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!

Hi everyone! Here's a quick update!

Hi! I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in...well...quite some time. So here's a quick update!

I've been busy at school...I teach the 4th, 5th, and 6th graders now! Really exciting. Each grade is so different and my 3 co-teachers are really fun to work with. I'm busier now because I can't plan ahead and prepare materials ahead of time like I did when I only taught 5th grade. This year, everything happens the day before I teach it! I'm starting to get used to it though :)


Next week is the first English festival of the year! Last year, the first festival was about Easter. Next week, I'm teaching about April Fool's Day!!! I'm going to start the lesson in Spanish. Tell the kids that the Dept. of Educ. decided they needed to learn English AND another foreign language. Since I can speak Spanish (well, you know, just a bit but the kids don't know that!) I will teach them Spanish too! Then I'm going to tell them about April Fool's, show them some good examples, and tell them I have a word search handout for them. The first person to finish it, wins! After a couple minutes I'll tell them, "APRIL FOOL'S! None of the words are there!" Oh, I'm so excited!! 


Alright, I know this is a quick update, but I need to get ready for my day! Today, I get to teach the 4th graders about high-fives, fist bumps, and shaka (hang loose). 

Bye everyone!
~Jenn

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!

Jeju Part II

So I know we haven't updated for a while, but I think Jenn and I are finally about to get back into the swing of things. We did have a very long vacation, and for the first part of it, while we did have sporadic moments of teaching, we didn't really have too much on our plate. Anyway, school officially starts today, and so we will be updating with more stories about teaching, random outings in Korea, and just Korea in general. Let's get this year started with a post about our second trip to beautiful Jeju island!

After a wonderful month in California, we went to Jeju for 4 days. It was mainly to see our friends one more time before they headed home. Their contracts ended last week, so it was our last chance to see them before we all eventually re-unite in California sometime in the future. We got there, and well, we were really surprised, because...it was snowing! On Jeju island! A place that in August had us commenting about the beautiful beaches and warm, tropical weather. I mean, it didn't even snow in Daegu that much! So we got there, it was freezing, but we still decided to go out and do something touristy.

After a really horrible bus ride through the mountains, we arrived at our destination. Sunrise peak. It was supposed to be the best place in Korea to view the sunset. And, it was the place that everyone sees when they google Jeju, for example:

We headed up a little hiking path starting from the left side, and after about 30-40 minutes, we got to the top. It was definitely a sight to see, although, I wish that it was greener than it was. Enough talking, check out the pics and see for yourself!

Before our hike. IT WAS COLD!!

A pretty nice view!

Our not so green view of the crater

After we finished hiking, we headed back down. Later that night, we tried something that ended up being pretty fun. We went Screen Golfing!! Which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. You use a real golf club, hit it a real golf ball, except that you're indoors. And hitting it at a screen. But sensors (I'm assuming), read your swing, and trace the ball as it flies toward the screen. So it's like you're playing golf, but virtual reality I guess? Although since this was the first time I've ever played golf (along with a general lack of skill all around), we got a double par on pretty much every hole. Wait. Scratch that, we didn't finish one hole. But it was still a really fun experience. They let you order drinks and snacks, and its more of a way to just relax and hang with friends. Although, in a room down from us, there were actual golfers, and they were much more impressive than we were!


We were also able to make it out to two very cool tourist spots. The first place we went to was called Gimyoung Maze Park. It is exactly what you think it is. A maze! I thought it was cool, but that was mainly because I felt like Harry Potter ;). The goal of the maze was to reach the silver bell, and it took me and Jenn half an hour, and 4-5 retries! Here are some pics!

The Maze!

Making our way through...

Made it to the bell!

After our Maze trip, we walked about ten minutes down the road to the UNESCO Lava tube. It was, well, a lava tube. I don't really have much to say about it, but it was definitely a good experience, and I really liked how they set up the tour!

At the entrance!

Those were the highlights of our Jeju trip! We didn't do as much this time because we mainly went there to spend some time with our friends before they left for California. We spent a lot more time relaxing and hanging out with one another; which Jenn and I really enjoyed! It was good seeing them one more time, and they will definitely be missed. If you guys are reading this, we miss ya, and we'll see you both in a year!

Back in Korea!

Hi everyone!!


Well, we're back in Korea and back to teaching English! I only had to teach 12 classes instead of 22, so that was a nice way to ease back into the routine! I've had a lot of free time at my desk, but I wanted to write about those 12 hours of teaching. My Co-teacher and I specifically skipped all four of the "Story Time" sections in the textbook in order to combine them all into one super story time lesson. Was it fun? Definitely not. Was it better to cram 4 story time periods into 1? Definitely! We actually got to read the story (filled with plot jumps, grammar mistakes, and very strange words...I mean do the kids really need to learn the word "liver?") in 1 class period so everyone actually understood the story. Normally, the story is broken into 4 parts, 1 part in each unit. This would mean that every 2 weeks the students would read the next part of the story. Not the best way to teach a story in my opinion. Anyway...


I knew that Super Story Time! would not be an exciting "Welcome back to English class everyone!" but we had to teach it (couldn't put it off any longer) and I was nervous about how the period would go. I was excited to see the kids again and I hoped they would be happy to see me too. While some kids only politely bowed when they entered the class, most students said "HELLO JENNIPA TEACHA!!!" and seemed excited to see me. Many wanted to talk to me, play with me (some new hand game thing kinda like the one where 1 person's hands are on top, the other's are on the bottom and the bottom hands have to flip up and slap the top hands.) So many of the students have new hair cuts, new glasses, and new clothes. They are always surprised when I notice those things!


I've finished all the classes (story time and a review period) this week and I have to say...I'm really glad I'm back in Korea teaching. I love my job, the students (most of the time!), and the friends I've met here. I definitely miss home and I'm so thankful I had time to go home for a month. Now, I'm ready for another successful year! Now back to teaching this week...Super Story Time was a success! When I asked them about it, the response was generally that it was not fun, but they were happy all the story sections were put together. The review period was much more engaging. I forgot how happy I get when I see 28 students on-task, practicing English, and having fun in my classroom. Sometimes, the kids are either sleepy zombies or hyper chatty monsters, but the moments when the entire class is learning...those make all the "What's going on with these kids today!?" moments seem like distant memories. 


Luckily, I have 1 more period to teach this year. I'm meeting with my Co-Teacher today to discuss our plan. I'm thinking...textbook scavenger hunt (might as well force them to go back in their textbook to review the content, right?), Golden Bell/Bomb Game Review (team competition games that are super popular in Korea), take a class picture (for me!), and give small treats/winning team prizes. I'll let you know what we decide to do. Alright, time to get back to work! Bye!

Vacation!

After a nice long vacation back home in California, Jenn and I are back in Korea! We will be updating our blog with new posts and whatnot very soon! :)