things to do this weekend and found the Seoul International Book Fair at the COEX mall in Gangnam I nearly fell out of my chair! Shanna and I had gone to the COEX for the chocolate festival last year, so in my mind I just swapped out all of the chocolate booths for booths full of books. Aka I was obviously going. Kaitie joined me for the adventure and we made our way there Saturday afternoon. The COEX mall is a slightly intimidating place. About the size of a small town, it contains endless restaurants, exhibit halls, an aquarium, and shops (somewhere...Kaitie and I had trouble finding this part of the mall in the labrynth).

Walking up to the exhibit hall area we were met with a snaking queue wrapping around the lobby area. Koreans love their lines (I think I've mentioned this in several posts actually)

The line starts on the left, wraps around behind the camera and then back up from the right.

The line went quickly though and we purchased our tickets for the fair (only about $3!)

The other event happening today was the "World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics". In the words of Kaitie before I read the sign, "Let's not accidentally go to Hall D".

 The book fair is apparently an annual event to promote Korean publishers to countries abroad. Publishers from countries around the world are welcomed as well. Both Canada and India had special areas to promote their own publications. As we walked in we were surrounded by hundreds of booths desplaying an endless spectrum of books from phonics to religious texts. We started in the Indian publications area, looking at books from that area of the world. As teachers, we went straight for the children's books. A man came up and tried to tell us something about the books...something about the publisher perhaps? Not sure. I did a lot of smiling, nodding, and saying "neh". It worked okay for a while. Then we had to sneak away quietly. My Korean isn't THAT good yet.

Next, we wandered around and ran into an English book booth with classics from Penguin Group Publishers like Shakespeare, Hawthorne, and Twain as well as newer releases. I picked up a few books here to add to my meager "library" in my apartment including "The Book of Awesome" highlighting little things in life that make it awesome, such as "popping bubble wrap" and "Pushing those little buttons on the soft drink lid cup". This isn't a book to sit down and read all in one sitting, but instead one to pick up every so often to remind yourself just how awesome life is. I'm excited to have this as a part of my small book collection! I also had a little visit from Delaware!

Biden made it to Korea!

My favorite part of the exhibit was definitely the illustrators area. Here, book illustrators from a variety of Korean story books were highlighted in different artistic displays. The "beauty of books" was the theme for this part of the fair. Who doesn't love picture books?

 

Overall, another fun visit to the COEX. We picked up the subway and headed to Itaewon for a friend's birthday dinner at a BYOB Indian restaurant which was delicious! I ordered something I've never tried before called Aloo Gobhi Curry which is cauliflower and potato cooked in an onion sauce. It was really good! I'll have to see if our usual Indian place in Bucheon has it. Paired with several bottles of wine for the table, the dinner was excellent! A Polaroid camera captured some of the fun of the evening- As Kaitie and I are always a couple when we go out, we got a couple photo. Also, a few bags of dry ice accompanied the ice-cream cake that some friends brought with them, so obviously we had some fun with that as well.

 

 

She's a witch!

The next day I woke and decided to go for an exploratory run. Lake Park is beautiful and a nice place to run, however I want to find new routes to keep me from getting bored. Today I ran around Lake Park a few times before venturing off to the other side of the road towards Aiins world. For those of you who do not know (probably most...) Aiins world is a theme park of sorts in Bucheon in which you can take pictures of yourself and your closest friends in front of miniature versions of famous landmarks from around the world. I've never been. My parents and Edward went during their visit. I've heard its pretty run down, but if they clean it up and update it, I'm sure it could be an excellent place to visit! It was neat to run by and see the Eiffel Tower and the pyramids right next to each other. Don't you wish traveling was that easy? I also found a small area with a skate park, baseball field, and basketball courts. Not really made for runniny, but good to know I suppose. My route took me along a river to join a path I've run before. I finished by going through a residential area with beautiful houses and gardens then down a long road lined and covered by trees. Although it was a short exploration, it's nice to know what's nearby and available. Next time I might try to run to Incheon Grand Park, which I've heard about several times.

That afternoon I met with a coworker and my Korean teacher for some shopping in Bupyeong Underground Market. Unlike other adventures there, the purpose of this trip was not finding silly English shirts, but actual functional clothes. I found a skirt with giraffes on it! Very excited to wear it to work tomorrow and have all the kids point out that there are in fact giraffes on it....I will act surprised each time.

Going back in time- Friday we had a cooking class at Little America. The students made patbingsu which is a Korean shaved ice dessert with a variety of toppings from fruit to cake to red bean (of course). The students cut up some watermelon, shaved some ice, and mixed in other fruit, cereal, gummy candy, rice cakes, and sugary syrup to make this super healthy (....) snack. They enjoyed it, which is all that matters!

Ingredients

serious chopping

grinding

More chopping...

Finished product

This week we have a field trip to "Robo Park"...I'm as intrigued as you are I assure you as to the theme behind this one. Although if robots and transformers aren't involved I will be significantly disappointed. After the field trip, the students will be tired and ready to go home but of course they have to present their speeches in front of their peers. My girls are doing their speeches on their future careers. I have a ballet teacher, a pianist, and a violinist in my room! A very artsy-fartsy crew aren't we? Friday we have our birthday celebration...which reminds me that I have to finish teaching my girls our monthly song! Time has been going faster this month than ever before.

As for news from home. Alex is safe and getting established in Nashville, Tennessee. I will do some shameless plugging for her because she is my sister and that's what sisters do. Check out her album here! https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/alex-saad/id419721103. She is talented, hilarious, and beautiful and I miss her terribly. Beth is heading to Palestine on Tuesday for her three week heritage trip to learn about our Palestinian roots. My jealousy is only slightly over-shadowed by my respect and excitement for her journey. Again, only because I'm a sister (and twin no less) if you want to follow her adventure, here is her blog! http://bethanycsaad.blogspot.kr/

For now its time to get ready to go headfirst into the week!
xoxox

Korean of the post: 기분 어때요? (gi-boon au-dae-yo) How do you feel?

Giraffes, Tricks, and Cake

I'm sorry! 죄송합니다! I've left this blog til later than usual, but I really need to catch you up on some fun adventures the past few days. Let's begin with last Thursday, which we had off for Memorial Day! After sleeping in a bit, Katrina, Seol, Kaitie, and I headed off to Seoul Grand Park to meet up with some other friends and venture through the Seoul Zoo! I hadn't been to the park nor the zoo so I was excited! And we all know that where there is a zoo there are most likely going to be some giraffes around. Obviously this was the main reason I joined on this trek (sorry guys...) Walking up to the park the sun was beating down on all who decided to spend the day around the area. Never ones to let something small ruin our fun, we embraced the heat and made our way up to the top of the zoo via a trollycar and chairlift.

I really wanted the trunk to blow bubbles or something.

Reaching the zoo entrance we join the queue (Koreans love to queue, it's their favorite) to hop onto the chair lift that brings us to the top of the zoo. that way we can wander down through the exhibits until we get back to the entrance once again. The chairlift was neat in that it offered an overhead view of what we would be seeing throughout the day. We even got to see the lions get fed from a safe and comfortable aerial distance!

Let's be real...I was thinking about giraffes the entire time we walked through the park but there were lots of other cute animals to take my mind off the inevitability of the most exciting part of the trip!

This guy and I have the same diet!

Thought of you mum <3

 

They taught him how to smile for pictures!

 We made it in time to see the seal show as well as the bear feeding! The seal was incredible. It is just so interesting how an animal like that can move around and perform so many tricks that seem physically impossible! One of my favorite parts was hearing the trainer say something about 'exercise' in Korean and then seeing the seal work out on stage. According to Seol she told the crowd that he wont get a girlfriend if he is so chubby. Oh Korea and your constant fixation on weight.  Anyways, the bear feeding was great too! Instead of a trainer lazily tossing hunks of raw meat to waiting bears they hide food around the natural habitat area for the bears to find on their own. The physical abilities of the bears were pretty amazing too; some reaching up on tiptoe to knock a piece of meat out of a tree. It was eerily human-like.

Bear feeding time

 

 Then we stopped in the nursery. Here the baby animals were kept in a sweltering box for people to fawn over and take a million photos. I just hope it was cooler in their rooms than it was in the hallway. This cute little monkey had his own crib to play in!

Selfie with a llama

 Soon, the time had arrived for my favorite animals! I basically ran over like a 5 year old child (guess I'm hanging out with my kindergarteners too much) and bounded up the steps to the elevated observation area. I can't really say why I love giraffes so much...I think they are just so graceful and like nothing else on earth. They move so precisely like they think about every step they take. We should all be like a giraffe! We did learn that they only sleep for 20 minutes every day and not in succession. Let's not follow them in that regard. I like sleep too much.

They are just so gorgeous! One day I will have one as a pet...or at least touch one? Who knows. After that I was a happy camper and was ready to do anything. As the giraffes were one of the last exhibits of the park (of course) it was time to head back to the entrance and go home to prep for a full day at school on Friday! 

In the morning we had a field trip with the little ones to a Trick Eye Museum. This would not be the same as the museum Shanna and I went to a while back, but I have a feeling all of these kinds of museums here are very similar. This field trip was basically Korean Teacher heaven. These museums are meant to be just one huge photo shoot. Therefore we spend the next hour or so shuffling our kids around and saying "1....2...no wait move over a bit...1....2....come back!!...1...2....3 Smiilleeee!".

 

 Standard...

Oh no! Hang on ladies!

So strong

The next star

This musuem was much smaller and a bit run down. It needs a good revamping. Most of the pictures were faded and chipped from the excessive handling by the masses. Some of them just didn't make any sense. I'd have to explain to the girls how to pose in the pictures, get them all set up, then find the best place to take the photo without them moving from the spot I just put them in. While they enjoyed it for a while, after too long kindergarteners just aren't interested anymore. Overall it was a fun trip, but these days always tire me out. After a picnic lunch outside the museum (where we were acquainted with one of the biggest spiders I've ever seen in my entire life) we rode back to Little America to prep for our Elementary classes. I had several absent students whose families had taken off for a four day weekend, which made things a bit easier, or harder depending on how you look at it. I didn't want to move on in the book if we were missing 5 out of 8 of the students in the class, but the ones there still had to learn something. Educational games are the best.

After work on Friday Katrina and made a brave decision to try out the new-ish hair salon in our building. She had usually been going to Hongdae where the stylists spoke pretty good English, but if this one was good and just 5 floors below us, why not check it out? While their English was about as good as my Korean, they did a great job with both of our hair! Now I know I can just go downstairs instead of 45 minutes away. Sometimes you just gotta take risks and try new things.

Saturday, Katrina, Kaitie and I went to Hongdae to our boss, Patti's sister's bakery (sorry that sentence was a mess). She owns Darling's Cakes off the main shopping street. We had been there before but did not get to decorate a cake! This weekend we had planned a picnic with a few friends to celebrate the summer/our friendship/South Korea/other mushy things. We were given a cake, then options for an icing tip, as well as an ipad with several pictures of previous cakes decorated there to get inspiration for our cake. Along a wall of the bakery is a counter covered in little sugar shapes and letters to cover our cake with. After practicing a bit with the piping bag we got to work!

Before picture

Action shot

Almost doneee

So proud of our hard work

Overall this place is so cute! The owner gave us coffees while we decorated as well as some cookies for the road. I will somehow make an excuse to decorate a cake for every event from not on...just a warning...birthdays, weddings, dentist appointments, etc.

The picnic was a huge success. Good company, food, drinks, and weather! The cake had melted a bit on the trip back, but hey it all tastes the same. Amanda made some gorgeous sunglasses for us to don as we spent the afternoon sitting in the hopefully-snakeless-grass near Lake Park.

We ended the night walking to a norebang singing excerpts from Moulin Rouge a bit too loudly for the Koreans passing by us. I have to say, I can't go to a norebang every weekend but once in a while it is such a fun experience. Sang some Grease, more Moulin Rouge, and several other greats before (time to confess) I fell asleep on the couch there. Woken by Seol not long later we made our way back home to bed. A great end to a wonderful day!

Sunday I was able to experience something for the first time here in Korea. In Itaewon there is a swimming pool in the Hamilton Hotel, that is open to the public. I've heard that it was a very popular place to go to soak in the sun and spend time with friends. I was not prepared for just how crazy it would be. Walking out the door to the pool deck I was greeted by a group of very large (muscle-wise) Korean men wearing teeny-tiny speedos...Just past these men stood several teeny-tiny Korean girls wearing very tall heels. It was at this point I wondered exactly where I was. Tentatively walking up the stairs to the pool, I kept my eyes out for a couple friends I was meeting there. Thankfully I found them with little trouble and spent the next few hours getting some sun and people watching. There was definitely not a shortage of people to watch there. Not sure how many times I will feel like being back there, but it is definitely an experience to have while you're here! After the pool we subwayed (yes it's now a verb) back home and experienced a very scary moment! We had stopped at a station and at the last second a little old 할머니 (grandmother) shuffled towards the doors, because I suppose she didn't realize this was her stop. She was halfway through the doors when they closed upon her waste trapping her there! Everyone around simultaneously gasped as we weren't sure how to help her. She managed to squeeze through but her leg became trapped! Laying on the platform with her foot caught in the door I had frightening images of what would happen if the train had begun to move! My friend stood to pull the doors open and free her foot. The next few seconds we were uncertain of how to help her, not knowing when the train would move again. Several people on the platform approached her to help, so we sat and contemplated what we had just seen. I wondered how many times that happens with the amount of subway travel there is here. It was definitely a shock. I just hope she made it home without any major injuries!

Barring that last incident, this last week was a great one yet again. Time is flying as the countdown to the Philippines trip gets lower and lower! Getting very excited! This week is a regular week at Little America. No field trips or cooking class, so I will have to plan something fun to update you on over the weekend! For now it's bedtime here. I'll end with a HUGE HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my little brother Edward who is turning 13 on Wednesday!!! When did that happen? *cue grandma quote* "It feels like yesterday I was changing your diapers and watching you line up your cars across the living room floor". Now you are a star basketball player and overall coolest guy ever. Miss you a lot and can't wait to see you again! My students all send their happy birthday wishes. I hope you spend it exactly how you'd like! Couldn't ask for a better little brother.

xoxo

 Korean:  
생일축하해 (saeng-il chuk ha-hae) Happy Birthday!

Sunshine and Rainbows

We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves.

 

Suppose I should announce the news officially. I have signed my renewed contract for another year at Little America in Bucheon! These past 10 months have been an incredible experience so far. I can't believe how quickly it has gone by! I've met amazing people and I know that I will continue to do so this next year. While I do miss my friends and family at home, of course, I am not ready to make my way back there just yet. Actually, tell you the truth I have no idea what I want. I have a lot of thinking to do over the next year. I will be starting my online grad school courses this upcoming fall, which I am looking forward to. Honestly, I truly believe that things happen for a reason. Some opportunity will come up that will lead me to my next adventure where ever that may be. As for now, I will be spending another year with the wonderful teachers and students in Little America! Guess that means all of you will just have to visit?

This week we had our monthly birthday party, so you know what that means! A video of my girls performing their song and dance. This month they are singing "Let's Get Together" from the original Parent Trap movie. Adorable as always they did an excellent job and had fun at the same time.

 Along with song performances from the classes during the birthday celebration, the students dance to Gangnam Style...every month...they never tire of it. This time I decided to document the pandemonium that is a room full of hyper kindergarteners jammin' out to Psy.

 That afternoon I took my girls on a mini-field trip to the Paras Baguette down the road for an ice cream treat. Not only do they just need to get outside, out of the fluorescent lights, but who doesn't love ice cream.

Not amused

Whatcha doin' silly goose?

Friday's are my longest days. I teach the most Kindergarten classes of the week and a full schedule of elementary classes. Needless to say, by the time the last class comes I am in need of my bed. As we were preparing for the last class, one of our kindergarten students, Edward, was sitting in the teacher's room. His mother owns the art school next door so he will often come spend time with us instead of being their with her. Grace teacher had bought him some french fries, so as he chomped away we chatted with him about how his day was etc. It was at this moment that my faith in humanity was restored. Kaitie Teacher was talking to Grace about one of her classes earlier that day in Indiana classroom. Edward chimed in and asked how many students she had in that class. We figured he was just curious to know the number compared to his kindergarten class, however once Kaitie informed him that there were 6 students in that class he began slowly counting out fries from his pile in front of him. The realization of what he was doing suddenly hit me. Now according to my child development class, as a 5 year old (western age) Edward is in the egocentric phase of psychological development. The standard kindergartener back home, once finding out the number of students in a class would not immediately think to share his or her french fries with them. Edward didn't even take a second to think about another option. Willing to part with a few fried potatoes, Edward The fact that this class had already come and gone for the day didn't even matter. After that I was completely rejuvenated and my last class flew by as I thought about the incredible kindness of children. Learn a lesson from Edward about the importance of not only thinking about yourself. There are always others around you who need love, care, and kindness.

