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| Silkworm Pupae I bought |
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| Walking to the trail head |
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| Temple on the trail |
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| Snack Break while hiking |
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| Lunch Break |
So
luckily Halloween was a huge success at school and the kids really liked it. I
am becoming more and more comfortable with the kids every week. I play a lot of
UNO with them which they and I love. There is usually an hour between when they
get out of school and when English after school starts when they have free
time. Most of the kids are running around the school or playing outside but
some of them come to my room and we play UNO together. It’s actually a lot of
fun and I am always shocked by for how long the kids can play. Other times we
play a game on the board where the kids teach me Korean and I teach them
English. For example I say “strawberries” and they will say it in Korean
“Dalgi” and I have to write in Dalgi in Hangul and they have to write
strawberries in English. So far I have only looked strawberries and green tea
from them but it is something to do. Plus if I say anything in Korean they get
so excited and surprised. The other day someone did something good so I said
“Pak-soo” which means clap and instead of clapping they all just stared at me.
It was really cute and really funny. Yet at the same time they love to imitate
me speaking English (which is good) and Korean (which is annoying). During my
afterschool class I picked up the phone and said “Ann-young-ha-sayo” which
means hello and then the fifth grade boys erupted in a chorus of
“ann-young-ha-sayo” using an American accent. It was cute and annoying at the
same time. They do it in the lunch room too when I say hello to the lunch
ladies, I hear a chorus of American “annyounghasayos” all over the place.
Sometimes it’s good when they
imitate me though. One day, fourth grade Lily comes to hang out with me after
school and she stands on the little teacher stage we have and picks up our
weather cards. She starts asking me what the weather is and when it’s not the
correct weather, she throws the card on the floor, just like I do in class. It
was hilarious! Even my sixth graders like to imitate me. All the students have
English names and in sixth grade two best friends named Jack and Antonio
decided to become one and were Jacktonio #1 and Jacktonio #2. Well Jacktonio #2
wasn’t in his seat when class began so I decided to sit in his seat, I became
Jacktonio #3 and Jacktonio #2 was me. He greeted the class and then immediately
wrote on the board that it was free time.
Along with imitating me the kids
love to comment on what I wear and how I
look. One of my fifth grade girls, Anna, is obsessed with fixing my clothes. If
my bra strap is showing, she will come up to me, go “teacher” and point to my
shoulder. Or if one of those hanger strings from a shirt is showing she will
walk up to me and point it out. She was also the one who told me that I
shouldn’t wear the same necklace everyday and need to switch it up. Another day
I was waiting for the bus at the bus stop and two of my second graders come
over (Lee Yoo Jin and Seo Hae In). I had to wait for like 20 minutes which made
having a conversation with two girls who speak no English pretty difficult. I
had taught them shapes earlier in the semester so I tried pointing out shapes
and they would repeat the shape after I said it. Then we moved on to colors
which worked pretty well. Then they start looking at me and through pointing
and words here and there told me that I had a really big forward and a pointy
nose and my skin was very white. Hm?? Well thanks a lot for the confidence
boost, lol. Especially since fourth grade Lily told me in the beginning of the
year that I had a big, pointy nose as well. Now I’m uber self conscious about
my nose and forehead around the kids.
They can be nice once in a while.
They like to say I look beautiful and very pretty a lot which is always nice. One
time I wore my hair down and all the kids ooed and awed over it at lunch. Even
at lunch one of my third graders runs up to his homeroom teacher and says
“Julie-Sam [Julie-teacher]” pointing at my hair. It was so cute. Later in the
day two of my third graders come to class after lunch and start chasing each
other. One of them who lived in the US for two years and has great English
comes up to me and says “Julie teacher. Jayden [one of the cute little boys
from third grade] says that you look very beautiful today.” It was so so nice. But
that was short-lived. A couple hours
later another girl explains that what Jayden said is that I look beautiful with
my hair down but not beautiful with my hair up in a bun. Thanks for that
Jayden! These kids!!
A couple of weeks ago some of the
teachers in Jochiwon went hiking on the mountain close to our town but
unfortunately I was in Busan. However, one of the teachers who was going on
that hike planned another hike at a huge mountain so this weekend I got up
early and headed to Gongju with four other teachers to hike Kyeryongsan (san
means “mountain”). Anyways, we all met up and took the bus to Gongju where we
would have to transfer to another bus. Unfrotunately when we got to Gongju we
had just missed our bus and would have to wait about an hour or so. Luckily
there was a traditional market there to walk around. In Korea they eat silkworm
pupae and I had been meaning to try it and low and behold they were selling
them at the market so I bought a bag. Only after buying did I learn that they
were frozen and I would have to heat them up at home. Well that sucks! I had to
hike the whole mountain carrying defrosting silkworm pupae that began to
stink!!
Anyways, finally the right bus
came which took us straight to the base of the hike but as soon as we got there
it started to pour! I was an idiot and hadn’t checked the weather so all I had
was this cheap poncho I had bought from the dollar store. We decided to take the
steeper route and boy, was it steep. However it ended up being a fantastic day.
We all got a great workout in even though it was pretty slow going up the path.
It rained on and off the whole day and was cold and windy but was awesome!
Since it is fall the colors of the trees were gorgeous and the mist and wind
just added to the majestic quality of the hike. Once we got to the top of
course we couldn’t see anything and it was freezing, so much for a view. But we
did find this adorable white puppy that led us to the bathrooms and this little
hut. We thought the hut was empty and sat down on the porch for lunch. As we
sat down this man comes up out of the house and tells us to come inside. We had
just got settled so we politely declined and instead he brought us warm coffee.
It was so nice of him.
The hike down took a while and we
were actually getting a bit nervous that we wouldn’t make it down before dark.
Not only was it really slippery which slowed us down but the path down was way
prettier than the one up (we went up and over so took two different paths) so
we stopped multiple times for pictures! Although we had to speed it up we made
it safely down off the mountain and actually ended at a beautiful Buddhist
temple with a great gift shop. And then while we were shopping around, some of
the monks got on the bell tower and beat the drum that was up there in a
beautiful, steady beat. It was so interesting because they would take turns
beating the drum but the rhythm never stopped as they artfully and skillfully
changed places.
There was also a small little
town at the bottom where we stopped to get an awesome duck soup dinner. It was
funny though cause we walked onto this restaurant porch and when the woman saw
us she goes “English,” we replied yes and she got all nervous and started
apologizing for not knowing English. But of course, it all worked out fine and
we had a great, well-deserved dinner!
Overall I loved this hike even
though it was cold and windy and steep and slippery! The views were fantastic!!
Great SATURDAY in KOREA!
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