Q: What Is Scarier Than North Korea?

A: Water Parks And Electric Fans

Summer is in full force in Korea, and it is not pleasant. The temperature has been in the high 80's almost everyday, with the humidity hoovering around 70% or more. Unlike back home, after it rains the humidity is not broken. Instead, everything is wet...and it is just as humid. Luckily, Meg and I finally got our air conditioner installed. Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that either air conditioners do not work the same here as they do in the States or our lack of being able to comprehend Korean is hindering our enjoyment of the air con. The air con had to be installed in Meg's room due to placement (the tube for the thing runs out her window and down the front of the building. She asked how she was supposed to close her window and was told to just put tape on it) which we figured would be no problem. However, we soon realized that the air doesn't actually circulate throughout the apartment. Some of the cool air makes its way into the kitchen but none of it is making it all the way to my end of the apartment (which is kinda odd since it is not a big space by any means). We have pushed all the buttons and Meg even brought the remote (yep, it is a remote controlled unit) into her Korean staff, but with no luck. Sooo, we moved on to plan B: buy an electric fan for my room. Unfortunately, we now have to worry about a very serious condition known as fan death.

Fan death, which we heard about a few months back but brushed off as ridiculous, is an urban legend over here that is actually believed by a large amount of people, many highly educated. Basically, the idea is that an electric fan left running overnight in a closed room can cause death by suffocation, hypothermia, or poisoning. To combat this problem, all fans sold in Korea have a built in timer that you are urged to set so that you don't accidently leave your fan running overnight. The Korea Consumer Protection Board actually published the following statement:

"If bodies are exposed to electric fans or air conditioners for too long, it causes [the] bodies to lose water and [causes] hypothermia. If directly in contact with [air current from] a fan, this could lead to death from [an] increase of carbon dioxide saturation concentration [sic] and decrease of oxygen concentration. The risks are higher for the elderly and patients with respiratory problems. From 2003 [to] 2005, a total of 20 cases were reported through the CISS involving asphyxiations caused by leaving electric fans and air conditioners on while sleeping. To prevent asphyxiation, timers should be set, wind direction should be rotated and doors should be left open." (thank you Wikipedia).

Well, low and behold, when I pull out the manual for my new fan, there it is. A picture warning me of fan death. For the record, yes I have left it running overnight.

Last Thursday I got to visit a Korean fire station with the Nemo class for our monthly field trip. While the trip was rather boring for me (the whole thing was conducted in Korean) my babies seemed to enjoy themselves. They each got a turn spraying the fire extinguisher, saw all the fire gear, checked out the trucks and ambulance, and were scared by the noise of the big fan used to blow smoke out of enclosed places. They also looked pretty darn cute wearing the fire hats they made for the occasion!

On Friday Meg and I went out to eat at a new place in our neighborhood. It was a really small noodle place that was really good! Meg was tackling on her spicy ramen while I was taking on my less spicy ramen when one of the waitresses came over to us. She was gesturing at my hands and grabbing my chopsticks. Initially unsure of what she wanted, we quickly learned that she wanted to give me a lesson in using chopsticks. After about 5 minutes she decided that I was good enough (or completely gave up) and left us to finish our meal. Seeing a great opportunity, Meg whipped our her cam to capture the moment. I was slightly sad as I thought I was doing pretty good with my chopstick skills, but I will admit that I hold them funny and struggle eating noodles with them. And Meg and another one of the waitresses definitely enjoyed the entertainment!

Saturday Meg and I had plans to go to Caribbean Bay (a water park about 45 minutes outside of Seoul) with some of my co-workers. Because of this, we were up at 8:15 when we got the knock on our doorway. Unsure of who would be knocking on our door at this hour besides the landlord, we tentatively opened the door. There stood a Korean lady, saying some name in Korean. We shook our heads no and Meg told her our names. Then, she motioned to us to put our shoes on and follow her outside. While we were very mystified, we decided that if both of us went we would be safe enough. Turns out that we had put our box of trash out in her spot the night before. She had found something with our address on it and came by to make us move it. Apparently, each building has a designated trash spot and designated trash dates and times. After the Korean lady attempted to communicate this to us with charades we vaguely remember our recruiter mentioning this when we arrived in Korea. But, keep in mind that we arrived very tried at midnight. Clearly, it did not stick. So now we know that trash can go out on Sunday, Tuesday, or Friday at 8 pm. And only on one side of our apartment.

