Food Adventures in Daegu #2: Authentic Vietnamese Pho!

Vietnamese Pho. One of our all-time favorite foods. In California, it was easy to find a good Pho restaurant. Here in Daegu, there are quite a few Vietnamese restaurants that serve Pho. However, it just doesn't taste quite the same. It isn't quite as authentic. Not to say that it's bad. It's just clearly been given a Korean-ized taste/flavor.

So imagine Jenn and I's surprise when we heard that there was an authentic Vietnamese restaurant in Daegu! We had to check it out, despite it being almost an hour away from us.

Restaurant Name:

World Asia Market

How We got There:

We took the subway line 2 from our stop to Seongseo Industrial Complex (Toward Munyang). We took Exit 5 out, and then kept heading straight. If you see a big E-Mart on the opposite of the street, you're going the right way! As soon as you see your first bus stop, stop! It is toward to the right, tucked away behind a little street alley. Here is the bus stop name: (Igok 1-dong Community Center/이곡1동 주민센터)

The Food:

Truly authentic Pho. Beefy, soothing broth, and hot sauce to add to it that didn't taste like ketchup. We also had a serving of Vietnamese Iced coffee afterwards, which is amazing and highly recommended. They have other Vietnamese food options too, but the menu was entirely in Vietnamese so we didn't really know what else to get. Some food options do require a phone call made in advance. We found this out when we tried to order spring rolls. (Sorry, we don't have their number). We highly recommend this place, and have already made the hour long trip out there twice, with many more visits to come! Also, they have a lot of Vietnamese food for sale as well. Pho Noodle Packets, Candied Tamarinds, Fresh cilantro, and more are all available for sale.

Food Adventure's in Daegu #1: Philly Cheesesteak!

Jenn and I love food. We love eating new foods, discovering local restaurants, and, well, we're just your typical foodie. The thing is, in Daegu, it's a lot harder to find food. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of great restaurants in Daegu. Great Korean restaurants. Finding Western food options is a bit trickier. And well, we often hear about places through word of mouth, and that usually involves going out of our way to find said places for these Western food options. We will often plan a day around finding a particular restaurant, and I thought it was about time that we started documenting it! 

Restaurant name:

South Street Grill

How we got there:

We took the subway to University of Education (two stops south of Banwoldang), got out at a random exit, and asked for the taxi to take us to Camp Walker, Gate 4 entrance. Once there, we walked up and down the street till we found the shop. It's a relatively small street, and you should be able to find it easily. It's very close to Hami Mami's if you know where that is.

The food:
Jenn and I both ordered a Philly cheesesteak w/a side of Smiley face fries. We also got an order of buffalo wings to share.

The Philly cheesesteak was very tasty. The beef was sliced thinly and chopped up, and we really enjoyed it. The buffalo wings were also pretty good, although they were a little sweet. We had no complaints about them, but we are still in search of the perfect buffalo wing in Daegu. Overall though, we really enjoyed this place, and definitely recommend it if you are looking for something different and authentic in Daegu.

Boseong Green Tea Plantation 2012

Weather is finally getting nice enough for me and Jenn to venture outside of Daegu. A couple weekends ago, we decided to check out the Boseong Green Tea plantations! We wanted to go because we had never seen a green tea plantation before, and the pictures looked great. It was also just a chance for us to scratch our traveling itch!


Getting there (from Daegu):
- Take the express bus to Gwangju from the bus station directly to the left of the Dongdaegu Subway exit.
  We recommend buying tickets a couple days in advance (just go to the station itself for that). This takes about 4 hours with traffic. We went up on Friday night, stayed in Gwangju, and in the morning, went to Boseong.
- Once in Gwangju, from the bus terminal that you are dropped off at, take a bus from Gwangju to Boseong. These run every 30-40 minutes. This takes about an hour and a half.
- Once in Boseong, from the bus terminal that you are dropped off at, get a bus to the Boseong Green Tea plantations. This should take about 10 minutes.
- When you are dropped off, make sure you head to the left a little bit, and avoid the Green Tea Plantation that has the museum in it. It's nice, but the one to the left and up the hill a little bit offers far greater views and awesomeness. If you get lost, just follow the crowd, they know which one is better!


Once there, we wandered around the plantations, taking a lot of pictures, and just enjoying the fresh, clean air. It smelled really, really nice and was a nice change from the smoggy Daegu city air. If we had waited another month, the green tea plants would have been much greener, but all the same, we were still pretty impressed. Check out some pics!

We also got to try out a lot of green tea food! We had some green tea ja jang myun (black bean sauce noodles), green tea naemmyun (cold noodles), green tea pork katsu, and our favorites, green tea ice cream and shakes!

Green tea noodles on the left, Green Tea Pork Katsu on the right!

Fresh, Iced Green Tea. Yum!

Standing in line for Green Tea ice cream. ^_^

After buying some green tea snacks (candy, cookies, latte packs!), we headed to the beach nearby. Now, I think you can take the bus that dropped you off at the plantations straight to Yulpo beach, but we were pretty lucky. We met another tourist, who spoke Korean fluently, and called us a taxi! So we headed down the coast to Yulpo beach. It was really nice and scenic. But well, to be honest, seen one beach, seen em all.  What is worth mentioning though is that we got bored very quickly and wanted to head back to Boseong. When we couldn't find the bus stop, we thought we'd head over to the police station and ask for directions. We got more than that. The police officer actually gave us a ride...back to the Boseong bus terminal! (20-30 minute drive). We were so surprised at their kindness, and appreciative as well. After thanking him profusely, we headed back to Gwangju from Boseong.

Yulpo Beach

In Gwangju, we took in some of the sights and ate at (of all places), a T.G.I.F.! Haha. Here are some pics of Gwangju. After one more night in Gwangju, we headed back home to Daegu. Overall, really nice weekend, and I'd highly recommend Boseong to Green tea lovers, nature lovers, and photography buffs.

Statue we found while walking

An amphitheater

2012 Nonsan Strawberry Festival!

Hello all!


Last weekend, Jenn and I decided to take a trip down to Nonsan for their annual Strawberry festival! It varies on how to get there, depending on where you are located in Korea, but we took a train from Daegu-Sintanjin, and then Sintanjin-Nonsan. It took about 3 hours total, so it was a long ride, but completely worth it!

Waiting for our train...

When we got to Nonsan, we had to walk to the actual fairgrounds. It was about 20 minutes, and we just followed the crowd and a map that we had printed out from earlier. I suppose you could take the taxi, but we were glad we didn't, because when we got to the actual festival, the traffic was insane!

Festival Grounds!

What to do at a Strawberry festival? Eat strawberries! We wandered the festival grounds, ate strawberries, ate the usual Korean festival food (corn dogs covered in french fries, sausages, kebab wraps, etc.). We were really surprised and happy at all the Strawberry themed food. Take a look at some of them!

Strawberry Slushee!

Roast Pig?

Strawberry Hotteok (Yummy, fried pancake filled with Strawberry Jam!) and Ice Cream

The festival itself was chock full of activities. Some of the ones that Jenn and I saw and liked were: Make your own strawberry jam, Put frosting and strawberries onto a cake (yum!), dip strawberries into a chocolate fountain (double yum!), and a ton of arts and crafts aimed around Strawberries. These were aimed mainly toward the kids though. Unfortunately, Jenn and I only had time to dip strawberries into a chocolate fountain. We wanted to make Jam and do the cake thing, but we were out of time because...we were busy picking and eating our own strawberries!

Strawberry Jam!

Getting some chocolate dipped strawberries!

Yup, the main attraction for us was picking and eating our own strawberries. On the website, it said you could pick and eat as much as you wanted. However, it took us a little while to figure out how to do it. We had to find a main booth, sign up for a time to pick strawberries, and then take a 20 minute bus ride out to the actual strawberry picking site. It cost 10,000 won each! And then, when we got there, we were ready to pick and eat a ton of strawberries! What really happens though is that you get one normal sized plastic box to hold strawberries in...and that's it! We were a little disappointed that the box was so small. But...we brought ziploc bags, and snuck a few extra strawberries into them. :) Not that it was hard to do so, we saw other people doing it as well. This was definitely the best part of our trip, mainly because I probably ate a pound or so of strawberries. (The eat as much as you want part was definitely true!) I did much more eating than picking, because I couldn't resist eating the big ones fresh! Take a look at some pics!

Yum!

One of our boxes. Before we emptied it for a refill. :)

After about 5 hours at the strawberry festival, we called it a day and headed back to Nonsan station to catch the trains back to Daegu. For anyone who is looking to go to the 2013 Strawberry festival, I definitely recommend a day-trip. 5 hours was the perfect amount of time to soak in the sights and get some strawberry picking done. Stay tuned for our next travel update, we're going to Boseong! :) 

A little about teaching...and a little about running! ^-^*

Annyong everyone!


