Hello Again from Seoul…

After not being able to sleep this Sunday morning, I decided to get up and work on lesson plans and some school work.  Upon sitting down with my laptop, I realized that I really didn’t want to work on school work and would rather blog.

 

Let me catch you up on some of the events of the past couple of weeks. 

 

First, we had our opening week of school at SCS and many teachers used that week to prepare students for some of the academic hardships they were facing this semester in their various classes.  This year, I am teaching a new class…SPEECH, which I am enjoying thoroughly, but I am not sure my students are yet.  Aside from our robbery, the week at school passed rather uneventfully.

 

Second, on the last day of that first week, Matt and Aaron Collier came to present some material for the camp they would be overseeing here in Seoul.  Our students were going to have the opportunity to experience camp as it is in America! 

 

During the second week of “school”, the teachers became counselors for a wonderful (if tiring) week of camp.  The students, while still students, were able to find out what American camp was all about.

 

You have to understand, these students do go to camps here in South Korea.  These camps though are more military and regimented than the WILDS, Southland, Northland, Co-Be-Ac and the like.  Talking out of turn can lead to severe, very extended punishments such as the “drop and give me 20” or prolonged calisthenics. 

 

The time is usually devoted to intensive study, Bible or otherwise, and other free times are devoted to all kinds of other…less wholesome activities. 

 

Imagine the surprise of these students when their teachers started screaming and cheering!  It took a LOT of effort to get them all into it at first, but they eventually came ‘round and I think we all had a fun time…well maybe that is not completely true.

 

I think it was good for our students to see us as counselors as I hope that they will be able to approach us much more easily.  Many of them made wonderful decisions and I look forward to what the Lord is going to do for the next couple of months in their lives.

 

This brings me to my third point.  It seems that many of our students and teachers fell ill.  There has been some talk that some of these cases were H1N1 and some of those that did get sick, got really sick.  However, while none of them enjoyed being sick I am sure, all of them recovered with the unfounded fears of the H1N1 virus!

 

While the level of work this year has been extraordinarily high this year, it has been wonderful to have the school full with the students again.  God blesses by giving more than we can handle and then taking care of those things we cannot!

 

More to come…

저는 단 이에요…

…But you already knew that didn’t you? 

 

I know that it has been a long time since I dropped my meager ripple in the information super-puddle, but I am back, if only for a mist-like moment.

 

Lets do a little math.  During the school year there are 8 hours of on site work.  Most of the time is devoted to teaching or preparation for teaching.  My role is very heavily laden with in between class questions, grading and teaching.  Interestingly enough, I also seemed to be taking a lot of my work home in the form of grading.  By my calculations I spend 8 hours at work per day plus perhaps another 30 minutes a night for a total of 42.5 hours of work a week. 

 

Fast forward to the last two weeks.  I spend 4-6 hours a day at school with perhaps an hour or two per week for preparation.  So lets say 26 hours—about half that of the normal school week—and then add to that 6 hours of class plus study time and that still puts me about 10 hours a week less time than during the normal school year. 

 

Mathematically, I should have more free time, but somehow I have been feeling busier than ever before.

 

By the way, the title of this post is “I am Dan.” “저는” means I.  “단” is literally Dan as it is easier than saying Daw-nee-ael.  The nearest approximation of “이에요” has a basic meaning of “is” or “am.”  So the literal translation is actually “I Dan am.” S DO V.

I think the sad part of the above is the length of time it took me to memorize how to say that as well to write it correctly.  I am a loooong way from using this language correctly!

 

Well, there is little else at this point to say other than we would love to hear from you!

 

More to come…

Looking Back…

Ok, so this has been an only marginally interesting week.  I say marginally because we have been in school in the routine for most of it, but we did get Children’s Day off.

 

I cannot say that we really did much on Tuesday.  We did go to Yongson to get a power supply for one of the other teachers for her laptop.  What you have to love about Yongson is the ability to ask on “flea market” style vendor and if you don’t like the price, simply barter.

 

One cool thing we saw (and I couldn’t resist trying) was the “Kkultarae” (꿀타래).  You can see it being made in the video I found on YouTube below.  It is basically honey that has been fermented and then pressed with a small hole made in the middle of the “pancake” which is then pulled like taffy and folded.  Unlike taffy though, the individual strands are kept separated by malt.  The finished little cushion of fine strands is wrapped around nuts and sesame seed oil which makes a wonderful treat.

 

I can’t say that we have done much interesting since then.  We both have been getting ready for summer.  That may sound like a simple statement, but it involves the installation of a air-con for the apartment, reading up on Hangul, figuring out our Master’s degree correspondence classes (yes we are both trying to get our Masters in Education) and preparing for summer school.  It has been a little difficult to know that we are only going to get a week or so off before we have to be back and teaching again.  Also, the week school is over is the same week that our Hangul classes start at Seoul National University (aka Seouldae or 서울대).

 

So, we are looking forward to a pretty busy summer! 

 

Also, pretty soon on the horizon we are going to be “debt free.”  What a blessing it has been to be here in Korea!  I am doing what I love in a new country while experiencing new aspects of the culture and all the while I am paying off debts back home.  I am profoundly at peace with the world it would seem.

