Rousin Rabbles

Here’s some stuff written by my kids at work. This is one of the best essays I’ve received since I’ve worked there. I don’t agree with a lot of what she says, but her writing is incredible.

Most teenagers think that volunteer work is just a waste of time because they do not get anything in return, and does not have any benefits for themselves. Including this cognition, teenagers being too busy, plus the disabled people’s unkindness, these are the reasons why teenagers hesitate to volunteer to help their community.

The primary reason why young people nowaday do not give enough time to help their community is because they are too busy studying. These days, even elementary students go to academies after school. Situations like this do not make time for teenagers to help their community. It is just the adults’ greed, expecting young people to study hard and volunteer.

In addition, why would someone spend their precious time helping others without getting anything? Adolescence is a very important part of people’s lives, hence, they should spend every minute of time wisely. However, if teenagers think of their lives in a long term, helping their community do not benefit them much. It may be a chance for them to learn responsibility, cooperation or being grateful. Yet, these can be fulfilled from other activities, such as babysitting or helping their own grandparents.

Sometimes, the disable people’s attitudes also contribute to one of the reasons why teenagers do not volunteer enough. Some of those disable people do not even thank teenagers for helping, and also say that they do not need help. For example, I once went to a place where disable elderly people stayed. I wanted to be nice and slowly pushed the wheelchair for one of the elders. Suddenly, he turned back and shouted at me. He said he could wheelchair by himself.

I agree that young people nowadays do not give enough time to help their community. On the other hand, there are reasons why they do not. First, it is the teenagers’ bad cognition, but this can be fixed if Korean education lets the young people to have more time to spend other than studying. Lastly, sometimes the disabled people’s unkind attitudes make the young people not want to help them.
-Liz

***

This is one of the worst essays I’ve received. It’s not actually that bad, but the kid who wrote it in class never tries:

Young people now days are very diffrent than young people at the past. Of course, how they think on their community is also diffrent than the past ones.

Some old people nowdays are thinking that young people nowdays are not giving enough time to help their community. However, that is wrong.

People have changed alot from the past. The culture and the way they think have also changed when people changed. However, the old people doesn’t relize that.

Old people think young people aren’t giving enough time on their community. However, that isn’t true. Young people are giving enough time in their culture. Some young people nowdays spend lots of time on their job but the olders doesn’t seem to know that.

It matters on how old people thinks, but the young people are giving enough time on their community.

***

14 out of the 17 kids in my speaking class got a detention from me today for continually speaking when they were not supposed to. I gave them three questions to write about while they were in detention and to turn in to me after detention was over. Here’s what some of them wrote:

I think everyone should change thinking that speak in small voice is ok. And I think we should stop talking when you are talking and do not talk in Korean. Also if we talk when others are speaking that will be very noisy and we cannot evaluate their speaking like today’s class. I think every one talking is bad but we are so talkative. There are so much topics that make us exciting. I will be quiet and more participate your class. And I did listened to the tapes in class. Sorry for make you annoying and will change. Sorry teacher!

Do you remember when you give me some advice? Your advice was very helpful and now I have motivation to study and it was impressive that you knew my problem well and understand. Thank you!

I know our class is too big to controll all over the students and I know we should be quiet and participate in class but some students are not. I understand you are angry and annoying. However most of student like your teaching method like tape recorder and listen-then correct it.

But some students don’t like it and they start talking. Why don’t you make seat arrangement chart? I think it makes students quiet and good for you. For example, noisy student seat in front of you and intimage friend seat far from him or her.

I want to keep good relationship with you and also other student! Sorry teacher...
-Lana

***

Since it was our tape that we heard in class, I felt so nervous that other friends would laugh at me. That’s the reason I kept talking when hearing the recordings. but I shouldn’t have, because, it might disrupt other people from concentrating on their work. Also, I talked with my friends during the recording. I heard one person’s answer was totally ruined because of the noise. Because this is a real practice of TOEFL iBT, I shouldn’t have talked, causing troubles.

