Yeah Eddie!!!

A few days ago was Ed's big day. Some of you know, but for those of you who don't, Ed was asked to sing/dance or do something in his school's festival. If you remember, a while back my school had its festival. It is a pretty big deal for the students. Ed's students in particular stopped showing up to class about two weeks ago in order to practice. They told him, that they must practice, and English class was finished (it so was not, the students just needed some time to practice and the only class that can be skipped easily was English class--though not by Ed's standards). Needless to say, Ed was pretty mad for two weeks when students wouldn't show up, and he would have to find them, only to be told by the students (and other teachers) that there was no class. "Must Practice", they said.

Anyways, a few days ago was the big event. Ed debated and practiced several songs, and eventually decided to play the guitar while singing a Korean song called "Nobody" by the Wondergirls (again you will remember them from my festival). So after 4 hours of sitting watching other acts (including 6 other versions of "Nobody"), it was Ed's turn. Note this is what happens when you really only practice for two days, and don't know the words, especially to a song in another language. You can listen to the original version at the link above(Ed asked me to write this.) Personally, I think he did a great job. I also want to apologize for the shakiness of the video and the quality...I don't know what happened with the shakes and well we had to change the quality in order to upload it. Enjoy and leave positive comments please! ;)

Interesting Read...If Your Interested That Is

I found this article written by Brain in Jellanamdo pretty interesting and accurate.

It Korea's plan to hire non-native speakers who speak English to fill the roles of the English teacher in the classroom. Confusing right? Although not a bad idea, Brian brings up a couple of good points, as do the commentors that follow his post.

Here is a preview:

Having seen the way native speakers are currently used in the schools, I have to say that having more non-native speakers isn't necessarily a bad idea. The point of having native speakers in the classroom is to give students exposure to foreign cultures and to give them a chance to use the English they've learned. However, since there is some resistance to introducing foreign cultures into the classroom, since students are reluctant to speak English in class, since productive skills are deemphasized in favor of teaching toward tests, and since foreign teachers' classes are presented as goof-off time, I'm not sure they're such a wise investment.

I Did It Myself!

In Korea, being technologically smart, they have an automatic bill pay machine at the bank. You don't send in your bills like you do in America. You go to the bank to pay your bills. You just insert your bills into the machine, press a few buttons, swipe your bank card, then presto! Bills paid!

This machine, no matter how simple it may be to the average Korean 5 year old, has been the bain of my existence since I've had to start paying bills here. It is not in English. There are no English options. It shouts Korean at you when it wants you to press a button. Its scary.

No matter how many times I've been shown how to work the stupid thing, I usually ended up needed some kind Korean to assist me with the process; usually a pissed off ajuma--old married woman, literally--to cluck and sigh at me, then push me out of the way, rip my bills out of my hand, clucking the whole time, then push me when it is time to enter my pin number. Another reason why it is so scary--man I thought Mom had a good evil eye!

Anyways, after four months of paying bills, I can now proudly say that I can do it my self, thank you very much! Yesterday, I went to pay bills. I ponied up to the machine, pressed all the right buttons, swiped my card twice (once was the wrong way), and pleased the ajumas behind me because I was fast. When I finished, I wanted to turn to the person behind me and give them a hug (or have them hug me because I did something all by myself). I wanted someone to pat me on the back, to say congratulations! But then I remembered that I was at the Korean bank, and they don't really care about me, except that I'm a foreigner in their bank (WOW!!). So I did get patted a few times, but because I'm pretty, not because I did something all by myself!

So moral of this story: Its okay that it takes me five times to get something right, I'll eventually get it. At least now I can pay my bills with out help. Can you?

On Break.... Finally!!!

Today marks the first day of our two month vacation from teaching English!

I LOVE vacation!
I LOVE vacation!
I LOVE vacation!

Eddie and I will be around Yeosu until the 5th, then we will be heading to Malaysia for a bit of a stay. I'm hoping to still have internet though, as I will be working on another masters' course during our vacation (bahhh--why do I need to be educated--huh??).

