Gratuitous Song Post #2

Dear fellow pirates,

I miss you.  Please come to Korea and visit Leslie and me.  We live right next to Wolgye station in Nowon-gu.  Bring a guitar or two.  We have a copy of Rise Up Singing and easy access to a photocopier (although I think the principal wouldn't be too happy if she found out we were using it for non-school-related things).  I will bake you cookies (which will have no structural integrity whatsoever, probably because the flour is different here) and give you glasses of milk (which you will think tastes funny), and we will sit around the living room and eat and drink and sing.

Love,

Daniel

Warning to non-pirates: strong language (G-- D---) in the following video.

Gratuitous Song Post

One of the best things about not sleeping for a really long time (say, 36-40 hours), or being sleep-deprived for an extended period (say a week or two) is the moment when you realize that you don't have to (or can't) stay awake any longer: you can (must) just lie down and sleep.  The very best thing is the feeling you get when you lie down, pull the covers up around you, and put all worries from your mind.  At that point, you can't worry: you're too tired to worry anymore.  I think at those moments I am more carefree than I ever have been since I was a child.  It almost makes it worth staying up for that long.  Maybe that's why I still have such bad sleep habits.

This song reminds me of those moments, and maybe that's why I love it so much.

[FIRST NAME REDACTED] Kim's mom just gave me cologne and aftershave

That's the kind of gift that says, "[FIRST NAME REDACTED] told me you smell bad, so I thought I would do something to help you out."

It's parent-teacher conference time here at APIS. We had a half-day today (with 25-minute long periods). Then we spent the afternoon into the evening talking with parents. We'll spend the whole day tomorrow in conferences. Yay.

The mom who gave me cologne was the first one to come in. (The students all came with their parents, so [FIRST NAME REDACTED] was there too.) Her son is in my homeroom, so I gave them his report card. Most of the rest of the conference was taken up by the mother yelling at her son in Korean, pointing to his religion grade and saying "F!" and pointing to his GPA and saying "2.58!" It was not a very productive discussion.

My final conference of the day was with a kid whose father is the CEO of a huge company in Korea. The mother spoke no English. The father thought he spoke better English than he did. I asked him after we had talked for a while if he had any further concerns. He proceeded to talk for about five minutes about his concern that his son have enough time to study and also play sports so he would stay healthy. I was not sure how to respond to it. He seemed to expect a response, but there didn't seem to be an appropriate response besides, "Well, in my expert opinion, [FIRST NAME REDACTED] should be studying for three hours every night, so that would probably leave him time for about an hour and a half of sports every day." And I wasn't going to say that. Then he talked for another five minutes--I really don't know what he was trying to get at, but it had something to do with prestigious high schools and colleges. Again, he seemed to expect an answer but did not provide me with anything to respond to, so I was a little baffled.

Now I'm really tired. That was oddly taxing, just like everyone said it would be. Just one more day of it: they can hurt you, but they can't stop the clock.


Leslie's Addendum:

I didn't get cologne, but I did get chocolates, tea, an umbrella, Burt's Bees lip balm, and sweet Korean dumplings. One more thing--we got to see the awesome Clara Kim on Saturday!! This was her house-warming present--delicious tira misu:



I can't wait until conferences are over! I saw seven homeroom kids and twelve other kids that I teach this afternoon and evening. Some conferences were very pleasant, while others were very awkward. During one conference, the 10th grader looked like he was about to cry the entire time. I felt really bad, but he got a 91% in my class. I think he was mostly upset about his other grades. Oh well! A few parents wanted to talk to me about college and AP classes. One 6th grade mother is already very worried about her son getting into a great college, and he's an amazing kid! He has a 98 in my class and has almost perfect grades in every other class. I told her she shouldn't start worrying for another few years... :)

Daniel's addendum:

Not only did Leslie get chocolates, tea, an umbrella, Burt's Bees lip balm, and sweet Korean dumplings, but she also got four Halloween candygrams from her students.  I didn't get any.  It's pretty obvious whose students love their teacher more.  Not that I'm jealous or anything.  (He wrote, and resolutely blinked back his tears.)

The Scariest Thing I've Ever Read

From a student's journal:

[Discussing an episode of CSI: New York, which his mother encourages him to watch to help his English, and in which there was some bad language]

"My mom said you have to learn swear words, too. Because I can use in situation like bar fighting."

I'm so glad I'm preparing these young minds for success in every aspect of their lives...

Happy Chuseok!

Happy Chuseok!! Today is the beginning of our four-day weekend in honor of Chuseok, an important Korean holiday. It is a bit like Thanksgiving for Koreans; they spend the weekend with their families, often leaving Seoul to visit their parents or grandparents, to whom they give big gift boxes of fruit, or they visit the graves of their ancestors. In addition, instead of having class yesterday, we had an all-school field trip. The pre-school through second graders went to see a show called "Bubble World," while the third through tenth graders went to an amusement park called Everland. Since I am a ninth grade homeroom teacher, I had collected my students' permission slips and money, and yesterday morning, I went over the rules with them and gave them my cell phone number in case they had any problems.

