The Joys of Teaching and Eating, what I miss and will miss

Another example of something awesome you can get to eat. I haven't actually tried one.

I’m getting better at English and worse at Korean
I meant to write I am getting better at Korean and worse at English.

As I went to erase the first part, I had to stop and think which is more true, so I will leave them both.

Teaching English as a second language has some very funny and heartfelt moments. Here are some excerpts of stuff I have collected and checked. I’ll leave the grammar mistakes but fix the spelling and punctuation.


This is from a very smart 1st grader who was the monthly test winner for the first time.

One teacher comes in my class in David Teacher time. The teacher give me the monthly test score card. I and girl friend are winner. I feel tears dropping from my eyes. The taste is sweet because of happy. When I was hurt or very sad, the tear was salty and bitter!~! My first time monthly test winner. It was very proud of me. Then I think will become winner again in December?
I think I am level test winner!

Maybe my favorite

I ‘m afraid of monster because they are scary. They might kill you. Are you afraid of monster or believe in monster? I kind of believe monster at all. I want to see them but it might be scary. If you meet a monster tell police and tell me because I want to see what it look like? So my mom phone number is ###-###-#### Okay? Tell my mom what is look like and she can tell me about the monster. Probably I’m scared at rest room because they might be in they are. They mean is monster.

He actually gave me his mom’s number.

I got this journal from the coolest girl in the world because she would write stuff like this.

I have a friend named Jun woo. I want to marry Jun woo because he is rich. But he is ugly so I hate him a little bit.

Often kids write really sad journals about their scary moms or teachers. Charlie’s are the saddest…
What do you do if you cannot sleep at night?
I will be very scary and go back to living room. My mom say “Go back to your bed room!” Then I will feel lonely and maybe cry. I go to sleep and I will imagine I can count the number of sheep and then I will fall asleep.

He has an even sadder one that I could not find. It was about him working really hard on a picture of a cat or dog or something and showed it to his teacher and the teacher said it was childish! He’s a 1st grader by the way.


There are a lot of chubby kids, I think because they don’t get out and play too much. They turn into beautiful thin adults so it dosen’t matter too much. But the funny stories that the chubby kids write about food are very fun and cute.

If all things changed to the delicious foods. It is very, very good day. APT is made of candy and chocolate and book change to sugar. I think the Nintendo and PSP changing to steak because steak is my best food and Nintendo is my best game. I want the Earth to change to big round jumbo chocolate chip cookie. Then, maybe aliens come to Earth to eat out planets. That is awful! Maybe people’s stomach are bombed! I like eat delicious foods, but I like now time. More than sea water change to coke.

I had a girl give a speech about “If I could be invisible for one day.” She would sneak into her favorite restaurant and eat all her favorite kinds of food. She gave little motions for the different types of food. Like pinchers for crabs, rubbed her little potbelly for sweets ect. But she knows “stealing is bad” (makes X’s with her index fingers as she says it) and will clean up so no one will know she was there.

My very favorite girl right now Michelle, wrote a journal about the book the princess and the pea. After she re-told the story of all the mattresses with the pea underneath she skipped and line and wrote, “I think a pea might be in your bed Mr. SATh.”

We had a talent show this last weekend. It was very fun to watch. Many Koreans classically train their children. Like how many kids at home will do sports, here it is music. So that made for some very good performances on the violin and piano and all that stuff, some very funny dances. Next week we start our new school year. It is weird to have the end of a year party on Friday and go back to school on Monday. We don’t have a extra day off until May. If a national holiday lands on a weekend everyone is S.O.L. instead of making it a three-day weekend. But I won’t complain until they take away my weekends. The U.S. Embassy is open from 8:30-5:00, weekends and Wednesdays off and gets all Korean and American Holidays. What?! I need to find out how to get a job there.

The things I miss the most besides friends and family are…
• Bread, the bread here is no good.
• Sandwich meat. I saw Deli ham at Costco yesterday for 25 dollars
• Sandwiches (notice a trend) I did get cool whip from someone moving yesterday!
• Cheese for under 15 dollars, one thing I do fork out the money for
• Ovens
• Americans walking tend to be more aware of others around them. I can’t even go grocery shopping on the weekends, too frustrating.
• Playing sports and activities. This might be the hardest thing.
• Coaching, actually this is the hardest thing. Track is starting now. I have been following them and they seem to be doing great things and Kara must be doing great with my jumpers, I guess they are hers now. Anyway they look to be having another great year.
• Kraft Mac and Cheese.
• Not being as independent as I want at times.
• Some times I feel like a zoo animal on display

After about 6 months here are some of the thing I know I will already miss besides friends and students of course.
• Food, food, food. At times I am tired of Korean but I really like it.
• All the stylish beautiful people. Everyone is pretty and are primped and ready. It is like a fashion show.
• The walking culture, I walk almost an hour every day to work and stuff. It make for great access to shops and restaurants and anything you need there are stationary shops, pharmacies, tailors, cleaners, fruit stands, and tons of restaurants every where because everyone is always walking. (I’ve lost 15 lbs! I don’t look too skinny though.)
• Public transportation, an hour on a bus for $1.50 is so nice, compared to driving for and hour. Bus trips to the other end of Korea are about 3-4 hours from Seoul and run for about 12 dollars.
• One of the street foods you can get are these deep fried pancakes that are kind of a mix between a cinnamon roll and a sopapilla. Yeah, that’s right.
• Being a zoo animal is not always bad, little kids are hilarious, and some attention makes you feel good.
• Doctors are cheap and easy. If you have a bad cold you can stop in for a visit with out an appointment, get checked on, get a prescription and go to a nearby pharmacy all around 30-40 minutes. Doctor visits usually run about 4 dollars, and drugs around 4 dollars. I went to the dentist and did not need any work done so they did not even charge me. Back home it cost 50 bucks to just make eye contact with a doctor.


Much of the education is private here and kids go to school til just after lunch lots of time and them go to private lessons or schools for the rest of the day. So I work for one of these private schools, and it is ran much like a Korean Corporation. Often I have things thrown on me at the last minute. They have wanted me to write some curriculum for them several times. I always have but on occasion they have giving me little or no notice and wanted a task done by the end the day, meanwhile I am teaching til the end of the day. I do not get paid extra for this. They wanted me to write short stories that they could break down and the kids could practice putting stories in order. When I am annoyed by the lack of organization they get a story like this one. I pray that this makes it into a book somewhere.


One day Seth was walking down the street. He was on his way to practice for his baseball team. He was their best player and their next game was the final game of the World Series. Seth was very excited to play because he loved making his fans happy more than anything, he always putting others before himself. Then he walked past a house on fire. A crowd of people had gathered out front, and there was a big commotion. He heard a women pleading for someone to save her baby. As he got closer he heard her say that the baby was on the second floor. As quick as a wink, Seth ran into the building. His own safety did not even come into mind as was dodging falling debris and leaping over flames. He came upon the baby’s room he saw the baby in its bed crying, the sound was very heartening because that meant the baby was still alive. He grabbed the baby out of the bed and ran for the exit. He was heading down the stairs when they suddenly collapsed on him. His ankle and ribs were broken but he had softened the fall for the baby and it was still crying. He struggled to his feet, and limped out the door. The mother had tears of joy to see her baby safe. Seth left in a hurry and did not want anyone to recognize him because he was a famous baseball player. He went to the game and played without telling anyone what had happened. Knowing he had saved the life of a young child gave him more than enough energy to pitch a perfect game and hit the game winning, walk off home run. As he was rounding the bases he could see blood soaking though his uniform around his broken ankle and ribs. When he finally stepped on home plate he collapsed with exhaustion.

