To: Beth Teacher

Aw. This sweet little grade 4 student of mine gave me this letter today. She also put little arrows pointing toward the treats at the top and wrote, "Your cake, tea, coffee." How thoughtful!

To: GT4B4 Sally's teacher, Beth Teacher.
Hello ~ I'm Sally. I like you because you're always smiling (happy face), funny (happy face), and happy (heart). So when I see you, I'm fun, and happy. Last thing is you're nice. So when I come Poly, I'm happy, and tank you to help grammar, vocab, writing. Beth tank you and happy halloween! From, Sally

By the way, "So-and-so Teacher" is the way to address teachers in Korean, rather than Miss, Ms., Mr., etc., so that's how they address their English teachers too. Funny, eh?

What's Wrong With Korean Education?

Maybe this will give you a clue.

This writing was submitted to me by an exceptionally bright, well-mannered grade 4 student.

Our class usually take a test. Two weeks ago I always got a 100 percent, but now I'm getting 85, 90, 92, 95, 98 percent. I'm so surprised it was the bad score. So, my mom was so upset. My mother always screamed, "Why are you didn't get 100 percent? You are doing bad way!" I listened this sound and I was crying. I reflected. These times I learned to not think 'Ha ha! It's easy' or 'Wow! It's too easy.'

Fabulous. This little kid who is so smart it's unreal, has a talent for language, and a sweet personality is learning that he can never be good enough. That his best effort (which yields superb results) ends in perceived failure. Koreans are so hung up on test scores, it's absolutely ridiculous. There is a very high rate of suicide amongst high school students, particularly before and after university entrance exams. Their entire lives they are programmed that they absolutely MUST succeed academically, that their input and output through the education machine must not be less than perfect, so that when it is, they feel like life is not worth living. It's sad, and I have to say I feel a little cognitive dissonance being a part of it all. I try hard not to stress them and make their time with me fun and cheery (although grammar classes are always a bit of a failure in this regard), but still. Do they really need to go to school, after school? To cram their lives away instead of playing more and enjoying their childhoods? I don't think so.

Personally I think Canada is leaning too far one way and Korea the other. Somewhere in the middle, there must be a happy medium wherein free thinking, exploration, and individuality are balanced with testing and memorization.

Oh, North Korea

This from Yahoo News...apparently North Korea is not too pleased about some South Korean activists sending giant balloons up over the border filled with leaflets urging the North Koreans to rise up against their dictator/communist leader Kim Jong-Il.

North Korea said such actions must stop, or it will turn South Korea into "debris." Even if they have the capability to completely squash us, and I suppose it's probable, I'm sure they think the US will just sit back and watch its bases here get completely destroyed? Honestly...after turning S.Korea into a heap of garbage, I just wonder what would be in store for them? They are the classic playground bully. And it's sad, how a government can at the same time brainwash and mistreat its own people. I hope one day the North can be reunited with the South, and its terrible government completely abolished, but as each year passes, it seems less and less likely.

Han River

Hey everyone,

Took this this evening along the Han River, the main river that flows through Seoul. I can access the river trails fairly easily from my area by bike.

I wish my camera picked up dim lighting better...it was actually a lot clearer and prettier than you see here. I could even see some stars!

PS on top of the Olympic Bridge, there is a lit-up representation of the Olympic Flame, in case you were wondering about the design...it isn't very clear. :)

Changing of the Guard

As you may have guessed, I heart my French class downtown, not only because I feel happy and have a great time during lessons, but also because it forces me to take the trip downtown. I always feel marvelous and see interesting things while I'm wandering about. As I went by Deoksu Palace (pronounced Duck-soo) this afternoon, I saw the re-enactment of the changing of the guard.

Roasted Chestnuts

Chestnuts roasting on a homemade stove! Y.U.M. They're everywhere this time of year. Oh how I love Korean street food!
Picked these ones up tonight:

Some random protest and other happenings

Sooooo, here we goooo, it's weekly weekend check-in time!

