October Korea

It's a very exciting week... tests and evals are done for the month..halloween on Wednesday. Cool temperatures and snotty kids, ah.
This weekend Joy and I took a trip to the south coast, back to a town I had visited last year. This year there was much less rain and we were able to be at the temple on the cliff for the evening bell and chanting. My first official Korean sunrise also came at the chance of being woken up by loud ajummas (older women) making the trip. It was beautiful and complete with applause from the audience. Luckily another spot I've been meaning to see was on the way home today. We stopped by the green tea plantation in Boseong. It is a beautiful area, but more than that, an opportunity to take pictures like a Korean. If you ever travel through the country you'll come to find that generally Korean's love to pose in dramatic fashion. Thus Joy helped me begin my own album of glamour shots. See below.
The word is my aunt and cousins are headed here this month, so well have to get in touch again to check in on details, but that should be fun to see some familiar faces in a now somewhat familiar land. It should be exciting.
Unfortunately, they've missed out on all the huge fesitivals of the year. This month has been a festive month indeed. Plenty to see and eat. I finally found the kimchee i've been desiring to buy, at the Kimchee Festival. We also tasted some more wild boar there. I've seen Korean yodelers, breakdancers, drummers, and more. All in Gwangju: the place to be in October. Good news from the apartment: a new chair. The due return for my recently stolen bike. It doesn't get me from here to there, but it is a good reading space: leather and comfortable. That's all for now. Enjoy the pictures.

Kids are Funny

So I will just give a few stories to validate my claim.

1. Dean- Sneezes a great sneeze...with this to his credit- he covers his nose with his hands...on the pullback he notices some remnants of mucus membranes...then proceeds to lick what had been projected onto his palms. (My reaction- amazement and disguised laughter)

2. Brien- After a somewhat frustrated warning to the class on their volume I overhear Brien explaining to Jay "Luke Teacher is very busy. Not only morning class. After morning class there is afternoon classes...two." Thank you Brien for your understanding.

3. Fred- As with any story from Very Easy Reading 1 I ask my normal comprehension questions. "What does the elephant use to pick up the woman?" Several hands go up. "Yes, Fred." Fred puts his hands together creating some kind of form I'm sure I've seen before..."Teacher...Dog!"... a moment of what is not clarity..."Yes, Fred...'dog'. Very good, thank you." (enjoyment of the moment) "Now can anyone tell me what the elephant uses to pick up the woman?" (his trunk)

4. An anonymous student of another teacher- In the midst of their childish energy set loose in the playroom a fierce game of scare the other person breaks out: growls, angry looks, and hand guns. Unnamed Student #1 approaches his teacher with a double barrel hand gun...stares with fierce eyes and shouts..."Kazakstan Police!" (a first year student mind you...the teacher surrendered, no negotiation)

5. Lance- Notorious throughout the school for his large skull...following the construction of a vest in one of our art projects, we proceeded in the fitting. Unknown to me Lance had proceeded on his own and one could only guess the outcome of his endeavor. As I made my way to his table I faced a broken vest and a defeated look. And the only appropriate response, which I have been waiting for for some time...perfectly spoken he informed me "Teacher my head is too big!" ( the vest was fixed)

Chusok 07

It is now the Chusok holiday. I have off till Thursday, thus a little time to write. I was up in the center of the country for about a day and a half in the pictures that you see here. Some good and bad things happened on that trip. Bad- 1. My ongoing hip pain was exacerbated to the point of not being able to sleep on my side, or shift my left leg to the right or left. 2. The weight from my new backpack was bruising my hips. Good- 1. I got to see a lot of those cool spiders. 2. I got to see a lake. 3. * a possible reallignment of my hips as the pain has ceased (my hypothesis being that the weight on them from the pack added the pressure needed to shift back into place) We shall see if this conjecture holds true or perhaps the pain is just taking a short vacation. But right now I am home, hoping to make it through the day before I test my mobility with a bit of soccer.

