Does it count as cultural exploration? It's (mostly) in Korean after all. My vote is yes.
She is totally Mariah Carey:
This one made me do the roger rabbit in my living room. 10 points if you can tell me why. The really stellar argyle sweater is for someone in particular. You know who you are.
I wasn't able to embed this one, but props to the healthy thug lifestyle. Quarts of milk all the way, baby.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDDiHM_iALk
Saturday, December 6, 2008
The end of week 2.5
Yesterday was snowflakes, another round of ghostbusters, and Soju.
We woke up to snow falling in 20 degree weather, big thick snowflakes accumulating on telephone wires and quickly melting on the ground. I danced around the apartment like it was Christmas and tried to take some very unsuccessful pictures out the windows. I decided to get back to something familiar by typing up notes from my observations in China. It was good to remember the things I saw, and something about the medicine, but it mostly made me sad that I'm not doing anything with it right now. I got to school in a pretty depressed mood, but playing with the little preschool kids helped pretty quickly. Rounds of "Teacher, finished!!!" as they proudly displayed their spelling blocks arranged into words like "box", "cloud' and "rainbow" helped me get my smile on, and the glue that kept it there was an excited round of the "Ghostbuster's" theme song. I swear, I'm taking halloween all the way into new years. Screw "We wish you a Merry Christmas", I think I'm going to teach them "Thriller" next (I seriously might, it's on the school's Halloween mix CD). The rest of the day zipped by in grammar patterns and the stickyball game (sort of like darts for 8 year olds). After work we went out with two coworkers for pork bone soup (see below) at a nearby restaurant. It was a bitterly cold night and somehow eating meat off swine's spine seemed appropriate. We talked, again, about being vegetarian and how difficult that m
ight be here since there is meat in just about everything you order. I've been trying to keep it to a minimum, but a complete ban would be difficult. Over dinner I tried Soju for the first time. I have been both encouraged to try it and warned against it, but the final verdict is that it's fun! We shared a small bottle between three of us, so about three shots each. I felt silly, but never drunk and just fine this morning. In excess, since it's basically rubbing alcohol, it would probably do a number on anyone, but three shots seems to be just fine. It's worlds better 
than Hight beer, anyway. We stopped at the bakery where we got the thanksgiving walnut pie on the way home and the lady gave us free cookies with our loaf of bread and little French pastries. It reminded me of when I would go grocery shopping with my Dad when I was little and the bakery department would give out free cookies to little kids, but better because I'm 27 and she's just doing it to be nice and not because it's store policy.
Today we had planned on leaving town. We were going to go to a Buddhist temple just outside the city, in the foothills of the mountains that make Daegu a valley, but it's currently 26 degrees and feels like 17, according to the weatherchannel.com. We might find something closer and warmer to do for the rest of today, and try for the mountains and the temple next weekend when it's supposed to be about 50.
Oh, and my favorite quote from one of my kids this week:
"Teacher, what's this?" (pointing above his own eye while looking at my mole)
"It's called a mole, Marcus." (and I write m-o-l-e on the board)
"Is it a period?"
"Like, period '.'?" (I draw a period on the board)
"Yeah!"
"Okay, yes Marcus, it's a period!"
I laughed for a good few minutes and if I'm ever asked again about my mole, I'll definitely say it's a period. I'd been thinking about getting it removed, especially since I'm somewhere I could get it done cheaply if not for free with my health insurance, but now I'm keeping it for sure.
We woke up to snow falling in 20 degree weather, big thick snowflakes accumulating on telephone wires and quickly melting on the ground. I danced around the apartment like it was Christmas and tried to take some very unsuccessful pictures out the windows. I decided to get back to something familiar by typing up notes from my observations in China. It was good to remember the things I saw, and something about the medicine, but it mostly made me sad that I'm not doing anything with it right now. I got to school in a pretty depressed mood, but playing with the little preschool kids helped pretty quickly. Rounds of "Teacher, finished!!!" as they proudly displayed their spelling blocks arranged into words like "box", "cloud' and "rainbow" helped me get my smile on, and the glue that kept it there was an excited round of the "Ghostbuster's" theme song. I swear, I'm taking halloween all the way into new years. Screw "We wish you a Merry Christmas", I think I'm going to teach them "Thriller" next (I seriously might, it's on the school's Halloween mix CD). The rest of the day zipped by in grammar patterns and the stickyball game (sort of like darts for 8 year olds). After work we went out with two coworkers for pork bone soup (see below) at a nearby restaurant. It was a bitterly cold night and somehow eating meat off swine's spine seemed appropriate. We talked, again, about being vegetarian and how difficult that m
ight be here since there is meat in just about everything you order. I've been trying to keep it to a minimum, but a complete ban would be difficult. Over dinner I tried Soju for the first time. I have been both encouraged to try it and warned against it, but the final verdict is that it's fun! We shared a small bottle between three of us, so about three shots each. I felt silly, but never drunk and just fine this morning. In excess, since it's basically rubbing alcohol, it would probably do a number on anyone, but three shots seems to be just fine. It's worlds better 
than Hight beer, anyway. We stopped at the bakery where we got the thanksgiving walnut pie on the way home and the lady gave us free cookies with our loaf of bread and little French pastries. It reminded me of when I would go grocery shopping with my Dad when I was little and the bakery department would give out free cookies to little kids, but better because I'm 27 and she's just doing it to be nice and not because it's store policy.Today we had planned on leaving town. We were going to go to a Buddhist temple just outside the city, in the foothills of the mountains that make Daegu a valley, but it's currently 26 degrees and feels like 17, according to the weatherchannel.com. We might find something closer and warmer to do for the rest of today, and try for the mountains and the temple next weekend when it's supposed to be about 50.
