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