Whoa.

I.

Am.

Going.

To.






China.

I absolutely never thought I would go here.  But I am.  And I'm actually really freakin' stoaked.

Ii Is for Ice cream!

This week for art and play we are making our own ice cream name cones!  Its been pretty fun!  And a little crazy.  Kids LOVE ice cream.  The nice thing is that the word for ice cream in Korean is the same as English.  I drew scoops of ice cream and have the kids pick different "flavors," one for each letter in their name.  And then they have to color their cone.  I only have photos from Ginny class (they are the kindergartners).  

Huey didnt really get it  right, but thats ok.  

Cuz he's happy!  He was so excited to get his picture taken!

Veronica's ice cream was almost as tall as her!  

Oh Harry. 

Notice Brian's.  Bb Rr Ii Aa Nn. 

Well done!

Making ice cream has been pretty crazy but good fun this week.  The kids love their ice cream!  

Speaking of ice cream.  Today Joanne  was eating something that looked like a stick of butter.  I asked her what she was eating.  She said, ice cream.  She asked if i wanted some.  And of course i said yes.  It was good.  But it was wrapped like a stick of butter is.  It was about a third of the size of a stick of butter.  It had the weird aluminum paper folded around it.  It was good, but i sometimes felt like i was biting into a stick of butter.  It was a little disturbing.  And difficult to eat something shaped like a box that melts.  It was like a Klondike bar without the chocolate.  :)

What do poop, booby, and sit down have in common?

Nothing.  Other than they are now part of some funny stories.

On Friday my 3rd graders learned the word "poop."  And my co teacher learned the word "booby."
And today, I told a 3year old to sit down in Korean.

Poop:  Every week the 3rd graders have this "science book" where they learn of different animals and habitats.  Well, last week was about animal noses.  I saw this part coming early on.  The work book also made them connect what smelling is to them, we smell things and we breath with our nose.....  So one part of the work book asked them to list, "pleasant smells," and "unpleasant smells."  They didnt  know what to do, so i did it with them on the white board with good smells and bad smells.  Most of the good smells were of food, the third one mentioned was kimchi, go figure.  And then we got to bad smells.  they mentioned trash, dead fish and then one of the boys kept saying cow _____, and then he drew a picture.  I had been waiting for them to say something about this.  Finally!  So, i said class, "thats poop, the word you are looking for is poop."  The weird thing was they acted like they didnt care.  I was more giggly than they were.

Booby:  The last friday of every month we have a cooking demo.  This last week we made a type of rice cake.  After everything was made and ready i sat in with Ginny class (the kindergartners).  And they all had on their aprons.  its really cute, i will have to take photos next time.  Some of them even have little hats.  One of the girl's aprons has the word "booby" on it.  It looks as if it is the company name.  So i point to the word and i ask my co-teacher, Joanne, if she knows that this word means.
She shakes her head no.  I point to my chest.
She says, "you?"
I shake my head no, and point to her chest.
Pause.
I say, "Every woman have two boobies, unless they had cancer."
"Aaahhhhhhhh."  Uncomfortable expression.
"But why is it on children's clothes?" she asks.
"Why is it on anything?"
We shared some laughs after that.  A couple minutes later i see here staring at the word.  I said, "Now your never going to forget." ;)
Later she went to the kitchen to clean our dishes.  I was sitting on the computer, and i began to hear my boss laughing hysterically.  I really hope Joanne just told her what she learned.  :)



Sit down:  Mondays in the afternoon i have "Fun!"  Yes, thats pretty much what it says on my schedule. I have about seven, three year olds in my classroom and we have fun together.  Or we try.  Its technically after school so its usually coloring or something simple.  Today, i was lazy so we played with legos.

So, i know some Korean words to say to kids, like "sit down, be quiet" and some others.  Very rarely do i use it.  I lack the confidence in using it.  Most of the time they just laugh at you.  Its annoying.

