LET THE

ADVENTURING BEGIN!

 

 

It has been sooooo long since I last posted, and I apologize profusely for that. I've just been caught up in life these past weeks and blogging has managed to escape my to do list. But the good news is...I've been on a few awesome adventures (now that I have money in the bank and more friends in Korea, those will hopefully be happening on a more regular basis)!!!

 

My first adventure: Gyeongbokgung Palace

 

Yes, I took many photos :) However, I am not included in most because I'm just not the kind of person to take lots of photos of me. I prefer to capture the cool things going on around me rather than boring ol' me (although I did include a couple just to prove it was me who was actually there and that I'm not stealing images off the internet and claiming I went on awesome adventures I actually didn't go on—like I would ever do that). But now I'm rambling, so moving on!

 

I met up with a girl I had met the first couple weeks I was here, and I must say we are becoming fast friends :) Her name is Stori and she is awesome! She came here to teach English, just like me, so we have a lot to talk about. She is also a photographer (she was the one who took the photos of me, btw). The other guy we went with, I actually didn't know before we met up. The only thing I knew about him was that he served his mission in Hawaii (so of course I had to get to know him better so I could reminisce about Hawaii with someone who fully understands the awesomeness that is Hawaii). Needless to say, we hit it off too. We three spent a good three hours walking around the palace (it was ginormous!!!). There was so much to see, and we didn't even get to all of it. But here's what we did get to:

 

The gates to Gyeongbokgung Palace

The ceiling paintings were so colorful and intricate!

One of the many doorways that led to even more of the palace
(I swear this place is never ending).

Mini door :)

A reading room (my kind of place)

This shot was just so cool with all the layers!!!

 

Me!

 

They had a couple pretty gardens.

This place was surrounded by water
(I'm not exactly sure what "this place" is...)

These are pots are used to ferment things like wine and soybeans.

 

Me by a garden

 

Just a cool shot of the palace

A cool little pagoda in the middle of a water lilly strewn pond

Giant pagoda!!!!

 

They had all twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac out
by the museum, so naturally I had to take a picture with
my animal (the rabbit, if you couldn't tell).

 

We were literally walking out to meet our friends when
we stumbled upon the changing of the guard

Aren't the costumes awesome?!

 

 

And here's the video (hopefullly this works)!!!

 

 

After the palace, we met up with a couple other friends for lunch and decided to check out the lantern festival that was going on downtown. There was some cool stuff (pictures to prove it!). After a bit of exploring, we found a place to sit down to watch the parade that was to follow all the festivities. While there were some awesome parts (I'm going to attempt to upload the videos—I guess you'll see whether it worked or not in a sec), but overall it was quite somber. Turns out the festival is normally a lot more fun and exciting, but Korea was still mourning the ferry incident (you can look up details online if you're curious—I may decide to dedicate a post to it in the future, but not now). So here are photos from the festival/parade!!!

 

I have no clue who this giant metal man is, but he looked cool...
Thus a picture!

So many colors!

Lanterns everywhere!

I loved the tree disappearing into the sea of lanterns!

They had a lot of these light up floats

Elephant!

Lion!

And here's another video (by far the coolest part of the parade!!!!).

 

My second adventure: sleepover with one of my favorite people ever, my former college roomie, Sharon :)

 

We had a long four day weekend (Korea was celebrating Children's Day and Buddha's birthday). We went to her place right after church, then decided to meet up with one of her friends for pie at a cute little bakery that specializes in pie, and oh was that pie to die for!!! Paradise pie, oh my!

The little pie shop :)

Our pies!!! I was sooooo excited for this!

Wild Berry

Apple

Paradise Pie (and oh is that an accurate description!!!)

 

On Monday, we met up with a couple friends for some shopping. This shopping experience has only gone to prove that I cannot haggle worth a...I don't know what...but I can't haggle to save my life. I actually only ended up buying one thing. But we went to go see the new Spiderman movie afterwards and we got some delicious shaved ice desserts so it was all good. And Sharon showed me this awesome place that has rice burgers (I was so excited to eat it I forgot to get a picture :( but I found one close to my house, so I'll upload a photo sometime). Can I just say how epic this "burger" was?! It was rice with a mixture of nori (the seaweed that asians are so fond of) and some other spices as the "buns" with tuna and kimchi as the "burger." You might think it sounds weird, and, yes, kimchi is an acquired taste, but oh my goodness, you should try it (though a note of caution, it is a bit on the spicy side—but I could handle it which means it wasn't too spicy).

 

And my last adventure (though some might debate whether it's an adventure or not): I'm starting a Korean class!!!

 

The first class will be this coming week, but I'm already all signed up and they've made the materials available so we can start preparing (it's an online class which is nice and convenient). The first couple lessons will basically be review for me (going over the korean alphabet), but there were some nice tips on how to properly pronounce certain characters which I'd been struggling with, so that was nice. I'll probably still be butchering the language for months to come, but at least I'll be getting somewhere. Maybe in a few months I'll finally be able to understand what the ladies at the checkout counter at the grocery store are trying to tell me...I'm hoping to be somewhat conversational in 4-6ish months. Let me tell you how much of a help that will be in surviving Korea. Though I am somewhat worried what I might hear people saying once I start understanding more Korean. I'll know if people are talking about me--the good, the bad, and the ugly. Sometimes ignorance is bliss...

OF LIBRARIES, RIVERS,

AND CRAFTS

 

 

This week's post is kind of random in the theme department. I'll cover a couple different outings and some crafts I've prepared for some of my classes.

 

First outing:

 

The first real travel I have done outside of my immediate living area (not including the Japan trip and a quick trip to the hospital and immigration) was for a school field trip. The children were learning about libraries, and of course, they are always encouraged to read as many books as they possibly can. So our principal thought a nice trip to the library was in order. I wasn't about to complain. I LOVE the library, and I was hoping my students would love it just as much. I took a couple pictures on the way up.

 

I won't be posting any photos of the students because I haven't asked if it's okay to or not yet. So until I actually ask, there won't be any. Sad day because they're so adorable! But things at the library went fairly well. The students were better behaved than normal and were all so excited to explore all the different books.

Second outing:

On Sunday, a few of us young single friends spontaneously decided to take the subway to the Han River (it was only one stop over from our church building), and take a walk around. Being as it was spontaneous, I had not worn proper shoes to walk around for a couple hours. By the end, it felt like I was stepping on needles. But I had a lot of fun, so it was worth it.

 

 

And here are some of the crafts I've done/am doing in class!!! The first is a bunch of pictures and their accompanying words. This is for my Ocean class (the 4 year olds). I also made a bunch of small paper booklets that they will glue the pieces in.

 

 

This second one is just a quick project my Universe class (the 5-6 year olds) did during our Theme Study class. We're studying spring, so I had each student color one part of the drawing. All together, we have trees, clouds, rain (it rains a lot in the springtime here), sun, grass, and flowers.

This next one was the second activity this week in Theme Study. Each student had to write two sentences, filling in the blank: "I _______ spring." and "I wear _______ and _______." Then they had to color the clouds, sun, tree, and flowers, cut them out and glue them on to the main paper. This is the final product!

 

 

This next craft I will be using in my Global class where we are learning about China. We started it today in my Ocean class. They colored everything (some more nicely than others), and on Friday, we'll cut everything out and glue it together.

So, as you can see, I'm doing quite well :) I actually feel like I'm able to keep up most of the time now! As a result, I'm much happier. Well, hopefully you're looking forward to more posts (all about teaching and hopefully some more exploring!).

It is the

supreme art of the

teacher

to awaken joy

in

creative

expression and

knowledge.

 

-Albert Einstein



SOMETIMES WE NEED

FANTASY

TO SURVIVE
REALITY

 

 

 This week's book recommendation is a lovely series called Ranger's Apprentice by  Australian author John Flanagan. I LOVE this series! I have yet to finish it (no time or money to purchase and read the final three books before I left for Korea), but I fully intend to once I actually have the time and money to put into it.

 

The first book is The Ruins of Gorlan and revolves around a young man by the name of Will. Will is one of a few orphans who reside at Castle Redmont. As is customary, at 15, the orphans are expected to become an apprentice to one of the masters at the castle. There are a variety of trades to choose from: military, culinary, etc. Will's friends find places with little trouble, but Will can't seem to find an apprenticeship that suits him. That is until Halt, a ranger, comes along and takes Will as his apprentice. Will learns all about the rangers and their mysterious trade from his new master, and finds he not only likes it, but is quite skilled.

 

Now these wouldn't be any kind of decent fantasy books without a little fantasy to them. There's a good old fashioned villain (Morgarath) who needs defeating, along with his ugly minions, the Kalkara. I won't go into any great detail so as not to spoil it for my amazing readers out there, because these books are totally worth the read.

 

Flanagan is amazing at what he does. His fantasy world, though obviously based upon cultures and histories from our world, is a unique and refreshing addition to the fantasy genre. His characterization is very realistic, and everything just works together perfectly to make an all around amazing series.

 

For those who enjoyed or will enjoy this series, Flanagan also has a second series currently in the works called The Brotherband Chronicles, based in the same world, which I started reading as well before I left for Korea. I must say it is off to a wonderful start. Once I've gotten further into the series, I'll probably be doing another post about it. Until then, pick up his Ranger's Apprentice series, sit down, and read! 

 

 

 

Fantasy is a necessary

                           ingredient in living, it's a way

of looking at life through the

                           wrong end of a telescope.

 

                      -Dr. Seuss



THE JOYS AND WOES

OF TEACHING

 

Oh my word, have I already been here a month?! Crazy!!!

 

Anyway. Teaching. What can be said about it? So much, that's what. I'm not sure what being a "normal" teacher is like, but being an ESL teacher is one crazy ride (at least it has been for me so far). Let's just say I came into this like many probably do: dreaming of epicness. Now, I wasn't foolish enough to believe everything was going to be hunkey dorey right from the start. I knew there would be challenges (many, many, many challenges), but I wasn't entirely sure what all of those challenges would be. I knew I'd have some trouble adjusting to teaching children seeing as all my experience has been with adults, and I knew it would take time to adjust to a new schedule and learn the ropes of the school. So I decided to come in with as open a mind as I could possibly muster. Let me tell you how much that has helped. Being able to let go of preconceived ideas has kept me sane these past couple weeks. It is sooooo different than what I thought it was going to be like (okay, not everything, but still...). I guess that means my first words of advice to anyone planning on getting into ESL teaching is to be flexible in your thinking. Rigidity will only break you in the end (or maybe in the beginning because that's when everything's at its worst).

 

So let's give an example. One thing I wasn't expecting was to have the entire school be based upon learning English. I was anticipating a school that had Korean curriculum with a few English courses offered (obviously to help attract more students to the school). But the hagwon I work at (I have no clue if this is the norm or not) is entirely based upon English curriculum. There's not just an "English class," there are many classes including Science, Math, Social Studies, and Music taught in English. Upon arrival, I was informed I would be in charge of teaching the basic English Time course to my main class (Universe) as well as teaching the Global subject (kind of like social studies) to two other classes (Infinity and Ocean) in addition to my Universe class. In a typical day, I teach three different courses: Reading Skill Builder, English Time, and Global. I also help out with Arts & Crafts and teach two afterschool courses for older children (9-10 year olds). So I'm not just teaching English, I'm teaching social studies, art, reading, speech, writing, and English.

I'm not complaining about this. I actually love teaching different classes. For the Global class, we're learning about China. I've had the kids do some coloring worksheets and in the next week or so I'm planning on introducing our first craft project! This is the planned project, so we'll see how it turns out.

Projects do take a bit of extra planning, mostly because if the students need to bring supplies from home or they need to do something at home for the project, I have to have a Korean teacher make a note for the parents (few if any of the parents speak English). For this project, the students will need egg cartons from home which means a note needs to be sent, etc, etc, etc. It should be fun though. The kids love projects like this and so do I!

 

Alright, so I'm going to post a few pictures of my classroom and whatnot (just because I like to brag). Because Global is considered the main subject I teach, my classroom theme is supposed to be geared toward that. But obviously because the classroom is mainly for the use of my Universe class, it is also decorated to help them learn English (class rules, calendar, birthday chart). It's still a work in progress (I've only been here a couple weeks after all).

This is where I hang projects they do in class.

I put up pictures and flags of a few different countries for my Global class.

Here's the birthday chart!!!

And here we have the classroom rules and a clock (the students are learning
to tell time).

And here we have one of my favorite parts of the class. Each student has a
miniature library. Each time he/she reads a book, they get to add a little wooden
book to their library shelf. At the end of the month we tally up how many books
they've each read.

This is a stereotypical school lunch. There's always rice,
kimchi, some kind of soup, and two side dishes (called
banchan) which often consists of some kind of meat
and/or vegatables.

And not to stray from the subject, but I wanted to add in just a couple other experiences I've had apart from teaching. I go to church (I think I've mentioned briefly before that I'm LDS). I ride the subway a grueling one and a half hours to church each week (okay, it's not actually gruelling). I do this so I can go to the only English speaking branch in the area. I have a roommate from college who also teaches here and she goes to the same branch!!! Here we are, reunited once more :)

As with the LDS church, the meetings are all the same, so not much is different. Because there aren't too many people, there aren't enough to have an English YSA ward, but there are a few singles. A few others are English teachers like me, and most of the rest are here because of military service. I made a few friends and was added to the different groups on Facebook so I could keep up to date on activities and such (linger longer next week!!!). It's been nice to go to the English branch though. It feels like a break each week from the foreignness of Korea.

