a note on school contests

There's an English speech contest tomorrow that one of my students is participating in. I'm pretty sure he got a late start on writing and memorizing, and as of yesterday, he hadn't memorized the entire thing yet. So my co-teacher chewed him out to the point of tears, and I got to stay at school until 8 last night to help force it all into his brain. Buh. And today's even better. My co-teacher wants me to work with this kid all day on this 3 minute speech. Thrilling. Hoping hoping hoping that he'll get it together before 5 and we won't have to spend 8 hours together. Fearing that my co-teacher will make us stay until 8 again. He's obsessed with success and right now I hate it. BUH. Thank God for a 3 day weekend. :)

Teacher's Day in Korea

If you're following me on Google Buzz, I apologize for spamming it! 

Tomorrow is teacher's day. As I've said before, lately, I learn about special school events through students. No different this time, when a student was saying that his classmate was preparing for a performance that was meant for teachers. Eh? Walking into the auditorium, students were lined up to make a pathway and applauded as teachers filed in. It was interesting to say the least. A few students performed and then there was a special 4 person group from somewhere performing some music on a keyboard, cello, flute, and a Korean traditional instrument. A vocalist came out for a couple songs, and I recognized one; a song I played way back when I was in the elite-super-cool-atthetime instrumental ensemble in elementary school. I played the song on a recorder and the name I knew it by was "Korean Folk Song." haha, I felt so cool back then. I love the cello's sound. I wonder if there's any place in the city where I can get music lessons in an instrument... Teachers got little baskets with some carnations in them. A few students I think were competing to give me a basket. I don't remember really but just that a basket was forcibly thrust into my hands by someone in between the second that some other students realized it was me. 

Honestly, I don't know anything about Teacher's Day, but I'm just going to assume it's a day where they get honored. Last week we had Children's Day and Parent's Day- a combined Mother and Father's day. My co-teacher was surprised to hear that America has a day for each parent. He likes Korea's way better because you don't have to shop twice for gifts. Is there a Teacher's Day in the states? 

E-Mart is LEET

I don't live near an E-Mart, but after my last visit there I seriouslyseriously want to. Here's why.

Whipped cream. It costs at least 5 times more than it does in the states, but this would've been great to have on Thanksgiving and Christmas. 

 Two things here. 1: whipping cream. For a lot less than Reddi Whip, and I prefer to make it myself anyway. 

2: Sour. Freaking. Cream. Taco night is now complete.

Another way I can get away from Korean food! 

I'm so excited that these things can be found in Daejeon- especially sour cream! So, if you live near an E-mart and you haven't discovered these foods yet, go scour the store and see what treasures you can find! 

week recap through pictures

Wednesday afternoon, my co-teacher told me that the 9th graders were having a picnic at Daejeon's theme park, O-World. Ooookay. It was an awesome day! 


Before we left, we met in the auditorium to play volleyball. It was adapted for blind and low vision players. You have the net, but it's only a few inches above the floor. Instead of hitting the ball over, you have to hit it under. Points are scored by getting the ball into the green goals. Blind players line in front of the net to block. Players who have vision can wear black out goggles so they can be on the front. There are bells in the volley ball so you can hear where it is. I hadn't yet been to O-World, so I was looking forward to seeing the park. It's a small amusement park with a zoo and garden area (didn't see those). Here's the run down through pictures

These look like those quarter rides, but they're just meant for photos. My co-teacher is a perfect model here. 

This was the first ride we went on. I decided I really hate these rides. It's so uncomfortable I couldn't even scream. hahaha

A perfect example to remind us that we're not so different in a lot of ways.

They loved this ride. Except 2 of the 4 students in the boat are hiding.

The class! Sadly, I was behind the camera

The little kids overran the park all dressed in their matching uniforms and carrying their matching backpacks. Freaking ridiculous, freaking adorable. 

Just imagine piles of these little things in all different colors, all over the park.

My nature photo of that day. Flat out amazing color, and the sunlight made the darn tree glow. A shame I couldn't really capture that part.