So until then, I'm sure I'll have a few more things to write--but I wanted to let you all know in case you wanted to send some care packages or such--we won't be around to get them (if a dire emergency arises, please let me know and I will get you an address!)

Hey, did I mention that I get my vacation, for two months, and its paid??
I LOVE vacation (and I love rubbing it in!) :)))

Merry Christmas

From Ed's Students:

'Hello How are you? We are Buyeong High School students in Korea. Though we have never seen each other, we hope this Christmas makes you feel very special and very loved, for all! PS Edward Teacher is very handsome and teach well"

To Mr. and Mrs. Lemery
"No cry. No cry. Santa grandfather do not give present to crying children. !Fighting! (means go team) Santa knows you. Children who are kind or bad. Today night will visit your home and go!!! Early morning she wakes up with a knock, knock, knock on the door. Why you not give prise to us. We disappointed and very sad but we wish your merry christmas Happy new year. Ok? Thank you read this letter. Bye."

(the Korean says 'Edward should shave his beard'.

To Mr. and Mrs. Hazard:
"Hello! We are Bu-yong 'elite' high school students (Ju-Hee, Jin-Hee, Lemon, Lucy, A-Ram). We are Edward's students. Ummm......Happy New Year!" (notice the picture of Edward)

This one pretty much just says Merry Christmas and I love you.

Here's hoping you all have a wonderful Christmas and we miss you all!

X-Mas Wagookin' Stylz

This past weekend was our Christmas in Yeosu! We invited our two extra classes over for a 'Western Christmas'. Many, if not all had never been to a 'foreigner's house' so that was a treat in itself. We made cookies, at mandu and kimchi, watched Tim Allen try to be Santa. It was a good time. Here are the highlights:

 

 

Violet

 

Star, Taylor, and Toni

 

 

B Class

 

 

 

 

 

 

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More to come!

As I said, I'm with out a computer at work, but I wanted to let you know we have more coming! And with pictures too!!

So keep a look out for some new blogs!

Where did all of our Handlers go??

Sorry for not writing much lately. I have been with out a computer at work, so I haven't had as much time as I normally have to sit and write!

So last night, Ed and I went out for dinner. We went to a tiny place near our house that is always busy. It was a usual sam gyup sal style place. That means that they bring you a plate of meat and you cook it yourself on the grill in front of you. Its a pretty novel, and uniquely Korean thing to do. And while Ed and I enjoy the food immensely, it always is a hassle for us. Here's why:

1. We never really know what we are doing.
2. Usually someone, the owner, comes over and cooks the meat for us. This is kind of funny because any small Korean child could cook the meat with ease, but not us! We end up burning the meat, making tons of smoke and ruining their grills.
3. We are at the mercy of our 'Handlers', other wise known as Koreans who take pity on us waygookins and do everything for us. The Handlers are sometimes a bit much to handle, but overall a joy to have around. I usually think when approached by a Restaurant Handler "You want to cook that for me? Sure, go ahead, I didn't want to try to do it myself anyways. You would do a much better job than I could conceive of doing, because after all, I'm a foreigner and have no clue."

Okay, so anyways Ed and are eating at this restaurant, barbecue style. At this point in our eating experiences, we have not been left to fend for our selves. A Handler usually comes over and takes over the cooking process. They tell us how to eat the stuff, smile a lot, and speak a lot of Korean to us. We smile back, and like small children do as we are told. So with this in mind, we order some shrimp. Now here in Korea, they don't let silly things like the head, legs, or shell go to waste. They eat the whole thing. Ed tried to eat everything, as he is more culturally willing than I am when it comes to food. But he couldn't do it. I didn't even attempt. I sat there in all my foreigner glory, picked the head off, de-shelled, and tried to de-vein (not easy with only chopsticks), and enjoyed some really good shrimp. Needless to say we made a mess.

Now usually the Handlers come over and tell us that we are eating it wrong. But at this place, they left us alone! It was unnerving because even though I was determined not to eat the shrimp like a Korean, I still felt that I needed a Korean to tell me what to do. We were burning the shit out of their grill, and they didn't come running. We were eating food wrong, and they didn't come running. Ed and I remarked several times how odd it was that they left us alone, especially when we clearly had no clue how to do things Korean style. It was like we were missing our left arm.

We were like kids driving for the first time with out an adult. We knew what to do, we just have never done it before with out adult (handler) supervision. It was overall, an empowering experience. We now know of one place in Korea where they don't care that we burn the food, the table, the grill, and make a mess. I think that we will most definitely go back there, willing that they let us in through the door again!

A Day in the Life of a Real English Teacher

This was yesterday.

7:00am Alarm goes off. Hit the snooze.

7:10am Alarm goes off again. Make Ed get up.

7:20am Alarm goes off again. Get up take a shower. Get ready for school

8:10am Walk to school.

8:30am Arrive at school. Say hello a thousand times.

8:31am Hide in English lab.

8:34am Check email. Check Facebook.

9:00am Check master's email.

9:10am Write paper due on Sunday

10:10am Check Facebook

10:15am Go back to writing paper for masters

10:30am Pee break.

10:33am Check Facebook

10:45am Lesson plan for next week

11:00am Give up lesson planning for next week. Everything is too difficult and they won't get it.

11:02am Check Perezhilton.com

11:10am Check Facebook

11:12am Check email

11:15am Do squat lunges around the English lab. Stare into space.

12:15pm Go to lunch. Eat fish head soup, rice, seaweed soup, fish paste balls. Yum

12:45pm Decide to go for a walk to Dunkin Dounuts. And pee using a real toliet at Lotte Mart

1:45pm Arrive back at school. Students invade English lab. Try to show me videos of Korean pop music stars

1:50pm Student flips a breaker switch, blows up two surge protectors and possibly computer monitor.

1:55pm Student gets beaten (not by me) for flipping breaker switch. I feel bad and offer her candy.

2:00pm Tech guys come to fix computer station, and look at me like I am the foreign freak that I am.

3:30pm Computer fixed

3:32pm Check facebook

3:35pm Read masters book

4:45pm Shut down now fixed lab, and get ready to go home.

5:15pm Arrive at home. A hard days worth of work over with! I can now relax

Vavoom Vanna

Next week, most Korean students will be participating in final exams (their year starts in March, ends in December). So in preparation for final exams, my co-teachers have asked me to play games with the students; you know give them a chance to relax. Well the teacher in me protested and said that I would not play games for four weeks (yes four weeks). So last week I secretly played a game with a grammar skill attached to it. Well wouldn't you know it--it bombed. Big time. It was horrible.

So this week, game week number two, we played a different game. A game that you all know and love. A game that I was positive would go over with the kiddos. A game surprisingly similar to hangman, but with money. Yup, I played Wheel of Fortune all week with my students, other wise known by my students as 'Tire of Luck'. In my teacher defense, I chose words and phrases that would be on their tests next week...so there I taught something!

Can I just say that Wheel of Fortune week has been the best week yet! I had almost every kid interested. Almost every kid participated. There were screams of joy for $1000 letters. There were screams of agony for Bankrupt (or 파산 -ppa san-in Korean). There were even chants for other teams to get Bankrupt. Nothing like a little healthy competition. My boy classes were much more into playing than the girls, who wisely used the time to pop each others zits and stare into their little hand mirrors.
Many of my boys actually got 'excited' when Vanna showed up (I showed a video to explain the game; much easier than actually trying to explain it). 'OOOOHHHH Sooo Sexy!!!" So its good to know that she's still got it.

My favorite moment of the the week was when 'Cody' a charming second year that reminds me of Rufio from Hook was trying to win the game(he also has the same type of 'puck you' personality as well). He was purposely calling out letters like q and z for the other teams to guess. And wouldn't you know it, they did. He was the leader in my Bankrupt chants, and screeched like a girl when another team landed on it. When he won, he paraded around the room flexing his muscles (what they had to do with winning still has me puzzled) and screeching "YEAH!!!" Cody was told to sit down many times, and to calm down, but the Tire of Luck was just too much to handle.

