“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
I had a traditional Korean wedding. It was beautiful. I wish everyone could have been there and we're still accepting gifts.
I crack myself up.
This past Saturday I went to an event held by the Gwangju International center; a cultural experience where we would be able to learn about traditional bowing, traditional clothing (Hanbok), and traditional weddings.
After a quick lunch we walked to Gwangju Hyanggyo, a very old Confucian school with a pretty amazing history in the city. The staff started our cultural experience by teaching us how to properly sit on our cushions. This was just good to know since I go out to eat to plenty of restaurants where we sit on the floor (I always seem to wear a dress or skirt on those days). After we were all properly seated, the staff demonstrated different traditional bows. How you bowed depended on your sex and the age of those you were greeting. I'm sure it also depends on more (situational) but I think we learned the very important bows.
I wont get into all the nitty-gritty details but traditional bowing is really interesting. There's an exact place for every body part- which tend to be different between men and women, differing degrees of bending (45? 90?), how to walk away from those who are older (backwards), certain amount of steps you need to take, etc.
Staff showing us how to bow. One is dressed in a women's Hanbok (L) while the other is dressed in a male's Hanok (R)
It was all really fun to learn but then it was time for the main reason I signed up for the cultural experience- HANBOK.
After a very quick introduction to different types of Hanbok, we were allowed to pick any Hanbok and try it on. I think Hanbok are really gorgeous-although not the most flattering-and everyone was really excited to get a few pictures in our cool new duds. We had the most giggly, happy group photo-shoot outside.
Showing us different styles of Hanbok
All the girls that were at the cultural experience
Posing in my Hanbok.
We already knew that we would be acting out a traditional wedding and had been warned that only one person would be able to dress up in bridal attire (it just takes too long for everyone to do it). One of my friends, Jamie, was roped into being the groom. As soon as they asked who wanted to be the bride Megan and I both raised our hands. To our surprise and excitement the staff said we could both be brides.
Let the polygamous marriage begin!
The staff immediately started doing up our hair, putting on layers of clothes, and making us beautiful brides. Traditional Korean brides wear red stickers on their cheeks and foreheads but for some reason the lady helping me could NOT get the stickers to stick. Next thing I know she had whipped out a glue stick and was applying the stickers to my face with glue. When we were all finished there was a mini photo-shoot for everyone else. I felt like a celebrity...or maybe that's just how brides feel on their wedding days. Us brides were placed on stage behind a barrier and people were assigned to be our helpers/parents (it wasn't clear). The groom walked down the length of the room to the stage with others acting as lantern carriers leading the procession. When the brides were finally called to meet the groom we all had to traditionally bow 3 times to each other and then we bowed to the audience.
Picture of the procession of the groom taking place
Selfie with the wedding party behind the barrier!
Bowing to the groom. He's the process of bowing.
Bowing to our wedding guests
Singing while Jamie's feet are attacked.
Wedding photo with the groom
Looking regal in my wedding attire.
Out of nowhere Jamie was told to lay on his back and lift up his feet. Another person was called to hit his feet with a stick. At the same time, Megan and I were handed a microphone and told to sing any song. I could only thing of Disney's Aladdin so we started singing A Whole New World (and by "we" I mean Megan sang and I nervously giggled the entire time). While we were singing Jamie was just getting his feet smacked with a stick. That was the end of our wedding. We had another photo-shoot and then it was time for the tea ceremony. We were served delicious tea and shown how to properly serve, drink, and nibble on a traditional snack. When the staff told us that it was over and we had to take off our Hanbok, I thought of rebelling. Could I just hang out at the temple all day in Hanbok? No. So we left.
Having a traditional tea ceremony.
It was a fantastic experience that I would recommend to anyone. It was educational but just downright fun.
Every morning at my elementary school a hush falls over the students as the morning broadcast begins. It signifies the start to the school day....and it's freaking awesome.
I don't know about your elementary school but we definitely didn't have our own broadcasting room. Even if we did, I can't imagine the school letting the kids run the machinery and be in complete control. It's amazing to watch.
Although the kids run a broadcast every morning, I've never watched it. We just don't have a T.V. in our English office. So how do I even know about this magical activity in the school?
Every Tuesday an English teacher is featured on the morning broadcast reading a book. Once a month I check a designated book out from the library and make my way to the broadcasting room for my small moment of glory and fame.
GLORY AND FAME.