I tried to listen to the tape, but I noticed who’s voice it is and couldn’t accurately say out loud. So I talked with my friend next to me. However, I should have listened to the tape because that is one good way to improve my speaking skill. I will not talk or disturb other people in my speaking class again. I should try to hear every recordings and should find out defects. I’m sorry that I disturbed every other’s speaking class and made teacher angry.
-Bethany

***

From next time, I will not talk as I am not supposed to. Also, I will not hinder other students when they record. I believe other students would feel same as me, and they and I will behave better at next time. In addition, I will try to listen to the tape carefully and find what is not appropriate. Kelsi, I am sorry, Kelsi, I am sorry. *repeat five more times* I apologize to you. I make an apology for talking when I am not supposed to. I will not talk in the class when I am not supposed to. I will not disturb other people. I will listen very carefully to the tapes in class.
-Angela

***

I’m so sorry. I don’t really now why I spoke when I was not supposed to speak. I think I didn’t know I’m not supposed to talk. But I listened to the record. I’m sorry. I will always do my best to concentrate and take your class more seriously. I think your class is great. I’m sorry I talked during your class and I think it was a mistake. I will be careful. I can’t explain why I spoke at the time but I know that I was not allowed to speak and I feel very sorry about disrupting your class. Your speaking class is very good and it is being a lot of help to me improving my speaking skills. Thank you. And again I’m sorry.
-Jenny

***

In other news, we went to the beach over the weekend. I'm pretty burnt. The burn on my face is turning into a pretty nice tan tho. My legs, however, are a different story. My left leg is still pretty swollen and still pretty red. Today was the first day I woke up and could actually move my knees and it was amazing!

Michael will be leaving at the end of the semester.

ESL class is getting better. I kind of just changed how I ran the class. I made everything ridiculously easy so they have no excuse not to talk. So once they start talking, then I can ask them more complicated questions and we can discuss more difficult concepts. It's working pretty well! A few of the kids don't like me too much because I gave them detention for not doing what they were supposed to be doing in class. They have a hard time reading their book for homework, so at the end of class I've started giving them like 10 minutes to at least start the pages they're supposed to read for next time. Some of them just sit there and stare at the wall, or color on their paper. They are shocked as hell when I tell them at the end of class to go to detention. Hoon told me some of the kids from my speaking class were confused because they didn't know exactly what they did (because apparently telling kids not to talk, and having them do it anyway is not obvious enough) and were sad about being in detention. I told him I didn't want to be mean but there are too many kids in that class for them to all be talking. He reminded me that I'm head teacher and it's my job to be mean =) Apparently the meaner you are, the more the kids respect you. What? I'm going to go paint my nails and take more medicine so I don't have to hurt every time I move.

k

last friday started out as another ordinary day. i left for work at 215, got there a little after 230, worked, and wound up staying until 3am. but that's not even why it wasn't an ordinary day. the weirdest thing happened to me. i woke up, and i understood korean. now, before then i could understand some and communicate a little bit, but nothing like what it is now. i can eavesdrop! even if i can't fully understand what they're saying, i can look at them like i do. it freaks them out. i stayed at work with three of the korean teachers and they were discussing various things in korean and every once in a while i'd chime in...you should have seen the looks on their faces. they were so very confused about how i could possibly understand what they were saying. i can't tell them what i think in korean because i think my pronunciation is awful and i'm still working on the grammar thing...so when i talk to them, it's still usually in english...which i think throws them off even more. pretend it were you: speaking korean with friend, white girl living in korea 4.5 months suddenly understands what you and friends talk about, lets you know she knows what you're talking about by conversing with you in english. what? it's sweet.

ok, so...in the last month quite a bit has happened. i moved into my new place. actually, it's kim's old place. i don't like it. it's ok, there's nothing wrong with it, i just liked my place more. the view was better and i had curtains. the morning i moved, the moving "team" showed up...by "team," i mean one adjashi (old man). of course, when we start moving all of my stuff, they finally are just starting to clean kim's apartment. three weeks after she left. i was very annoyed, to say the least. i knew that kim's air con didn't work, so i made it a point to let someone know a week in advance that it didn't work. if you haven't yet heard me complain about the humidity here, i'm about to. take the worst humidity you've ever felt in your life...multiply it by three...you've got korea in the summer. walk outside and within minutes you're drenched. it's not sweat, it's just humidity. it's awful. anyhoo, i asked them to fix the air con before i moved in. no. of course they didn't. so for a few days i had no air con...it was unbearable. i do believe i was grouchier than usual. there's just something uncomfortable about being soaking wet for no reason at all. the air con not working wasn't even the best part about my move. the adjumma (old woman) who was cleaning my place, and did a terrible job, stole from me!! it's not like a juice box or bandages are really that important to me, but it's a matter of principle. the adjashi made me go downstairs and help him with something, and while i was gone she helped herself to another juice box, but didn't finish the one i gave her in the first place. she hid the juice box in her stuff. wench. she just kept following me around asking me for my stuff. i even gave her a box of tissues because i had like four. i felt sorry for her, but not sorry enough to be ok with her taking my stuff. she just kept telling me that because she is adjumma i should give her stuff and that her back hurts, blah blah blah. she even asked how much money i made!! and she told me i looked 30! i pretended i didn't understand most of what she said, but the fact is, i did understand...and i wanted her to leave immediately. but i couldn't remember how to say "go away" in korean. she stuck around to help me unpack some of my stuff, and she completely rearranged my room. i understand the hierarchy in korea and biting my tongue was all i could do to not go off on her. as i was waiting for her to leave, i started opening boxes and moving stuff around, she opened a box too and decided that since there were bandages on top and she was adjumma, she deserved to have some. she didn't see me watching her, but i was. i watched her greedily take them and rush over to her bag of tricks and throw them in. hmmf.