Click play to see them all.

the glory of cheap accessories

Experiencing the low cost of just about everything in this country makes me want to know why life is so darn expensive in the states. I got a haircut last week, and the woman who cut it curled it with a flat iron. It looked really good. I can't figure out how to get it to look the same way, and just letting it dry results in half-cut curls going in stupid directions. The one thing I wasn't thrilled about was that she cut bangs. You know, the ones that are too short to pull back, but are too stupid long to leave down. So while I wait a couple months for them to grow out, I need some things to hold 'em back. Last night I went to an accessory store and picked up a mini-slew of headbands for 1,000W each. So cheap! They're cute, too! This store is pretty awesome because you can load up on trendy jewelry and hair stuff without spending a lot of money. I bought some earrings, too for 1,000W a pair. I freaking love the fact that I don't have to drop a load of cash for some extra fashion. 

practicum fresh meat

My school got a slew of practicum students this morning, so I guess that explains the decorated chopsticks that teachers got.  Picture later if I ever take one... they're wood with a design on the top and stuck in a Asian style print satin case. They're cute! Bottles of vitamin C juice (not my favorite thing, it tastes like liquid Flintstones chewables) also appeared on teacher desks with a little introductory note stuck on them. Sadly, I don't understand anything beyond "안녕하세요." I seriously need to get it together and start studying vocabulary. This is really pathetic. 

Still waiting to hear about re-signing. There's a slight comfort from the fact that no one else in Daejeon has re-signed yet. The prices of plane tickets home are uglyugly beasts.


Cute moments of the day: I went to the elementary 6th grade classroom to work with a student for a few moments. One of the other students poked my shoulder to get my attention and said "hi." This afternoon in the middle school first grade class, we weren't doing anything. 2 of the 3 students were there, one of those two is an adult participant. The actual middle schooler spent the class trying to talk to me and asking what things were in English. This is a big deal because her English level is low. At one point she was doing an old lady squat on the floor while talking. I think she ran out of things to say at one point because she stopped, looked at me, and said "I love you." The adult participant I think believes my name is Megan Virginia. He also seemed surprised that my family is American.

Daejeon's Breast Cancer "marathon"

I ran the 5k race this morning in 33 minutes! WOO! There was so much PINK. I liked it. Some more details about the race? There was a 10k that got a head start, we met at 8:30, started after  9:30, ran around Expo Park area. This means John and I were up at 6, out the door at 7 and in the area by 8:20. Buh. All this was done before 10:30 am. Nice!

from Facebook

All the runners got these medal things. Cute. ^^

camera works (LOVE the Canon Power Shot)

Mom, this one's for you since you're still griping about the camera. So I never read manuals or directions, be it technology, recipes (this has led to some disasters), or stuff I have to put together. This results in bookshelves being put together with pieces attached backwards, pie with twice the amount of sweetener (when using Splenda, note that you use half as much as you would sugar...), missing ingredients, missing pieces, or me having to take stuff apart multiple times until I can get it right. So of course, I tossed the camera manual somewhere in my apartment when I got that beloved box from home way back in December. This week, I just discovered a slew of settings on the point and shoot digital that my parents sent me. Who knew I could change the light settings, or that I had some control over aperture and shutter speed? I mean, WOW! This little beast can do some impressive things! So Mom, here are some recent photos; results from testing the features I just noticed the camera has. You and Dad chose well. THANKS HUGS&LOVE. And the pictures from the previous post were all taken with it, too. 

a staff lunch somewhere on a mountain somewhere in Daejeon

This is the raw beef, soaked in a chili sauce and served with slices
of pear and raw garlic. All on a bed of thinly sliced cucumber! 

I have a feeling this is going to end up being a pretty sizable post... mostly with pictures. So the mountain trip yesterday! There was no mandatory hiking! After eating, some of the teachers wanted to go "trekking" as one put it, but then a smaller group split off and took me with them because they wanted a short walk. I definitely didn't mind that. We ended up meeting with my co-teacher who wandered off alone, and we paper-rock-scissor battled our way up a stair case (kai-bai-bo as they say in Korean, correct romanization or not). They decided how many steps you could go up for each different way of winning, and then we played each round until there was one winning hand (like, one type beat everything else, so more than 1 person could win). Fun! haha- we ended up playing this again later when a teacher was talking about a snack, so then the loser had to buy it for everyone. 

