the true global language = body language

Hi world!

Been awhile since my last post. Consider it a good thing - I've been so busy that I haven't had time to upload pics! :)

Started a Friday night tradition to go see movies with Dominic. so far we've seen "My Sister's Keeper" and "9." My Sister's Keeper could definitely have been better - semi-ok acting and scripting was unrealistic. The movie seemed to aim more at displaying all the emotions of grief which was good. 9 was way more intense than I thought - def not for kids. I really liked it.

been to a few bars with Dominic and other co-workers and friends. nothing crazy yet. just some beers and chatting. kicked some ass at some darts one night which was fun. always seems to be an adventure getting home. there are three options when partying in Seoul: 1) you leave at 11pm, 2) you pay for a taxi, or 3) you stay up until 6:30 when public transportation opens! ha. Only taken options 1 and 2 so far :)

explored COEX mall two Saturdays ago with Dominic and Ga Yeong. It's the largest underground shopping complex in Asia. They recommend a map so you don't get lost! We checked out the duty-free area with expensive designer stores including a $91,000 100% diamond watch!!! If you feel like going in on a Christmas present for me, contact my mom for details on buying the watch ;) I bought some souvenirs and thats about it. we ended that day with some TGIFridays for dinner and Karaoke with beer! So fun!

I ventured out alone last Saturday to go see a Korean-Japanese theater collaboration musical called the Silence of Sound at the Sejong Center for Performing Arts. The musical is a story meant to touch people from all over the world and has the intent to launch globally in the next few years. The story is about a man in a mental institution that has flashbacks of his life before and during the war. Of course I could not understand the spoken Korean or written Japanese but with actors' emotions and music, I was able to understand through emotion. I thought that was pretty cool and encourages me to try that again. While I went by myself, no one was sitting to my right, so I put the seat down and pretended someone from home was with me. It was a nice thought anyway. After the musical, I ventured around to take pictures. See them below! There is an area called a plaza with the Gyeongbok Palace entrance (see how the lighted picture imitate the shape of the entrance) and a statue of a famous man in Korea. It's all very beautiful at night. I'll be going back on Saturday for the palace tour which will get me inside for the real pictures! Later Ga Yeong met up with me and we went for dinner to get dumplings (yum!) To end the night, we grabbed juice box wine (literally) and went to sit at the historic Cheonggye Stream flowing from the palace entrance.

I visited Ga Yeong's Methodist church on Sunday for the 2PM service. I felt like the first foreigner to ever visit there. I was a superstar! Ga Yeong had told me how people were excited to meet me but WOW! The church fits 1,000 but is about 55% full and has three big screens with lights and decor. They are trying to bring newcomers of course. The service started out with pop music and then choral music. After the readings, the pastor was about 10 minutes into his Korean sermon when all of sudden he said "what's your name?" in English!! A bunch of people turned around. Ga Yeong said, "He's talking to you!" So I timidly replied, "Sarah!" Shortly after, the screens panned and zoomed to me. haha. For the first time, i realized how much I really stand out here - i was thinking: 'Hey there's a foreigner on the screen! oh wait, that's me!' The pastor continued asking me a few questions like "why are you here" and "where are you from?" He asked to meet me after the service. I met the pastor, Ga Yeong's friends, sister, and mom. Her mom took us to the best Korean meal I've had. I bought eye glasses (which are really cheap here so if you want some let me know!!) My favorite part of the day was going to coffee with GaYeong, her sister SaYeong, and her sister's friend NaeMoo. We chatted for a few hours mostly girl talk and in English! I felt like I finally has some girl friends here! I'm excited about what we will do together - shop, go out, eat, talk, and dance! I'm going with them to the palace this Saturday and then out to dinner. Should be a really fun time.

At school, we are in the middle of the two filming days where they are filming a piece of our classes and English interviews of the students. it's all for a promotional marketing video which of course i understand! :) Thursday we are celebrating having 80 students (which we missed that celebration) by going out for nice sushi. i'm stoked!

Chuseok is next weekend (Oct 3) which is the Korean Thanksgiving. I hope to find someone to celebrate with (and we'll have to cook cuz pretty much everything except for public transportation shuts down that day!) My friend and sorority sister from Creighton is coming to Korea over that time period and I can't wait to meet up with her.

Found this of a cute Korean kid! love it:

More updates pics!:

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Kimsanida! (Thank you)

and then some.

Friday: was observed in class and things went well. i guess i need to raise my tone of voice (basically be more excited and enthusiastic which is draining after 5/6 classes in a row.) The other thing i need to watch is time (one of my favorite classes was observed and i went over on time because i was so excited about teaching! ha) She did think my classes were very organized :). I thought those were both positive feedback comments that don't require too much fixing.