so, to "celebrate" my new apartment i had a housewarming party. a potluck with foreign food! hooray! it was me, mau, grace, keri, patrick, mike, lukas, josh, and maybe a couple other people. patrick made some amazing pasta salad. he let me keep the leftovers =) it was a fun night that ended in fireworks and sparklers down by the river. we were celebrating four days after canada day, the fourth of july, and my new apartment. fun and festivities all around.

i also went to a book store called kyobo in bundang. no joke, i was in heaven. HEAVEN. it also had an art box. what more could i ask for? tons of books and office supplies. if you know me, you know i love my office supplies. there's something refreshing about a new box of paper clips or another notebook. ah, it was great, i need to return soon. i bought a couple books and a time magazine (i won't bore you with what i bought at artbox). i've been reading like a madman lately and trading books with the other foreigners. it's nice to be in company of intellectual people who enjoy reading and discussing books and current events. it's also nice because they don't make fun of me for wanting to spend a couple hours after work on a friday reading before i do anything else. an interesting change from home.

a few weeks ago i went to seoul with steve. he was my designated tour guide. we went to gyeongbokgung palace, but unfortunately it was closed by the time we got there. so we took pictures in front of it and went and hung out in insadong. he kept questioning my sense of direction. ha. silly boy. i knew how to get there, but he didn't think i did...even by the time we were 20 feet from where we needed to be, he was still questioning whether or not i knew where i was going. it's ok though, i got to rub it in his face when he asked some guy and he told him the exact same thing i did. but anyway, we saw a buddhist temple, walked around and looked at cool stuff, i bought a t-shirt that makes me look like a tourist, and a few other random things. i suggested to steve a game we should play...it was called, "i don't speak korean." we talked to people in english (even though steve is korean). it was hilarious...you shoulda seen the looks on people's faces when steve started speaking english to them and not korean. we couldn't figure out how to get out of the parking lot (we're not dumb, they lowered the gate arm and you actually had to ask them to raise it for you..but they were on the opposite side of the lot than where the gate arm was). steve asked the attendant in english. poor guy about had a heart attack. i was amused though. we laughed about the look on his face the whole way home. when you look at my photo site and see the pictures of the palace, you can find certain pictures that have me telling you what the different things are. =) neato.

things have been a little crazy at work. we just started a new semester. hoon's dad had a stroke and is paralyzed on one side of his body, so hoon has been scarce and a little moody. but things are finally getting back to normal. his dad is doing fine and is back at home. however, that upsets hoon because he thinks his dad should be in the hospital. we wrote a book during holding period for fall semester. and by "we," i mean all of the foreign teachers. it should be a decent book. we started summer intensives on wednesday (yes, on a wednesday) and things are still a little disorganized. i agreed to teach an esl class in ivy (they share our building, but i work at nokjiwon...which has the really smart kids), and i have never been so happy to leave a class in my life. i love my nokjiwon students. a lot. i don't dislike the ivy students because they can't understand what i say, i dislike them because the air con in the room doesn't work and they're brats. unfortunately i can't always understand what they say in korean, so when they talk i just glare at them and act like i know they just insulted me. one kid played with his phone and kept turning around and talking to his friends. so i beat him. ruthlessly. ok, i didn't beat him...but i made it very clear he shouldn't do that anymore because i'm a mean teacher. none of them have english names either...so i had to call attendance for 17 korean kids. ash.

i finished the newspapers for my journalism class, so as soon as i figure out how to get them on here, i'll do it. the korean teachers loved them! the tas are on the front of one, leslie is on the front of the other, and so hyun and heyoung want to send them home to parents, plus have them hanging up at school and on the tables for parents to look at while they are registering their kids or something like that. one of my kids wrote a huge article on black holes..he's impressive. he looks like he just stepped out of the 70s. but he's really really really REALLY quiet, and has the most adorable smile in the world! dimples!!! he's gonna be a heartbreaker! i listened to his speaking the other day and he talked so much!! i don't think i've heard him say that many words in korean, let alone english! i helped another student prepare for a writing competition, and i've been helping another one with his speaking. busy busy busy.

in addition to the craziness at work, we have revamped our teaching style. you can't make the parents happy. ever. and they're going to drive all of the korean teachers crazy by complaining so much, and drive us crazy because every time they complain we have to change something!! 9 times out of 10 their complaints are unfounded. they take pure advantage of the fact that our school is actually a business and the teachers will jump through hoops to make them happy. anyway, no more fun classes. only toefl. write an essay, correct it in front of the class, assign homework. the kids don't bring their binders or books, and the parents complain we aren't using the books or binders enough. the kids don't pay attention in class, and it's our fault they don't learn anything. they kids don't improve on the toefl, and it's our fault. they don't study, it's our fault. how exactly? i haven't quite figured it out yet...unless...IT'S NOT OUR FAULT! argh!! they say they want their kids to improve in more areas than toefl, so we get to work on the root of their writing/speaking problems, but then the parents say that their kid's score didn't improve, so we shouldn't focus on anything besides toefl. this last statement lacks serious logic. because their kid didn't improve (don't worry that they never did their homework or show up to class), we must not worry about fixing the roots of their problems, just make a temporary fix so they can get a good score on the toefl. the principle kind of echoes an economic stimulus package i heard of once...

my solace about work comes from a few places. 1. most of the kids are really awesome and they laugh at my jokes and some of them try really really hard...even better, they like me too! 2. it sucks for everyone, not just me. 3. the more i work, the faster august will go, the sooner summer intensives and summer itself will be over. 4. i get paid more. 5. brendan is coming soon. 6. i bought my ticket to the summer breeze music festival and am dying to see new found glory. 7. i'm just excited that summer is almost over. one month of this awful weather left. 8. shaun might come visit. 9. i want to go back to school. 10. i have books to read and notebooks to write in. some of the koreans believe that 26 degrees celsius (78 degrees fahrenheit) is air conditioning. sometimes it's miserable in my office because it's so hot. sometimes my kids sit in the direct path of the air con and tell me they're cold. i tell them to bring more clothes, and don't sit in front of the air con, because i'm not turning it off. it is, no joke, 10 degrees hotter in the front of the room than it is in the middle, or even in the back. i keep telling myself i'll get used to it...and maybe i'm not getting used to it, but i'm able to tolerate it...it's also been raining for about a week straight. i'm glad i have a huge umbrella and a pair of rain boots.

anyway, that about wraps it up from this side of the world. mau's sister is in town and me and grace are taking her to the express bus terminal today to go shopping. woot. and, the guy who moved out of the apartment above mine this morning has finally stopped trying to hammer nails into cement on a saturday morning. now he just walks like he's wearing thick, loud heels. i can hear it echo. goodness. i love you, shopping.

k

my new apartment

umm whatever...the people i hang out with...*explicit content warning*

yoyo

on the bus singing a really stupid song...*explicit content warning*

gracey's konglish

and fireworks...*explicit language warning*

hello people!

nothing too new here...just work, work, work...last week and this week is holding period, which means minimal kids last week, and NONE this week! woohoo! they have tests in their regular schools, so we give them a break and let them study more than usual. the only drawback to holding period is the immense amount of work the teachers have to do. BOO. last week i taught three classes (instead of 10), some correcting, and created a set of TOEFL questions for the online homework next semester or so. that included 8 different questions, some with lectures and reading, all with answers. this week i have to finish correcting all of my online homework, plus prepare two mock teaching classes, and a teaching manual for two types of speaking questions. i only have 40 hours to do all this...i don't think so...i'll be going in early a few days and bringing some stuff home.

last week was my birthday, and it was lotsa fun!! we all met down in the courtyard for a while and listened to music, drank some beer, talked, ate cake, etc., then we went to bundang to lose control til like 4am. i got a bottle of wine and two cakes for my birthday...yay! thanks to all of you who sent me birthday cards/wishes!

