Korean Men

Anybody that has lived in Korea knows that I could conclude this blog with one word, BEAUTIFUL.
Up until probably the day that I left San Diego to move here I was still torn on whether Korea was really the country that I wanted to teach in. I was debating between Thailand and Korea for months on end but the moment I was set to board my plane in San Francisco on a direct flight to Seoul I knew I had made the right decision because standing at the gates checking tickets was the most attractive man I had ever seen, (He has been trumped quite a few times since I have been here). He was none other than of Korean decent and the beginning of my slight obsession.

I have a natural attraction to Asian men. I am not sure exactly why, it could be because I grew up in a community highly concentrated with Asians or maybe I was influenced by all of the Asian cartoons and Asian martial arts movies I watched as a child but something has drawn me to favor them over other races. And upon moving here, Korean men have quickly ascended to the top as my specific flavor of choice.

In my eyes Korean men have the advantage over other Asian races for  3 reasons. 
1- they are on average, taller.
2-they have AMAZING hair (if i have a Korean baby that child will be blessed)
3- and many of them have thick thighs (this is the icing on the cake).

Sometimes when I am out I feel as if I am dreaming. Everywhere I turn I am surrounded by  K-POP star look-a-likes (photo examples are the end of the blog). Not only are they endowed with flawless faces and messy but yet some how perfectly styled hair, Korean men have impeccable style. From the tailored business suit wearing men who go against the traditional black shiny shoes and wear matte brown to the "I just threw this together but somehow STILL look runway ready" to the "I wear bright colored Nikes with every outfit and yet STILL make it fashionable" or whatever their style may be, someway or another they always look good. I am constantly getting caught by my friends eye raping every Korean male in my vicinity or getting left behind because I was distracted by a man who we had just walked passed. But even after all the admiration I have yet and probably will never make a move.

If somebody was asked to describe me, the last word out of their mouth would be shy. Before coming to Korea I had not been shy a single day in my life, especially when it came to men. That was easy, being turned down did not frighten me, I knew it wouldn't kill me so I didn't fear it. But here in Korea, I still know it won't kill me but I am complete incapable of functioning. Around Korean men I am like a school girl, the simplest things out of their mouths make me blush furiously. I don't care if it is just our waiter taking an order or somebody ringing me up at the convenience store, my brain goes to mush. Maybe its the perfect swoop in their hair or the disappearing eyes when they smile or the fact that they may or may not speak English,  whatever it is something there intimidates me.

So here I am living in my ideal world, in my ideal situation (surrounded by men who I am attracted to) unable to gather enough guts to do anything.

#CHEERS2BEINGCHICKENSHIT
 


PS: after a little liquid courage I was finally able to make a move ^^

What the h**l did I just eat?

Yesterday was a day I will never forget, ever.

It started out as any other normal night, 2 friends of mine (and Englishman and a South African) and I decided to grab dinner and drinks. Somehow or another one of the two gentlemen brilliantly (this is complete sarcasm) suggests that we "try something new." We headed in a direction that we have not ventured before to discover a new restaurant and came upon 2 neighboring places. One was a typical Galbi place that only had one table seated and the other was another meat (unknown to us at the time what kind of meat) restaurant that was quite busy. My English friend made the ultimate decision that it was in our best interest to eat at the more popular place, his first bad decision of the night and my South African friend and I willingly agreed, our first bad decision of the night.

Walking through the restaurant all of the tables are eating and enjoying the same unidentified dish. None of us have any idea what it is that they are eating but this doesn't stop us from allowing ourselves to be seated. The EM (Englishman) and myself were left to decide what to order, the SA (South African) left briefly and before he left he said (this is not a direct quote) "Go ahead and order, just no seafood" his second bad decision.

I read Hangeul (Korean) at about the same rate a Kindergartner does, as I am attempting to read the menu on the wall a lady comes over to take our order. She starts speaking in Korean, I assume giving us dinner choices. I was in over my head, I did not catch a single word she was saying so I let the EM deal with it, my second bad decision. The entire time she was speaking when she would pause the EM was reply with "ye" (means yes in Korean) so I assumed he knew what the heck was going on. Finally our order was complete and she left.

Me: "Did you understand all of that?"
EM: "Nope"
Me: "Do you know what you just ordered?"
EM: "Nope, but I am positive it wasn't seafood."

The SA returned and our adventure began.

First came the Soju and beer which were the only two things that would be served to us that we were familiar with. Two completely fine and consumable things.

Then, came the side dishes, our first clue that we had made a terrible dinner choice. The normal side of lettuce, dipping sauces and kimchi were served but then there was this plate of ....stuff. On the plate two different things were served. The first was what looked like snake skin. It was silvery/grey scaly strips of something. Next to it is what I would guess as some type of raw organ, maybe a heart or a chopped up liver. We all looked at each other asking one another if we knew what either of them were, none of us did, but we decided to give it a go anyways. When in Korea, why not does as the Koreans do right? I myself could only work up the guts to try the snake skin look alike, it was chewy and tasted what I imagine earth tastes like. The SA tasted the raw organ and I would bet quite a lot of money that he won't be eating it again.(Later he decided that it tasted better than our main course)

Our main dish came out and was set upon the grill in the center of the table. On it was onions, sweet potato slices and this unidentified meat. We all sat there trying to figure out what exactly it was as it cooked between us. The lady working would come by and flip our meat since none of us made the attempt to even touch it. Finally she gave us the go to eat it. All of us gathered the courage to try it.

Imagine eating the chewiest bubble gum, stuffed with chunky mashed potatoes. That was its consistency.

The flavor... I can't describe. It was, strange for a lack of a better word. For me, at first it was tasteless but as I continued to chew this thick, bland, moldy flavor coated my taste buds.. No matter the size of the gulp of soju/beer I couldn't get it out of my mouth.

We all were pretty horrified. We were fine with eating the onions and the sweet potatoes but after eating one piece of the meat like concoction each and realizing that it was disgusting we still had an ENTIRE grill filled with it.