Saturday: tried to go shopping but didn't leave uijeongbu. just did more exploring of the area. i did find a really cute vest at a little boutique. im getting to the point where im becoming more desperate for clothes for my work and everyday wear! i feel like i brought nothing! ahh! of course i WANT to shop as well - its just a matter money and where to go. Check out this site and this site. I think I'll head to myeong-dong which is suppose to be the "mecca" of shopping. 9x9 blocks of shopping. im down! Saturday night i was able to go out with some other English teachers from other branches of PLUS. We went to the apartment building rooftop of a british and irish couple to have drink, food, and a view (check out my pics below.) It was great to talk to English speakers and hear some stories of their experience here.

Sunday: I had been waiting a few days for this day - I got to go hiking on Dobong mountain (this site is a very accurate portrayal of my experience) with my manager and her friend. We thought it was going to be a 1 hour hike but found out at the bottom of the trail that it would be either 2 or 4 hours round trip. so we chose the 2 hr trail. Somewhere along the way we took a wrong turn and ended up taking the 4 hour!! it was such a good workout though! I was sore for the next two days. Half way up you could really feel that we were above the city smog and the temperature dropped to a nice cool breeze. It was still humid so we were sweating a ton. Once we were at the top, the view was beautiful. With it still being summer, the mountains (which are not very high in altitude) are lush with green trees. I want to go back in the fall when the mountains are orange, red, and yellow and then in the spring when trees are in bloom.

Monday: Back to school. I like going to work. It's a time to meet up with my co-workers and get some human interaction! The day goes by fast especially when i don't have any breaks. I started grading student diaries which is pretty fun to see what they write about. Their vocab and grammar can be humorous too. One student wrote, "Today I went to grandfather and grandmother's house. I arrive but the grandfather was not there! oh! my! god!" and then it went on. Just thought it was funny :)

Tuesday: The school reached 100 student enrollment!! This is a huge milestone for us! It took another branch a few months to reach 100 students and it took us 7 open school days! We got a case of really premium ginseng drinks. It's small glass bottles that you drink for your health. It tastes pretty good too (a sweet taste at first then an earthy root taste with a strong ginger-y leather ending.) We also went out to celebrate with chicken, coleslaw, dried squid (i only tried a little!), spanish peanuts, fried potatoes, peaches, puffed rice, and beer of course. The chicken restaurants have such a random mix of food i think but every chicken restaurant has those same offerings. Got home late so i slept in Wednesday. Went to the mart after work and bought some delicious pears that are the shape and size of grapefruit, have texture like an apple, but taste like a pear! they're soo good (but expensive!)

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Interesting thing I learned:
Korean birthdays: when a baby is born, it is considered to be 1 year old. So Korean age is 1 -2 years more than the international age - pending on the time of the year. When someone's birthday passes, they don't turn a year older. Every Korean turns one year older on January 1 of each year. For example:
Someone born in 1987 is this old today:

Westerner Age: July Birthday - 22y/o; November Birthday - 21y/o
Korean Age: July Birthday - 23y/o; November Birthday - 23y/o

This also means that a baby born on December 31, 2009 (1 year old), turns 2 years old one day later. Very different! Calculate your Korean age on this website (Korean calendar is identical to Chinese calendar.)

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First Weekend...First Week

First Saturday in Korea: My new Korean friend Woo Seok picked up me and his brother (who speaks more English!) and took us to sushami (no rice sushi.) While it is Japanese, they still like to eat it. The fish (flounder aka CRAZY fish according to Woo Seok) was literally served raw on the plate. It was delicious! I also tried a raw clam! My face was not of enjoyed while chewing and swallowing haha. I got some great pictures (see below.) After sushi, we got ice cream and went to KARAOKE! soooo fun! It's totally different then in the States. I walked in looking for the stage and singer but i could only hear music from a distance...wtf!? The boys paid the equivalent to $20 and we were taken to a private room where you only sing in front of the people you are with! AAAhhh now I get it. There is a big screen, two mics, a semi-circle booth to fit 10+ people, books with song lists, a huge remote to control the system, and a DISCO ball! haha! I loved it! They had a lot of English songs so I really had a great time showing them some of my favorite songs - a lot were outdated so I didn't know the lyrics (like New Kids.) The system scores you, plays continuous songs, automatically adds time, and the place is open all night! I could definitely see some DZ girls singing the night away in a place like that! 3:45am - sleep time.

