Mom's Pasta Salad Recipe

Friday (6/29) was Ashley's birthday!  Yay!!  She's older!!  Not as old as some of the rest of us (>.<) but she's moved up a year. 

And to celebrate a group of us are getting together for a potluck style bbq to stuff our faces, fill our livers with booze and make a night of it with good friends! 

With little in my kitchen and even fewer cooking skills, I offered to make/bring a pasta salad!  Boil water, chop up some stuff, mix it together.  Done!   

And that's all it took.  Quick and simple.   But the best part was I made one of my mom's recipes and it's one of my favorites!!

I don't know the name of it.  I'm not sure if it even has a name.  So I shall call it Mom's Slaw Spaghetti Salad.

It's delicious, you should try it, here's how to make it!

 

- Assemble the ingredients

**the wine was for me to drink while I cooked, not for the recipe ^^

- Put the pasta (1lb) in a pot to boil

- Dice the green pepper and onion

See the full gallery on Posterous

- Mix with shredded cabbage

See the full gallery on Posterous

- When pasta is ready, drain, rinse, let cool and then mix with veggies and add slaw sauce (~10oz).

See the full gallery on Posterous

**My mom uses Merzetti Slaw Dressing, I couldn't find that here, but I'd recommend going with it!!

- Add salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese to taste.  

Eat!  Enjoy!! and hopefully you made less of a mess than I did when you were cooking!  :-/

Check It Out: Travel Blogs

Today during some of my down time at school, on Facebook of course, I saw that a friend had reposted an article about travel.

No lack of love between me and travel, I immediately clicked on the link and found the article to be pretty interesting.  Interesting enough to lead me to read more on the blog from which it originated. 

As I've said, I love finding new blogs!  So when I liked this article, and found that I was liking more and more of the blog, I did a little dance in my seat, mental fist punch in the air that I had found a new blog!!  Travelettes - Backpacking in Heels

This then lead me to find another blog!!  As the Bird Flies

Omg such a good day!!  Two new blogs to look through, find new bits and add to my growing list of blogs to which I've become addicted!

You should have a look at them too.  Just saying.  You can thank me later!  ^^

What do you Want?

I've already told you about the nightmare of an open class and I've already told you about the ease of my Thursdays, but you haven't heard the story of how the two were combined!  Yea! I know!  WtF?!



Last week my Principal decided, that despite her actions during our first open class, she was going to have Mrs. Jang and myself perform a special, random, done-to-impress second open class.  It was a bit.... "Are you f^@$*#& kidding me?!", but we could handle it.

All we had to do was: 

- pick a class

- plan a lesson

- make the lesson

pray it went ok.

Since it was going to be held on a Thursday (6/28), a day I have zero classes, we pulled one of the 4th grade classes we are scheduled to have on Fridays.

Pick a class - check!

As it turned out, this open class wasn't a real open class (not like my first one was either, with a certain head of school showing up at the very end and making noise the whole time), this open class was going to be for visiting ____ from Vietnam.  As always you know how much they tell me (5.92123/100%), so I was fully clued in as to what and why this special, random, done-to-impress second open class was being held.  Yup, no.  Not a clue.  Bring it!  

The current lesson we were doing with the 4th graders focused on asking and saying: "What do you want? / I want ..." and "How much is it? / It's ...".  We had covered items you could buy (doll, puppy, candy, bike, etc) and learned how to say two currencies in English - the Korean won and the American dollar.

So what to do during the open class?!

We had already done one shopping game using Korean won, so for our open class we were going to make a new shopping game using American dollars!  And what better shopping game is there than... Mall Madness!?  haha no, but that game was awesome!! Hello 90's, you rocked!!

We were going to play Monopoly!

Plan a lesson - check!

I thought the task of actually making the game would be the difficult part.  But with a co-teacher as awesome as Mrs. Jang, all I had to do was print out the money and laminate it.  She would take on the task of assembling the Monopoly boards (7!!) and cards.

Make the lesson - check!

All that was left was to pray it went ok.  

It did.  Sort of.  There was a lot more Korean being spoken than English, but the kids loved Monopoly.  They were mental for it!   Some even understood how to play the game, others... eeeee... not so much.  But they all worked out a way to play in their own fashion.

And the visiting ____ from Vietnam, they didn't show up.

Well, that's a lie.  They did show up.  They came after the lesson was over, after the kids had left, after I had signed back on to Facebook and was ready to enjoy the rest of my Thursday doing nothing.

They had a look at our classroom, took some pictures, took some pictures of me (weird), asked how long I'd been in Korean and then left.  Awesome.

Korea never fails to keep you on your toes.  Special, random, done-to-impress second open class was for nothing the kids!  They loved the game and it was great to see them going after it as much as they were.

Here's a look at Monopoly: the Miss Redding and Mrs. Jang Edition

How to play the game:

• Roll the dice and move your piece


• When you land on an item, the other 3 players will ask "Do you want the _____?"


• You answer: (1) "Yes, I do.  How much is it?" or (2) "No I don't.  Goodbye."


• If the first (yes), the other 3 players respond "It's $X."

• The next player rolls the dice and moves their piece.


• Previous steps repeated.

• Chance and Community Chest were replaced with "Lottery" (get $3) and "Donate" (give $5) spaces, and the utilities were replaced with "Roll again" spaces.

• Players did not try to roll doubles to get out of jail, instead they just paid $5 to the middle/free parking.


• All money was paid/taken from the middle/free parking.

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Updated:

I added tags to all my post.  Should you want to find something or revisit a story, use the tag links on the right to streamline your search. 

Check It Out: Movie Blog

I love blogs.  I love writing one, reading them, finding them and I especially love blogs my friends write!! 

Most of my friends' blogs are about Korea.  We might live in the same country, have the same job and do similar things, but our experiences are different.  And that's amazing!  My stories usually come across as funny rants while others are able to take a more positive spin to their story telling... oops... but it's all good fun.

One of my friends who is blogging and NOT living in Korea is Anna!!  She was my housemate and co-worker when I lived in Washington, DC and she and her blog are fantastic!!  

She's a movie lover.  Actually, she's more than a lover, what's a bigger word than lover?  Enthusiast, admirer, worshiper, fanatic?  She's all of them!  Even though they are synonyms of each other, if you add them up (and still add more!) then you'd understand just how much this lady loves movies!  And I love her for loving movies!!  

When we lived together we'd watch endless amounts of movies, and although some of the ones we watched were not to my liking (Nicholas Nickleby) it was always an experience - watching and talking and discussing the movie once it was over.

And now she is doing that for all the world to see.  She's blogging about movies with her friend Kari, and the two of them together make a great, funny, interesting team of critics.  

I can't think of many female team movie critics.  Usually they are men - and old - and I find them hard to relate to or see their point of view.  Or perhaps I'm too pop culture and too much a child of the 80's to see their side of things; but I can and do relate to what Anna and Kari are saying on their podcast.

Sidenote: I'm not sure what to actually call Anna's blog.. or is it a podcast... I guess it's both, so I shall refer to it as a blogcast. 

But the blogcast is really great!!  And you all should take a look and listen to it!!  Visit them at Two Women, a Movie, and a Microphone!

No. 2 Pencils Ready

At 9:10am today throughout all of Korea, 6th graders were told to begin the National Assessment of Educational Achievement exam.*  

For 4 periods they will sit and be tested on materials they have learned since the 4th grade.  Their knowledge of Korean, social studies, math, science and English will all come down to which bubble they mark with their pencils. 

And while they suffer, labor and worry over their performance on the exam, I'm just hanging out.

According to the Korean Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation (KICE) the purpose** of the test is to:

• 
  
  
  
  • To diagnose the educational achievements of elementary, middle and high school students and the trends of their achievements.
  
  
  • To provide fundamental reference data for improving the National Curriculum by analyzing the degrees of students' achieving educational goals of the curriculum.
  