Okay so lunch. Some new things here. First, raw beef. Drenched in a chili sauce, and still a little frozen. It was good! Not something I would go look for myself, but it was enjoyable and I'm not sick. My brain is so conditioned to have alarms go off at the sight of raw meat thanks to the way it's raised in the states and the consequences that have followed because of those methods. Granted, who knows, maybe beef in Korea is produced the same way. I haven't really been able to figure that out yet. The main feature of lunch was a soup called galbi tang (갈비 탕) where the "tang" sounds a little like "tongue." It's a simple soup with some beef ribs boiled into a broth, some scallions, and some sweet potato starch noodles. No lurking little sea monsters in the bottom. Nice. 


And then there was the rice. I've had rice like this maybe twice before, but I hadn't thought to photograph it yet. The first time I saw it served this way I was baffled. My mind was just about blown when I saw what the Koreans did with it, and then my brain evaporated when I realized there was more to be done. Now? Still a little strange and not my favorite thing, but far more normal to me. The wood encases a stone bowl which is heated super hot to the point of making the rice crackle. So what you do is after letting the rice sit closed for a couple of minutes, you scoop most of it into a bowl. Don't fight the rice that's stuck to the sides. Then you pour some water into the stone container and put the lid back on. Ignore it for the rest of the meal and eat the rice you took out. After you eat, go back to the stone container, mix the water and rice,which is now no longer stuck, and eat. The water gets a little thick and starchy from the rice, and to me, you get a little flavor from the rice that was toasted by the heat. I think part of this process is getting the burned rice off of the bowl, and not letting food go to waste. So again, not really my favorite thing to eat, but a good cultural experience. 


... aaaand three days later, here I am finishing up this post with: that day was awesome and it feels like it happened a month ago! Enjoy the pictures! 

Picture demonstration for the rice! This is what it's served in: the stone bowl in a wood case.

I had to sneak this photo in between my co-teacher telling me to let it sit for 2 minutes... Black rice gives it the purple color, and it's common to have a type of bean or another grain mixed in. I think it's a good idea, it gives some nutrition! Scoop what you can out and dump it into another bowl...


This is the rice water soup stuff you eat at the end of the meal. It tastes like rice water. Hot rice water. Definitely better than hot ham water, though.

Daejeon Citizens and promised awesome week

From what I understand, Daejeon Citizens is the name of the city soccer team. Last week, my friends' schools were handing out free tickets to an upcoming game. The stadium was packed with families who like us, got in for free. I liked it though because a big part of why I enjoy watching sports in person is the energy radiating off of the crowd. Plus we were surrounded by little children who liked to stare at my obviously western friends. One kid even started yelling "gogogo!" at the soccer players like we were. This was my first professional soccer match (professional anything really)- I can't effectively describe how much fun it was, but it was funfunFUN! We lost to Incheon (the city where the international airport is), so I will probably forever resent it just a little from now on. One of the friends I went to the game with was trying to start up some Konglish chants. Serious failures there, and from the chuckles from some surrounding Koreans I think we used the Konglish incorrectly. 


Saturday was the introduction of some nice weather we've been privileged to enjoy. Today it's breezy, edging on downright windy, but it's sunny and warmish, and I just want to go outside and be useless. In 30 minutes the middle and high school teachers are going to a mountain to eat and "drink... a little" as a teacher put it last week. I'm still doubting that we won't end up hiking even though when I asked, the teacher said no. Because seriously- sometimes no really means yes, though that mostly relates to Koreans pouring me alcohol when I say "no thank you." bwaha. I've got my camera, so I'll be getting some photographic records of the spelunking that goes on this afternoon. 


This week is going to be awesome because I get out early today and tomorrow, Wednesday is Children's Day, thus a holiday (also Cinco de Mayo, though I've never celebrated- but a good excuse to make tacos!), and this weekend there is talks of going to a ropes course in Daegu.