Sneak Peek

This movie looks ridiculous but funny. It is called Mr. Woodcock. Staring Sean William Scott and Billy Bob Thornton (two three name actors). I might have to go see it. There is a funny Montana reference in this clip. They probably used the only two funny lines of the movie in this clip and in the trailer. Said to the stewardess on an airplane, "Bring me a real bottle. I'm an alcoholic not a Barbie doll."

EEsacks

I would like to introduce you to a staple food in Korea....toast. This is not your run of the mill ordinary toast, this is Isaac's. I've tried a number of them, but the one in Gimpo is my favorite. I love the walk up window. Koreans don't believe in drive-throughs but apparently walk-throughs are much more acceptable. The Isaac restaurant chain serves a variety of grilled sandwiches. Think grilled cheese but better. Each piece of bread is grilled to perfection and then spread with a sweet, buttery herb sauce (secret recipe unknown). A scrambled egg patty (with corn mixed in) is layered on. Next comes your choice of meat (ham or bulgogi). Then there is a heaping amount of shredded cabbage and a squirt of special sauce. Finally, a slice of processed cheese. The sandwich is neatly wrapped in a napkin and handed to you for carry out convenience. This place has become one of my regular places of food consumption partly because it is delicious, partly because the owners are a hoot, and partly because it is ridiculously cheap (this meal $3). The restaurant is named after Isaac (the guy from the Bible). But rather than adopting the English pronunciation (I zak) they opt for (EE sak). Either way, it says a darn good meal.
One the side of the beverage cup is the passage from Genesis 26:12-13:

Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him. And the man waxed great, and went forward, and grew until he became very great:

What mispronounced name or word do you hear most often?

Never Fails

I was slightly worried about what I would blog about. It was just an ordinary average day. I should have learned that Korea never fails or disappoints.

I came home to a street mall and carnival. I guess it was kind of like a block party with vendors, entertainment and food. They had cross dressing karaoke singers,
a huge food court with a spit of pork roast,and dozens of vendors for anything from shoes and cookware to bedding and artwork.My favorite was the rice cake machine. A dollop of batter, a lot of heat, and a lot of pressure and... viola! Rice cake. The machines shoots them out like a high powered air rifle. Good thing there is a screen to stop them from injuring people.

What was your last block party, bazaar or carnival like? What do you like most?

Classroom Management

I decided to tighten up my classroom management style and the discipline in my class. It hasn't been bad (by my standards) but I decided to try some different tactics today.

I tried to nip potentially disruptive situations in the bud before they got out of hand. Monday is a good day to do that for my class because most of the students are tired and sluggish from the weekend. On the weekends they usually don't have bedtimes (even my kindergartners). On Mondays the kids are sleepy and low key.

I always hated the idea of classroom management because it isn't really something you can be taught but it is something that has to be learned. Going through teacher training in college I always dreaded classroom management the most. I didn't want to be a teacher because of that. I love to teach students who want to learn. But, if they don't want to learn, I don't want them in my class.

My technique (if you can call it that) is based on expectations. I set very high expectations for myself and for the students in the class and I want them to live up to those expectations. All students consciously or unconsciously seemingly have a desire to please the authority figure. When the students don't meet my expectations, I show them how disappointed I am. So the next time they try to please me by acting appropriately or learning the material.

I am not sure it is the best technique but it works for me because I am not an authoritarian teacher and the soft spoken approach doesn't work because I lack the needed amount of empathy.

Time will tell if my efforts will improve my class' behavior.

What management techniques do you use for your class/home/office?

Biblical Ignorance

I have been wanting to go to the aquarium at the 63rd building ever since we went there the first time way back in April.
I was unfortunately disappointed with the aquarium. It cost 12,000 Won ($12 US) to enter and it was pretty small. It did have some varieties of fish and other critters I've never seen before. We watched the sea lion show for a while and then headed to church.

The lectionary came from a book of the Bible that I have never heard of before...Philemon. It is a small book (one chapter) but in all of my years of church I don't think I've heard a sermon from it before. Sunday school was an awful long time ago and I don't remember the book of Philemon from that either.

When I took a semester in Missouri we would regularly look up Bible verses. To know if we had found it, the leader would say "Raise your hand if you've found it, say Bible study if you haven't."

I felt like saying 'Bible study!' aloud in the middle of service. The book is one of Paul's letters and I quite like the text.

What's your favorite book of the Bible? Why?

Pseudo Goodbye

After a day of shopping, I met up with everybody for a pseudo goodbye party. CW is going back to the States for three weeks but then will be returning to start her second contract.

We went to our favorite hole-in-the-wall sogum gui restaurant in Yongsan for dinner. Afterwards, we found a really cool street drum festival in Hongdae. Video here.

We then went to a jazz bar with live music. Video here. We also found some delicious crepes where you could point to any of thirty varieties displayed on the wall. We bar hopped our way to a place that served not only peanuts with your drink but also kim (seaweed) and fish oil. We ended the night but we don't say goodbye. We say, see you later. What do you say?

Zen

TGIF and a moment of Zen.

Worse Than We Expected

Last night, 60 Minutes Korea as aired on KBS ran a story about American teachers living in Korea. The story profiled 125 schools that were searched and 6 American teachers who were arrested for being under the influence and addicted to marijuana. Five of the teachers were from the same school.

Apparently, they run this story every year about the same time and it really got our Korean management in a tizzy. They called a special staff meeting to tell us not to do drugs and that we shouldn't drink or make a scene 'until after the Korean Thanksgiving'.

Our manager started the staff meeting by saying "It is worse than we expected". I think Koreans blow it a little out of proportion. They must not be able to disseminate the information. One-hundred twenty-five schools checked with an average of five teachers each. Six teachers were found to be under the influence of the illegal drug. That is less than a one percent occurrence! Granted, they shouldn't be doing it. Yes, it is extremely illegal in Korea, but a one percent occurrence? That is a smaller percentage than betting against the Chicago White Sox to win the world series!

We were warned that they might search schools in Gimpo. Cool! I've never given a police mandated urine sample before. (Note to self: no poppy seed muffins for the next couple of weeks.)

Apparently the Korean attention span is only two weeks long. We were told that we shouldn't do anything to disparage the reputation of the school in the next two weeks but that after Thanksgiving (starting Sept. 24) people will have forgotten.

The problem comes from the fact that in addition to those six teachers using marijuana, they also forged their college diplomas which is how they got jobs here in the first place. In order to work as an ESL teacher in Korea you need to prove you have a college degree. (I actually had to send my college diploma.) Forgery constitutes illegal tenure and smoking pot doesn't help the rap sheet.

It was an interesting story. Some parents even called the school to check up on us. Koreans are more racist and prejudicial than anyone I've ever met. Because less than one percent of a representative population subscribes to illegal drug use, that must blanket the behavior of all foreigners. Honestly!?!

Two times in one week I've been discriminated against for being American. Are you prejudicial?

Umbrellas

Every time it rains businesses in Korea fear the multitude of wet, dripping umbrellas that might trail their way into their places of business. Thus, the invention of the plastic sleeve dispenser.With one step into the business you can quickly slip your umbrella into a specially designed plastic bag that will catch all of the drips and keep the floor of the shop dry. The bags are disposable so before stepping out into the rain, place the bag in the recycle box and then pop open your umbrella. No umbrella should be without one.

What do you think is the most unusual but practical invention?

International Peace

October 3rd is a national holiday for Koreans. Instead of lounging around like we usually do on national holidays, we decided to support international peace.
We signed up for another 5K run as part of the International Peace Marathon Festival. Apparently this is a well attended and well publicized annual event. It should be fun. How do you support peace?

Sore Calves

That hike yesterday really did me in. I went to bed early and woke up with calf muscles that were screaming to be stretched out. I was woken up by the door bell at 6:30 in the morning. I was expecting it but it was still jarring. Our boss delivered a new member to the teaching staff whose plane got in at 5am. For the next two weeks we'll actually have seven staff members. Wow!

My aforementioned problems might soon be resolved. I don't want to get my hopes up. Apparently, a place to live is not part of her contract. They only allow her to live in the apartments 'if there is room'. Once we have a full staff (shortly), there won't be any room.

We are in the process of getting our visas for our trip to China. It only takes four days to secure the visa but it costs $100. That seems a little steep especially since it is a fee applied only to Americans. Other nationals wanting to visit China can expect to pay $30, $60, 0r $90 depending on desired length of stay. I'm not sure I've ever been discriminated against for being American. First time for everything I guess.

