The grand holiday update

Christmas in Busan has come and gone, and so has the New Year. While it was definitely an irregular Christmas being away from home and family and traditions we have followed every year, it was an excellent one nonetheless with new traditions made and new experiences had. We've also had a wonderful past few weeks full of adventures and new loves. So hold on to your seats, this one's going to be a novel:

The Christmas excitement really began when we got a package from my parents. We were SO excited to see Christmas cookies!!! EEK!



As I said in the last post, Chaz and I worked to get into the Christmas spirit in the week leading up to Christmas. This included classic movies such as Elf, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. We had visits with friends (Kelly, Andrew, and Eunah) including hot chocolate, Christmas cookies sent from home, and cheese balls. Our friends Callie and Aaron (from Illinois/Minnesota) also had a Christmas party the weekend before Christmas, so it was fun to gather with foreigners, laugh, spread Christmas cheer, and exchange white elephant presents. One of those gifts included "official" Adjumah (older woman) wear complete with big hat, sleeve protectors, a straining bowl, and ankle weights. A-like so:



Christmas Eve brought the last day of school before winter break. It was a half day (thankfully) and included all of the teachers going out to eat. It was nice to celebrate with the entire staff. That night we went to the local Jimjilbang with some neighbors. The Jimjilbang was an experience I was greatly looking forward to but hadn't had before Christmas Eve. Jimjilbangs are public bath houses. So basically, you go, get naked with Koreans (guys and gals are separated), soak in tubs, scrub off dead skin, hang out in steam rooms, and just relax and get squeaky clean. After bathing, you put on scrubs and hang out in the common room (guys and gals welcome here) where you can relax on mats, buy snacks and drinks, etc. It's a great place to visit or to spend the night as it's only 7,000 won (less than $7) to get in and stay as long as you want. It was an awesome experience and a great way to spend Christmas Eve relaxing with neighbors. We brought our own potluck food in and Christmas music and sat around eating hummus, gim-bap, nachos, talking, and listening to music.

The night ended early, however, as all of us were going to Sung Ae Won orphanage the next day. At 7 AM Christmas Day, Chaz and I headed on the subway dressed as elves and carrying presents to join 43 other wayguks (foreigners) to spend the morning with 75 orphans under the age of 7. It was an excellent morning filled with teaching kids a song and dance, playing games, and then having them go through stations (face painting, balloon animals, coloring, Santa hat decorating, and story-time).


Santa even showed up and took his picture with all of the kids. Just when they thought there could be no more excitement, Santa "disappeared" only to reappear with a couple of his helpers (a girl dressed as Rudolph, and Chaz and I) to hand out a present to each of the kids. They were floored. All of the presents will be shared amongst them, but it was so special that each of them got to open a present on Christmas Day.

There was one girl who so reminded me of Mikawea and brought me back to Rwanda. She sat in the front row, and every time we said a kid's name who was sick (the sick ones were upstairs), she would scream, "Opsaio!!!!" meaning, "Not here!" She was just waiting for us to say her name. Then, when she got her present and opened it, a Hello Kitty stationary set, Her mouth dropped and her eyes grew huge. She just couldn't believe how wonderful it was. That is a sight I will carry with me. Chaz and I also got to join Santa and a few other foreigners to hand out presents to the sick kids upstairs. These were our favs as they were so excited to see us and immediately ran to us and gave us the biggest hugs. One girl jumped on Chaz's lap to ask for help putting her present together and colored on his hand. Just might have to take that one home. ;)


Christmas night brought even more wonderful events as Chaz and I opened gifts (he got me Apple couple's sweatshirts...perrfect). In case I haven't posted this, couples in Korea wear the same clothes. I'm not just talking about shirts....they get couple pants, couple shoes, couple coats, and yes, even couple underwear. So to fit in, Chaz got us the perfect, most nerdy couple shirts in the history of couple shirts. After our Christmas together, we joined my co-worker, Gyu-Seok, for a Christmas party. Because of language difficulties, we didn't know what to expect at all. All we knew was it was a Christmas party at a wine bar. We almost didn't go because we thought it might be too expensive, but Gyu-Seok talked us into attending. Come to find out, it was a Christmas party for an adult English club. It was a group of around 10 Koreans who meet every Sunday to practice English. They decided to have a Christmas party for the first time, and make it a wine party, so they rented a small room in a building, had Christmas music playing, set up a beautiful table with appetizers, and drank wine together. Chaz and I were guests of honor as we were the only two foreigners joining them. It was an absolute BLAST! We drank wine, chatted, and then played three games which had us all cracking up and breaking down comfort barriers. During one of the games, we all had to take turns singing or dancing (with one girl doing a "Sheckshy Dance"). Another game had people commanded to do embarrassing things (give a piggy-back ride, sing a love song to someone, kiss someone on the neck, etc). It was absolutely the perfect way to spend Christmas, and we thanked Gyu-seok over and over for talking us into coming. We hope to meet with the group again.


