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| Nathan in all his glory in the Norabang VIP room for a little birthday celebration. |
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Happy Birthday Nathan!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
It's About Time
I'd like to offer our apologies in slacking QUITE a bit these last few weeks in the blogging world. Sometimes there doesn't always seem anything worth updating everyone else on in our time here. Nonetheless, these last couple of weeks have been great.
We enjoyed our first work break last week. 5 straight days of no teaching and no screaming kids was heaven sent. The week prior to that, our friends Justin and Asaka (sp?) came back to Korea for a little visit. Justin is a friend of ours from Trinity who is from Korea, but has been living with his wife in Japan. He's been a huge instrument in getting us our jobs here, so we were counting down the days until we could reunite in his stomping grounds. We did some late night Karaoke, ate out at nice little hidden treasures, met his friends and some family. He also drove us around to find a microwave, hair trimmers for Nathan, and a rice cooker. Yes, it's possible to survive without a microwave, but having one makes meals SO much more convenient. The hair trimmers were a necessity... Nathan's hair was getting "long" ;). Thank you Justin for making so much time for us in your whirlwind vacation back home :).
We spent the rest of our 5 days off visiting our other friends teaching in Korea at their homes or meeting mid-Seoul for eating and shopping adventures. Unfortunately we experienced some of the wettest days in a long time during our break, but that made curling up on the couch that much more enjoyable. The jimjilbang (Korean bathhouse) was also put to good use. The "incinerator" is a personal favorite (a concrete dome with a shire-like door that traps the most intense heat you can handle before melting into a puddle)... sounds great, doesn't it?!
Last Wednesday was our first day back in our classrooms. It was nice having a short week and hearing what all the kids did over their break. Although, some of them claimed they were forced to study the entire 5 days. Man, and here I thought my parents were strict ;).
Nathan's really enjoying teaching the kiddo's Social Studies. They seem to really understand the idea's and he does a great job at using examples for the kids to grasp. However, this leads to a funny story. This last week he was explaining what "salsa" was to his classes (no idea why, but it become a hot topic of conversation). He was telling them all about how Chelsea made some fresh homemade salsa this week and even showed them a tupperware of my salsa. Seemed like an innocent enough of a conversation. Or so he thought. (Not) soon enough, all the kids were dying with laughter and one kid informed Teacher Nate that the word "salza" in Korean means "diarrhea". So here Nathan has been telling all the kids about the fresh homemade SALZA I made at home this week. Embarrassing!
My Writing & Composition classes have been going relatively well. But, how many 4th graders think writing is FUN?! Especially when it's Descriptive and Expository essays. It's been a challenge to engage the students. Some kids just refuse to write, which becomes SO hard to move the class along when you're trying to keep everyone on the same page. There's a few kids in the lower level that speak no English at all, so they just have to write anything I write on the board while others actually have to follow the directions. I really do feel bad when I can't devote more time to the kids who really need the help, but I suppose every teacher deals with this.
On a side note, the kids have voted Nathan as the "scariest" 4th grade English teacher that they don't want to make upset and me as the most "polite and kind" that they don't want to disappoint. Either way, we feel the kids behave relatively well in our classes and we understand that there are times that 4th graders will be difficult to control. Sometimes I enjoy these times because I try my best to relate with them and understand their sense of humor. Our disciplining technique's differ from the Korean homeroom teachers in that we don't wind up and smack the children across the head (not an easy method to witness), but rather give a warning then send them to the back to stand holding something heavy above their heads. That, or they miss their 10 minute break before their next class and have to pick up all the trash on the ground. All in all, the kids are great, there's just those few that never seem to quite get it.
This next week we're going on our 2nd fieldtrip with all the 4th graders. Our first trip was to the Olympic Park where they visited a museum of ancient Korean homes and played organized games in the field for half the day (some pics below). This weeks location is still a mystery. The communication to the English teacher's seems to be a struggle at the school so we normally find out any vital information/schedule changes the day of OR when the kids are supposed to be in our classrooms but the homeroom teacher's changed the schedule over a week ago and never informed us. It doesn't bother me as much as it does other English teachers, but it can get a bit frustrating at times.
In more important news, Nathan's birthday is this next weekend! We have a fun weekend planned with our friends here. A Saturday Biblestudy, Korean BBQ, cake, JimJilBang, slumber party, then a Sunday breakfast with the whole gang. My guess is I'll take Nathan out for another BBQ and JimJilBang run on Sunday too. He talks about those two things more than anything else.
Also, Nathan and I are extremely excited to say that we will have our first TWO nieces to meet when we come home next year! No, that does not mean anyone is having twins, but we'll get to meet baby Lana Santos (Kim & Scott's) and baby Naomi Stroh (Casey & Micah's). Lana was born about 2 months ago, which we're torn apart thinking that she'll already be one year old the first time we get to hold her! Casey and Micah just found out their having their 1st GIRL (due in Sept). This is wonderful news. It's amazing that in the last three years we've gone from ZERO to SIX nieces/nephews!! Who's next?!??
