Then I Went to Korea

Lots of pictures

Michael — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:56:46 +0000

It’s been one year since I went to Korea. And now I’m back in Kansas, as of two days ago. I didn’t get around to posting here as often as I expected I would. But I did take over 120 pictures with my (none-too-sophisticated) cell phone camera. And I just finished putting them on a Kodak gallery with captions, so you can check it out if you like:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=606843888211%3A225719497&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee

As a side note, living in Korea instilled some interesting habits in me. I’ve been reminding myself I don’t need to bow to people or take things with both hands in order to be polite since coming back here. But I hope I can pick those habits back up if I go back again.

오랜만에 사진들을 더 올려드립니다

Michael — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:33:53 +0000

Here are a few more pictures I’ve taken in the past few months. Sorry the quality isn’t the best, but I only have a cell phone camera with me.

A view from an above-ground section of the subway. There are high-rise apartments that look like these al over the Seoul area.

Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul

A view from a hiking trail in the middle of Seoul

A Korean-style barbeque restaurant where the food is cooked right at the table

Michael — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:51:04 +0000

http://sendmetokorea.blogspot.com/

If you wonder more about what life in Korea is like, check out this blog. Lots of good pictures and short posts about random, interesting Korean things.

More pictures

Michael — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:19:08 +0000

A typical scene inside a subway car, the Osan Market close to my place, and a temple in the middle of Seoul

A few pictures from the last few months

Michael — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:36:42 +0000

A typical scene at one of the train stations (the train is what I always take when I go out of town), an outdoor market in Seoul, and three of my students in our classroom:

English with Calvin and Hobbes

Michael — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:21:48 +0000

I recently put together a book for some classes at our school. The students were supposed to look at a series of pictures and write a corresponding story in English. I got the idea to use wordless comic strips. This kind of thing is awfully difficult for our students. Here is one strip that I used, with sort of an answer key:

hurry (v)
dash (v)
realize (v)
forget (v)
back (prep)
meanwhile (conj)
gone (adj)
bus stop (n)
leave (v)
argue (v)
drive (v)
sulk (v)
furious (adj)

Calvin is hurrying to get to school.
He dashes out the front door of his house.
He realizes that he forgot his lunch, and he runs back to get it.
Meanwhile, Calvin’s mom takes Calvin’s lunch to the bus stop.
When Calvin gets home, he sees that his lunch is gone.
When he sees his mom, the school bus leaves.
Calvin and his mom argue with each other.
Then, Calvin’s mom drives Calvin to school.
They are both sulking in the car.
After that, Calvin realizes that he forgot something else.
He left his book on a desk at his house.
When Calvin’s mom sees the book, she is furious.

As long as I’m connected

Michael — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:35:23 +0000

I have had free internet at my apartment ever since I got to Korea, apparently thanks to a neighbor who has a wireless network. There have been occasional glitches, but considering it’s free, I don’t mind.

Until just this evening, when I got home from work, and I couldn’t seem to do anything to get on the internet. And I was getting a sinking feeling, wondering if I could get by without the internet at home or if I should pay for my own account, realizing maybe I’ve grown too dependent on the internet, reminding myself I always knew this might happen…

…and then it started working again.

And then, for some reason, I remembered it had been a long time since I posted here, and maybe now would be a good time to do so, as long as the internet was working.

So…

I’m 1/4 of the way through my 1-year contract. Soon after I got here, I found a really good English school for adults that was connected to a Mennonite ministry, and had a job opening for me. I told my boss at my first school that I was leaving and switching jobs. But unfortunately, my visa is not exactly tailored for switching jobs. I discovered (a little too late) that I would have to cancel my current visa, leave the country, and apply for a new one. This put me in the odd position of going back to my original boss and asking him if I could stay after all (I can).

Tomorrow’s the 4th of July. I might go to Songtan, where they’ll actually be doing something for the 4th. Next weekend, I go up to the North Korea border with a church group. That will basically be my first time out of the city since I got here. Then, in a few weeks, I have an entire week off of work. I’m not sure what I’m going to do then.

Now, I’m going to download about 130 online Korean lessons so I will still have them on my computer in case the internet ever stops working again.

Nothing in particular

Michael — Sat, 23 May 2009 06:37:01 +0000

Strange. I lived in Osan for almost two months without meeting a single westerner outside of work. Then yesterday I meet a middle-aged guy from California, and today I meet two British-sounding girls, all just down the street from where I live.

I went to Songtan (the US military base town) again today. Just outside the base is a shopping district where you see about as many westerners as Koreans, and you can expect most people to speak English. It’s nice. I visited a music shop there and found a cool guitar for $120. I really wanted to buy it (I didn’t take a guitar to Korea), but I’m trying really hard to save money right now. Hmm…maybe next Saturday.

Here are a few pictures: the apartment building where I live, and the neighborhood.

A little about my days off

Michael — Sat, 09 May 2009 09:13:14 +0000

I’ve been in a rhythm of getting up at around 8:30 or 9 every morning (I don’t work mornings) which really gives me a lot more sleep than I need. This morning I resolved to pull myself out of bed earlier (7:49) and before long, I was bursting at the seams with energy. And I never feel like that. I know getting too much sleep is supposed to make you tired, but I didn’t expect it to make that much difference. I’ll have to see if I can keep it up. Anyway, to harness my energy, I walked to the train station, went to the neighboring town with a US military base and found a pretty good Thai Buffet for lunch. So after a big meal, the trip home, and a hot afternoon, I’m feeling more like my normal subdued self.

I have stayed close to home ever since I got here. The furthest I’ve been is Seoul, about 40 miles north, or 2 hours by subway (less than $3 round trip). Last week I had a few days off so I explored the city a little and stumbled onto the Korean War Memorial almost by accident. Between the statues of American soldiers and the airplanes, I felt sort of at home, in an odd way.

English exposure, by cartoon

Michael — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:28:22 +0000

The classes at my school last one month, and there is a certain ammount of material I need to cover during that time. Beyond that, it’s mostly up to me how I do things (which is a little unnerving for someone like me who has never taught before). In some of my classes, we’re getting done ahead of time and I’m scrambling to find ways to use up the rest of the month. This week, I brought my laptop a couple times, and we watched parts of The Emporer’s New Groove. The kids couldn’t understand most of the lines, but that movie has a lot of visual action, so most of them payed attention, and they even laughed at some of the funny parts, which was a relief.

Of course I needed to justify watching a movie in class, so I gave them a spelling test on some of the words in the movie. When I was in elementary school, I used to doodle next to the words on my spelling tests. I never dreamed I would be doing the same thing as a teacher. These are the words I gave them from the first part of the movie: