Saturday, September 29, 2007

Under my Umbrella

I had a fairly confusing experience on my way home from work on Friday. Although I feel the experience has only just begun.

So I had just turned off the main drag onto my high street. I was approached by two Korean ladies. I would say they were in their mid 30’s. They said ‘Hello’, which was a good start. Then their natural Korean flow streamed out. All was fine though as they handed me a computerised, English, questionnaire. The questions were of a religious genre. Number 1 was, “What is your chosen religion”? Multiple answers, I circled ‘none’. A few more questions followed. One recited a verse from the Old Testament (I think!) I worked my way through, with some ease, all the questions. I had the ability of not knowing any of the questions so I simply circled ‘none’, ‘don’t know’, ‘other’ and/or ‘no thanks’.

Then just as I thought the street meeting was winding up, they heckled over three more Korean women. The heckling was loud, impatient and very much desperate. The three additions to our party were, in all honesty, more my cup of tea. And that is exactly what the 5 invited me for. (The new girls to the party spoke better English. A few familiar words were branded. ‘Presentation’, ‘Sign’ which was accompanied with the swirl of her right hand.) I had to refuse the cup of tea as I was meeting a friend shortly. However, what I had picked up from the brief chat was that they wanted me to watch their English presentation and then sign some kind of assessment paper. We arranged to do this on Tuesday night at 7pm. It wasn’t that straight forward though. Before agreeing on Tuesday night at 7pm, we went through pretty much every hour and every day that preceded it, with me trying to explain and divulge my reasoning/excuse for not being able to meet at that point.

We exchanged numbers and email and waved goodbye with one final confirmation of our meeting time and place. I have ABSOLUTELY no idea what I’m going to be doing on Tuesday. Neither do I know where they will take me. Even what I will be signing or what they will be presenting. It could be a religious lecture in English, then I sign my life away to weekly prayers and rituals. It could be watching a performance of some kind by a daughter of one of the ladies, and I could find myself with some extra after school lessons (which I’ve heard pay well). Who knows? Either way I’m looking forward to my experience and will embrace it like nothing else…… even if they do make me prayer or chant or sway around on my hands and knees – I’ll be there with bells on!!

Wish me luck……

(p.s. all the above took place under umbrella's, it was raining hard!!)


This picture is of my 'Free Talking' class on Thursday. It consists of animals and where they live. Plus all the kids wanted to be either on the Lion, in the shark, swimming in the pond or riding the chicken. Most amusing.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Friends - Global


Imagine my delight when this came on. I was doing my hourly channel hop and a double bill of friends had just started......
Some of you will remember this episode!
He he.....

Monday, September 24, 2007

Skype and Hike


So, I finally have Skype and have just had my debut call. It lasted 32 minutes, was to the UK and cost me nothing..... oh there was a very very slight delay. Not enough to annoy me though.
It still don't understand why it's so good, so cheap, well free. OK, it's pretty straight forward in terms of technology, but still ' the world we live in eh'.... whatever next!

So today I went on a hike. I like to call it a hike because for me it was. It only lasted about 2 hours and 28 minutes, and consisted of 5 km. To most, that's merely a walk but I don't walk much.
Nevertheless it was hard work. The first 50 minutes was, practically, a vertical climb. Relentless was my choice of curse as I rose up yet another stretch of pathway. What kept us going was the top of the trees and the promise, from the Lonely guide, that the panoramic views were stunning. Yet we climbed and climbed and the tree tops climbed with us..... It was a fairly long 50 minutes I can promise you that.
We finally reached stage 1 of 6. 0-1 was hardcore, 1-6 was bearable and definitely manageable.
The views were stunning.
A couple of choice pictures. As ever though pictures never do it justice. You have to add the panoramic aspect to an image and also the delight of reaching the top, after a steady climb - you can't get those mixed emotions looking at a J-peg. Apologies for the sweaty chest - it was hot today....
Once we reached stage 6 we took a bus back to stage 0. Just before getting on the bus a very kind man came up to us (Korean Man - in his 70's I would say) showed us his video camera and asked us (in fairly good English) "Who's this?"
It was David and I. He had been taking pictures of us and said it was very strange to see us.....
OK...........

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Fighting and Cooking


Above video is two of my kids letting off some steam in some traditional Korean fighting..... It was SOOO funny. After this they did some wrestling. The whole school, about 30 kindergarten kids, formed a circle and were chanting the kids names EXTREMELY loud . Crazy fun..
Photo below - Today we had a cooking class. We made traditional Korean rice cakes. They're called Songpyeon - they're are half-moon-shaped rice cakes filled with sesame seeds or chestnut paste steamed over a layer of pine needles, which gives them the fragrant smell of fresh pine trees.