So now, when I'm asked (told) to play games, we will play the Tire of Luck.
I'm not going to lie. My week went very well. I'm glad that real teaching does not go to waste here, and my students are like any other students across the world. Forget playing a 'learning game'. They just want Vanna and candy.

Korean Driving Part II

On my walk to Ed's school tonight, I saw crazy Korean driving--almost worse than the drunk driver car....

This was a mini-van full of students (going to academy after school) with two students standing on the back bumper hanging on for dear life to the roof!! Come to think of it--I don't know how they were hanging on!?! I'm pretty sure the driver knew that they were there--because all the kids in the van were screaming with glee. Oh yeah, these kids were probably 10 years old!! Hello!!! How dangerous is that!!??!!! Especially with crazy Korean drivers!! Oh I hope those kids made it to Academy okay!!

I have to start carrying a camera with me...too many random things that happen and no great pictures on the web to represent them!

Korean Driving

My guess is that he took the corner too tightly.

This car has been sitting there for a couple of days....it was just left. Probably what happened is that the driver was drunk, crashed into the pole, cracked his head, got out and left the car in fear of being sent to jail for driving drunk....ahhhh Korea

Some pictures...

Okay, I've been really lazy in posting the pictures that we have. So I've created a couple of albums with some pictues of us and friends out and about Korea.

Here are the highlights:Odongdo Island

My food at Outback steakhouse

...and after

My bowling score...look closely, I scored the 22, Yoga Dan the 27, and John the bowler scored 99...we are awesome!!

Enjoy the pictures!

Top Ten Thanksgiving Thanks

This week in my masters course, we were given the opportunity to write about what we were thankful for. I thought I'd share what I wrote. Ed and I miss you all and love you all...we are thinking of you!

First of all, what a great opportunity you have given us to reflect on our lives and what we are thankful for. You are right, Staci, we rarely get the time to sit down and think about what helps make our lives special. I am thankful for many, many things. I feel that I now have the opportunity to appreciate things more so because I am living in another country. My move to Korea has affected every aspect of my life and well, I think that it has already made me better understand myself and who we are as human beings. So, because I have a feeling that I could ramble on and on about what I am thankful for, I wanted to present the information in a Top Ten list. Most of my list refers to what I’ve experienced here in Korea, but it relevant and it is now. I may make some jokes in this list, but my intent is all serious. So with out further delay, here is my

Top Ten Thanksgiving Thanks.

10. Care packages. No matter what age you are, they still are amazing. I am surprised at the generosity of my family and friends. It is not a cheap thing to send items from home to here, and it takes time and thought. Not only am I super excited to get care packages here, I am truly grateful because I know that it is more than just food and magazines that go into the box. They really make my day, week, and month.

9. Internet. The internet has made this whole experience so much easier to bear. I am able to talk to friends back on a regular basis. I am able to see pictures of home, friends, and their babies. Although I can’t be there physically, I feel that I am there mentally because of the internet. It has made my world a whole lot smaller and for that I am thankful.

8. Korean kindness. I have never in my life met a group of people who are more kind than Koreans. I feel that in America, I took for granted my ability to speak the language. I didn’t take the time to think how it was for someone who didn’t. In Korea, even if I appear to look confused, I receive help. In most cases, my helper does not speak a lick of English, but they will help me. I have been driven up mountains, given food, taken shopping, had food cooked for me (they even cut the food for me), and many more things. I think that if the world would treat each other a bit more like most of the Koreans have treated me, then we wouldn’t have as many problems as we do.

7. My students. My students are my joy. Many times they are my frustrations too. They take the time to help me with my Korean. They show me around my neighborhood. They smile and make me laugh, even if it telling me that I have ghost hair (I have no idea what that student meant, but it made me laugh). They are sometimes the first people I go to when I need help with anything Korean. If they were not such amazing workers, I don’t think my time here would be as valuable. Plus they have introduced me to K-pop for which I am forever thankful for (K-pop is Korean pop music—utterly ridiculous but strangely addicting).

