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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Men Suck

     Teaching English as a second language has its fun moments. Often the children will say or make wonderful comments that deserve prosperity. I had two such noteworthy moments yesterday.
     My first class yesterday was four first graders. The reason why there are only four children in the class is because their English is so far above and beyond the abilities of the other first graders the other students can't keep up. We were looking at a conversation page in the book. At the bottom of the page are three mice. One is jumping rope. One is doing a handstand. The last rodent is dancing a jig. Even though their command of English is really advanced, I still like to keep reviewing the basics. We had already used the word "mice" to describe the group, but I wanted to make sure they remembered the singular form, since it's an irregular noun. Knowingly using bad grammar I asked, "what do you call one mice?"
     The immediate response from all four students was, "jump rope!" After about five minutes of me giggling and trying different ways to approach the question without using the word mouse I eventually broke down and drew a chart on the board containing the singular and plural forms of different animals. The children then immediately knew what I was looking for and collectively exclaimed, "mouse!" They also realized why I was giggling and we all went on a laughing jag for another ten minutes repeating, "what do you call one mice...jump rope!".
     The second wonderful thing happened while I was checking diaries. A student nicknamed Jenny is also in the advanced class for her grade (third grade). Jenny, wrote about a new classmate, {민석}. The classmate's name written in the new romanization is Minseok. However, in the old romanization, which is still heavily used in names, her new friend is Min-Suk and was spelled as Min-Suck by Jenny. As I leaned back in my chair doing the first reading of the entry the voice in my head said, "men suck", and I, of course, scared my co-workers with a sudden burst of laughter. I started to correct the entry, but stopped after I added the 's' to 'speak' in order to take a quick photo.


Thursday, June 21, 2007

Seoul Grand Park

     Jungwon had been wanting to go to the zoo for a while so last Sunday we kicked things off by watching Shrek the Third at CoEx, and then heading down to Seoul Grand Park.
     First the specifics. Seoul Grand Park is on the number 4 line (light blue) 3 stops below Sadang {사당역}. It is subway station number 437 and is listed as Seoul Grand Park {대공원}. When you get off the subway simply follow the signs and/or crowds of people. You'll eventually come to a ticket booth to buy a tram ticket (or as an alternative you can veer right to get a ticket for a ski lift type thing, but I don't know where that will deposit you). The tram follows a circuit allowing you to easily get to any of the park's attractions. There is a rose garden, an amusement park, a museum, and of course, the zoo. The tram costs 800 won and has Korean and English voice overs.
     Jungwon made it a point to mention that she wanted to see the dolphin show so when we bought our zoo entry tickets we made sure to get our reserved seats. The zoo admittance and dolphin show came out to be 9,000 won total for two people. Total cost for tickets including the trams back and forth came out to be 12,200 won. Frozen bottles of water cost 1,000 won in the park, and during the summer they are a necessity. We went through three bottles of water, two that we brought with us, and one that we bought after the dolphin show, and this was only June!
     The zoo had a good collection of animals. Of course I didn't like the small sizes, ugliness, and boringness of many of the animals cages. For the most part the animals did seem to be in good health, although the monkeys and apes seemed very stressed by the jeering visitors and the lack of intellectual stimulation.
     One thing that I liked about the zoo was the fact that it had a lot of educational side shows. Little rooms you could enter that had information (in Korean) about how the wolves at this zoo were genetically altered to have domestic dog stomaches, or a room that talked about animal dung (many Koreans, especially children, seem to be obsessive about poop).


The Goodies


     First we have pictures uploaded to my web folder. There are giraffes, a cute baby hippo, lions cuddling, a rhino, a lemur, and (of course) the room of poop. Next are two videos of the dolphin show. The show started with a couple of performing seals, and then the dolphins showing off. The first video is actually the end of the show. You can see my camera going in and out of focus. The Auto Focus was giving me fits all day. The second video is cute, but unfortunately the end just went totally out of focus. None of the pictures of the show turned out.


Seoul Grand Park



Dolphin Show 1






Dolphin Show 2


Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Ice Water

     When I first got to Korea, summer was steadily approaching. As the days got warmer and warmer I kept seeing signs for cups of crushed ice and fruit, for about 5,000 won. I would think, "5,000 won for a cup of ice and fruit! Who in there right mind would pay that? That's more than $5.00 for ice!" After a summer of walking about the cities, and the new summer pouncing on us like an overweight cat, the answer without hesitation is me.
     The cup, or normally bowl, of ice is properly known as bingsu, {빙수}. The name is derived from two Chinese characters. Bing can mean ice, and one of the meanings for su is water. Proper bingsu, patbingsu {팥빙수}, is made with crushed ice, various sliced and diced fruits, frozen yogurt, bits of rice cake, and sweet red beans. As strange as the concoction sounds it is really quiet delicious. More importantly it is very refreshing after a long trek across town.
     Bingsu can be found everywhere during the summer. Coffee shops, fast food restaurants, and anywhere else that wants a boost in summer business will advertise their bingsu.
     Jungwon and I recently went to an interesting place called Pasticcerria in Yeongtongdong that sells "Italian" style bread. We didn't try the bread, but we got a very lovely bowl of patbingsu.