One girl, May, pushes all the limits.  She will look at me and start yelling.  Relentless sometimes.  Today, she would stand on her chair with her lego creation in hand and pretend its flying it up and down as she is going from a squat to a stance on her chair.  I ask her to sit down about 10 times, gradually getting more assertive.  So shes sqautting on her chair.  I hit my butt, and say sit here, like this, and demonstrate.  She looks at me and then looks away to her legos and continues to play.  I then get closer, and say quietly, but assertively, "anjara!"  (Which means, sit down!!!)  She stares at me like, "who the hell are you?  How do you know that word??"  She was so confused.  Her face was priceless.

She never sat down the little punk.

So ya good times.  Not only do i work abroad but, i work with children.  Small children.  My funny story repertoire is building rather quickly.

Everyday is a Party

Hello.  I forgot I had photos on my camera to share!  These photos are of "art and play" from a couple weeks ago.  For the first three months there was art on my class room walls of fall and Halloween.  It was cute, but a little past the season.  So i decided to make so fun flags with my students.  Something that really doesnt take a whole lot of work to do.  Its also a project that will look good no matter who makes it.  I had them glue different colors of tissue paper to white paper and viola flag!

Oh ya, and I also had them write their name on them.  Well, those who could write their name.   I also cut them all out too.  I then strung them around the room.

Yup, my classroom has cloud wall paper.  Its awesome.  Some of the other rooms have vintage hot air balloons with an antique map in the background.  It was then, on the first day i saw the school, that i knew this was where i am suppose to work.  

Now, my room looks happy.  My co-teacher said to my boss, "Alissa teacher made her room looks like a party."

I dont think i told her, but I firmly believe that everyday should be a party.  

About a month before i had the kids make some lilies.  They are actually the kids hands.  You trace your hand, cut it out and roll it on a pencil or something so it curls and then tape it to the "stem" (which is a chopstick with colored tape).  And what do you know, you have a beautiful bouquet of flowers.  

              

 

Yes, i totally use my kids to beautify my room.  I wish i could do more of this really.  If there wasnt a language barrier i'd have these kids make all sorts of things.  I really want to make a jungle in one of the rooms, but i dont think it will ever really happen.

I have come to realize that if i continue teaching i would only want to teach art.  I dont care about much else to spend hours teaching it.  What I do now is fine, half of its just glorified baby sitting.  Where as the other half i have to actually show that i know something about English.  Thankfully, i dont teach anything higher than third grade.

Fun Facts or Fiction?

I have realized that i have neglected to share about Korean culture.  Really, I forgot to keep mentioning it.  I guess i was trying to get used to it, so I tried to think it wasn't such a big deal.  Now that some time has gone by I'm beginning to see what Koreans think is funny, or relevant, or the "thing to do" (but really its the "thing to be.")  So here are some fun facts:

If a man's ears show they get made fun off.  This starts in about third grade.  

(Note: most of the time their ears show, but if the top of the ear sticks out, that is what is bad.  So they always keep their hair a little longer)  I guess if you are super trendy or fashionable you can get away with showing your ears.  

"Have you eaten?"  really means "How are you?"  

People are called by their (job) title more than they are called by their name.  I am called "Teacher" all day long, sometimes in English and sometimes in Korean.  Depends who's talking to me.  And the sometimes, it's "Alissa teacher."  But i know most of the other teachers by their classroom name.     For example, "Comy teacher" and "Sunny Teacher."  Its gotten some getting used to.  I dont really like it.  it feels impersonal.  To be honest, i dont even know some of the teacher's real names.  I guess they rather me not butcher it day after day.

Whenever you pay for something, you hand your card with two hands.  If you cant use two hands you use one and rest your occupied hand on the hand that is giving the card/cash to the cashier.  You also accept you card/cash and receipt with two hands.  This is the same when pouring drinks or being given anything by someone with any authority over you.  It happens all the time.  It shows respect.  

You bow when you greet someone and when you say goodbye.  Also, when you are very grateful/thankful.

Mirrors are everywhere.  Even in bathroom stalls behind the door.  Because even when you pee you must look good?  Korean are super prideful and into appearance.  This could be a whole entire blog or blogpost.  

Kimchi is served at every meal.  Kimchi is fermented cabbage with a ton of garlic and red pepper paste.  It all tastes a little different depending on where it comes from.  Its kinda like gold.  And they say its super healthy.  I beg to differ. 

The weirdest thing someone has told me is:  If you whistle, you are summoning snakes.

Now, if this is true, i would have thousands of snakes all over me, some traveling as far as Africa to get to me and following me everywhere i go.  Now, obviously this isnt true.  But it does kinda make sense, only because i was whistling one day and one the the girls (shes about 3 or 4 yrs old), stops coloring, looks at me, and says, "stop!"  

Uh ok.  Thats was startling.  So i stopped.  

And lastly, i will leave you with a funny story.  I stumped my first grade in hangman.  It looked like this:

"_ c_ _ _"

So I pulled out my map of the world.  I told them, "It's the largest thing on the map."

Ian (he's one of my favorite's)  shouts out, without even thinking, "KOREA!!!!!!"

"Noooooooo.  Korea is small.  What is the biggest thing on the map?"  

Eventually t(he)y got it.  

o c e a n

Im gonna teach these kinds to think outside the box.  Before they are confined to be locked in it.  

Rolling and tumbling

Again, this post is rather over due.

Lets see... two weeks ago i believe, I went to somewhere outside of the city, it is technically still Ulsan.

(Fun fact:  Ulsan is geographically the largest city in Korea)

Now the name of this place, i don't know.  I should probably look it up.  Its near Eonyang (pronounced on-yong).  And some friends and I were in search of a waterfall.  Apparently its the biggest in Ulsan? or Korea?  Obviously I am not a person who likes detail.  Only if i am looking at something.  Anyways, theres five of us, our adventure starts around 12:30 and we reach our destination maybe around 3ish, no 4ish.  Why you ask?  Well, you see we are all foreigners and we have no idea where we are going.  We keep asking people who are eager to help, but don't really understand or we don't understand them.  We started on the right bus, asked the bus driver and he waived us off the bus to catch another bus.  However, that second bus comes every hour.  But we didnt know that, we just started walking towards a giant mountain.  Then we went into a police station and asked the guy working.  He didnt know either, he looked it up online and made some phone calls, and took us to the bus station.  Ya, the one where we just got off.  It was then that we found out that the bus wont be there for another hour.  I kept hoping Mr. Police man would take us on a ride in his cop car to the falls.  But no.  It didnt happen. I know for (almost) certain he had nothing to attend to. So we waited for the bus, got on the bus, asked the driver if we were on the correct bus, he said yes and we were on the bus for about 20 min, drove through this:

These bus drivers dont mess around.

About 15 min later we are told we have arrived.  He kinda gestures in the direction we should go.  We get out and follow his directions.  Eventually we see a sign that says we are going in the right direction.  So we follow.  And low and behold we see some shanty town like store and other Koreans with their stellar hiking gear.  YES!  We made it.  We keep walking and find a lovely stream with rocks of all sizes and luscious green canopies.  

Oh ya we found more Koreans too.  And even other foreigners.  So I dont know if this was the waterfall but there were some waterfalls.  We walked down into the stream area.  I felt like i was back home near Nojoqui.  It was really nice to get out of the city and back to some real nature.  

We kinda loitered around for a little bit and then all of a sudden a see our friend Garrett on the ground and super pale.  Poor guy twisted his ankle pretty bad.  So we got him up and towards the water so he could stick his ankle in the frigid waters.  I gave him some advil and I told him he should drink the Makli (its a alcoholic drink here, its pretty good) to help him get down to the bus station.  But the guy wanted to tough it out.  

So all in all were were there for about an hour.  I still had fun, i was too tired to really work for anything that day anyways.  So sitting on a bus and seeing new land was good enough for me.

Out of all the things to be at the small market by the stream were some nasty beat up kid cars.

Ima speed racer!

Our view from the bus station.  Only one bus came up here.