Instead of writing a lengthy post about one topic, I'm going to write a few stories/anecdotes/updates (??) on different topics!! First up...the best question a student has asked me this year...


Student: Hello, teacher! 
Me: Hello, **! How are you?
S: Good. Teacher, I have a question...
Me: Ok!
S: I play baseball.
Me: Yes, I know! 
S: I use baseball bat.
Me: Yes, that's correct.
S: So...do I use baseball ball?
Me: Good question! You use a baseball. You play baseball. It is the same word.
S: Teacher! So confusing! But ok. Same word. Thank you.
Me: You're welcome! Bye **!
S: Bye.


This conversation made my day!! ^-^


Topic #2: English Festival--April Fool's Day!
The past two weeks I have been teaching the 3rd-6th graders about April Fool's Day. I tell them a little bit about it (emphasizing that we say NICE jokes and everyone is happy and no one is sad), show some examples and we watch a few funny youtube videos. Then, after doing all of that (maybe 20 minutes), I tell them I have a word search handout. The first student to finish is the winner! I say, "Do not write your name. Circle the words. No talking. Ready? Go!" and the class is silent for a couple minutes. As soon as I see the advanced students starting to get frustrated/confused, I start laughing. I say, "I FOOLED YOU! HAPPY APRIL FOOL'S DAY!!!!" and tell them no words are there. It is a joke. They get mad and tell me so with big smiles on their faces. Then I collect the handouts to reuse for the next class. Soooo funny! If you want to watch the video that was the biggest hit with my kids~go here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blOrY-nEGaE&list=PLE77CF25A17A69A9E&index=1&feature=plpp_video I always watched the kids watch the video. They were cracking up!!!!! and I was laughing at them! ^-^


Topic #3: Running my first 10km!
So...basically since we returned to Daegu I've been running at the gym trying to get healthy, lose the weight I gained pigging out at home, etc. and my friend told me about the Daegu marathon. Now there was NO WAY I could run a marathon, but I figured...with 3 weeks left to train, I should be able to run a 10km! I registered for the race and researched training schedules (I had only been running 3-5km so I needed to gradually double my distance). Then I bought new running shoes (mine were at least 3-4years old and started hurting my feet), and began running with a purpose!!! I was pretty good about going to the gym 3-4 times/week, but having this marathon goal meant I was running 4-5 times/week without fail. I was SUPER motivated!!! Not only did I want to finish the 10km, I wanted to finish it withOUT stopping. 


The marathon was last Sunday morning. I saw the international athletes warm-up and talked with a few other English teachers I happened to see. We got lined up, I started my cardio app to track my time and distance (just as a reference), and I pushed play on my ipod. I was ready to start the race!!! We ran from city hall up to where the Daegu train station is and back around. It was so much fun!!!! The best part is...I finished it in about 58minutes!!! I don't know the official time yet, but based on my phone, it was about 58 minutes. I had been running it at the gym in about 67 minutes, so I was really happy with my time! The weather was perfect and with so many people running around me and people cheering from the sidewalks, it was a blast. I definitely got tired and my legs were super sore later that day, but I really enjoyed the 10km. Plus I got a "Finishers Medal" which is awesome! Fluke and some friends met me at the finish line and that was really cool because they woke up early to get there! They motivated me too because I told them I would finish between 9:10-9:20... I wanted to be on time! So thanks to Fluke and our friends for supporting me!! I think I will look up more races around Daegu and keep running. If for no other reason than to give myself another goal and keep my motivation up. Maybe the next one I can run in 50-55 minutes!!! ^o^ Here's a pic of me at the finish line!

A Day in the life of Ati Teacher No.1

I always get these ideas for annual blog posts, so we have a reason to update more frequently. Anyway, here is another idea, lets see if it sticks this time eh? So the title says it all. I'll update this blog post periodically through the day, and hopefully you'll see what school life is like for me (and Jenn!) on a daily basis.


- Rode my bike to school today like usual, left my apartment at 8:00 AM, rolled up to school in about 10 minutes. I have to be at school by 8:20, but I like to get there early so I can avoid all the kiddos.


- No 1st period today so I got time to make some copies and lesson plan. 


- Gotta check email first though. Then facebook. Then drink my coffee. Oh crap. It's time for 2nd period. Whoops! There goes my productive hour...


