I am currently on winter break. I get one week off now and a week off in July. Students are on winter break from school and get a longer break than I do. The next semester starts in March. February is graduation month for schools. Summer and Winter vacation from schools are big traveling times for families.
Other days that I get off are national holidays or "Red days". Red days are Christmas- 12/25, Chuseok (usually September; 3-4 days; weekend, plus a couple extra days), Seolnal/Lunar New Year (usually February; 3-4 days; weekend, plus a couple extra days), New Year's day 1/1, Hangeul day 10/9, 3/1 Independence movement day, Children's day 5/5, Buddah's Birthday 5/14, Memorial Day 6/6, Liberation day 8/15, National Foundation day 10/3
January Red days: New Year's day 1/1
February: Seolnal/Lunar New Year (3-4 days; weekend, plus a couple extra days)
March: 3/1 Independence Movement day
May: Children's day 5/5 and Buddah's birthday 5/14
June: Memorial day 6/6
August: Liberation day 8/15
September: Chuseok/Korea's Thanksgiving (3-4 days; weekend, plus a couple extra days)
October: National Foundation day 10/3 and Hangeul day 10/9
December: Christmas 12/25
Saturday, January 2, 2016
Friday, September 26, 2014
Korean grading and school system
I've been grading English books- grammar, sentence writing, speaking, everything. The first thing I do is grade in fun colors- no students like "red" all over their pages, especially for quotation marks and punctuation.
In the US, a star (example: *) on the number means that problem, answer, sentence is CORRECT and a circle means it's wrong. I started doing circles and stars. My students were sad (elementary age) and asking why the answer was wrong and wanted to know the right answer. I told my students they got the answer right, so they told me, "Teacher, do a circle around the number, not a star." A star in Korean grading means the answer is wrong and doing stars at the top of the page or on the entire page means the whole page is wrong. Circles means it's correct.
I have students who will yawn during my class, (which is allowed), but at times, my heart breaks for them because I am one of their many teachers and my English class is one class out of a bunch of academies they have lined up after me.
Students have their school day (elementary ends about 2:30), but it could vary for other schools. I teach academy classes (학원) in the afternoon and evening. My class isn't their one and only class. Students start Korean martial arts classes like Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, or Japanese Judo. Students attend other academies like, math, science, social sciences (history, economics, etc), then students go to rooms called 독서실 (Korean study rooms) to continue the studying. Academy classes happen daily- not one, but a lot. Korean study rooms are like small desks with wall lined up in a room for students to study. They are usually silent, so quiet you can hear a pin drop. Students will go home about 2:30-3:00am and sleep for a couple of hours and start the day again.
I also noticed that Koreans have 3 years of kindergarten, starting at age 5-7, sometimes as young as 4 (remember that Koreans have a different age system, so some as young as 2 start school). It's not bad, but a coworker of mine said, "there isn't much of a childhood" which made me think because in the US, we have a childhood. We're sent to daycare, half-day preschool, and told to play with friends. In Korea, children stay home with a parents (usually mother). I have not seen a lot of daycares in Korea. I have seen a lot of mother with children. I don't know if there's such a thing as a "play date" for children in Korea. I have to remember, Korean culture is different from what I am used to.
It's been interesting start to learning about the school system. I am hoping I will learn more.
In the US, a star (example: *) on the number means that problem, answer, sentence is CORRECT and a circle means it's wrong. I started doing circles and stars. My students were sad (elementary age) and asking why the answer was wrong and wanted to know the right answer. I told my students they got the answer right, so they told me, "Teacher, do a circle around the number, not a star." A star in Korean grading means the answer is wrong and doing stars at the top of the page or on the entire page means the whole page is wrong. Circles means it's correct.
I have students who will yawn during my class, (which is allowed), but at times, my heart breaks for them because I am one of their many teachers and my English class is one class out of a bunch of academies they have lined up after me.
Students have their school day (elementary ends about 2:30), but it could vary for other schools. I teach academy classes (학원) in the afternoon and evening. My class isn't their one and only class. Students start Korean martial arts classes like Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, or Japanese Judo. Students attend other academies like, math, science, social sciences (history, economics, etc), then students go to rooms called 독서실 (Korean study rooms) to continue the studying. Academy classes happen daily- not one, but a lot. Korean study rooms are like small desks with wall lined up in a room for students to study. They are usually silent, so quiet you can hear a pin drop. Students will go home about 2:30-3:00am and sleep for a couple of hours and start the day again.