The SA gf happens to be Korean and she informed us that it tasted good when crispy. This gave us some hope. We all used our chopsticks to hold down pieces of this meat to get them as crispy as possible with out burning them and then gave it another go...

Still disgusting.

We all picked at the vegetables a bit longer before deciding that we needed to finish our drinks and find real food. We left our table, grill still hardly touched and went to cash out. Food in Korea is very inexpensive, well most food. For our dinner if I had to guess the price BEFORE we paid, I would have guessed around 32,000 KRW, boy was i wrong. I handed over my debit card to pay (dinner wasn't on me they paid me their parts) and went to sign... 49,000 KRW. 49,000 KRW for some unidentifiable meat that we didn't even eat. We basically just paid to eat onions..  the most expensive damn onions I have ever eaten.

We eventually figured out that we had dined at an entrails restaurant. I told my COTeachers and other Co Workers about my experience and they all laughed hysterically at our surprise and reaction. I suppose this is something us westerners just do not understand.


#CHEERS2TRYINGEVERYTHINGONCE




Photos of the Meal:

Main Course

Side Dishes

I don't ever use people's names.. that is why I distinguished my two friends by their countries of origin.

loooking for sunshinee!

You always hear that places with sunshine and warm weather breed happier people, I never understood why or how the weather could effect somebody's happiness. I have always believed that happiness is something that is on the inside, you're happy because you decide to be happy and whether or not somebody or something can tamper this is decided by you.

And then the temperature dropped.

I didn't realize that I was depressed until yesterday. (I only call it depressed for a lack of a better term. In no way do I want to cause harm to myself, hate my life (I LOVE MY LIFE) or anything to the extreme like that.) Right now I find complete satisfaction in spending my nights alone, lying on my heated floors watching Breaking Bad. That big ball of sunshine that I usually infuse a room with (ball of sunshine = over the top personality) has sizzled out. Interacting with people has become a chore. The thought of going out exhausts me. I used to be this big social butterfly, according to my dad  I "couldn't miss any event," which was true. Being among people is my calling, getting out, socializing, dressing up, making friends, all of those are things that I LOVE to do. But lately the furthest I make it is the gym (NOTHING, not even a Zombie apocalypse, will ever get in the way of this), where after I immediately go home and continue to submerge myself in the life of a high school chem teacher gone king pin drug lord.

And with temperature drops the amount of clothes I wear has gone up.

I am not known for being modest when it comes to dressing. I always keep it classy  but I workout to maintain my body so of course I wore and will always wear clothes that flaunt this. Living in a year round summer made it easy to do this.. shorts, skirts, tank tops and the occasional cute jacket when needed. But today and for the rest of the winter I will be the big, tall, round, red headed American in the purple winter coat. And even after I shed the winter coat I am beginning to layer so much under my regular clothes I look like I could possibly be with child, smuggling two thanksgiving hams in my jeans and at the same time making serious attempts to compete with Nicky Minaj in a "who has the biggest rump" competition.

All in all, as the temperature continues to drop so does the space on my hard drive. After I finish Breaking Bad I have a list a mile long of other shows I am planning on consuming and I am open for any suggestions:) !

CHEERS2FINDINGMYINNERSHINEAGAIN

Kid's say the darnedest things...

A typical cliche blog about the sh*t my students have said to me.

6:
Student: "Kala Teacha I buy you candy."
Me: "Thank you! Where is it?"
Student: "I ate it."

5:
I went to school with mis matching socks.
Student: "Kala Teacher you're a fashion terrorist!"

4:
After showing my class a picture of LeBron James
Student: "Your brother?"
Me: "No"
Student: "Yes, you have same skin."
Me: "All black people are not related"
Student: "Yes huh! You have same dad."

3:
After showing a picture of Chris Paul wearing a baseball hat
Me: "What is he wearing?"
Student: "A black face."

2:
Student: "Why do you have spots?"
Me: "They are freckles and I was born this way."
Student: "No, spots, like dog."

1:
Student: "Teacher, perm-a?"
Me: "No, natural"
Student (under his breath as he walks away): "Liar."

teaching my students the cha-cha slide...

Where is The Bookstore? was the title of last week's lesson in our textbook. The focus of this lesson was teaching the students how to give and understand directions.  We (my CO and I) always introduce a new song with each lesson, something that relates in someway or another. Obviously, since I was teaching directions the no brainer song to include was DJ Casper's The Cha Cha Slide.

Coincidentally, last week our school had class productions. Each homeroom class put together some type of performance to present to parents, faculty and other classes. My co-teacher decided that we too should put something together for the 5th grade production. Because we are  specialty subject teachers we do not have a homeroom class, instead we teach every 5th grade homeroom class English 2/3 periods a week. In order for us to put something together we had to use the ENTIRE 5th grade class, which is roughly about 180 students.

We decided to go with a song and dance performance. My CO organized our performance in 3 segments; the first, a select group of students danced on stage to the song "Can you join us" while the rest of the students in the audience would sing. Then we would have the entire 5th grade class dance the cha-cha slide in the audience, followed by the entire 5th grade class singing the "I can" song.

Organizing what we were going to do was easy enough, teaching the students the dances (mainly the Cha-Cha Slide)  was another story.

While the cha-cha slide is an easy dance to learn and do, it isn't easy to do well. It requires rhythm, hip motion and for a lack of a better word, swag. You can't teach these things, they are like natural instincts. All dogs can swim, well certain races naturally have the ability to dance well. I personally wouldn't vouch and say that Korean was one of these races.

So teaching my students the cha-cha slide was an adventure. At first, the only students who would actually even attempt to do the dance were  the goofy boys who pretty much just made a mockery of it the entire time. The rest of the students would cling to their chairs as if they were clinging on for life or death, but we didn't give up.  I would literally  tear my students from their chairs and  force them to dance. As the week progressed more students began to willingly participate. It eventually got to the point where I had students asking me to let them practice in my classroom during lunch time.

When my students first started to learn the dance  they looked like a bunch of cardboard cut-outs. Stiff, boring, no flavor or attitude. Teaching the steps to the cha-cha was easy, but getting them to sway their hips and move their arms while doing it was not. Because I speak no Korean (beyond being polite and important terms to shop with) explaining to my students how to groove and feel the music was difficult. I would have to move their hips and arms for them (in a totally appropriate manner!) and demonstrate myself. . We might have danced the cha-cha slide well over 100 times.

