Webpage Edit

I can finally access the mu.nu blogs without using a proxy--only 92 days of blockage! I still agree with the Benjamin Franklin quote, but it's time for it to come down, too. "He who sacrifices freedom for security is neither free nor secure." President Bush could do well to remember that.

Ramblings on Getting Ready

I began packing today and determined that I don't need to ship anything home. I practically filled up one bag with books and such; I'm pretty sure the other bag has room for my clothes and everything else. Of course I'll be rearranging things at least a time or two for both the fit and the weight--right now the bag with the books is a little heavy. But how heavy? Still under 70 pounds, certainly, but by how much? I can lift it to waist-level without much difficulty, so I'm thinking it's around 40~50 pounds. I'll move some of the books into my other big bag, though, to even things out. The clothes weigh practically nothing. Shoes--they're all worn out, excepting sandals and the pair I'll be wearing home. I went through clothes to throw out the ones in bad repair--no use transporting them across the Pacific Ocean. Every little bit of space/weight helps.

I've found some more things to take to school with me today and more for the church people on Sunday. I'll email Jodie and have her come over perhaps Sunday night to take anything she wants--fans, shelves, a nice plant, winter clothes, etc.

Last night I wrote thank-you notes to the kids who gave me gifts. I tried to use easy words, but their Korean teachers might have to help them understand. I can't believe it's the last day! I have 3 classes to teach, 3 classes to give speaking tests to, several classes of writing tests to grade, and the bank to visit during my break. Things are coming together. I'll have to buy one more 50 liter trash bag, as this morning's wild mess-making practically filled up the one that was only a quarter-full. My apartment hasn't been this clean in quite a while!

Tomorrow Busan, Sunday church and Bible study, Monday Lotte shopping (gift certificate!) and perhaps out for one last look at Daewangam, then Tuesday I say goodbye to Korea--take my last taxi, see the last of the Taehwa River, take the last airport bus, give up my resident ID card, change the last of my won into dollars, and get on the plane for the long trip home.

One Day Left

The day was insane, but in a good way. There was a never-ending stream of kids into the teachers' room to give me cards and gifts. Only one day of work left--I can't believe it. So far no tears, but I don't know how much more I can take!

Mona helped him, but Tomas wrote:

Dear Beth teacher
Hello Beth
America live Beth to Beth I love Beth
Thank you for teaching me. Don't forget Korea and don't forget
Tomas. My Beth Don't forget USA Beth. a gain meet good bye to your home town bey Beth I love you and Monna take Beth to your homtown surpereg bey pretty (heart) Beth (heart) (Tomas' name in a heart) I'm miss you
From Tomas (another heart)

He obviously hasn't learned punctuation yet! He's one that barely knew the alphabet when I started teaching him--how far he's come! (Me patting myself on the back) He still has his moody days, but has the potential to develop a really high level of English (he's in the 3rd grade now).

The other cards and letters were similar: "I love you," or "I'll miss you," or "Thank you," or "Don't forget me." I wager they'll have me crying before I leave tomorrow. I was pretty close after reading all of the cards from Mona's class!

Mina's 2 PM class (Kate, Danny, Maria, Penny, Clint) came to say goodbye again, with fake tears. At 3 PM the four girls (3rd grade) had gifts for me, and happily received their gifts from me. Ask and you shall receive! They're one of the few classes that asked for gifts, and it's small enough that I could do it. I told them that I didn't buy gifts for the other classes, so it was a secret. I worried about what to buy, but little girls like anything pretty; they were happy with the rings. Ally gave me a pen and a picture frame with a picture of her on the beach; Cindy gave me lip gloss (which Jenny put on me, then they tried out, then they put more on me--I know, Mom, not very sanitary) and a Harry Potter pen; Ju-young came back to school later to give me lip gloss, a cell phone accessory, and a hair band. We did absolutely no study from the book, just talked in an odd mixture of English and Korean. Ally and Jenny performed a play for me that they'd made up before class. Jenny played herself and Ally played me, and it consisted of Jenny begging Ally not to go to the USA and trying to go with her, but then finally saying goodbye. Then when she was 20 years old she came to the USA to see me and I was pregnant and she had to help me to the hospital. I'll miss their silliness.

Later in the day Elaine and Sera (from Mona's class) returned to school with gifts for me: a hair pin, artificial flowers, and huge hat. Mona liked the hat, so I gave it to her--is that terrible? I told her not to tell Sera. It's just too big to get home without squashing it beyond recognition.