i also got a cell phone last week! my number is: 010.4528.9008...if you call me on skype you can just dial that number, but if you call me from a land line, then you have to dial: 011.82.010.4528.9008...i would love to randomly get a call from the united states...hint hint hint...

friday night we worked from 1100-1800, so i went to bundang to play pool with steve and a few of his friends...one of the guys is a korean from LA who actually knew quite a bit about iowa! i was mucho impressed! i was also excited that i finally met the other conservative foreigner in all of korea haha!! we went to some chinese restaurant and had supper, then went to play more pool, then hit up some low key place around the corner. one of the students texted steve and said hi, so i swiped the phone and wrote him back a few times...later he asked steve what were doing, so i told him to respond with: basket weaving =)

on saturday, kim and i went to seoul to meet jen at the dragon hill spa...i think i'll be going back there next month! it's 10 bucks to get in, then they give you some awesome 'spa clothes' and a key to put around your wrist. at all the different places in the spa, you just swipe your bracelet across a scanner and it charges your account. these spa clothes were one-size fits all heavy cotton khaki shorts and shirt with lime green. sexy. i can't say those outfits are anything i'd wear on a regular basis. but anyway, we got some threading done, then hung out in the sauna, then went to the cooling room, and repeated that for a few hours. the cooling room was sooooo sweet!! it was like a freezer and had a couple snowmen to hug to cool you off. =) we were supposed to go to the soccer game in suwon, but it took too much time getting to the spa (two freaking hours to get from suji to seoul...normally takes about 40 minutes) so we hopefully will get to another game in a couple weeks. after the spa we went to the mall and had sushi and ice cream, and took some pictures, then kim and i came home. i had this rice drink that looked absolutely disgusting, but was surprisingly good...it looked like dirty water with rice floating in it...but it was very sweet and delicious!

my dinner...in the top left corner is cabbage with 'yogurt sauce,' next to it is radish (standard with EVERY meal), kimchi, wasabi, seaweed with radish and caviar and rice and green stuff, california rolls, porridge-type thing served with the meal to prepare your pallet for food, and last but not least, soup! the cali rolls had breaded shrimp and crab wrapped in seaweed, rice on the outside, topped in caviar and pretty yellow and pink sauce!

this was kim's food...dragon roll...

this is my new favorite picture. i call it 'the exact same double life.' this guy is wearing red converse shoes and jeans, plus carrying a pair of the same shoes and colored jeans in his hand...it was amusing.

today is sunday and we were planning on going to lotte world. it's an amusement park with fun roller coasters and whatnot...BUT, of course it was raining most of the morning and somehow between last night and this morning, i got sick. instead of going to lotte world, i did some laundry, went to the atm, got some ramen at ok mart, and slept. real productive. i'm going to get my hair cut again tomorrow...it'll be shorter this time and hopefully a little less straight and flat. i'm actually really worried about my hair....like REALLY worried. i'm worried about it falling out (oh the irony). a lot of foreign people come here and because of the excessive bleach in the water (quoi??), it makes women's hair fall out...er, something. it happened to grace and now she has to take some amazing amount of vitamins to grow her hair back...i hope this doesn't happen to me!!!

kim is going to china for ten days next weekend...and she's leaving for home in like two months. i can't believe i've almost been HERE two months. it just doesn't seem real. if the next ten months go by this quickly, i don't know what i'll do! before kim leaves we are taking a trip to the east coast, going to the dmz, lotte world, climb some mountain, everland, and some other stuff....i'm also going camping and at some point i'm going bungee jumping with mau and some of his friends!! i can't waaaaaaitttttttt!!! oohh...and we are surprising kim for her birthday and going to see 'cats' (the musical by my all time favorite composer andrew lloyd webber!!!!!!)...awesome

i got a call from seewoo yesterday and we're making plans for him to come up here to visit some weekend. he told me he is going back to iowa as a transfer student..i had no idea he liked iowa so much!

ok, enough rambling...have a great week everyone!