One thing which came to attention again this week was the need for Korea to think up better names for their cities. In America it's pretty easy to get around in the sense that if you ask for a ticket to Chicago it's likely you can get there without too much confusion. But in the past week I have traveled through Chunju, Chongju, and Chungju. The latter two happen to be an hour apart so at least your not far off with a mispronunciation. But really who does this? It's like putting a Hauston in Texas. I couldn't have survived without my excellent Korean phonetic skills. I appreciate Korean community in many aspects, but this lack of indivualism when it comes to name is a bit of a nuisance.

I have been in a bit of a rut with the lack of physical activity but hope that the recent progress will result in a return to normalcy that will allow me to get out of the house a bit more now that I have the time. I hope you all like spiders.

Well I am back in Korea after a wonderful time home with the family and a few friends. It was a great time of relaxation and time with my family. It was a bit of an adjustment coming back to the Korean heat, but it just broke two days ago and has been rainy with highs in the 70's: sweatshirt weather. I can't describe it, its sooo nice. Yesterday Joy and I were able to go to one of my old (her current) student's piano/violin recitals. It happened to be the same music school for several of my students. So I was able to witness Korean musical training. It is safe to say I was at a near to world class performance. It is unbelievable to see how quickly these kids learn. The student I went to see was an 8 year old girl and she was performing the first movement of Vivaldi's Concerto in a-minor on the violin...not a short piece by all reasonable judgments. This after a year and a half of lessons. After the recital we went out to dinner with her family. Sarah was too shy much to me, but I did get to talk to her 3 yr old brother as he ran through the restaurant.

Tomorrow will be the first day of my new schedule. We are doing a switch of afternoon classes for the last half of the year, and this means that I will not be working so late. A welcome shift. We also have a new teachers room on the 6th floor which is very nice. We have a little courtyard outside, which is the roof. Hopefully the transition to new classes will go smoothly. But I cannot express the relief shorter hours will be. Thats the latest news from Korea. I am also on the injured reserve. I went to the doctor to check out some hip pain I've been having for the past few months. I was able to get an x-ray for $40. It seems that I have an area of higher bone density caused by stress from overuse/poor posture, so I will be out for this soccer season and any possible racing opportunities. Not the best news, but at least I know what I need to do now.

It is now July. The rainy season began about a week ago. Though we've had a day or two of sun. Yesterday was incredibly hot and humid. The sun here is more intense than the one I remember in America.
I'm just on the other side of one of my more busy two week stretches. I had parent conferences yesterday. They went very well. I was lacking the nervousness I had last year. I feel my teaching has improved dramatically since the time I have been here. Last year I wasn't as confident. So knowing more about teaching and being able to talk more confidently about the kids and what they can do to improve has made life a lot easier with regard to meeting with parents. I also feel a much better rhythm to my teaching this year and I can more easily sense the class and what I need to be doing to maintain their interest and make sure they understand what were learning.
After a hot day yesterday, it started raining at night. It was a very strong rain, and we had lighting and thunder...a rare occurance in this area. I slept wonderfully to the sound of drops on the window. I love the rain.
So the word is not certain yet, but the hopes are that I will be headed home at the end of the month for a little vacation. I should arrive late on July 28. My aim is to have a relaxing time mostly at home with my family. Though I'm sure a few days to visit Harrisburg won't hurt. I'm very excited. It will be very nice to not teach for more than two or three days. I also have a mind for fig newtons and beans. I trust they are both still available stateside. Hope to see some of you soon.

It's been a while I've been wanting to visit Gyeongju, one of the biggest historical cities in Korea. It was very nice weather. They have bike rentals right outside the bus terminal so we were able to take some for Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we biked way out to Bulguksa, a very big famous temple; which took us long enough we spent the rest of the night in that area. This morning we road back into town and hit up some of the sights in the city. Of considerable enjoyment were an open field and a relatively clean river with snakes. On few occasions will you come across either of these in Korea in the foottracks I have made. We had two rather delicious meals for lunch yesterday and today...Ssam bap and Poori bap. Good things with rice. The large mounds above are burial sites for royalty. Not too exciting, but it was nice to see grass hills. There were a lot of random burial spots, temples, museums, etc. I thought the greatest idea was renting out bikes. That way we only spent 10 dollars on all of our travel the two days, rather than pay for buses and taxis that wouldn't afford us the flexibility or pace we were able to have. It was a very nice stay and a place to see if you ever do happen upon Korea. I hope I've offered enough pictures.