I also noticed that Koreans have 3 years of kindergarten, starting at age 5-7, sometimes as young as 4 (remember that Koreans have a different age system, so some as young as 2 start school). It's not bad, but a coworker of mine said, "there isn't much of a childhood" which made me think because in the US, we have a childhood. We're sent to daycare, half-day preschool, and told to play with friends. In Korea, children stay home with a parents (usually mother). I have not seen a lot of daycares in Korea. I have seen a lot of mother with children. I don't know if there's such a thing as a "play date" for children in Korea. I have to remember, Korean culture is different from what I am used to.
It's been interesting start to learning about the school system. I am hoping I will learn more.
Friday, June 27, 2014
New foods and weekends
I've been trying new foods galore. I'm proud of myself because I usually don't try new foods alone. Ever since I arrived, it's been a step at a time. Who knows what I will try next. I've also been eating foods that I know and like. I've been craving cereal. I bought some Special K cereal. Unfortunately, for my family back in MN, I haven't been able to find GM cereals. I found Post and Kellog's cereals. I tried Korean milk. I hear it's a little different from US milk. I tried 매일매일 우유 (Maeil maeil milk) and 서울우유 (Seoul Milk) both taste the same, but to me, they taste sweet. I don't know if it's me or the milk. I think it tastes sweet. I have to try Korean soy milk still. The milk is good, but I stopped drinking it alone.
Recently, I was feeling kind of homesick and wanted something sweet. I bought instant vanilla latte cappuccino from Daiso (the Korean version of the dollar store with extremely cute items). I heated milk up first and added the mix. I added dark chocolate (it was free when I helped clean out an apartment, so I won't complain and dark chocolate also tastes sweet to me) to my cappuccino. I let the chocolate melt and I mixed it. Some how I got chocolate chunks, but it tasted delicious. I will wait until next month to have it again.
Recently, I was feeling kind of homesick and wanted something sweet. I bought instant vanilla latte cappuccino from Daiso (the Korean version of the dollar store with extremely cute items). I heated milk up first and added the mix. I added dark chocolate (it was free when I helped clean out an apartment, so I won't complain and dark chocolate also tastes sweet to me) to my cappuccino. I let the chocolate melt and I mixed it. Some how I got chocolate chunks, but it tasted delicious. I will wait until next month to have it again.
I bought cheetos. I used to LOVE the original kind, but as I got older, I lost my taste for them. These were on sale and I'm not picky. After I paid and went home, I saw "매콤한맛." All I could and can do is eat them or save them. I tried them and they are not as spicy as I thought they would be. They are more strong and garlic flavored (Koreans love their garlic too).
Lately, I've been watching Korean movies because I created a list and also from the flight to Korea, I got to watch many Korean movies. I have to thank youtube and the youtube creators because that's where I watch most of my movies. If you know me, you know I enjoy foreign films. I have to get going and find a new foreign film to watch this weekend.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Korean culture
Some new cultural experience I encountered are:
1) Hierarchy. I knew Korea had an hierarchy system. I did not know a lot about it. My parents reminded me, "respect your parents and elders" and it was followed with "that is the most important." There's hierarchy in age, rank at the work place (if someone starts work before me, but they are younger they are still my 선배-senior), even at my work place (rank with the bosses)- I call them "원장님" (won-jan nim) 님 (nim) is a polite way to call someone.
2) Business cards are important. I never thought of making a business card because I never really had an interest in them. In Korea, business cards are important to Korean people. They exchange business cards when they meet. They are in both English and Korean. I think business cards are used as almost a work ID when people do business with each other.
3) Korea is patriarchal. The US is too. In the United States, women can keep their surname, change to their husband's surname or use both. In Korea, women keep their father's surname. My Korean name is 박은영 (Park, Eunyoung). Park is my surname. When Koreans marry, the children take on the father's surname. I tried explaining to US born and raised coworkers about this cultural trait Korea has. I tried to be polite. I explained the surname is important. Kids want to do well in carrying on the name meaning, they don't want to "upset" the family name because it's not only them, it's the whole family. I tried to explain it simple, but polite.
Being a sociology major and taking some interesting cultural classes, it's fun to pick up on unique cultural traits.
1) Hierarchy. I knew Korea had an hierarchy system. I did not know a lot about it. My parents reminded me, "respect your parents and elders" and it was followed with "that is the most important." There's hierarchy in age, rank at the work place (if someone starts work before me, but they are younger they are still my 선배-senior), even at my work place (rank with the bosses)- I call them "원장님" (won-jan nim) 님 (nim) is a polite way to call someone.
2) Business cards are important. I never thought of making a business card because I never really had an interest in them. In Korea, business cards are important to Korean people. They exchange business cards when they meet. They are in both English and Korean. I think business cards are used as almost a work ID when people do business with each other.