After French class on Saturday, was walking downtown and snapped this photo. Oh I just love this area. So clean and metropolitan. My area is kind of dumpy in comparison. The fall days are warm and clear too. Ahhh.
Then I took a taxi ride to a temple. Lo and behold...as I stepped out of the car, a protest appeared to be just getting under way! My lucky day. I couldn't tell what was happening really, but I took some photos anyway. This one older dude was surrounded by a swarm of people and was slowly making his way down some steps outside the temple grounds. He paused to speak into some microphones. Those guys on the edge in grey robes are monks. They stood back quietly and watched the whole thing.
From what I understand, the man in question was an organizer of some of the anti-American beef protests awhile ago and was wanted by the police for encouraging the masses to do illegal things during the protests or something like that. He apparently has taken refuge in the temple for the last few months.

So anyway, he moved onto the sidewalk, surrounded by the mob. More and more people kept coming and squeezing around him.

But I still couldn't really figure out what was going on here. Why were all these people crushed around him on the sidewalk? Was he being arrested? Was he leaving voluntarily? Were those people supporters? Were they against him? Many of them were plainclothes police as well, not to mention the many reporters present.

The whole mob kept moving up and down the sidewalk for about 10 minutes...back and forth, back and forth, not going anywhere. People were snapping pictures and speaking into mics, but it was strangely quiet except for occasional outbursts of hollering from the centre:
Then a whack of police showed up (the blue-capped boys), and surrounded the mob by linking arms. Now the whole group was contained and moving back and forth, all squished as tightly as possible together. It was bizarre. The man in question has that little gray fisherman's hat on in the middle:
He was eventually wrestled into a police car amidst shouts and squirmishes. Then these people set up some banners and did some crying:
And someone got put in an ambulance. The whole thing was rather tense and quite confusing (to me anyway, for obvious reasons). This is one of those instances where knowing the language would be kind of useful...

So anyway, that was that, now on to the rest of my day. This man happened to be walking by with these giant dogs. I took their picture and was informed they are "Traditional Korean Dogs." Which is interesting, because most dogs in Korea are the stupid-looking, pint-sized, ears-dyed-blue, curly-sue, yippy little runts that make me (an animal lover by the way) feel like punting them across the street. You hardly ever, EVER see a medium-sized, or large dog here. Although admittedly it's also because most people live in apartments.
Don't you think they look like that dog from Fraggle Rock?

Constructing as the sun sets:
Then I hung around this temple for a couple of hours. There are 3 giant, gold Buddhas inside, which you can see through the open windows, that cast golden shadows across the courtyard in the evening:
Listened to some drumming and chanting (the chanting sounds really tinny in this video, but you get the general idea):


Then it was off with friends to the coolest, chillest basement lounge ever:
And...happy! My best friend is finally back in town! woo!
Ya I know, kind of fuzzy, but whatever. It was either fuzzy ambiance or white-washed starkness and I opted for ambiance. Hope you all had a great weekend too! xxoo

One of the last

...picked this morning from a dying field.

Eco-Friendly Motor Race

Just saw this from the NYTimes:

BERKELEY, Calif. — It is a classic road rally, 600 miles from the liberal embrace of Berkeley to the anything-goes lights of Las Vegas. No speeding is allowed, or in some cases even possible. And if you stop to refuel, it had better be in someone’s trash.

On Saturday, five teams began the Escape From Berkeley, maybe the world’s most eco-friendly motor race, driving all manner of alternative-fuel-burning jalopies, roadsters, and even a frying oil-fueled Mercedes-Benz, with a single goal: to complete the race using no petroleum.

“Gentlemen, start your whatever they are,” the M.C. shouted to begin the race, which offers the winner $5,000.

i got bumped

...to next Tuesday for CBC (Oct 21). FYI.

Thanksgiving Day & My First 10k

Good morning! It's Monday morning here, and so Happy Thanksgiving to all my wonderful friends and family back home in Canada! Enjoy your holiday!

As for me, I got up at the ungodly hour of 5:45am on Sunday morning to run my first 10k race (part of the Hi-Seoul Marathon)! I slept over at my good friend E's house. Here she is at 6:15am outside her apartment, bagel and Powerade in hand, as we make for the subway:
There, we met up with some more good friends who were also running. It was chilly! But sooooo beautiful! Clear, crisp, and sunny. Perfect for a run.

