Sunday, August 17, 2008

This 'n' That

Some mini-updates:

On Friday, after my day in Seoul, I went to the grocery store. While there, I ran into one of my kindergarteners (Ryan) and his mother. He acted very shy, which was funny to me. His mom came up and introduced herself and asked how he was in class. I was pretty impressed with her English abilities. I told her that he's one of the smartest in the class, and is so much fun to be around. I think it made her whole week. Parents here place tons of emphasis on schooling. In fact (according to Lonely Planet) Koreans spend more on education than any other industrialized nation, but are like, 26th in average consumer spending. Anyways, it was a fun little exchange, and really great to meet the mother of one of my little rugrats.

Speaking of rugrats, here's a picture of my most advanced class:

That's Aileen, Jenny, and Justin. It's a PK-14 class, which means basically these kids have had quite a few years of English. This class is focused more on writing, whereas most of my other classes are focused on speaking.

Justin is such a fun kid. I think he's spent a little time either in Canada or the States, and LOVES writing. A lot of the assignments are to read a story, then write a new ending to it. He sits there and starts fidgeting as he's writing and saying, "Teacher! This is a very exciting story! Very exciting!" I love it. His enthusiasm for learning is awesome.

Also, kid-related - I was walking to the store today and saw that there's a random moon-bounce on my street. The kids looked like they were having a blast:


I've had a few peope ask how my Korean is coming along. It was easy as pie to learn the letters, and I can sound things out here, but the translating part is much slower. I get a lot of practice with TV - whenever they play American movies (all the time) they usually have the title in Korean. It's usually a funny pronunciation of the English title (For example, the Matrix would be pronounced Mah-tur-rik-sah). I realized this week that I should start photocopying my students' spelling tests, as they have to know the English word AND the Korean word... It would be a good way to learn basic words.

Since I'm not so great, I brought home the menu form from our favorite neighborhood restaurant, Gimbap Paradise, and translated a lot of the dishes so I'd know what to order when I go back. Here's the sheet pre-translation:


So now I know the words for tuna and stew and rice :)

Finally - we went Salsa dancing in Seoul last night... It was a BLAST!!!! We ate my favorite meal, galbi (see earlier post about my first weekend), at a restaurant that's called "Gooey Gooey." I'm sure it doesn't mean the same thing, but that's how the korean is pronounced. Here's me in front of the sign:

Every good Kansas girl needs a pair of ruby-red shoes ;)

And after the club, I saw my first passed-out Korean, and had to take a picture with him:

Too much fun!

And finally - today AJ and Danielle and I went to a restaurant called Butterfinger Pancakes. It was heavenly. Very delicious American-tasting pancakes and sausage and bacon and hash browns (the eggs were a little underdone and I think they made AJ and I sick). But it was an AWESOME brunch. Nearby, there's a statue that we named Aunt Jemima. We had to take pictures:


Then on the way home we detoured at E-mart and Danielle and AJ had to carry their large purchases all the way home. Apparently it's "Look Off In The Distance" day in Korea :)


That's it for today. Thanks to everyone who reads this blog, and if you have any suggestions to make it better, please leave comments!!

Love you all!

7 comments:

Jordan said...

Gotta love the passed out photo. Hey, can I get the pics you took on the bus ride home?
Oh yeah, and I have a blog now!
http://lifeandtimesofjordanmae.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Did you steal the passed out guy's wallet? What kind of money do they use over there? And finally, what is your address?

Emily Lucille said...

Michele - we use "Korean Won" in which 1000 won is about $1. A Big Mac meal, with fries and a drink, is 3,000 won. I left his wallet- You know, Karma, and all that... :) And my address is posted on the front of the blog - the really LONG address there.

Anonymous said...

becky looks like your having fun love the pictures

Anonymous said...

Man who is the hot girl posing in front of the cheech and chong resturant. Are you keeping track of the 'boot camp' excerises on line?? Are you sure that was not your date on the bench (got to love the no teeth look). I'll talk to you later.
love you
ps who the hell is becky

Emily Lucille said...

CJ - I just got my yoga mat finally, so I'm ready to go to town on the exercises... And actually, I was going to start last night, but Danielle suggested a bottle of wine instead, and I had to look out for my heart health too, hahahahha.

And my assumption is Becky is the legal secretary from the law office I worked at. I think somehow her name got put at the beginning of the comment..? maybe? Or maybe I told someone my name was becky, hahahaha. Salsa dancing will make you do crazy things! :)

Anonymous said...

How cute are you?! Looks like you're having a blast!