<3 k

i just typed a really long entry, and i'm really angry because internet explorer is a huge piece of crap, and now i have to type it all over again. but i'm not going to type it all over again.

well...long time no write...i've been busy as a bee here this week...we've had such nice weather here, but it won't be too long before the nasty and really hot weather sets in. gross. makes me feel a little better because it was 60 degrees here today, and it snowed in iowa =) sorry about your luck, guys. make sure you look at all the new photos i put up this week...there are a lot!! http://flaminko.myphotoalbum.com

last monday after work we decided to go to a noribong. for those of you unfamiliar with what they are...they're like karaoke rooms, except private rooms for you and your party. so, we got off work at 11, went to the noribong, and i think i strolled (er, stumbled...) in my door at about 430am. what?? on a monday?? i know...i was just as shocked! So on Tuesday no one really felt like working...so we didn’t...and someone was nice enough to bring us Gatorade!!!

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were pretty normal days...teaching and more teaching...on Friday was Sun Young’s last day, so we went and all had dinner after work...that of course turned into more noribong!!! I got home about 5am Saturday morning. Hoon is always very concerned about how I’ll get home and whether or not I know what to say when I get in the cab...i’m still trying to get used to this chivalry thing...speaking of which...hot ta found out how to say ‘you look cute’ and ‘beautiful girl,’ so when he said that to me, I said ‘thank you,’ and he said ‘you’re welcome,’ but heeju told him to say something else, so he said ‘my pleasure.’ I about died...it was so adorable! Steve yelled at me the other day tho bc I tried to get my own water...and then I reached for the chopsticks and he was like, ‘no, no, no, I’m here to serve you princess.’ Yeah...died a little more right there...anyway, back to Friday night noribong...i sang ‘a whole new world’ with hoon and when we were done, heeju told us to stay up there bc she had picked out three more songs for us to sing haha...we must sound pretty good together!

Saturday we went to 화성문 (hwaseong fortress) in 수 원 (suwon)...it was pretty cool...built in the late 18th century, and now has the crappy part of 수 원 and a very main road going right thru the middle of it. It takes about two hours to walk, but after a couple miles you go down these stairs and are all of a sudden in the really really crappy part of 수 원. Naturally when me and kim got down there, we got distracted by random shops on the side of the road....but eventually we found the rest of the fortress like three blocks away. We decided to go to the bus terminal instead....after we ate, we shopped for a little while in the bus terminal, then went back to suji and then lotte mart. I’ve never been so happy to be in suji in my entire life...there were such creepy people in parts of 수 원 ...like hookers, or strippers...and the men standing outside of the window looking at the stripper/hookers...ugh.

Today, Sunday, was so hyun’s wedding. She looked absolutely stunning!!! Here are some main differences in Korean weddings:

*the point of a Korean wedding is to go and get your picture taken
*the wedding was in an 8 story building with only the top two floors devoted to the wedding stuff...the other 6 were like restaurants and bars and whatnot
*people talked throughout the entire thing...there was no big to-do when the bride walked in....everyone kept talking..but they clapped...
*there was funky music
*you can eat before, during, or after the wedding
*the door was open and people could walk in and out during the wedding (which lasted about 20 minutes)

I got in the cab to go to the wedding and the driver asked me if I was miguk, and I could proudly say yes =) I understood!!! He also told me in almost perfect English that I looked very beautiful...awww ajashi!

I still love my students! And apparently they love me =) Heyoung has C class after I do and she noticed this kid Jay was sitting in the front of the class...he normally sits in the back...and she asked him why he was sitting in the front, and the whole class told her it was because he loves me...awww...it’s really funny though, because in my class I was teasing him about having a crush on Kim!

Next week we are going to the east coast on Saturday, then Sunday morning coming back and going to a cultural festival with our Korean class...and Sunday night...haha noribong!!!! It’s the ‘Kelsi is turning 21 for the third year in a row’ party! Woohoo!!!

I always thought the commercials here were very obnoxious...until the other day when I finally understood one. They play the tv show with no commercials, and then play them at the end before the next show comes on and so I sit here and listen to so many commercials at one time. Well, there’s one that sings: saaw oolooyoo. I usually hear it and pay no mind, but the other day I heard it and instead of actually hearing saaw oolooyoo, I heard Seoul milk!! I about had a heart attack!! Seoul is written as two syllables ( saw ool) and milk is ‘oo yoo.’ How do I know this? I read it in Hangul on my milk carton...and yes, mom, I said milk carton...i bought some frosted flakes with a recycle bag on the front and needed milk to go with them =)

Anyway, enough rambling...i’m so angry internet explorer stopped working and this stupid travellerspoint didn’t correctly save my ENTIRE entry. So, sorry this is so short...it was longer...but I’m not typing all of it out again. There are two more videos under this from So Hyun’s wedding.

