English Festivals

Hi everyone!
This week was my school's 3rd English festival of the year! Which means... I was very busy!!! So what is an English festival??? Basically, instead of using the textbook in English class, we get to do something more interesting and cultural for one period. For grades 3-6, the other native English teacher (NET) and I plan and prepare exciting activities around one theme. The first English festival was Easter-themed. We taught the students how we celebrate Easter, we did an Easter egg hunt, and we played "pin the tail on the Easter bunny." Most of the students are Christian, but we were careful to say that only Christians celebrate Easter. I was uncertain about this religious holiday theme, but this was the theme chosen by the Korean English teachers. Anyway, it was a lot of fun! The pin the tail game was hilarious. For the second festival, we decided to teach about our manners/etiquette. We taught about "bless you" after sneezes, saying "excuse me," typical table settings, and different styles of food. It was the perfect excuse to show the sneezing baby panda video on youtube! And I had a video of my mom setting the table. Even without sound, the kids enjoyed it. The third festival topic has been my favorite so far...Halloween!!!!

They all wanted to pick an object from my "Color Bag" and say the color!

Making their color wheels!
Based on their reactions, I don't think they knew they could mix the primary colors
to make green, orange, and purple before this lesson!

There were so many different activities and games we had to choose from that are Halloween-related!! We decided to do a short powerpoint, play the mummy wrap race game (toilet paper mummies--except we used ace bandages tied together to be economical and environment friendly ^-^) and make Halloween masks. When the students left the room, they wore their mask and said, "trick or treat!" to get a lollipop. I love my 5th grade students, but it's always fun to teach the other grades too. This week I taught the 1st, 4th, and 6th graders. 

Mummy wrap race!! 

Now, the 3rd-6th graders get one period for the English festival. Grades 1-2 get 2 periods of English!!! They do not have any English instruction in their curriculum, so for 1 period, we teach basic English (i.e. greetings, colors, numbers, body parts) and for the 2nd period, we practice/review the basic English before introducing the cultural part of the lesson. Because of the huge language barrier and their age, we do something basic and plan activities that do not require any formal instructions. For example, we made a color wheel. Following my example and demonstration is enough to do the activity. We played number games where modeling is enough to understand the rules. This week, we showed Halloween pictures, taught a few vocabulary words, and made Halloween masks. 


The English textbook is, for the most part, really boring. Very rarely do I teach any of the suggested games. Very rarely do the students enjoy the textbook part of the lesson. I still do not know why it is called an English "Festival" when it is only 1 period of English that does not follow the textbook. However, I know the students really enjoy it. It is one period where they learn something interesting and new and mostly just play engaging games. It is a LOT more work for me (and the other NET), but I'm always so excited to teach each period. Teaching the same textbook exercise 6 times gets boring...watching kids wrap each other like mummies 14 times--never boring!!

Brazilian Jiu Jitsuu!

Still working on our Kyoto trip blog, but in the meantime, just thought I'd give a quick update on life here! So...about a month ago, our school had a staff dinner. That means that everyone who works at the school, meets at a location chosen by the event planner, and has a dinner. Traditionally, staff dinners here are notorious among NET's (Native English Teachers) as dinners where they are either isolated and ignored for a couple hours, or forced to drink countless shots of Soju and sing Karaoke. And when I say forced to drink, I mean that literally. Like, if the VP or Principal offers you a drink, you can't refuse! Otherwise, you will disrespect them in front of the whole school, and that's just not cool. Forget getting any favors done if you do that. Although there is a way out! You have to take the drink, but you can turn your head away, and either take a sip or pretend to take a sip. Either way, that will give the indication that you are not a drinking type of person, and then whoever offered you that drink, will pick up on that and hopefully refrain from giving you any more! Anyways, aside from that little side note, my staff dinners are fine. I've never been made to sing Karaoke (although Jenn has...hehe), and I usually sit with my co-teachers, who do speak English with me. But yes, to the point. I mentioned that I was interested in learning a martial art. My co-teacher speaks to the PE teacher, who also happens to be the guy that plans these staff dinners, and before you know it, I'm being offered to get taken to his Brazilian Jiu Jitsuu gym! A little history between me and the PE teacher...we're good. Like, we don't speak much, but he can carry a conversation in English, and I just like the dude. He's a nice guy, and is always friendly to me. So...I said yes!