What have you been discriminated against for?

National Pastime

Stupid Tourist Sunday!

I woke up this morning to a chilly 23 degrees C. After more than two months of 28+ temperatures, 23 is almost cold.

I decided to take a day hiking trip to Bukhansan National Park which is on the northern city limits of Seoul. It was cloudy but it hadn't yet started to rain. You can reach the park via the Orange subway line (#3) to Gupabal station. From there , a cadre of buses go directly to the park. If all else fails, follow the surplus of Koreans decked out from head to toe in hiking pants, shirts, hats, gloves and shoes. I felt really under dressed as I made my way up the mountain. However, the best equipment in the world doesn't make the athlete. Few of the Koreans could keep up with my pace and I overtook hundreds of them on the trail.

I opted to take a 4.1km (8.2 round trip) hike to the summit of Baegundae. There are three major peaks in the park and this is the tallest at 836 meters. The first 2km were easy going and packed with Koreans. It seemed like the entire city of Seoul was on the trails today.

I eventually broke away from the crowd. Koreans have an interesting habit of stopping right in the middle of the trail to rest or to take a picture at the most narrow area making it impossible to pass. I kept a steady pace and by the third kilometer, I could really feel it. The last kilometer up the mountain was very steep and at the summit you literally had to pull yourself up.

The entire trail was forested and so the only views afforded were at the top. It had started to rain early on in the hike and I was drenched by the time I got to the top. Everything was shrouded in a veil of clouds. I'm sure it would have been an amazing view. I was more concerned about my own safety.
Despite the rain, the rocks had surprisingly good traction. The steepness of the rocks was amazing. In some places it was like rock climbing (without all the proper gear).By the time I did reach the top, I was completely exhausted. I didn't trust my legs at all because they were shaking so badly. It was a grueling day hike. Hiking truly is a national pastime here as there were tons of people out even on this nasty rainy day.

Brew Good Times

We were going to meet in Itaewon for steaks. Four became three. Three became two. Geckos was full up so we ended up eating at Mignon. It is a French-Belgian resturant that served excellent dishes.I had the scallops and a carmalized crepe for dessert. It was delicious.
We went on a pub crawl in search of some good beer. We tried a couple different places before closing the night at the Rocky Mountain Tavern. It was strangely remeniscent of bars in Montana. It had a majority Canadian crowd and featured t-shirts like "I'm not perfect, but I'm Canadian (and that's close enough). They had imported MooseHead beer that was was much better than any of the Korean brews.

What's your favorite brew?

Never Before

Never before have I thought of myself as old. Not even a few days ago when I turned a year older. Today was a poignant reminder of exactly how old I am.
It was field trip day at Kid's College and we took the kindergarten classes to Jungle In. It is basically like the old school McDonald's play lands but bigger and better. Ball pits, slides, zip lines, crawl tunnels and countless other tools of fun to wreak havoc on an aging body.

It was a lot of fun. The nice thing about this place is that anyone who surpasses the 4' height mark (even by two feet) can still play. My kids hung on me constantly dragging me through the torturous tunnels and using me as a human sled.
I played with my kids non-stop for the entire time. It was so fun to just play with them and not worry about a lesson, correcting grammar or punishing inappropriate behavior.
At Jungle In we had to take off our shoes and we got to wear these cool slippers that ensured me that my feet would stay healthy.
The kids' parents packed lunch for us and they put on quite a spread. Way too much kimbap and plenty of fruit.
Before lunch, our boss and school principal, Mrs. Lee, talked to the kids about eating. She stressed the importance of eating slowly and waiting before running around. Waiting at least 30 minutes prevents the otherwise inevitable vomit episodes. Her warnings and demonstrations must have done the trick because we were accident free. Her demonstrations were absolutely hilarious and I was able to capture them on video. I couldn't stop laughing as she was talking to the kids. Check it out.

It was a fun day but I can barely move now. Every muscle in my body hurts and I think I sprained a finger on my right hand. I sustained several other injuries including a scratched retina (ball to the eye), bloody lip (head butted by Rex), and a bruised tailbone (way too many trips down the slide). It was worth it.What activity reminds you of your age?

Jon McLaughlin - Industry

I've had this song stuck in my head all day. I love it. It is from his CD Indiana.