October 2009
43 posts
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i love korean healthcare
I have had some stupid rash or something on my face for a month, so I decided to visit a dermatologist before I left and had no health insurance. Around 2:00 today I asked my boss if there was a place to go nearby so that I could go after work. He started to give directions, then said, “Let’s just go now.”
“Now?!” I had class at 2:30, and even though it was close,...
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Tomorrow is my last day, and a couple students who won’t be at school gave me letters and little gifts today. One really cute girl in my 4th semester class gave me chocolate, buttons she made, and a letter. I almost started crying, haha.
To: Laura
Teacher! I will mess you very much. When you is teacer I’m very happy. In school my bast teacher is you. Teacher I will write e-mail...
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i'm an idiot
We started talking about “My Health” in my 4th semester class today, and the kids had to write about what they do to stay healthy. Someone asked how to spell exercise, so I wrote it on the board. Except that, I can never—for some stupid reason—remember how to spell exercise (and vacuum) correctly. So I wrote “excersize”. Seriously.
Later, in the book, it...
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“My brain has only 2 megabytes left.”
– A 6th-grade student, complaining about how many tests he had this week. I love those little nerds.
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in kindie today
[Chad was wearing a Paul Frank hoodie with the monkey on it.]
Me: Chad, I like your monkeys today.
Chad: Yeah! Monkey Power! [sound effects]
George: Teacher, my shoes! [pointed to his white shoes]
Chad: Yeah! White Power! White Power!
Me: What?!
Chad: [pointed to George’s white shoes] White Power!
Me: Oh, yes. White shoes. My goodness!
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Halloween Supplies
therealericchoi:
All you ROK-a-fellians,
I need your help.
Like the mighty Liono, who summons all of his other feline brethren and sistren (?) with his mighty yell “THUNDERCATS HOOOOOOOOOOOO,” I need all of your smart minds in my corner. I am Halloween shopping during the week, and I need some info as to where I can buy:
-A cheap pair of ski-goggles (or, as a substitute, big bono-like...
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I don’t remember anymore, but I feel like American cell phones let you type way longer texts than Korean ones do. Here, we don’t get much to work with, so I always end up sending the most ridiculous messages because I always realize too late that I’m running out of space. Like the one I just sent to my friend Allison:
“want to do somethin tonight?i txted agatha to c what...
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After having to substitute-teach almost every single kindie class at my school, I’ve learned to be very grateful for my own Pearl Class. They sometimes suck, of course, but they are no where near as awful as the 3-4 year old Shell Class, which I taught today (right after mine, nonetheless, meaning I spent 3 straight hours teaching kindie).
First of all, these kids are basically infants. I...
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It’s really easy to lie to children. Not that I’m saying you should, but it is fun and very easy.
I told my elementary students this week that my last day will be next Friday. They had a lot of questions for me. Every class asked who their new teacher would be, “will [the unnamed, scary-to-children-because-he-beats-them director] be our new teacher?”
“Yes.”...
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somewhat unrelated,
But Schwab’s customer service is A+. I really always dread having to call anyone on the phone, especially if it’s service-related, but they are always awesome.
My debit card wasn’t working, so naturally, I was freaking out since I’m leaving soon and will need an ATM card. They figured out Visa had put a hold on it after I bought an airplane ticket online. Whatever....
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음식 사랑해~
A lot of what I miss about the places I visit is the food. Ramen in Japan, empanadas in Chile, street stall food in Singapore, Taco Bell in the States…
So when I leave Korea for two-ish months, these are what I’ll miss the most:
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re: my last post
I FOUND AN AWESOME FLIGHT for only $450!
After checking most of the discount websites (kayak, vayama, expedia, orbitz, etc. etc.) I was feeling rather dismayed, thinking I’d get stuck on an awful flight home with no free delicious food or booze or personal movie screen (yeah, whitewhine-y I know). But then I remembered travelocity has a Korean site, and for some reason Korean air ticket...
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WatchGood morning ^_^
Note: I did not teach them this rhyme, so it’s not my fault that they have no idea what the words are. Still cute.
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I have parent conferences today and tomorrow with my kindie moms. Suck.
Edited to add: It really wasn’t that bad today. My Korean translator/co-teacher did most of the talking. Although it was awkward because the moms would talk for minutes at a time, then my co-teacher would turn to me and ask something really basic like “So how is their English ability?” So I really had no...
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I’m really bothered by how many negative comments I’ve seen regarding Obama’s winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Please, people, it’s not like he asked for it. The committee even addresses previous controversies here and pretty much says they look for potential above all else. Please, give me someone else who you think is better suited to win.. or just stop being a hater.
...
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gwanghwamun plaza
Last week I had to go to the US embassy in Gwanghwamun to get more passport pages (so that now it looks like a Frankenstein passport with half old pages, half new ones sewn in the middle). The area is really nice, so I took pictures. It also has a humongous Kyobo bookstore for anyone interested in getting lost and pushed around by a ton of Koreans.
I can’t remember what these are...
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pearl class
Although they oftentimes drive me crazy, I’m going to miss these little brats. T-T
Amy got cut out, ooooops.
Leo got another perm. I love it.
God, Greg is so adorable. His little coat and khakis—ah! I told him to smile and he posed very nicely.
Elly and Jeri
Brandon and Ben
“TEACHER! I am very very very very HOT!”
Hahahah. Maybe my favorite...
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woo
23 days until my last day of work!
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my korean word of the day
(Thanks to my mom, haha.)
인연 = karma
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I would suspect that most foreigners who come to Korea, or Asia for that matter, assume that if one of their features will be singled out for being different it would be their eye shape/size.
Wrong!
Without fail, if someone comments on my appearance, it’s always about my nose.
Korean: Your nose is so big!
Me: … [uncomfortable laugh] In my country, that’s not something you...
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lessons in korean
On Friday—don’t remember why now—my students were trying to teach me how to say “shut up” in Korean. But since they can’t speak Korean in class, they had to be creative.
Hannah: Sounds like “chicken hit!”
Everyone: Ohh yes! Chicken hit!
Me: ?
They actually did a good job. I didn’t know the word for “hit”, but after I...