The other crazy part of the day was the speaking tests. Even with the big classes I was able to get most of the students finished. I should be able to finish in the 10 minutes between classes tomorrow. I practically ran over to the photo shop to have the pictures developed, then have reprints made so I can give Ally, Jenny, Cindy, and Ju-young their picture tomorrow. I expected the reprints to take longer; the man had me wait, which put me back to school late. Oops! On my next-to-last day when Mr. Kim was there, too!

Mr. Kim signed the letter of recommendation that I wrote for myself, as well as using his name stamp. I had hoped that he wouldn't really look at it, but he read it all. It's embarrassing to "toot your own horn," as Tanya put it. I was busy later and he had to leave so he had Lisa (the secretary) give it to me. She also gave me some school envelopes--that's a nice touch. Matt suggested that perhaps I should have Mr. Kim sign more letters for me since most places want the original letter. I guess I could do that since I have to talk to him tomorrow to find out what to do about the apartment keys and to make sure he pays me early tomorrow so I can go on my 4 PM break and change the money into American cash.

The last adult class was awkward, as none of us was quite sure how to act. Melissa gave me a note and slippers, while Grace gave me a letter. Tanya later told me that Grace's daughter (the university student who Tanya is teaching a special one-on-one class to) called her this morning to ask how to spell my name. Tanya said it sounded like the daughter wrote the whole thing!

My Students

I am going to miss my students!!

Today Mina's 2 PM class that I used to teach came into the teachers' room and gave me goodbye cards. They were really sweet:

Thank you Beth Teacher
I will miss you Beth Teacher!
I am sad.
very very sad.
Beth love you
I am very very sad.
name: Maria (and Korean name)
2004.9.22

I will miss you Beth Teacher!
Thank! you Beth Teacher.
Good bye!
I love you!
From: Kate

I thought that it was so out of character for Matt to have them make cards. I thanked him, and he explained that it wasn't his idea. He told them that I was returning to the USA, and Kate suggested making cards. These are kids that have only been studying English for perhaps a year! She was able to explain to him what she wanted to do, then explained to the other students in Korean. Matt then got the supplies, and they wrote the cards themselves. They mimed "miss" for him, and asked how to spell a few other words, but otherwise it was on their own--the ideas and English are theirs! Matt said that I must have done something right. Hooray! Part me, part their positive attitudes, part Mina threatening to beat them?

Jenny brought in hair pins and a letter for me. I guess it's a reminder to give them a gift tomorrow!

Dear Beth...Teacher! How are you? I'm very sad. Becaus your going to the U.S.A. But we are not cry. We want your happy. Your going to the U.S.A. Your school teacher...speaking I'm
listen. Your gift is a hairpin. Than happy CHUSEOK!! Goodbye teacher. Korean your think Korean come on please....Jenny

I can understand what my professor (Dr. S) was talking about near graduation time. He said that he often wonders what happens to his students and how they're doing. I thought he was being all sappy and I thought it was out of character for him, but I suppose even big grumps can be sad when their students leave and go out into the world, worried about what will happen to them next. He wasn't on campus the day I visited in March. I'll make sure to see him when I get back.

Kyungju and a Play

The weekend was great, as I've already said. Saturday we left around 9:45 (after meeting at 9 AM--had some sleepyheads meeting us!). It was overcast in Ulsan; by the time we reached Kyungju it was drizzling. Dave suggested returning to Ulsan for lunch and an activity like bowling or a singing room, but most of the foreigners didn't mind the rain (as it was only the slightest bit chilly). We're in Kyungju, so let's see something!

As that was being agreed on, the vehicles were moved from one parking lot to another and back again. At some point Kendall and Shelly had a motorcycle accident. Nothing major, but a bus changed lanes without signaling and because of the wet roads he couldn't stop in time so had to swerve off to the side too sharply, so tipped the bike. Shelly had a scraped elbow and possibly fractured collar bone (an x-ray that evening showed nothing); Kendall had a gash on his arm and another on his leg. The Koreans in our group yelled at the bus driver for a bit, but because the bus and motorcycle hadn't actually hit each other and there were no witnesses, they couldn't call the police.

After Kendall got patched up at the firehouse we entered Bulguksa and spent an hour there. There was a special event so tons of people were there and dressed up. Monks and nuns were out everywhere walking with umbrellas. In one of the temples loads of fruit and rice cakes were being delivered as offerings either to Buddha or the dead monk's picture. Shelly told me that they don't eat any of it!