Kia Tigers

Spring has been in full effect and is turning to its less compassionate feel, heavy sun with the promise of oncoming humidity. The yellow dust is something Ill try to get a picture of for everyone to see. If you remember from last year it this heinous dust from the Gobi desert which is constantly airborne in the Korean spring. My throat is once again a victim of the storm. Almost on cue like last year, I have lost my voice. But I am hitting up the doctor sooner this year. Tomorrow.

As you can see I took in my first Korean baseball game last weekend. It was much like baseball usually is. Long. At least we got to witness Korean cheering. A lot of singing and banging on drums. Our home team the Kia Tigers won. I believe the bases are a little closer than in MLB. I got to see three triples in one game. One was a grand slam...triple.

The days are beautiful. The kids are good. The bottom picture is taken just under a temple I was visiting with some friends. Another beautiful day.

It was a nice weekend and a good time to travel. So we did. I really just want everyone to see a picture of my first fire in Korea. It works the same here, but we have the added luxury of bamboo. (it burns like paper but for a good 5-7 minutes) Four of us took the bus to a port on the southwest corner of Korea. We caught a ferry to an island the size of Messiah College. Nothing can speak to the joy of a fire in Korea on a near vacant island on a brisk and quiet Saturday night. The weeks continue to give me just enough exhaustion to recover from in two days. So fires are all the more in order, whether in my apartment or out. I find scent to be quite rejuvenating. I hope all is well with everyone. Enjoy the spring.

It is spring. As you can see the cherry blossom trees are in blossom. Its a wonderful thing to have weekends to go outside. Weekdays have been a long and tiresome with classes till 7:20 every day now. I feel much more prone to dancing...to shake off the stress of a day. And thus much of this weekend has been that...a birthday party and soccer dances. For me about 10 kids in every class is about as much as I can take. There's a lot to manage both in and out of class. Other stress relievers have been doing the dishes, folding clothes and watching Jackie Chan in Drunken Master.

It is a difficult time but a worthy challenge at this point in my life...to remain present in each moment and not let my attachment to class efficiency or well behaved classes get the best of me, and create a dependency on the future ie weekends, night. And kids have a great a ability to bring you back to where you are and enjoy the present moment. Even when they're throwing up on the floor or slamming their heads into walls.

I miss my kids from last year. Don't get to see too much of them as they are on the 4th floor and I am up on the 5th. At least Joy is their teacher, so she keeps me up to date on their recent sayings and activities.

The weather has been very nice. And the rain has been coming back slowly. I truly enjoy rainy days in Korea. Ill be traveling more soon hopefully. So hopefully I remember my camera and get some pictures. Ill just say Im sorry for those places I have missed recently by forgetting my camera. But enjoy the views of spring at the resevoir. And I leave you with this reminder of my face for those forgetting.

Seoul Marathon

I ran my half marathon this weekend. Yesterday to be exact. I can give some credit to a magnificent pre-race meal at Ali Baba Restaurant which included falafel, shish tawouk and kosharee, ilhamdullilah. It was a grand event including but not limited to: a wedding ceremony, pre-race dancing/stretching, mass korean style stretching, rain, and hitting a guy in the face. It was a lot of fun. I was placed in the back of the pack after not entering a race time. That got me into the groove of passing. I felt good most of the way excluding some foot pain. I finished in 1:23:06. A surprise, and I am glad it was concluded sooner rather than later, as my legs were surely on the way to legendary pain. I was most proud that I was not passed the whole race, but that might surely have to do with my starting position. I was 23rd overall and 3rd in my age group. The race reminded me of running along the river in Harrisburg. I was surprised to come to a point with no city outstanding on the riverbanks. I think I like that distance, though my legs have little nice to say at the moment. Maybe Ill do it again someday. Hope you like the pictures.

