4500 - number of words that the average native English speaker knows
This should be 45000
See below
Sorry
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Olympic Park
Fall is really beautiful here. I love looking at the trees every day! I am so happy that we live so close to a big and beautiful park where I can enjoy the season. This morning Mark and I went for a nice walk through this park, it's called Olympic Park. The olympics were held in this park in '88. About one third of the park is covered with large stadiums but the rest of it has nice walking paths and places where you can fly kites and throw frisbees...which makes me so happy. Here are some pictures of the park that were actually taken a couple of weeks ago. I forgot the camera this morning, I was disapointed about that...anyway this first one is of the big gate, we see it everyone morning as we pass by it on the bus. 
As I said...I love the trees!
Today as we were walking we noticed this interesting looking squirrel with really long ears. It kind of looked like a squirrel/rabbit. Anyway, then we noticed a school class, or maybe it was a kindergarten class all watching the squirrel...they were really cute in their matching sweatsuites. As we walked a number of the kids looked up at us and said hello. Kids often seem excited to see us and wave and say hello as if we are celebrities...it feels kind of strange at times.
I was also really happy to see this big open space. I hope to go here this weekend with Mark and throw the frisbee.
Here is the gate again. The trees were a lot more colorful today. 
I have noticed that some Koreans wear face masks, like doctor masks, the kind that cover your nose and mouth. I'm not quite sure why but I guess it is because they don't want to breath in all of the pollution or maybe just because the air often stinks. Today I saw a really interesting one in the park, it kind of looked like a beak. I just typed something trying to explain it but it doesn't make sense so deleted it...I will leave it up to your imagination.
Here we are so happy at the park. :)
As I said...I love the trees!
Today as we were walking we noticed this interesting looking squirrel with really long ears. It kind of looked like a squirrel/rabbit. Anyway, then we noticed a school class, or maybe it was a kindergarten class all watching the squirrel...they were really cute in their matching sweatsuites. As we walked a number of the kids looked up at us and said hello. Kids often seem excited to see us and wave and say hello as if we are celebrities...it feels kind of strange at times.
I was also really happy to see this big open space. I hope to go here this weekend with Mark and throw the frisbee.
Here is the gate again. The trees were a lot more colorful today. 
I have noticed that some Koreans wear face masks, like doctor masks, the kind that cover your nose and mouth. I'm not quite sure why but I guess it is because they don't want to breath in all of the pollution or maybe just because the air often stinks. Today I saw a really interesting one in the park, it kind of looked like a beak. I just typed something trying to explain it but it doesn't make sense so deleted it...I will leave it up to your imagination.
Here we are so happy at the park. :)Professional Devlopment
I dont really consider myself a professional, but nevertheless this weekend we attended the 15th KOTESOL International Conference. KOTESOL = Korea Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. It was interesting. I have never really been to a professional development conference before and it made me feel somewhat important. There were a lot of different seminars on different topics that were aimed to help us teach. Some were sponsored by different publishers so the seminars were more of a sales pitch (trying to sell their textbooks) than actual help, but they gave us free stuff and I got to wear a spiffy name tag which made me feel swell.
Some of the conference wasn't helpful and some of it was. It made me much more aware of things I should be aware of while I am preparing for my classes. They were things I knew, but it was a good reminder and made me more conscious.
Some of the lectures were more academic, looking at linguistic analysis or discussions surrounding understanding English as a Lingua Franca. These were super interesting but not too practical for me in my everyday work.
Some facts for you that I found interesting:
75000 - number of words in the English Language
7500 - number of words needed to make a speaker fluent
4500 - number of words that the average native English speaker knows
2500 - number of words that are used 80% of the time when speaking English
These stats were taken from a publisher selling a new dictionary that includes "core words," it highlights the most important words used in the English language
6912 - number of living languages in the world
80% - Percentage of people who speak English that are Non-Native English Speakers (In other words, only 20% of the people who speak English are native English speakers, wow)
12 - Number of verb tenses in the English language
I found these interesting, hope you did too.
Some of the conference wasn't helpful and some of it was. It made me much more aware of things I should be aware of while I am preparing for my classes. They were things I knew, but it was a good reminder and made me more conscious.
Some of the lectures were more academic, looking at linguistic analysis or discussions surrounding understanding English as a Lingua Franca. These were super interesting but not too practical for me in my everyday work.