One week later, him and I ride over to his gym, about a 5 minute ride from the school. It's not his gym, it's the gym that he trains at. Anyways, I found out that he is pretty badass at Jiu-Jitsuu, and has actually been training for a while. Long story short, I joined.


The first day of class was...pretty awesome yet confusing at the same time. I had no idea what I was doing, no idea what Jiu-Jitsuu was, but overall, it was great. The best part? It got me tired. Like...way tired. Like, lacrosse practice in college tired. I haven't had such a good cardio workout since...well, college! So I'm definitely going to keep trying this sport out. It's really confusing, because its all in Korean, but the people at the gym are really nice, and always help me out. There is also another English speaking dude, but he comes in more sporadically than I do. Whenever he does come though, I get a lot of help from him as well. And a little background info on Jiu Jitsuu (from what I've experienced):
- It's very technical
- It's almost completely ground-based
- You get your guy to the ground, and then practice joint locks, chokeholds, etc.
- It looks a lot like wrestling.
- It is pretty demanding physically.
- And lastly...it's extremely DIFFICULT. It's been 3 weeks and I feel like I've made barely any progress.


That's it! Talk to you all later! Back to work :(

It's not always fun and games

When Jenn and I started this blog, we had the intent of talking about our time here in Daegu. Which consists mainly of teaching, teaching, and...teaching. Instead, we ended up writing mainly about our weekends, and our recent vacations and almost nothing about our everyday lives! So what is it like on a normal day for us? What are some of the obstacles that we have to deal with everyday? Well, I can't speak for Jenn, but here are some of the struggles that I have to deal with when it comes to teaching Middle school students.

I read somewhere (don't quote me on this) that the lowest level of motivation across grade levels occurred during Middle School. I remember reading that and thinking, dang,why am I not surprised? My main struggle in class is getting students motivated. Sure they like me, yeah I'm "Handsome" teacher, but as soon as the class starts, its a daily grind getting students to care. The textbook might as well be covered with fire ants, judging by the way the students look at it when it's time to do one of the exercises. Noise level and classroom management are also pretty difficult. I'm not gonna lie, its hard as heck sometimes trying to get 40 8th grade boys to be quiet right after their PE class. I guess if I could say anything about teaching, it would be that it is mentally exhausting. You put so much effort into your classes, that sometimes it can be pretty disheartening when things go wrong or students just give you a blank stare. But...one thing that was told to me at orientation has helped a lot. Be prepared to fail. One of our lecturers told us that, and he was right. Classes are going to suck sometimes. Nothing to be done about it except get back to the drawing board and figure out something that does work. 

But then you get the classes that are just out of control. Maybe its right after lunch, or the final class before the day ends. Whatever it is, it just doesn't flow. That's when you can't really do anything but make the class write lines. Literally. Last week, I made one of my boys classes write lines for the last 20 minutes of class. That's right. 20 minutes! That's how awful they were. And today? I had to teach them again! Well, I walked into the classroom determined to do better than last week, and bam. They were so much better behaved! Maybe I should be a hard-ass more often huh? 

Anyways, writing this post has made me realize why I don't really write about the bad days here. It's kinda depressing! And I like to stay positive you know? But, in any case, these are some of the things I have to unfortunately deal with on a daily basis. I don't mind to be honest. I keep a short memory, and it helps to remind myself that they're just kids and that middle school IS kind of a drag sometimes! Boys will be boys right? Besides, out of all my classes, only 2 or 3 give me struggles like the ones that I've mentioned above (doesn't seem like much, but those classes can really drag you down man!). The majority of my classes are awesome! Seriously. They are. Especially my advanced 9th grade classes. Anyways, Jenn and I will try to write more about our time here in Daegu, and not just our weekends away! :)

Bye!

Jeju Island!!!