So, on to the water park. Seeing as it was a very hot day the place was packed! We actually had to wait in a line for the shuttle bus that would take us down there. The best part of waiting in line was when the guy who was maintaining order while people waited came over to us holding his cell phone out yelling "Yuna". Turns out the phone call was for one of my co-workers. Yuna is the mom of one of her student's who works at the water park. Yuna called to make sure we found the bus okay and ended up getting us all on the shuttle bus for free. At the park she got us free locker rental and discounted admission to the park which was a sweet deal. We quickly learned that although Koreans don't like the sun, they still enjoy water parks. We ended up waiting in line about a hour per ride. What is interesting to note is that Koreans apparently are either deathly afraid of water or just have never learned to swim. Pretty much every single Korean was wearing a life jacket. On every ride. Water slide, wave pool, kiddie pool, it didn't matter. In fact, life jackets were required if you wanted to go into the wave pool. Also, we were told that swim caps were required. We all bought our "required" caps, only to discover that the rule isn't actually enforced. Overall the trip was a lot of fun and provided a great escape from the city!

On Sunday we were up early for our white water rafting trip. The site was about 2.5 hours away and we were a little worried about the weather because the forecast called for rain. The weather ended up being great - partly cloudy but still very warm and humid. We were on a raft with a Korean guide, one of the staff members from Adventure Korea (the group we booked with) and 7 other foreigners. We played some games along the river when we were in calmer spots (such as pushing each other in and rocking the raft back and forth) and had water fights with other rafts as we passed them. Our Korean guide also had us chanting all kinds of Korean things as we were rowing. We are still unsure of what we were saying, but all the Koreans on the river were laughing at us so we are pretty sure it was ridiculous. At one point we stopped and the guides tipped one raft over and put another on top of it. They then poured water down it and we had a man-made water slide to slide down. The rapids were pretty good as well! We only got the raft stuck once and no one fell out or sustained any injuries.

After rafting we had the opportunity to go bungee jumping again. It was at the same spot where we jumped on our DMZ trip. Both Meg and I decided to jump again and had a great time! I still didn't have the guts to jump from the ankles, but enjoyed jumping from the waist again. I kept my eyes open the entire time (which I didn't last time) and didn't start screaming before I left the platform this time! We got videos again but also got someone to take pictures this time so we could post them here for your enjoyment!

**More bungee pictures HERE **


Meg and I are two weeks away from mud festival (which we have been looking forward to since before we even left America) and less than a month away from our Thailand trip! We have booked a rafting/caving/elephant trek trip that also visits a village with long-neck people. We also have booked a trip for the weekend after we get back from Thailand to Doripo beach in the southern part of the country. We will be staying in a beach house, do some fishing/clam digging, and participate in a white lotus festival.

행복한 기념일!

4 months of embracing "WIK"

We officially left America 4 months ago TODAY, so it is time that we write our 4 month Q and A post. We thought of the idea for a post like this a couple of months ago and are going to try to do at least one more before we leave. Rachel's answers will be in orange and Meghan's will be in blue. Enjoy :)

Favorite Korean food?

KIMCHI!

Bi-bim-bap (pictured here)

Favorite place you have visited in Korea?

We both agree our favorite trip has been to the Darangee village, but as far as place-place, Seoraksan national park.

The DMZ.

Favorite part of your job? Least favorite?

My favorite part is seeing the progress that my young students are making, especially when they are able to tell me something in English because I would have never of thought they would be making progress like this four months ago. My least favorite part would be the parents. Over-protective and over-bearing. Enough said.

Favorite for me are times when I can just being silly with my kids. Also when I walk into a room and one of them shouts "Meghan Teacher!" and runs up to give me a hug or something. Least favorite thing is that Froebel teachers are not allowed to accept gifts other than food.

What cultural difference really grinds your gears?

Lack of personal space! Ugh! Especially on the subway.

The lack of efficiency at times.

Weirdest food you have eaten?

Congealed ox blood.

Fish innards.

Food I'm glad I tried...but I would never order it

Fish gut soup.

Silkworm larvae.

Favorite experience thus far?

Participating in the traditional festival in the Darangee village. OR seeing my mom's face when I told her I ate live octopus.

Trying all sorts of cool new foods.

6 things I miss from America

1. Sitting on my couch with a blanket in front of my huge TV and watching a movie in English.

2. Milk duds

3. Texting/calling my friends

4. My cabin!

5. Thunderstorms

6. Bubble baths

1. My kitty

2. Target

3. Clean air

4. Living in something bigger than an over-sized shoe box

5. A legit shower (not a shower head mounted on the wall of the bathroom)

6. A clothes dryer

6 things I will miss when/if I leave Korea

1. Efficient public transportation

2. Going out to eat a substantial meal for about $4

3. My students

4. Being able to pack up for a sweet weekend trip/having adventures everyday

5. Feeling like a celebrity because I'm different

6. Subway shopping

1. My kids

2. Bulgogi sauce (marinade thats a staple in our diet)

3. Being a "foreigner" (wae - gook)

4. Heated floors

5. Being excited when someone actually understands me when I try to speak Korean

6. Being a "millionaire"

Biggest culture shock moment

Realizing that I couldn't call and order a delivery pizza (because I can't speak Korean) :p,

Going to get my first meal in Korea and realizing that nobody understood me, and I couldn't read the menu.

If I didn't have the pictures, nobody would believe I

Ate the tentacle off a live octopus

Went bungee jumping off a 177ft bridge

Favorite K-Pop (Korean popular music) song

Sorry Sorry! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqMq82S7OVQ

Lollipop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIRW_elc-rY

A Korean word I enjoy saying

무당벌레 (mu-dang-paw-leh) = ladybug

우유 (ooo-you) = milk

Super cute kid story

One of my Nemo students is named Shine. She came to me one day as she was putting on her outdoor shoes to go home. They were black, patent letter with a buckle and very cute. Anyway, she held them up to me and said "My shoes shinny for Shine!"

Before class starts every morning we have circle time. We were doing some stretches just to get moving a little and I told the kids to sit down and touch their toes. I was sort of half doing it because I'm not terribly flexible in that way. Monica saw me and thought I needed help so she got up, came over to me and grabbed both of my hands and started pulling them toward my toes. I didn't want to disappoint her so I went for it and when my fingers touched she said "there," put a big smile on her face, let go, and went and sat back down.

I wish I could find _____ at the local grocery store

Bagels

Jello

Favorite side-of-the-road furniture find

My closet (mostly because it came with a bucket of plastic dinosaurs)

The decorative lanterns we found at the Lotus Lantern parade

I'm glad I did it...but probably wouldn't do it again

Haul huge full bags, a bookshelf, a family sized rice cooker, and three pillows 13 subway stops and 10 mins by foot back to our apartment after cleaning out Rach's coworkers apartment (she was leaving Korea).

Let Meghan press random buttons that have Korean on them on an electronic toilet.

Favorite street food

Bean paste fish!! 5 (or 6 0r 7 or 8 if you are a very loyal customer) for 1,000 won

Seasoned potato spiral on a stick

"Blog friendly" funniest English t-shirt you've seen (many of them have been inappropriate :p)

One I bought in the subway that says "If your right ear itches, body is beautiful go you." The shirt also has a giant sequined butterfly on it.

The one that our male fruit seller was wearing that said "New chicks on the block."

Best wake up call

A ridiculously loud, intense alley cat fight-to-the-death at 5 am...Multiple times

A guy slowly driving his truck through the streets with a megaphone saying something in Korean at 6:30 am..multiple times. I later learned he is selling potatoes out of the back of his truck. I intend to buy some someday.

Someday I will tell my grand kids about the time I...

Went to most heavily fortified military boarder in the world (DMZ) during nuclear threats and a day before North Korea tested a nuclear bomb.

Planted rice between 2 Korean adjamas and then plowed a rice paddy while speaking Korean to an ox

Playing in the Mud and Eating Live Octopus

** Pictures HERE**

6:25am Saturday morning my alarm goes off. What did I get myself into? Although Rach and I were very excited to set out on a new adventure to a small South Korean village, it was still hard to get motivated to wake up that early just to get on a bus for 5.5 hours.

After eating breakfast and having some coffee on the subway ride to the bus terminal, we were set go to. Our destination? Darangee village - a small village on the southern island Namhae. I was particularly looking forward to this trip because this village would be a completely different side of South Korea that we'd had little exposure to. It would be nice to leave the tall city buildings of Seoul behind and enjoy ocean, grass, dirt, and unlimited sky. The bus ride went by relatively quickly. Driving through windy roads we finally turned a corner and through the trees we saw it - a quaint layered village tucked into the hillside by the South Sea.

Once off the bus the group split up and we got our homestay assignments. Our homestay was at the top of the inclined village, but was worth it because our ajema (what they call senior citizen women here) we stayed with had goats! We quickly changed and headed back down the hill because we knew what was next - the beach!















The beach was made of large pebbles and rocks that made a sound like fireworks when they were dragged in and out of the sea by the tide. The water was cold, but doable, and after about a minute it felt perfect! We saw a few jellyfish swimming in the water (but don't worry, nobody got stung!) and after we swam for a while we went back to shore to relax. On the shore a group of other foreign teachers were gathering around sea urchins. Our guide had cut a few in half and was eating them haha. After the beach, we went back up the hill for the festival and rice planting!

When we got up to the rice fields, we felt like A-list celebrities! Pretty much the entire village was out and the Koreans with cameras asked to take pictures of us and with us as we got ready to go into the knee-deep mud to plant rice. Since Rach and I had already planted rice once before, we dove right in. Rach was planting right between two ajemas who had clearly been planting rice their entire life - they were pros! Rach held her own though and it was a proud moment for the wea-guks (foreigners).

My job was to capture these amazing moments on film and so I brought my camera out into the mud. I was taking pictures when an older Korean man came through the mud, playfully splashing everyone planting rice. Fearing for the life of my camera, I desperately tried to get his attention so he would not splash me. He saw that I had my camera, and instead of passing me by, he laughed, came right up to me and grabbed two huge handfuls of mud and COVERED both my legs in mud. He then grabbed another handful and smeared mud on my face, laughed again, and continued on his merry way! I stood there, half in shock for a moment, and then started laughing. Meanwhile, all the Koreans standing by with cameras were eating this up - snapping pictures left and right of the blonde white girl completely covered in mud. At this point, our bus driver for the trip offered to take my camera to take some pictures since I was afraid of getting it dirty. So after I gave him my camera, I decided I didn't want to be the only one covered in mud so I took a handful and threw it on Rachel haha.




After rice planting in the mud, we got the opportunity to plow a rice field by dragging a wooden thing (that's the scientific term, in case you were wondering) behind an ox. We were instructed to shout at the ox in Korean to make it go, stop, and turn. The experience was one of a kind - shouting at an ox in Korean through a field of muck with an audience of both foreigners and Koreans.

After plowing, we all went up to our homestays to shower and get ready for dinner. The ajemas cooked dinner for the entire village (bi-bim-bap...you will learn what this is in an upcoming post dedicated to Korean food). So there we sat, eating bi-bim-bap on the top of a hill with an entire village looking over the ocean. Dinner ended and the evening festival activities were getting ready to begin.

First up was a magician guy. He was wacky and entertaining and we enjoyed his performance. The real gem of the show though was the drum performance given by 5 Korean performers. They played incredibly fast and intense and there really are no words that can describe it really. Both our jaws were dropped for pretty much the entire performance, amazed at the incredible talent and skill of the group. It was one of the best cultural performances I have EVER seen. Just all around fantastic. After they were done with the drum performance, they split the village in to two "teams." They then gave each side long poles with banners hung from them and had something that resembled "flag wars." Each team tried to dismantle banners from the other side's poles. Then we had a giant tug of war (best 2 out of 3, of course) and then lit a GIANT bonfire! We made giant conga lines and danced around the bonfire while singing/chanting Korean songs to the drummers beat and it was all in all a pretty crazy party! Sadly though, it had to end and then it was time for bed.

The next morning we awoke bright and early for a traditional Korean breakfast prepared by our ajema. It consisted of rice, fish, marinated vegetables, an egg omelette of sorts and some other things - we don't know what they were exactly :) We tried communicating with her, but out of the 4 of us eating with her, none of us knew very much Korean. It took about 10 mins for "how old are you?" " I am 23" to get across when she asked us our age haha.

After breakfast we got on the bus to go to another village nearby where the local fisherman offered to take us out and show us how they catch fish. We boarded a flat boat and the weather was really nice. I missed being out on the water and it felt good to be back on a boat again! After a bit the fishermen put their giant nets out into the water, and hauled them back up and onto the boat. There were many different sea creatures that were caught - squid, octopus, a few different kinds of fish, 2 kinds of ray, etc. They put them in a giant bucket and we were free to pick them up, hold them and eat them.

Yes...eat them! Our guide literally picked up an octopus from the bucket...alive and squirming and sticking to him with its tentacles, picked up one of the tentacles, put it in his mouth, and chomped down. He ate one of the tentacles off of a live octopus. Of course, I was stoked to try it! I got the octopus in my hand, and felt its little suction cups sticking to my hand and for a moment, I was unsure if I could actually do it...but that feeling only lasted for a split second as a put the tentacle in my mouth and bit down. Unfortunately the tentacle didn't detach right away...so I pulled and chomped and pulled and chomped and finally had to give up. No luck! Could I try again? I grabbed a different tentacle this time, hoping the one was just being stubborn and tried one more time. This time the tentacle came off - and the suction cups began to suction to my tongue but I just kept chomping until they stopped. After I was done, Rach wanted to get in on the action too. Its just one of those things that when the opportunity presents itself, you really can't turn it down...a situation we call "when in Korea."

Not only did we eat live octopus, but on the boat one of the fisherman was cutting up the seafood right in front of us and putting it on a plate as sashimi. We had some of the freshest sushi in Japan near the fish market, but this was literally less than a minute off the fish when we were able to eat it. Dipped in a little red pepper sauce we sampled squid, octopus, sting ray, and multiple kinds of fish. After a short boat ride, we headed back to shore.

When we got back to the village, we went to have lunch. The fisherman and some ajemas prepared the rest of the fish we'd caught into large plates of sashimi. The sashimi was accompanied by fish soup (complete with a fish-head) and of course a bunch of side dishes such as kimchi. We hung out on the docks for a bit after lunch soaking up the sun and eating melon popsicles and then exhausted, headed back to the bus for our 5.5 hour journey back to Seoul.

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Stay tuned for an update on Froebel - we have our drama performances next week!!! I'm a bit nervous since this will be my first time "directing" any sort of play. Also coming up "a day in the life of Meghan Teacher," neighborhood friends, Korean food, and our 4 month Q&A post. Speaking of which, if you have any questions for us, please send them! :D

A Day In The Life Of Ms. Gaard
Another week has come and gone here in Korea and we are still alive, Swine Flu and war free. The talk of North Korea has died down significantly, as has the hype about all the foreign teachers passing Swine Flu onto everyone in the country. Meg and I spent the weekend at a beach somewhere in Korea (we had nothing to do with organizing the trip and are still unsure as to where we were). Despite being told that it was a two hour bus ride (that was actually 4) and there weather being very uncooperative (we were in sweatshirts for most of the time), we had a lot of fun. Now that simmer has hit Korea, we have learned something very interesting about the Korean culture. They hate the sun. Literally, avoid it at all costs. Big hats, umbrellas, pants and long sleeves shirts, the works. Meg and I went to Olympic Park with some of my co-workers last Sunday to enjoy the gorgeous weather and the four of us foreigners were the only people sitting in the sun. It is also difficult to find sunscreen with a SPF below 30 and we were warned to not buy Korean brand face wash or cream because they put a whiting agent in it in order to help maintain a pasty glow. It is interesting to come from a culture where everyone wants to be tanner to a culture where being pale is coveted.

And now, what you have all been waiting for...a day in the life of Ms. Gaard (or just plain teacher as I am frequently called since my kids can't remember my name)

8:50 am: I am out the door and making the 10 minute walk to the subway. Here I meet my co-worker Kata, who is also from MN.

9:15 am: Kata and I arrive at Gangnam Station and head towards exit 3. We make our way down the street, turning left at the Hooters (my landmark for finding my way to work when I first arrived in Korea) and towards CIS. Generally, we stop for a coffee at the corner Best Beans coffee, where the barsita always gives us an excited hello and knows our order by heart.

9:35am: Arrive at CIS. Change from street shoes into my slippers. This is very common in Korea, in many places you take your shoes off when entering (such as anyone's house or if you are eating on the floor in a restaurant). All the kids also change into their indoor shoes when they arrive at school. Clock in. Go sit in the staff room/library/computer room/video watching area and get some things preped for the morning or talk with the other staff members as they come in.

9:50 am: The bell rings. It plays a lovely version of 'Home on the Range' that I am already deathly sick of. I go to my classroom where my aid, Chloris (who is only my aid during kindergarten), has already been helping the kids empty their backpacks and get ready for the day.

10:00am: Nemo class begins (Ally, Andy, Audrey, Eric, Irean, Jessica, Justin, Katherine, Kelly, Sean, Shine, Yoo-Jin). All of the kindergarten classes have a character name, some which are a bit more ridiculous than the others (we currently have Nemo, Bambi, Spot, Tweety, Puffin, Beaver, Dolphin, Grizzly, Whale, Deer, and Koala). I start out my day by having circle time for a half hour (unless it is Friday, in which case my kids have art and I get my precious 50 minutes of prep for the week). Here we say good morning to each other, talk about how we are feeling, discuss the date and weather, say an alphabet chant and usually sing some songs. My kids are currently really into 10 in the bed and a monkey and alligator song I taught them. Sometimes we play games like Simon says in order to learn different vocabulary words or talk about things such as what color socks everyone is wearing.

10:30 am: If it is Monday, I take the Nemos to music. Otherwise we do reading and writing for a half hour. Twice a week I use the workbook for this time (we are currently working on a workbook with letter sounds) and the other two times I week I design my own activities. As of late we have been working on an alphabet book and tracing letters.

11:00 am: If it is Tuesday, I bring my kids to gym. I am responsible for teaching gym, which at this point consists of lots of 'follow me type' games. I have tried to teach red light, green light and duck, duck, gray duck but their attention spans usually only last about 5 minutes. If it is Wednesday, the kids have music again. Otherwise, we are in the classroom doing math. Once a week I use their math book, which is very simple and quick to get through. The other day I design my own activities. We have been working a lot on writing numbers and counting this month as well as concepts like patterns, same/different, bigger/smaller, and more/less.

11:30 am: Free time! The kids get to play for a half hour. This allows me to work one-on-one with kids who didn't finish their work or to speak English with them in a smaller setting.

12:00-1:00 pm: Lunchtime for me and the kids. I have a hour of freedom (which is unfortunately, usually spent doing work while eating a PB and J from home) while the kids eat in the classroom.

1:00 pm: Depending on the day many things happen at this time. We may be doing a science lesson or a project related to the monthly theme (for example, this month we are talking about different kinds of animals and where they live). Sometimes this time is used to do extra practice on a concept we have been working on (such as extra math work).

1:30 pm: On Mondays, I take the Nemos to the library where they get to pick out an English book to bring home. On the other days of the week this time is used for show and tell or story time.

2:00 pm: Snack time. One of my kids' favorite times of the day. Enough said.

2:30 pm: I walk the Nemes downstairs, give them each a high-five or fist pound, say a chipper "Goodbye, see you tomorrow!" and then hightail it upstairs to get ready for the next part of my day.

2:30-3:00 pm: A half hour of freedom. Usually this consists of getting some last minute prep in or hanging out with the staff. If it is nice weather, some of us will head upstairs to the roof to get some vitamin D and get away from all the noise of students coming/going.