Here are some other examples of stuff I have submitted
It was a cold cloudy day. Seth was stuck inside with nothing to do. He wanted to see his friends but they were too far away to walk in the rain. He was tired of T.V. and was wanting to do something fun. He decided that he was not going to let the rain ruin his day. He grabbed an umbrella and went out side. It was a stormy day. The wind seemed to be blowing harder than Seth could ever remember. Suddenly a big gust of wind caught Seth’s umbrella and lifted him up into the air. He started getting higher and higher. Soon he was flying over trees and building. As he looked around he could see his friends holding umbrellas flying in the sky too.
“Hey,” Seth shouted to one of his friends, “what is happening?”
“I don’t know,” his friend shouted back, “I…
What does his friend shout next?
“I was bored so I grabbed my umbrella, and the wind blew me here.”
“I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Bark, Bark!”
“I’m playing hide and seek, don’t tell where I am.”

If the wind slowed down and Seth and his friends started to land on the ground what would they do?
Get in the car and drive away from the store
Find each other and talk about what happened.
Light the umbrellas on fire for light
Never talk about what happened again


Seth was running for his life. He had spent the last year looking for the famous red elephant. He worked for the museum and they wanted him to try and find it. No one had seen it in over 200 years. Seth followed clues and used an old treasure map to finally find the red elephant. Some people said the red elephant was older than the forest it lived in. When Seth finally saw the red elephant he had followed his map and climbed over a large hill and into an opening in the forest. There it stood, 30 meters tall and the color of a bright red tomato. Seth stood frozen, because of how amazing the elephant was, he could not move. The elephant turned to look at Seth. They stared at each other for what seemed like a lifetime. Seth finally was able to move his feet and took a step backwards. He accidentally stepped on a wild flower. The Elephant let out a loud cry. It was terrible and beautiful at the same time. It sounded like 100 trumpets all together. The Elephant was the protector of the forest and was very mad at Seth for stepping on a flower. Seth started to run just in time. The Elephant chased after Seth. It was getting closer. Seth was running for his life and saw a cliff getting close. At the bottom of the cliff was a large lake.
What will Seth do?
Turn and fight the red elephant
Lay on the ground and pretend he is dead
Jump off the cliff into the lake
Seth and the elephant become friends.

If Seth lands in the lake and lives what will he do next?
He will swim to safety and share what happened.
He will go try and live in the forest
He will go back and show the elephant who is boss
He will go back to work as a policeman

The red elephant was a very lonely creature. He was very big and because of his size he rarely was able to have any friends. Some times funny creatures that could talk would come and look at him. They looked like hairless monkeys. They would stair at him for a long time. Some times he would try and play his song for them. He thought it was a beautiful song, it sounded like 100 trumpets. One time he played a song for one of the hairless monkeys and he ran away. The red elephant thought that he wanted to play tag and chased after the creature. Soon they came to a cliff and the man jumped off into a very shallow lake. The red elephant felt very sorry for the creature because he would surely die because of the fall. This had happened before. He needed to do something to keep this from happening again.
What will the red elephant do?
Stop trying to make friends
Build a fence to keep the creatures from jumping off the cliff
Try and fight for red elephants everywhere
Eat the next hairless monkey he sees
How will a fence help the red elephant?
keep people from jumping off the cliff
Keep the birds in the cage
Keep people close so he can eat them
Stop fighting with the other elephants.

I’ll leave you with a very difficult journal to translate. See if you can figure out what she is saying.


Jazz Jazz Jazz!!!!
Saturday I danced jazz. Mom, dad, big brother, small brother saw my jazz and hitted male. I house I listened CD and danced. I funnied. I like to do some more time. I will do some more time. But just one time do, stiss ticky. So, I didn’t like to do Jazz was many time, to like to do jazz was many time. That time was sing no, I can’t do it… This time I can do.


Finally read this one. Sometimes adults are more immature than children. Are you? I am. Read this and find out, a speech about Christmas.

This is the original pre-corrected version, don’t worry we left the good parts in.