After a red-eye flight at 1 AM, we arrived back in Korea at 8 AM Saturday morning. We quickly took a bus back to Daegu (hour or so) and unpacked. We got ourselves ready for part II of our vacation. A short 50 minute flight to Jeju from Busan! But first, we had to get there. We left Daegu early Saturday afternoon (after a shower and a quick unpacking/repacking) and headed back to Busan. Once there, we found ourselves  a cheap hotel near the airport for our early Sunday morning flight. We then realized we had a whole late afternoon/night to spend in Busan! So we went to check out Gwangali Bridge. When we got there, it was just about to get dark, and we were hungry...so we went to go look for some food.We found this amazing buffet place that reminded me of a restaurant I used to absolutely LOVE going to back when I lived in Japan. Basically, you sit down, and you have a grill in your table. You get up, and there is a large section of uncooked meat. Marinated beef ribs, bbq pork/chicken, sliced and different cuts of beef, and more. You fill a plate with these meats, bring it back to your table...and get cooking. They also had a sushi bar section, noodle section, and a cooked foods section (sweet and sour pork, chow mein looking stuff, fried rice, whatever, I spent no time in that section hahaha). Anyways, it was amazing. Jenn and I chowed down, and then we went to walk on the beach afterwards. Gwangali bridge was off in the distance, and it was definitely a sight to see. The bridge had colored lights, and it kept changing colors. The beach was also packed with people, and it just made for a really fun atmosphere. We wandered around for a little, then headed back to the hotel. We had an early flight next morning!

Sunday dawned bright and early, and we made it to the airport and our flight in plenty of time. Our flight went well, and we got to Jeju around 10 AM. That was when we called one of my friends from back home (we went to UCI together and played Lacrosse together as well) and told him that we were here. Yup. We were pretty lucky. My buddy was here in Jeju, teaching in Korea as well! He was nice enough to let us crash  at his apartment while we were in Jeju, and I was pretty excited to meet up with him too. It had been far too long since we had last seen each other! Anyways, we headed over to his apartment and chilled for a bit because he had to go do some things. When he got back, we were ready to explore Jeju! A little quick background info on Jeju...basically...it's awesome. It's in the running to be one of the 7 "Natural" wonders of the world, it's THE most popular place for newlywed Korean honeymooners, and it has killer beaches/natural sights. My friend's girlfriend was really awesome, and let us borrow her scooter. Then, me and Jenn, along with my friend and his gf (on his bike), went off to check out Jeju! Before you all get really worried, it is completely legal to drive a scooter/motorcycle in Korea without a license...as long as it is under a certain CC. Our scooters were 100cc's, and the limit I believe was 125. Anyways, Jeju is pretty spread out, so it was definitely nice to have the scooters. Not to mention that it was ridiculously awesome! It was like having a moped or something! Anyways, we hopped on our scooters, grabbed some lunch, and went to check out this sweet view of Jeju harbor. After that, we headed to our first beach (a recurring theme throughout our trip). Hamdeok beach. It was beautiful. And the ride along the coast was relaxing, empty of cars, and filled with just awesome scenery. The ocean looked so close. It reminded me of cruising down PCH...on my bus. Hahaha. Which did happen a lot surprisingly. Too complicated to explain. But yeah. Let me tell you this...it just doesn't get much better than that. A reunion with an old friend, a ride along the coast to an awesome beach...we were starting off Jeju right! After we hit up the beach for a while, we headed back to change and shower. Then...we realized we still had some time. So we went to another beach! Silcheon beach, I believe. It was a black sand beach, and pretty cool. We spent some time there, and went into the water. But since it was getting later in the evening, the water was too cold to stay in for too long. After Silcheon, we went to go get some dinner. And then after dinner, we relaxed for a bit, caught up on each other's lives, and called it a night. All in all, one of the best day's I've had in Korea period!

Next morning, we woke up bright and early. First things first, we went to get some much needed Dunkin Donuts. After chowing down, we went to check out another...beach! After another really amazing coastal ride (I now feel like all coastal rides must be done on a scooter/motorcycle by the way!) we ended up at Iho Beach. What to say, pretty much all the beaches in Jeju are beautiful. We spent a relaxing morning there and afterwards went to eat lunch together. After lunch, my friend and his gf had to go to work. Since they work private schools, their day starts when mine end. (Students go to public school during the day, private schools from 4-10). Usually my friend goes in early to get his lessons ready, so he always goes in around 1. Anyways, that meant that me and Jenn still had a whole day left! So off we went to explore. We took a bus down to the south side of the island (took about 50 minutes) and went to check out another...beach. But first! We went to check out Cheonjiyeon Waterfall. It's one of the most well-known waterfalls in Jeju, and when we got there, we had to hike a little ways. About 10 minutes. Anyways, we got there, and after dodging a bunch of other vacationers, we ended up with some pretty cool pics. Check them out!

After the waterfall, we headed to our second beach. Jungmun. It was nice. We didn't go in though, we had forgotten to pack our swim suits. Still, it was definitely one of the more scenic beaches. Plus, the waves were pretty gnarly. Anyways, after our little beach side trip, we went to meet up with our friend's gf for dinner. Unfortunately, my bud still had to work. 2-10 pm. Rough. (8 hrs, just like us, but what crappy hours yah?). Anyways, we went to Mexican, and had a pretty delicious meal. Some burritos, tacos, and nachos. Yum! Afterwards, we waited for my friend to come home and then just chilled out for a bit. That ends day 2 of our Jeju trip.

The next two days were amazing as well. Some highlights include of course, the amazing beaches, hanging with my friend and his gf, riding the scooter, and more. More specifically, the Jeju Trick Art museum. Pretty much a museum filled with pictures/paintings. You take a picture, and the art is "Trick" art. So...much easier to show than explain, but they have a bunch of pictures like the ones you will see. We took a lot, but here are the best ones. Aside from the museum, another highlight was...fireworks. Yup. Korea is awesome...because fireworks are completely legal. Anywhere! So where would you go light fireworks in Jeju? The beach of course! That was definitely pretty awesome. The fireworks weren't hardcore, just like little handheld ones, but it was still fun. Especially because it was probably around midnight or so and the beach was still filled with people setting off fireworks around us as well. It was like having our own little firework show!

Oh, and what would a trip to Jeju be without a trip to...Loveland? Yes, Jeju Loveland. A place for honeymooners that celebrates love. In a very strange way. Basically, there is no subtle way to put this. Loveland is a place filled with penis statues. Jenn and I went there just because we had been told that it was funny. And it was. Not the penis statue part, because hey, after one Penis statue, you've pretty much seen them all. No. The funny part was the groups of old people (women and men) walking around giggling at every statue. Or the other visitors to the park throwing up a peace sign and a big smile right next to a tall penis sculpture. Hahaha. It was great seeing how nonchalant and relaxed everything there was. And of course, you had to be 18 years or older to go in. And before you go on and on about how gross or weird that is, just try to remember that Korea is a completely different country than the USA, with a completely different culture. It's not strange or wrong, it's just different. Check out the entrance below! 

Anyways, that completes our Jeju trip. I forgot to mention one other place we visited! Hallim park. Huge eco-park that kind of reminded me a little bit of the Golden Gate park (is that what its called?) except bigger and with a lot more things to do. We saw rock gardens, lava tunnels, caves, Bonsai trees and more. It was awesome! But yes, it was a sad day indeed when we had to leave. It was just nice hanging out with people from back home ya know? We could all talk about stuff we missed, and the glory days of UCI lacrosse. He was there with me when we were actually good (Championship winner Freshman year...WHAT UP??). So yeah. Jeju was an absolute blast. Wish I could go back there already. Jenn and I definitely plan on going back to see it, and our friends one more time before we leave Korea! Good talking to you all, bye!

Thailand Part II!

I guess I'll start where Fluke left off... ^_^


When we arrived at Fluke's grandma's house, we were greeted with hugs, smiles, and of course...food!!! I will never forget his grandma's face when she saw Fluke. I wish I could have taken a picture to capture her expression of  happiness and pure joy. After sticky rice (YUMM!!!) and some fruit (also yummy!), we walked around the farm. I've heard so much about it so I was excited to explore it (and take hundreds of photos--really--I'm not exaggerating). As we walked along the many pathways, we paused to take pictures and eat fruit off the trees! Of our entire amazing Thailand trip, walking around the farm was my favorite. Of all the beautiful places and temples we visited, the farm was the most beautiful. I'm sure a part of the reason I feel this way is that Fluke and his family looked so happy the entire time. I was happy too, but I can't see my own face! haha Plus the farm is so peaceful. And we ate our way through it. Where else can you explore an area and eat ripe, fresh fruit at the same time!?!

Fluke, Grandma, and Mom! So cute!

We ate a water lily! You can pluck those out and it tastes like fruit!

Where Fluke used to play as a kid ^^

The cliche jumping pic

My favorite photo <3

Another jumping pic haha

Papaya!