Oh, and my favorite quote from one of my kids this week:
"Teacher, what's this?" (pointing above his own eye while looking at my mole)
"It's called a mole, Marcus." (and I write m-o-l-e on the board)
"Is it a period?"
"Like, period '.'?" (I draw a period on the board)
"Yeah!"
"Okay, yes Marcus, it's a period!"
I laughed for a good few minutes and if I'm ever asked again about my mole, I'll definitely say it's a period. I'd been thinking about getting it removed, especially since I'm somewhere I could get it done cheaply if not for free with my health insurance, but now I'm keeping it for sure.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
How it's going
Today was a little rough. It started out fine, did a bunch of nothing this morning and went in a little bit early for a weekly meeting with the other native English teachers. Classes went fine, yadda yadda yadda until Timber asked me if I was still glad I’d come. I am, I really am, but I miss home and my friends and family, and more than even that, I miss medicine. I didn’t think I’d be saying that so soon, but it’s true. I’m actually motivated to study, and glad I have so many notes on my computer to print out and review. I’ve even looked on amazon to see if I can have some books shipped to me once I have some money. I want Dr. Tan’s especially (I think the systems are really fun to play with) and have a whole list going on a variety of subjects. I figure if I can stop watching the “style” channel on Korean T.V., I might fit some learning in before I go into school at 1pm. On Saturday, Timber and I had to go to this seminar about how to teach English with all the other foreign teachers at all the DingDingDang schools around Daegu (there are about four). It was generally uninteresting. At one point, they had us all “drilling” phonics. About twenty English speaking adults, 21-29 years old, saying “A, a a apple, B, ba ba boy, C, ka ka cat…”. I looked over at Timber, rolled my eyes and wrote on her seminar handout “I’m (almost) a doctor.” She smiled and wrote on mine “I’m a head chef.” Then we continued “D da da dog, E e e elephant…” So that’s about where it is, we are teaching incredibly basic English to students who mostly don’t want to be there for the sake of their very proud parents who are competing with other very proud parents to try and get their kids the most (not best, mind you) education possible. Some of the kids go to school from 7 or 8am to 9 or 10pm, sometimes even midnight. They go to regular school, then several different academies: art academy, English academy, music academy and so on. I really do love language, and if I could share it with the kids who do want to learn, it would be a great job. Mostly though, it is 40 minutes of book after book. “Ok everyone, grammar books out!” “Are there any apples? Yes, there are some apples. No, there aren’t any apples. Grammar books away! Phonics books out!”
So after Timber asked if I was still glad I came, I got discouraged, sad and maybe even nostalgic though it wasn’t all that long ago, about needling people and actually helping them. Last year I used an hour of someone’s day to dramatically change their perspective even if it was just from being in extreme pain to being in moderately less pain. Now, I am using 40 minutes to have kids monkey “dialogue book” back to me. So, I went on a walk during one of my infrequent breaks. I realized a few things that I hope might help me in my time here. First, my intuition or whatever you want to call it, brought me here for a reason and I need to figure out what that reason is. I do want to learn the language, and something about the medicine, and simply live in another country, but I know there is a larger lesson for me somewhere in all this and I will be happy to find the a ha moment when I do. I’m looking for something, but I’m not sure what. I also realized that I can use this time to plan next year, and see if I can’t do something really spectacular with the money I should have saved in Korea and that fancy national license I got in the mail. While I was in school, I didn’t feel that I had adequate time to discover what I really want to do with this shiney new profession of mine. I’m relatively certain of its capacity to heal and where it can be taken but not entirely sure of where it is I personally want to go with it. I got a fancy new gadget, read the manual and am overwhelmed by its variety of functions. I was telling my sister before I left that living abroad and teaching English was my last plan in what used to seem like a long list of plans. Now, I genuinely have no idea what I want to do next. I used to think I was a planner, and now I think I’m not so much a planner as someone who likes to have a lot of plans lying about. That last three years of school just zipped by, and now here I am in Korea, drumming my fingers wondering what to do next. Not having something specific to look forward to makes grammar book pretty intolerable, and this is only week two. Something that OCOM definitely taught me was to seek opportunity, and perhaps instead of planning my next step I can learn how to do that in a larger way here. When we do acupuncture or prescribe herbs, we are looking for that space in the pattern that is slightly amiss and then toggling with it to redefine perfection—we seek these spaces as opportunities to heal. Maybe I can expand that microcosm to seek opportunities in my life now that will help me to figure out what’s next. Or, you know, I can just take suggestions.