But come D-Day they got it! My CO and I danced on the stage as our mass of students did the dance in the audience and our performance was AWESOME. The parents LOVED it and the Principal was extremely impressed that we got the ENTIRE 5th grade class to do something as a group with out having any form of destruction occur. Both the Principal and Vice at lunch expressed how much they enjoyed our performance in their best English, I received many emails from other teachers telling me how great of a job we did and the students we so proud of themselves. And even after all the reluctance that my students felt towards the dance in the beginning, the day after the production my students begged  me to allow them to do it one last time.

I do not yet have the video of the actual performance but for now I have a few videos from lunch time practices. Enjoy :)

Can You Join Us Song

Cha-Cha Slide

#CHEERS2MYSTUDENTSFORBEINGAWESOME

Teaching Pet Peeves

While I do enjoy teaching as a now job, there are a few things that I have encountered that really irk me.


#1 Finding a decent side of your chalk that will actually make a legible mark on the chalk board. I can't stand being in the middle of a lesson and trying to write something on the board and having the chalk produce some scrawny dashed line that nobody can read, it kills that moment of emphasis and it isn't ever a quick fix, usually I must rotate and try the chalk multiple times before I can find the good side and by that time the moment is gone.

#2 Chalk boards in general. After 6 periods of using the chalk board my hands  look ashy and my clothes look like I rolled around in a pile of dust.

#3 Having 15 different white board markers and NONE of them work. I swear there must be a school boogey man who spends all night wasting the ink in my markers. It is sad that when I find a working marker I feel the same excitement a child does on Christmas.

#4 Those moments when you are in the middle of punishing or scolding a student and they say something that makes you want to laugh.

Example: One of my students was extra talkative in class.

His first inturruption I just caught his eye and gave him the shhhhh sign

His second inturruption I said " _____ stop speaking in Korean and listen please."

His thrid inturruption I said loudly "_____ didn't I ask you to stop talking?!?"

His response, "Yes but I speak-y in ENGLISH! You say Korean tee-cha."

I had to keep a straight face, if I would have laughed all my credibility would have went down the drain. 

#5 Copies. I might single handedly be responsible for  deforestation in Korea. Somewhere between figuring out how many copies of papers I will need for my classes and the actual copying of them I end up with a stack of extras comprable to the thickness of a textbook. There are only so many "arts and crafts" components I can throw in my lessons to cover this up...obviously I wasn't a math major.

#6 Teaching in slippers. Here in Korea you do not wear your outside shoes inside of most places including here at school so teachers and students alike wear inside shoes usually some form of slippers. I wear a pair of knock off Adidas pre-game slippers, the ones with the one thick strap across the top of your foot. The slippers bother me  for two reasons. The first because I find myself somehow managing to kick them off of my foot as I walk. A few times I have even managed to accidentally launch my slippers at my students, which they find absolutely hilarious and I find frightening because I am afraid one day I am going to take a student's eye out with it (There might or might not have been a few times I have hit or almost hit a student and wasn't entirely apologetic about it). The second reason they bother me is because they make it very hard to take any male at work seriously. The male teachers here come to school dressed in full on business suits and give up their shiny dress shoes at the door for slide on slippers. It is impossible not to chuckle the first few times you see a man in a suit with slippers...and for me it is impossible not to chuckle EVERY single time I see this. When ever I am around the Principal, Vice Principal or any of the male teachers I am usually suppressing a giggle while attempting to keep my professional disposition present, not easy at all.

#7 (this is a LOVE/HATE relationship) Candy. Imagine a crack addict being stripped of his pipe. Candy to my students is like crack to a crack addict. If I mention giving candy for anything such as participation all of a sudden EVERYBODY knows the answer. If it is for the winning team in one of the class games you would think we were in game 7 of the NBA playoffs with a rivalry as deep as the Celtics and Lakers. My students get cut throat. Today's game required one person from each team to run to the board to read a sentence that they then had to run back and  dictate to their team. During one of the sprints to the front the littlest girl in the 6th grade (by littlest I mean shortest and thinnest) chucked a fellow classmate into the desks just to beat him to the front of the room. Candy changes students, before today she was always timid and shy but at the mention of candy she became this vicious little fighter ready to kill anybody that tried to get in her way of winning.

#8 Gangnam style. You think this has nothing to do with teaching, but it does. If another student shouts "Heyyyyy Sexy Lady!!" At me in the hallway as I walk by I just might lose my marbles. I feel like I am back at home where the only pick up line guys seem to know is "Hey Ma." Redundancy is annoying in any country at any age. I just might hold a class period on HOW to talk to women in ways that are affective because it seems like men all over the world are pretty damn clueless.

#CHEERS2MYFIRST9TO5

Cold Weather.

 Warning this is a rant from a girl who has "I grew up in Paradise" problems.

Let me start this off by saying I was born and raised in Paradise aka. San Diego, CA.

When I first was deciding on where I wanted to be located in Korea I requested a city that had a temperate climate and my recruiter (I am sure laughed at me also)  informed me that just does not exist in Korea. For the first time in my life I am experiencing these things called seasons.

Back home, we think we have seasons. Summer hovers around 80 and 90 degrees and then drops to 50 (if it is really cold) but on average it is mid 60s in the Winter. Even so, at home we all bitch and complain about the weather, "it's soo hot today" or "it's too cold." For San Diegans it's always too something, anything that is not within 5 degrees of 80 is too something.  People laugh and joke about how we are sissys when it comes to weather well it is TRUE! It isn't our fault we live (in my case liveD) in Paradise.

Right now it is October and about 60 degrees on average daily here in Korea which apparently is "nothing" as everybody keeps telling me as they laugh at how cold I claim to already be. The coldest month, so I have heard, is January. That is 3 months away...I have no idea what to expect, but I am terrified.