I asked Roger's wife if she knew who the man in the picture was. She doesn't speak much English, but she seems to be comfortable speaking with me. I think she thinks I know more Korean than I do. Of the Koreans that I've heard speak Korean, I understand her better than many people--is it the tone of her voice, or the fact that she repeats the important words several times, or something else? I also understand Dave pretty well—he tends to speak slower than many people, and perhaps an easier vocabulary??

Anyway, she went into this long story about how she used to be Buddhist but then she met Jesus and became Christian but her family was still Buddhist. I don't often hear all the church words in Korean, but she was able to make me understand "trinity" and a couple of other words. My church vocabulary in Korean was limited to words like God, Jesus, prayer, church, and love. Then the story got weirder as she used yet new words. I understood the word "ghost" and from her body language that she was scared. I also understood the word "Satan" (in Korean it sounds a little the same as in English). Later I asked Miran what another word she kept saying meant. I had guessed correctly: 마기 means evil spirit or demon. I didn't understand everything she said, but got the idea.

Next we went to a buffet-style Korean lunch, then to Seokguram Grotto, which was incredibly foggy. On the 15-minute walk to the temple and then as we looked around I talked with Jo, a new teacher from Ireland. Her accent wasn't strong enough to be difficult to understand, but was just strong enough to be adorable. She's only been here for 2 weeks, so had lots of questions about everything.

Then the bus ride back to Ulsan. We arrived at 5 PM. Pastor Cho dropped people off along the way (it helped that most of the people in our vehicle lived in Mugeo-dong). Euri went shopping while I went home for a short time.

At 6 PM Euri, Miran, Danica, and I met for a "girls' night." We ate at the new Italian place near the university, then went to the first ever play by foreigners in Ulsan. About 200 people showed up, at least 60~70% of them foreigners. The play was written by one of the 6 actors. Owen helped with music, someone else collected money (3000 won) and handed out programs. It was really well done. The play itself was just under an hour and a little strange, yet entertaining. The title was "Twenty-four five," referring to how the workday is always the same and people are tired of doing the same thing over and over everyday and thinking that their lives have purpose when it's really just an endless pursuit of nothing. On second thought, how depressing! After it was over Miran met some people from her academy and Danica, Euri, and I went to Baskin Robbins. Their newest flavor, "alien mom," is pretty good, but what an odd name! Finally we said goodnight.

Hacking Test

Monica (7th grade) really hates tests! The students have to memorize words from a book called "Hacking." It's pretty much a waste of time because they don't know how to use the words and the words are entirely too complicated for their ages, so they forget the words immediately after the test. Occasionally I'll say a word and it will ring a bell that they've seen that word before. The student will dig the Hacking book out of his bag and flip around to find the word (as he can't remember the Korean meaning without his book). From three of Monica's journal entries:

Tomorrow I have to hacking test I hate hacking I will see the made the hacking book man I fighting the that man Why made a hacking book? I don''t know exactly Hacking is mess Very not useful I don''t see hacking book anymore hum..... I don''t want to hacking hum...

I have to test schoo test,academy test... I have many test I hate test always.. I hate academy test very much. because I don''t like English and other subject My favorite hate test is a hacking test I hate remember words The every is for me, but I hate test

I will kill made a english books Maybe I see him I will kill him I anglry very much Why did he made a book? Just because a money? It makd me a offend I will kill him

My adults mentioned this story to me, but I couldn't believe them. I thought there must have been some kind of misunderstanding. However, it's true! The dog was worth 70,000,000 won ($61,000) and the owner's employees took the dog and ate it. The men won't face criminal charges, but a civil suit is being filed.

Time is flying! I'm working on my "to do" list, but there's still a lot on it! Six days left.

Kyungju Pictures

Until I get around to writing about the fabulous weekend, here are some pictures from Saturday's rainy trip to Kyungju. (Pictures by Ryan)


Women waiting for the bus.



Most of the people who went standing in front of the main gate at Bulguksa.




Lunch



Lots of fog at Seokguram Grotto (on top of a mountain). This was less than 50 meters away.



Where did they come from?!



Kendall after the motorcycle accident. A bus changed lanes without signaling. Because of the wet roads he couldn't stop in time, so swerved too sharply, tipping the bike. A couple of cuts and bruises, yet the guy at the fire station bandaged him up pretty well!



There was some kind of special event, so tons of people were there. It was funny to see the monks in traditional clothes, yet carrying umbrellas and some wearing Western-style athletic shoes!



On of the outside hallways at Bulguksa.



Roger and his wife in the van. He was being extraordinarily silly and we were all laughing to the point of tears!



Another temple building.



The statue is alive!



Walking in the rain.



At Seokguram Grotto



Some kind of weird fruit that sounded a lot like the Korean word for "ice." Everyone tried a little--was it ever slimy!

Steps

Also on Friday I studied processes with another class. This class did a better job of writing down all the steps of how to do something.

How to Cook Rice (girls)

1. washing hands
2. scoop rice
3. put the rice in the bowl
4. washing the rice
5. throw the water in the sink
6. scoop the water
7. put in water and rice pot
8. close the pot
9. push the button
10. wait and wait
11. open the pot
12. scoop the rice in the bowl
13. eat!
14. washing the bowl and spoon

Getting on a Bus (same group of girls)

1. going to the bus stop
2. wait and wait
3. on the bus
4. give the money in money box
5. sit down!
6. wait
7. ring the bell
8. get off the bus
9. speak "bye!"

Changing a Flat Tire (boys)

1. put the car
2. take out tire
3. put the new tire
4. change the tire
5. put down the car
6. go

Starting a Car (different boys)

1. open the door
2. sit the chair
3. put the key
4. turn on the key
5. down the side break (sic)
6. go

They persist in calling Ivan "summer bear." I think it's the cutest thing, and he doesn't seem to mind. It has even made him a little more alert in class!

A "Crazy" Day

Friday was a really excellent day. In the 3 o'clock class we spent half the class laughing. When I came in the kids started saying random things. "An elephant has a big nose." Yes, it does, but why are you telling me that? "I am short." Yes, you are, but what does that have to do with anything?

It started to sink in a little later when Tomas started insulting Sera: "You're ugly! You're fat! You're short! You're slow!" A-ha! You guys studied the adjectives chapter with Mona! Part of me hates to teach that chapter because the kids will inevitably insult each other, yet by insulting each other they remember the words and make them a part of their vocabulary. After all, one of the first words my students learn is "crazy," and it usually doesn't take them too long to figure out that the way it's used in English isn't the Korean word that the dictionary says that it is. The Korean equivalent for "crazy" is more along the lines of our "psychopath," or "lunatic," or another similar word said in the worst way possible. The Korean word is a very strong insult. In my classes I say "You're crazy!" or ask, "Are you crazy?" quite often. Occasionally a student will get upset, but then all it takes is me adding, "and I'm crazy, too!" for them to realize that if I'm saying it about myself, it can't be that bad of a word.

Sera took Tomas' insults pretty well, although she did tell me that Mona teacher said they weren't supposed to say that a person is 'fat,' they're supposed to say someone is 'chubby.' That's right, Sera! That she could explain that to me surprised me even more that just her knowing what's polite to say.

A little after that Tomas (the loudmouth that he is) started in on making up love stories. "Brian heart Sera," "Kelt heart Lynn," "Beth heart Tim." I responded, "Of course I love Tim!" as I kissed the tip of my finger and put it on Tim's cheek. He acted disgusted, while the other children roared with laughter. Tomas continued, "Beth heart Kelt," and Kelt hid under the table before I could plant my finger-kiss on him. (I got him when he wasn't expecting it, though!) Despite all of the distractions, we still got the planned lesson done. But those kinds of distractions are good--they're still at a pretty basic level, but fairly comfortable with using their limited vocabulary when speaking--most adults with even extensive vocabularies aren't that comfortable.

After class several of the students went into the computer room to study, and when I passed by 10 minutes later they were still grinning, and upon seeing me broke into laughter again. I can't help but think that they'll remember those adjectives, just from the sheer craziness of it all. Mona was pleased that they remembered what they learned in her class the day before. The other teachers looked at me pretty strangely as I continued the insane laughter while telling Mona about the class. I explained, with stray tears exploding out of my eyes, that I'd had a "crazy class." Mina looked concerned, so I clarified, "It was a good crazy!"

At 4 I wrote some more evaluations, printed out the tests I made in the morning, surfed the 'net, and talked with Jane. It was a really productive hour.

Later on in the day I teased some middle school students about having "grandfather heads" since they didn't remember their homework. A student came in late, also without his homework, and I asked him why he hadn't done it. Tom was quick to say, "Teacher! You too!" 'Me too' what? "You too 'grandfather head!' Charlie wasn't here last time!" Okay, you're right. I'm forgetful too.

Apparently there was a misunderstanding regarding Matt working on Saturdays. A day or two ago Matt agreed to work Saturdays, but not for the next two weeks. This weekend a friend from Japan was visiting, and next weekend he'll be in Singapore. So halfway through the day Mr. Kim asked me about working this Saturday and next. I apologized and said I couldn't—I already had plans. Come on! It's my last two weekends here!