SLP Paintball Extravaganza

On Saturday all the staff members at Gangseo SLP participated in a day of bonding, fun and adventure. We went around an hour outside of Seoul to play paintball. It was all fun and games until the fun and games were over for the day and we noticed the huge welts that paintball had created on our skin. We passed them off as casualties of war (paintball war that is) and carried on with the rest of our days. SLP treated us to some delicious Korean barbecue, the bus brought us back home and most of us were pretty tired from the days festivities, so we had early nights. On Sunday a few of us went to Costco and then to see a movie: The Taking of Pelham 123 -- which was pretty great by the way -- and then on Monday did our regular thing and went to school. I'll have you know that today is Tuesday, and those things that were welts on Saturday have blossomed into the most fabulous rainbow colour bruises!







This one in particular reminds me of a meteor!




Do you think its an omen?





The other bruises don't really have similarly interesting stories to tell, although they do hurt just as much. They are a virtual cornucopia of colours -- or like a rainbow if you are looking for a more mundane expression. Perhaps I could say that they are like skittles? Once when my sister, C, and I were both quite little, I told her that a bruise on her leg looked like a hot dog with ketchup, mustard and relish... and then proceeded to poke it. Another time I seem to recall telling her that bruises were actually called 'hurt-buttons' followed by .. .*gasp!*... more poking. Seems like I was perhaps not as benevolent a child as I would like to believe I was.

Although I like to believe that I was actually a sweet child, and very good to my little sister, she is a very meticulous person and has been keeping track of the mean things I have done to her over the years. The vast majority of which were between age 7 and age 12 or 13 I believe. Apparently, after that I mellowed out a little. For the record: I don't believe that I was ever intentionally mean to either of my sisters. I will admit however that I did sometimes play jokes that I thought C and I would both find funny, but which in the end left C crying and me in trouble.

The one I am most embarrassed about happened right at the edge of that upper age range, because I know it happened after we moved to Newfoundland from Nova Scotia. We moved when I was 11, although I'd like to say I was younger than that when I had such poor judgement, its just not true. On this particular occasion, as I was getting ready to go to bed at night, I noticed that C -- who was also getting ready for bed -- was not in her room, but in the bathroom brushing her teeth with the door closed. This meant that she could not see me as I stole into her room under the cover of darkness and situated myself hidden beneath her bed. Quiet as a mouse, I waited for the tooth-brushing to finish so I could hatch my devious plot. It really was devious -- here's why. I was very careful to make no noise as C walked into the room and got into her bed. I continued to wait quitely while my parents came in to say goodnight, and walked out closing the door behind them. I stayed quieter still as I listened while my sister's breathing slowed. Just as I knew that she was on the edge of sleep, I reached up and around, without even breathing so I could not be heard and tickled her in the small of the back!

Needless to say, my sister was screaming halfway down the stairs to the kitchen and the safety of my parents before I even really knew what had just happened. Having intended to startle her, but not really scare her, the minute she started to cry, I also burst into tears. I almost cried writing this story, I still feel so bad about it. My sister has never really quite forgiven me for it either. Not that I can say I would feel any different if the situation were reversed.

Days that make teaching worthwhile...

Since I came to Korea and started teaching in November, there have been all sorts of different days. Days when I wondered why I had come here, days when I thought I might never want to leave, days when I was happy, days when I was sad and also days that were really just rather banal. There were days when my children made me want to tear my hair out, and then there are those good old days, that really make teaching worth while. I know I don't talk about those days very much, and they're not very tangible so I can't usually show you pictures, but one happened to me last week where pictures were available, and so here were are.

I actually have a number of really amazing classes. I also have a bunch of students who if I could teach only those students every day, I might never aspire to do anything else. All of the kids are sweet in their own ways of course, but some really stand out from others day in and day out.

One of those kids is a little girl named Iris. I call her Professor Iris after the old kids television show, and although she doesn't have any idea who that is, the name seems to please her quite well. She is such an adorably cute nine year old that I can't believe I don't actually have a picture of her on my computer. But I do have this picture of something she made for me!

Isn't it sweet? She looked so proud of herself when she handed it to me, and I was so touched. She is one of my best students, and it made me so happy to know that she cared enough to take the time and make me such a cute lily pad, with chocolates on the flowers. She must know how much I like chocolate!

I was so impressed and rejuvenated by her thoughtfulness and kindness that I took a whole bunch of pictures of that little lily pad, although I'll only burden you with three of them. I thought that her parents had been doing a pretty fantastic job of raising her up all along, but I hope that one day I also teach my own children to be this thoughtful and kind.

Teach English in Korea

For those of you who are either interested in what I'm up to in my free time when I wake up so early in the morning, or who are interested in travelling to Korea, this post is for you. For the past week or so I have been spending large chunks of my mornings getting a little bit of a name made for myself at a website called hubpages.com where I've been writing about teaching English in Korea under an alias, Laura Berwick. 'Berwick' came about because I didn't want to use my real name, and when I did a serch for unusal last names it was on the top of the list.


Most of the articles I've been writing for that site aren't really appropriate for this blog which is more of a friends and family sort of thing, so although I won't post each article here in its fully length and influence you to pull out your hair, I will post a few links for you to look at so you can take a gander if you're interested. Any and all criticism or opinions are highly appreciated!

• Teach English in Korea: Things to Know Before You Go



• Teach English in Korea: Is it for me?



• Teach English in Korea: What you Should Bring



• Teach English in Korea: Financial Considerations



• Teach English in Korea: Korean Kiddos

I know that there are still some occasional grammatical/spelling errors here and there, so if you see any when you are browsing through, please feel free to point them out to me. I would also love for you send me ideas or request an article you think I should write. I've found since I started this blog that I am really enjoying writing. I figure, the more I write, the better I'll get, and the more interesting this will be for all of you loyal (or even not-so-loyal) readers!

Seven months ago tomorrow, I was about to leave Newfoundland for Korea, and was freaking out. Thank you to everyone for doing your best to calm me down and build me up during that time, and for thus making it possible for me to be here. Also, thanks to everyone who's been so amazing since I got here, I look forward to my last five months and I plan to keep you up to date, and in the know. =)

Congratulations!

Although there is a Korean version of the Birthday Song with Korean words to the familiar melody, whenever we go out to a restaurant or somewhere at night, or even in class if someone does something silly this is the song that you hear. It's a new twist on an old favourite that I admittedly didn't even know existed before I looked it up. First listen to the video of the Korean children singing their little hearts out, and see if you can recognize the original song.

Next, listen to this original. Pretty fabulous metamorphosis isn't it?

Finally, shake your head in wonder at those silly Koreans... :) Who would have know that Cliff Richard's Eurovision song, could become what those Korean children were singing in class? It's pretty fabulous. Wherever we are, the lights will go down and everyone else stops what their doing and claps while the Birthday Boy or the Birthday girl stands up -- usually on a chair, or even a table -- and dances along.

There is a recorded version of this song somewhere between the original and the mutilated version these Korean kids are singing, but I haven't been able to find it yet. When I do, you'll be the first to know.

Friends and Coworkers: Amanda and Meghan

Amanda and Meghan are two of the most wonderful people that I have ever had a change to share office space with, and thus are worthy of their own post. They both show up fairly frequently in posts anyway, so I thought I'd give you a little introduction.

Amanda (left) studied anthropology in university and is the tiniest of all the SLP teachers, occasionally shorter than some of the children she teaches. She has a great sense of humour and a huge heart! She is very good at motivating people to do things, most often through respect, but sometimes through fear! She can be very fiery when she wants to be! She also makes what is possible the world most delicious chicken salad. She is an American, from Florida, and we try not to hold that against her.

Meghan (right) is one of the most hilarious people I've ever met, and my desk mate. Her personality is huge and sometimes squishes mine as a result of the desk sharing, but I don't mind because she is a wonderful person to share a desk with. She often brings delicious food to taunt me with when I've forgotten to bring something to eat, although she will occasionally let me have a bite if I'm looking really pathetic and desperate! I don't usually look pathetic, or desperate, but sometimes the delicious food that she makes drives me over the edge. Meghan currently teaches my devil class from last term, and when she tells me about them, I miss them. Every last one.

Meghan and Amanda didn't know that they were the subjects of a photo shoot, until it was much too late, but after that the books went up, and there was a fence between me and their loveliness. It made me sad, so I put my camera away...

But not before I took this quick little video so you could see the lesson planning in action!

On an unrelated note: Who knew my camera could make videos in sepia?

Korean Dentists

So, as you know if you have been following my blog, or my facebook, I have been spending a significant amount of time at the dentist recently, and so I thought it fitting to make a post about my excursions -- a little more whimsical than the first.

A quick recap : filling fell out, is now replaced and crowned, dentist visits in Korea = almost over!

The dentist that both Meghan and I have been going to actually has a nice little office on one of the busier streets near our house. Meghan and I usually cab it there in the morning because its usually quite early and neither of us are really up for the walking.

When we arrived on this particular day -- for some reason our appointments seem to always happen together. Its never by design (on our parts at any rate) but it is very convenient -- I started snapping photos for this post, and Meghan just shook her head and accepted her fate as the subject. She thought I was being weird, but didn't say it -- it was all in the look on her face.

Walking into a dentist's office in Korea is surprisingly like walking into a dentist's office anywhere else that I've been in the world. Its pretty simple and quiet, with nondescript music trying to mask the drilling sounds that are coming from the non-reception areas.

The waiting area really is pretty nice, as I described in my last post. There are computers on one side for people to use as they wait, and a sitting area on the other side with a huge fish tank that I really enjoy.

After Meghan went in for her appointment, I got a little bored and decided to play with my camera by taking pictures of my new phone charm that I got from a little girl for Teacher's Day.

But the phone charm is so cute, almost as cute as the little cupcake who gave it to me. It was easy to pass my time until the receptionist called my name taking her picture.

I went inside, the crown got its final cement, and my visit to the dentist was over in no time.

Puppies and Pigs

A very popular image being circulated by email chain letters these days is of this cute little toddler featured below giving his friendly neighbourhood piggy a big wet kiss...

The picture is talking about swine flu, and its a big deal these days, especially if you're a caucasian living in Seoul -- or a Mexican, living anywhere. Recently there's been a fair amount of hubbub about English teachers from North America bringing swine flu with them when they come to Asia and there's a fair amount of suspicion surrounding foreigners in general. Recently, an entire chain of private English schools called CDI was closed when one of the Korean children attending one of the schools tested positive for swine flu. Using a week long closure as a chance to jet home for a quick hello, one of the teachers from that chain of schools who lives in our apartment buildings is now out of a job, while her school finds out a way to send all of her stuff back home. Ouch. Its a sad and complicated story, but it does have a positive twist, in that while her stuff, including her adorable year-old puppy is waiting to make its way back to the States, I got to dog sit today with my friend Amanda!

This morning around 10:30am Amanda and I trekked to the poor girl's apartment to collect her amazingly wonderful dog, Nala and take her for a walk. Isn't she adorable? Oh, and Nala is pretty cute too! I was definitely game for dog sitting, but didn't have any personal experience with a dog, so I was happy to have Amanda along to help me out, and tell me when I was being a bad dog sitter. She's good to have around like that -- very honest.

Nala, is perhaps the most well-tempered puppy that I've ever spent time with. She was very calm, and did not bark once, even though she had never before met Amanda, and myself only once. She even let me take her picture so I could show it to all of you!

We were told that if we walked out of our building and just kind of let Nala take the lead that she would eventually take us to the park, and so we did just that. I didn't even know prior to yesterday that there was a park so close by. It was literally about a 5 minute walk from my building! I can't believe I've been missing it all this time! It's not the most amazing park that one has ever seen, but when I'm surrounded by buildings and concrete 90% of the time, it was a very refreshing change of pace! There was even a small pond with a few fountains!

We walked along through the park and let Nala chase some pidgins for a while and when she was tired we headed back towards home. It was so nice to spend a few hours in the morning out doing something so nice. I think that I might have to introduce it into my regular morning routine, perhaps before I go to the gym when it is still nice and cool. It was pretty hot though by the time we were finished, and I think even Nala was ready to head back to the apartment building.

We saw lots of different kinds of people on the way back, but Nala didn't really pay attention to any of them. Just walked on by like she was used to being a celebrity. Everywhere we went people smiled at us, and waved and tried to speak to us about the dog. She is very big for a city dog I think. While we did see other dogs while we were out and about, she was the only one bigger than the size of a small terrier.

I took a few pictures here and there, but Amanda and Nala were impatient with me...

And when I turned around they were already heading off down the road, so I put away my camera and ran after them to catch up.

Amanda stopped for a pizza to eat on the way home, and while I was waiting outside the pizza place because the dog couldn't go inside the four sweetest Korean children came to stand near the door and ask me question in Korean about the dog, with perhaps a dozen English words thrown in to make it interesting. I really couldn't understand the majority of what they were saying but they stood around chatting with us for the entire 15-20 mins that it took to make Amanda's pizza, so at the end I took their picture. It made them really happy. And it makes me happy to have the picture to show to you. The two girls in the front were the ring leaders, and the girl in the back that you can barely see really only said goodbye at the end, but they were all really sweet.

After that Amanda headed off and I brought Nala back to her house.

gave her some food and water,

and then put her back into her kennel.

We were both sad about that part.