Time to wrap up the novel. This is what happens when I wait to long to update you all. We send our love from this tiny country. We miss you. Only 9 more months to go :)
We enjoyed our first work break last week. 5 straight days of no teaching and no screaming kids was heaven sent. The week prior to that, our friends Justin and Asaka (sp?) came back to Korea for a little visit. Justin is a friend of ours from Trinity who is from Korea, but has been living with his wife in Japan. He's been a huge instrument in getting us our jobs here, so we were counting down the days until we could reunite in his stomping grounds. We did some late night Karaoke, ate out at nice little hidden treasures, met his friends and some family. He also drove us around to find a microwave, hair trimmers for Nathan, and a rice cooker. Yes, it's possible to survive without a microwave, but having one makes meals SO much more convenient. The hair trimmers were a necessity... Nathan's hair was getting "long" ;). Thank you Justin for making so much time for us in your whirlwind vacation back home :).
We spent the rest of our 5 days off visiting our other friends teaching in Korea at their homes or meeting mid-Seoul for eating and shopping adventures. Unfortunately we experienced some of the wettest days in a long time during our break, but that made curling up on the couch that much more enjoyable. The jimjilbang (Korean bathhouse) was also put to good use. The "incinerator" is a personal favorite (a concrete dome with a shire-like door that traps the most intense heat you can handle before melting into a puddle)... sounds great, doesn't it?!
Last Wednesday was our first day back in our classrooms. It was nice having a short week and hearing what all the kids did over their break. Although, some of them claimed they were forced to study the entire 5 days. Man, and here I thought my parents were strict ;).
Nathan's really enjoying teaching the kiddo's Social Studies. They seem to really understand the idea's and he does a great job at using examples for the kids to grasp. However, this leads to a funny story. This last week he was explaining what "salsa" was to his classes (no idea why, but it become a hot topic of conversation). He was telling them all about how Chelsea made some fresh homemade salsa this week and even showed them a tupperware of my salsa. Seemed like an innocent enough of a conversation. Or so he thought. (Not) soon enough, all the kids were dying with laughter and one kid informed Teacher Nate that the word "salza" in Korean means "diarrhea". So here Nathan has been telling all the kids about the fresh homemade SALZA I made at home this week. Embarrassing!
My Writing & Composition classes have been going relatively well. But, how many 4th graders think writing is FUN?! Especially when it's Descriptive and Expository essays. It's been a challenge to engage the students. Some kids just refuse to write, which becomes SO hard to move the class along when you're trying to keep everyone on the same page. There's a few kids in the lower level that speak no English at all, so they just have to write anything I write on the board while others actually have to follow the directions. I really do feel bad when I can't devote more time to the kids who really need the help, but I suppose every teacher deals with this.
On a side note, the kids have voted Nathan as the "scariest" 4th grade English teacher that they don't want to make upset and me as the most "polite and kind" that they don't want to disappoint. Either way, we feel the kids behave relatively well in our classes and we understand that there are times that 4th graders will be difficult to control. Sometimes I enjoy these times because I try my best to relate with them and understand their sense of humor. Our disciplining technique's differ from the Korean homeroom teachers in that we don't wind up and smack the children across the head (not an easy method to witness), but rather give a warning then send them to the back to stand holding something heavy above their heads. That, or they miss their 10 minute break before their next class and have to pick up all the trash on the ground. All in all, the kids are great, there's just those few that never seem to quite get it.
This next week we're going on our 2nd fieldtrip with all the 4th graders. Our first trip was to the Olympic Park where they visited a museum of ancient Korean homes and played organized games in the field for half the day (some pics below). This weeks location is still a mystery. The communication to the English teacher's seems to be a struggle at the school so we normally find out any vital information/schedule changes the day of OR when the kids are supposed to be in our classrooms but the homeroom teacher's changed the schedule over a week ago and never informed us. It doesn't bother me as much as it does other English teachers, but it can get a bit frustrating at times.
In more important news, Nathan's birthday is this next weekend! We have a fun weekend planned with our friends here. A Saturday Biblestudy, Korean BBQ, cake, JimJilBang, slumber party, then a Sunday breakfast with the whole gang. My guess is I'll take Nathan out for another BBQ and JimJilBang run on Sunday too. He talks about those two things more than anything else.
Also, Nathan and I are extremely excited to say that we will have our first TWO nieces to meet when we come home next year! No, that does not mean anyone is having twins, but we'll get to meet baby Lana Santos (Kim & Scott's) and baby Naomi Stroh (Casey & Micah's). Lana was born about 2 months ago, which we're torn apart thinking that she'll already be one year old the first time we get to hold her! Casey and Micah just found out their having their 1st GIRL (due in Sept). This is wonderful news. It's amazing that in the last three years we've gone from ZERO to SIX nieces/nephews!! Who's next?!??
Time to wrap up the novel. This is what happens when I wait to long to update you all. We send our love from this tiny country. We miss you. Only 9 more months to go :)
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| Peace signs and visors... necessities for the daily life. |
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| Lunch time |
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| On their "hike". This picture can't go without pointing out Billy (the boy in the front). He's a one of a kind with the most attitude/self-distraction I've ever seen from a child. |
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| Andrew loves the spotlight |
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| English quiz time. All four English teachers had to come up with 10 questions from our subjects for a friendly competition. |
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