Once we arrived at the park, which was a little more than an hour away, I, like the other homeroom teachers, gave them their passes, told them where to meet us at 2:50 pm, and set them free to enjoy the day (which was 80 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny). This meant that all of us secondary teachers also had the day to ourselves (I only received one call from a student). The highlight of the day was riding a new (as of last year) roller coaster called the T Express. This is apparently the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world, with the first incline at an angle of 77 degrees, and it was awesome! I was afraid at several points during the ride that I was going to fly out of my seat. It was actually the only roller coaster at the park (the other was closed for inspection). The other "ride" we did was the "safari," which involved waiting in line for a long time and riding in a bus through areas of free-roaming lions, tigers, and bears (and a liger). It was cool but also very sad (the animals did not look happy). Otherwise, we walked around with some other teachers, ate lunch, and watched a too-long "Happy Halloween" parade. One we arrived back at school, Daniel had to talk to a couple parents about their son's inappropriately helping other students with homework. Then, even though we were pretty exhausted, we went to another great concert by the Seoul Philharmonic with Sophie, the band teacher; they played Rachmaninoff's "Isle of the Dead," Sibelius's violin concerto, and Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Now, we're cleaning the apartment and getting ready to relax and work. Hope you're all doing well!

Some pictures:


The sunset from our apartment


A river near our apartment



It was a beautiful walk but full of mosquitoes.


A stall near our apartment.


Caitlin and Lee on the safari ride at Everland


The two of us (with other teachers in the seats in front of us)


He was this close to my face.


One of the poor bears


The T Express


The beginning of the Halloween parade


The view while walking back to the main entrance

Gems from Student Papers

I assigned my eighth graders a paper comparing and contrasting the poem "Richard Cory" by E.A. Robinson and the song "Richard Cory" by Simon & Garfunkel.  Here are a few quotes from their rough drafts that I thought were funny, and I think some of you might like them too.

"After I listened to this song, I felt hollowness inside me.  Maybe it was just because I was hungry but maybe it's because I felt pity for the man who wanted to become Richard Cory."

"The song was bright and cheerful even though it had one line that shows sorrow; the part when Richard Cory put a bullet through his head."

"'The Song Richard Cory' was about two singers named Simon and Garfunkel.  The song was about the two singer that expressed their feelings and facts about Richard Cory.  When you listen to the chorus part, you'll understand how Simon and Garfunkel felt working in Richard Cory's factory."

"The poem, 'Richard Cory' was a man who was rich but committed suicide.  Except for being rich, he was clean, wearing modestly dressed.  Also he was well taught.  But the problem was, he fluttered when he talked.  For example, "Good-morning."

That's all for now...I'm not giving these back tomorrow after all, and I may find a few more good ones as I continue to work through them.

Good night from tonight!  (It is now tonight for most of you, right?)

H1N1 "vacation"

Well, H1N1 did hit our school--four kids tested positive for the flu in less than a week, so the Ministry of Health advised our school to close for at least a week. Since the fourth diagnosis arrived Wednesday evening, the school was closed on Thursday and Friday and for the rest of this week. We (the teachers) will be at school on Friday for an "in-service day" (apparently we attend a lot of meetings), but we won't see the students again until the 14th. But because this week is supposed to count as "school" (so we don't have to make up the days at the end of the year), we still have to assign and grade homework for when we would normally meet. Most of my kids have been very good about emailing me their work on time, but I still haven't heard a word from a couple of them (and they don't respond to my emails)--they'll definitely get points deducted. :) The advantages to working from home have been that we can sleep in three hours later than usual (we've been waking up around 9:30 or 10) and we can correct assignments in our pajamas. ;) On top of that, we've had more time to hang out with the other teachers. Thursday night, we went out with thirteen of the others for Korean BBQ. This involves eating a lot of meat (in this case, pork) in lettuce leaves, along with some side dishes. I had a really good hot tofu dish and enjoyed the sides of garlic and pickled radish. We then went to one of the teacher's apartments and played the game Apples to Apples for a few hours--it was lots of fun (I won)! I've never played the game with so many people before. Daniel and I made a few shopping trips on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday--the first day, we went to this gigantic grocery/everything you need store (Home Plus), which includes a pet store and dry cleaners; the second day, I went to E-Mart with a couple of the other teachers; and yesterday, Daniel went back to HomePlus to get a few things that we were missing.

Yesterday morning, Daniel and I went to the International Lutheran Church in the center of the city. Daniel had checked it out last weekend and liked it; the congregation is, apparently, about 35% North American, 35% Korean, and 30% everything else. Afterward, we walked to Itaewon (which was about 15 minutes away) and had lunch at a Thai restaurant for our three-month anniversary. It was delicious! We also found a Body Shop, so I bought some shower gel. Last night, we had our first party as a married couple. We invited all of the teachers over, but we weren't sure how many of them were going to show up. It was very nice!! About 16 people came over, and we had a lovely time talking with all of them, while eating cheese and crackers and other snacks and drinking wine. Daniel also made cookies, which was more of an adventure than we expected it to be. First of all, we had a very hard time finding chocolate chips (this was one of the reasons Daniel went back to Home Plus yesterday), and for some reason, his batter turned out much more buttery than usual. So, between each batch, he had to add more flour to the mix. On top of that, our oven is missing racks that fit it, so we tried to bake them on a small rack at the bottom of the oven, but it was slanted, so the cookies started sliding toward the back of the oven. We changed tactics and ended up cooking them in the toaster oven. It worked in the end (everyone loved the cookies!), but the baking process took much longer than usual. :) Now, we have a bunch of glasses to clean and homework to grade. Love you!

Some pictures from the last couple of days:


Home Plus--it's crazy on the weekends; people especially like to hang out there and shop on Saturday night


Thai food!


The street in Itaewon where we found our Thai restaurant


The restaurant


The main street in Itaewon


Daniel's first batch of cookies :(


Daniel hard at work


He smiled in spite of his frustration