Happy Easter & Spring
Cherry Blossoms at Eumpa Park

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Easter means spring. In Korea, spring seems to mean the start of holidays. The past two weeks have been the Cherry Blossom Festival in Eumpa Park. Over the weekend
some of us went and walked the park to look at the flowers. I think I am in love with Eumpa park...I would love to live closer to it if it weren't so far from my school! However, if I walk there, it takes a
bout 30 minutes; which is good exercise.

We have been trying to meet up to go to some of the events at the park, but, since none of us know Korean, it was kind of hard to read the sign with all the events listed on them. About the best anyone could do was recognize the park name so we knew something would be there. We did catch the end of a B-Boy Group Wednesday night, but they were hard to see in the crowd.

A Traditional Dance at the festival.


Hoehyeon School Picnic in Buyeo

I don't know why they're doing this, but it was super cute.

Today was a school picnic that was less picnic-y than I anticipated because of the rain. The whole school was loaded onto three buses and driven almost 90 minutes to a place called Buyeo. It is some kind of fortress that was the capital city of one of the dynasties before Korea was unified.


We started to hike up the mountain but before we even got halfway it started to sprinkle. Koreans were already worried about acid rain from China, there is a myth that if you stand in it too long you will go bald. With what has been happening in Japan, they are now worried about 'nuclear rain' and think that they will get sick. So it was a mad rush back down to the buses to wait for the rain to stop. My mentor teacher clung to my arm the whole way down under my umbrella with me. I think it's kind of cute the way she does this.

We had lunch in a pavilion at Beyeo. The students were all going crazy for all the kitschy little stands set up around the parking lot. I think they all bought at least one silly toy. One of the third graders gave me a glow-in-the-dark cross and insisted I wear it. It was a very sweet gesture. I picked up a handkerchief with a map of the area on it and some decks of cards because they were cheap there.

With 4th Grade. My Mentor Teacher Mrs Lee is sitting next to me. She is their teacher.

Afterward we went to a Korean National Museum to look at a lot of ancient relics. It was a typical museum, not too exciting. It had English displays though, so I wasn't entirely lost. Their prize item is called the Gilt-Bronze Incense Burner of Baekje, which is very pretty. It's a 25 inch tall bronze egg-shaped burner with holes in it for the smoke to come out. I thought it was pretty and unique enough I picked up a keychain at the giftshop for myself.





Tomorrow the Provincial Office of Education is taking the TaLK scholars to Jeju Island for our 'cultural experience' trip. Teachers in the other provinces are going to the DMZ it sounds like...but I think we're all pretty happy to get to go to Jeju instead. I expect there will be a lot of pictures taken while I'm there...and I have to remember to get out the video camera.
10:42 AM | Category: | 0 comments

Your regular two week updates will continue..um..today?


I am clearly not very good about getting myself to post in a blog. Truthfully I have the attention span of a goldfish and the last thing I think about when I have downtime is what I've been doing. I spend more time thinking about what I'm GOING to be doing tomorrow.

It actually doesn't feel like it's been two weeks since my last post. Since then I had a great birthday party with my friends who came out from Jeonju. It was so good to see everyone again. We went to dinner a CGV which was supposed to be sushi, but we saw that the sushi place was soooo packed we decided to go try the Chinese place next door instead. According to Chenney, it was pretty authentic, so I can't complain.

We then went out to Naundong to meet people at The Rok then headed over to a noraebang. I do love me some noraebang and I wish we could go more often. It's a lot of fun even if you're in there for just an hour. We were there for two. Afterward back up to The Rok to meet some of the regular foreigners and as things wore down it was time to go home. It was a great time and I was very honored how many people came out to Gunsan for my birthday.

I don't know what we were singing but obviously it was sway-worthy.

Teaching has come with a lot of ups and downs. I wouldn't say my kids are out of control, but they are certainly not in control enough that I feel like I accomplish much with them. Talking too much is defiantly something that they have a problem with. Sometimes I cannot even hear what a student is answering because the rest of them are talking. I have tried a number of different methods but after talking with some people and getting advice from people back home who are teachers I'm hoping taking a different approach/reward system will help them to understand what I expect from them.

However, I have found what activities my problem classes do enjoy. It feels like it took me too long to discover, for example, that my 4th grade students like to draw instead of doing
worksheets. At least I know now, so we can have an easier time in the future.

Early this week I was not feeling
particularily fantastic because everything that was going wrong was happening all at once. Again, not dying here, but after a while things build up and it's hard to deal with. I try to go out and visit my friends as much as possible. Also I got myself a fish and a plant to liven up my apartment a little in the hopes it will make me a little cheery. At the very least I can talk to them both. The fish responds, I swear! =P

Today, though, there was no school because it is their anniversary since opening. Unexpectedly, my mentor teacher called me this afternoon to ask if I wanted to go out with her. We went to Eumpa Park and walked a little and had lunch. It was nice because I have actually not done anything with her because she is so busy. Now I feel like that is kinda true, because she sounds like she wants to try to do things with me like this in the future. Also she tells me all the time that she thinks my fashion is good, which is flattering, because I don't really do a ton to look good.

Last weekend the Cherry Blossom festivals all started. They are not in full bloom but hopefully this week they will come out. I hope I will get to go with some people and experience them. It sounds like some will come next weekend, but as much as I like going out with big groups, I like going out of one or two people as well. We will see what will happen. But, I'm sure it will be good.
1:44 AM | Category: | 1 comments