Some facts for you that I found interesting:
75000 - number of words in the English Language
7500 - number of words needed to make a speaker fluent
4500 - number of words that the average native English speaker knows
2500 - number of words that are used 80% of the time when speaking English
These stats were taken from a publisher selling a new dictionary that includes "core words," it highlights the most important words used in the English language
6912 - number of living languages in the world
80% - Percentage of people who speak English that are Non-Native English Speakers (In other words, only 20% of the people who speak English are native English speakers, wow)
12 - Number of verb tenses in the English language
I found these interesting, hope you did too.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Yelling on the streets
As I am sitting at my desk I can hear a faint voice coming from a microphone. I often here this voice and it makes me wonder...what is this man saying? I know he is probably standing by a stand on the street where he is selling stuff...sometimes it sounds like "oh johnny! oh johnny!"
Sometimes as I am about to go to sleep I again hear someone yelling on the streets...this time there is no microphone and I'm pretty sure nothing is being sold...but what is he saying and why does he continue to yell out at 1am?
I wish I understood Korean!
Sometimes as I am about to go to sleep I again hear someone yelling on the streets...this time there is no microphone and I'm pretty sure nothing is being sold...but what is he saying and why does he continue to yell out at 1am?
I wish I understood Korean!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
the smells of commuting
This is a short description about my commute and the smells i encounter.
As I leave our apartment building, I am always reminded how I am no longer in Canada as "the nast" smell (as Heather P. would say) of Seoul sets in. Its not a pretty smell, some days are better than others, but reality is that Seoul is not the cleanest city I have lived in. There is a dirty smell to it and as I am walking to the bus stop thinking I am used to it, I usually get a whiff of something else to remind me that I wont be able to get used to the dirty smell.
We enter the bus, and depending if the bus is full or not, we encounter different smells. If its full, well you guessed it, it smells like a hot bus full of people, something not necessarily unique to Seoul. If its empty, than its fine. As we get off the bus and enter the subway station, we encounter a nostalgic smell of an older lady selling walnuts, squid tentacles and corn that are roasting on some coals. The smell of coals reminds me of a campfire, good memories that are associated with fresh air. The memory is quickly forgotten as we pass the coals and smell Seoul's smell again. (On a side note about sounds, another older lady on the opposite side of the stairs sells random stuff including Q-tips, toys, umbrellas and alarm clocks. She seems to think that having the alarm clock beeping all day will help attract customers, I personally am more inclined to visit the other kiosks that do not remind me of that obnoxious sound that wakes me from happy sleep time).
Subways, are subways, and have their own unique smell. And because this is already getting long I will just say that the rest of our trip to and from work involves the smell of stink from Seoul and the smell of fishes and spices from restaurants. But one last smell which intrigues me every night as we walk to our apartment. We smell something sweet, something cake or cookie like each night. Its a beautiful smell and warms our noses as it masks the smell of 10 million people living in a small area. Much to our astonishment it comes from the fried chicken places along our street. We cant explain it, how can fried chicken smell so sweet? But its there, another mystery of the world that will never be answered.
As I leave our apartment building, I am always reminded how I am no longer in Canada as "the nast" smell (as Heather P. would say) of Seoul sets in. Its not a pretty smell, some days are better than others, but reality is that Seoul is not the cleanest city I have lived in. There is a dirty smell to it and as I am walking to the bus stop thinking I am used to it, I usually get a whiff of something else to remind me that I wont be able to get used to the dirty smell.
We enter the bus, and depending if the bus is full or not, we encounter different smells. If its full, well you guessed it, it smells like a hot bus full of people, something not necessarily unique to Seoul. If its empty, than its fine. As we get off the bus and enter the subway station, we encounter a nostalgic smell of an older lady selling walnuts, squid tentacles and corn that are roasting on some coals. The smell of coals reminds me of a campfire, good memories that are associated with fresh air. The memory is quickly forgotten as we pass the coals and smell Seoul's smell again. (On a side note about sounds, another older lady on the opposite side of the stairs sells random stuff including Q-tips, toys, umbrellas and alarm clocks. She seems to think that having the alarm clock beeping all day will help attract customers, I personally am more inclined to visit the other kiosks that do not remind me of that obnoxious sound that wakes me from happy sleep time).
Subways, are subways, and have their own unique smell. And because this is already getting long I will just say that the rest of our trip to and from work involves the smell of stink from Seoul and the smell of fishes and spices from restaurants. But one last smell which intrigues me every night as we walk to our apartment. We smell something sweet, something cake or cookie like each night. Its a beautiful smell and warms our noses as it masks the smell of 10 million people living in a small area. Much to our astonishment it comes from the fried chicken places along our street. We cant explain it, how can fried chicken smell so sweet? But its there, another mystery of the world that will never be answered.
Monday, October 22, 2007
spelling mistake
Sorry, in the last post i spelled "propaganda" wrong by spelling it "propaghanda". I apologize for this and admit its because of the band "Propaghandi" which causes me to always misspell propaganda. Them's the breaks i guess.
"De"-Militarized Zone
We went to the DMZ this weekend with some of the other Connexus teachers. Interesting.
We went to the Joint Security Area where they hold discussions between the two countries. We went to the third tunnel where North Korea dug a hole into South Korea. Its 150m deep and about 1600m long. Fairly impressive. We also went to an observatory where we could look into North Korea, into "Propaghanda Village" as it is named by southern forces. Ironically naming the village propaganda is a form of propaganda itself. Interesting point: The flag that you see flying in this picture weighs 600 pounds when dry (its huge), it was a windy day on saturday.
The JSA was the most interesting place. After signing a contract that we would not make any type of gesture whatsoever to the north koreans, we saw the buildings where they meet for military talks. So technically we got to enter North Korea because when we went inside the building we crossed over the border. After observing a number of soldiers I was impelled to ask our soldier tour guide "If this is a demilitarized zone, why is it so militarized?" I felt that demilitarized would mean lack of soldiers with guns, lack of guard towers, etc. The soldier responded with, "To tell you the truth man, I dont have an answer for that. Its really one of the most heavily miiltarized zones in the world." This is one of the building we entered. Here is a South Korean soldier closest in the picture. They stand half of their bodies exposed to look and half of their bodies covered by the building in case they are shot upon.
Another interesting thing is that in the pictures below you can see that all the mountains are bare. I was skeptical of this at first when I first heard about this, was that the mountains in North Korea are bare because they cut down all the trees for fire wood and did not replace them. Every mountain i saw was bare. It might be difficult to see from these pictures, but its true.
Thats it.
We went to the Joint Security Area where they hold discussions between the two countries. We went to the third tunnel where North Korea dug a hole into South Korea. Its 150m deep and about 1600m long. Fairly impressive. We also went to an observatory where we could look into North Korea, into "Propaghanda Village" as it is named by southern forces. Ironically naming the village propaganda is a form of propaganda itself. Interesting point: The flag that you see flying in this picture weighs 600 pounds when dry (its huge), it was a windy day on saturday.
The JSA was the most interesting place. After signing a contract that we would not make any type of gesture whatsoever to the north koreans, we saw the buildings where they meet for military talks. So technically we got to enter North Korea because when we went inside the building we crossed over the border. After observing a number of soldiers I was impelled to ask our soldier tour guide "If this is a demilitarized zone, why is it so militarized?" I felt that demilitarized would mean lack of soldiers with guns, lack of guard towers, etc. The soldier responded with, "To tell you the truth man, I dont have an answer for that. Its really one of the most heavily miiltarized zones in the world." This is one of the building we entered. Here is a South Korean soldier closest in the picture. They stand half of their bodies exposed to look and half of their bodies covered by the building in case they are shot upon.
Another interesting thing is that in the pictures below you can see that all the mountains are bare. I was skeptical of this at first when I first heard about this, was that the mountains in North Korea are bare because they cut down all the trees for fire wood and did not replace them. Every mountain i saw was bare. It might be difficult to see from these pictures, but its true.
Thats it.
Friday, October 19, 2007
DMZ and me and dress code
Tomorrow we are going for a "tour" of the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea. Its a little weird to me that a military area is a tourist site. But I'm going anyway, despite my hesitancy to buy into the touristic enterprise of war.
We are going with the United Service Organizations which promotes activities for its soldiers overseas. Because its with the military and whatnot, they are rather strict, check out this dress code which we must follow to go on this tour.
We are going with the United Service Organizations which promotes activities for its soldiers overseas. Because its with the military and whatnot, they are rather strict, check out this dress code which we must follow to go on this tour.
DRESS CODE
SUBJECT: Clothing Policy for Participants in the Commander, United Nations Command (UNC) Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) Education and Orientation Program – Joint Security Area (JSA)
APPLICABILITY: This policy applies to all personnel in JSA except those at Enclosure A.
All visitors to the JSA must display a neat and presentable appearance. To meet this requirement the following standards apply:
Active duty military personnel have the option of wearing their service equivalent to the Army Class A or B uniforms or appropriate civilian attire as described below. In accordance with Armistice requirements, battle dress, utility, fatigue, dungaree, or flight suit-type working uniforms cannot be worn by visitors to the JSA.
Informal civilian clothes commonly viewed as acceptable in equivalent public settings are normally acceptable. For example, clean jeans without fraying or tearing and a clean t-shirt lettered with profanity, and flip-flop sandals would be deemed unacceptable. Visitors wearing clothing deemed faddish, extreme, torn, tattered, frayed, overly provocative, or otherwise inappropriate by the UNCSB-JSA guides will not be allowed to enter the DMZ. The following attire/appearance is specifically prohibited:
Shirts/tops without sleeves or that expose the midriff and tank tops. Also shirts/tops with insulting, profane, provocative or demeaning representations.
Frayed cutoff shorts, gym shorts and shorts that expose the buttocks.
Any items of outer clothing of a sheer variety.
Sports uniforms or athletic clothing of any kind including track pants or other stretch pants or warm-ups.
Shower and “flip-flops” shoes. No sandals/open toed shoes.
Items of military clothing not worn as an integral part of a prescribed service uniform.
Oversize clothing, commonly referred to as “gangster” clothes, including oversize baggy/long pants, t-shirts, or sweatshirts, and “biker” dress such as leather vests and leather riding chaps.
This document is not meant to cover every possible clothing/appearance situation. In all cases not otherwise specifically covered by this policy, the UNCSB-JSA guide will make a decision on acceptability of appearance. In the case where a visitor disputes the guide’s determination, the UNC Military Armistice Commission representative will make final determination. The UNC is not responsible to provide appropriate clothing for improperly dressed visitors to wear on the tour and maintains no resources to do so. Visitors who arrive at Camp Bonifas in inappropriate attire will be allowed to receive the UNC DMZ Education and Orientation Brief but will not be allowed to enter the UNCMACHA.
This policy supersedes the previous memorandum dated 15 August 2005. Requests for exceptions to this policy are not encouraged but will be considered when necessary by the undersigned. POC is 724-3434
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
pens and capatilism and teaching
Today is a good day, I used my pen until it was completely empty. Its not often that I accomplish this and I find it rather exciting. Too often I replace things before they completely die. Its sad that I do that and that kind of mentality is rather troublesome, so I thought I would celebrate the long and useful life of my pen. To all those pens that have properly ran out of ink!
In other news, I have decided that my uneasiness with understanding my students derives from teaching English in a private institute. It goes like this. I am concerned what my students think for a number of reasons: A) I want them to enjoy class because if they enjoy class, I will enjoy it and everyone will be happier B) I want them to learn English, if my students enjoy the class, it will create a more relaxed environment and hopefully they can learn English easier, and since learning English is the telos of my job, it is good if they learn a lot of English C) I want them to feel like they are getting their money's worth so they stay at Connexus.
This is the problem, I want them to feel like their money is well spent. Privatized education. I don't know how I feel about this yet. Besides the fact that it makes learning English a privilege of the rich, it creates an interesting power dynamic and understanding. Teaching and learning are reduced to dollar amounts and in Korea this is more than just giving schools enough money to operate. With so many language schools here, its a matter of fierce capitalistic competition. And while the Realist side of me says thats just how it is (how else could it work), I cant help but feel a little uncomfortable with teaching as a capitalistic enterprise.
I don't really know what I think, but if any of you have any ideas, let me know.
In other news, I have decided that my uneasiness with understanding my students derives from teaching English in a private institute. It goes like this. I am concerned what my students think for a number of reasons: A) I want them to enjoy class because if they enjoy class, I will enjoy it and everyone will be happier B) I want them to learn English, if my students enjoy the class, it will create a more relaxed environment and hopefully they can learn English easier, and since learning English is the telos of my job, it is good if they learn a lot of English C) I want them to feel like they are getting their money's worth so they stay at Connexus.
This is the problem, I want them to feel like their money is well spent. Privatized education. I don't know how I feel about this yet. Besides the fact that it makes learning English a privilege of the rich, it creates an interesting power dynamic and understanding. Teaching and learning are reduced to dollar amounts and in Korea this is more than just giving schools enough money to operate. With so many language schools here, its a matter of fierce capitalistic competition. And while the Realist side of me says thats just how it is (how else could it work), I cant help but feel a little uncomfortable with teaching as a capitalistic enterprise.