bingsu

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Roses

     Roses are the flowers that you give to a pretty lady to let her know that you care. Roses like to be pruned, they like a little fertilizer, they like a little love. When I see a flower shop I like to stop and look at the different colored roses in the window. When I see a rose bush I think about how much care has been given to it based on how tall it is, or how much it is blooming.
     All of that is changing for me. Korea, at least the small area where I live, is sick with roses. There is a certain variety of climbing rose here that vomits up from the ground and sprays the scenery with its hot pink petals. The fragrance of these flowers isn't very strong, but you do eventually get tired of seeing these masses of hot pink flowers everywhere.
     The worst part is, they are largely untended and unnoticed. The bushes are so unruly that they must go years between the prunings. Koreans walk along the walkways that these roses are attempting to choke, and they are oblivious to the thorny tendrils spilling into the path. They pay no attention to the beautiful flowers, of the late spring, or the rain of petals of the early summer.
     "They're common."
     "They are everywhere."
     "They are nothing special."
     If roses are nothing special, what am I supposed to buy my girlfriend? If roses grow almost wild, what happens to the pride, sweat, and blood that my mom has poured into her rose garden year after year? If roses are common can I start a flower shop and make my fortune selling dandelions?


roses

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Descending Life Line (four)





     Almost every restaurant in Korea will give you complimentary side dishes. If you go out for pasta, you'll usually get some sweet pickled cucumbers and some sliced peppers. The more Korean the meal, the more side dishes you'll get.
     I go out for kimchi jjigae {김치찌개} and along with my large bowl of still boiling stew and side bowl of rice they leave me all types of pickled and preserved....stuff. Everything from squid to cucumber, from mushrooms to soy flavored jello. Masitda! {맛있다}!

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Descending Life Line (three)






     Public transportation is very, cheap, easy, and convenient in Seoul. Sometimes there are subway stops just half a block from each other, and buses run everywhere. You can buy rechargeable cards that will scan on both the buses and the subways through your purse or wallet. A trip from Suwon to Seoul by bus costs a mere 1,700 won (about $2 in US money).
     Unfortunately this means that the public transportation is also extremely popular. I have have heard stories of people missing subway stops, because the train was too crowded to exit. If I leave Seoul coming back down to Suwon at the wrong time of the night I sometimes have to stand in the aisle of the bus, and a few times I've actually stood on the stairs at the door of the bus, because I couldn't get any further in.
     I know Ken Kesey often said, "you're either on the bus, or off the bus." Sometimes to be on the bus you just need to be able to get a good finger hold, swipe your card, and pray for a quick ride.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Working Title

     Jungwon and I were stepping into an elevator in Gangnam the other day. The elevator was already occupied by a mommie and her little one gurgling in a stroller. The mommie took a quick look at me, then started talking excitedly to the baby. Jungwon giggled, but most of the words went over my head. I listened intently but she was speaking too rapidly and I couldn't pick out many words.
     We exited the elevator and Jungwon translated for me, "she was telling the baby, 'quick, practice your English, hurry.' And the baby said, 'aaaaaeeeei'. And the mommie praised the baby, 'good job'."
     I could probably fill a book with little stories of being interrupted by people looking for a quick English conversation for themselves or their children. Most of the time it is cute, and often it is funny (like the mommie in the elevator). Rarely is it annoying. Regardless it's the mommie in the elevator that made me think of "Descending Life Line (two)".

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Descending Life Line (two)

     Here is the latest installment of Descending Life Line. If you can't read the text in the image the mommie is telling the baby, "Say hello! Say hello!"
     At the bottom I wrote, "Often when Parents see you on the street they will try to get their children to practice English..."


Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Descending Life Line (one)

     Here is a little comic that I doodled while I was sitting in a coffee shop in Seoul. I was thinking about the strangeness of teaching children in a language that they don't completely understand. The particular class that I was envisioning has the disadvantages of almost no English, attention span, or chances to release excess energy before class. Luckily there has been no actual fires, yet.







     The boy in the comic is saying, "Wayne teacher! Wayne teacher, homework check! Wayne teacher! Teacher! Wayne teacher, homework! Teacher~~~!"
     The caption at the bottom reads, "...And then there are whole classes that I fill with a sort of monologue: "Nick, don't stab Steve. Why is John on fire again? Alex, please get off the table. Andy please get in your chair. One moment Paul. Steve wake up. Paul help John, please. Dan put your toys away. Nick, don't eat Steve. John stop burning..."