  
  • To improve the teaching and learning methods and produce basic data used to set up a learning encouragement policy by analyzing assessment items and the relationships between contextual variables and academic achievement.
  
  
  • To provide schools with exemplary assessment methods.
  
  
  • To employ and distribute the use of current research design and methods such as trend analysis and standard setting.
  
  
  
  

But all Korean teachers know the test is just a lot of stress and work, and that the government will ultimately use the results to rank the schools and give awards to the principals of those schools that perform the best.

Poor little mini-humans being put to work for the benefit of others.  I mean, I'm not complaining, Tuesdays are my worst day!  Thanks for the downtime monsters! ^^

 

*9th graders were also tested.  The content of their exams was similar to that of the 6th graders, but materials ranged from what they had learned between grades 7-9th.

**this information is from a 2009 report, no newer materials were listed on KICE's website.

Panties in a Bunch

Badminton is really going well.  I feel powerful with my returns, confident carrying out the different hits and (sometimes) quick about covering the court.  

My only problem is with the outfit.

I've played a lot of sports throughout my life.  It all started with soccer.  I began playing when I was about 5 years old.  Next I joined city league softball.  Basketball came in during the 5th grade.  At some point around then I learned to ski.  Then in middle school, volleyball replaced soccer and I joined the track team.  

Ultimately it was volleyball that won out.  I played two seasons a year starting from the 6th grade all the way up until I graduated from high school and then I moved on to playing college ball.

 

But we were talking about outfits (or more to the point - uniforms - but for this post it's about what to practice in, so if you'll allow it - outfits).

The outfit for volleyball is simple.  Cutoff t-shirt, sport bra, spandex, knee socks, knee pads and your shoes.   The best part is your spandex.  

They are so tight and small that underwear isn't really something you need to consider.  Actually you don't consider it.  You just don't wear them.  As I said, spandex are small and tight as it is - two birds, one stone.  

But living in a country that claims to have a modesty issue about tits and ass, spandex seem an unlikely ally to have.  Especially when you are practicing with your Principal, Vice Principal, and now 4 other teachers from your school.  

But the humidity and footwork are winning out as the more pressing issue in determining what I wear to practice.  

I've already given up wearing leggings and tees and have moved to shorts and bra-baring cutoffs.  I didn't have a choice!  Summer has started to set in and the humidity is averaging in the upper 60 percentile!  I start sweating just in my warmup!

At first I felt uncomfortable in my cutoff.  My Principal can see my bra!!  My Vice Principal is getting flashed some skin!  But dear God it's hot.  

See the full gallery on Posterous

The cutoff has eased some of the temperature troubles, but what I need is spandex!!  

The footwork for badminton feels similar to volleyball.  Quick, short, low balanced steps that carry you in and out of your home position.  They're easy enough to do, but not easy on wedgie riding panties.  I can't return two volleys without having to discreetly try and pull my panties back into their desired position!

If I thought showing part of my bra was bad, how much worse is it to be constantly picking wedgies in front of my superiors?!  

 

So Korea you have choice.... spandex or grandma panties?!  And please, please, plllleaassseeee pick spandex!

Tweet

The world of social media is a vast and often times faceless community.  You can follow people, be friends with people, like their stuff, and share their posts; and while that might be a connection, it isn't really personal.  

I use all the big social media sites.  So by no means am I discrediting them - you can find me on Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook... and probably others I signed up for at one point and have since forgotten about - but what my point is, is that real connections, true interactions are limited.

Especially for sites where the author has thousands of followers that visit daily and the comments/likes number in the hundreds.

As my friend, Josh, pointed out to me last night, I do not work these said social media sites in a manner that builds a following.  And he's right.  I don't do that.  I want to do that.  I just don't know how to do that.  Ahh internet you have once again (and always) outsmarted the workings of my understanding.

But one person who does know how to do that, and is doing it well is Leslie Kay of DisneyBound.  I visit her page on a daily basis, and although it is rare that I leave a comment on her blog, I have sent her a tweet or two and to my delight she's responded!

I got this one back from her while I was out walking around the shopping streets in Nampo yesterday (6/23).