Everyday I start work at 8:30 (but arrive at 8:20) and on broadcasting days I'm down in the broadcasting room at 8:35 with book in hand. The kids are already there and ready to roll. They play a short video with a song (probably about school and being a good person...I'm not sure), read a list of something or other, a student talks about a topic for the day (today was tubas, last time croissants...I don't understand either), and then its my time to shine.
I sit down, I clear my throat, I can feel the tension in the room. What's the book of the day? Will she read it with a silly voice? Why is Ms. Gittleson so cool? All questions I'm sure they're asking themselves before I start.
Then I read. It's magical. It's great. I try not to sniffle because I'm always sick.
When I finish I say thank you to the kids (they seriously do a great job) and get back to my heated office.
Looking so cool in charge of the broadcast system.
Being a mature, responsible adult as I prepare for my moment to shine.
The star waiting patiently.
Reading an English book to my viewers. They watch the show for me.
Reading with a look of excitement. Look how excited the girl next to me is!
One of my favorite things I did this weekend was drink coffee and relax in a dog cafe in Gwangju.
The Flying Dog Cafe is perfect for those who love coffee and dogs (so...the smarter people on this planet). The cafe is 2 stories of tiny dogs running around peeing everywhere and looking adorable. Other than two or three medium sized dogs, all of the dogs were small and perfect for sitting in laps. Since I live in a city and most people live in apartments or smaller homes, big dogs are really rare. I've witnessed a lot of Koreans freak out upon seeing medium-big dog...and it's always hilarious.
I believe the cafe owns all of the dogs but people can bring their own pets to socialize and run around in the cafe. I liked how there was always a teenager standing around ready to mop the floor or clean up after an over-excited dog. I wish that they had dog toys for customers to use (the cat cafe had a plethora of fun toys) but overall it was a really nice environment. I had the fluffiest, sleepiest dog sit on my lap for almost an hour as I sipped coffee. I'll definitely go back in the future.
People sitting around enjoying coffee and playing with the dogs. You see some dogs in cages in the background. I think they were smaller puppies.
I had this dog on my lap for over an hour. SO FLUFFY AND CUTE.
Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I was bogged down at school with work (yay midterms!) and sleeping off a cold.
So for the next 3 weeks I'm teaching the Parent Classes at my English Center. We have class every Wednesday from 1:30-3:00 and I teach pretty much anything I want (within reason). The Parent Classes were divided between the 3 native teachers at my school and I'm the last teacher to teach them. When my co-teachers and I discussed the topics that we would like to teach when we taught the Parent Class, I decided that teaching a cooking class would be fun.
Can I cook? Sort of. I like the idea of cooking. I think I can follow a recipe pretty well (except for the mishap in college when I tried to make Kreplach...turns out that pastry dough and Wonton wrappers aren't the same thing). Let's just say my cooking ability is well beyond my singing abilities.
Anyway, I decided that I would love to teach English through cooking. Yet, what to make? Supposedly someone had taught Bruschetta back in the day. Delicious but didn't sound appealing to me. All of a sudden it hit me- LATKES. I really wanted to make latkes. Seemed easy enough: only a few ingredients, everything could be found in Korea, would taste like home, and I was teaching something from a different culture.
The day arrived for teaching the cooking class and I was pretty nervous. I couldn't remember how long it usually took to make latkes and I wasn't sure how much English I would really be teaching (mainly ingredients). I decided to leave Judaism out of the lesson and only teach some fun facts about Potato Pancakes (notice the name change, found predominantly in Eastern Europe, etc). An hour before my lesson a co-teacher told me that she was excited to learn about Hanukkah and Judaism in my cooking lesson. As you may imagine, there aren't many Jews in Korea and I was the first Jew that all of my teachers had met. Judaism...wait...what? That's when I made a mad dash back to my desk and created a power point telling the story of Hanukkah, Jewish customs, and how latkes fit into it all.
Teaching the cooking part was stressful but fun. Korea has a very similar pancake-like dish called μ (Jeon) that can be made with beef, vegetables, seafood, kimchi, and much more, so everyone was pretty comfortable with the idea of making a Potato pancake. I gave them a recipe but we didn't have proper measuring cups so they just started doing whatever they wanted. All of a sudden all of the potatoes were chopped, all the onions were sliced, salt was being added here and there, and more eggs and flour kept being added to the bowls. I just gave into the madness. As long as they tasted slightly like potatoes we did a good job.
I ended up taking a total of two bites of the latkes. While the parents enjoyed their meals and listened to Hanukkah music, I delivered plates of fresh latkes to the school administrators, my fellow English teachers, and my principal. By the time I returned to the classroom, the parents had eaten everything. So while I made them feel guilty about not saving me anything I also felt really happy that they seemed to enjoy the food.
All in all it was a good lesson. I never really want to teach English by making latkes ever again but it was a good experience. I taught the story of Hanukkah, we talked about menorahs, and I listened to lots of Hanukkah music. And as an added bonus I got to keep all the extra cooking ingredients so I'll be making my own latkes soon enough.
Making latkes in the English Center kitchen
Giant latkes because the similar Korean pancakes are huge
The lone father in my class. In my opinion he made the best latkes.
I think my co-teacher took some pictures so I'll also ask her for those later.
If you weren't already aware by my refusal to every sing karaoke, singing isn't my favorite thing to do. I don't particularly hate my singing voice...I just think others don't need or want to hear it. I don't like the idea of singing in front of large groups of people and, most likely, never will. So when my co-teachers told me that I had been volunteered to sing in front of parents and teachers at a school gathering, I was less than thrilled with the idea.
But first, lets clarify what a parent-teacher gathering means in Korea (since I had zero idea what to expect when I heard about it). Around 60+ parents came to school to spend their afternoon (3 hrs) playing games with teachers.They were able to chat with the teachers who work with their kids, bond with one another, eat food, and win prizes. It's was just a fun time for all.
When we first arrived at the gym I was extremely happy to see a table with beer, Soju, fried chicken and other yummy goodies. After chowing down, the MC had tables compete against each others with dance contests (I may have stood on a chair and danced for a bit...we lost) and some other games. The tables were divided by class years. So if you had a child in the 5th grade, you sat with the other 5th grade parents. The English Center had a table to ourselves.
The MC had us line up by table and complete different activities: massage each other, sit on each others laps in a line, pass something above our heads as fast as possible up and down the line, and more. Everyone was involved in these games and it was really fun.
Next the MC asked for people to play different party games. The first involved having 5 people tied together by their ankles who had to go back and forth across the gym. After watching a few different teams compete, a co-teacher and I decided to give it a go. We won and got a prize.
My lovely co-teachers with our table of food and drinks
Participating in a game with teachers and parents. We won!
From then on I mainly watched as parents and teachers competed against one another for prizes. It was funny at times because the MC made the losers dance (some parents really broke it down) and the games were just strange to watch. There was a game were 6 people held onto ropes that were connected to a flat circular disk in the center. They had to bounce a ball on the disk as many times as possible. There was a jump rope competition (double dutch) with parents trying to get as many people as possible jumping at one time. They played a game were one team had one yellow balloon tied to an ankle and the other team had a white balloon. The goal was to pop the other teams balloons. My co-teachers convinced me to try and within 1 minute I was out.
They had a raffle going throughout the festivities and I ended up winning one of the bigger gifts: 3 tissue boxes! So I won tissues (I have a cold again..perfect!), toothpaste (can never have enough) and cans of tuna (dream gift right here). I'm happy with all my prizes and how could I not be- they're free!
Now the singing. The awful, awful singing. Every table sang a song. One person sang and the others danced in the background. All the parents sang really old Korean songs that everyone was dancing and clapping along with. I was silently freaking out because I don't have 'a song.' Everyone seems to have that Karaoke song that they like to do- I don't really have that. I like singing N'sync and Backstreet boys but I didn't think that was appropriate for Korea. Bruno Mars is fairly popular here so we decided to sing one of his songs and went up to the stage. I convinced Chia, another Native co-teacher to sing with me and THANK GOD I did. I had the mic taken out of my hands by the MC about a 1/4th of the way into the song (I think I was out of tune and off key) and then our song was stopped early because we were....great. It was awful but it's done now and we're never going to talk about it again OK?
So I had a lot of fun, other than singing, and faced my fears. It was a really good day.
I won prizes for participating in games and in the raffle!
Saturday was really, really, really fun. So fun that my cheeks were hurting from smiling and laughing so much.
On Saturday morning Megan and I met up with new friends to check out Damyang- a county (so says wikipedia- lets just call it a town) located 30-40 minutes outside of Gwangju. The actual town is pretty quaint but has most of Gwangju's tourists attractions. We went to the most popular attraction- the Bamboo Forest- and also walked along the Metasequoia Road.
Before heading to Damyang, we all met outside of a building near Chonnam University. This would normally be really uneventful except that they had this gorgeous flower display happening. It was a pretty start to the day.
Side note: Chonnam University is a national university located in Gwangju. I live around 30-40 minutes away by bus. It has an student population around 37,000 and has a really sweet area with bars and restaurants that I go to now and then with friends.
Surprise! Random flower display made the day a little bit brighter.
Megan and I were meeting up with two boys we had met a few weeks back. What's really entertaining and wonderful about our friendship is that they speak next to no English. Megan speaks pretty fluent Korean and can translate a lot but I have to rely on body language and intuition to understand what's going on. While I'm getting a lot better at Korean and can make out some of what they're saying, it's mainly a jumbled mess of translating and motioning to one another...yet for some reason we all like hanging out and seem to get along well.
After a quick photo-shoot with the flower display, we drove to Damyang and ate a quick lunch of spicy noodles before heading into the Bamboo Forest. We had to pay a small fee to enter (2000 won each) and received a ticket. The best part of this ticket (which is absolutely going into the scrapbook) is that it says: 3 Adults-6000 won, 1 Foreigner- 2000 won. In Korean it really just says "Foreigner." Awesome.
Walking around was relaxing and fun. We talked, people watched (more like people stared at me and I pretended not to notice), and enjoyed the pretty bamboo. We wandered around the forest for close to an hour before coming out into a park. There was a small pond, temple, and just really gorgeous trees in every shade of orange and red. While I love living in my small city, it was really refreshing to be back in nature. It made me feel revitalized and I just wanted to skip/dance all over the place.
Entering the Bamboo Forest with coffee in hand.
3 Adults and a Foreigner....Normal.
The boys enjoying a Korean snack (that tastes like glorified cardboard to me) before we entered the forest.
A path in the Bamboo Forest.
Taking lots of selfies. Lots and lots of selfies with bamboo.
Small waterfall surrounded by Panda bears.
Temple in the park at the end of the Bamboo Forest.
Having fun playing in the leaves in the park at the end of the forest.
After enjoying a quick snack of Green Tea Ice Cream (perfect for a cold November day), we drove over to the Metasequoia-lined Road. The road is semi-famous because it was featured in a romantic drama. I believe its been voted as one of the prettiest roads in Korea (who knew there was a list). After paying another entry fee (only 1000 won), we walked along the road and enjoyed the gorgeous leaves. While this might seem boring, it was really fun. People were taking wedding pictures, there were couples everywhere with Selfie Sticks (if you don't know what that is you need to look it up), and kids were running around in the leaves. We just sat around and enjoyed the views. Megan and I also might have felt a bit too revitalized by the outdoors and started playing an impromptu game of baseball...using a stick and some pinecones. The boys joined in later.
Metasequioa Lined Road and the perfect picture.
Playing some baseball. We're super cool and we don't care who knows it.
After Damyang we went back to the Chonnam University area, grabbed dinner, played some pool, and walked around exploring the University. I feel like I keep repeating myself with this but it was a really great day.
To refresh your memory- I teach in an Elementary English Center, I teach most classes alone, my class sizes range between 8-14 students (although I've had 3 students show up one day...fun class!), and my lessons are all considered supplementary lessons (the students already have English class during the school day and then they come to me for extra lessons).
I teach 3 levels: Phonics, Beginners, and Intermediate. The Phonics class has a really basic workbook, while Beginners and Intermediate have a more advanced book. I follow along with the chapter theme but never really teach directly from the book. Don't get me wrong- I teach the book! However, the kids seem to find the work to be pretty easy so I tend to expand on the theme.
Please ignore the bags under my eyes. The books I use for Phonics and Beginner/Intermediate
A page out of the Phonics book.
I've covered quite a few topics with my kids over the last few months so I won't get incredibly detailed about all of my lessons but here's a general idea of some of the things we've covered:
1. Phonics
-I teach a 1st and 2nd grade Phonics class and they're precious. We practice the ABC's, writing our names, short sentences (Thank you, I like/don't like, etc), food names, and most importantly- the ability to identify sounds. When I make a sound for a letter they should be able to tell me what it is. However, I'm just happy if they can make it all the way through the ABC's.
Here's my favorite program to show if I have extra time at the end or need to catch their attention at the beginning:
Alphablocks: Great series to learn the sounds of letters
2. Weather
-This is the most recent topic I was covering with my older kids. The key sentence was "How's the weather today?" and its corresponding answer. They learned vocab related to the weather and played games where they had to use weather words.
