Thoughts on Reagan

The Reagan memorial was put together really well. I turned on CNN while eating breakfast, in time to catch the live coverage of the CA sunset burial. By that point unless I rushed I was going to be late for class, so I decided to just skip it and watch the summary of the Washington, D.C. service. It sure was a big event, with everything carefully planned and carried out. It was a little odd seeing all of the living former presidents sitting together. I heard that Clinton was upset that he wasn't asked to speak. Both of the Bushes did a good job speaking; I read the full text of Bush Jr.'s speech online--someone did a good job writing it, and he did a good job giving it. Margaret Thatcher did look rather bad and much different than she did on the taped remarks.

I knew a lot of people thought of Reagan in a positive light, but hearing him compared to Gorbachev and Thatcher put him in the proper perspective, I guess. I just recently (last month) read part of his "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" speech online. It seems he did a lot of positive things for the country and the world. It sounds like Reagan's optimism helped get America going again after its recession. It's a little weird that the president who was in office when I was born is dead.

Mrs. Reagan looked so frail--I guess all the stress and cross-country flights, jetlag, long days, etc. was getting to her, besides her phone ringing off the hook from world leaders. It's nice that it seems the family, despite whatever problems they've had in the past, was able to cooperate for the funeral. The two boys hugging was touching.

When I first turned on the TV it was completely silent with Mrs. Reagan breaking down at the casket. When she finally turned to leave, the sound of clicking cameras was like an earthquake, and struck me as distasteful. Sure, he was a popular president, but shouldn't the family have some privacy?

When Arnold Schwarzenegger passed the casket and crossed himself I couldn't help wondering if he was thinking about becoming president some day.

Towards the end of the program CNN showed a series of photos, some from the Friday service and some from Reagan's life, while Ray Charles sang America the Beautiful. They also showed pictures of the two men together.

When I got up this morning the bathroom light fixture had fallen during the night and was hanging by the cord. The way it was hanging, the metal of the fixture was cutting into the casing that surrounds the wire, so not such a good thing! I spent about half an hour trying to screw it back into the ceiling. After I got it up, I took a shower then as I started to blow-dry my hair it fell down again. I put a cloth between the wire and the metal to keep it from getting cut worse, finished getting ready, and went out. At that point I was incredibly frustrated of it--I can't even reach it well, it's so awkward, and I don't have anything resembling a screwdriver!

First stop was E-mart to look for a pedometer. First floor is all food, so I went to the second floor and walked all the way around--nope. On to the third floor. The first two floors were chaos; the third was a little more controlled chaos. Several employees greeted me (in Korean) or bowed; I returned the bow but didn't approach anyone for help. At first all I saw were clothes and baby stuff, but then I saw hiking goods. Another employee who looked like she didn't have anything to do greeted me so I asked if they had a man-bo-gae, or "ten thousand steps machine," (surprisingly similar to the Japanese name, man-po-kei). I did it while making a small box with my hands. She thought a few seconds and said yes, then directed me to another section. They had 5 choices, ranging from 9900 won to 40000 won ($8 to $35), including a "couples" pedometer set. Yes, your pedometer must match your spouse's! Most were made in Japan. The one I got had Korean on the outside package but Japanese on the machine itself. It's the no-frills version, so only one button (and another tiny button which I think controls the sensitivity. I didn't see any brand names that I recognized, so hopefully it's of a decent quality. With my one item I still had to wait longer than I would have liked to check out.

Then the 15-minute walk to the Lotte complex. I wanted to make it for the 5:05 movie, but arrived at just that time, so instead inquired about the 6:15 movie. They only had a few seats left so I got a seat in the front row. I went to Lotteria for lunch. It was really crowded. There was some type of concert or special event going on in the courtyard, so people in Lotteria (especially the second floor) were enjoying the view. By the time I finished eating some people had left, so I sat a little longer and got started on the Nicholas Sparks book.

The movie was The Day After Tomorrow. Could that kind of thing really happen?! It was certainly action-filled; seeing even huge buildings covered in snow and ice was cool. Some of it wasn't quite believable, or perhaps I just don't know enough science. Super-cooled air rapidly descending and killing people on contact?!

After the movie I was suddenly tired so didn't want to wait a long time to catch the bus. I got on the 5-1 bus that said it went to Mugeo-dong, and I was sure I'd seen that bus number pass by the University before. At first I just thought the bus was taking a round-about way, but then it had made so many weird turns that I didn't know which direction we were going. Then, quite a while later, after crossing the Taehwa Bridge and going through a ton of apartments, it passed Home Plus. Wait a minute, where is this bus going?? Then we passed Mega Mart. NO WAY! Mugeo-dong! Let's go to MUGEO-DONG! The road suddenly got very dark and very deserted, with us passing lots of bus stops but no one getting off. I was slightly worried about where we would end up, yet still enjoying my book. There were no taxis around, so for the time being there was nothing to do but stay on the bus. When I finally figured out where we were (45 minutes after getting on the bus), I laughed at the irony of it. One of the reasons I didn't go to Korean class this morning was that it's too far away, yet I end up all the way out there after 9 PM!

I got off where I would normally get off for the class, crossed the street, and got a coke while waiting for a bus to come to take me in the direction that I'd just come from. The 114 bus came after only a short wait and I continued enjoying my book on the 40 minute ride back.

It's suddenly cool again, to the point of needing a light sweater or walking very briskly to stay warm. Warm spell, cool spell, when will the weather stabilize?!

Why Orangoutangs Have Big Nostrils

I didn't leave Holly and Jody's until after midnight last night, so got home around 12:30 and in bed an hour after that. That means I slept late this morning, getting up basically in time to get ready for work.

The foreign teacher meeting this afternoon with Joelle was typical. It lasted about 25 minutes. The lesson plans changed slightly so she was going to tell us the changes. Well, the lesson plans did indeed change slightly but she went through everything, regardless of whether it had changed or not. The stuff we really needed to know (about our role in the computer system) was barely mentioned, and only because I asked her about it. In explaining the Can You Believe It? book, there is WAY TOO MUCH memorization! I suggested that, especially in that book, memorization actually hurts the students. Matt agreed, but Joelle dismissed the comment. She ended the meeting by saying that if we have any good suggestions to let her know. Apparently the comment about the CYBI book wasn't good. We're only native English speakers who have learned foreign languages ourselves, after all.

Just before the 2 PM class began Mark punched the window of Grape classroom, causing multiple cracks in it and cutting his hand. Someone wrapped up his hand, and his mother came within 15 minutes to look at what he had done and I suppose take him to the doctor (or put him in a dark cellar for life, she looked angry).

When I came into the 3 PM class Tomas was at the opposite end of the table from everyone else, pouting. I asked him what was wrong but he wouldn't say anything, not even hello. We did the listening book today, which involves a lot of listening and writing, yet he didn't pick up his pencil once. I prodded him several times to get involved, but since he wasn't disturbing the other students I let it go. After class I found out that Mona had scolded him (perhaps used the stick, too).

Rona is the giggliest girl I've ever met--every time I look at her she giggles. The kids not only remembered to do the weather calendar I assigned them last week, but reminded me about it! They're the first class where most of them did it. They did really good at the listening exercises today; Kelt made a big deal when he saw Lynn's name in the book. Other classes are similar--I think seeing their English nicknames in print makes them realize that they're actually people's names.

At 4 I corrected journals, then at 5 they were pretty talkative (mostly English). The new student is quieter, and possibly dislikes all of the talking. I can't quite tell, but she may be the kind of student who thinks that the only way to get better at English is to memorize vocabulary words or do writing exercises. Conversation is important, too!

At 6 I asked them if they had to do the Taehwa River cleanup, and they told me how horrible it was. They even had to drink "a little dirty water." Huh? You didn't drink water from the river, did you? Even just a drop of it on your skin would be enough to kill you! No, after the help of a picture they said they drank tap water. Oh no! Korean tap water is so horrible! (a little sarcasm) Did I write that it turns out that's what I've been drinking at work my whole time here? It goes from the tap into the water cooler, then through a filter and out into my cup. I have NEVER seen the filter changed, though. Gross!

In the next class Jake again did a great job of talking when he told me "Time change. Tonight go at 7:25." That means he misses more than half of class, every day, for a whole month! When he left we all said goodbye. Blake knows a lot of good words: "Bravo! Party time! Jake is going, so we have a party!" No, we get back to studying!

Paul is absolutely insane. When I asked them where Daniel was, Paul and Blake told me that Daniel is sick. Oh? What's wrong? "Toilet, Daniel (straining face) dung, water dung, like a water gun, next chopsticks pickup dung and mix and . . . " Where was he going with that?? He was determined to gross everyone out, but the other kids didn't really care. Not long after that, Paul asked me why orangoutangs have such big nostrils (he didn't know that word, of course, but pointed at his). I said that I don't know; he told me that it's because they have big fingers and pick their noses all the time. Thank you for sharing, Paul!

The 8:30 class is behaving so much better now that we're studying a decent book. They still speak too much Korean, though. At one point I was trying to get Charlie's attention, and Glen helped by asking Charlie, "Perfect English? No? Study!" I've used that line with them before, perhaps last class.

Tonight one page in their book gave sample personal ads, then they were to write their own. I'm not sure if perhaps they didn't understand, or maybe this is how personal ads are done in Korea: the boys were writing the kind of girl they wanted, not things about themselves. How self-centered, but perfect in going along with the Korean "men are kings" mentality.

After a little talking with Matt and Tanya (who signed their contract tonight, carefully reading the worthless pages) I took the bus to Mugeo-dong where I got off at Aram-Mart. I don't want to have to do grocery shopping this weekend, so figured I'd get it done tonight (I'm out or running low of almost everything). I entered the store at 10 and was out by 10:15. Then the 15~20 minute walk home, switching the one bag from hand to hand (my backpack had most of the heavy items). There were tons of police officers doing sobriety tests on the road behind the University. It's nice to have the shopping done for another couple of weeks, aside from eggs and bread which I can pickup at the stores near my apartment.

NNNNNOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

Whenever Grace asks, "Can I ask a question?" I cringe and SO want to say, "NO! You can't ask a question!! You can never ask a question again because they're always so insane or inappropriate or totally unrelated to what we're talking about!!" But of course I can't say that, so (after the cringe which I can't completely stop from happening) I say, "Yes, what's your question?" At least it FINALLY sunk in the right way to ask. For the longest time she said, "Can I have a question?" NOOOOOO! You can't have a question, either!! They're all mine!

I talked with the laptop guy about the pedometer and he suggested a couple of places that I might find one. He said they were popular several years ago. Knowing the Korean name for it should help me. If not, he'll help me order one from a Korean site--lots cheaper than ordering it from the states, considering shipping and everything.

The kids were OK, but my voice is nearly gone from so much explaining. After I finished classes and ate dinner I worked on checking journals and filling out the daily reports online. I thought my user ID and password had probably expired, but it turns out when they redeveloped the site they made a new place for teachers to sign in, so I was trying to sign in at the wrong place. Tanya showed me the right place to do it.