6. My co-teachers. They make my job so much easier. I actually have it pretty well here. They come to every class, they translate, and they fix my Korean problems. They are my ultimate support system here at school.

5. My Korean Friends. This is about all my friends in Korea, western and Korean. They understand what life is like here. We are each others support systems, both for social and professional life. If I had not been so lucky to find such a wonderful group of friends, well I think this life would be a lot harder.

4. My American Friends. It is all about support, and my friends give me tons of it. I miss them terribly, but I am thankful that they keep in touch with me and post their pictures so I don’t feel like I’m missing out on too much.

3. My health and the health of my family. This has been a tough year for some of my family, but I am extremely thankful that everyone has pulled through and continues to be healthy and regain their health. I am lucky to have strong genes, but even luckier that my family does too.

2. I am thankful for my family. My entire family has given me nothing but support and love during this adventure. It has truly made me value them that much more. I know that initially they were worried, and so was I. Yet, as time goes on here in Korea, I am even more thankful because I know that they will always support me in what ever I decide to do, and well I couldn’t ask for anything better than that.

1. My husband. I would not be on this adventure if it were not for his constant support and assurances that everything will be alright. He is my strong hold and my best friend. I am very grateful that he accepts me for who I am, and pushes me to be better.

So there is my list. I know I still rambled a bit, but I feel that this experience has made me value what I have that much more. So I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

Don't Worry

I purposely put the picture of the beagle on the previous post to get a rise out of my parents. I have since gotten, in less than 24 hours may I remind you, the comment attached to the previous post and this email.

"All he said was you cant eat me!"

Don't worry guys! I'd only eat dogs I don't know. And I would like to point out that I still have no idea what I ate, but it was delicious, so I don't care if was dog. You would feel the same way if you tried it!

Great Food

You may or may not know but to us Westerners, it takes a while to find foods that we like enough to eat. For both Ed and I, most of the food seems the same. They have very little variety in our minds (but in a way they have total variety--we just don't know where to look). So eating here can be pretty adventurous at times, especially when we just go into a restaurant and point to something on the wall (many restaurants list what they make on the wall and you point).

So there is this one restaurant by our house that Ed and I have been secretly dying to try. Every time we walk by this place, the most delicious smells waif out at us. Smells that we haven't smelled before in Korea. Good smells.

So last Thursday, Ed and I braved the unknown and went in. I should probably tell you that we had no idea what kind of food it was; we knew that it smelled delicious and we wanted it. So we pointed at someone else's meal and the owners brought it to us.

It was delicious!! Although I had no idea what I was eating, I actually said to Ed,as we were discussing what it could be, "I don't care if it is dog, tripe, or other gross things that I would never eat in the States. I want more of this." Anyways, Ed and I chowed down on this mystery meat from heaven, and tried to ask what it was that we were eating. The owner said something like Ori Bulgogi (something meat). We still had no idea what it was, but like I said, we didn't (and don't) care.

Well fast forward to Saturday when we met up with one of our Korean friends, Bobby. Ed asked him what Ori Bulgogi was, and straight faced Bobby said "Dog. Many people don't like the smell, but it is good." Huh! Okay, so now I am personally psyched because not only did I eat dog, but I kind of loved it. Yet, we weren't convinced because the name for dog is not Ori Bulgogi but something like Geagogi.

Sunday Ed met up with his co-teacher and asked the same thing. He got "Dog"...but there was something fishy about the way his co-teacher was saying it. After a few confusing minutes Ed found out why. Apparently they (Bobby and co-teacher) were saying 'Duck'. I guess the Korean's have a hard time with the 'g' 'ck' endings. Either way, whether we ate dog or duck, I'm going back.