We waited for a bit and then a taxi came and he was across the road a bit and he randomly started spot cleaning his car.  Im sure he was a gift from God.  We had no idea when the bus was going to come.  Two of the girls asked him if he would take us to the bus station.  He took all 5 of us to the other bus station for 10,000 won (about 10 bucks).  Right on and then we proceeded to go home.  This time it was much faster.  Our friend went to the hospital and he messed up his ankle pretty bad, so they gave him a brace to wear for two weeks.  He's doing much better now.

I did figure out that we went paragliding near this area.  I will probably be coming here again to escape the city.

Shakespeare and sand

A couple weeks ago there was the Sand Festival in Busan.  There was also a performance of "As You Like it" by Shakespeare and performed by a cast entirely of waygooks.  The day started with a 50 min train ride.  We then headed toward the amphitheater which we had to take a taxi to get to.  Then we proceed down a random trail in the trees and came across this:

Just envision Santa Barbara Bowl before it became a big deal.  This is one a much smaller scale, but it is right by the ocean, tucked on a mountain.  It didn't feel like we were in Korea anymore.  98% of the people who watched the performance were also waygooks.  It was a wonderful yet odd feeling.  

I went with a handful of people from Ulsan, like these guys:

Garrett, Kyla, Katie, and Breann

And Maggie and Elana

The performance was about 2 hours long and was very enjoyable, the cast did a great job.  

After the play, we went to the beach.  It was walking distance from the show so we passed some fun things on the way:

A lovely view of Busan

The sign reads:

"Maybe

Party & Wedding"

We then got to the beach where there were more foreigners, and some Asians.  We got to walk on the sand and see all of the cool and huge sand sculptures.  Just to let you in on a secret, Korea LOVES festivals.  They usually involve some crafts for kids, some kind of art thing, and a big party.  Which then involves a lot of drinking.  The theme of the Sand festival this year is "Fairy tales."  Here are some images from the day:

Guilliver's Travels

King Authur

The Little Mermaid

Maggie was cowering in shame ;)

A Korean Tale

Another Korean Tale

this one was about 5 tales in one, it was too big to fully document

Overall, it was an awesome day.  After the festival we had some mediocre tacos and a horrible margarita, but it was nice to kinda have some "Mexican" food.  After dinner, we headed to the beach where a huge stage was set up.  We missed the fireworks, but made it just in time for a dance party on the beach.  There was a dj and random Korean dancers on stage, who i was not impressed by.  They were pretty awful.  But, i had a great time dancing with friends.  And after a little bit a older Korean man dressed in his hiking clothes, hat, and still wearing his sunglasses (oh ya, its 10:30ish pm) comes and dances with us.  All while his wife was staring at us from a short distance confused by what to do.  The man just had both hands in the air, while slightly moving his arms up and down, kinda swaying, and every 30 seconds he would say, "Oooooh yaaa!!!"   It was hilarious.  He seemed harmless and just drunk and apparently down to party.  Soon after his wife came over and also started dancing with us.  All in all it was quite entertaining.  After a bit of dancing with our new friends, we decided to make take the train back home.   It was a wonderful day full of a lot of laughs.   

To whale or wail?

Well, i am going to have to take you back a week, or two really.  A couple weeks ago our school went to Ulsan's Whale museum.  This is kinda like a mini Sea world.  Let me remind you of the ages of the kids at my school.  Just think preschool, but more educated.  Now let's continue.  So we start our sweet trip with a 4-D movie.  Heck yes, Korea is go big or go home with technology.  The movie was in Korean but it was a computer animation so i understood it.  It was called (in English) "The Battle in Deep Sea."  It was about a submarine exploring the deep sea.  They come across some eggs,  which belong to a giant squid whop then attacks the sub.  Then, the whale comes into save the day (uh, didnt know whales could swim to the deep sea?  Or can they?)  Then the whale and the giant squid battle.  The submarine makes it back to the surface and is fine.  The whale saves the day.  Yay.