I don't really know what I think, but if any of you have any ideas, let me know.
Weekend in Chunchon
This last weekend we went back to Chunchon along with our church and most of the teachers from Connexus. With our church (Grace and Peace Church) we celebrated Thanksgiving with Jesus Village Church (we had already visited this church over our holiday a couple of weeks ago). We arrived on Saturday evening and had a barbeque outside then sat around a fire singing songs. We slept at this hunting lodge located in the mountains around Chunchon. It was a beautiful area. I think I appreciate being in nature so much more after living in Seoul. Sometimes I feel kind of nature deprived.
After the camp fire a bunch of the Connexus people hung out in one of our rooms. You'll notice us sitting on some mats and there are no mattresses in the room. This was exactly like our hotel in Sokcho. This is Korean style although many Koreans do sleep on western style beds. Sleeping on the floor is a bit too hard for my liking but again it saves on space. In the morning we cleaned up all of the bedding and stuck it all in the closet, this way we could fit a lot of people in one room and all eat breakfast together sitting on the floor.
After breakfast we drove into Chunchon and had a joint Thanksgiving church service in a park. On our drive in we ran into a whole bunch of rollerbladers. They were actually all participating in a marathon. In Canada I think it is pretty common that the streets would have be blocked off for something like this. This was not the case here. There were people directing the traffic but there were times when people were rollerblading right in front of our vehicle. It was entertaining to watch.
It was such a beautiful day and setting for a church service.
Take care to everyone reading!
After the camp fire a bunch of the Connexus people hung out in one of our rooms. You'll notice us sitting on some mats and there are no mattresses in the room. This was exactly like our hotel in Sokcho. This is Korean style although many Koreans do sleep on western style beds. Sleeping on the floor is a bit too hard for my liking but again it saves on space. In the morning we cleaned up all of the bedding and stuck it all in the closet, this way we could fit a lot of people in one room and all eat breakfast together sitting on the floor.
After breakfast we drove into Chunchon and had a joint Thanksgiving church service in a park. On our drive in we ran into a whole bunch of rollerbladers. They were actually all participating in a marathon. In Canada I think it is pretty common that the streets would have be blocked off for something like this. This was not the case here. There were people directing the traffic but there were times when people were rollerblading right in front of our vehicle. It was entertaining to watch.
It was such a beautiful day and setting for a church service.
Take care to everyone reading!Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Top Ten
Top Ten Things About Our New Apartment:
10: There are not only men in suits around. There are people in everyday clothes (by saying that I do realize that for some people suits are the everyday clothes)
9: We have a 45 minute commute to work. You think this is a joke, but its not. I like it and its refreshing to get away from the area we work. Since our life here is work and our apartment, its nice to have some separation between the two. It also provides me the opportunity to read the newspaper on a very regular basis.
8: We don't have to stand on our bed to put bread into the toaster.
7: We will be there until we leave Korea. I have moved a lot this last year and it will be nice to be in one place for at least a few months.
6: We live by a large traditional market where we can buy fresh fruits (if in season) as well as vegetables and fish if we need some.
5: We have a balcony and it goes around 2.5 sides of our apartment.
4: Olympic Park: A huge park, kinda like Central Park but not quite, is a five minute walk from our apartment. Its really nice to be able to go there on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon for a walk and escape the buildings.
3: Children: There are children around. In fact, the building next to us is an elementary school and supposedly in the morning they often sing and it can be heard from our apartment.
2: Aesthetics: Its not the most aesthetic picture, but the number of red fluorescent church steeples that can be seen from our balcony is an interesting and attractive aesthetic. It reminds me of the opening scenes of Romeo and Juliet (the leo version) when they focus on the city landscape and show the church steeples. Except that here in Seoul, its modernized in an uncomfortable but admiring way.
1: Bikes. There are people with bikes around our apartment. What a refreshing sight.
10: There are not only men in suits around. There are people in everyday clothes (by saying that I do realize that for some people suits are the everyday clothes)
9: We have a 45 minute commute to work. You think this is a joke, but its not. I like it and its refreshing to get away from the area we work. Since our life here is work and our apartment, its nice to have some separation between the two. It also provides me the opportunity to read the newspaper on a very regular basis.
8: We don't have to stand on our bed to put bread into the toaster.
7: We will be there until we leave Korea. I have moved a lot this last year and it will be nice to be in one place for at least a few months.
6: We live by a large traditional market where we can buy fresh fruits (if in season) as well as vegetables and fish if we need some.
5: We have a balcony and it goes around 2.5 sides of our apartment.
4: Olympic Park: A huge park, kinda like Central Park but not quite, is a five minute walk from our apartment. Its really nice to be able to go there on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon for a walk and escape the buildings.
3: Children: There are children around. In fact, the building next to us is an elementary school and supposedly in the morning they often sing and it can be heard from our apartment.
2: Aesthetics: Its not the most aesthetic picture, but the number of red fluorescent church steeples that can be seen from our balcony is an interesting and attractive aesthetic. It reminds me of the opening scenes of Romeo and Juliet (the leo version) when they focus on the city landscape and show the church steeples. Except that here in Seoul, its modernized in an uncomfortable but admiring way.
1: Bikes. There are people with bikes around our apartment. What a refreshing sight.
Monday, October 15, 2007
New Apartment in Dunchon-dong
Last Thursday we moved into a new apartment...and it is wonderful! It feels so great to have more space. We have already made it feel like home a bit and have finally unpacked one of our suitcases which held our belongings for the last three months. I think it is good we first lived in the small apartment because it really makes us appreciate this one so much more. Here are a couple of photos of our place. The picture of the street is taken from our balcony...I love it that we have a balcony! 
The area that we are now in is about a 45 minute commute from Connexus which isn't ideal but worth it when we see the apartment. We have enjoyed exploring our new neighborhood and it is nice to see children on the streets and people biking. I hadn't noticed until now that I never saw kids around at our last place, only men in business suits and women in high heals.
You'll notice in the last picture how the showers are a bit different here. We just stand right in front of the sink and hold the shower head. The entire bathroom gets pretty wet but it sure saves on space. This is why I am wearing the lovely green flip flops. Most bathrooms (in homes) have sandals sitting outside of them so that if the floor is wet people don't get their feet wet. Pretty smart I guess.
The area that we are now in is about a 45 minute commute from Connexus which isn't ideal but worth it when we see the apartment. We have enjoyed exploring our new neighborhood and it is nice to see children on the streets and people biking. I hadn't noticed until now that I never saw kids around at our last place, only men in business suits and women in high heals.
You'll notice in the last picture how the showers are a bit different here. We just stand right in front of the sink and hold the shower head. The entire bathroom gets pretty wet but it sure saves on space. This is why I am wearing the lovely green flip flops. Most bathrooms (in homes) have sandals sitting outside of them so that if the floor is wet people don't get their feet wet. Pretty smart I guess.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Holiday every day
I have had a number of jobs that involve me starting/finishing at times either late in the evening or early in the morning. Usually these jobs involve a fairly quiet and solitary trip to work. In Winnipeg I would often bike to work and I always enjoyed the bike ride. I would bike down Portage ave and find traffic limited. These were peaceful journeys that helped me relax before and after work. The one exception was when there were holidays, and only holidays of a special kind. New Years Eve is the only holiday I can remember where I left work at Midnight and there was still some activity on the streets.
I am still not used to the amount of people. Our last class finishes at around 10pm and we usually leave work between 10 and 11. After a long day of work I still anticipate a quiet and solitary walk home with my head down pondering over the day's events, but I step out of the building and I am a little surprised at the activity. This is why every day is a holiday here, I always feel like all the activity on the streets at 11pm must mean a special day. But no, I am wrong. Its just a normal day and my walk home at night involves walking with my head up, dodging people on the sidewalk, being tempted by the street vendors selling food, shoes, clothes, dvd's, cell phone things and other random junk.
Its fun and its different and every day when I step outside, I still get a tinge of excitement that there is some festivity planned that I can observe on my travels home.
I am still not used to the amount of people. Our last class finishes at around 10pm and we usually leave work between 10 and 11. After a long day of work I still anticipate a quiet and solitary walk home with my head down pondering over the day's events, but I step out of the building and I am a little surprised at the activity. This is why every day is a holiday here, I always feel like all the activity on the streets at 11pm must mean a special day. But no, I am wrong. Its just a normal day and my walk home at night involves walking with my head up, dodging people on the sidewalk, being tempted by the street vendors selling food, shoes, clothes, dvd's, cell phone things and other random junk.