See the full gallery on Posterous

It's a small thing that probably only matters to me, but I was struck by how nice it was.  She has thousands of followers (5,000+ on her twitter and I'm sure many more times that for her blog), yet she still responded.  

It's just nice.  

Should my Twitter, Instagram, blog and what have you ever reach such a large following, I hope I'd be able to do the same - stay truly connected to those that invested in me and are interested in my life and words.

 

Bambi: “I'll never forget any of you.” | Thumper: “Of course not. Can't forget your bestest friend.”

Call Me Maybe

My 5th graders (and my 6th graders, since apparently I have trouble reading a lesson plan) have been learning how to talk on the phone.

After teaching the vocabulary and practicing with several "Bomb" games, I gave my students a partner activity - come up with your own phone conversation.

Here's one I got:

Student 1 - Hello?
Student 2 - Hey, I just met you and this is crazy, but here's my number, so call me maybe.

Hahahaha no, just kidding, but wouldn't that have been awesome?!

Here's one of the dialogs my students really came up with.   The girl is one of my top students and the boy barely speaks, but for some reason he was inspired to do this activity and as a result his fellow classmates voted them the best!!

Take a look.

Mrs. Jang even made little props to make it all the more real!

Key Expression

My 6th graders had gotten out of hand.  So much so, that I had to develop a new rule.  It was easy enough to remember, yet I still made my students practice and repeat for 5mins to really drive it home.

Act like humans.  Not monster.

Act like humans.  Not monster.

Humans can control themselves, monsters can't.  "Which are you?", I asked them.  Most of them agreed they weren't monsters, and would do better to act as the mini-humans they are.  

It's still a work in progress.  But today I felt confident that the monster virus has begun to be eradicated from my classroom and with it hope is being restored.  I feel so confident that a full recovery is possible, that today while they worked I let them listen to music.

This was one of the songs they requested....

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btDd9rOlc2k?wmode=transparent]

Not sure if I should read into the song title or not... but I do love Big Bang.  Here's to all the monsters!

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Updated:

The Korean Bucket List link up top has been added to again.

Phonics Town

She's famous.  Like actually famous!  Famous AND renowned throughout the education sphere in Busan.  

I have been working with Mrs. Jang for a year and a half now and had no idea the level of fame I was working with.  Of course I knew she was a quality teacher.  But famous?  Wowwww.

Why is she famous?

A few years back, Mrs. Jang developed a method for teaching phonics that the Busan Metropolitan Office of Education thought so highly of they had a city-wide training session so that all schools could learn Mrs. Jang's system and begin employing it with their students.  

I have watched/listened to/helped out a tiny bit with some of the phonics classes Mrs. Jang has done with our students, and every time I felt totally inferior.  How did I not know those two letters made that sound when they were at the end of a word?!  Of course the 'e' is silent, I knew that, but I never knew why!  Omg!!  She's a genius!!!

And endless teachers have been telling me that as well.  The training course I've been doing this week and last, has introduced me to ~100 teachers from every corner of Busan.  All of them have asked who my co-teacher is; when I answer 'Mrs. Jang', there is an awe that goes through the classroom as every teacher nods their head in approval and one or more comments on how "she's famous"!  

Who knew I'd get to work with a celebrity when I came to Korea.  Sure she's not TOP or Jessica, Tiffany or one of the other girls from GG, but she's inspiring kids all the same!!  

Here's a look at some of the pages from Jang's English Class - Phonics Town.

See the full gallery on Posterous

Ruby Slippers

Today I felt a bit like Dorothy.  Just like her in her ruby red slippers.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IErqIMLwtQ?wmode=transparent]

Actually, let's be honest, those shoes were never hers.  They were snatched off the feet of a freshly killed victim of a freak drop-a-house-on-you accidental murder, and given over to Dorothy by a strange women acting all wobbly and whimsical.  Yea, I'd take those shoes too.  Noooo Dorothy!!  Crazy fool!  

They ultimately got her home, but they brought her more trouble than any shoes I've ever owned.  And all for a pair of sparkly heels?!  

Yea, who am I kidding I'd totally take those shoes too!  

But what I would not take, but was forced to take was a pair of ruby red gym shoes.  And socks.  And a shirt.  And a pair of workout pants made of the heaviest, humidity-unfriendly polyester to ever exist.

Yyyyaaaa I love when we have volleyball at school and they make me play regardless of the fact that I forgot and have none of my own stuff.  Yyyyaaaa it's soooo awesome wearing other people's stuff.   >.<

Here's me, in all my borrowed gear - looking like a misfit champ. 

  

 

I LOOOVEEEE 'The Wizard of Oz', I am by no means bad mouthing it.  It's one of my all time favorites.  

Milestones

For both babies and relationships, reaching 100 days has a big significance here in Korea.  

For babies it is more historical.  Back when times were hard, it was believed that if a baby survived to be 100 days old the odds were in its favor (a bigger celebration and sigh of relief was given if the baby made it to its first birthday, but every milestone is a hurdle passed).

Why it is significant in relationships, I really haven't even a single guess.  Perhaps it is the same as with babies - that if a couple reaches 100 days, they've passed the worst of it and their love is sure to blossom.  Idk, but doesn't that sound fitting for a Hallmark card?  

I do know that 100 days carries more weight for older couples than it does younger.  In Korea, if a women isn't married by the time she's 30, she's viewed by most as an old maid and her chances of getting married once she's crossed the premature over-the-hill hill decrease.  So when a women (or man) is older and in a relationship for at/around 100 days, one thing starts to be on both parties' mind - marriage.

I was discussing this with my Korean friend, Minju, the other day and I couldn't help but think how insanely short 100 days is.  How can a person be ready to commit themselves to another human being after only being together for 3 months?!  Surely 100 days is not enough to learn all there is to know about a person and discuss the foundations of their beliefs and learn about their desires and goals for the future!  You can't even finish a jar of peanut butter in 100 days.  How are you going break down someone's soul in that amount of time!?

So while Minju was saying 100 days was all it took, I was eagerly offering my opinion of a year, to two years at least!  And why even rush that!  But I am not yet 30 and still trying to find myself so for me I need a bit more time.

 

Who doesn't need more time is my co-worker, Haejin!  

She came into my classroom after lunch today to tell me that she's getting married!!  You're what?!  Ohhhh myyyyy goosshhhhh!!! That's soo exciting!!  Do I get to come to the wedding!? OMG! OMG! OMG!!  I was squealing and jumping up and down like the tween girls I dislike so much.  But I couldn't be more happy for her.  

She has been dating her future husband for just over 100 days, she's older than 30, but I know it's going to be great!!  They can grow old together and have hundreds more 100 days together.  

 

The best is yet to be -- the last of life for which the first was made.- Robert Browning

 

Duck Hunting

"Did you ever see anything quite as ugly as that great tall creature?"

That's how I feel.  I've always felt a bit like the 'Ugly Duckling'.  

I can't say why it is.  I know I'm not ugly, but it's just a feeling I've had about myself since... probably middle school - when other girls started to learn about makeup, and how to do their hair and pick out pretty clothes; I was the one with the bad bangs and hair pulled up in a ponytail/bun/rats' nest on top of my head, no real makeup skills and wearing t-shirts that were oversized.  I'm sexy and I know it.  No.  Those bangs were baaaaddd.  It was all bad. 

I'd say I didn't really come into myself until college.  And that's quite a late bloom.

After taking all those years to finally figure out my own face, body and hair it's really no wonder why I'm haunted with this 'Ugly Duckling' syndrome.  

Again, I know I'm not ugly, but I still find it discomposing to be told I'm "pretty".  My natural response is usually to say "No!".  That's not me, you have the wrong girl.  I'm the big ugly creature. 

So you can imagine how much my composure fell apart when my looks attracted some very unwanted attention Saturday night (6/16).

