Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Tid bits

Jeremy and I have been up to the same ol' same ol' around here. Last week was sort of crazy because the students had their big tests: the TOSEL (English profiency) and the DT (Diagnostics Test). We took over two of the homeroom teachers' classrooms for two days, and watched the students take tests. It was sort of relaxing because we didn't have to teach, or talk for that matter. It gave us time to grade the tests and work on the diaries and book reports. This is week is the beginning of the second half of the semester. Technically it doesn't start until Dec. 1, which is sort of dumb, but that's what the boss decided. Therefore, many of the students didn't buy their new books for homework and didn't do the homework. Great way to start the new second half. Oh well. We are also starting some new things with our classes as well. We are hoping that it will be better. The school took away the student workbook, so the students have less homework, but no opportunity to learn and practice vocabulary. So, this week feels like the beginning of the new school year where we have to teach, explain, and train the students to do new things. Kind of crazy, but hopefully in a short while it will be worth it.
We just found out that we have insurance, but we receive no insurance cards. So instead of showing proof of insurance to only pay up to 10,000 won, we now have to pay for the entire bill and the school will reimburse us. That's good and bad because it's lots of money up front out of pocket, but we will be reimbursed for all of it later. Sometimes I think this school is a little sketchy the way it does things. It took the school literally a week to get our washer/dryer fixed. Do you know how fast you can run out of clothes when you can't wash for a week?! It was madening, hahaha :) Oh well, that's what you get in a different country. :)
Last weekend we went to the aquarium, then ventured out in the district and found a temple. We have pictures of it all, and there is lots to tell. There will be another post about that experience, along with this last weekend. Hopefully we will be able to get you all up to date in our journey. :D Sorry to keep you all in the dark for the past few weeks. Starting Wednesday Dec. 1, we will no longer have 6th graders which opens up about 2 extra hours at the end of our work day. We are hoping to be able to keep on top of diaries, book reports, and our blog. So, until next time....

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Seoul Lantern Festival







4-day weekend


Jeremy and an awesome 4-day weekend! The school had parent conferences and weren't involved, so we got the days off!! On Thursday, we went took the subway to Surisan station because wanted to finally go hike these mountains. Well, we weren't exactly sure how to get to the mountains, and looking at the map didn't help us much. We decided to just go one way and see where it took us. We eventually headed somewhere that led to a trail. We went right first, and it led us to a dead end at an old workout station that hadn't been used in many years. We went back and took the left trail. It was a weird trail at first. It seemed more like we were following a water drainage ditch, but turns out it was the actual trail. It came to a crossroad of more trails that were different lengths. Of course, Jeremy says "Let's take this one. It's only 3,000 meters." Reluctantly, I went. It was a good hike except for the fact that it had a couple long, straight up hills. We didn't make it quite to the top, but it was still very fun and a very nice view of the trees.
After the hike we headed to Costco for our monthly stock up. The weather finally changed, and it began to be very stormy while we were on the bus. There was lots of lightning, and the wind began blowing very hard. When we made it to Costco, the weather simmered down a bit, which was great because we didn't bring umbrellas or jackets with us. When were done with Costco, it was freezing cold outside. We ended up having to wait at least an hour for our bus to come. When it finally did, it was soooo packed full there was no way we could get on. Almost all the buses that stopped at the station were extremely packed full, like people crammed standing in the aisle as well as on the steps in front of the doors! So, had to miss that first bus. :( Thankfully another one came not too long after the first. We still had to stand in the aisle, but it wasn't bad. Jeremy almost lost his transit card, but we found it. :) When we finally made it home, as we unpacked our things, we discovered that Jeremy's little black bag was missing. We realized it had been left on the bus! It had my digital camera in there. :( After a little bit of panic on my part, we were able to figure out how to ccontact the lost and found office, but we had to wait until the next day.
So, about 9:15 a.m. I made a few phone calls, and we were able to get our bag back! I love that Koreans don't steal things! After being dropped off in the middle of Ansan Industrial Park, we got our bag, and walked for about an hour back towards the subway station. From there we headed to Namdaemun Market to try to find a few party supplies for our friend's surprise birthday party that was on Saturday. It was fun, but got cold. This time we were more prepared because we were going to be heading to the Seoul Lantern Festival that night, and I knew it was going to be chilly. I will make a separate posting about the Lantern Festival because we have a lot of neat pictures!
On Saturday we went to the Korean conversation class for the first time. It was actually pretty good! We were able to separate into smaller groups, and we were reviewing the alphabet with our instructor. It was almost better than going to the Korean class at the church! Our teacher is really nice, and she is about our age, too. For the rest of the day we just piddled around and got things ready for the party. I made homemade brownies and cookies from a pre-made mix (they didn't turn out good at all). The party was fun. We talked with some people that we never really talked with. AP was surprised and then she got emotional. :) On Sunday was a major runaround day for us. We were looking for a microwave to compare prices. We ended up buying one!! We are so excited to be able to heat things up in just a matter of minutes now! We also tried to buy a small hand vacuum, but turns out we bought one that is only for cars. The plug in goes into the lighter. :( Disappointing. Oh well, we know where we can get another one for about the same price, and we know it's an actual vacuum for the house, haha. When we were finally done running around, we decided to skip the Korean class, and just relax at home for the rest of the night. We had very yummy home-made chicken alfredo, and watched a couple of movies! For dessert, we got vanilla ice cream and mixed in some chocolate chips and the remaining pieces of the cookies from Saturday. What a great way to end the weekend!!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Rendezvous


Last week we had some beautiful weather! The leaves have definitely changed here and it's so pretty. We saw that the weather was going to change this weekend, so we wanted to head to the mountains to be able to get a view of the gorgeous colors. Tuesdays we don't have our first class until 5 p.m., so we thought that would be a great time to go. When we went to catch the subway, one of the trains were down. The one that came by going the opposite direction we wanted to go, was going to take at least a half hour to come back to us. So, we decided against going that day :( Instead, we got ready for work and headed to Lake Park because there were some colored trees there, and it's just a beautiful park. We had a little rendezvous before work. :D As we walked around the lake we took pictures and tried to capture the fall beauty. Jeremy wanted to take multiples of me for some reason. Then, I just became goofy because I was getting so many photos taken of me. The best one is the one of us kissing. It took a few shots to get it right. It also didn't help that I had a cold, and as I kept laughing my nose would run. You can imagine what it was like for Jeremy when I did that! :D All in all, it was all so fun and so pretty!
We also found out our teacher evaluations that the students did about us. They weren't that good. My pile was 3/4 like me, 1/4 had something negative to say. Jeremy's pile was half like him, half had something negative to say. At least it helped us know where we need to improve on. Unfortunately, I took it very hard. As soon as I was back in my classroom, I bawled for about 5 minutes. It wasn't so much what the kids said, but how Jaena delivered it to us. Her words made us feel that it was all OUR fault for why 60 students left in 2 months. Which isn't true, but she has a hard time communicating things softly in English to us. I got over it in about a day, and realized I can only do my best for the next 9 months. Thankfully we had a four day weekend to help me relax and give us a chance to get out and do things we want to do. I will post about our long weekend in the next couple of days. I figured a long post wouldn't be very fun to read! :

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Electronics

Yesterday Jeremy and I were planning to go to the Korean conversation class held at the church, then we were going to go to Yongsan to the huge electronics mall called IPark. When we got to the church we couldn't find where the class was being held. We made a few phone calls to find out the class had been cancelled for that day. We were bummed, but that meant we had a really early start to our day. We were up and starting our day at 10 because the class starts at 10:30. So, by 10:30 we were riding our bikes heading towards Handeap Station to go to Yongsan. When we got there we were hungry, but we didn't want to eat food in the mall. We found an E-Mart store, which is just like Home Plus. We headed straight for the hot section because it was kind of cold and foggy outside. They have this deli type section of hot foods like chicken, potatoes, dok, meats, etc., but the customer picks a styrofoam tray and puts whatever foods they want on the tray. Some food gets weighed and some have a set price. It was great and cheap! When we finally made it back into the mall, we headed to the floor that had computers to buy a cooling fan thing for my computer, so I could quit propping it up on our case of DVD's. :) It's so cool, the fan. It is clear plastic, 3 fans, very light, and has LED lights! Plus, it only cost us 15,000 won. Very inexpensive. :) Next, we headed to the next floor down that had phones. If you haven't already figured it out, we were also on a quest to get Jeremy his iPod touch 4. :) And, yes, we did find one! Jeremy was even able to talk the guy down 20,000 or 30,000 won!! My husband is awesome. :D Ever since he got the thing home and synced with the computer, he has been on it looking for apps. It's cute, haha. Then we went to a benefit concert last night at the church. Various people from the church's worship team performed about 3 songs each. It was great fun! The money is going to a Ugandan refugee who is currently living in Kenya. He is trying to get back to his wife and child, but it's very difficult for him. So, all in all, our Saturday was a great day! Next Thursday and Friday we have off because it is parent conferences. Yippeee! We aren't sure yet what we are going to do because Thursday's weather is suppose to be hard rains. :( Maybe a Costco trip that day?? There's nothing else from last week with teaching. Oh, except I gave one yellow card and Jeremy gave out two. It was sort of a rough week for us. Thankfully it went semi quick. Oh, here's something that happened to me at lunch for you to laugh at. :) I had gone to get Steff Hotdog for our lunch before classes started. When I came, after we opened all the food, I felt something moving in my hair behind my ear. I went to brush it and felt something fall. I looked down at my shoulder and it was a spider!! I thought it was big, so I VERY quickly brushed it, but at the same time started to freak out! I'm not kidding, I REALLY freaked out. I was flinging my hands so badly that I flung my ring off!! I almost started to hyperventilate, too. Jeremy quickly killed the spider and said it wasn't very big, and he calmed me down. After it was all over, I thought it was quite funny. :) Well, I hope you had a laugh, if not, sorry for the story. I'm also working on a new blanket. It's going slow, but it's a lot of fun. I will post a picture when I get more shades of blue on it.