So after Timber asked if I was still glad I came, I got discouraged, sad and maybe even nostalgic though it wasn’t all that long ago, about needling people and actually helping them. Last year I used an hour of someone’s day to dramatically change their perspective even if it was just from being in extreme pain to being in moderately less pain. Now, I am using 40 minutes to have kids monkey “dialogue book” back to me. So, I went on a walk during one of my infrequent breaks. I realized a few things that I hope might help me in my time here. First, my intuition or whatever you want to call it, brought me here for a reason and I need to figure out what that reason is. I do want to learn the language, and something about the medicine, and simply live in another country, but I know there is a larger lesson for me somewhere in all this and I will be happy to find the a ha moment when I do. I’m looking for something, but I’m not sure what. I also realized that I can use this time to plan next year, and see if I can’t do something really spectacular with the money I should have saved in Korea and that fancy national license I got in the mail. While I was in school, I didn’t feel that I had adequate time to discover what I really want to do with this shiney new profession of mine. I’m relatively certain of its capacity to heal and where it can be taken but not entirely sure of where it is I personally want to go with it. I got a fancy new gadget, read the manual and am overwhelmed by its variety of functions. I was telling my sister before I left that living abroad and teaching English was my last plan in what used to seem like a long list of plans. Now, I genuinely have no idea what I want to do next. I used to think I was a planner, and now I think I’m not so much a planner as someone who likes to have a lot of plans lying about. That last three years of school just zipped by, and now here I am in Korea, drumming my fingers wondering what to do next. Not having something specific to look forward to makes grammar book pretty intolerable, and this is only week two. Something that OCOM definitely taught me was to seek opportunity, and perhaps instead of planning my next step I can learn how to do that in a larger way here. When we do acupuncture or prescribe herbs, we are looking for that space in the pattern that is slightly amiss and then toggling with it to redefine perfection—we seek these spaces as opportunities to heal. Maybe I can expand that microcosm to seek opportunities in my life now that will help me to figure out what’s next. Or, you know, I can just take suggestions.
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Introducing....
Fuzi Miao and I on the bed
Originally uploaded by Alison J. L.
Everyone, this is my new kitty, Fuzi Miao. dun dun dun dun!!!
We inherited her half by accident, and she is a super sweet kitty, though this portrait may have you believing she is mildly evil. There will be thousands more kitty pictures I am sure, this is just the first.
The people we replaced, Brian and Celia left her behind when they moved. They had given her to some other teachers at another Ding Ding Dang school who didn't really want her. She wasn't happy at their house and rarely came out from under the bed. They played a lot of loud music and weren't really cat people. When Celia and Brian asked us if we liked cats, I lit up like a Christmas tree and basically from then on, the cat was going to be mine. Last night, Timber and I went over to their house with our neighbor Danni to bring her home. She is super happy to be back in her old house and is currently cuddled up with me on the sofa while I type. We all get along very well. I hope I can bring her home with us, but we'll have to see what the next year brings.
She'd had several names over the last year, so we decided to give her a new name. I'd had one picked out since the China trip and bestowed it on her. Fuzi Miao means a couple of things. First, Fuzi is a Chinese herb, Aconite which is used to warm you up, basically. it can be toxic if used improperly or in doses that are too high. Miao is well, what cats say. Fuzimiao is the name of the big shopping market we went to a lot in Nanjing. So there you have it, her name means a lot of things that mean a lot to me and I think she likes it.
She's pretty young, though we will probably never know for sure how old she is. She plays a lot with the toys we got her and has a sweet little voice and a silly demeanor. She's getting used to us being affectionate people and likes to bump her head on our legs a lot to say hi. In the summer, I'm thinking we can probably take her up on the roof with us when we get our patio together. There's no way she can be an out door cat. For one, there's no real outdoors and for two, Koreans don't like cats much.
So that's the big news so far. Now that I have the internet at home, I hope to blog at least every other day, and I'm taking pictures like nobody's business so be sure to take a look at the flickr site.
I miss all my friends and family, especially now that it's officially the holidays. I'll be excited to send everyone presents home through, the street vendors are great, and will be sending my mailing address out soon, hopefully tonight, if you want to send me christmas cards or what have you here.
Fuzi Miao!
We got the kitty!!!!!
Fuzi Miao came home this evening and is instantly happy. We love her. Pictures to come (as soon as I find my camera cable.)
Fuzi Miao came home this evening and is instantly happy. We love her. Pictures to come (as soon as I find my camera cable.)
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