Its fun and its different and every day when I step outside, I still get a tinge of excitement that there is some festivity planned that I can observe on my travels home.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Can - Men
Check out the current issue of the Canadian Mennonite, there is an article that talks about our church here in Seoul, Grace and Peace Mennonite Church.
Crash and Burn
Well it has to happen every once in awhile and while its not fun, hopefully I can learn from it. I had my discussion class yesterday, a class that is set up to practice English by having discussions on specific topics. Well I planned my class on the topic of advertising. We started by looking at some different Korean tourism ads and than talked about advertising in Korea (there are signs everywhere here) and finished with a small discussion on "adbusting." But no matter what I asked, the class said nothing. It felt like the whole class was one long awkward silence. Oh well, I suppose i need to learn from it and move on. I think thats my biggest challenge here, learning not to worry about one bad class but using those crash and burn times as learning times.
Here is one of the pictures I talked about with my class. The Corporate American Flag. I think it is rather clever and makes a strong point through subtle humour. My students thought so as well.
Here is one of the pictures I talked about with my class. The Corporate American Flag. I think it is rather clever and makes a strong point through subtle humour. My students thought so as well.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Side Dishes
I have noticed how Koreans love side dishes. When we go out for a meal the table is usually covered in side dishes like kimchi (pickled cabbage with lots of hot spices), pickled radishs, some type of greens, cooked or pickled onions, little fish (totally in their fish shape, eyes and all), and the list goes on. Sometimes the table is so full as you will notice in the second picture that we had to put the lettuce on the railing. I should also say that all of the side dishes are free! You pay for the main dish and without saying anything all of the side dishes come to the table. This first picture was taken at the wedding that we went to on Saturday. We all had our own bowl of soup and the side dishes were free for all. Everyone just sticks their chopsticks in whatever dish and eats away. No worries about germs here.
The first dish on the right is of rice cakes. I am not a big fan of these...they are very chewy..maybe they will grow on me soon. But I love the dish on the left in the front. They are like mini pankcakes with lots of eggs and vegetables...so good!
At this restaurant we had galbi (which is ribs). They hadn't brought our meat to the table when I took this picture...the table was already over flowing. They fry up the meat on the table on the black grill. Lish is on the right. She is one of the head -teachers here at Connexus. Jodi and Joe are on the left. We are moving into their apartment this Thursday. We went out for supper after they gave us a tour of the area where we will soon be living. We love the apartment and the area so are really looking forward to the move!
The first dish on the right is of rice cakes. I am not a big fan of these...they are very chewy..maybe they will grow on me soon. But I love the dish on the left in the front. They are like mini pankcakes with lots of eggs and vegetables...so good!
At this restaurant we had galbi (which is ribs). They hadn't brought our meat to the table when I took this picture...the table was already over flowing. They fry up the meat on the table on the black grill. Lish is on the right. She is one of the head -teachers here at Connexus. Jodi and Joe are on the left. We are moving into their apartment this Thursday. We went out for supper after they gave us a tour of the area where we will soon be living. We love the apartment and the area so are really looking forward to the move!Monday, October 8, 2007
Freestyle
Its kind off a running joke here that Connexus does stuff "freestyle." Our boss, Jae Young, is always talking about doing stuff freestyle. Basically this means we have to be flexible and whatnot, which i think is rather important when working in an international workplace. It reminds me of my time in Germany. During my year in Germany we had Canadians, Americans, Paraguayans, Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, Kasack's and Uzbek's all working in the same office. At different times many differences would become apparent and while it took me some time to get used to it all, I think I eventually enjoyed that. Although if I stayed longer than one year maybe it would have been more difficult for me to let things go.
Here in Korea its not quite so extreme, but "freestyle" is still important to me, especially with teaching. It is hard to understand what my students really want from class because I don't entirely know their language background and I cant really read my students yet (body language, facial expressions, etc). Although I am learning slowly, its still challenging and I have to be careful not to assume I know what they want based on what I would want. This makes things especially difficult when I am trying to evaluate my own classes because my only criteria is what I think. So any kind of critical thought is rooted in my own opinions and assumptions. How can i be critical of my classes while not making assumptions? Well at least we have class surveys once a month which should help.
Anyway, this was going to be a blog entry talking about our church here, but rants are always fun. Freestyle, right? Shalom,
Here in Korea its not quite so extreme, but "freestyle" is still important to me, especially with teaching. It is hard to understand what my students really want from class because I don't entirely know their language background and I cant really read my students yet (body language, facial expressions, etc). Although I am learning slowly, its still challenging and I have to be careful not to assume I know what they want based on what I would want. This makes things especially difficult when I am trying to evaluate my own classes because my only criteria is what I think. So any kind of critical thought is rooted in my own opinions and assumptions. How can i be critical of my classes while not making assumptions? Well at least we have class surveys once a month which should help.