Everyone around me has been extremely nice. I am constantly being given advice on how to prepare and live through the winter. Some people honestly worry about me and other find my ignorance amusing, all still providing me with survival tips. But even with all of this winter advice, friends and family, I do not think I am going to survive.

Back home when the temperature drops too low for our liking  we bust out our trendy scarves, boots, coats and call ourselves "bundling up." My San Diego "winter coat" is lined with Leopard print silk. I may not be an expert on extreme temperatures but I do not think silk is on the list for best cold weather material. I own beenies and scarves, all of them quite fashionable and can spruce up any look but here scarves and beenies are not a fashion statement, they are a means to survival. The days of dressing up my shorts with a cute beenie or a scarf are over. Now I will wrap my neck like a burrito to fend off the piercing wind and top it with my Michelin Man Coat (I did get a very cute color so all fashion is not lost). And yes, it is complete with the fur. 


(Fact: Korea is the most fashionable country in the world and without a doubt I am sure that Koreans find and do succeed in being fashionable during the winter and I am just a big sissy from San Diego who likes to complain)


Speaking to people from colder parts of the world I am constantly hearing that they couldn't imagine not having a cold Christmas. They like being able to cozy up by the fire and ...? So far that is the only reason I have heard from people who actually desire a cold Christmas. The fire is fine and dandy but what about after Christmas? It is still cold, Christmas is over, you have to go back to work, you can no longer cozy up by your fire, so now what do you have? Nothing but cold weather. Those of you who can't imagine anything BUT a cold Christmas just haven't experienced a warm one. It is amazing, we may not have a fire but I don't think that can be considered missing much.Winter sports? We have them AND we wear sleeve-less tops while doing them. Beat that.

Luckily, I have been given a slew of advice from cold weather veterans that I am going to include in case anybody else is as clueless as I am.

1. Layer, Layer, Layer. Buy: Long underwear, a "proper" winter coat, thick gloves, thick scarves and warm socks.
2. Keep your chest, wrists and neck warm.
3. Set your timer for your heating
4. Blow dry your hair before going outside
5. Layer, Layer, Layer (this is the most popular piece of advice I have been given)
6. Get from point A to point B as quickly as possible
7. Buy a personal space heater or have a cuddle buddy. *Preferable a Jacob vs Edward (Twilight reference).
8. Blow warm air under your covers with a blow dryer before getting in bed
9. Take warm coffee in a mug to work
10. Stay inside.

So, in my preparation to survive and taking from all of the advice I have received I figured I MUST do 3 things.

1. I must lose inches but gain body fat. Why must I lose inches? Well all this talk of wearing long underwear under my pants isn't going to happen unless I do so. The only thing fitting in my pants is myself.  I can barely put them on when I have lotion on and somehow I am supposed to put an EXTRA layer of cloth under? Not happening. Why must I fatten up? Fat is suppose to keep you warm, bears fatten up before winter, animals that live in the North Pole have very high body fat, larger people tend to get warmer quicker ext... well at a whopping 19percent body fat (thank you Korean food I am incredibly fit) my fat (or lack there of) won't be keeping me warm. Joke is on me, for once being fit is working against me.
2. I must give up my social life outside of my apartment walls.  One reason, heated flooring. Why should I leave the warmth of my floors for the outside world? The farthest I see myself traveling is next door, sorry neighbor you're stuck with me all winter.
3. I must find and download many seasons of many shows because I will be racking up my viewing hours. (Suggestions are welcome)

There is a positive to me experiencing my first winter, I finally get to put my Roca Wear puffy jacket circa 90's and early 00's rap music videos to use :). It even becomes a vest!

#CHEERS2SURVIVING.

**Despite what it sounds like, I very much love Korea and yes I have exaggerated a lot in this blog.

what kind of teacher are you?

I get asked quite often "What kind of teacher are you?" Is there a way to answer this? What are people looking for when they ask me this question? Do they want to know if I am strict? Easy-going? or do they want to know how my class is structured? maybe how I relate to the students? I never know what to say.

This is my first time being a teacher, but this is not my first experience dealing with children. I have coached basketball teams with varying ages since I was 14 years old. Starting with my nephew and niece in rec leagues from ages 6- 12, a few different middle school teams, eventually landing a job at a high school and even being offered a job at a JC as an assistant. Because of these experiences I think I am at a slight advantage compared to other new teachers. I KNOW I do not know it all or even close to it all about teaching but I do know that I have been well prepared for this job.

So now that I have time to sit and think about the question, "What kind of teacher are you?," my answer would be unconventional (although there are probably other teachers who have similar strategies to mine). Here are a few examples as to why.

Talking
If a student is talking in class and I ask them to stop talking and they decide against their better judgement to keep talking  I will take an off the chart strategies to shut the kid up.

Example: One of my students is always chatting it up in class. After not being able to stop it I crumpled a paper and threw it at him (I have awesome aim and hit him right in the head). He had no idea it was me. After he was hit it forced him to look in my direction because he was trying to figure out who threw it. For a few minutes this kept his attention (as he was trying to figure this out he started participating!). After a while he went back to chatting so I threw another and again he tried to figure out who threw it and again started participating. After my third thrown paper to his head he stopped chatting and since then I have only had to do this one other time.

If a student argues with me and it is in English, I will entertain his or her argument and even fuel the fire JUST so they will keep speaking in English.

Example: One of my students argued with me that giraffes were not the sexiest animals in the world (later an explanation on how this started). Of course we all know that they are but HE thinks it is a peacock, so I asked why and he gave his reasons, the tail, the colors and they fly. I gave mine for giraffes, their walk, their neck and their tail. For about 5 minutes we went back and forth while the class watched, laughed and some putting in their opinions on which animal was sexiest. We both even demonstrated the movements of our animals to prove the point. My belief is that if the kids are paying attention, listening or speaking English no matter what the topic is, they are learning something.

Participation
All teachers know that getting students to participate can be worse than having teeth pulled. Everybody has the 4 students who will participate ALL the time while the rest sit their and stare. I have effectively eliminated this problem with the Participation Ball. In all of my classes I have a plush basketball that I have named the Participation Ball. It works very simple, if I throw the ball at you, catch it (or try) and then you must participate. BOOM.

Lessons
I have a textbook that I must teach out of, it isn't the best text book ever (could there be a good textbook though?). Every lesson in the textbook follows the same format and is pretty dry. So I like most other teachers throw in my own material to spice things up.

Example: In my PowerPoints I always include funny pictures, pictures of myself, random pictures that have nothing to do with the lesson to grab the students attention, funny videos and bright colors. During a lesson about comparisons I compared an giraffe to a peacock and listed that the giraffe is sexier as one of the comparisons (which started the argument above) and take this type of off the chart strategy in all of my PowerPoints. I have also included into my different lessons a video of myself dancing to Beyonce - Single Ladies (video is at the bottom for your entertainment), pictures of me as a child, celebrities, historical figures doing strange things, cropped in students photos onto different bodies and of course awesome songs to go with the lessons ( Michael Jackson - Do you remember was my most recent, I even taught myself how to moon walk).

I always edit the ESL games as well and throw in a physical component or extra activity with in the game to make it more difficult.

Example: Everybody has played the telephone game. You separate the students into teams and have them line up. You give each team a sentence or phrase which they must pass down student to student to the end of the line by whispering it to each other. The first team to have it right wins. My version is a bit different. First, each team has a different sentence and second the team members are not standing side by side, they are spaced out so they must run to the next person.Giving the teams different sentences eliminates cheating and/or makes it completely obvious. Spreading the students out ups the difficulty on remembering the sentence, students are usually so eager to out run each other they forget the sentence and must run back to hear the sentence again. For my more advanced classes I will make the students do an activity in between passing the sentence along such as a answering a question that deals with the lesson or any other little activity to throw them off.

With vocabulary I always show the Hangul version of the word and have them translate it to English. For added fun, I have them teach me how to pronounce it. This is always entertaining to them because my mouth just can not make the sounds that Koren requires and I know I sound like an idiot. 

Interacting
It is hard to relate to many of the students when their English ability only goes as far as the textbook learning but I do my best. I will go and watch them play soccer or dodgey- ball (as they call it), I will let them show me new dances (I learned how to gangnam from my 6th graders) and new music, I tell them about my life and what I do over the weekends (of course I eliminate the things they don't need to know) and I ask about theirs.  Even from simply just TRYING to read and pronounce their names has given my tons of brownie points with them. I have realized that any little gesture that shows interest in them goes along way.


Overall, I think back to all of the teachers that I have enjoyed over the years and I try to pull from them and use their strategies in my own classroom and as of month 2 it seems to be working :).

#CHEERS2LOVINGYOURJOB

Ps: I won that argument with that student. I just informed him that the male peacocks were the only ones with the big "sexy" tail.

Kala Teacher- 1
Student- 0

Here are a few pictures from PowerPoints, sorry to my friends and family who have been involuntarily involved.

I HAD TO :)

 

and me, as the FABULOUS Beyonce.

Accidentally getting fresh with one of my students...

Today was Wrap up day for my 5th graders. Wrap Up day always consists of a quick review in the textbook and then games, my kids love Wrap Up day. Today we played my modified version of tic tac toe. Each pair of students had a set of dice. On one of the die the faces had locations on them. On the other die the faces had actions that pertained to the previous lessons on them. The students had to roll the dice and then form sentences with the faces that they rolled. For example if student 1 rolled the dice and got:

They would then form the sentence, "May I play soccer in the museum?" and student 2 would either answer "Yes you may" if the action and location were a possible pair or "No you may not" if they, as in this case, were not. If they rolled a possible pair they then were allowed to draw an X or and O on their grid.

After explaining the game I called a student up to the front of the class to help me demonstrate. The student I called up is one of my more enjoyable students. He isn't particularly well-behaved or the best English speaker but he isn't afraid to participate, usually has something absolutely absurd and funny to say, speaks loudly (pretty much yells most of the time) and doesn't mind being my guinea pig. Lets call him Tom. So Tom and I start by playing rock paper scissors to see who went first. I won (of course!), so I rolled.

Me: "May I take pictures in your room?"

The class giggled and my student gave me a strange look. I thought he didn't understand me so I asked again.

Me: "May I take pictures in your room?"

The giggling got louder and again he said nothing...

Me: "Do you understand the game?
Tom: "Yes."
Me: "Okay, please answer, May I take pictures in your room?"
Tom: "NOOOOOOO YOU MAY NOT TEACH-A, EWWW KALA TEACH-A YOU BAD!!"

My class started was roaring with laughter now, I was confused. I had no idea what was so funny and wrong with that scenario...then it hit me,

I just ask my student if I could take pictures in his room.

#CHEERS2GETTINGTURNEDDOWNBYA11YEAROLD

Finding fame in Korea.....

1 month and 2 weeks into my stay in Korea I have found fame, twice.

My first "fame" experience
Last Saturday, October 9th, I took myself to a Makgeolli Festival. Makgeolli is a rice wine that is native to Korea. The festival consisted of different vendors hosting booths where they were giving out free samples of their product, a person then after sampling could purchase a bottle if they desired. After getting lost on the bus on my way there ( I accidentally rode to the end of the bus line -___-), I arrived and was alone...at a free sampling of alcohol.. So...I did what any smart, level-headed person would do, I started sampling away. At around my 5th booth I was approached by 2 older Korean men who were both obviously Makgeolli-ed out of their minds insisting that I accompany them around to the other booths. Of course I went, who in their right minds would pass up hanging out with two hammered Ajusshis (I am positive I spelled the word incorrectly)? To begin our rendezvous they asked me the typical questions Waygooks (foreigners) are asked by Koreans:

1st Question: My roots
Men :"Where are you from?"
Me: "California"
Men: "oooooohhh Cali-PORN-ya. You movie star?"
---I get asked this way too often to be flattered.
2nd Question: My status
Old Men: "Married"
Me: "No"
Old Men:"Boyfriend?"
Me: "No"
Old Men: "ohhhh noooooo? you hab a good mask and *give me a thumbs up* S-line you need boyfriend."
---After a moment of confusion I finally figured out he was talking about my face (mask) and figure ( a S-line is a curvy figure).