We didn't do all the steaming but we did the molding and eating. Was great fun!!


Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Momentum


This week has been a good one. Numerous things have happened that have made me feel positive in many ways.
On the teaching front the confidence, from certain lacklustre kids, is shining through now, which rubs off on me. They enjoy lessons - I enjoy lessons - simple.
I finally got my alien registration card through which is not only a light relief but it now means I can get proper Internet and cable at home, which has positive repercussions that include the use of Skype so I can call all friends and family soon.... and I don't have to watch the AFN (American Forces Network) channel anymore.
Also, I can now get a mobile phone, fingers crossed going to happen tomorrow morning, this means I can ring people!!!! and organise nights/days out etc.... Pay phones here are few and far between and lets face it - NOT at all practical in the modern world.
I can open a bank account, which means I cant settle some money situations and start budgeting properly. Oh and start saving....

I guess it's just that the momentum is finally picking up as all the small things are being ironed out.....
Still bloody hard work though!!!!

The picture is proof that I'm now a millionaire. OK a Korean one, but still........

Sunday, September 16, 2007

One Month


Today is my one month anniversary. It has flown by.

I have signed a 12 month contract, so just 11 more to go. If they are all as quick as the first then the year will be over before I know it. If that's the case then I will be very tempted to do another year.

I think I have learnt so much already. In fact I know I have. I wasn't the biggest fan of kids before I came, well not so much anti-kids but had no idea how to handle them. This has been a ferocious learning curve in that respect. I'm far more comfortable about the inevitability of being a father now - before I wasn't sure of my ability but now I know I would be a good father. But not just yet........................

So this week we have a field trip on Wednesday and a birthday party on Thursday, so should be a quick week.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week is a national holiday in Korea. It's called Cheusok, which I believe is a thanks giving. So 3 days off, so with Saturday and Sunday it turns into a 5 day holiday. David and I are going to head to a National Park on the East coast. It's supposed to be pretty spectacular with mountains, forest, temples, a coastal stretch and a city.... plus more I would imagine.

After that I believe it's a 10 week stint of 5 day weeks - good huh?!

The picture is of my apartment block. Mine is in the middle facing inwards, on the second floor. So no traffic or street noise, but not much of a view.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Word of the Week

I've decided to do a word of the week. A word that sums up my week. Doesn't have to be related to teaching, could be a social mood that dominates my week, or an off the field event.... Whatever!!

I plan to do this every Friday. But i'm going to kick off proceedings on a Wednesday this week as I'm feeling inspired.

One last thing, I'm not going to justify my choice, I will leave that up to the imagination of the reader.

This week the word is..............

"Confirmation"

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Home Cooking


A few of you have been asking me what the food is like. It's lovely. I have been eating at home quite a lot. No particular reason, just i'm here for a while so I thought that I would firstly concentrate on the teaching, once that is a formality I can venture out every night and eat, drink till the cows come home. So below is an example of what I have been eating at home.

This is what I had tonight.


  • Baksul Man-du - they are the large white pasta looking things. Full with a mixture of veg and the odd spice here and there..... I don't actually know as the packet has no English on it. Tastes good. Basically they're dumplings, Korean style.

  • Hot Red Pepper Tuna. Ok out of a can, but what am I?

  • All tangled together with a large portion of lightly boiled beansprouts.

  • And finally a few sheets of dried and pressed seaweed - lush.
  • And of course all eaten with some platinum chop-sticks.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Happy Birthday to Grover..........

Today I had 'Student Book' class. The student book is a very simple book with songs, chants, and drawings. I do the book with two seperate classes. Red and Pink. Today I was feeling a little tired of singing and chanting (although on Monday i'm teaching them COME ON YOU SPURS and clap, clap, clap, clap, clap YIDS!!).
So I decided upon a practical lesson. The theme of the book at the moment is Birthday's. So wrapping a present was on the menu as a main course and unwrapping was the desert.... oh and singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, was a side dish.
Hopefully most of you can see the video below. Apologies for my singing!! - oh and Grover is from sesame street, which is the foundation of the Student Book.

Bananas


As some of you know I LOVE BANANAS..... so you will empathise with my absolute joy when I came across this herd, one should refer to a number of Bananas as a bunch, but that doesn't suffice with this mammoth herd, of ripe Bananas. They cost around £1.00 and taste lush. There's a slight catch though.

You have to buy them all!! You can't just buy one, or two or even a few. So once you buy this lot you have around 3 days to eat them all.....

