A Friendly Gesture

A number of weeks ago, we were watching the World Cup at the chicken joint on the bottom floor of our building.  There were only two tables of people there watching the game:  Our table, and some inebriated businessman.  The men saw our enthusiasm for our team so they cheered right along with us.  They enjoyed cheering with us so much they demanded I do a traditional Korean cheers with them...

And then offered us this as a gift....yikes.

Fond Memories

Both Lauren and I were saddened that we were unable to attend the memorial service for Grandpa Haws recently. The sharing of stories and great memories is such a wonderful practice. In the spirit of that…

I believe everyone at one point or another wonders about their ancestry. What kind of people were they, what does the family tree look like, what citizenship have my ancestors held? Around the age of twelve I became keenly interested.

In a quest to discover my racial, national, and ethnic background, I began to ask family members. I received some pretty clear answers from the maternal side but my dad was fairly clueless. He suggested I shoot Grandpa an email and ask him.

Easy enough…being fairly certain of the vocabulary I wanted to use and how to phrase the questions, I sent an email anxiously awaiting reply (my true identity couldn’t wait!).

The next day my dad beckoned to me for a chat. My Grandpa, the loving man he was, wasn’t sure how to respond to my email, so he contacted my dad instead.

The following is a loosely interpreted message from my Grandpa to my Dad:

“Christopher sent me an email yesterday, saying you told him to contact me. I’m not really sure how to answer him. He said he was doing some research regarding whom he was and where he came from. I think you should have a chat with him. He asked what gender I was in order to determine his.”

I may not ever escape the teasing because of a simple word mix-up (Gender vs. Genealogy), but I will never forget the joy it brings to everybody else. Thanks for the laughs Grandpa, your reaction was priceless.

Test answers

We've been giving tests this past week to all of our kids. We received a few answers from our 1st graders that made us chuckle quite a bit. Click to enlarge.

Language Fail

Ugh, we all know that problems in the workplace are no fun. Well, add a language barrier to the mix and these problems can be a million times worse. BIS is an amazing school and we’ve been very fortunate to get the opportunity to work with some incredible people. There are, however, frustrations just like any other professional environment.

One of the more prominent frustrations is the communication problem. Christopher and I are often frustrated with the communication between the only English speaking staff, the English/Korean speaking staff, the semi-English/Korean speaking staff, and the only Korean speaking staff (does that make sense?). We have co-workers from every degree of the spectrum and it gets frustrating and exhausting communicating policy, ideas, and concerns in this manner. We feel that important words are often lost in translation, resulting in an entirely different scenario than we had anticipated. There have been times when a Korean staff member tells each of us foreign teachers something individually and then when we convene to discuss, we all have gotten something different from the conversation, leaving us very confused.

We wish there wasn't such a barrier between the foreign staff and the Korean staff. All of the staff here are so kind and gracious yet we don't really know them or their true personalities. We often hear them laughing and are disappointed because we want to be in on the joke; we want to know what funny thing happened on the way to work or what child they are making fun of. Unfortunately, our Korean skills are sub par and we probably won't be at the level to understand them more clearly any time soon. We don't even know their real Korean names - they only tell us their English names and all of the children use their English names. If you know me, you know that I like to talk and I hate that I can't always converse with the other staff members on a productive level. When riding in an elevator with them, I simply have no words and it's frustrating.

Chris and I have decided that we need to make more of a conscious effort to become better citizens of the Republic of Korea which includes learning more of the language. Reading Hangul is clearly not enough to effectively communicate with the many interesting people whom we encounter and wish to know. We are going to be having a very basic Korean class, facilitated by our Korean friends, in exchange for writing help and "accent improvement" (that's what they want). We will keep you posted on our progress, although it may be slow.

In the meantime, these daily Korean words and phrases on the Korea Times website have been helpful...

Hand Fail

My very adorable and very clumsy husband (sorry babe) had a run in with the pavement this past weekend that cost him a right scaphoid fracture and six weeks in a cast. Christopher and I and two of our wonderful coworkers, Lourdes and Gina, went to a lovely wine cruise event on Saturday evening. After tasting, a little consumption, and giving himself a pseudonym, Chris attempted to show some skills and while losing his balance (the consumption may have had something to do with it) tried to break a fall and instead broke his hand. With help from Mr. Kim, Christopher was able to get all taken care of at a nearby clinic. Fortunately, the break is not as bad as it could have been. Some cases lead to surgery and much recovery but six weeks will fly by for us. Unfortunately, this comes at an inopportune time - we've started training for a marathon and Chris is not looking forward to running with a cast on, being a sweat master and all. Although this could be a very bad situation, we are looking at the positive side - we get some more up close and personal bonding ;)

Leap of Faith

Christopher and I were able to take a break from Seoul again this past weekend. We went rafting on the Hantan River in Gangwondo. The river is quite calm with a few rapids that make for a good time. We were in a raft with about 8 other foreigners and a guide who spoke two words of English – “Ledy, go!” It’s so great how human communication prevails and smiling and laughing are universal, even with no words. We had a blast floating down the river, playing lots of water games, and enjoying the scenery (beautiful vegetation and rock formations).