 

I had gone out with some friends to enjoy the night and one drink led to another, and then some tequila shots were bought, followed by another drink, a second round of tequila and fast-forward a few hours and everyone was feeling the effects and started to peel off and head for home.  I was not as smart.  My good friend, Eva, was celebrating her bar's 3rd anniversary and I wanted to stay out and celebrate some more.  

Lots of people were still out - some I knew, some I didn't; and being a friendly drunk I was talking to a lot of them.  One of the guys I happened to make polite conversation with must have had a few more drinks than I did, because he had his beer goggles on tight and he did not see the ugly duckling that he was talking to, but instead he seemed to find something he really fancied.  What I found was an overly eager older man, whose attention I did not desire and was trying my best to avoid.  

My efforts were for naught, because he did not leave me alone.  He followed me around the bar, would stand behind me or next to me while I was talking to other people and even when other friends told him to back off he merely responded with "I love her" and kept right by my side.  

I've never felt unsafe in Korea.  I've never felt threatened or in danger.  And perhaps it had something to do with the tequila shots I had earlier in the night, but in that moment, I felt scared.  Despite being in a crowded bar I couldn't get away from this man.  I just wanted to escape.  I just wanted him to leave.  I'm the ugly duckling!!  You're supposed to ignore me!!

I finally had to leave the bar to get away from him! I rushed down the stairs and crossed the road to another building, climbed to the 5th floor and sat alone in the dark to wait him out.  But he was seasoned hunter.  He followed me with ease and was nearly stalking me again had it not been for the help and saving of Mike and Marcus.  

Mike had only been an acquaintance before that night and I had never met Marcus - but now they are my saviors.  They followed me out of the bar and stood at the base of the stairs so that the man couldn't follow me.  They told him that he was upsetting me and that he needed to leave.  After a few minutes of back and forth with this man, he finally left.  

The rest of the night, Marcus and Mike hung out with me and kept nearly all other men from approaching me.  

It's not exactly how Hans wrote it, but all ducklings have to make it through the tough parts.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMLNTIZR620?wmode=transparent]

 

But what did he see in the clear stream below?  His own image; no longer a dark, gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan. 

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Views

I've passed 10,000 views.  

That feels pretty good.  

Thanks everyone for stopping by and checking out what's been happening.  

A Letter to Travel

This has recently gone viral across facebook, but I wanted to share it because it is a note I could have written and have written and know all too well.

Africa turned the light on for me.  And I'm forever grateful.  

I hope people can notice the change it made in me, but if they can't that's fine too.  In the end I went for myself and the changes are for myself as well.

But more than anything I would hope that this note, my stories, others' stories, anyone's stories about travel encourage those who have not left the comforts of their home to get up and go.  

Go to Delhi, go to Saigon, go Bangkok, go to Kenya.

Just Go.

Bullseye

The other day at the beach, a group of friends and I got to talking about the Olympics.

I was the only American present amongst several Canadians and the topic quickly moved away from individuals sports and on to which Games are better.  Summer or Winter.

I said Summer, I've been to a Summer Games (the '96 Games in Atlanta) and have almost faithfully watched ever since.  However, my Canadian friends unanimously said that the Winter Games are better.  

Our disagreement came down to medals - Americans are better at the Summer games and Canadians are better at the Winter Games.  (Although America has more medals in the Winter Games than Canada.  Sorry, facts are facts.)

This then lead to 'how has Korea done in the Olympics?', and to be honest, none of us knew the answer.  But we did know one thing!  Koreans are good at Taekwondo and Archery!

After that, the beach conversation on the Olympics ended and our chat moved on to something else, but the conversation followed me.  

 

Wednesday (6/13) as I was getting ready to "take a rest" after my last lesson, Mrs. Jang asked me if I'd like to go outside and watch a demonstration.

An archery demonstration done by local high school students who... are archers and are... well I'm not sure about anything more than that.  Information is slow to get passed around here, and even slower to get passed to me.  So... some high school students came, shot some arrows and then they let some of our kids shoot at the target too.

See the full gallery on Posterous

I was really impressed!

Not only were the high school students really good, but so were my students!  Most of them managed to get their arrows in the target and a few even managed to come close to hitting the bullseye!!  