3:00-4:20 pm: ESL K time (Andrew S, Andrew W, Bella, Christine, Emily, Hailey, Joshua, Sally). I have this class 5 days a week and currently have eight students in it (up from 6 3 weeks ago). This kids are 7 or 8 in Korean years, so about 6 or 7 in America. They attend Korean kindergarten but this is their first year of English. I have to come up with a lot of extra work for this class, as our book work only takes us about 30 to 40 minutes. I am expected to have these kids reading and writing by the end of the year, so we move really fast and I am usually frustrated because I have to go ahead, even though some of the kids are completely lost. We are currently working on word families (such as words that end with -at) and sight words which will help the kids with their reading and writing. The biggest challenge with this class (besides Andrew W) is that since the kids came in with no English they need to be taught very basic vocabulary (Ex, 'My name is...') but the books are written for students who already have an English vocabulary. I have recently started enforcing a 'no Korean' policy in this class (in which the kids earn a sticker for their chart if they don't speak any Korean. Once their chart is full they get a prize), which has cut down on a lot of the mindless Korean chatter that the students used to engage in. Technically, all of CIS has a no Korean policy. However, with the younger kids (such as my Nemos) this is very hard to enforce because they simply don't have the vocabulary. On Friday, 5 of my 7 kids who were in class didn't speak a word of Korean the entire time, which was a very big step!

4:20-4:30 pm: If it is Tuesday or Thursday, I am officially done with work and free to go home. However, if it is Monday, Wednesday, or Friday I have one more class to teach. This time is my ten minute break to grab a snack and get myself organized.

4:30-7:20 pm: BC grade 3 (Daniel, Edward, Jake, Paul). These boys are about 10 in American years and have been taking English lessons for a couple of years. They are fairly fluent and can do a lot more, but the course material is still way to tough for them. I teach grammar, vocabulary, science (from an Ohio science book nonetheless!), reading, writing, critical thinking, and reading comprehension. There is a ton of material to cover and it is really complex for the boys. Because we use American textbooks, the material uses really intense vocabulary and talks about things that pertain to American culture but not necessarily Korean culture. The books also expect that the students know how to do different skills (such as using context clues) that when you are learning a second language are hard to utilize. I either love this class or leave school frustrated with teaching, depending on the day. These boys spend all day in Korean school and then most of them go to another after school class before they come to me. So by the time I am ready to spend three hours teaching them English, they are completely ready to check out. Plus, they have to go home and do hours of homework (although not for me, I try to give them as little as humanly possible without getting in trouble with my Principal for not doing my job). This class is a little more intense for me simply because I have to give weekly spelling tests, grammar, science, and reading tests as we finish chapters and also quarterly cumulative tests on everything.

7:20 pm: Final bell rings. I am waiting by my classroom door, purse in hand. In one swift move I exit, clock out, change out of my slippers and slip out of CIS with my co-worker Danielle in order to start the 30 minute commute home.

8:00 pm: Arrive back at the apartment, usually to a nice home cooked meal. Well, sometimes. When Meg is so starving she can't wait until I get home to start dinner :)

Well, there it is, a little glimpse into my day to day life at CIS. Of course, as is the nature of teaching, no day every follows a set planned schedule - which is part of the fun. I wanted to leave you with a (what I found) hilarious story from the Nemo class about a week ago. During free play I was at my desk getting some papers organized for the afternoon. All of a sudden I hear Justin and Sean screaming. I look up, figuring they are fighting over toys as this is usually the problem, only to see Justin slamming his shoe repeatedly against the mat. I rush over asking what is going on (and expecting a lot of Korean to come flying at me) only to arrive to discover a mashed black speck on the mat. To which Sean looks at me, points to said speck and says "Spiderman." Priceless.

The Swine Flu and North Korea threatens war - but at least we have cheese!

So last week started out a bit strange for Rach and I as we were both required to get tested for Swine Flu. Apparently, some foreigners who just came over from the US/Canada to teach in Seoul brought over A/H1N1 straight to the district we both teach in. Excellent. Last I heard there were about 27 cases in the area, with 23 of those cases being foreigners.

