These are the women I have been sharing an office with for the past four months. (We were at a noraebang - a singing room... so fun!!)
Two of them are my co-teachers who teacher English with me, the others teacher science and music. They are delightful women, however they don't speak that much English. I usually end up listening to Korean chatting at lunch time, and whenever we go out for a meal. Although I truly cherish these women, it makes it difficult to feel a part of the group when you don't understand what they're talking about. Every so often someone will lean over to me and give me a one sentence synopsis about what they're discussing, but that's not enough for me. I want to be able to participate in discussions and not sit there with a fake smile on my face, trying to act like I'm interested, and not bored.
One of the things I've struggled with most in this job is not being able to communicate with the rest of the staff. I am the only native English speaker at my school (which is not odd in the public school system). My principal and vice principal do not speak English which means that I rely on my co-teachers to help me communicate with them. I can't get materials out of the supply room without my co-teachers because you need to sign things out, and I don't speak enough Korean to do so. Even getting photocopying done here is a struggle.
Jeff and I both love Seoul. We have great friends here, we LOVE the subway system, and the city in general. But, we don't love our jobs. We don't hate our jobs, we just don't feel passionate about what we're doing. I don't get up every morning (or any morning for that matter) excited about the day. I would love to have my own class, and teach lessons that are no so regimented by the text book. I would love to be able to communicate with my students beyond "How are you?" And, I would love to know my students' names - I have 300 kids, which makes it difficult to remember all their names. I love teaching because of the relationships I get to form with the kids. My current situation does not allow for a lot of relationships to be formed. There are definitely some kids who are awesome, but I don't even know their names!!
I look forward to the weekends. It is for that reason that we are looking into other jobs for next September. Unfortunately Korea has recently changed their visa and immigration policies due to a Canadian pedophile who was caught after having spent time in Korea. These visa changes mean that we may not be able to work here next year. In addition to visa issues, there are not many (I've only found one) non-religious international schools we could work at. So, we're looking abroad.
Apparently New Zealand has a huge teacher shortage, and someone else mentioned Hong Kong having lots of international schools. A couple of our friends here are thinking about England (I LOVE England...)
So, our plans for the new year? Well, we're not sure. In some ways I hate not knowing what I'm going to be doing in less than a year, but in other ways I find it exciting. I would love to stay in Seoul, but who knows what the future will hold for us. (We'll let you know when we know...)
For now, I'd like to wish you all the best for the new year, whatever adventures it may hold for you.
The first picture is of some Christmas cookies I baked - yes those are axes, only in Korea will you find axe cookie cutters, I couldn't not buy it! The next picture is of Christmas lunch at Richards, and the third picture is Christmas Eve at Trevor and Rachel's place.
We've definitely had a busy holiday season this year. We had three holiday parties to attend over the past four days - and we were both back to work today. Jeff had to work on the 24th too (I "worked from home") so we haven't had much time off. We were reminiscing of when we were students and had more than a month off at Christmas - it's hard to go from a month off to a day off, but we managed to still squeeze in lots of fun!
We spent Christmas Eve at Trevor and Rachel's place. We enjoyed a delicious dinner and had lots of fun playing party games!
Christmas morning we woke up and opened out presents - we were lucky enough to have packages from home to open too!
My traditional Christmas morning morning face picture - Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't get a not so great morning face picture (notice my awesome new sheep mug and my beautiful new necklace!!!)
After opening out presents, we packed our bags (and carried a 5 kilogram box of oranges...) and headed over to Richards for a low-key Christmas lunch. We opened presents and Kelly even surprised us with mini stockings!
One of the best parts about this year's Christmas was Kelly's reaction to a present we gave her. At Tammy and Brent's Christmas party (this one happened on Saturday) we had a gift exchange that allowed us to steal presents from one another. In the end Jeff and I ended up with the most coveted gift, a picture that was painted by our friend Laina. Kelly really wanted it, so we ended up surprising her on Christmas morning with the gift. (I was really excited about my wrapping job - I used all the wrapping paper that came from home to wrap the huge box used to deceive Kelly!)
I would be amiss if I didn't mention the "T'was 3 Nights Before Christmas" Christmas pj party at Brent and Tammy's place. We brought appetizers and gifts to participate in a Chinese gift exchange (I have no idea why it's called that). Basically we were given permission to steal presents (in an organized way) from each other. As mentioned previously, Jeff and I came home with a beautiful painting, a new photo album, and a danso (a Korean flute/recorder type instrument - Jeff is actually pretty good at playing it!!)
I'll leave you with a picture of Cohen (Brent and Tammy's son) in his hat that I knit for him for Christmas and his adorable Christmas pjs.
We hope that you had an amazing Christmas full of families, friends, joy, and love.
All the best for the New Year.
Love to all - Jen & Jeff
*This was supposed to be posted on Tuesday, I didn't realise that it didn't post when I thought it did!
For the past three or four weeks the twelve (now down to eleven) presidential hopefuls have been gearing up and campaigning with the hope of becoming the next president of South Korea.
The elections will take place tomorrow. Luckily for us the Koreans believe elections are important enough to give students and teachers (and who knows who else) the day off.
I'm looking forward to elections for the day off. Kelly and Sara, however, are looking forward to the elections so that the campaigning will stop. Let me give you a run down of how election campaigns work here.
*Every candidate is given a number. They do not campaign based on their name (ie. "Vote for Peter Petrelli") instead they campaign based on their assigned number (ie. "Vote for Number 6")
*Candidates use huge vans with video screens and music to encourage people to vote for them. Not only that, but they also have their supporters standing on the sidewalks bowing politely or dancing in support of their chosen candidate.
*These trucks BLAST music from early morning (8am in Sara and Kelly's neighbourhood) until late evening (9pm or later).
Here is a taste of the local campaigns. I danced with the Number Six supporters but unfortunately don't have any pictures of this.... I know others took pictures, I'll find them :)
~ Jen
I had my grade five class write letters to Santa as part of our Christmas class. I explained how to do it and gave them a sheet to fill in.
Let me share with you some of the final products.
He asked for a girlfriend.
After I took the picture I showed him, his reaction? "Ah, very handsome!"
What a cutie!
She called me over "Teacher, how do you say... um... push... push baby?"
As she was asking me this question both she and her friends were motioning giving birth.
The final product.... I can't help but laugh.
Notice what Santa is getting? Kimchi and pizza... mmm!
Just a few more pictures of my cute grade 5s. Enjoy!
So today, we just completed a cookie swap with all of our friends. Of course, since we were the only ones with an oven, we didn't just have any cookie swap. Everyone came over and actually baked their cookies here. We've never done so much baking in our entire lives. Our oven was on for five hours straight and was never empty for more than about ten seconds as we exchanged cookie sheets. It was exhausting, but we had a lot of fun. Here's what we've got now:
Kelly: Pumpkin Spice with Cinnamon Icing
Sara: Chocolate Chip (a classic!!)
Vanessa: Dutch Cookies
Laina (in absentia, cookies sent via Vanessa!!): Almond Cookies
Richard: Sugar Cookies (courtesy of Pillsbury!! Dicky was VERY proud!)
Becky: Peanut Butter Cookies topped with a Hershey Kiss
Tammy and Brent: Haystacks
Jen and Jeff: Cinnamon 'N Sugar Shortbread
It was tons of fun and now we're all stuffed with sugar and butter. And we've barely scratched the surface. Everyone went home with a great big container of cookies that will last us until we can get together another cookie swap!!
Tammy holding the goods while Sara and Jen start the distribution.
It was a big process, indeed!
Here are the fruits of our labours. Incidentally, we had a hard
time fitting all the cookies into everyone's containers.
My friend Owen sent me this link today. The film talks about stuff - where it comes from, and where it ends up. It provides an interesting look at our consumerist society - especially as we move more towards Christmas, the ultimate consumerist holiday!
One of the things that really hit me during the film was the cycle that consumerism has created:
We go to work to make money.
We come home, exhausted, and watch about 4 hours of television each night. While watching T.V. we are exposed to commercials that tell us we should be unhappy with what we already have - what we have isn't good enough.
So, we go shopping. We buy the new things that the television tells us we absolutely need. (Our current society spends the majority of their free time shopping and watching television.)
Then, we go back to work, because we need to be able to afford all the new things that we've bought. We work harder to pay off the things that we've bought, then are more tired when we get home, so we watch television... and the cycle continues.
I found that this film presented information about our consumerist society in a new and unique way. Annie Leonard is passionate about the earth, and she does a wonderful job of explaining how things work.
As we move towards Christmas I would urge you to consider your spending habits. What are you buying? How long will it last? Is it reusable? Is it really worth it?
Being away from home for the holidays always helps to put Christmas into perspective. I don't get the huge presents, or lots of money... I get gifts that are thoughtful, small, but meaningful. All of a sudden the real reason for Christmas becomes clear. Spending time with family and enjoying the love and hope that comes with the season is what is truly important at Christmas.
On an off (though related) note, Jeff and I have frequently discussed how little we have here. We don't have a huge apartment so we don't have room for a lot of stuff. We live simply, buying only what we need because we know that we won't be here forever. I hope that when we return home to Canada that we can keep a minimalist lifestyle.
I challenge you to think about how much stuff you currently have in your life.
~Jen
Today is Teachers' Day. I don't know what that means. There were no flowers or gifts given - but I did receive 3 letters from some of my students.
Ji Soo Yoo (5th grade) wrote:
I can't write english very well. but can you understand?
however everyday is very cold. So because wear fat.
I have very little cold.
So, I don't fully understand, but I think I get the gist of what she is saying - it's cold here! How appropriate, it coincides quite well with yesterday's post!
Here's one more little gem from Eun-Ji (grade 5):
Welcome to comming our elementary school!!! (editor's note: I've been teaching this kid for almost 4 months now!!) I wish for you to happy and fun at our elementary school. I want to English test (speaking) is 100!! I want to speak English very well. Help me!
and I love you.
These letters definitely brightened my day. I hope they gave you a smile too!
~Jen
I don't know about you, but I keep coming to this site, hoping that there is a new blog post that has magically appeared... unfortuantely the blog post isn't writing itself... welcome Jen!
I've been thinking about writing this post for the past 2 weeks, but I've been strangely busy at school marking millions of tests (okay, maybe not millions, but a lot of tests...) and planning/teaching my classes.
During the past few weeks here, the temperatures have dropped. We've turned on our heating system for at least an hour each night (don't want to break the bank with expensive heating bills!!!) to take the chill out of the air. I've been putting on my extra layers to stay warm both at school and at home. At home, it's do-able. It's not too cold. Our apartment is surrounded by other apartments which help to keep the heat in. At school, well, that's a whole 'nother story.
My co-teacher has not turned on the heat in our classroom since the temperature began to drop. It's been minus one, two, five... and no heat. Now, this would be okay - the kids' body heat helps to warm the room, we get a bit of sun every now and then, but, in addition to the not turning on the heat in the classroom, my co-teacher insists, yes INSISTS, on opening the windows every so often. Now, I'd like to call myself a Canadian (but I really am a wimp when it comes to the cold weather, Uganda killed any sense of a winter skin that I spent 23 years developing...) but I cannot teach in a classroom that is only 15 degrees (Celsius). My fingers get cold. My toes often freeze. I even found myself searching out sunbeams in my classroom when the kids were writing their tests last week. I discovered that at 10:07am the sunbeam first makes its way into the classroom (if I'm lucky and there are no clouds), so I too would make my way to the back of the classroom to soak up the sunbeam. I've been wearing three to four layers in my classroom, including, one day, my uber-warm wool scarf. But I'm still cold.
I'm sure some of you may be saying, "Stop complaining, you're Canadian, you can handle winter.." But I can't. I really can't. And the reason why my co-teacher refuses to turn on the heat? Well, because of the dust in the heater. She's so scared that the dust will end up everywhere. The one time she did turn on the heater was just before we went to lunch. She opened all the windows, every single window she could, turned on the heat full blast and left the room. Needless to say when we returned the room was warmer....
This dust phobia reminds me a lot of fan death. Koreans are afraid of death by fan. Like, they think that it's possible to die if you sleep with a fan on in your bedroom in the summer and all your doors closed. Something about the fan taking oxygen away from your mouth and causing you to suffocate. Either suffocation, or death from hypothermia. Apparently there are cases of it documented each summer in the newspapers. Doctors agree that Korean citizens should be afraid of fan death.... I even asked my educated, smart, co-teachers what they thought of this fan death, and they believe it.
Anyways, the end of the matter is that I'm cold. Send me sweaters, scarves, wool socks... whatever works. My co-teacher just asks the kids why they don't wear their coats to class when they complain of the cold... I silently ask, "Why can't we just turn on the heat?"
~Jen
So I had my birthday yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised when my gang of friends showed up at my front door caroling with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas." As great as their singing was, they had arrived to celebrate my birthday, having conspired with Jen to surprise me for dinner. And a great job they did. I had absolutely no clue what was going on and I was definitely surprised. It wasn't anything extravagant, but it was exactly how I would have wanted to celebrate - spending good times with my closest friends and enjoying good food. Shout out to Sara and Kelly for finding pecan tarts here!! And to Vanessa for bringing a freshly baked strawberry bread too!! Thanks guys, you're the best!
Last weekend, we also went to Lotte World (like Disney World) for a joint celebration for myself and Richard, who had his birthday on the Sunday. So here are a few pictures from the past few days.
Vanessa, Becky, Sara, and Laina outside Lotte World. How can you not be excited for Lotte World with expressions like these? Becky's enjoying her ice cream and Sara is showing off her ticket to fun!
Note the logo in the background. Does it look familiar at all? Hmmmm...
This picture pretty much speaks for itself. Yep, that's my wife...
Richard has a very concerned look on his face. We're next in line for the Gyro Drop. I think he's scared.
Looks a lot like Disney huh?
My peeps here in Seoul. Kelly, Richard, Jen, Sara, Vanessa, and Becky. We're enjoying a very yummy meal prepared by Kelly and Jen. We had bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and feta in a pesto sauce over spaghetti, followed by homemade strawberry bread, pecan tarts, and vanilla ice cream. Awesome! I couldn't ask for better friends. These guys are the main reason that Jen and I are having such an amazing time here in Seoul.
This segment was on the local news. My school was featured because of their broadcasting program. Every morning the grade sixes (well some of them..) do the school announcements (it's broadcast on the televisions that are in each of the classrooms.
All the students in this video are kids I teach. The teacher who is interviewed (Yun) is one of my office mates. She's really kind and friendly.
You won't be able to understand any of this (unless you speak Korean...) but it's a good look at my school (they pan across the school yard), and a chance to see some of my kids in action. They recenly won an award for their broadcasts. Yun received a digital camera.
Enjoy!
~Jen
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