The day after Christmas brought us another Christmas party (it felt like home.....10,000 Christmas parties to attend) at our friends', Randy and Charlei's, house. They were the same couple who hosted Thanksgiving. Charlei's family had gotten into town the day before, so we had actual family for the gathering which made it so special. We ate tremendous food complete with turkey and ham. Glorious.

With the end of Christmas gatherings brought the end of my long weekend without teaching. I went back to work that Monday to do my four days of Winter Camp. During Winter Break, the school still holds optional classes for students to attend. These classes are usually fun, however, as teachers play more games since it is break. Also, they are only half-days, so most English teachers are let out by 12 to go home. I LOVED my Winter Camp. I had 18 students for three periods a day for four days. My theme was "Discover Yourself," so each day had a specific theme (myself, my family, my country, my world). We did vocabulary every day, projects (life maps, a newsletter article), and some games. Each day I posted their work in the room.

One of the best days was the "My Country" day. I had students do an Amazing Race (thanks to the idea from Charlei) where they had ten questions to answer about Korea that were scattered around the school grounds along with clues to where the questions were hidden. Students had to race around the school finding the questions (hidden at the soccer goal, front gate, library, cafeteria, etc.), and then answer the questions correctly. Then, we checked the answers, and whatever team had the most correct got candy. Students had a blast, and one of them even said, "Teacher, good adventure!"


I had an amazing time the entire four days and was sad to see it end. It was awesome to be able to spend some actual time with students where I could build on what we were learning (it's so difficult only seeing students once a week). It was the first time since coming where I genuinely enjoyed what I was doing and was a great reminder that yes, I actually LOVE to teach. I felt even better when I heard from the teachers that the students said they didn't want camp to end—something NO Korean student ever says...especially at my school. I hope the students visit me when the school year begins again.

New Years was great, but pretty chill. Chaz and I hung out with friends Gon and Matt (who visited from Seoul....he went to Iowa State and was friends with Kat in Ames, then met Kel last year), and then Kelly joined us after midnight (she was at a concert). We tried to stay up to see the first sunrise of the year (a tradition in Busan), but once it hit 4:30, I was ready for home.




To end the holiday season, we attended a Christmas Light Festival at Kosin University in Busan. It was great to look at the insane amount of lights and think of festivals back home. Although the holidays were quite different this year, they were great in a new way.



Now, I am relaxing at home as I am done with school for winter break. We have the last week of the school year beginning of February, and then the new school year beings the beginning of March. Chaz and I hope to take a trip the last week of January, but haven't made plans as of yet. I'm really looking forward to this new year and new decade as I know it will continue to bring excitement, love, old friendships, new friendships, reunions, and many adventures (known and unknown). Just as last year, one year from now I don't know where I'll be, but I'm not worried about the future, I just know wherever it is, whatever we're doing, Chaz and I will make it an adventure.

Preparing for the Holidays

Christmas is almost here, and Chaz and I have been trying to get in the Christmas spirit. It's simply not the same away from beloved family and friends. Also, Christmas isn't a very big holiday in Korea. While there are Christmas displays and lights and children asking for toys, there's not the excitement of gathering with family and sharing the season. Christmas is more of a children and couple holiday.

So in preparation for the holiday, Chaz and I have had a week countdown to 크리스마스 (Christmas). Yes, only a week...haha. We have done other things throughout the month (decorate our apartment, Sunday Advent wreath, etc.), but starting Saturday, we are trying to do something every night to prepare for Christmas. This includes reading Advent scriptures, Christmas cooking, eating goodies, drinking hot chocolate & mulled wine, Christmas movies, crafts, parties, and gatherings with friends. I am looking forward to (what I see) as our culmination: the activity we have planned for Christmas Day. I feel that it will be a great way to spend Christmas away from home, as well as spend Christmas conveying the meaning of the season.

Tonight, we made Christmas cards, so I wanted to share those with you. We look forward to more activities throughout the next couple of days.

Shout out to our friendly neighborhood produce seller

I just had to share this really quickly....we LOVE the fresh produce in Korea. It's been mandarin orange season for awhile, and you wouldn't believe how delicious and convenient these tiny oranges are. EVERYONE eats them and loves them like crazy while they're in season. You can buy HUGE boxes of them for $5 US, and you definitely have a stockpile for awhile. Produce can be purchased from supermarkets, convenience stores, and from trucks on the side of the road located just about everywhere. Cheap and convenient and most definitely delicious.

Today we bought our first strawberries. We've seen more and more trucks of strawberries appear, so we can only guess it's strawberry season? No idea. Anyway, we decided to buy some strawberries because we were going to dinner and dessert with some friends and thought these might be a good treat to bring. I'm not usually a huge strawberry fan because it seems difficult to find a good strawberry. There are tough strawberries, tart strawberries, hairy strawberries....it's too much of a gamble. But there was a man in a blue bongo truck selling a truckbed full of strawberries by our place, so we thought, "Why not?"

Here is our purchase:


Now, I know they don't look like much, but oh man, the friendly strawberry-man gave us strawberries to try, and they were THE MOST delicious strawberries I've ever put in my mouth. Even better than going to the strawberry patch back home and picking our own. They were sweet and soft and absolutely DELICIOUS. I keep sneaking berries when Chaz isn't looking, and I have yet to get a bum berry. I'm quickly becoming a huge strawberry fan.

Poetry & Korean Middle School Boys

I’ve been working on a project the past month or so with my after school class. In case I haven’t mentioned, I teach an after school class of 13 Level 2 (8th grade) boys everyday for 45 minutes. Needless to say, 13 Korean middle school boys with one lone GET (Guest English Teacher) can spell a bit of a problem. Most of the time they like to play the, “Teeeaaachaaaaa! Don’t understaaaaand,” card. Anyway, they are quite fun, and they are the kids I’ve gotten to know the most over the past three months because I see them with the most frequency.

Aren’t they cute?



My class with them began with just playing speaking English games. The only issues there were they often decided not to play and instead just talked (because they didn’t understand instructions), and there really was no measurable growth happening. Nowhere the class was leading to. Being a teacher who likes to make way more work for herself than necessary, I set out to create some sort of curriculum for the class.

I tried following a book: BORING! The book I was given was all about grammar and parts of speech, and in Korea, they HAMMER grammar. ^^ Unfortunately, a lot of times students prefer this (studying grammar, taking notes, listening to lecture, memorizing) to more project based, critical thinking, and synthesizing information because it is what is familiar to them. Ask them to take notes on a 45-minute lecture, memorize, and write a report for tomorrow: done. Ask them to create an invention to save the Earth, draw it, name it, write two sentences about how it works, and present it at an “Invention Convention”: you want us to do WHAT??

Quite a difference from American schools.

I tried teaching about American culture: pop songs, advertising, holidays, etc. They weren’t having it.

Games, culture, music, book work, activities….I cycled through everything they suggested. So I decided I was going to do what I was interested in instead: poetry.

That’s right…I began teaching my middle school Korean boys poetry. They actually caught on to rhyming better than I thought they would, and they seemed to enjoy the fact they were doing something challenging (and creative). Then I got the idea to modify the Poetry Out Loud competition they have in the states. Poetry Out Loud is a national poetry recitation contest started about three years ago. It is held in an effort to get students exposed to more poetry to enrich their lives. It’s also part of a school’s curriculum, so teachers can have all students participate instead of just a few like with extra-curricular speaking contests. Students memorize a poem and compete at their schools. I thought that it would be great to hold a modified version with my after school kids because A) it gave them a goal to strive toward (these students needed some sort of incentive) B) speaking poetry will help their rhythm and fluency and C) it’d be a great way for me to have some consistency in curriculum in my after school class (plus I knew I’d enjoy helping the students do a speaking contest). Students chose and practiced poems everyday for a month in a variety of ways in order to prepare for the competition. We discussed emotion, and how to display that when reading, physical presence, and practiced difficult words.

Today was competition day. Students at first were really reluctant to do the contest, but as soon as I pulled out the prizes, they were all serious and ready to go. I tried to recruit an audience and guest judges, but to no avail (teachers are busy, and I totally understand that), but I tried to make it as close to a serious competition as possible. I judged the students (based on volume, speed, emotion, and physical presence) as they read their poems using an evaluation sheet. All other students were quiet and served as audience members. Then, at the end I presented the top three with prizes and handed out evaluation sheets.

Here is one student reading his poem. He figured out his poem was more sad and self-reflecting, so he tried to implement that into his reading (I think he did a pretty good job):


I was pretty pleased with how this contest worked. Students took it somewhat serious, and I noticed them putting forth effort (some days more than others), so that excited me. I also noticed an improvement in their fluency, and especially an improvement when reading difficult words. Since I’ve watched these students for a month, I can see improvement whereas it’d be difficult for others. Will they be able to compete in a speech competition in the States? No. But I was proud of their accomplishments and the effort (the most I’ve seen from these students the entire semester) they put in today at the contest. For a first-time competition, I’m happy with how things turned out.