Um…
What sounds? Ding Ding Ding.
The sound come from the window.
I went to there and saw out side.
There is a lot of snow falling down around Santa with red deer, rush to my room.
It’s amazing, What a surprise!!
A door was opened by itself
Santa stands up me and talk to me, “You’re a good girl. Would you mind helping me?! Santa said.
No, not at all, I said.
let’s hit the road.!!
first Santa said “Why don’t we visit Harry Potter’s house? to give gifts for him.
Why not?
I feel myself floating in the air. I can fly… I shouted.
Santa looked at me with smiling.
Harry Potter’s house appears more and more.
We land on his roof and put in his chimney a big gift.
He said Hello. I can’t believe. I met him. He is very nice look and has big bright eyes.
I wanna kiss you and big hug… let me get?
He said, yes defiantly. I got it and felt warm from it.
Time goes by fast, Santa wanted me to go back my room as possible as he can, before comes another day.
“this situation is your gift, you know? Your dream has finally come true.” Santa said.
When I wake up in the early morning there is black circle glasses beside me.
I get a big smile and look at the sky.
The stars still shining.

Covered in little origami birds

Disclaimer:
I have begin to write these posts from the beginning to the end over a span of a few weeks. I started this one right after I posted my last one. I actually went to the fish market that I will talk about before my last post, but I wrote about it right away. It takes me a while to write and proofread and post and turn it into this so this was written in blocks and I was in different moods at different points of writing this. I went through all that I had written in the last month and put it here. So at times if it does not make since or does not flow naturally that is why.

As I grow more comfortable here being home sick gets easier and harder. When I do some very fun things I wish I could have done things here with friends and family back home. Luckily Trevor is here. We went to the Seoul fish market a few weeks ago. We went in the afternoon. It was very worth while. Colorado doesn’t have much fresh seafood. After watching inexplicable amounts of the food network I know fish should not have a fishy smell. That never made sense to me until I was at the fish market, surprisingly, it dose not smell. Of course it has a slight smell of fish but it really was faint. About 75 percent of it was closed and that is expected because we went there in the afternoon. From three am to six there is the fish auction and it is hopping with the chefs and fishermen and is supposed to be very fun. Trevor and I both plan on doing that “one time” we’ll see if that happens.
If you are hungry you can buy a fish and take it up stairs to a restaurant and they will prepare it for you. My “hello, good bye, 1 2 3 4 5...” Korean is not quite up the challenge of bartering for what I’m pretty sure is a red snapper but not positive.




I gave up trying to eat everything, so "no" I don't know what it tastes like.
We went up the restaurants empty handed and assumed they would have fish anyway, but we were wrong! Just kidding, we ordered a white fish. It was 60,000 won, roughly, 60 bucks split between the two of us. That is a lot of money for a meal here. So I was a bit unsure. Especially since I am not in love with sushi, apparently Asians like sushi. But I can say it was well worth it. They brought us out a cooked cod, I think. It tasted a little like a trout but not bony. And the skin and every thing was so tender we were able to dig into the whole fish with our chopsticks. Then they brought us muscles with cheese melted over the top. That was very a pleasant surprise because Koreans don’t eat much cheese. Trevor and I both said “Oh yeah.” Next was the white fish we ordered. It was Korean sushi style which is just the meat on some weird noodles that you aren’t suppose to eat anyway. I really liked it. When I eat sushi I always wish it was cooked. This time I actually liked it the way it was, but looking back I think it would have been better cooked. Then they brought us out some shrimp and snail and other fixings that were really good. The snail had zero flavor. We were getting full and then they brought us out a giant cauldron of soup. It was like a spicy tomato broth with some fish cooked inside and veggies and that was really good. It was most likely the best meal I have had since I have been out here and that is saying a lot. A group of Koreans were sitting next to us and they were enjoying some soju (rice vodka and gross). people are almost expected to have a bottle with dinner here and they were shocked that Trevor and I were just drinking beer and they poured us a shot and we had one with them and that was fun. They all laughed at me when my eyes went watery after the shot. They helped us order some stuff and kept us company even though we did not speak a lick of each others language. They would talk to us like we knew Korean and we would smile back and nod and occasionally say, “I don’t speak Korean.” People try and talk to me a lot actually.



In many restaurants one must sit on the floor Indian style. this is usually a deal breaker for me because of my poor old knees just can't sit like that for very long but I made an exception for this place. this is one view of the feast.


Opposite view, this was about halfway through.

After the fish market we went to the 63 building, and checked out the view of Seoul roughly the 5 largest city in the world from the 63rd floor. This is the view looking at different directions, it is usually hazy like this.

From Fish, 63 and DMZ

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I wish the windows where cleaner, this picture had potential to be cool





Christmas came and went. I have to admit that the week before Christmas was probably the toughest week I have had since I have been here. I miss my friends back home as I have too few friends here that I can really relate to. I end up telling sports scores to the girl I sit next to in the office and that is our little joke. I usually say, “Oh and I know you were wondering and yes the Nuggets won.” And she will say, ”Good, I couldn’t sleep thinking about it all night.” Well anyway the week before Christmas was hard. I was feeling stressed and have bad dreams about my teeth growing at an alarming rate in my mouth and really disturbing. I had to look in a mirror every chance I could. On Christmas eve some of the very nice Koreans I work with took me out to dinner because no one else was doing anything. After dinner I decided to just head to the other end of Seoul and hang out with Trevor. Christmas in Korea is not as big as back home. Many families don’t really celebrate it. It is almost like a Valentine’s Day. So Seoul was busy with people out on the town and took a while to get thorough, but well worth it. Trevor has great friends that where waiting for me at the subway stop. They had all decided that they would not shave until their boss told them to or until Christmas, Christmas rolled around and instead of shaving they just trimmed them into mustaches. Trevor and like five people met me all looking like cops. It was really funny. Trevor looked like Sergeant Slaughter the old WWF wrestler. We smoked the cigars that my Mom and Dad had sent me that night. the next morning I opened some of the presents my kids gave me and then we went to his friend’s house for a big Christmas breakfast. It was really great. Tons of food, bacon, pancakes, French toast, grits, mimosas, and the impressive thrice baked potatoes. It was just the medicine I needed to feel better.

I have since been the dentist and she said I was in the clear, no cavities, and she said I have healthy teeth. I am still a little nervous about maybe still having a very small cavity that no one can see, but I feel better. I had the opportunity to take a girl I work with to get lasic surgery on her eyes. I drove her home and it was so nice to be helpful to a Korean. Usually it is she who takes us everywhere when we need to do something important. To actually be useful felt great. So it has been good break so far. As I am writing this it is New Years Eve, I am not sure what I will do. I have been battling a cold and cough and I feel ok. But if I follow my friends into Seoul Chances of me getting home before the sun comes up are not good. The Buses stop coming back to my neighborhood around midnight. I don’t know if my body can handle the cold weather. I have a harder time with the temperature here. I don’t know why it just seems colder than it should when I see the temperature. New Years is not real popular. Lunar New Year is the big holiday in Asia. That is at the end of Jan.

Over break Trevor and I went on the DMZ tour. It was very interesting, and not boring at all like I had thought it might be. I learned a lot about the Korean War and the history of the DMZ and the two sides. I was very sad, I could not help to think of the many Korean friends I have made and how different their lives are and how much worse it could have been. It is sad to see a country so proud of its heritage split in two. Especially sense it was only suppose to be temporary. On the South Korea side there is reunion house that was built for families to see each other while they were working out the peace deal. It has never been used because North Korea fears of defectors (rightfully so). Now one side is a bustling World player and the other is a bully, pho-commie with suffering people.

This was a pretty amazing scene. This is looking into North Korea from the South. That little concrete divider is the boarder. I never imagined that I would see North and South troops standing off like this.
Troops on the South Korean boarder (ROK soliders) are officially the most intimidating people I have ever seen. They are all hand picked out of the Korean military around 6'4, thick as a brick wall and are black belts in Judo and Taekwondo.

From Fish, 63 and DMZ

This is Propaganda Village in North Korea over looking the DMZ. Between myself and the village is the most heavily fortified boarder in the world and the most land mines per area in the world as well. The giant tower is actually a flag pole with a North Korean flag on the top that weighs over 600lbs. This would be beautiful in the spring.

