A Day in the Life...

On this addition of Hanes in Korea, I bring you our school, my classroom, and the fun that goes on right outside our home.

Here you can see, though sideways, that I am sporting a goofy smile at the entrance to our up to the 5th floor. Then you have arrived at Choisun (chay-son), aka Do Your Best.






This is my classroom. I get my own room, and Michael is a roving teacher. He hangs out with me when we have free time together. It's very small and kind of sad-looking. But, as you can see, I'm busy putting the kids' work up on the walls, and it looks happier and brighter every day.













Here you have one of the great mysteries of Korea: Pocari Sweat. Why on earth would you want to put something back in your body that it works so hard to get out (sweat, that is)? Michael would like to be their next spokesman.



















This is Central Park. We get to walk or ride through here every day on our way to work. These fountains are so fun to watch! The kids play in them and get soaking wet, and sometimes at night, they are lit up with different colors. This is a central area to the whole city, as many events take place here.
















So that's a bit more of the life that we have unfolding here! We still miss you and appreciate the emails that we continue to receive.

Our Neighborhood and Beyond

Pictures:
1. Me and my new bike. These bikes look goofy--little wheels and a very tall post for the seat and handlebars. Ha! But everyone has them, and they're cheap, so we use them to get to work and cruise around the neighborhood.
2. Michael and his bike. Behind both of us is the river that runs through the middle of town. We are still debating whether or not it is man-made.
3. As we rode along today we encountered hoards of high school kids on this walk; we think it was for PE. Kids are the same everywhere! They were busy goofing around not paying attention to walkers or bikers.
4. These bikers are an excellent example of how to be a "cool" active person. If you ride a bike or hike, you MUST wear brand-name, expensive gear. Spandex looks best. Anyone who is riding a bike with any kind of dedication is wearing this get-up. It looks ridiculous because they whiz along the flat path, and then when it comes time to take a small incline up to the main road, they hop off and walk their bikes.

More to come!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!

Here we are in our apartment! Not much furniture yet, so it looks quite spartan. But it's brand new and very light and airy. We're on the 17th floor. Yes, that is a washing machine in the kitchen. :-) Please also note that I have included a picture of the bidet on the toilet operated by buttons! Ha, ha!
Sorry that the pictures are on here in such a haphazard fashion. I'm still learning how to format blogger.

Better than Goodwill

We were advised by our friends not to buy furniture, but to scavenge for it. "Look in the basements of apartments and around dumpsters--Koreans throw away all kinds of nice stuff. Leather couches, chairs, desks, tables." We were a bit dubious to go dumpster diving for nice furniture, but we did, and lo and behold, I am now sitting at my new, free dining room table and chairs. We lugged it from the basement of the apartment across the street and up the elevator to the 17th floor, getting stares and giggles from people the whole way. I can just imagine what they were saying to each other: "Those stupid white people. Don't they know they can have furniture delivered?"

Non-Teaching Adventures

Our latest highlights!

We went to the local open-air market yesterday; it's like Chinatown, uh, in Korea. We bought vegetables grown on a farm about 2 Km away from the market, fresh bread, and maybe next time, we'll work up the guts to buy fish.

This weekend, we were once again reminded of how much we love where we live. A 10-minute walk away from our house is the big city park. There are about 6 large fountains in the park, and Sunday night, the fountains were lit up in rainbow colors. The colors changed with the movement of the fountains--it was like a fireworks show with fountains, all going on in our back yard. This park also has a large playground, badminton courts, a skatepark, a soccer field, basketball courts, and many trees and walking paths.

Our trip to Dongdaemun Market was crazy. This is the largest wholesale market in Seoul. We saw more stuff in one place than we'd ever seen before. There was a whole alley devoted to brand-name shoe knock-offs. :-)

We're having lots of fun. We needed this, I think, and it's fun to experience an adventure that we can see God designed for us this year.

This One's for My Teacher Friends, as it Will Concern Job Details...

To describe the institution Michael and I are working at is...impossible, but I will attempt it. Our school, named "Do Your Best," is a corporation of sorts with about 8 branches located throughout the Seoul area. From an educator's viewpoint, it definitely seems to be business first, education second. Children come here after their normal school day, and we teach 6 groups of kids--two main groups--MWF and T. Thurs. Sat. The kids come for two hours after school, so there are 3 groups of kids who come through each evening, making for a 6-hour shift. Older kids (typically in high school) come even later--as late as 1:00 a.m.

Michael is teaching grades 5 and 6, using a rote curriculum developed by the DYB corporation. He does that about half the time, and the rest of his time he grades stacks of essays assigned by the Korean teachers he teaches with. I teach the elementary students, using a mixture of books determined by the school, Time for Kids magazine, and my own stuff. I have a lot more freedom in my lesson structure and material and am now wishing that I had had the room to pack some of those teaching resources I had considered bringing. I'm teaching reading, writing, and speaking skills. It's pretty fun. My classes are small (1-10 kids), and Michael's classes are larger (15-20 kids). We work in conjunction with many Korean teachers who teach English grammer, reading, and composition to the kids in Korean and English. We are a small part of the machine, offering our native speaking expertise.

The most challenging part of this job is the absence of standards and grading criteria. The teachers will say, "Grade this essay." If you ask, "What is an A and what is an F?" they cannot tell you. Teachers do not assess students to track their progress and help them make specific improvements. Assessment is always summative and high-stakes, like moving a child into a new level of class.

Despite these significant differences, this is an interesting challenge. Our work day is only six hours, and we are able to do our grading and prepping within the 6 hours. Yay! I'm excited to be allowed to develop some material for myself for now and the future.

Are You Irish?

Normally, this question is directed at me; I have fair facial skin, dark hair, and freckles. But today! We were on the subway, and the nicest man struck up a conversation with Michael--the first time he had had opportunity to use his English in 10 months. They talked about all kinds of things, and then he asked of Michael, "You look a bit different...are you Irish?"

No...definitely not Irish, especially since Michael's family comes from China.