Wednesday I get to school and Susie (my boss) tells all the foreign teachers that yay! we're going to the doctor first thing at 9am. We get to the small clinic near Froebel and overhear some discussion in Korean in which apparently the clinic was telling Susie that they can't do a "real" swine flu test there for some reason (blood work maybe?) and that we'd basically just have our temp taken. Since there were a lot of Koreans already waiting to see the doctor, the visit ended up taking about and hour and a half, and I missed teaching my first class. All so that Froebel could tell the mothers of the kids to calm down - none of OUR teachers have the swine. Rach had a similar experience consisting of a "test" first thing in the morning as well.

A peculiar note about my visit though was that the Dr. looked down our throat to check for swelling or something...not quite sure...but immediately after looking down my throat (say ahhh!) he said "You are a very good singer." I just kinda looked at him in disbelief for a moment, then smiled and awkwardly said "thank you" (I didn't know if that was an appropriate response considering he hadn't actually heard me sing but deduced it from analyzing my throat structure...but it seemed to work fine).


Also a fun topic in the news as of late: North Korea testing nuclear weapons and firing off short-range missiles. We've been keeping up on CNN.com (its become a habit to check it about 3 times a day now) for the latest news, but it's a bit disconcerting not to be able to understand THIS countries coverage on the whole topic. From what I've read though, South Korea is more or less used to North Korea's harsh rhetoric and although the threats are definitely NOT being ignored, they are not quite as big of a deal here. Here are a few articles I found helpful if you find yourself wanting to know more about the situation:

(Here we are with North Korea about 24 hours before they did their nuclear test and shot off the first missiles.)

• http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090527/ts_nm/us_korea_north;_ylt=Aj0Omy2d3bTHpjPFQC4k33Na24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTJvNDVhM2NzBGFzc2V0Ay9ubS8yMDA5MDUyNy90c19ubS91c19rb3JlYV9ub3J0aARjcG9zAzQEcG9zAzQEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNub3J0aGtvcmVhdGg


• http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/29/nkorea.missile/index.html


• http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/05/25/nkorea.nuclear.test.outrage/index.html#cnnSTCText

Now for some good and less intense news! Rach and I finally made it to Costco last week to stock up on food we wouldn't necessarily be able to find in our small markets around our house. Among the best finds were a huge bag of frozen chicken breasts, steak, red wine and bagels, but best of all...CHEESE! The only cheese really seen around here are the Kraft singles kind which, don't get me wrong, make a great grilled cheese sandwich but pales in comparison to the smooth taste of mild cheddar! Although a bit pricey, Rach and I decided to splurge since this would be really the first experience with real cheese since our arrival in Korea. We bought a 2 lb hunk which we busted open pretty much first thing after we got home. Yum.

One last story for this post: paying our bills. The other day I went in to talk to Charles (you may remember him from my first day of school post). He is in charge of all this stuff and he told me that everything was taken care of and taken straight out of my paycheck - nothing to worry about - which I thought was mighty slick. A few weeks later we get a bill. Not in our mailbox (where everyone elses was) but taped to our door. With an extra slip attached. Uh oh. So the next day I bring the bill into Charles to ask him about it. He then talkes to James (the other guy in charge of..."this" stuff) and James said he'd get back to me. About an hour later, James comes back and first thing he says is "Charles was mistaken." Haha, excellent. Apparently gas and electric are separate bills, which is fine, except this whole time we were under the impression we were covered...which is a total time of about 3 months. The gas company shuts off the gas after not being payed for 3 months. We were literally about 2 days from having our gas shut off because "Charles was mistaken." Thankfully there were no penalty fees (which I would have fought Froebel about anyway), and we just had a larger than normal bill to pay since it was for the entire time we've been here thus far.

We are going to have a post coming up where we answer a few questions such as what our favorite thing about Korea is so far, or what's the craziest food we've eaten and enjoyed, etc. SO if you have any questions you'd like to ask us, please do! If you are unable to comment directly on the blog, then email me at meghan@charter.net, my regular email (I don't want to put it on the blog...eww spam haha), or facebook me and we'll make sure to include them!

Also coming up are updates on Froebel, "A day in the life" for each Rach and I, and an introduction to our neightborhood friends we've made so far.