- Just had a bunch of 9th graders for 2nd period. Man...what a bunch of zombies! They didn't even get into the game I prepared for them. Wish I could say that they're normally an awesome bunch, but nothing new here. Oh well. Gotta keep trying!


- So mentally drained from that one class. I try so hard to get them to speak just anything and it just sucks when a class doesn't participate. Sigh...


- Oh well, got a break until 5th period. Made 300 more copies. Just killed a tree right there, this industrial-sized copier is wicked though. Took about 3 minutes. Super fast! Finished powerpoint and lesson plan for part 2 of lesson 1 for 8th grade. Going to do a board game activity, 1st time ever. Lets see how that goes. Stayed productive, started part 2 of lesson 1 for 9th grade. Gotta make this lesson active, maybe I'll try to get them out of their seats so they're not such zombies. 


- Lunch time! Curry and rice. Kimchi too (of course!). And some cole slaw thing and when I refer to it as cole slaw, I mean that in the most distant of comparisons. It tastes nothing like it. o_O But it's not bad. 


- Finished lunch quick today. Just going to chill until 5th period at 1:20. Going to try out that board game activity. Wish me luck!


- Well...one period later, and I gotta say I'm not disappointed with the results, but not happy either. They played the board game, and played using the rules I gave them, BUT only when I was at their table. Aargh! Next class, I will have to be more stern about them following the rules, and give a bigger incentive probably. Overall, not bad for a first try.


- Gotta watch it though, there is a spot on the board game where you can "Get some candy." A lot of the boy students (of course right?) lied and said they landed on that spot. So I told them if they really wanted candy, they'd have to follow me to my office (on the other side of the school) and give me 5 sentences about themselves. No speaking mistakes. Ha. Let's see who wants candy now.


- 10 minutes later, 8 boy students later, and I'm out 5 pieces of candy. I can't believe they followed me to my office! But this actually made me happy, because I got to hear them think up 5 sentences on the spot about themselves, and they were correct. These were all my troublemakers too so just hearing them speak English made me super happy. 3 of them didn't speak all their sentences correctly, but I told them they could try again tomorrow. Let's see if they do! 


- On a side note, I don't actually get to give them grades here. Don't get me started on how unfair and stupid this is, just know that I strongly oppose it. So, I do have to occasionally resort to candy prizes/rewards. A reward stamp sheet has helped a lot as well. But I would get so much better participation if students actually had an incentive to try in my class. All I got going for me is that they like me and that I got candy. When they don't like me...hey, I still got candy! Haha. Enough about this topic, it just makes me angry. -_-


- Got a break right now before 7th period. Easy day today, only 3 classes. Normally have 4-6 a day. Going to prepare for my last class now. Will be trying the board game again, but this time I think I'll have them do a few textbook activities beforehand to reinforce their knowledge. See ya after 7th!


- What a difference a class makes! This class took to my board game instantly, and it was a complete success. Once I realized that the girl groups would follow my directions, I just switched back and forth between the two boy groups to make sure they weren't goofing off too much. Anyway, I felt really good about that class just now. It's always nice to have a good class before the end of the day!


-Speaking of which, the day ends in 20 minutes! I get to leave at 4:20 PM. So I'm going to finish cleaning up my desk (it always accumulates so much random items somehow), and then call it a day. Bye!

Things my students say part III

Hi everyone! Fluke and I got new glasses!! (Post about that later...) and since my new glasses are much different than my old ones, I had some pretty funny reactions from my students. 


Student reactions on my first day of wearing my new glasses...


Student: Oh, teacher! new glasses!
Me: Yes! I have new glasses. Do you like them?
Student: Yes, of course! They look like mine :)


S: Oh! (points to glasses) Nice! (thumbs up)
Me: Thank you!


S: Oh, Jennipa teacha...you have new glasses.
Me: Yes!
S: talks in Korean to friends...and doesn't say anything else to me :)


S: Teacher! Why new glass?
Me: Why do I wear new glasses?
S: Yes.
Me: I wanted new glasses...and now I see better!
S: Oh... Good!


S: Looks at me for an awkward amount of time trying to figure out what is different....and then walks away.