Sunday: Off of quarantine - Everybody cheer! WHOOO! So of course I visited Seoul for the first time! Sooo busy and so many people! Ga Yeong came all the way to my apt and took me on the subways so I could learn the system. A taxi ride is about $30 to get to where we were going (1.5 hours into Seoul.) We went to lunch at a traditional Korean restaurant (some what yummy, some what different.) I went to go get my hair cut and she helped me explain what I wanted. It's super cute (short) and was only $15! Yes I love this place! Ga Yeong found out she got an awesome internship (Congratulations Ga Yeong!) and had to go to orientation that night. I knew that she would have responsibilities that day so I came into the city knowing I'd spend time alone. I tried shopping but didn't know where to go. Too expensive or didn't fit. I trekked back to the subways to head home and make sure I could do it...and I did! No problems getting home! I was pretty pleased.

I started learning the Hangul (Korean) alphabet so that I can translate the characters that look like line-line-circle-slant-line into sounds in my head. Still doesn't mean that I'll know what it's saying - just the sounds.

Monday: Observation at PLUS Academy Gireum Branch. I loved being out of my apartment and getting a chance to see the students and other teachers for the first time. I sat in on 4 classes of different levels so that I could get a good idea of the variety. I learned that each teacher has their own style and it important to find your own that will give the students "edutainment" or entertaining education. When I walked in the classroom, the students look at me confused and said "change teacher?!" It made me laugh. They also asked how tall I was because I seem tall for a woman to them. It was a long night but a great way to transition into my first day of teaching. I got a better idea of how reserved/relax to be with the students and some great pointers on controlling and engaging a classroom of rowdy children. :)

Tuesday - September 1st - PLUS Academy in Uijeongbu opened.
My FIRST day of teaching! I wore my grey skirt with a black shirt with a satin ribbon with a creamy gold cardigan - the ideal teacher outfit right?! I came to the school really early so I could prepare my lesson plans and class materials. I made myself detailed plans and felt pretty confident going into the classes. I had 3 classes my first day: Basic3 (8/9 year olds), Junior5 (15-17 year olds), and Basic6 (12/13 year olds.) The number of students in the classes are low right now because its a new school but our enrollment has increased from 60 last Thursday to 96 students this Thursday. SUPPOSEDLY, if we get 100 students by Saturday, we all get a paid trip to a popular Island on the southern point of Korea!! If we get 200 students within the first two months, then we get a bonus! I hope it happens!! My first two classes were a little jumbles as far as the class flow and getting responses. The students are SOO cute! They are great kids and I hope they enjoy my classes. In my first class, one of my boy students gave me oragami paper and an American flag card. Haha it was really cute. Apparently, later he told his mom that his foreign teacher was beautiful! :) Of course I loved hearing that! I would say that the Junior5 class is going to be difficult because the book is probably not challenging enough and they know more formal grammar than I do - it's the highest level class before adults. At the end of my day, I prepared some lesson plans for Wednesday.

Wednesday: New classes with more new students.
This day I had Basic1 (7 year olds that have never taken English!), Basic2 (8 year olds), Basic6 again, BISP (advanced students), and Basic7 (13/14 year olds.) The Basic1 class is of course adorable! The B2s are going to be a major handful with their energy...I can tell already. Just gotta lay down the law! The other classes went well and I felt more and more like the student were learning from my class. It's a great feeling. Wednesday was also the boss man's birthday so he took us all out for chicken, beer, and cake! It was great to finally talk to the staff at my school and get to know them personally. We had a great time and they are all so nice. I look forward to our next dinner!

Thursday: 2nd class for same students.
I enjoyed coming back this day because I could tell the students were settling in to the school and being more comfortable with me. They came into my office to say "hi" and were shy but excited to see me which was cute. My classes went well again. I am getting more confident in what I'm doing and teaching. I am really trying to bring fun into the classroom while being entertaining. I played games at the end of some classes and brought American candy for everyone. They really enjoyed the candy with English writing (got that tip from Tiffany, a Korean waitress I met in the USA!) I also found out that I will be observed on Friday which is a bit scary. Luckily, the students in the two classes being observed are hard workers and participate. I'll let you know how that goes.


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Today I saw a dragonfly. In Korea, it is the symbol of the coming fall season. The temperature is dropping and I can imagine that the next few months will be beautiful.

I plan to shop this Saturday and go hiking in the nearby mountains on Sunday with my manager. Not quite sure what else will come my way this weekend but I'd love to go Karaoke again!

Until next time: Share a chocolate moment with someone you love. Dove chocolates! Yummy!