<3 k

it's been a while, eh? i've been pretty busy with work and exploring and watching tv...there have been some pretty good movies and tv shows on...

anyway, i've been learning more and more korean and even got 22 out of 100 on my test =) not too bad for being a month behind everyone! sorry to say i actually did better than some of the people who have been in the class for the last month...yikes...

we went to suwon a couple weekends ago to check out the nightlife and i saw a palace there that i'll have to check out soon...it's flippin huge! it's called the hwaseong fortress and the perimeter wall is 5.5 km...i think we'll be going to that within the next month or so. last weekend we went to seoul to shop...at the express bus terminal! i know what you're thinking...shopping at a bus terminal? yeah. so many stores, all with different stuff that's cheap and some of it well-made...i got about five shirts...we also went to abc mart and i got some sick new vans...i can't wait to break them in!!! other than that, haven't really been out too much...it's been raining a lot and that is kind of a turn off from even leaving the apartment. apparently it's almost monsoon season...i'm gonna get some sick rain boots too...hopefully bright pink ones!!

school is going well...the kids are having a little trouble focusing because in a few weeks they have finals at their regular schools...i had my first review and it was great! i also spoke with the director of our campus who told me that the kids like me and they think i'm strict =) good! there's one class in particular though that drives me nuts! they talk and talk and talk...i tried to kick one of them out of the class last week, but the lil bugger just wouldn't leave! i talked to heeju about it bc if he weren't in that class, the rest of them would be just fine...so she talked to his mom and let her know if he can't clean up his act, he's outta the school. sweet! it's great because here in korea the teachers have control of the students, the students don't have control of the teachers. i try not to give detentions or extra homework because i know how much other stuff they have to do, but i'm definitely not afraid to give them a detention for acting up. i told them all the first week that i better not catch them cheating on their vocab tests...well, sure enough a few of them had to do it! i don't know why they think they're so slick...putting up their hoods or tilting their heads slightly definitely catches my eye...when i catch them, instead of just ripping up their paper, i make them erase a few answers so there's a SLIGHT possibility they might not have detention, but if they miss enough that i didn't make them erase, they have detention. they try and tell me, oh no teacher! i wasn't cheating! ha! bull! and that's the beauty of it...if a parent calls in and says why did my kid get detention or outraged because a teacher made them erase the answers, the korean teachers tell them they were cheating and that's the end of the story! there are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

speaking of obnoxious things...i wrote a sample essay and gave it to my students. when we went over it in class i told them to pay attention to form and style...they noticed that i didn't write, 'i believe such and such for these three reasons' and then proceed to begin my three body paragraphs with 'first, second, third.' i told them doing that is elementary and completely useless. besides the punctuation, i just get tired of reading it over and over again! one of my classes yesterday tried to tell me that it was pretty much the only way to write it and that doing it any other way was sloppy because they couldn't pick out the key points easily. i told them to look at my paper, notice there were five paragraphs, and if two were for the opening and conclusion, that left three of them for body paragraphs...and they could assume that there was a key point in each paragraph. they still told me it was sloppy and i went to a bad college. i almost got offended, but remembered they were middle schoolers and what the hell do they know?! so i asked them if they thought lawyers had to be smart and speak proper english...they all agreed that lawyers do have to be quite knowledgeable...so i told them when i go back to the states i'm probably going to law school and told them i took a class called 'constitutional law and politics' and not using 'first, second and third' was something i picked up in a grammar book highly regarded by the law community. it still didn't convince them completely, but i got closer...i'm having michael come in next week and back up my point, because they say i'm the only foreign teacher that has ever told them not to use those words...and i'm also bringing my strunk and white to prove my point =) brats! it wasn't the whole class that thought this of course...it was about five of them...nonetheless, they're brats. they were also quite confused about how college works...they really thought that classes are numbered 101...they wondered why i didn't take law 101...i about died...

in my cnn classes, i had the kids take a political quiz online to find out which party they are closest to...out of 35 kids, there was one conservative haha! i put them into political parties and over the next couple weeks we are going to learn the art of debating and they are going to have slogans and whatnot, and actually have a debate in front of other classes as if they were running for president...and the other class will vote for 'the president.' i'm pretty excited about this, and they seemed stoked too...cross your fingers...