S1: (points to glasses) glass? (looks to friend)
S2: new glass? (S1 and S2 look to S3)
S3: New glasses!
Me: Yes! I have new glasses! (I knew they would figure out what to say, so I waited for them to figure it out together)


Ok...that's all the ones I can remember! Because the students come to my classroom, I am able to welcome them at the start of every class. I always say, "good morning!" or "hello!" A few of the students and I have special routine greetings. Because I welcome the students this way and they are used to it, whenever they want to tell me something, or ask me something, they have the opportunity to do so before the bell rings. When they noticed my new glasses, they were able to speak enough English/use body language to have a short conversation. Overall, my favorite conversations are when a small group of students work together to say what's on their minds. Between 2-3 of them, they are always able to tell me what they want or ask me their question. It makes me feel good too because they work so hard to tell me in English instead of going to my Korean co-teacher for help to translate. 


I always learn something from the students during the conversations too. In the past two days, I've realized that the students need to learn the word... "glasses!" ^-^*


And here's a pic of us in our new glasses!

Today Was a Good Day Volume III

Well...it wasn't really today, but I didn't have time to write about it on that day, so here it is now! Today was a good day volume III:


I have this particular class of 5th graders who, let's just say, are very difficult to teach. They are usually 5-7 mins late to class (not really their fault), which makes my lesson more rushed. When I only have 40 minutes, being 5-7 minutes late (plus 1 minute to get seated and organized) is a significant time to lose. They are a noisy bunch so it takes me (and my co-teacher) longer to get through the required textbook exercises (really boring, but apparently necessary to learning English). They know when they finish the textbook exercises, there is a game/activity. Yet, they still take forever to do the textbook exercises. Basically, this class is challenging in many ways. The part that is significant to why this day was a good day, is the part where...they walked into class 4 minutes early. Yes, I looked at the clock because I was SHOCKED they were early.


I always have a short interesting/entertaining video to show classes when they arrive to my classroom early. Some classes are always early (because in the previous period they were only next door and not in P.E. or a classroom 2 buildings away) and after giving them a couple minutes of playing/chatting/whatever it is those boys do, I start a video. Some students choose to talk quietly, go to the bathroom, or whatever. For the most part, all the students want to watch the video. 


Let's just say...this particular class hasn't seen a video in months. So when they walked in early, I said, "everyone sit down...I have a fun video to watch!" They looked at me like I was crazy...they weren't really sure what I meant. I pressed play on the "art with sand video" (Check them out--they are amazing) and watched the students watching the screen. The entire class was focused on the screen. They were quiet. They were entertained.  The best part is...when the video finished...I told them, "I always have a video before class. If you come to English class early, you can watch a video." Then the bell rang. We started class right on time. They finished the textbook exercises in record speed and efficiency. I gave them a "+1" on their class point chart for being such a good class. They had plenty of time to play the game. It was an amazing class. I reminded them that when they come to English class early, they get to watch a video. 


Cross your fingers that the next time I teach this class, they are at least 2 minutes early.

Today Was a Good Day Vol. 2

Hi everyone! This is my first "Today was a good day" blog entry! Enjoy :)


I have a student who last semester was extremely difficult to control and this semester, still refuses to do anything, but is more quiet about it. Today I said, "Please open your book to page 132." I know he understands me. He opens his book and then says, "No, teacher. I won't do." Instead of *trying* to make him complete the exercises by staying beside him the entire time, I decide to do something new. I looked at his drawings on the inside of his torn book cover. I asked, "What's this?" He proceeds to tell me all about the monsters. I ask him to name the body parts, to count the body parts (I think there were 6 arms and 3 eyes???) and to label his monsters. We have a short conversation about his life. (I knew his living situation was far from ideal.) And he told me he is happy living with his grandparents (I don't know what exactly happened to his parents, except that under their care, he was not happy.) He walks to school (like most of the students) and has breakfast every morning.


I always knew that connecting with students and having meaningful conversations with them is the best way to motivate and teach them. Until today, I had not done that with this child. I'm embarrassed to admit this because it should have happened much, much earlier in the school year. Anyway, later in the period, during a partner creative writing activity, his partner asked me how to spell a word. I always ask the students to try to spell the word first and then I will help them. Well, this boy blurted out the correct spelling! (For a difficult word too!!!) Partners are supposed to help each other and learn from each other. Until this activity, I had never seen this boy be a "partner" or participate in a cooperative learning activity voluntarily. No, I don't think he will suddenly do all the textbook exercises without being prompted. No, I don't think he will suddenly be volunteering and raising his hand all the time. BUT, I do hope that his participation improves and he has more of a desire to learn English. I look forward to the next time I teach him. I wonder what short 2-minute conversation I will have next time???