 So off we went booth hopping and sample tasting. The festival was pretty busy, with free alcohol naturally came a lot of people. That caused each booth have a line to receive your sample (the lines went through very quick). But instead of waiting in line my two Ajusshis walked me straight to the front and yelled at the workers "EL-AYE STI-ILL" and pointed at me. I had no idea what they were saying but the workers responded happily and poured me a sample. This continued to every single booth twice around! and all of them responded the same, they would give a smile, a cheer, a laugh or something of the sort and pour me a full shot of whatever it was they had (most booths were only giving out half shots or less).  I was just a happy friggin' camper!  Free alcohol, skipping the line! Could it be called something other than HEAVEN?

Then, when I thought it couldn't get any better, these two Ajumma (again my spelling is questionable), old Korean women, walked up to me, had a one-sided conversation with me ( I couldn't understand a single word), sat me down and spoon fed me. I don't know what it was that they fed me but they literally opened up a fresh pack of chopsticks, pulled out some Korean dish, picked up some food, put it in my mouth and then gave me a sip of Makgeolli. This continued until they felt I had eaten and drank enough. I didn't have to do anything except sit, chew and swallow. I was being treated like royalty (and enjoying it to the fullest)!

Believe it or not my day got EVEN better. The icing on the cake was the Gangnam Style dance-off. My two Ajusshis, after listening to an announcement from the stage, physically drug me from the chair I was sitting in to the dance floor where I participated in a Gangnam Style dance off with a child, two other foreigners and a slew of Ajusshis and Ajummas. Due to my buzzed state of mind and inability to Gangnam dance to save my life, I didn't compete well... but I did managed to do two things:

1- I finally realized that the two Ajusshis had been introducing me to the booths as LA-Style (El-aye sti-ill)
2- Record videos (which are attached!)

My second "fame" experience

Last week I joined a gym finally. Unlike gyms back at home which are typically HUGE and have hundred of members, gyms in Korea are small and more exclusive. I joined Vitamin Fitness only because they have a better cardio selection than the other gyms I visited (the other gyms only had treadmills) and the equipment is new but I am getting way more than I bargained for. My first day working out was my leg day. I arrive at the gym after work in my typical workout outfit; spandex, bright colored nikes, bright sports bra and a muscle tank. I jump right on a treadmill to start my warm-up. After working up a good sweat I stretch and started my lifting routine. My first workout was squats and it was here I noticed people were starting at me. I figured it was because I can squat a pretty decent amount for a woman (of course it being my first day there I had to squat a little more than usual to show out) but then I realized that everybody else was matching. The ALL had on the same outfit. Apparently the fact that my gym provides gym clothes for members to workout in (they wash them for you too) was lost in translation when I signed up. I shrugged it off and continued my workout standing out like a sore thumb. While lunging across the gym I again became aware that people were staring at me, but even more people this time. I worried that maybe my spandex were see through (all girls who work out know what I am talking about) but that wasn't the case. I again shrugged it off and continued to work-out, even harder now that I had an audience. 

**Koreans, like most other Asian cultures that I have encountered, do not find it awkward, rude or weird to stare as most Western Cultures do. They do not mean to offend or make anybody uncomfortable,  it is purely out of curiosity. 

I finally finished my workout but not with out attracting the attention of everybody else in the gym. I was on my way to the locker room to shower and change when I was approached by one of the trainers at the gym (short, buff, beautiful, Asian to those of you who don't know me that is just my type) who in broken English said to me "you work-out sooo gud, eats ahhh-mazing. Korean women...no" (Translation: I'm a beast). After giggling like a 3rd grader, blushing  and mumbling a thank you I hurried to the locker room to shower and change. The showers are very prison like (I have never been but have seen plenty in movies), there is a row of heads in a long room, community soap ( I bring my own) and all inhibitions are lost. I happened to be in the shower during rush hour, all of the heads were occupied. I was in the dead center of the shower handling my business when I felt hands other than my own touching my hair! (I hate when people touch my hair, so if you see me DON'T). I turned around startled and was facing a naked Korean woman. After moment of a silent stare she pointed to my hair and gave me a thumbs-up. I then hurried to finish my shower. While I was changing in the locker room another naked lady came up to me, pointed at my body (she pointed at an awkward place at that) and gave me a thumbs up and said "you have good body."  I find this to be the ultimate compliment because Korean women all seem to value this unattainable thinness and I am very far from that.

Thoroughly flattered, with a bigger head than usual and uncomfortable at the same time I go to leave the gym. Before I could make it out of the door I was stopped by yet another Korean (male this time) who did not utter a word but shook my hand and gave me a banana. I still am not sure why.

Now every time I have gone to the gym, which is everyday, I have left with compliments and more often than not a gift of some sort. Fame.

I may never go home.

#CHEERS2MYNEWFOUNDFAME

PICTURES:)

Just a couple of photos of my life so far! :)

A example of what my everyday work wear looks like.

My own DIY (do it yourself) project! Now my jewelry hangs neatly on the inside of my wardrobe. :)

I have the greatest parents, they sent me a package and stocked my cabinet with American spices, hot sauce, protein bars and whole wheat products!

A snapshot of Seoul! It's such a beautiful city right??

More pictures to come:)

Why you must have thick skin to be a teacher.

