This video is of my (Eileen's) preschool class singing the song slippery fish. It had to be uploaded to youtube so the quality is a little fuzzy. This was just the end of a speaking lesson. Even though they probably have other songs down better, I thought a snapshot of what they are like would be cute. Just a warning, this song might be the easiest and one of the most annoying songs to get stuck in your head.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Living Strong in Korea
This title was suggested by Matt. We are "living strong in Korea" though we are not managing to update our blog like we thought we would. We had a relaxing weekend and were able to get caught up. We spent some time searching for the very best in regards to Halloween costumes and Eileen has once again resorted to wearing a costume intended for someone under the age of 4. We cannot openly speak about our costumes as we are saving that for Halloween and someone from work might be reading this. (They're not that good...)
Some fun/funny little happenings from this past couple of weeks:
Tonight Matt was excited by using his advanced Korean skills to ask where to buy kimbab. Our two chapters of Korean from the Korean book we bought have served us well. He came back with his prize although we still are not sure what the meat was. It was probably ham with Krab or crab. Kimbab is the Korean form of sushi, except nothing is raw. Here is a picture that looks surprising like the one we ate tonight. We are both presently surprised how much we like the seaweed. We especially enjoy the kind we get at lunch where you can sprinkle it on top of your rice. It kind of tastes like pumpkin seeds.
One funny thing we keep running into at the subway are these electrified racquets. To the left is a picture of a lady selling them in the subway. They show them off by brushing something across the surface. They sound like those blue bug zapper lights. Imagine having a blue bug zapper that you can just wave around in the air and looks surprisingly like something a child would like to touch. We can't believe you don't hear about people getting hurt with these things (not that we could understand if people were talking about them) They kind of scare Eileen and seem like the most hazardous thing you could keep lying around your house. However, as we are nearing the end of November and still being woken up at night be mosquitoes, we are understanding how they can come in handy. The mosquitoes are absolutely ridiculous here! And they fly like 20 times faster than US mosquitoes so you have to try and chase them around. They especially love to bite Matt. While we just got our apartment re-wallpapered, there are already the stains of our nightly battles with the most annoying little creatures on the planet. Note: they do not wipe off the walls even with cleaner.
Another exciting adventure of this past couple of weeks is that Eileen made a pie from scratch! (Eileen writing this now) I feel very accomplished having made a pie from scratch. It kind of feels like I've passed some kind of test of benchmark. It was pretty good pie although I was really worried about the crust. It is kind of hard to use ingredients when you don't really know what you are putting in. Most just said the English word on the front and had the rest in Korean. So I knew it was some kind of flour or butter. Also, there is no shortening around so we borrowed some from a friend who found it in a foreign market. It is pretty tasty and good taste of home.
A little bit more from Eileen:
We are enjoying working at our school and liking that it is a really professional environment. I am really excited to be teaching what they call extra class. It is a time for the 9 lowest preschoolers to get a little bit of extra help. While everything else follows a pretty tight curriculum, I am able to have a lot more flexabilitly to help improve their language. I can pull out a lot more activities and ideas that I have from deaf ed and other teaching experience. They are cute but a pretty wiggly bunch, especially because they have to stay so much later then they are used to. It is fun and I am still figuring out what works with them. I really enjoy that the school has given me some of the younger and lower level students. Even though they aren't deaf, I feel like I am working a lot more with language and I like it.
Last week we also survived open class and pto. Open class is when the parents come and watch their students while you teach them a lesson. The room isn't very big and the children all sit around a central table. The parents sit behind the children and watch you. It can make you a little nervous. Parents are also watching to see if we call on their children equally and whether they get just as many turns as the children next to them. Our experience was that the moms don't really smile (we think it might be cultural as it happened to everyone) and they just stare at you. Anyway, we then had pto where we spoke to the parents about what we are doing with their kids. This wasn't too bad it was just a little awkward as you had to sit there while they translated what you just said. It is hard to know whether you are supposed to keep looking at the parents and nod like you have any clue what the translator is saying, or if you are supposed to look at the translator. Oh well, it went smoothly and we survived. In such a high pressured and competitive society even this early education is very important to them. (Eileen comment) I think it is great that parents are involved, though I feel like some are a little too involved. In the US you could never get all the parents there, especially for preschool.
All is well in Seoul. We miss all our family and friends back home. Keep in touch and remember if you have a webcam and/or a mic, we have Skype!
Some fun/funny little happenings from this past couple of weeks:
Tonight Matt was excited by using his advanced Korean skills to ask where to buy kimbab. Our two chapters of Korean from the Korean book we bought have served us well. He came back with his prize although we still are not sure what the meat was. It was probably ham with Krab or crab. Kimbab is the Korean form of sushi, except nothing is raw. Here is a picture that looks surprising like the one we ate tonight. We are both presently surprised how much we like the seaweed. We especially enjoy the kind we get at lunch where you can sprinkle it on top of your rice. It kind of tastes like pumpkin seeds.
One funny thing we keep running into at the subway are these electrified racquets. To the left is a picture of a lady selling them in the subway. They show them off by brushing something across the surface. They sound like those blue bug zapper lights. Imagine having a blue bug zapper that you can just wave around in the air and looks surprisingly like something a child would like to touch. We can't believe you don't hear about people getting hurt with these things (not that we could understand if people were talking about them) They kind of scare Eileen and seem like the most hazardous thing you could keep lying around your house. However, as we are nearing the end of November and still being woken up at night be mosquitoes, we are understanding how they can come in handy. The mosquitoes are absolutely ridiculous here! And they fly like 20 times faster than US mosquitoes so you have to try and chase them around. They especially love to bite Matt. While we just got our apartment re-wallpapered, there are already the stains of our nightly battles with the most annoying little creatures on the planet. Note: they do not wipe off the walls even with cleaner.
Another exciting adventure of this past couple of weeks is that Eileen made a pie from scratch! (Eileen writing this now) I feel very accomplished having made a pie from scratch. It kind of feels like I've passed some kind of test of benchmark. It was pretty good pie although I was really worried about the crust. It is kind of hard to use ingredients when you don't really know what you are putting in. Most just said the English word on the front and had the rest in Korean. So I knew it was some kind of flour or butter. Also, there is no shortening around so we borrowed some from a friend who found it in a foreign market. It is pretty tasty and good taste of home.
A little bit more from Eileen:
We are enjoying working at our school and liking that it is a really professional environment. I am really excited to be teaching what they call extra class. It is a time for the 9 lowest preschoolers to get a little bit of extra help. While everything else follows a pretty tight curriculum, I am able to have a lot more flexabilitly to help improve their language. I can pull out a lot more activities and ideas that I have from deaf ed and other teaching experience. They are cute but a pretty wiggly bunch, especially because they have to stay so much later then they are used to. It is fun and I am still figuring out what works with them. I really enjoy that the school has given me some of the younger and lower level students. Even though they aren't deaf, I feel like I am working a lot more with language and I like it.
Last week we also survived open class and pto. Open class is when the parents come and watch their students while you teach them a lesson. The room isn't very big and the children all sit around a central table. The parents sit behind the children and watch you. It can make you a little nervous. Parents are also watching to see if we call on their children equally and whether they get just as many turns as the children next to them. Our experience was that the moms don't really smile (we think it might be cultural as it happened to everyone) and they just stare at you. Anyway, we then had pto where we spoke to the parents about what we are doing with their kids. This wasn't too bad it was just a little awkward as you had to sit there while they translated what you just said. It is hard to know whether you are supposed to keep looking at the parents and nod like you have any clue what the translator is saying, or if you are supposed to look at the translator. Oh well, it went smoothly and we survived. In such a high pressured and competitive society even this early education is very important to them. (Eileen comment) I think it is great that parents are involved, though I feel like some are a little too involved. In the US you could never get all the parents there, especially for preschool.
All is well in Seoul. We miss all our family and friends back home. Keep in touch and remember if you have a webcam and/or a mic, we have Skype!
Sunday, October 12, 2008
We finally have internet
This past week we finally got internet! Hooray! Despite the fact that the world wide web is at our fingertips we have not had time to update our blog. A lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. We are still enjoying teaching and are beginning to settle into a bit more of a routine. This weekend we are tackling report cards and writing report card comments. Seoul is absolutely beautiful this weekend with crisp cool weather and beautiful blue skies. We spent Saturday in the park with friends having a picnic and trying out some traditional Korean games, including the ever popular badminton.
Today, which is Sunday, we joined our coworkers for a wonderful Canadian Thanksgiving meal. It was delicious! We did it potluck style with a main course of pork tenderloin cooked with apples and cranberries, pirogies (which we thought we wouldn't get to eat for a year!!), meatballs, and other tasty things. It is good to have a belly full of good western food. We ended with apple pie a la mode and pumpkin pie (both thanks to the chefs at Costco). We are now sitting back feeling very full, sleepy, and not wanting to look at the report cards that we left for tonight.
Last weekend we trekked down to Gyeongju, which is in southeast Korea. It was the capital of the Silla kingdom for a long time. It is full of historical Korean things and large grassy mounds where the Silla kings are buried. We had a good time but it was one of those experiences when you really feel the pressure of not knowing the language. In Seoul, while everything is still in Korean it just seems much easier to find what you need. We had Friday off so we spent two nights there. We saw a Korean craft village (and returned with souvenirs), one of the most well known Buddhist temples in Korea, mounds, a national museum and some other cool sites along the way. The last day we were there we rented a tandem bike. It was both of our first times on one and took a little bit to get the hang down. Our pictures are posted although we are still working on labeling them.
Today, which is Sunday, we joined our coworkers for a wonderful Canadian Thanksgiving meal. It was delicious! We did it potluck style with a main course of pork tenderloin cooked with apples and cranberries, pirogies (which we thought we wouldn't get to eat for a year!!), meatballs, and other tasty things. It is good to have a belly full of good western food. We ended with apple pie a la mode and pumpkin pie (both thanks to the chefs at Costco). We are now sitting back feeling very full, sleepy, and not wanting to look at the report cards that we left for tonight.
Last weekend we trekked down to Gyeongju, which is in southeast Korea. It was the capital of the Silla kingdom for a long time. It is full of historical Korean things and large grassy mounds where the Silla kings are buried. We had a good time but it was one of those experiences when you really feel the pressure of not knowing the language. In Seoul, while everything is still in Korean it just seems much easier to find what you need. We had Friday off so we spent two nights there. We saw a Korean craft village (and returned with souvenirs), one of the most well known Buddhist temples in Korea, mounds, a national museum and some other cool sites along the way. The last day we were there we rented a tandem bike. It was both of our first times on one and took a little bit to get the hang down. Our pictures are posted although we are still working on labeling them.
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