Halfway through the movie when the fight began, you heard a couple little screams of terror and then "Teacher! (in Korean)"  It was funny, yet sad.  So some kids left a little traumatized.  But its ok because we got to see a live dolphin show after so that made everything better.  It was fun, i totally enjoyed it.

After the show we went underneath the tank where there was a glass hallway and you could see in the tank.  It was fun.  Everyone was impressed and excited.

The ladies in the yellow shirts and black sweatpants are other teachers at my school.  That is what the teachers have to wear when we go on field trips or play soccer.  Not to bad.  I get to wear sweats on Friday and go on field trips!  I love my life! :)

We had a great time at this part of the museum, but then we went to the other part.  It was not about the lives of whales.  It was about the life of whaling.  Killing whales, why? Well because a man can, dammit.  Ugh.  it was gross.  So many pictures of slaughtered whales and men sitting on the fins, so you could make note of the size difference.  They had different kinds of whale and dolphin fetuses, too.  Ones at many different stages.  I didn't think i would really care, but i was totally turned off and upset at all of this.  I wanted to take a picture, but then i didnt know what i would do with it.  I wouldnt want to keep a photo of a dolphin fetus.   But for the record, the fetus look just like it does when its born, just tiny.  Its weird, it doesnt really develop like a human.  The smallest one was probably the size of a teacup. maybe 3-4 in long.  Just so ya know.  

It felt like man (humans) decided "im gonna catch the biggest thing this world has to offer, only then will i become a true man. (insert man grunt here)"  Hopefully that wasn't their thought process, but its certainly is what it felt like.  They also displayed all the equipment people used to catch and cut and cook the whale with.  Like this:

Note: those are not real people.  They are fake.

These are vats that the whale would be cooked in.  Probably the fat, for lipstick and perfumes and such.  

After this we had a picnic lunch.  I wasn't really hungry after all that, but they always prepare food for me so i felt like i have to eat it.  

We then played on the awesome ship that was for whaling:

I dont know if you can tell, but if you were to put these photos side by side, you would see that the man on the front of the ship has a torpedo (or some kind of weapon) to kill this whale with.  I was almost dumbfounded when i saw this.  Its just so blunt and ridiculous (welcome to Korea).  But anyways, we played on the ship deck after lunch.  

aren't my kids cute!?

this is one of my favorite classes (if i had to choose)

The End

Flying!

Well, Sorry for not posting.  I told you i was horrible at this blogging thing.  Life is still swell since the last time I wrote anything.  I have gotten used to living in this land and getting used to the Korean language.  And sometimes some of my students and i talk back and forth, them in their language and me in mine, and we can communicate.  But remember they are 3 yrs old.  So, ya... anyways, life is getting normal.  I've been told that this is the time in which the honeymoon phase begins to fades and the real truth of Korea appears.  I feel like i have already been introduced to that, so i hope i don't hear about more weird and ridiculous tales.  (Don't worry mom, its nothing scary.)

Ok, onto flying!  I will have to make some posts out of order.  Only because i am so excited by what happened.  Yesterday, I jumped off a friggin mountain!  And it was awesome!  It was a friend's birthday and he wanted to go paragliding, so he got a group together and we went.  Heres our group:

So, I was nervous in the beginning of the day.  Everyone kept making jokes that they were gonna die.  What else do you do when you're nervous?  I kinda got nervous in the morning, but as we got closer to our destination my nerves subsided.  

We got picked up in the city and drove for about 30 mins towards some beautiful mountains, that are actually near a place i went last week that i have yet to share with you.  We drive up the mountain, with some pretty gnarly turns.  Its kinda like driving way up Refugio Rd.  And we were in a minivan, but these guys know the roads pretty well  since they drive up it about 5 times in a day.  So we get to the top and all there is, is a small clearing and small running area and then, down.  The entire area was probably quarter the size of a football field, probably smaller.  We got to the top of the mountain around 10:30.  The wind wasn't that great.  It picked up a little and two people went.  About 40 min later they came back to our spot.  Then two more went.  I got to go this time.  I was pumped!  People were joking and saying "Why does she look like a natural?!"  I dunno, i guess i just like this stuff.  