This week was "Comparisons Week" in my 6th grade classes. I (along with my co-teacher) taught the kids how to properly use adjectives to make comparisons between people, objects and animals. For example, I am faster than you or an elephant is bigger than a rabbit. We had various activities and games that emphasized the use of comparisons in reading, writing and the most memorable, speaking. After a quick PowerPoint review of the last lesson with my students I asked them to compare my co-teacher and myself which turned out to be a big mistake. My co-teacher is small for a Korean women, who are already small people. To put it simply she is VERY, VERY petite. Back at home I am of average height/weight but here I am something similar to Godzilla. So my co-teacher and myself stood in front of the each class together to allow the students to see us side by side. The activity went very well in most of my classes, they enjoyed applying what they had learned in an on the spot situation. But then came THE class. Every teacher has the class. What is the class one who is not a teacher might ask? Well it is a class that just might have been spawned from the devil himself. The class could have a number of the following traits

1-Sometimes they are so quiet you question if they are even alive
2- They look through you not at you
3-They feel as if they have something better to do than sit through your lecture
4- The kids can be just BONKERS, like they ate a box of Frosted Flakes with chocolate milk type of  BONKERS
5- Manners do not exist. Neither do inside voices, shouting is the only form of communication
6- Rules? you couldn't be sure if they have ever even heard of them
7- Smart-mouths are more common than not
8- The fact that you have a college degree and many years on them means nothing, they still know more.
9- They consciously attempt to test your patience in every way possible
10- Being difficult is all they know

The class is the reason new discipline and participation strategies are conceived and where they are tested.

Well during  the class in the beginning I wasn't sure if they were even awake. But as soon as I asked them to compare ____ teacher and myself they suddenly came to life, so eager to give their comparisons you might have believed I shot them up with pure sugar, they were climbing all over each other falling out of their chairs in desperation to be called on. The first comparisons were similar to those in all my classes.....

"Kala teacher is taller than ___ teacher."
"Kala teacher is stronger than ___ teacher."
"____teacher is shorter than Kala teacher."
 "____teacher has longer hair than Kala teacher."

But then the students got creative and more excited, hand raising went out of the window and yelling began..

 "____teacher is WHITER than Kala teacher."
 "Kala teacher is BLACKER than ___ teacher."
"____ teacher is OLDER than  Kala teacher."

and the icing on the cake and the loudest shout...

"Kala teacher is MORE FAT than ___ teacher."

First, I went bell ringing crazy to regain order in the class,  after I managed to settle everybody down  I corrected his English, "Kala teacher is FATTER than ___ teacher," and moved on. Were my feelings hurt? Not at all, but I didn't want to see what else these little demons could come up with. They weren't speaking out of malice, their vocabulary only goes so far and fat just happens to be apart of it. But even at the sake of our feelings my co-teacher and I could not really complain because at least they were speaking English.

#CHEERS2HAVINGTHICKSKIN

****follow up: After speaking to other teachers of the same grades I am pleased to say my students are angels in comparison to the stories that they have told me.

The end of week two

Above is the Google Map version of the area in which I live! To take a look just type in Sau-dong, Gimpo-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea in Google Maps.

It is hard to believe that it is already the end of my second week here in S.K. Time sure has flown by! As of now I still know nothing, where to eat, what to eat, how to order, I am pretty much handicapped if I want to eat something besides the 2 weeks of chicken and eggs I have at home but on a positive note, I have become more familiar with the area that surrounds my apartment, now I can venture beyond the supermarket, my gym and my apartment.  Since I am still phone-less I refuse to travel outside of my safe little city. Okay, well technically I am not phone-less, my recruiting agency, Korvia, provided me with a phone to use until I am able to obtain my own. The reason I say I am phone-less is because they gave me a phone from the early 90's. We all remember those slide up phones, where you have to text using your number pad and the ring tones are a various selection of popular songs from the 90's (mine is Celine Dion My Heart Will Go On) that are barely interpretable because they sound like they are recording of elementary school flute players.While I am extremely grateful for the free phone, I absolutely hate it. It has not only put in perspective the trouble my mom has when trying to learn how to do something new on her computer, as simple as it may be to me it pretty much is a foreign language to her (and most of her generation), it has also shown me how dependent I am on modern technology.  I feel so incapable of reprogramming my mind to use a phone that doesn't already think for itself already! What's the point in thinking when you have Siri?* When I got the phone it already had 10,000 KRW on it (a little less than 9 USD), I still haven't run out of time, just to show you how little I use it. It took me 5 WHOLE minutes (and I am not exaggerating) to send a text that was maybe 15 words long, where with my awesome iphone I could have typed a dissertation in that time and ALL 15 of those words were in capital letters because I have no idea how to take the caps off. So, I am phone-less and as for now I can just pray my ARC card comes soon so I can happily utilize and abuse my dependency on modern technology again.

#CHEERS2MODERNTECHNOLOGY

*Siri is the iphone's "intelligent personnel assistant." Basically Siri is the iphone if it were a person. You can ask her to do anything on your iphone and she will do it for you.

Hello Gimpo, Korea

I have finally arrived at my new home, Gimpo, Korea and to say the least and speaking less than a week in, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. Upon arriving in Korea I have witnessed a country that is in the middle of modernizing itself. Infrastructure is being rebuilt, bridges, buildings, schools, roads ext.... are all under construction or have been reconstructed into beautiful architectural pieces. The atmosphere of the people is intoxicating. Between being extremely proud of who they are and what they have become, they are also very kind and thankful for the thousands of foreign teachers that are in their country helping them. I have been given free fruit, people have been patient with me and my "western ways" and my co-teachers and other fellow teachers have warmly opened their arms to me ensuring that I am comfortable, safe and able to get out of my apartment and around the city. My apartment is a studio, small but cozy, in a great building with all western teachers from all over the place. My bed is my only complaint. It is hard, I almost rather sleep on a rock! But other than that, I have no complaints.  A woman from South Africa has kindly taken me under her wing a little bit and has shown me around and she lives just across the alley. My next door neighbor is this Englishman, who off the bat was awesome. A complete type A personality and took me partying my first weekend, my kind of guy! I have met many other westerners on the street, we have ( I am just becoming familiar with it) our own little tight knit community, everybody takes care of each other, something my Mom would be pleased to hear. But as of now I must go. More once I obtain internet.

#CHEERS2KOREA

T-Day (Travel Day)

"The great courageous act that we must all do is to have the courage to step out of our history and past so that we can live our dreams."

-Oprah Winfrey

It has always been my dream to live abroad. The idea of it was always so intoxicating, being a foreigner in a completely new world, surrounded by a language I did not speak, living in an unfamiliar environment with new types of cuisine, hobbies, customs, religions ext.. and now it is finally happening, I leave tomorrow for my new life but it still hasn't hit me. I have shed a few tears saying goodbye to some of my friends and family but that glass shattering I am MOVING to Korea hasn't come yet, right now I feel as if I am taking another one of my world adventure trips. But none the least I am excited to see what Korea has for me. 