Museon Middle School Festival

For weeks now my school has been preparing for their Festival. And for weeks I had no real idea what this festival would entail, or my role (if any) in it. I had gotten tidbits from the students, "We play games, then sing in the afternoon". I had gotten tidbits from other teachers, "Just wait. It will blow your mind." Well, friends, while it didn't blow my mind it was certainly interesting. Here are ten things you need to know about Korean Festivals:

10. The students get to show off their art work. And some of it, let me tell you, was pretty amazing. I only took pictures of the pictures because they were the funniest. Candy will rot your teeth. Its universal. I have no idea but the art work is just plain awesome. Melamine=death, basically. The Koreans are super worried about Melamine and as a consequence, we get this picture warning us not to eat certain products. Again I don't know. I took it because there was a blonde person in the picture.

9. The games. The students were right. They play games and all types of games in the morning. I was roped into reading true/false questions and riddles (why riddles of all things??The kids had no idea because the co-teacher picked wicked hard ones). Then they have field day type activities. I watched a few. It would never work (but should) in America. This is Tug O War...but with no rope. Quite effective. This looks like Tug O War, but Crystal (my co-teacher) said it was called Motorcycle. Basically they hop around on one foot trying to knock the other team down. And Musical Chairs. But you can beat the girl/boy who wins, and I mean hit.

8. Lunch. We had Bi Bim Bab. Rice with veggies and some meat. You make it yourself. I left out fish, mushrooms, peppers, and kimchi. It was WONDERFUL.

7. Ahhh the Festival. This is where it gets fun. Every school has a talent contest for their students. My school was no exception. It went on for 5 hours. I only had to endure 2 thank god. Here are the highlights:

6. Costumes. They had a whole group of these kids dressed up in animal costumes. They made them dance to a kids song.

5. Wondergirls. If I hear one more "Nobody" or "I need your Love" I'm going to kill a Korean child. About 70% of the groups danced to these songs. All the same dance. Even the boys. The "Nobody" song and video are actually pretty good...but not 1,000 times. Yes I can do the dance too. (I'm trying to find out who sings "I need your Love.")

4. OMG. Inapproprate dancing. There are no pictures because I felt uncomforatable taking them. It is okay for 12-15 year olds to shake what their mama gave them in TIGHT mini skirts and dance like hookers. Fortunately, only 1 out of 30 acts can actually shake it like Beyonce, so watching the others weren't soo bad. But one was enough. My friends say that the belly dancers at their elementary school were pretty inappropriate as well. But its okay I guess in Korea.

3. Boys dressing up as girls and doing girl dancing. (Small problem...I tried to load a video of it, but it didn't work. Its 9:00 at night here now and I'm not going to fool around with it anymore...hopefully by the end of the week I'll get it up).

2.Ki Bi Bo (rock paper siccors) where the kids can actually hit each other off the head. No matter that they were using 'silly hammers'. Those kids were whacking each other. Hard. Oh and no teacher supervision either.

1. NO CLASSES! I didn't have to teach. Reason to celebrate right there!

Pepero Day

November 11. What does it mean to you? Most likely you will think of Veterans day. It is an important holiday for us Americans, and with good reason.

Wouldn't you know, it is an important holiday here too. Except it has nothing to do with life or death (although some school age children think so). It is Pepero Day. What is a Pepero? It is a cookie. Not really a cookie, but rather a long pretzel like cookie covered in chocolate. Sound good? They are. It is easy to eat two or three packs in one sitting.

Okay back to why they celebrate a cookie. They celebrate the Pepero because it is shaped like a number 1, and what better day for companies to market their cookie to make the day 11/11 Pepero day (get it--its like 5 Pepero sticks). One legend says that it all started in Busan when middle school girls (go figure) exchanged the little sticks with their friends so that they could become "tall and slender like a Pepero". Either way it is similar to Valentine's Day. You give it to your friends, lovers, and teachers that you like. They get really fancy with their decorations and gift giving. Needless to say, Ed and I only got some from our extra class students, who we made sure knew that we expected them or else failing grades. Like Valentine's Day, it was stupid, but exciting at the same time. Hopefully next year I get more boxes. I already scarfed down my two.

sorry I couldn't figure out how to get the images smaller...so your stuck with super huge Peperos...