Later that night Kaitie and I met with some friends to go to our first Korean dance club. I wont say much about this experience, as it doesn't really warrant too much explanation. In the end, the dancing was fun, but other than that I'd rather dance in my living room... I have to try everything once of course, so check that off the list. The next day was what I was really looking forward to anyways!

Saturday, The Korea Queer Culture Festival hosted a parade in Hongdae, near Hongik University. Katrina, Seol, Kaitie and I met several friends at the festival to wander around the booths, watch some musical performances, and support the LGBT community in Korea and all over the world really. There were several celebrities at the event as well as a crowd of hundreds on the main shopping street. The culture of Korea has changed so drastically in the past decades so there is an extremely wide generation gap. Therefore thoughts about homosexuality are incredibly diverse. I believe that the current younger generation will bring acceptance and openness with regards to the homosexual population. 

While the parade wasn't exactly the most well organized nor fanciest I've seen (such as the Buddha's Birthday parade) it did not matter. Everyone involved was so full of energy and enthusiasm at being able to show their true selves. The weather was great and I'm glad I cold celebrate with some good friends! After the parade ended we headed off to our friend Ryan's apartment to continue celebrations with a cookout on his roof. It was here I met his puppy Arrow, who is the sweetest, softest, most adorable puppy ever. No really though.

He was so excited that there was a group of new friends there to play with him. Ryan got him as a puppy (an actual puppy. I call all dogs puppies so I understand that there may be some confusion) so Arrow is incredibly attached to him. When we all left to go to the roof he barked and cried for Ryan to come get him. We did eventually bring him up. Who could deny him? He was just so gentle! While I could never get a dog while I am here, as it would be very difficult to keep him or her walked and entertained during my work day, I do wish I had one just to play with daily. I think dogs have a way of helping with stress and making you happy. Instead of eating chocolate, or drinking wine, just get a dog? Guess it will be doggy cafe visits for me instead. Though I will definitely be visiting Ryan more often now...

An early night for me, Sunday I woke up early to run through Lake Park again. The weather is beautiful, and while I still get stares as I run, it is just so nice to be outside instead of on a treadmill looking outside at the snow. After a run, Kaitie and I met with a blanket and our books to sit in Yeuido Park by the Han River for the day. I believe it was one of my first weeks here that I visited this park for a rock concert. At that time there was pretty much no one there, and the weather was getting a little bit chilly. As we walked to the park today we were met with a sea of tents (of course) and crowds of young children wading in the fountain area.

I loved getting some sun while catching up on some much-needed reading time. People watching is always interesting as well. Saw a family playing with their pet rabbit, several remote controlled cars for kids to sit in and parents to control, and a fountain show set to a variety of genres of music (Disney, Josh groban, Kpop, etc.). As for the tents...I didn't see anyone wearing a coat or anything to keep from getting any color, but everyone stayed in the shade as much as possible. More sunshine for us! After a yummy dinner of Pho in the IFC mall nearby we headed home for the night. 

This week, somehow I forgot and Kaitie had to remind me, we have Thursday off for Memorial Day and then Friday is a Kindergarten field trip to a Trick Eye Museum nearby Bucheon! Going to be a very easy week for us I think.

Today I'll end with a tribute to my twinsy, cause Alex got a shout out last week. In a few weeks, Beth will be making a journey to Palestine through the "Know Thy Heritage" Program. I am super jealous. She will not only be able to see Papa's homeland, but I'm sure she will also meet some amazing people throughout her time there. The program hopes to teach those with Palestinian roots about their history and promote peace. The program is open to those up to the age of 30, so I will definitely be making the trip out there at some point! As for you Beth, I am so proud of you for seizing this opportunity without a second thought. It will change your life and I can't wait to hear about it afterwards! 

xoxo

Korean of the post: 

여름에 뭐해요? (yeoreumay muohayo) What do you do in summer?