Dang!  Korean kids really do excel in all areas!

Oh, but wait!  I forgot!  Of course they would practice archery at their hagwons.  Doesn't everyone?!  First we will study history, then math, followed by English before we head outside and fire deadly weapons.  It's only natural, right?!  @.@/  Maybe not, but it's sooo cool!

I wish I had had an after-school program like that!

 

It's not the winning that matters, it's the taking part.

As of today, there are 43 days until the opening of the London 2012 Summer Olympics Games.

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WTF?!

Posterous seems to be playing Hide-n-Seek with my posts.  For which I am NOT happy!  So I am going to try and remember how I wrote up my archery post.

Posterous this is bullshit, get your act together or I'll find another site to do my ranting and story telling on.  I hear Blogger is good!  >.<  

White Envelope

In Korean culture, money is given in a white envelope.  And on Monday (6/11) I was given a very big envelope!!

 

A few months back, I had been asked to present at a Korean teachers' training seminar.  The length of the seminar would be short - just six days over two weeks, the pay would be good, but the work leading up to it would be a lot.  

I think I was focusing more on the money, or perhaps I didn't realize how much of a procrastinator I am or how difficult it would be to come up with twenty four pages of materials; because needless to say, I was suffering!!  

I was only teaching one class, yet I needed to submit twenty four pages.  The Busan Education Training Institute (BETI) requires you to hand in four pages for every class you will teach.  And since I was going to be teaching six classes, I had to submit twenty four pages; despite the fact that I was teaching the SAME class six times!  >.<

But thankfully, and somehow miraculously, I got my manuscript done on time, put together a PPT and then put the whole thing out of mind.  

I didn't think about it again until this past Monday, when I left school early with less than a clue as to where I needed to go.  "Ride the subway to X, then ask a cab driver to take you to Y.  That should get you there!"  EEeeee!! Do they not know I'm horrible with directions!  I have actually been lost in my hometown!  And that is suburbia!!  This is a giant, big, scary city!!!  EEEee!!!!!

But I got there and I could not be happier, because I was given my white envelope.

I knew going in that I'd possibly receive about a million won for my work.  But that was before taxes.  And being American, I expected the government to have a heavy hand in my money and take the majority of it away.  But then this is Korea!!! and they do not do that here!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Hello money!!! 

Despite the stress leading up to this course (mainly over the insanely large manuscript that was required), it has just paid for my summer vacation and made it all worth it!!  

Almost

I was at the beach today.  My parents are at the beach.  

It's almost as if we were at the beach together.

Just on opposite sides of the world.

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Updated:

The Korean Bucket List link up top has been updated again.  

Saturday School

Korea used to operate on a 6-day school week.  But this year, they did away with that nonsense and let the kids enjoy their school-free weekends.  

Or they did for about a week.  

Busan started SAM - a Science, Art and Math Saturday morning program for students to develop and enhance their English skills.  It's not exactly school, but students still aren't free from an educationless weekend.

And me, like a fool - yet again - signed up to be a SAM teacher.  In truth, I only applied.  The information the Office of Education provided wasn't even enough to understand what the program was.  So I applied thinking three things:

• I'd get more information


• It'd be a chance to work more closely with students


• I'd make some extra money

But what I got from applying was a ball-and-chain - not even strapped to my ankle, but latched around my neck!  The program was overwhelming.  I was suppoed to teach 10 Saturdays in the first semester.  That is nearly every Saturday in the first semester!! 

By applying I had apparently already said 'Yes' to teaching for the program, and signed my Saturdays away without getting to look over the contract or terms of agreement.  Goodbye Friday night drinking, so long Saturday hangover, adios sleeping in; from now on I have to get up and teach.

Despite losing my Friday nights/Saturday mornings, I did manage to get a fairly good arrangement.

• I would be teaching earth science


• To middle schools boys (eek!)


• At a school on Yeongdo (across the street from my school)

And!!! the best part of it is, I would not have to teach all 10 weekends, which would have stripped me of my social life and sanity.  Instead, I was able to split the schedule with a friend who also lives on the island, Leanne.