And here we all are at the finish...for obvious reasons I have no photos of the race itself. However, I can tell you it was fantastic! Now we're going to train for the half-marathon in the spring.Later in the day, I received this text message with my official time: 1hr, 2min, 41sec. Not bad for not really knowing how long 10k was before the race. :) (Yes the text message is all in Korean, except my name, which they actually did spell right, hehe).

Ok, enough exercising! On to pie and cheesecake!
Yes, one of the girls we ran with hosted an absolutely fabulous Canadian Thanksgiving on Sunday afternoon. I think the last time I ate that well was when I was home at Christmas. Here's me and my friend having way too much fun chopping cheese and veggies:
And THIS is the view from her apartment! I was agape for awhile...
All in all a better time could not have been had by yours truly! I hope you are enjoying your weekend as well! Love to you! xoxo

Oh, PS For all you Saint Johnners, I'm going to be on CBC Information Morning on Tuesday morning, around 8, I think, or 8:15. Something like that, for their "Saint Johnner Away" segment. Tune in if you like! :)

Entertaining Evangelists

...on the streets of Korea!



PS All the music you hear is coming from them.
PPS The second guy is definitely my favourite.

Seoul

So, it's Sunday morning of a long weekend, and I've had the most relaxing morning. It began, and continues, with copious amounts of:


That's tea in the glass for anyone who thinks otherwise. ;) There is just nothing like Red Rose...thanks mum. :)

So, I've had some time to do some facebook photo albums, so for those of you on my facebook, forgive the duplication here. Also forgive me if I've previously posted any of these pics. I thought I'd just put some various pics on the blog of Seoul over the last few months.

Let's start with some market pics:

Seafood:Piles of kimchi (pickled cabbage eaten with every meal. I love it and don't know how I'll live without it when I leave Korea!):
Red peppers. Koreans spice EVERYTHING with red pepper paste (likely contributes to the high rate of ulcers in the country):
Waste not, want not! If you're gonna eat pig muscles and pig intestines, you may as well eat (or display?) the head too!On to something more pleasant. How about hot men? Park Tae-Hwan (Olympic Gold Medal swimmer from Korea) was actually in my building (work) on Thursday! And I literally missed seeing him by about 15 seconds! :( But at least I got a pic with his pic, haha:Here's a rainy day outside my work (this was taken a few months ago during rainy season):

Next up, Building 63, tallest in Seoul:
This is a sunrise over Incheon, where I used to live (I've been to visit a few times this year):
I heart motorbikes. This one was in Itaewon, the foreigner district, yikes!
Mosaic wall:

This one was taken awhile ago as I was driving on a Seoul highway with a friend:
And, as I've mentioned before, the pollution has lifted greatly, and these days we actually see blue, clear skies! That's Namsum (or Seoul) Tower to the left there...highest point in Seoul:
Took this yesterday of a building downtown (as I walked for an hour trying to find my bus stop):
Took this as well, after French class. Typical Korean street decor:

Well that's all for now folks. Happy weekend! *muah*

Na September

(Na meaning "my")

Firstly, a loverly autumn butterfly:Second, a loverly autumn friend, who left on Sunday for the warmer climes of California. :( Here she is at our favourite, frequently-frequented coffee shop:

And here is Darth Vader, biking by us as we drink coffee. Protected against the pollution, presumably, although I doubt a bandana over the face really does a whole lot, except make you hot and sweaty:
For her (my friend, not Darth Vader's) last night in Korea, we boogied in a Norae-bang, translated literally as "singing room." Basically your own private karaoke room:
We went on a field trip to an indoor playground yesterday. Here's two of my kids in the dress-up corner:
And here's one playing in stuffed shit. Literally. The whole room on this field trip was devoted to the body and digestion. In general though, Koreans just love coiled piles of crap. There are even multi-coloured statues of it here and there in Seoul. If you catch your kids doodling while you're teaching, chances are you'll find a few steaming piles of dung in the margins.
And here they are...unfortunately, dressed up like Natives, hooping and hollering. sigh. Korea is way behind, in general, in areas like political correctness and respect for diversity. Most of my students over the past couple of years have been pretty racist, especially toward darker-skinned races. They'll come around eventually I think, maybe by the time this generation grows up.

Let's finish on a happier note. Content, as all kids are, in the dirt: