Palace Tour

It has been another busy week here. We write progress reports for each student every month, and this was the week that they were due. I have 33 students, excluding my adult class, and I write a good paragraph for each student. It's a lot of writing, but it's really good for me to spend that time thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of each of the kids I work with. It helps me to tailor my lessons for the coming month to meet individual needs.

Today a friend and I went to Changdeokgung ("gung" means "palace") in Seoul. It's listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was a crisp fall day here, and the palace grounds were beautiful. The battery didn't last long on my camera, so I was only able to take a couple pictures. There is an exquisite garden behind the palace, but our tickets didn't include the tour to see it, so we'll have to do that another time.

Mmmmm . . . samgyeopsal and kimchi

It's my birthday! In Korea, the birthday girl/boy treats, so I took my friends Joy and Catherine our for dinner. We ate sam-gyeop-sal, which is really fatty (and therefore good) pork that's cooked right on your table. You take a piece of meat, and dip it in a sauce. Then you put that on a lettuce leaf and add grilled garlic and kimchi and stick the whole thing in your mouth. It's good stuff!

Here's Joy cutting the kimchi with scissors:


And here we are waiting for the food to cook so we can eat! Don't you like how the guy in the poster behind me looks like he's toasting us?

It was a good day. My princesses brought a cake to school for me. They all helped me blow out the candles. Then we ate birthday cake out of paper cups with chop sticks. No one here understands why I think that's a funny way to eat cake. Here are some very cute (and silly) princesses:

Penpal Project and Cute Kindergartners

We recently started a penpal project with the second graders at Galena Primary School in Illinois. Here are my students proudly showing off the first letter they received from their American penpals. They were so excited. They especially liked getting the pictures. They can't wait to write their next letter, but mean "Ellen-teacher" is making them wait two whole weeks since we have other things we have to cover in class, too.

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And here are my kindergartners proudly showing off the last page of their textbooks. You can't tell from the picture, but it's a certificate showing that they've completed the level. They are so proud of themselves! Our new book is entitled Intensive Reading. What a title for these little munchkins!I don't remember what was so funny in the second picture, but I like the result. That's the class from which the "fat pig" comment came. They're always entertaining.

Air Raid Siren and a Field Trip to the Zoo

At about 2 PM, a really loud siren sounded throughout the city. All traffic stopped. People outside stood still and stared. I was inside at the time, looking out the window for some sign of danger. "What's that?!" I asked my friend.

"Air raid, Ellen. No problem, no problem," she replied as she went about her work.

"AIR RAID?!"

"Yes, no problem."

"NO PROBLEM?!"

"Yes, yes. No problem. Test."

I breathed a big sigh of relief. It's amazing what a difference that little word "test" made in that conversation. The whole drill lasted about 10 minutes and then there was another siren signaling that it was over. Apparently, in some parts of Seoul, people saw military jets and helicopters overhead. The Korean government has air raid drills scheduled for the 15th (or thereabouts) of every month, but most of the time, they skip them. I hadn't heard one since I've been here. Apparently they put special flags out to let people know that they will be conducting the test. I didn't notice them today. I guess with all the news from North Korea this week, they decided it was a good time to start up again.

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On Saturday, we took the first grade class on a field trip to the zoo. I don't generally teach that class, but their teacher didn't want to go, so I was asked to chaperone.

They had a worksheet paper divided into six different sections with the headings: eating, sleeping, swimming, flying, running, and playing. They had to make a list of what animals were doing what activity. Here are some students reporting that the flamingoes are sleeping:
When we arrived at the elephant habitat, one of the elephants was picking up dust and dropping it on its back. One of the students looked puzzled and then shouted, "ELEPHANT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" The elephant declined to comment.

It was a good day at the zoo. Everyone had fun, and it was great for the kids to use English outside of the classroom. Here are a few more pictures.

"Ellen-teacher" helping a student with his worksheet:
Here's the third photo from our zoo field trip. This is the first grade class, minus five students and plus three teachers and two little sisters. Note that I didn't get the memo about wearing a red hat. I have one, too!
Finally, here's one for the youth group and Janis!

North Korean Nuclear Test

I've received a few email messages asking how people here are responding to the North Korean nuclear test. It's a little surprising to me that the majority of South Koreans I know are unconcerned. More or less, they don't worry about North Korea. One friend explained to me that people in South Korea have lived with the threat of North Korea for so long that worrying about it would simply paralyze them. I asked a couple Korean friends what they think about the nuclear test. One hadn't heard about it and didn't have an opinion. The other said it was a little scary but not enough to make her do anything differently.

The expats I know seem more concerned. The Korean stock market fell yesterday, immediately after news of the test was released, and the won, which had been quite strong, dropped against the U.S. dollar. Some people ran to the bank and sent their money home before it goes lower, but that's the most drastic action I've heard anyone take.

Here's the statement the U.S. Embassy in Seoul sent out to the American expat community:

"On Monday, October 9, U.S. and South Korean intelligence services detected a seismic event at a suspected nuclear test site in North Korea. North Korea has claimed it conducted an underground nuclear test, but these reports are unconfirmed. The U.S. Embassy in Seoul is monitoring the situation closely and has been in continuous contact with South Korean government officials. As of the evening of October 9, the Embassy has received no information from South Korean officials or any other source indicating that there are health dangers that pose a risk to any areas in South Korea. The U.S. Embassy in Seoul continues to operate normally and to provide services to the public during regular business hours. In the event of any type of emergency, the Embassy will notify the American community immediately."

More Crowds

I headed to the palaces today, only to find that EVERYONE else in Seoul also thought that would be a good thing to do today. I took a look at the lines to get tickets and decided I'd come back another day, but first I snapped a couple pictures.

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The main entrance to Gyeongbokgung, the largest palace in Seoul

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Standing in the main entrance of Gyeongbokgung and looking at the crowds in front of the secondary entrance. This is as far as I could go without a ticket.After deciding to forego the palaces, I stopped by a Buddhist temple called Jogyesa on my way back to the subway station. The main hall was quite crowded, but I think that's because only half of it was open due to renovations. The temple grounds were pretty quiet and a nice reprieve from the busy-ness of everything else. Here are some photos.

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The main hall

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Where you leave your shoes when you enter the main hall

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A detail of the beautifully decorated exterior walls of the main hall

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This lacebark pine tree at the side of the temple is over 520 years old! These trees are native to northern China, but there are a few of them in Korea. The largest, and therefore oldest since they are very slow-growing trees, are designated as national monuments, including this one.

추석 잘 보내세요 ("Chuseok Jalbonaeseyo" or "Happy Chuseok")

Today is Chuseok, the Korean version of Thanksgiving. It's the second most important holiday of the year in Korea, the first being Lunar New Year. If your computer can read Korean, you're in luck and can see the title of this post. Otherwise, you probably just see a bunch of squares.

Since it's a big holiday, almost everything was closed today . . . and yesterday and will be tomorrow. However, I read on the Korean National Tourism Organization website that a few tourist destinations would be open today. Feeling much better and wanting to resurrect some of my vacation, I hopped on the subway and rode the 6 or so stops south to the city of Suwon, where I got on a bus headed for the Korean Folk Village which is a huge outdoor museum of traditional Korean life. It was an interesting way to spend the day. Though there was more to see, I left after three hours since battling the crowds was draining my energy quickly. Unfortunately, my camera battery died after the first hour, but I did manage to get a few snapshots.

In case you can't read the sign, it says "Beware of Donkey." He looks like a menacing beast, doesn't he?I have no idea what the sign says.These are kimchi pots with peppers drying in the sun. It was really warm today--around 80°F--so I imagine they dried pretty well.Here is an awesome totem-pole-esque statue. They also had some excellent wooden carvings, but my camera battery died before I got to them. I took a picture of the wooden carvings with my film camera, but it will be a while before I have the film developed.A rice field with a scarecrow wearing a "hanbok" or traditional Korean dress:I have two more days left in my vacation, and I'm not going to let them go to waste. Tomorrow is still part of the Chuseok holiday, so lots of things will be closed again. However, the palaces are open, so I may visit them. There is also a nice lake near Seoul that I've been wanting to investigate. Vacation, here I come! 추석 잘 보내세요! ('Chuseok jalbonaeseyo!")

More snapshots of my very small apartment

The "living room" (Youth group members, notice the photo on top of the television.)

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The closet, "desk" and "kitchen", as seen from the far wall of the apartment.

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The bathroom. There was no good angle to take a picture of my little bathroom. The mirror makes the bathroom look twice as big as it is. Don't be fooled. It's tiny. See the reflection of the showerhead on the wall? Right under that is where they wanted to put a washing machine. Ha!

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My "dresser" behind my bed, with annotations. It's actually not a dresser but the cabinet for the air conditioner. Don't see your photo? Then send one to me!

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And that, my friends, concludes the photo tour of my tiny apartment. It measures 5 meters (from the door to the window) by 3.5 meters (wall to wall). That's 188.4 square feet. That includes the bathroom and closets. I'm not complaining. I like it.

Where I've been the past five days

Home, sweet home (away from home, that is). This is my little apartment. It's small, but I like it! Since I was cooped up here for four entire days with a nasty stomach bug, I thought I'd post a picture. I'm glad to report that as of yesterday, I'm feeling better. I still have a headache, and I feel completely drained of energy, but I'm definitely noticing an improvement now that my intestines have given up their protest of whatever bug I caught. Speaking of which, my bathroom was immediately to my right when I took this picture. That's my "kitchen" to the left. I was standing with my back against the door.

A Seriously Unhappy Non-Camper

I'm supposed to leave first thing in the morning for my big hiking trip across a national park in the southern part of the country. I've been looking forward to this for weeks. My friends here are all tired of hearing me talk about it, but guess what . . . I'm sick! I woke up at 2 AM on Saturday with yucky flu-like symptoms that have only managed to get worse this weekend. I am not at all happy. I haven't been able to eat, and even taking the trash out required too much energy, so I know there is no way I'll be up for anything strenuous in two days. I can't even begin to say how disappointed I am. More later. I'm going to go back to bed to sulk for a while longer.