3. The Solar System
- We learn and review the names of the planets, watch a video showing how the planets compare in size, use flashcards to put the planets in order, and practice identifying planets by playing memory games. End result: they should know all of the planets in order, Mercury is the smallest, and Jupiter is the largest.
Here's my lesson plan for teaching the planets:
4. Storytelling
- Using the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar we learn and review the days of the week and food names. I show a video with the story, use flashcards, and use memory games to practice.
5. Clothing
- This topic was expanded over multiple classes but I'm gonna condense it. We practice sentences such as, "What are you wearing? I'm wearing..." We learned shopping expressions and went shopping. We reviewed the different seasons and discussed what was appropriate. Learned about traditional clothing from around the world (ummm...they've been teaching that America's traditional clothing is Cowboy clothes....I don't know how to feel about this).
6. Cubes and Cuboids
- Reviewed 2-D shape names (square, triangle, etc) and then expanded to 3-D solid names (sphere, pyramid, etc). Played a board game, listened to a song, thought of different objects that were different shapes, etc. This is the video I watched over and over. I know all the words. Super.
7. Food
- My favorite topic to teach because I love all food. We learned/reviewed names, learned key phrases (This is delicious! This is gross!), discussed foods from around the world compared to Korea, learned what to say in a restaurant, made our own menus, etc.
8. Body Parts
- Kids in this school are now really good at singing Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, fantastic at playing Simon Says, and great at identifying body parts (especially to say their friends have big heads/noses/mouths). We drew pictures of monsters and talked about their bodies, measured body parts, and just played lots of movement games to remember the parts of the body.
9.Colors
- Point to something red! Something green! Touch something black! Lots of Powerpoints, coloring, and running around to find the right color.
I get a lot of great material from websites like Waygook.com (resources galore!) and just general google searches. Teachers like to share their fantastic Powerpoints and worksheets- which makes my life a lot easier. I'm not the greatest at making Powerpoints but I'm pretty fantastic at modifying them.
Hope this was informative and interesting. If not, I'll try to do something interesting this weekend to write about.
Sorry for the delay in blog posts recently. Sometimes I feel like I have nothing to write about...and then I realize that I'm in Korea and have no excuse. I can always think of something semi-interesting. Shame on me.
ANYWAY. This past Wednesday my elementary school had a school festival and it was more adorable than you could possibly imagine. For the past month or more all of the classes have been preparing a performance for the festival. There were dances, skits, and musical performances. Everyone had a time to shine- from the youngest kindergardeners (5 yrs) to the 6th graders.
I was able to watch all of the performances in the morning. With all of the classes performing, the show lasted almost 3 hours. They had the run-through in the morning and then the parents came in the afternoon. They had professional lighting for the stage, balloons decorating the gymnasium, student art surrounding the entrances, and, my favorite thing by far, costumes.
Since festivals in Korea are a common thing throughout Elementary, Middle, and High School, there are companies that are based solely on providing costumes to students for the day. It was incredibly cute and hilarious to see what the teachers chose for the kids. Some costumes matched the performance (Elsas and Hans dancing around to Frozen's Let It Go), while others had nothing to do with anything....which was great.
My favorite part of the festival actually had little to do with what the kids were doing on stage. During a skit about a doctor the Hava Nagilah was playing....loudly, on repeat, and definitely a klezmer version. I think I laughed until I started crying and then began singing along. No one understood but it was a great moment and really made me think of home.
All of these pictures were taken by the fellow native teacher at my school. Enjoy!
Doctor performance to Hava Nagilah.
Performance where they made different flags using paper to a song.
LOOK AT THOSE COSTUMES.
Traditional drum performance.
Teachers making the students laugh. Last performance.
Cheerleading performance.
Let It Goooooo....every Korean elementary student knows this song.
Recorder performance.
Look at those capes! Look at those suspenders! Just look!
Skit about students and something....I didn't get much. Korean class starts later this week.
Fantastic performance. Possibly 5th graders.
Youngest kindergartners. I think I was squealing during this performance. Words couldn't express how cute they were.
Shiny outfits, shiny skirts/pants, and a great show.
Traditional drum performance by a 6 grade class.
Kindergartners. I think my heart exploded at this point.
Guitar class showing off their skills
Adorable. Look at those costumes.
I'll write more sooner rather than later. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!
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