Today was a Good Day Vol.1

I thought I'd try something new and maybe start a series of posts about a good day that Jenn or I have had. It'll give us a little break from writing about our super awesome weekends, and give you guys a little more info about what goes on in our lives daily. Let's begin!


Today was a good day,
                 I started off the morning with a nice cup of coffee, and had my favourite 7th grade girls class. I taught them how to use the "Would you like to ______" phrase, and then we played a Pokemon review game about it. They were really into it, and were shouting out Pokemon names and yelling "oooh, so cute!" every time they saw Pikachu. It was definitely a great way to start the morning. After their class, I had 2nd period with one of my 8th grade boys classes. They are one of my favourites, and I had a good time teaching them, "What's the matter? My blah blah blah." I always like my 8th grade boys, because even though they can get a little rowdy sometimes, they always have the most energy and enthusiasm out of all my classes. The trick is to get them to focus all that energy and enthusiasm into learning English.  After 2nd period, our school had an English festival for the next two hours. I judged a student presentation contest, in which they made awesome powerpoints and speeches about what they wanted to do with their future. (Mostly awesome. Haha). One student even talked about a popular PC game called Minecraft which I thought was really creative! 
                  After a solid lunch with corndogs (nice!), I had 5th period off so I used that time to prep for next week. Ok. So really, I used that time to relax and do some Fantasy Football. Which was so much more important! Hehe. Then in 6th period, I got to play a music trivia game with some more of my 8th grade boys. I was a little nervous at first because I thought boys wouldn't be as into music as my girls classes were, but they loved it! It's probably one of the benefits of having an all-boys/girls class? The boys can be boys, and not have to worry about acting "manly" all the time for the girls. School gets out in an hour, and after grading a couple newspaper articles, I should be able to use the rest of my time to just relax and maybe grab a cup of  coffee. All in all, not a bad day at the office! 

One of the few pics I have of me teaching!

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 :(

Hello!! 안녕하세요!!

So...Fluke wrote an amazing post about his first semester here, so I'm not-so-subtly copying his idea and writing about my first semester. Let me begin with 안녕하세요!! (Annyeonghasaeyo!!=hello!!)


Culture Shock
I'm not sure I really experienced it. I mean, a lot here is different, some parts are completely different, and other parts remind me of home, but I think I just adjusted over time to what initially seemed a little strange. I never felt like the culture of Korea was so different that I couldn't adjust. Preparing dinner on top of my washing machine and refrigerator are totally normal now. The bathroom becoming a showeroom--totally normal. Changing from my regular shoes to indoor shoes and wearing them all around the school--normal. Cars on the sidewalk--to be expected. Seeing signs in English everywhere and forcing myself to read the Hangul to practice--getting easier and I'm reading faster. Waving "HI!" to just about everyone still makes me smile. Getting stares for looking different--it's normal, but still awkward sometimes. Adding the word "maybe" to practically every sentence with a co-worker because it is more polite to be indirect than direct/to-the-point has become more natural. While it is frustrating at times, I catch myself adding "maybe" to conversations among friends when it is not unnecessary! Bowing to everyone older than me and saying hello--this is probably the habit that will take me the longest to adjust to when I go back home!


Teaching English...with a Co-Teacher???
Well, most of you know that I did not have a "Co-Teacher." I had a teacher who spoke hardly any English and therefore could never translate when necessary. Good news is that the class became my class!! All English instruction came from me. I planned all instruction and prepared 99% of the materials. I designed the activities or got inspiration from fellow English teachers in Korea. I had my own classroom management techniques. I was the teacher of English!! My "Co-teacher" essentially got paid to do nothing. BUT...I love the kids and I love my job. Honestly, I would so much rather be in complete control than having zero control like some other English teachers I know. I mean, I came to Korea to teach. I would not be doing so well here or be as happy if I was merely a puppet by the Korean English teacher. I know I will continue to grow as a teacher, but this first semester I definitely grew as a teacher.
 I only taught grade 5 so I really got to know my students and their personalities. I love teaching grade 5!!! The kids do not have the 6th grade attitude yet and they are adorable. I have a handful of students who are fluent in English and I love having a quick chat with them before/after class. I have students who love English class even though they are way below grade level in English. I love the students' smiles and excitement when a game/activity goes well. I like singing with them and having them practice their English fluency without them realizing it. I like the "Jennifer teacher! Jennifer teacher! How are you?" I love their responses to questions. Even though not all the students have the vocabulary to express their creativity in English, I know through their art, their projects and their oral responses, that quite a few of my students have an amazing sense of humor. One time, the target sentence was "What a nice car!" when looking at a part of a cartoon strip. A student said, "What a nice car! Let's steal it and go to Woobangland (the amusement park in Daegu)!"


Learning the Language
Hmm...where to start....basically-I know more than I did when I came here! However, I thought by this point I would know way more than I do. The reason is that learning Korean isn't crucial because in Daegu, there is English everywhere. I'll order my meal in Korean and then the cashier will say the English number back to me to make sure she understood! I'll say nae-il (tomorrow) and the person will say, "Tomorow? Ok." haha it's been really nice to have English menus and restaurant names, but so many more places would be possible if we knew more of the language. Reading it is one thing--understanding what we are reading is another.
I've learned some words from my kids! I learned the word for bathroom and how to say "I do not have." Of course, the later was in response to my question, "Where is your book?" haha. Other words I've picked up from hearing it so often or from friends sharing what they know how to say. All and all, I want to learn more Korean!


Last few comments...
I love Daegu and I love Korea ^^ I love meeting up with friends downtown. I love shopping in the subways. Oh, I love public transportation!!! I love traveling and exploring on the weekends. I love how my students call me "Je-ni-pa" or "Je-ni-pa Teacher." I love not saying "excuse me" and "sorry" every time I accidently bump into someone in a crowd because it's not part of the culture here. I love the Korean English teachers at my school who help me with whatever I need and who just come to my classroom to chat sometimes. I love when other teachers at my school have the courage to speak to me in English. (I never assume they speak English and I don't put them into what could potentially be an embarrassing language barrier experience). I love finding new restaurants and becoming a returning customer. I love seeing my students around Daegu and receiving the head bow with a "Oh, hello Jennipa." Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed my experiences in Korea thus far. No, not everything has been easy. No, I was not a perfect teacher nor did I have the perfect co-teaching experience. But yes, I look forward to the next semester. Yes, I am so, so, so, so glad I came to Korea for this incredible teaching, learning, traveling, and personal growing experience it has become!!!

K-Pop Dancing in Daegu!

Hi everyone!


As promised so long ago, here is my blog about K-Pop dancing!


First of all, what is K-Pop?? Well, it's Korean Pop music. When I say that k-pop is super popular and the k-pop singer/performers are famous, I mean that K-Pop is literally everywhere and the singers become the celebrity crushes of practically everyone. You cannot walk down the street without hearing a K-Pop song coming out from the stores (especially cell phone stores). The songs are crazy popular!! A song will be released and suddenly, it is everywhere. Each week or so, a new song is released. These singers grow up in the k-pop business, training for many years before they become part of a group to eventually release songs. They perform the songs on famous tv shows and events. The dance choreography to these k-pop songs become the "it choreo" of the moment. I heard that the choreo is available to dance instructors so that they can learn it to teach at their studios. Anyway, the choreo to the K-Pop music is what I learn in my K-Pop dance class!!!


My dance instructor at G-Style Dance studio at Sinmae is amazing :) She is sooooo good at breaking down the choreo into more simple pieces before putting it all together in a sequence. AND, thanks to her, I know how to count 1-8 and know the words for left, right, and applaud :) She learns the choreo so quickly that the week after a new song is released, we learn the choreo in class. She teaches us at a relatively slow pace (according to the overall level of dancers in the class) and it takes 1-2wks to learn. Because it is choreo that the singers do while performing, it is usually pretty simple. The best one was to "Breakdown"  by Kim Hyun-Joong. I hate to admit it, but the male K-Pop choreo is so much more fun! I think because the a lot of the female choreo is cutesy/sexy. When a song is not released during the week, she creates her own choreo to other songs. This week was to "On the Floor" by J-Lo! SOOOOO much fun!!!!! Sometimes, my teacher videos the class doing the choreo when it is finished and almost always, she posts her dancing the choreo so the people in the class can go to her studio website and practice. 


You can check out the K-Pop music/choreo at: http://club.cyworld.com/gstyledance
On the left, under "My Dance STYLE is G", click "master move" to see her dance. Click "members move" to see the K-Pop classes! Sometimes I'm in it--just depends which class she records. Oh ya, that's the other thing. There are 8 K-Pop classes during the week. I pay for 3 classes/wk and I get to choose which ones I go to! Usually, I go to Tues/Thurs at 8 and Fri at 7 mostly because the studio is 15mins away and it's difficult to come home from school at 5, make dinner, eat dinner and leave my apt by 6:40 to get to a 7pm class. 