Graduation

I apologize for the long silence. These have been the crazy days of preparing for graduation, helping new teachers, saying goodbye to those leaving, and getting ready for the big switch at the end of the school year. Graduation was yesterday and I was very pleased with our performance. Unfortunately the people who were supposed to video it did not show up. So all I have is pictures. Sorry to disappoint so many, but know that you are the least of those dissappointed. But it was a wonderful graduation, the best the school has had, it was said. I was very proud of my kids. There weren't too many distractions. Ayoung broke the huge button off her costume and it bounced for a while. But it was nothing like Will Teacher's class where one kid fell on his butt after a pronounced trip and scuffle towards the floor. It was great.

My friend Joy, from home, is here now. She got in on monday and has been on the teacher training schedule. So she gets to watch other teachers and learn how to make tests, lesson plans, etc. I'm sure she's tired. I am ready to break the cycle of going out to eat. It has been every meal since lunch on Monday. Which means mostly more expensive and meaty meals. I have never eaten so much meat in a week. It must come to an end.

Next week is my half-marathon in Seoul. Im pretty excited, if my foot would get in line i would feel perfect. I think I strained it on monday from 10 miles and moving teachers to new apartments. I hope to get some good pictures from the race. It's been warmish here so it should be good for a long run.

Im sure theres more to tell, but at this moment Im just trying to get some time to do nothing, so I will finish this and do that. Hopefully more sooner than later.

I meant to get these pictures up a while ago as they were taken only a few days after the last you see below. The one of me is vain attempt to make a cool picture with this picture program I found on my computer.
I think it looks cool anyway. These days have been stepping up in intensity with preparation for our graduation performance. My kids are so easy. They've pretty much learned all their lines in a week and a half. I'm impressed anyway, but it will take more than that I'm afraid. Korea is very much about productions if you remember my talk from this time last year. Yes I have been here for a full year as of earlier this month. Doesn't really feel like it, as I suppose shall be the case for most of the years with my aging bones. Speaking of bones, I'm considering my first marathon, just came up as a thought this week as I saw information on one this April. Well see what happens with that, but as for now its a romantic vision.

Soraksan

The 12 am toll struck in a cab in Seoul with 5 other people and a tolerant cab driver. I had a short stopover there for the New Year and then headed to the northern Sorak mountains. Hopefully the pictures will bring through some of the beauty. It started snowing as I started hiking Tuesday morning. The higher I got, the more thankful I was I had gotten some crampons with a gift certificate from one of the other teachers. I had never hiked with crampons before, but they proved essential. I got to the peak around noon and was able to borrow a gas stove from the shelter and purchase some ramien for nourishment. The way down on the other side was steep and covered in several feet of snow. I wasn't sure where I was going but had an idea I could reach a town on the opposite side of the range. Luckily at the next shelter I met up with a group of Korean's on their way down from a three day hike. They asked me to accompany them and we spent a bit of the descent on plastic bags, carefully sleding down the twisted and rock infested path. I was worried someone would get spiked with the crampons, but there were no incidents. As it was snowing the visibility had been less than showy. But the descent afforded some amazing views of towering peaks and a snow covered river valley. The lower altitude brought on less extreme temperatures but a less pleasing rain and slushy footing. We finished in the dark at about 7. The family of one of the guys (Mr. Lee) in the group lived in the neighboring town. They hooked us up with transportation to a sauna where we were able to warm up. I was taught the method of sauna going. First shower, then hot tub, then cold tub, sauna, and then over again several times. "Good for health." Afterwards we were taken to the family's apartment where an amazing dinner had been prepared. We ate and then I was helped to find a cheap hotel in town. Mr. Lee was an english teacher in Seoul and another guy, Jake, spoke pretty good english so I was able to converse a good bit with the group. It was a lot of fun. They were very hospitable.

The next day I went back up the mountain with fresh batteries so you all could enjoy some pictures that I missed with dead batteries. It was a beautiful day, just phenemonal views. Hiking in the snow is amazing. Quiet, bright, difficult, dangerous at points, but inspiring. So enjoy the pictures. Or maybe I can't fit them, so Ill try a new post.