Despite only having to do half the lessons, it's still a lot of work.  Trying to teach for 3 periods (120mins) on a Saturday, to a group of ~10 boys would could careless about what you said/did/taught/probably if you even showed up is definitely work! 

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But we're getting through.  Just 3 more lessons left and 2 of them are probably going to be movie days!  ^^

Getting Away for the Weekend

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It only took a week at orientation to forge friendships, a day to separate us into our new homes and cities and a year spent making promises to meet up and make visits.  

They weren't all lies, but the promises I made about having many return trips to Daegu weren't all true either.  

I did manage to get there twice last year - for Tim's birthday and to visit Zac/conquer Herb Hillz.  But that was it.  Daegu is only a 45min train away from Busan, yet my adventure-culture-seeking self only managed to get there twice in 12 months.  Awesome job Meagan.

Our Daegu friends did visit Busan quite a bit - for festivals, to get away from their home cities, to see us.  Busan makes for a nice spot to visit.  And that's not to say that Daegu isn't, I have just been shit about getting there.

So after weeks and months of trying to work out a time to get back to Daegu; Keith, Michael and I finally found a weekend that worked for all us!

 

Friday (6/1) - We arrived in Daegu around 8pm and headed for Zac's.  We were all down for an easy night - dinner, talking, maybe sipping on a beer or two while watching a movie.

That night we headed downtown to meet up with other players from the GAA and have a few drinks.

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We even ran into one of my favorites, Totoro!!

 

Sunday (6/3) - A bit groggy from all the beer the night before, we were slow to get started; but we finally managed to get outside and take a short hike through a park in Zac's neighborhood before having to get the train and head home to Busan.

See the full gallery on Posterous

 

I don't often know exactly what's coming next, and that makes it more fun.  And you know, for me... it's all about having fun and getting away... for just a little while.

Haiku for You

I was doing really well to get a post up every day.  I kept at it for nearly three weeks.  But then some distractions came along.  

I rallied though!  I got back to the *dish and got a small set of stories out.  However, that fell off too because then there was a weekend trip to Daegu (post coming). 

And I know how frustrating it is to have a blog you like/love/enjoy so much that you visit it everyday, but then you have to sigh in disappointment when you find they haven't updated or added anything new since the last time you checked only a few hours before this time and ahhh why can't they just keep with it and do their job and post about another outfit or an event from their day so I can be the fly on the wall in their life and know what is going on!! 

Thankfully, my blog has not reached that status.  So I am safe from the possibility of creating that frustration.*  Although, I want to be better at blogging - I do want to blog more regularly and share bits and just keep at it, because more than anything I'm finding it fun.  But the trouble lies in finding something to share. 

I feel I may have mentioned this before, but it's a struggle that is still present - finding stories worthy enough to share from the everyday happenings of my day-to-day life.  

And yes, we could get all philosophical and say that each day is a gift and there are treasure within it and blah blah ponder your great deep thoughts somewhere else because my blog is definitely not the place for them.  

But then last night, as I laid in bed awake, I grabbed a book my parents had given me upon my return to Korea for year two and I read this:

As I get older, / I can hear all my "whens" / Transform into "ifs."

And it really struck me.  I'm getting older.  I have a list of 'whens'.  But I'm not getting out there and doing them.  If I can't come up with regular stories to share on my blog for you to read, what am I doing in my life that I'm allowing it to be so routine, so regular, so uninspiring?  

Are my 'whens' becoming 'ifs'?  Have I reached that point already where I've become comfortable with my surroundings and no longer push for the next move, the next big step, the next big adventure?

Am I at the point of 'ifs'? 

 

This post has gone far from what I meant to be when it was started and perhaps it got a little philosophical, but it was just a thought that was on mind and since I don't have all the pictures from the weekend in Daegu yet, I thought I'd share the noise in my brain while we wait.  

 

 

*I know some of you are avid readers and to you I am very thankful and appreciate all your support