Anyway, K-Pop dancing is a lot of fun. An added bonus is that I keep up with the newest K-Pop songs. Unlike the US, the songs are super popular here for a couple weeks before it gets fazed out for the new releases. Without my class, it would be much more difficult to know what is still popular, what is brand new, and what is considered "old" already. 


And that's my post about K-Pop dancing!  Bye everyone!

View from the studio window! (Studio is 7th floor at the Sinmae main intersection)

Sorry it's blurry. This is the amazingly clean floor and mirrors!

The waiting/relaxing area in the entrance.

G-Style Dance (written in Hangul) the door!

Spa Valley!

Hi everyone!
Last weekend, we took a trip to Spa Valley! Spa Valley is a water theme park like a Windsor Water Works plus hot springs and jjimgilbangs (hot tubs, saunas, baths, showers). Even though the weather wasn't perfect, it was nice enough to play in the water and it didn't rain :)


Directions:
From DAEGU BANK on the green line (NOT Daegu Station) take exit 2. There is a Paris Baguette on the corner and the bus stop is right there. Take Express Bus 2. (It's red) It will take about 20 minutes. The stop is called "Spa Valley." The bus sign thingy says Spa Valley in Hangul and in English so you can't miss it!

At the entrance.

We woke up early to get there (had to take the subway and a bus ride) and at the ticket counter we somehow got a discount! After buying tickets, we went up to the locker rooms. Our shoes went in the first room of lockers (co-ed), then Jackie and I separated from Fluke to go in the main locker rooms to change out of our regular clothes. We wondered why our shoes went in a different locker, but then figured it out at the end of the day :) Anyway, when we got to the water park area, we walked into the wave pool. The water was cold, but we were making progress until one of the lifeguards blew a whistle at us! Apparently, to be in the wave pool, you must have a life vest and a hat. So, we left the wave pool and headed to one of the water slides. Again, we were told we needed a life vest. We found the area to rent them and went back to the water slides. Some of the slides required inner tubes and others didn't. All the rides were fun and the best part was...there were no lines! A couple times we waited a few minutes, but ya. 


After the slides, we went down the lazy river! Then we lounged in a heated outdoor pool listening to the K-Pop music. Jackie has a waterproof camera so we got some cool water pictures throughout the day. We had burgers for lunch and churros for dessert! I seriously think I have had more churros in Korea in 4 months than I had in an entire year or two at home haha. How did we pay when all we had were bathing suits and life vests??? With our locker keys of course! When we bought something, Spa Valley charged it to our locker number and we would pay the bill at the end!

After one of the rides!

Somehow we ended the ride backwards!
You can see our locker keys on our ankles..that's what the cool people do!

Our life vests made it easy to float and relax :)

Underneath a waterfall thing!

On the lazy river

When it got colder in the late afternoon, we headed to the indoor part of the water park. We lounged by the water jets in the pool, relaxed in the purple water hot tub, and put our feet in the "doctor fish" pool. We each paid the equivalent of $4 for 30 minutes. Doctor fish are these tiny brown colored fish that eat dead skin off feet! It took me about 15 minutes to get used to the tickling, prickly feeling. It was strange and awesome to have my feet cleaned by small fish, but I'm telling you--it worked! My feet were much smoother after 30 minutes it was crazy! I will definitely do it again and hope I get used to the feeling faster because every time I flinched or moved my feet, the fish would leave...and go eat the skin off Fluke's feet! haha

Purple hot tub!

Doctor fish!

Anyway, after the doctor fish adventure, we decided we should get going. In the locker rooms, they had bathing suit dryers! So, we put our suits in the dryers, changed into our regular clothes, and in 5 minutes, our suits were dry!!! It was awesome. They weren't completely dry, but almost...Anyway, we gave our locker keys to the cashier just before the shoe locker section. We paid the bills, then got our key back. Then we could get our shoes out of the lockers! It is the perfect system because who is going to leave without shoes? And you can't get your shoes until you pay your bill! Anyway, it was time to leave Spa Valley, but it was too early to head back to the apartment. So...we went downtown and saw a movie! 

We picked a perfect day because we got there before lunch, it wasn't a hot, sunny day, and most schools had Saturday school that day. We will definitely go back to Spa Valley!