A friend asked me before i jumped, "Are you nervous?"

"Not really."

"You just become my favorite woman."

Why thank you :)

(In all reality, I feel like i have done way more stupid things.)

I got suited up and theres a camera that you can use to take pics while you're in the air.  Like what we are using here:

So, its really hard to run when you feel like youre wearing a diaper with saggy pants, so one of the other guys helping out pretty much pulled me and then we took off!  But we went down for a little while before we went up.  I was a little nervous, i kept saying, "Up! Up! Up! Up!"  And just in the nick of time we went up and we got to soar in the sky like a bird.  It was incredible.  I must say this is a feeling i've wanted for a long time.  It was awesome.  You just float in the sky, and the other guy does the work. However, my ride was so quick because I guess the weather was bad, it wasn't windy enough.  We also had a hard landing.  It might of been my fault.  I don't remember.  You're suppose to just recline the whole time and at the end keep your legs up and just slide across the ground on your butt.  I dont really remember doing that.  I remember sliding and turning.  So when i stopped i was on my side but i couldnt move because of all the harnesses and stuff.  The man kept asking me, "Are you ok?  Are you ok?"  Ya ya im ok, just get me out, cuz i cant!  Haha.  So i get out im fine, i still had a great time.  I didnt feel like it was worth the money at that time.  We get in the car and my flight navigator hands me the camera and i look at my pictures.  They are over exposed!!!  None of them came out.  So i told my instructor (who's Korean and sorta speaks English) and showed him.  He took the camera and grumbled a little.  I told him, i should get a free ride again so i could get some photos.  He didnt really respond, i dont know if he didnt understand or just didnt want to deal with me at the moment.  We packed up and drove up the mountain to the rest of the crew.  

The rest of the day we just hung out on the top of this mountain with a beautiful view of Ulsan.  The view is of green foresty mountains with rice patties  and gardens at the base.  We watched and helped as two by two people would take off and fly in sky.  There were a lot of other people flying on their own too.  Its like a little community of paragliders.   They were all very nice and some spoke some English.  It was a hobby for most of them. 

 By 3 pm, there were two people who were left to go, and then the instructor said that he would take me again so that i could get some photos.  I was so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I didn't really expect him to do it.  I was mostly kidding.  But im glad i said something!  So, everyone went off and i waited my turn, again.  :)  And, there was another instructor who said he would take our friend Zach.  Zach is kinda a big guy and it was tricky to have him fly.  The wind has to be pretty strong.  So, he got to go!  And here we are ready:

I got a little more nervous this time.  But right before we go, the nerves disappeared and all of a sudden i was in the air again.  Oh, it was so worth the money this time.  He helped me take some pictures, but i only got about 2 or 3 photos before the memory got full.  Haha.  I don't care.  I only really need one.  The rest of the ride was awesome.  We went higher, and then he let me navigate.  He let me hold the handles and told me which way to pull and when to lean.  It was great.  Then he pretended to run us into some trees.  And we flew back and forth to each side of the canyon.  It was about a 15-20 min ride.  He would tell me about the different air currents, a little.  An then we were above our landing site.  He asked me something, and i couldn't understand.  For a moment i thought he said spiders, "no i dont like spiders."  Then he made a spiral motion with his hand, and i said "Oh yes!!!  I like spirals!"  "lets go!"  So he waited a moment, and all of a sudden there was an incredible pressure and we were spinning!!!!  I was not expecting the pressure, the feeling of being on a super fast roller coaster.  Then after a minute or two he stopped and we made our way to the landing area.  This time the land was much more graceful.  

So that was my little adventure for the weekend.  I could get used to it.  It'd be a great hobby.  Apparently, the place we went was number 1 or 2 for the best place to paraglide in Korea.  And on our drive back our friend told us he is 62 yrs old.  Say what?!  I was shocked.  Id like to be him, when im that age.  The first time i flew, i told him he has a good job.  

Here are my two photos from the sky with my new 62 yr old friend:

I don't know how my days get better, but they always do.  :)