The Bridge of No Return.



Here are some fun things about life in Korea.
First Trevor has lost tons of weight and looks great but his hair is growing at an alarming rate!

Other fun facts, It is cheaper to drink beer than soda. Even at a bar if you just want a soda it is usually 3-4 dollars and no free refills. Beer usually runs about 2.50. So if I am not in the mood to drink just water I usually have a beer or two, and I have completely stopped drinking soda. Restaurants are very cheap, an expensive meal will run about 10,000 won a person (7-9 dollars depending on the exchange that day) including drinks and there is no tipping anywhere for anything.
People here are very into protesting. Giant protests happen all the time. Some of the protests are not always logical but they are passionate to say the least.
People dress very cool, I feel like I’m in New York. Girls wear short skirts year round. When it is really cold they will wear tights underneath them. Going along with that people are very blunt, especially about the way others look. I was hanging out with some friends and one was missing one of his front teeth and the Koreans with us had no problem ask where his tooth went or if he was gay. If you have anything that stands out they will point it out. Not usually walking down the street or anything, it is people you know, they are not being rude, just letting you know. Traffic is kind of crazy but not that bad, and I heard last week that they had just started driving in volume about 25 years ago! So now I am very impressed.
The nightlife is very active and very different than back home. There are western hangouts, but they are no fun, and Korean bars are just a trip. My favorite place to spend a given night of the week is the Rosenbraugh. It is some sort of a Korean German beer hall, big tables and wide open. They brew their own beer, which is actually pretty gross, but worth the show. Every night they have several Pilipino cover bands play. They bands are big around 8 people and they all have two pretty girl singers and a guy singer. They are all choreographed to backup dance for each other. The first thing I liked about this place was the cover bands would play anything! Stuff I would never hear from a cover band back home. They like to open with a queen song, like “Don’t Stop Me Now” or “Bohemian Rapacity.” Then they will go in the completely other direction like Black Eyed Peas, or even Snoop Dog. Then Pat Benitar, and on and on Whitney, Mariah, it does not matter they will play it. To make it better they are all good. The girls all have great voices and they are all very fun to watch on stage, they seem to be always trying to make the each other laugh. Now my favorite thing is watching the audience. Koreans have ZERO rhythm. I take it back; some can really dance very well. The majority at least in the Rosenbraugh cannot even clap along with the bands and I am not kidding. Some get up and dance and try to get on stage, pull each other to the front to dance, it is really fun to watch. Oh and they are all wearing suits and ties and that kind of gear to make it even more fun to watch. Other things you can do is go tos different bar that do different things. At a booking club some the guys sit at tables and tell their server which girls they like and the server will go pull them off the dance floor to sit with them. I went to one once just to see it and it was a trip. We did not even tell the server and he would just start pulling us out and sitting girls in-between us. They had live music and the ceiling would open up and the band would lower in on a platform. There were celebrities there, not that I know who they were. Other places do different things like auction people from different tables to other tables and what ever you pay for a person the money goes to their original tab. I went one time with my next-door neighbor and her twin sister who are the most fun people in history. They bought like 7 people. If you were to get bought you have to go sit at their table for the night but not pay for drinks. That place also has funny little contests, like see who can shake the microphone the fastest and dance contests. They make fun of everyone involved, it is a good time.

The music here is very catchy. Often they have English hooks and a rap solo. Korea is a small country so a popular song will be all over the place. This is the Wondergirls, the most popular group right now. If you like them check out "Nobody" their other hit right now.




This is Jewelry another popular song, every girl in Korea looks like these girls by the way.


This last song I like but it may be the cheesiest video of all time. It is like an old Coke commercial.


Hope you are all doing well and that this gets you a little more caught up on me at the moment. As usual there are more pictures to see if you check the link on the left side and "enjoy yourself"

One more fact, Asian kids are way cuter than white kids. Don't believe me?




Yes he is real.