i've been trying to teach them how to write a decent argument...they have written essays about whether or not people rely too much on technology and some of their answers talk about robots and machines taking over the world...uhhhh...these kids watch too much science-fiction television. so i told them to stay away from generalizations, controvertial topics, and some other stuff, but most of all to THINK about what is being said. we'll see if that sinks in...

i guess i could go on for hours about my students, but i suppose i'll try and wrap this entry up... i went to the doctor to get the medical info for my ARC (alien registration card) and good news: i dont' have AIDS, hep b, mary j in my system, or TB....my triglyerides went down 17 points from the last time i had a physical, i can hear 1000 Hz at 10dB and 4000 Hz at 5 dB, my blood pressure was 120/80 which is high for me because before i left it was 112/60, i'm not color blind, and my vision is about 20/50...with glasses...i couldn't read the stupid chart!! she pointed to a letter and then had to point to a different one because i had no idea what it said...i guessed on a quite a few...oops...

tgi friday's has awesome mac and cheese bites...like mozzarella sticks, except with mac and cheese in the middle!! kim made fun of me yesterday because i said something about wanting suckers....she's like, 'what are suckers?! oohhhh, you're from iowa!!' apparently one of the girls she went to boarding school with was from iowa, and what the rest of the world calls 'lollipops,' iowans call 'suckers.' all the foreigners make fun of me because when someone new asks me where i'm from, i get all excited with a dopey smile on my face and practically burst with enthusiasm when i say 'iowa.' i guess i'm just special =)

alright, that's all for now...

k

**SATURDAY**

I did a whole lot of nothing, and it was great!!!

**SUNDAY**

It doesn’t feel like I’m in Korea. You’d think it would because I’m surrounded by Koreans and can’t read a darn thing in front of me...but it just feels like I’m only in a new city three states over from Iowa. I like going to bed and waking up with a smile on my face, it’s peaceful here. Set aside from the cars and honking, there’s some serenity here that for some reason I’ve never found in Iowa. Maybe it’s here only because it’s NOT Iowa. I love Iowa, don’t get me wrong, but I’m too much of an adventurer and explorer to be confined by the corn fields and silos of Iowa.

I went outside today, alone, for the first time since I’ve been here. I didn’t get stared at too much, except by the children...which I expected. Side story: last night I went outside to see what all the commotion was ( I found out I live next to children...ugh!)...and this guy was standing outside with the door propped open and this little boy was running around...he looked at me, and I looked at him (he was cute as a button!) and I said ‘Hi!’ to him...he giggled and then said ‘Hi!’ back to me! This kid had to have been like three years old...but he circled the guy and kept repeating ‘Hi’ to himself...he kept looking at me, it seemed as though he was expecting me to say something else...so I said, ‘Anyonghaseyo!’ and he said it back to me! The dad even smiled, it was pretty adorable. So this little boy went inside and got his brother and they both came outside and ran up and down the hallway for a minute and then the first kid told the other one something and then they both looked at me....awkward...and the first kid said ‘hi!’ again! Then the dad shut the door, and they all left....*end side story*

Back to me leaving my apartment today...I went to my beloved Lotte Mart to get some more juice and tea. I’m addicted...seriously, I love that juice. And the tea bags I swiped from the hotel in Chicago were gone, so I needed more tea. Lo and behold, on my way to the Lotte Mart, I saw a foreigner! He smiled at me, I smiled back. I’ve already noticed this unspoken bond between the foreign folks here in Korea...with a smile, essentially you’re saying, ‘Hey there! I feel so silly wandering around amidst a bunch of people who don’t look anything like me! But yet, I feel important because I’m probably teaching their children! It’s so nice to see another foreign person so I don’t feel so goofy and out of place. Wanna get coffee and show me around?’ That could just be me....but maybe he was thinking it too....

The Lotte Mart is something else...Saturday is a work day also, so at 5ish when I went, it was packed...and it was noisy...not so noisy because of all the people pushing their way through the aisles, it was noisy because the ‘free sample’ people were also shouting and trying to sell their product! What?!?! Who yells in a grocery store?!? These people must have been born in barns and never heard about the indoor voices thing. It was strange though that they were all yelling...it seemed like I should have been at an outdoor market rather than the Lotte Mart.

Anyway, I should probably get back to reading more about my job. I teach two classes a day, and the rest of the time is spent preparing, correcting, and playing on the Internet. I think I’m going to like it here...a lot...

k