3) Korea is patriarchal. The US is too. In the United States, women can keep their surname, change to their husband's surname or use both. In Korea, women keep their father's surname. My Korean name is 박은영 (Park, Eunyoung). Park is my surname. When Koreans marry, the children take on the father's surname. I tried explaining to US born and raised coworkers about this cultural trait Korea has. I tried to be polite. I explained the surname is important. Kids want to do well in carrying on the name meaning, they don't want to "upset" the family name because it's not only them, it's the whole family. I tried to explain it simple, but polite.
Being a sociology major and taking some interesting cultural classes, it's fun to pick up on unique cultural traits.
Trying new foods in Korea~
I am shocked at all the new foods I am trying in Korea. Of course, I love my bulgogi (marinated beef), bi-bim-bab (mixed rice with vegetables) and my white rice. I have tried so many new foods, I thought you live once and gotta try everything, if it's edible it's good. There are foods that I have tried multiple times, but I just don't care for them (meaning I will eat them, but it won't be my first choice).
When I eat with my bio-brother and bio-father, they like meat. I will eat meat and vegetables. Last time, I ate with them, my brother and I had seafood. We had a stone bowl with octopus cut up in microscopic pieces mixed with rice in a broth. It did not have seafood taste. I loved that it came with LOTS of vegetables. Someone told me, my birth brother and I have a similar taste, we both can handle spicy food and I noticed we don't usually go for desserts. I always laugh because I always put a big bite in my mouth and it takes a while to chew and my birth brother just laughs because my face gets round.
I have tried many foods and tried to take a picture of all the foods I tried. I ate something called: Sundae or Soondae (순대) which translates to "blood sausage". I dipped it in a salt seasoning kind of mixture and it tasted good. I recently tried jellyfish, someone joked saying, "it stings when it goes down" made me laugh because it reminded me of my dad. He'd probably say something funny like that.
Bi-bim-bab is kind of my "safety" meal. I know I like it and I know what to expect from it. However, I am a bigger fan of the 돌솥비빔밥 (stone bowl bi-bim-bab) because places serve a raw egg on top AND the bowl actually cooks the egg when you mix everything.
I really like kimchi and soy bean stew (김치찌개 and 되장찌개). Both have tofu and vegetables. The broth for kimchi stew is made with fermented kimchi and soybean soup it can be created to match your taste. In Korea, soy bean soup is served with clams. I tried clams in Korea.
This is 토스트 (Toast). Bread is pan fried, with a fried egg and ham. It has a "special" sauce on it and I have grown to love it. It's probably not the best meal option, but I can never say no.
Bulgogi pizza. The crust isn't bad, but there was small pieces of corn on the pizza and HUGE chunks of meat. I liked it.
I went to lunch with one of closest international student friends from UWRF. We ate chap chae, bulgogi, cold kimchi soup, squid, some pancakes made out of vegetable and egg and an egg dish. It was tasty.
What's really cool is STARBUCKS is international. There's one Starbucks in Korea that allows the Korean language to be used while working (I believe it is in Insadong). In all the Starbucks I have been in, it's usually English that is being spoken. I don't go often because prices are not the best (meaning more expensive than at home, plus, I am a caribou coffee fan).
I missed "American" food haha. I ate the burger king. If you want to "upgrade" meaning larger size, it costs more money. I got regular fries and chicken tenders. It was a two floor Burger King. First floor is for ordering, waiting for food or take out. No drive thru (sorry), but they have delivery, that's right, delivery. This Burger King was open 24 hours. Second floor was for sitting and eating.
I like bubble tea. Unfortunately, I am not a huge "fan" of the pearls that come in the beverage. I just remember getting a stomach ache after eating them. I ordered a honey dew bubble tea. It tasted like a melon bar.
My friend, Grace and her boyfriend, Yong took me for dinner. I said, that I wanted to try something I never tried before. We ate 부대찌개 (Bu-dae stew). We got the ham and meat one. I believe there were different kinds of stew. We got to put ramen in it too. We ate family style--where everybody shares. It was spicy. It also had pepperoni in it. I have not tried it yet, but Koreans like their spam.
If you research it, there are articles that it's popular among western people because it's kind of Americanized. There are US army bases in Korea.
My friend Grace, her boyfriend, Yong and I got dessert, which was .팥빙수 (shaved ice with fruit and beans). This was made with milk flakes instead of shaved ice. There are strawberries on top. The square stuff is called 떡 which is rice cakes, but these are sweetened (not sweetened to American standard, lightly sweetened).
This is sweet and sour pork. I loved it. Lots of vegetables and right amount of sauce and seasoning.
I tried something called 샤부 샤부 (shyabu-shyabu). It's good. I mean for 15.00; I got meat, my own soup base, vegetables (Korea has such HUGE mushrooms, so I do wonder if I really am from Korea. I mean why does my homeland have such HUGE mushrooms..?) On the right side is what I got to eat.
Baked goods are nothing like US baked goods. They are tasty, but not as sweet. Koreans almost try to make their baked goods "cute" and in US, we make them sweet. Korean apartments (aka the main kind of housing) do not come equipped with ovens. Usually, pastry shops, coffee places, restaurants do have ovens and large ones to bake what they need. I haven't needed sugar for anything yet. I honestly don't know if they have sugar. I have organic powdered sugar. From what I ate, I noticed pastries are tasty, but a little dry and not as sweet.
Not only that pastries are not sweet, I noticed, they package little amounts. I think I got three cookies in each package. I mean, in America, I don't know how many pastries get packaged together. I noticed when I want cookies and lots of them to buy lots of packages. haha. I do miss cookies.
When I eat with my bio-brother and bio-father, they like meat. I will eat meat and vegetables. Last time, I ate with them, my brother and I had seafood. We had a stone bowl with octopus cut up in microscopic pieces mixed with rice in a broth. It did not have seafood taste. I loved that it came with LOTS of vegetables. Someone told me, my birth brother and I have a similar taste, we both can handle spicy food and I noticed we don't usually go for desserts. I always laugh because I always put a big bite in my mouth and it takes a while to chew and my birth brother just laughs because my face gets round.
 |
| 돈까스 (Donkatsu) It's a pork cutlet. I had this twice, but I'm not into fried pork. |
 |
| 비빔밥 (Mixed rice) before and after |
Bi-bim-bab is kind of my "safety" meal. I know I like it and I know what to expect from it. However, I am a bigger fan of the 돌솥비빔밥 (stone bowl bi-bim-bab) because places serve a raw egg on top AND the bowl actually cooks the egg when you mix everything.
 |
| Kimchi Stew |
I really like kimchi and soy bean stew (김치찌개 and 되장찌개). Both have tofu and vegetables. The broth for kimchi stew is made with fermented kimchi and soybean soup it can be created to match your taste. In Korea, soy bean soup is served with clams. I tried clams in Korea.
 |
| Kimbab |
 |
| 떡라면 (rice cake ramen). I heard if I eat ramen before bed, my face might swell up the next morning. |
 |
| toast |
This is 토스트 (Toast). Bread is pan fried, with a fried egg and ham. It has a "special" sauce on it and I have grown to love it. It's probably not the best meal option, but I can never say no.
Bulgogi pizza. The crust isn't bad, but there was small pieces of corn on the pizza and HUGE chunks of meat. I liked it.
I went to lunch with one of closest international student friends from UWRF. We ate chap chae, bulgogi, cold kimchi soup, squid, some pancakes made out of vegetable and egg and an egg dish. It was tasty.
What's really cool is STARBUCKS is international. There's one Starbucks in Korea that allows the Korean language to be used while working (I believe it is in Insadong). In all the Starbucks I have been in, it's usually English that is being spoken. I don't go often because prices are not the best (meaning more expensive than at home, plus, I am a caribou coffee fan). 
 |
| My friend, Grace and I eating 부대 찌개 |
If you research it, there are articles that it's popular among western people because it's kind of Americanized. There are US army bases in Korea.
My friend Grace, her boyfriend, Yong and I got dessert, which was .팥빙수 (shaved ice with fruit and beans). This was made with milk flakes instead of shaved ice. There are strawberries on top. The square stuff is called 떡 which is rice cakes, but these are sweetened (not sweetened to American standard, lightly sweetened).
I tried something called 샤부 샤부 (shyabu-shyabu). It's good. I mean for 15.00; I got meat, my own soup base, vegetables (Korea has such HUGE mushrooms, so I do wonder if I really am from Korea. I mean why does my homeland have such HUGE mushrooms..?) On the right side is what I got to eat. 
Baked goods are nothing like US baked goods. They are tasty, but not as sweet. Koreans almost try to make their baked goods "cute" and in US, we make them sweet. Korean apartments (aka the main kind of housing) do not come equipped with ovens. Usually, pastry shops, coffee places, restaurants do have ovens and large ones to bake what they need. I haven't needed sugar for anything yet. I honestly don't know if they have sugar. I have organic powdered sugar. From what I ate, I noticed pastries are tasty, but a little dry and not as sweet.
Not only that pastries are not sweet, I noticed, they package little amounts. I think I got three cookies in each package. I mean, in America, I don't know how many pastries get packaged together. I noticed when I want cookies and lots of them to buy lots of packages. haha. I do miss cookies. 
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Cherry Blossom season and students
I finished my first month teaching. I'll have to invest in some pants...one of these days my 5 years old students might pants me. They can only hug my legs..they are not tall enough to hug above my legs. When I try to leave their classroom, they sit on my feet, so I have to lift them up too. My 5 years old students give me hugs, hand hearts, smile and most of all they love giving me high-fives. Never knew high-fives were the best...I guess they are to kids. One of my 5 years old students said, "영어선생님 최고에요" It means English teacher is the best. (영어- English, 선생님-teacher, 최고-best because he is a student and younger than me he has to be formal and add 에요). He also gave me a thumb up and big smile. The next day he told me that he likes my classes!! (YAY!). I have him daily for 20 minutes. My job is to spark his interest in learning English. Actually, all my 5 years old students are sweet. When it's done, they are shocked and say "벌써 끝났어요?" (벌써-already 끝났어요- finished). Recently, I taught them, 'head, shoulders, knees and toes'; they don't know the words, but they love doing the actions and laughing. All I hear are giggles. I do it slow, then medium speed, then super fast; the students keep wanting to go super-duper fast.
I also teach 7 years old students. At the end of class, I will help them put on their jackets, get their backpacks because little kids loose interest. I don't want them to miss their bus. I was helping one student zip her jacket. She said, "엄마" I said, "Teacher is Mom?!" She looks at me and smiles. I guess "mom" is way better than "아줌마" (older married lady). I was not called that...yet. I wasn't sure if I should have taken it as a compliment, but my cousin said that at a young age it comes out and to take it as a compliment because it means the kids are close with you. I will take it as a compliment and be happy with it.
One of my 6 years old students has started giving me a kiss on my cheek and I don't know why. Other students give me hugs. Recently this week in April, one of my students who doesn't really show emotion, was the first student to give me a hug at the end of class. The rest of the students followed.
In March and April, it was cherry blossom season. They are trees with the pretty pink flowers. They are pretty. It's nice to know, I left a snowy Minnesota for an actual spring, not a winter lingering behind kind of spring.
I also teach 7 years old students. At the end of class, I will help them put on their jackets, get their backpacks because little kids loose interest. I don't want them to miss their bus. I was helping one student zip her jacket. She said, "엄마" I said, "Teacher is Mom?!" She looks at me and smiles. I guess "mom" is way better than "아줌마" (older married lady). I was not called that...yet. I wasn't sure if I should have taken it as a compliment, but my cousin said that at a young age it comes out and to take it as a compliment because it means the kids are close with you. I will take it as a compliment and be happy with it.
One of my 6 years old students has started giving me a kiss on my cheek and I don't know why. Other students give me hugs. Recently this week in April, one of my students who doesn't really show emotion, was the first student to give me a hug at the end of class. The rest of the students followed.
In March and April, it was cherry blossom season. They are trees with the pretty pink flowers. They are pretty. It's nice to know, I left a snowy Minnesota for an actual spring, not a winter lingering behind kind of spring.
Friday, March 14, 2014
FOOD in Korea and Shrek too?
I've been eating well. I'm trying new foods. I was born in a city near the coast, so my birth family eats seafood. The times I have met my birth brother, we did not eat seafood. We ate meat. We sit at a table and there's a small grill in front and they bring the meat and you grill your own meat. Yes, I did this with a guy friend/후배 (junior) from the university. [Not sure if you guys knew, he's the same person]. He's not a boyfriend, so no worries, just a friend. I really like grilling meat. There are a lot of side dishes, rice, tasty side dishes.... yes, abnormally large mushrooms too. This was the first meal my 오빠 and I ate together. We didn't grill, we got small bulgogi steaks. It was tasty.
I also have been eating some ramens. I like 떡 라면 (Rice cake ramen).
I also like Kimchi stew (김치지께)
I also like some street food like 떡볶이 (spicy rice cakes)... No worries, people cook with bottled water. I also got something that was bulgogi and rice in a cup.
Sometimes my coworkers and I will stop for food and then coffee. I found a coffee shop near my school. There are plenty of coffee shops near my place too.
I brought my Shrek doll with me to Korea.
I'm not sure how many people know about my Shrek doll or know the story behind it. I actually got the doll from my Dad when we went to Florida for a work trip. My dad doesn't ride rides, so he played the games and won me the Shrek doll.
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