On a similar, but separate note, my director took me to immigration today to finish up everything for my visa. We ran into a bunch of sister missionaries (because they have to have visas too). My director was caught a bit off guard when I said hello and I started chatting with the sisters like we were old friends. He asked if I knew them, and I said I didn't. I took a little time to explain about our church, but pretty soon he had to leave to fill out some paperwork, so I spent another half hour or so talking to one of the sisters who was from Australia. We had to leave soon after that though, so I said goodbye. But on the way back to the school, my director started asking questions about the church (some of the stereotypical ones about missionaries, polygamy, and about the whole no drinking and smoking thing). By the time we got back to the school he asked if I could find him a Korean copy of The Book of Mormon! I was super excited :) I don't like to feel like I'm forcing my religion or my views on anyone, so I rarely bring the subject of religion myself, but if someone asks me questions, I'm more than willing to share!

And last, but not least, I'm starting up Insanity (again). I've always struggled with keeping up with my workouts, and each time I swear I'm going to do better. Well, it's time to try once again. I did the first workout today (I'm going to be soooooo sore tomorrow), and I feel great! I don't know why I stop exercising because I love the way I feel after a good workout, and I love seeing my progress. Something I need to work on I guess.

Okay, I think that's it for this post (much happier than some previous posts). I've been smiling so much. It's been one awesome day! Today I love my life :)

Love yourself and

be proud of everything,

even your mistakes.

Because mistakes

mean you're trying.



IN A LAND FAR FAR AWAY...

TALES OF DRAGONS, ELVES AND DWARVES ABOUND

 

*I'm assuming everyone reading this post has either read or seen The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings movies/books so for those very select few who haven't, there may be spoilers.

 

This week we're going back to one of the fathers of modern fantasy, the man who defined wizards, dwarves, and elves as we know them today: Tolkien. There is a special place in my nerdy little heart for Tolkien (as there probably is for any decent bookworm). I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy back in middle school. I can't say—as I so often can with other books—that I have

read these books many times. I've read The Hobbit maybe four times and The Lord of the Rings only twice each. While The Hobbit is a fun, short, easy read, The Lord of the Rings trilogy is anything but (though I promise it is worth it to read them at least once). For those not interested in reading The Lord of the Rings and sticking with the movie versions (I love the movies too!), I would still recommend you read The Hobbit. It can more than stand on its own; in fact, it was originally going to be a stand alone until Tolkien decided to venture further into the world of Middle Earth with The Lord of the Rings. As an interesting side note, Gollum was not (in the original published version of The Hobbit) an evil creature at all. When Bilbo wins the riddle game, he has no ill will towards the hobbit and actually gives the ring to Bilbo as a reward in addition to leading him out of the tunnels. It was only after Tolkien decided to continue his story with The Lord of the Rings and figured out Gollum would make a fairly decent side villain that he decided to make the almost innocent creature more sinister.

 

A quick note on the movies (because we can't do a whole post on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings without even mentioning them), while I love the adaptations of The Lord of the Rings, I am not quite so fond of the adaptation of The Hobbit. Most of my dislike is probably due to the amount the movies stray from the book. They could have fit the entire book into one, maybe two movies. You know they're just trying to extend it for the money they'll make. I admit, I've only seen the first of the three planned films, so I won't judge the other two until I've seen them. But movies is not our topic today, so I won't say more than that. And now back to the books.

 

The Hobbit is a fairly quick read and few parts are slow paced. The Lord of the Rings, on the other hand, is a much longer read and has many more slow paced sections. I'll warn you in advance that The Lord of the Rings can be a bit difficult to get through, especially if you're not used to reading epic fantasy. Keep in mind that these books were written back in the mid 1950's. The writing style back then was very differet than the writing style of today. A lot of time and space was

given to description of both setting and people. So be prepared to read about a lot of flora and fauna. Though, I just have to say that I don't think the movies would have turned out nearly so well if Tolkien had not put in all that detail. Everything in the movie is detailed down to the smallest button. I believe that is due in part to the awesome team who was in charge of costumes/set design/etc for the movies, but a bigger part of it was Tolkien and his descriptions in the books. So be forgiving of the pages of description when you read them.

 

One thing I love about Tolkien is his mix of imagination and logic. He was not only an author, but he was a linguist (he made up the language of the elves himself), and he was a professor among many other things. He loved trees (you can see that love come out in his book in the form of the Ents). He delved so deeply into Middle Eartch, its history, its folklore, the different cultures, and how everything tied together. He has written an unbleivable amount about Middle Earth. Another book you may want to look into if you love Middle Earth is the Silmarillion (which I have yet to read myself).

 

There is so much more that could be said on Tolkien, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings, but I will leave it here for today. Just one last note and I'll be finished. If you love Tolkien, you should check out the podcast The Tolkien Professor. It's amazing!

 

 

I do not read for

I have renounced life,

 

I read because one life is just

not enough for me.

 

-Abbas Al-Akkad