Until I settle in my new home,

#CHEERS2THEBEGINNING

Packing...or the lack of it

I leave in 9 days, which means I have 8 days to pack my ENTIRE life away and select what I want to bring with me to Korea in my limited luggage space and what I want to leave here at my parents house for them to keep safe for whenever I decide to make my way back state side. Basically, I do not have much time at all. So what have I done so far? SHOPPED. Today I went "teacher shopping." What is teacher shopping one might ask? Well it is a term I coined for shopping for my new teacher's wardrobe.  $540.00 later, I am the proud owner of a COMPLETE teacher's wardrobe! :) Between Target, Kohls and H&M I was able to purchase 23 blouses, 7 pairs of pants, 1 dress, 1 skirt, 1 leggings and 1 blazer to add on to my obscenely large collection of clothes. But now I am set with a full on professional, yet hip, wardrobe. Nothing stuffy and traditional like the image that pops into most peoples heads when they think of "teachers" but professional, respectable and at the same time I maintain my sex appeal.  And I am sure you all are wondering why I am placing an importance on maintaining my sex appeal when I am teaching young children. FIRST it isn't for the kids it is for myself, I believe that when you look good you feel good. SECOND I am a woman, I have sex appeal, why should I hide it? and THIRD because I can. All of my clothes are appropriate of course but think along the lines of Sex In The City when they are in their business type attire or Cameron Diaz in Bad Teacher. Now the only problem I have is getting it all there. -__- Wish me luck packing!

#CHEERS2mynewTEACHERWARDROBEandnowaytogetittoKorea

Moving On

“Well, now

If little by little you stop loving me

I shall stop loving you

Little by little

If suddenly you forget me

Do not look for me

For I shall already have forgotten you

If you think it long and mad the wind of banners that passes through my life

And you decide to leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots

Remember

That on that day, at that hour, I shall lift my arms

And my roots will set off to seek another land”  -Pablo Neruda

If you asked me what I would be doing now 6 months ago my answer would have been, in love with ____ ( i'll spare him) teaching in ____ country (obviously with hewhomustnotbenamed) and living happily ever after. Ask me now what I am doing and it is moving alone to South Korea, still to teach but nowhere near where I thought I would be. It is funny how things change so quickly and so fast. How although you can have your mind set on one goal, one person or one thing and in the blink of an eye it can all change. My Mom on multiple occasions has recited the quote "you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince," and because of her I have been extremely cautious of these frogs in my short life. I have witnessed what they (the "frogs") do to people, how they can build one person so high up and then destroy that same base and leave them crumbling to the ground without any regards or care as to what happens to that other person. But I too let my guard down and allowed myself to succumb to these false lies, promises and dreams that were told to me. I too allowed myself to live in a fairytale of happy endings and joy to instead be dropped like a bad habit and through this experience I have learned it is not WHAT happens to you but rather it is HOW you deal with it all, the pain, the hurt, the deceit and even the happiness and good times, how do you take these and apply them to yourself and who you are? Do you learn from it and take these experiences and make yourself a stronger person? Or do you allow yourself to wallow in self pity? For me myself, I have taken my pain, pain that still somewhat resides, and have decided to move on with my life to discover the good that I know the world has, whether it be the love the fairy tales speak of, the success we all dream of achieving, the content that many spiritual leaders have displayed or whatever else our hearts desire, I am on a mission to find.

So with that, it is official, I leave August 30th for my new life/journey.

#CHEERS2MOVINGON

One month away!

I am officially one month away from my departure to Korea!  All of my paper work is in and now I am just waiting for my VISA number :) Departure date is believed to be somewhere between August 29-31. I am sooo excited but the preparation for leaving is extremely tedious and stressful. How in the heck am I supposed to go through and select the most important items from 23 years of crap that I have managed to accumulate and get them to Korea? I have going through all of my athletic t-shits, sweatpants and sweatshirts but that is hardly a dent in all of the stuff I have. I wish I could just teleport everything because right now I can not imagine leaving any of my shoes (I have tons of shoes) behind or clothes (3 closets full) on top of the fact that I need to shop for "professional" clothes to teach in. Packing alone will be an adventure. Any advice on how I should pack? What I MUST bring vs. want to bring but won't really need? Help me out here PLEASEEE :)

#CHEERS2mylastmonth

getting TESOL certified

Last weekend was my first 2 classes (of 6) of my TESOL course and to say the least, I LOVE IT. First of all my professor is awesome. He is a big man who is full of personality! His love for teaching English pretty much OOOZES out of him as he teaches us. He is getting me very excited and anxious to begin :)! The material in the class interests me which is a first for school and I honestly am beginning to believe this is the job that I will wake up every morning excited to go to. Although I am on 1/3 of the way through my class, I feel that with this and my experience coaching, I will be more than prepared to tackle my own class room! Counting down the days:)

#CHEERS2mylastmonth

The beginning...

“I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance.”- Beryl Markham, West with the Night

And this is exactly what I am doing. In less than a month I am leaving everything that I know and love and am moving to Gimpo, South Korea to teach English. As of now I am not sure how I feel. Living and teaching abroad has been something that I have wanted to do for many years but now that it is finally actually here I have become a ball of mixed emotions and those that know me know that I can be emotional. I am excited of course for the journey that I am about to pursue but at the same time I am terrified. Terrified to be alone, terrified to leave my home, terrified of what is to come. But then I am happy, how many people take this risk and uproot and move abroad, start over, immerse themselves in a new life?  But my happiness is accompanied with sadness, specifically sad because I am going to be with out those that I love the most, I will miss family gatherings, "beff-friend" bonding, my nephew learning to drive, my niece starting middle school, my mom taking down the corrupt employees of the  SUHSD, talking basketball with my dad, spending time with my sisters.. the list goes on and on... But I am going to do this, despite my fear and sadness I know that ultimately this is what I want most. 

#Cheers2NewBeginnings.