I have bought a smoothy maker, as you know, so I knock off about 3/4 in one go.


Thursday, September 06, 2007

Friends are coming....

This is for those of you outisde the ex-Ravensbourne crowd of friends.................................................
One of my friends Giovanna Utichi (she ensures the school she's English - he he) is coming out to Seoul to be a teacher as well.... There's a strong possibility that she will join me at Herald School as well. Cool huh?? Amazing to be out here with people from home..... AND, another friend Zoe Waller is on the verge of packing up home and setting sail to the Land of the Morning Calm as well......
So i'm now on a mission to get more of you lot out here.....
(Also I'm working on commission from the Korean Government - I get 17% of a person wage if I convince them to come, so there's a financial motive on top)

Cheap (but still tasty) Meal

Finished work around 6:45 today. We had a quick teachers meeting to discuss the presentations that are coming up in December. Quite a big showcase for all the Kindergarten classes. So Hannah (Korean teacher) and I have two glasses to prepare for. The red and pink class. Red, which is my class are the youngest with all of them hitting 5 years old this year. So the brief is 5 minutes and there has to be some kind of speaking and performance..... I suggested a short play. Maybe Cowboys and Indians, but apparently they did that last year. My second suggestion was Romeo and Juliet, then realised that they struggle enough with modern day English, let alone 16th Century bla.!!
So back to the drawing board.....
Oh I had a science class today. x14 kids, all Kindergarten. It was crazy. I had to teach them the two basic different types of lens. Concave and Convex. Remember these kids don't even know what a lens is, hang on they don't even know what a window is, so imagine me trying to tell them what they both mean, do and how to say them..... it was cool though. I kept it simple with the whole "this one makes it BIGGER, this one makes it smaller" idea - it worked a treat.....

David and I (David is the new Irish teacher who has just joined, we live in the same block and also on the same level, which is very cool) then took off to Bucheon area for some dinner. The image below is of my meal. Simple Pork cutlets in very light batter, then with a side soup, some mixed boiled veg and salad thingy with some dressing and a pot of rice - all very tasty and at a mere 6,000 won (about £3.00) not bad..... THEN.

The monstrosity that was this Ice-Cream below. I was literally in tears of laughter in the shop. The kind shop asistant was molding this mountain of Ice-Cream for about ten minutes ..... It was huge. I know there's a language barrier here, but I had only paid for one scoop, definitaly only one scoop.....Needless to say, being an Ice-cream lover, I didn't complain... (Picture doesn't do it justice, sorry)

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Osaka Visa run..........







OK, so some of you know that I hoped over to Japan for a couple of days. For those of you who don’t know and are questioning my motive then here you are….. Due to unforeseen circumstances I was forced to change schools about a week before departing the UK. Therefore the acquirement of my visa was postponed. So what happens now is that, one has to do a visa run out of the country to visit the Korean Consulate to obtain their visa. Japan is the closet and Osaka is the closest city. So I flew to Osaka on Monday morning and flew back at around 2pm on Tuesday. Not long to learn a few words and soak up a bit of culture. I spent about 5/6 hours wondering the streets and taking it all in. Then the evening approached so I sipped a few chilled beers in an Aussie bar till the early hours. Not very exciting or imaginative but nevertheless an experience, 6 hours of walking around a completely new city/country was another experienced encountered, a new lesson learnt….. for example, they have women only carriages on the Subway/Metro - they were pink carriages, with pink writing, pink handles, whitey pink seats etc etc etc.....
a few choice pics here!!!



Korean Football, FC Seoul style


FC Seoul play in the World Cup Stadium. It holds around 67,000 fans and is pretty much perfection in terms of space, transport, consumables and atmosphere. I descended upon a home game for FC Seoul last week. It was an overcast day and the mood was set for a must win game. FC Seoul are sitting in no mans land in the league. They have had an on/off season and find themselves now struggling to make amends. This game had been tagged as a must win. Their opponents sat 3 places above them. To cut a long story short, FC Seoul took the game 3.0, even with just 10 for 35 mins.
The most thrilling part of the evening was this. The half time whistle had gone and everyone’s focus was on the large screens at either end of the pitch. A short VT was played of a loving couple. The Video was pretty basic, just made up of a poem and a few stills. We then cut back to the stadium and we have a live close up off the loving couple. Seconds later Mr. Loving Couple is on his hands and knees and is proposing. She looks shocked, bursts into tears and I assume says Yes!!! But then for about 5 minutes they were being interviewed and her face kind of went stale. I think the realisation of it all had started to sink in….. My prediction is that she will be looking elsewhere…… The Picture is the ‘happy’ moment.!!