After rafting, our day was only just beginning. We enjoyed a delicious, traditional Korean meal of Yang Gobchang-gui (broiled beef and chitterlings, weird but really good), Gimbap (rice wrapped in dried seaweed), and Sukju Namul (bean sprout salad). After a quick shower we were off to the main event of the day – BUNGEE JUMPING!

There were about 20 members of our group who had enough courage to take the 55m plunge. You quickly make friends when you’re all facing the prospect of death. You could pick between jumping with ankle straps or jumping with a torso harness that held you upright, obviously we both chose the ankles - we had no choice but to go all out. We waited for a good hour and a half on the platform watching others take the leap. There were all sorts of jumping styles, there were those who didn't even hesitate, those who chose to have their head dunked in the water, and those who contemplated the jump white-knuckled on the edge, there was even someone who after a ten minute failed attempt, finally asked to be pushed off when unaware.

Well, I thought it was no big deal and knew I would be flying gracefully through the air when it was my turn, oh how could I be so naive?! As soon as it was my turn, my legs turned to stone and were bolted to the platform. My mind was all for it but my legs literally wouldn't move. This is an example of my ridiculousness....



There was a split second that I thought, "okay, this may not be for me" but then I was reminded "if you think about it, don't think about it" (such great advice from a loving husband....?) Alas, I was successful although it wasn't perfect form it was good for a rookie.



Here is the jump through Chris' eyes (I will add, he had perfect form and looked like an elegant swan)....



This last video sums up the experience...



As you can see, you bounce around quite a bit after the initial jump. Christopher was level with the bridge at one point during the recoil. I was worried about my motion sickness but luckily it didn't bother me until the winding bus ride home when Chris thought it would be a good idea to chat it up about the perpetual spinning while chowing down on some Pizza Pringles. I quickly snatched the half eaten can needing somewhere to deposit my upset stomach...eeeww, I know but I felt SO much better. Hopefully next time we will have lunch after bungee jumping, not before.

It was such a thrill and we're both so happy to have done it. I highly recommend the adventure and know that I will be keeping my eyes open for another jump in the future. BE WARE of the spinning :)

Dictation Fail

FAIL: to fall short, to be or become absent or inadequate, to be unsuccessful

Chris and I follow failblog.org daily. If you haven't been there...please check it out. It's a hilarious site that posts funny pictures and videos of things that fail. Whether it be poorly thought out advertisements, unsuccessful inventions, or a simple picture that captures a moment in time when somebody decided to shut their brain down, this website never ceases to make us laugh. It may be at the expense of other people's mistakes but I like to think that if they saw themselves on failblog, they too would crack a smile.

This is why when I went to the library the other day to make some copies, I had to immediately turn around and run to my husband's classroom informing him about the following sign I saw posted at the entrance of our school.



Our principal, whom we love dearly, had posted a sign calling out all of the children who failed their dictation tests. She came up to talk with Chris and I as we were gawking at the fact that this sign could even be posted. She started laughing and said that when the students see the sign they will hopefully feel shame and study for their next exam. We just thought it was so funny and opposite of how we do things in the US. Our way of encouraging students is less about bringing the kids down but more about lifting them up. It seems like today in the US, we walk on eggshells as to not harm a child's emotional confidence. We don't want anyone to be embarrassed or shamed. I remember times in college when I couldn't even figure out my own score because there were so many secret codes and passwords to remember. Everyone is so careful not to invade anyone's privacy. In Korea, it is the opposite. The principal is constantly publicly announcing student's scores no matter what end of the scale they are on. Often times I see children grab their tests and run back to stuff them in their backpacks before anyone can see the embarrassing answers they had thought were correct. Christopher even had one kindergartner who burst into tears after other students laughed at his spelling score. I have children who beg me not to announce the scores in class and then other children who seem like they will have a heart attack if they don't know who scored the highest.

Chris and I have been trying to find a happy medium between these two ways of thought. We want to encourage the students to do their best, not by harshly harming their confidence and shaming them in front of their peers, but also not without instilling some friendly competitive nature. This is one of the struggles we face teaching in general, and in teaching in a completely different environment than what we are used to.