Where Fluke's mom is going to build her house!

So pretty!

After exploring the farm, we went to a nearby cave. Why??? To watch all the bats fly out of course!! Every night at 6pm, the bats fly out the cave opening and make what looks like a black ribbon in the sky. I can't even estimate the number of bats we saw and my camera doesn't zoom well, but I promise--that black line is the bat formation (??) in the sky! From the cave, we went to a local place for dinner. It reminded me of a Thai/Korean BBQ type place. Then we got ice cream for dessert! We relaxed the rest of the night and got ready to fly back to Bangkok to fly back to Korea.

heehee

BATS!

haha

It took many hours to travel from Bangkok to Khon San by bus/car so it was much easier to fly back. On the way to the airport , we stopped at a market! Saw lots of fruits and basically a ton of food. We got Bangkok airport in the afternoon and our flight didn't leave until 1AM. Luckily, Bangkok has what's called the "Airport Link"-a sky rail (?) that connects it to many places...including a huge mall! The airport had a special place to safely store our luggage, so after figuring that out, we made our way to the mall! I've been to many malls (thanks to the OC haha) and this one was upscale and HUGE (think of all the expensive, upscale designers/brands you know of and I bet this mall had a store)!!! The food court was not just a section, it was an entire floor. And this entire floor was insane. It had restaurants with all kinds of international cuisine. But, we were in Thailand and we wanted Thai food!! We were getting extremely irritated by the number of people there, the crowded restaurants, and our inability to find any Thai food. We didn't give up though and eventually found one!! This was like upscale Thai food. More expensive than any of our other meals, but it was really good. Even though it was expensive, it was still comparable to the price of a nice dinner in California.

At the market!

Mangosteen. Yummy!

Gifts that Fluke's cousins gave us!

Our last Thai meal! Bittersweet...

In the mall we...stopped in the TV section to watch the ending of Toy Story 3, watched a dance cover competition (a boy group did Big Bang--a REALLY POPULAR K-Pop group), got churros stuffed with yummy sauce for dessert #1, had boba drinks for dessert #2, and aimlessly walked through different parts of the mall. Then back to the airport we went, got our luggage back, went through customs and security, and found amazing sofa couches to relax in until boarding time. We arrived in Busan in the morning and took the super convenient express bus from the airport to Daegu.

Some of Fluke's family came to see us off!

The good news is that Thailand was only Part 1 of our summer vacation!!!! We went back to Busan that night to leave for Jeju the following morning! So although this concludes our posts about Thailand, next up is Jeju!! Alright, time for me to get ready for bed! Ok, goodnight everyone <3


Thanks for reading ^ _ ^


Love,
Jenn

Thailand Vacation Part One!

Phew...after a long six months, okay not really. 6 months literally flew by! But man were we ready for a break. It may have flown by, but I was pretty close to being burnt out from teaching. But not only teaching. Lesson planning, office politics, etc. But work is work! Back to our vacay!


We decided to head to Thailand for 7 days. We got to see my mom, and a lot of my family! We got a early morning flight out of Busan, and after 5 hours, we were in Bangkok. My mom picked us up (at midnight!) and we headed to her friend's house to stay the night. It was really good to see my mom. Miss you mom, and love you very much!

I got to see my mom! Love you mom!

When we woke up the next day, we headed to our hotel. It was a really nice hotel, and we dropped our stuff off before heading over to see my mom's friend. She is the Principal/dean of a small University! We said hello (she hadn't seen me since I was a kid) and then went to check out Jim Thompsons house. Think he was famous for reviving the silk industry in Thailand? Plus he had a pretty nice ass house. It was huge, and the architecture was really good. Then, we went to eat dinner, sukiyaki at MK. Ahhh...SO GOOD. It's like, they give you a pot of boiling water, and then you throw in seasoned meats, mushrooms, tofus, vegetables, whatever, and let it cook right in front of you. They have dipping sauces as well, and it was pretty delicious. After dinner, we went back to the hotel.

With the principal and friend of my mom

At Jim Thompson's house

Before we put in all the meat!

The next day, we went to meet my Auntie. She took us on a boat and we went through the Chao Praya river. We saw a lot of cool temples, docks, and buildings. When we arrived to our destination, we went to check out one Bangkok's major tourist attractions. The Golden Temple. But...on our way there, we also stopped at another temple to check out an enormous reclining Buddha, and ate lunch. By the way, let me very quickly say that the one thing I miss most about Thailand, aside from my mom and family, is the food. Goodness me, the food was excellent. I'm not lying. My mouth is watering right now thinking of all the good food that I had there. Pad Thai, Pad See-Ew, Grilled Chicken, sticky rice and mango, curry, papaya salad, all kinds of fruits, Pad Ka Prow?...mmm. So good! Another quick side note...when you pronounce Pad, say it like "Pauhd." It's not "pad" like I-pad. Thanks! =) So after lunch we got to the Golden Temple, and it was pretty awesome. We had to change into long pants/skirts beforehand, but wow did it look great. Lot's of good pics, I'll show you a couple!

Some river views

Golden Temple

Reclining Buddha

My aunt!

After that, we headed back to my Aunt's house. We ate dinner, and then we went to get some Thai massages! I'm not going to lie. Mine hurt a little bit, but overall, I'd say I enjoyed it. Jenn LOVED it! And best of all? It was incredibly cheap. Anyways, we headed back home after our massages and then, later that night, I met some of my cousins! My cousin Gap I had met before, but I had never met Bao. She and he were about the same age as us. Gap was the same age as me, and Bao was a year or two older. To be honest, she reminded me a little of my little sis. Always smiling, and full of life! (Miss ya sis). They took us out and showed us a little bit of Bangkok's night life. We went to get this dessert where they had a plate of ice cream scoops, and warm chocolate fondue to dip it into. Delicious. After a quick game of bowling, we headed to Khao San road. Famous? Yes. Do you remember the book (that later turned into a movie) called "The Beach?" The movie had Leonardo Dicaprio in it. Anyways, in the book, Khao San road was where the main character started his adventure in Thailand. Great book by the way, highly recommend it. A little violent and lots of swearing though if you're not into that. Anyways, Khao San road was awesome. We went there at 11 or so, and it was super crowded and filled with foreigners. The road had everything. Souvenirs, food, so much food, hr long foot massages for 3 bucks, clothing stands, bars that proudly advertised "We don't check I.D.", and even stands that promised to make you fake diplomas, drivers licenses, etc. I really liked the whole atmosphere of it! Anyways, we headed back home eventually, and called it a night...on a bus! A really nice bus. Seriously. Comfy seats that you could fall asleep in, personal tv monitors with games and movies and tv shows. I almost didn't want to sleep! But it did leave at midnight so we went to bed. Why did we get on that bus? Because we were leaving Bangkok to head up north and see the rest of my family! Overnight bus was really convenient and saved a lot of time. Plus, it was really comfy! 

At Khao San Road!

Pad Thai...Phaud Thai!!!

Mango with Sticky Rice. Delicious

Fake everything. Hahahahah

My cousins! The girl next to Gap is his girlfriend, Mae.

We got into Khon Khein about 6 or 7 am after a 6 hour bus ride. I forget exactly. Then we headed over to my aunt's house. We relaxed for a bit and then my other aunt picked us up to head to the dinosaur museum. The ride was long, but it was totally worth it. I love dinosaurs, and this museum was huge. One of the cool things was that they actually kept the actual dig site and built a little exhibit around it. So Jenn and I got to see what the dig site was like when they uncovered the dino fossils. Pretty cool huh? Then we went into the actual museum part and checked out all the cool exhibits and dinosaur skeletons. After that, we walked across the street and had an amazing lunch of grilled chicken, sticky rice, and beef noodle soup. Yum!

One more golden temple pic...

The dig site!

We headed back to Khon Khein, and had dinner with my other auntie. She has two kids, and my other cousin was staying with them as well. I gave them some Korean pop star stuff, and souvenirs, and we all had dinner together. Sukiyaki again! Delicious! We also tried our first dragonfruit! Dragon fruit is really...well, pretty. And you cut it open, and it looks a little weird, but it's awesome. I guess texture-wise it is kinda like Kiwi, and tastes like it too. Just a little more, fresher/tarter if that makes any sense? Anyways, really liked it! After that, we went to another hotel and called it a night. The next morning, we were going to head to my grandma's house in Khon San, about an hour and half away! But I'm going to let Jenn tell the rest of that story! So long for now!

Dragonfruit!

Near our hotel! We like to jump!