Coming Up

Alright, alright. I know. There have been no posts in over a week. Don't worry Ed and I are still alive. I'm sorry, but I have been very busy! Masters, school, and partying does take up an enormous amount of time I would like to have you know!

Anyways, I do have a list of things that I want to write about as soon as I have a moment to sit in front of the computer for several more hours to edit pictures. Here is what I'm planning on writing about:
1. Pepero Day
2. Health Care
3. Museon Festival
4. Volleyball
5. Things my kids say.

All of these will be up soon. I'm not promising anything, as I can't seem to make myself sit down and really write and edit photos, but I do promise to give you guys some more posts. And soon...

So Mr. President...

First of all, watching and participating (kind of) in an Election on the other side of the world is pretty interesting. We get all the highlights...no need to watch a bazillion TV commercials saying "Vote for me! Not the other guy! He's stupid!" (although some of them can be entertaining). I know when it is worth it to watch SNL. I get to hear the best parts of the speeches. And until my scheduled changed, I could watch them live with all of you, of course on free pirated streaming.

Fascinating enough, Korea has been pretty interested in our election too. For the record, almost all the Koreans that I talked to wanted Obama to win. They have felt out of touch with "Bushey" and so Obama was/is a good change for them.

Our high school girls have been pretty interested in the election. And by interested I mean that they were predicting that Obama would win and were happy about it. They thought that his 'new FTA' policy would help them out.

Okay so now to the funny part. Last night they wanted to talk about the elections, so being Miss Full of Correct Political Information, I said 'Okay'. As it turns out, I might have inadvertently scared the crap out of them.

Background Info: It is very difficult to explain that N. Americans don't really understand Korea (we don't) and that because of our misunderstandings, we think that Korea is scary (especially that crazy little monkey man to the north). The Korean perception is while the crazy little monkey man is indeed crazy, they still want to be reunited. Think of it as an East Germany/West Germany thing. Policies, ideals, and economy are very different, so reunification on that end is impossible. But to get back with family members and to go take pictures of their homeland with out getting shot is important enough.

Okay so I may have gotten a whole bunch of girls worried because I sort of maybe said that because of crazy little monkey man, tough actions will be taken (per Obama's no tolerance 'policy'). So on their own, they might think that America might bomb Korea. I did not supply that theory--they truly came to that conclusion themselves!! I tried to tell them that we (being America) have bigger worries than Korea, which we do. And that Obama is a man of piece not war. But with the whole translation, English as their second language thing, it might not have gotten across 100%. Ed is on DAMAGE CONTROL tonight!!

While the rest of Korea celebrates Obama's win (this means new FTA agreements-which means you all will be driving Samsungs soon) there is a strong possibility that there is a small group of high school girls in Yeosu preparing for the next Korean invasion. So Mr. President to be, please don't bomb Korea.

Happy Halloween!!

Boo!

Okay so Ed and I are kind of bad English Conversation Teachers. Instead of conversation, we decided that we were going to have a Halloween party on Friday with our high school Korean conversation students. They do not celebrate Halloween here...so we thought it would be a fun conversational and cultural experience for them. It turned out to be one of my best Halloween experiences ever. I don't know if they were more excited for the food we brought them (American cookies) or for the masks they made. We even had a few dress up. It was actually pretty cool. Even though they are high school students, it was like experiencing Halloween with little kids. I couldn't get enough of them; they were hilarious; it reminded me of why I love Halloween. Here are some pictures of them. Now remember--they really DON'T celebrate Halloween, so any costume you see is completely unexpected and extra wonderful.

This is what Ed does to students who do not listen! Abby and Starr. Abby was a little too excited for Halloween. She decided to be everything. Amira and Jane. Korean Husband and Wife. Abby again. This time she has turned her school uniform around. She kind of was the highlight of the night. Anyone want a Korean exchange student?? She would be wonderful!!! The real reason they were there...food.

Scary Lemon... Me in one of the 'costumes'. Ed and I in a 'couple shot'... and

Isn't this the cutest picture ever?? Totally explains Halloween Korean style.