School Reflection

Time again to reflect on school. First, let me say that I am thoroughly enjoying my year so far. What a blessing to have such little job-related stress. I give my students the credit for that. They are terrific.

First, a little demographics. The school I teach at in Korea is a K-12 international school with about 1200 total students. We are celebrating a decade of educating. Families are primarily Korean by ethnicity. Students often have lived abroad in an English speaking country or school for several years prior to attending our high school. Families are professional and expect a world-class education. The campus has a 1 to 1 laptop program fro students between 6th and 12th grade, so technology is a central component in learning.

Back to my students. I am still enjoying my students tremendously. They continue to be upbeat, prepared, polite, and engaged in learning. I find we do a lot of laughing, which is nice. Disciplining naughty children in my class is practically a non-issue. The biggest distraction for them is their computer. It is quite easy to simply ask them to close their computers in order to regain their attention. I continue to be amazed at their respect for each other and for me. This makes for stressless class periods.

Small class sizes play a role. Previously when I would have 28 - 32 students in a class as an English teacher, I would dream of small class sizes. I, and everyone else in my position, did the best we could to offer a tremendous education to our students. And we did. And they continue to do so. However, there really is something to be said for smaller class sizes. I now have between 9 and 19 students in my classes and have just 4 classes. Smaller class sizes means that I can expect all students to contribute to class discussion; individual project presentations takes fewer class periods to complete, students are able to get more individual attention from me, the general feeling in the classroom is less congested and rushed. And I have more time for planning because I'm taking less time for correcting.

Collaboration plays a role. As I have found in the past, life is easier as a teacher when you have colleagues with which to collaborate. I am so thankful that my new department members are willing to give their time to my questions and needs to make my courses successful. For instance, another teacher and I have the same preparation (course) and a common planning time. As needed, we can and DO meet for course planning and reflection. I'm doubly blessed because she and I seem to have similar teaching styles and views on what is important for the curriculum. Having TIME to collaborate can be and usually is an issue. What a difference it makes.

A supportive administration plays a role. I so appreciate that the culture in our building is healthy and supportive of staff. You see it in the class sizes. You see it in the encouragement of the social committee to keep the feeling of "family" through outside activities for staff. You see it in the way they address the teachers and present new ideas or tasks. There is a respect for who we are as professionals and people. One of the things I most worried about coming to a new school would be if the building would be a healthy and happy one. It is. Another blessing that keeps me balanced.


Technology usage in a 1-1 program keeps things fresh. I am absolutely loving the computers in the classroom. Students are responsible for buying and having their computer with them all the time. And they do. It is available for personal and school use and generally maintained by our IT department, which consists of 5 people for the entire district (3 buildings). Having computers at their fingertips has changed my teaching in some liberating ways. I post my lesson plans on my wiki now, along with links to documents, assignments, or websites used for instruction. Rather than print off all of these things, I tell students to "go to the wiki." Having access to the internet means they can easily navigate through parts of a website on their own and explore more than before. They can research topics right as we are discussing them. They also have access to a variety of resources for presentations like i-movie, keynote, youtube, etc. It is easier for students to communicate with one another through school email, chats, blogs, and postings on the wiki. Students have been able to post or download their assignments for me to correct. At first I didn't think I would like this feature, but it turns out that I do. I can usually use the editing feature to still write my "teacher comments" and I don't have a pile of papers to take home. Additionally, students can comment on one another's work this way for peer critiques outside of class. In the near future I hope to do a collaborative project with a former colleague and her students. We're hoping to have our students from half-way around the world read and critique each other's papers. To keep students on task in class with computers in use, we use a program called Apple Remote Desktop. This allows me to see what students are doing and know if they are off task. I can speak to them directly or shoot a message electronically reminding them of the class expectations.

So, for the most part I would say the transition to my new school in my new country is going quite well. There isn't too much to stress over. The things that do cause stress are those to be expected, preparing for two new courses, creating curriculum, learning the routines, getting to know colleagues personally, and forming deep, lasting friendships. These things will come with time, effort, and patience. In the meantime, I shall continue enjoying each day as it unfolds with all its ups and downs.

Anna's Smilebox Project



Another free digital scrapbook by Smilebox

Smilebox Scrapbook of Korean Folk Village

This free scrapbook design personalized with Smilebox

Smilebox Scrapbook of Chungju Trip

A free scrapbook by Smilebox

Sightseeing

Chusok break is winding down.  We've been making the most of our week off of work and school.  The weather has finally cleared up.   The rain and heat and humidity are GONE.  Sunny, clear skies, cool mornings and evenings and warm days have set in.  Finally!  I saw on the weather news that we've had almost 4x the normal amount of rain - recording setting. 

So, the break in the weather has made for wonderful sight seeing.  We celebrated two special occasions this week: my birthday and Anna's adoption day.  Make that three special occasions; our new couch and chair arrived after a 3 week set of delays.  Halleluia! 

Mexican food makes a felix cumpleanos

For my birthday we headed back to Itaewon, the Global Village area with a plethora of shops and ethnic eateries.  I have been hankering good Mexican food, and I knew I could find it there.   What an eclectic place.  We met Mr. Jokeman, a tailor who accosted Brent on the street insisting he could custom make him a suit and tell jokes "for free."  We've got his card to prove it.  (Tailored suits ARE a big thing here, and Itaewon is a good place to go since you have a better chance of finding an English speaking taylor.)  We also had a street artist create a banner with our last name on it with amazing artwork!  Can't wait to frame it and put it up in the apartment.  For lunch we walked Restaurant Row and found Amigos at the very end.  This was just what the doctor ordered - great Mexican food.  I had a burrito and a taco, rice and beans.  The mango margarita was on the house as a birthday present.  Cool.  Later I was told the Mexican embassy orders from them as it is the closest to home cookin' they can get.  After a few more purchases, we headed back home.

Drum and Dance show at Korean Folk Village

Dressed as guards for the Governor's Palace

 For Anna's birthday we made our way to the Korean Folk Village.  I got directions through a phone service here for foreigners, learning which buses would take us the 35 minutes to the Village.  It is sort of a Heritage Hill crossed with a Bay Beach Amusement park attached.  The grounds are huge, housing all kinds of authentic buildings, a few different museums, and various areas for entertainment.  Workers and artisans dress in the traditional hanbok, so the kids wore theirs, too!  (A lot of heads turned seeing two little blond headed kids in hanbok!)  While there, we saw a horsemanship show, a tightwire act, a concert of traditional Korean music, awesome drumming and dancing in bright costumes, and a traditional wedding recreation.  The kids both got to ride a horse led by one of the professional riders; a highlight of their day.  For supper we ate at the "foodcourt," an outdoor area where you order and pay for your food at a central ticket booth then take the tickets to the booths to pick up your order.  We had a marvelous noodle soup, pork kabobs, rice, kimchi, and water.  (By the way, most all places expect you to drink water with your meals, not milk, juice, pop, or alcohol.)  At the amusement area we took a relaxing trip on a little boat ride, rode a small rollercoaster (which the kids loved) among other things.  The nailbiting part of the day was when I lost my Flip for about 10 minutes until we retraced our steps twice and found it.

Enjoying a ride down the river at Korean Folk Village

Today our new couch and chair (cushy and reclining) arrived.  Wonderful!  The couch and chair provided would only seat three of the four of us and not very comfortable (too HARD).  So, now all that is left is a bit larger TV and we'll be set.  Don't expect anymore fabulous adventures for awhile - we'll be too busy lounging around as couch potatoes!

Lost in Translation

Happy Chusok!

Wednesday is a special holiday for the Koreans.  To the locals it is a sort of Thanksgiving/Day of the Dead combo that is celebrated for several days.  This is a time to be with family, wear traditional clothing, eat special foods just for this occasion, a visit the cemetery to honor the deceased.  To expats such as ourselves, it mostly means vacation at an unusual time - September!  Most people return to families, which means that Seoul more or less empties out and lots of businesses close for the holidays.  Many of the teachers at our school (foreigners) head out of the country for the week.  We did not.  We headed to a resort in another area of Korea where we cashed in on some timeshare.  At least, that is what we WANTED to do. 

Turns out that Cheongju and Chungju are not the same place.  Just try pronouncing both of those names aloud once and see if you hear a difference.  I didn't, but apparently the guy at the bus terminal did, because when I asked for 4 tickets to Chungju, it was heard as Cheongju.  Both cost about the same fare and lasted about the same amount of time, so I didn't know the difference.  Our family happily boarded the bus and settled in for a 2 hour ride beginning at about 7:10 PM on Friday night and ending at 9:00 PM on Friday night.  Perhaps we should have been suspicious when the first taxi driver we came to refused us service.  Instead, he indicated the guy behind him who promptly KICKED out some poor schmuck in the back who thought he was going to get somewhere!  We apologized, put our luggage in the trunk and got in the cab with "John Denver."  (You'll understand in a minute.)  He knew a little English.  I showed him the resort address, carefully sounding it out with him.  He punched it into his GPS and we were off.  I expected a 5 minute ride and a 6000 Won fare (as promised by the Resort paperwork).  He was a pretty good conversationalist and began making small talk.  Pretty soon we were out of the city.  After 15 minutes I felt suspicious.  What had gone wrong?  Our driver helped us to understand: we had arrived in Cheongju, a happy 84 km from Chungju and he was taking us there!  We were in for a long ride - literally!

Chalk that one up to experience!

Thankfully our driver was a good guy.  He asked questions about the US and spoke of how he would love to travel all over the US some day, but he was just a poor taxi driver.  He spoke about how all American women are seen as "movie stars."  (I guess that makes me a sort of movie star!)  He told us he knew a little John Denver and began singing "Country Road Take Me Home."  Brent and I joined in.  We had some regular karaoke going on!  Eventually we saw it.  Our place was near the top of a mountain.  The taxi began the long ascent.  We passed some poor young young guy walking up the sidewalk that lined the road.  I wanted to pick him up, but there was no room in the car.  "What a long walk that would be," I thought.  At last we arrived.  We were elated!  It was about 10:00 PM.  So, 1 hour, 84 km and 100,000 Won ($100) later we were saying THANK YOU to John Denver.

It doesn't end there, of course.

We plopped into bed (as a one bedroom, one kid slept on the floor and the other on the couch) and drifted happily to sleep.  The next morning we discovered what a beautiful, remote setting our place was in.  Lovely!  The mountains were misted over in the distance and looked 2 dimensional - just like in the Korean artwork you see.  We made our way down to breakfast - a traditional Korean breakfast - our first.  Korean breakfast is just like Korean lunch or supper; essentially there is no differentiation.  We were served rice, soup, kimchi, a fried egg, and a few other side dishes.  Much of it was quite good.  Next up - doing something fun!

One problem.  No car and no public transportation meant taking another taxi into town - yes, Chungju.  It turns out we were still 20 minutes from Chungju!  Yet another long and costly taxi ride into town.  No worries, though.  We were determined to have a good time.  So, we headed toward the Visitor Information Center.  What luck.  The minute we walked in, a kind, local English speaking couple came in too.  "What are you doing here?" Matt asked.  "We're here for Chusok, just exploring."  "Really?"  "Yes, what is there to do around here?"  Well, the couple proceeded to give about 30 minutes of their time explaining what might be good to do in the area with the kids.  Very kind of them!  Unfortunately, the thing we most wanted to do was take a ferry around the big lake there, but they were only running the short route due to Chusok and we wouldn't make their departure that day.  Another day, perhaps.

Finally, we took off for our adventure.  Taxied to a nice park with lots of monuments, statuary, and a beautiful view of the river as well as a lovely lookout tower.  We also discovered a forgotten Buddhist Temple tucked in the hillside.

Next, we taxied to another park that held a 7 story pagoda marking the very center of the Korean peninsula.  Cool.
Wandered into a small museum, again looked at the river and generally wandered around.  Taxied back into town to seek out public transportation back to the resort (as it would be much cheaper).  We had a bit of supper at Pizza Hut (no the pizza does not taste quite the same.) As usual, we met people who adored our children and wanted to talk to them and touch their hair.

Eventually we got on the 365 bus to the country.  It was a 45 minute ride to our stop.  We watched the lovely red sunset.  As we really didn't know where to get off, the bus driver kindly stopped at the bottom of our mountain and waited for us to disembark.  So, there we were - 7:10 PM, dusk, at the bottom of a mountain in the middle of nowhere.  No chance of getting a taxi now.  We had only one choice - hoof it to the top of the mountain!

The kids were great.  All in all, I imagine it was a 1.5 - 2 mile hike from the bus stop to the front door.  Anna was the first to make it, then Alec, then Brent (who only hung back on my account).  I brought up the rear, feeling like the guy who comes in last in a Biggest Loser challenge.  But, we made it!  We climbed a mountain!  Once again, we plopped into bed very weary travelers.

The following day it rained.  All day.  Just plain rained.  We had no ambition to walk down the mountain to catch a bus nor pay the price of riding into town to do activities in the rain, so we simply "hung out."  The highlight of the day consisted of experiencing a Korean Sauna (or public bath).  There was one on the resort - kids welcome.  Yahoo!  Boys go one way, girls the other.  Why?  Because public baths are enjoyed nude.  Thankfully, there was only one other woman in the bathhouse.  This made the whole experience a bit more comfortable for me.  Anna, of course, has no problem with nudity; she never has.  So she happily trotted from one hot bath to the next in her birthday suit.  The room itself was amazing - 4 different bath areas (the size of huge hottubs without jets).  One at about 105 degrees F, another at about 100 F, another about the same but with some sort of medicinal herbs in the water, another cold bath (75 F?), and two dry saunas.  The room also contained several standing showers, and seated showers for soaking feet, for example.  It was an amazing facility built to easily hold 50 - 60 people in the baths themselves.  The locker room had over 100 lockers, but there were only 3 of us!  We soaked in one, and then another, and then another several times over.  Lovely and relaxing.

So, were entertained ourselves for the rest of the day as best we could.  No restaurant was open, so we ate convenience store food for lunch and ordered take out "chicken" (which here means fried chicken) for supper.  A nice movie before bedtime and all was well.

Next day.  Rain again.  Drat!  Well, as you could imagine, this did not sit well with us.  Essentially all services were halted at the resort (because of Chusok?) and we had no wheels of our own.  Patience had run out.  So, we called it a day, hopped in a taxi to the bus station in CHUNGJU and made our way back to Seoul for the very reasonable price of 32000 Won total (about $30) for our 2 hour ride.

Now we are back at our apartment and couldn't be happier.  I AM sad that we never made it to the lake there.  We were looking forward to it.  But sometimes you just got to deal with the hand given you.

Think of us on Wednesday; it'll be Chusok and we'll be sure to dress our kids up in their traditional hanbok clothes for the occasion.  Now. . . if we can just find an open restaurant . . .

Cool!

Hello all!

This is a quick note.  I just checked my "statistics" for my blog.  This includes a glance at my demographics.  I'm quite excited because my blog now includes hits from 10 different countries!  Isn't technology wonderful?

Peace.  Pax.  Paix.

B