Anyway, this was going to be a blog entry talking about our church here, but rants are always fun. Freestyle, right? Shalom,
Friday, October 5, 2007
New Semester
So, we have begun semester #2. I can't believe we have already been here a month! Time flies! Semesters are only a month long which I feel is really short but kind of nice because it keeps things fresh. The last class of every semester is a fun class which means we play games or go out. For some reason I can't cut and paste the pictures so the first picture is of my students and I right before we went out for some fancy yogart concoctions.
This semester I am teaching a class that is specifically for people about to take an interview in English. I have two students, one who is preparing for an interview for a university exchange program and the other is preparing for an interview with an airline. I think it should be a good class, something different from my other classes. I will also be teaching six other classes. This month is going to be busy! Last month we only had five classes, they like to start us off light....so here we go....
I am now the "birthday co-ordinator" here at Connexus which means I have to make sure that a cake is bought when some one has a birthday here. We always get cakes from "Paris Baguette" and they are so tasty! It's fun eating the cake with chopsticks. So today I went to go buy a cake since someone has a birthday tomorrow (on Saturday), so I went, forgetting my "Korean Phrasebook." There were three employees trying to talk to me...our conversation consisted mostly of pointing and awkward laughs...story of my life!
The second picture we took last night after our evening classes. This will be the group of teachers for the year minus Lish and Cheryl (who are the head teachers and had already gone home when we took it). From left to right: Mark, Joel, Marvin, me, Heather, and Karen. Karen just arrived here this week. It feels like a good group!
The last picture we are eating come cookies brought to us from Canada ...yummy!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in Canada!!!!!!
blue shiny day
Well its a blue sky kinda day here in Seoul, which is nice since I don't feel we get those very often around here. Too much smog and rain and stuff. Its also Friday here which is also very good. Tomorrow is the weekend and I like that. Tomorrow we are going to a Korean wedding, which should be good but maybe a little awkward. You see, we have never actually met the people who are getting married. She is a friend of another worker here at Connexus and a bunch of us are going. We got an invitation and stuff, but its still a bit wierd.
In other news, the Korean English media seems to talk positively about the North-South Korean summit. So that is good. Here is a quote from the Korean Herald:
"In a landmark joint declaration signed yesterday, leaders of the two Koreas agreed to create a peace zone in the west sea, and to advance multi-national efforts to formally end the Korean War."
There was also discussion surrounding joint economic projects in the North which may help North Korea's economy. So this sounds very positive. I just cant help but include a picture of Kim Jung Ill. He is just a funny looking guy.
In other news I have changed my email address. Hotmail changed their layout and that was the last straw. I have been looking for a reason to leave hotmail and this was it. My new email address is mcwiehler@gmail.com. But i will be checking my old email address as well and emailing anyone who emails me from the new one. Hope all is well wherever you are, shalom,
In other news, the Korean English media seems to talk positively about the North-South Korean summit. So that is good. Here is a quote from the Korean Herald:
"In a landmark joint declaration signed yesterday, leaders of the two Koreas agreed to create a peace zone in the west sea, and to advance multi-national efforts to formally end the Korean War."
There was also discussion surrounding joint economic projects in the North which may help North Korea's economy. So this sounds very positive. I just cant help but include a picture of Kim Jung Ill. He is just a funny looking guy.
In other news I have changed my email address. Hotmail changed their layout and that was the last straw. I have been looking for a reason to leave hotmail and this was it. My new email address is mcwiehler@gmail.com. But i will be checking my old email address as well and emailing anyone who emails me from the new one. Hope all is well wherever you are, shalom,
Monday, October 1, 2007
Two Koreas
From October 2-4 there is the second summit meeting between North and South Korea. It will begin by the South Korean President walking across the border (which is the first time for a South Korean Head of state). The summit is taking in place in Pyongyang (North Korea's capital). While the agenda items are not released yet, there is alot of hope that it will be one of the first steps to bring peninsular peace. Hopefully it could lead to the official end of the Korean war as the countries are at a cease fire and still officially at war with each other. Please remember the Korean Peninsula in your thoughts during this week and hope that healthy steps towards peace will be taken. Shalom,
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