Once a month

The school takes field trips with the morning classes about once a month. We also go out to dinner, just the teachers and Julie once a month. Today it was both. 

We took a field trip to a light museum, about half an hour from the school. I kept trying to find out details about how the field trips work, but was never really able to get that much information. So aside from not knowing that the kids have partners and walk two by two, I wasn't able to understand the person leading the trip through the museum since she only spoke Korean. This means I couldn't tell when she was asking a question, or when she wanted the kids to be quiet and still, or when she wanted them to move around and touch things. Not only this, but the Korean teachers didn't really seem interested in keeping the kids under control. So the trip started out ok, but about half-way through, the museum had turned into a 3-dimentional walk-through, where the kids were in hospital rooms, classrooms, kitchens and the like, where they were talking about mood lighting, light therapy, etc. So imagine 40 kids in a house, with couches, remotes, bedrooms, kitchens and dining rooms with the table set with fake food, and then a person in a corner trying to talk to everyone.

(This was the first time most of them had seen a real chalk board. And I'm pretty sure most of them don't really know what it is.)

(My lemon class in the little light village that I wouldn't let them run through.)

It took everything in me not to bring everything to a screetching halt and make all the kids sit on their hands and look at the speaker. The only reason I didn't was because I didn't want to interrupt the speaker since I had no idea what she was saying, and I've only been there for two weeks. I did make it absolutely clear to my 6 kids when we got to a place where I could pull them aside that they were to stay with their partners, they were not to run around and their behavior up until now had not been acceptable. And when the other kids were running through the displays when they were supposed to be waiting, mine were sitting quietly on the floor where I could see them. 

After class today, Julie took all of us to dinner. It was absolutely delicious. It was a bit of a walk, but apparently Julie teacher picked it because she knows I don't like spicy food and most of the food was tasty but not spicy. There were about three or four things I couldn't eat, but the rest of it was great. I have no idea how much it cost, but I imagine it was rather expensive, since there were 8 of us, and a lot of food. Afterwards James, Cherita, Gina and I had a beer at a bar down the street from HP and had a rather lively conversation. And then I headed home. All in all a rather interesting day.

They grow their own mushrooms. They're delicious!

My boss, Julie teacher, and the other Korean teachers at the table.

They put beef and about 7 different kinds of mushrooms into this stone pot on the table, and you cook it as you eat. 

And this is what passes for dessert - ice shavings, red beans, fruit, and some sort of powder that you mix up into a slushy type thing. 

A trip to the hospital

I only had to teach three classes today, since I went to the hospital to get my physical so I can apply for my alien card. My first class, lemon, was from 9:45-10:30. They usually have snack then, so Julie Teacher took over for me while I went to the hospital (I'm Breanna Teacher to the kids, only they usually pronounce it teachah). Lee, Julie's husband, drove me there, and took care of all the paperwork. It was a lot of running around between floors 1, 3, 6, and 8. Some of the elevators only went to even floors and some went to odd floors and some went to all of them. Only some of them were labeled.

The first thing they did was the obligatory pee test, then 4 blood samples. There was a very long conversation between two nurses and Lee before they took my blood, and the only thing I caught was HIV, which they would be testing for. Lee couldn't translate any of it, partially because his English is basic at best, and I don't know that anyone but a fluent speaker in both languages could translate medical terminology. Then we went downstairs where I thought they would do a physical, but their version of it was asking me "Do you have health ok?". Then we went back upstairs, since apparently the first set of nurses had to go to lunch and didn't have time to do the rest of it while we were up there. We got another form, went back downstairs, where they checked my teeth (no cavities, no missing teeth). Then back upstairs they checked height, weight, blood pressure, hearing, sight (all of which are fine), and did an x-ray of my chest. And then we left.

By the time we got back, it was almost the end of lunch. So I had lunch in the kitchen with Lee and one of the kids. Everyday there's soup, kimchi, rice, and then two sides. I can't eat the kimchi - it's way too spicy. Lee told me there's something called pakimchi, which is similar only made without pepper, so it's milder. But most, if not all, restaurants only serve kimchi. I do, however, love dried seaweed and rice. It's my new favorite snack. I had some sort of little silver fish that had been cooked, had it's head and tail cut off, and covered/stuffed with some sort of vegetable sauce thing. It was a bit spicy, but pretty good. Lee also showed me how to correctly hold my chopsticks, which seemed to work for the first time. It still amazes me that the kids eat such spicy food, and not only don't mind it, but they love it (the teachers eat the same thing as the kids, just bigger portions).

Julie teacher even taught my class after lunch, so I only had my two apple classes to do, which are pretty easy because one class has three kids and one class has nine, and they all speak English fairly fluently. Even though my last class is over at 4 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'm not supposed to leave before 6pm (which isn't bad, considering my day starts at 9:45 and I get an hour break after lunch). So I spent the rest of the day working on my lesson plans for lemon and cherry for next week, and making sure I had all the materials I needed for the activities. They're pretty straight-forward, and everything is pretty much scripted for you from the teacher's book. They have songs that go along with storybooks, and activity books, and homework books, all relating to whatever story they're reading. I've learned such riveting songs as "Little Bear Lake", "Let's Go Camping", and "Hello, Ranger Joe". And tomorrow is Memorial Day, so Cherita, James and I are going out to downtown Uijeongbu (pronounced weejongboo) tonight since there's no school tomorrow. I did find out from Julie teacher that my birthday, which is the Korean Independance Day, is no longer a holiday off from school - apparently Korea has too many holidays and they changed it last year to a normal school day. :(

There's lots of little things here that I find facinating. Things like when you order pizza, they always tie it with a red ribbon to keep the box closed. Or how the cars have the right of way, not the pedestrians, and they can make a u-turn in the middle of the street, as long as there's no traffic going the other way. There doesn't seem to be any laws about where to park either, as people park in the street all the time with no permits. In their registers, they keep their money vertical, instead of laying down horizontal, and most bathrooms don't have toilet paper - you're supposed to bring your own.