 

Ok, so may 10th was Mother’s Day.  I thought it would be good to talk on the differences between Korea and America on this important holiday. 

 

First, Korea has new true “Mother’s Day.”  Tuesday was Children’s Day and Friday (which is actually carried over into Sunday) is Parent’s Day.  Now I think to understand Children’s Day fully, you would have to understand that Christmas in not nearly the marketing mayhem that you have there in the States.  It is actually very low-key and sedate comparably.  Children’s Day is comparable to Christmas in that Parents will spend most of the day with their children.  Also, this tends to be the time of doting and presents. 

 

For us, we went to Outback (I know it sounds a little strange, but Outback restaurants are quite prolific here) and they gave us “service” (ie something free) of those mini brown bread loves with their signature butter in extra tubs. 

 

Parent’s Day is actually Mother’s Day evolved.  I have been told that in Korea “every day is Father’s Day” and now so is Parent’s Day.  The holiday is geared more to the mother and the father does take a back seat.  The usual gifts are a carnation along with some other small gift like, *snicker*, a necktie for dad.

 

I wish I had more to say, but if there are any comments or thought, please drop me a comment on the blog for all to see and I will respond accordingly.

 

Otherwise, more to come…

A Little 미아, a Little Splattered Paint and an Egged-Faced Teacher.

Thought some might get a kick out of this short movie of 미아 playing one of her new favorite games; Flick the Food! 

 

As for the splattered paint.  One of the wonderful teachers here at SCS had an epiphany for an activity to kick off Easter Break.  PAINTBALL!!!

 

It was somewhat interesting to note that almost all the students disliked the idea of playing paintball.  The opportunity to shoot your teacher with an exploding sphere of dyed glycerin propelled by a heavy *puff* of compressed air. 

 

It was amazing to see the ferocity that arose in sweet student and teacher alike.  The battle cry of one of the teachers as he stormed an “enemy” trench.  The drawing of battle lines.  The shots lucky to hit at a distance and the pain of the paint shot at close range.

 

While we all are probably still bearing the scars of the event, I believe that everyone had a wonderful time.  I even think we maybe planning on doing this next year perhaps.

 

Now for the moment you may not have known everyone was waiting for…

 

While everyone has an April 1st, it seems that Koreans don’t place as much significance on the “Fools” part of that day.  So one of the teachers here helped them learn the full meaning of April Fools.  If you think that teacher was me, well, think again.  I did some nice and easy April Fools jokes and basically had a good-natured laugh.  Little did I know that my day would get…interesting.

 

I started the 9th grade class just like any other but halfway through—when I was writing something on the board—three of the boys stood up—turning over a desk in the process and creating a huge crash—and started posturing.  This is an important juncture to point out that I probably outweighed all three of these boys and probably also outweighed any two of them combined. 

 

When I took stock of the situation I immediately treated it as I would two dogs fighting—I went for the scare off.  I slammed the ruler that I had in my hand down on a desk and proceeded to explain—in volumes none to quiet—that if one punch was thrown that I would be the one throwing the rest.  Looking back, I am not sure that was the best action but live and learn…  Two sentences in both boys had their tails between their legs.  I then told them they both had detention for the next two class days.

 

As I went back to teaching, one of the girls raised her hand and told me “Mr. Moorehead, I am sorry, but you have just been punked!”  Of course, there at the door was the other teacher laughing hysterically. 

 

So consider this my bow to the fact that the other teacher spent her whole class period planning. :o)

 

I am sure there will be,

 

More to come.

On and On…

I wish that I could give another great little tidbit here about all the exciting things we have been doing, but to be quite honest, we have done little since we returned from out Valentine's weekend in downtown Seoul.

 

I have a couple options here, first I could answer questions given on my New Challenge post but seeing that only one person (thanks so much Michele!) has asked any questions, I will postpone that at least a little while longer. 

 

Perhaps I could talk about some of the funny things happening in the class...or maybe our search for a puppy (or kitten as Charity has a hard time making up her mind). 

Well, as I can't decide and chronology is my default, lets see what happens with a little shift to topical.

 

My students, and this seems somewhat typical of Korea, have a great ability to memorize and store amazing amounts of facts, formulas and passages.  However, they have a very hard time with analytics, general logic and powers of observation.  Now while most of math is based almost entirely on cumulative memorization, geometry breaks that mold a bit.  My students have a hard time applying what they know to what they see.

 

For instance, they can tell me how to measure a triangle’s area but they have a hard time seeing the relationship between the measurement of a rectangle and a triangle.  Ok, for those of you that haven’t taken geometry in a while, go find a 9th grader and have them explain it to you. 

 

The long and short of it is that I have been learning some new techniques for making them THINK!  First, those that read ahead haven’t been overly surprised at my new “pop” quiz (I say pop as I have been warning them to be ready for quite some time now. 

 

Also, I have been using word games such as the one that goes “When I drove the bus, at the first stop 9 people go on 2 people got off…” and at the end when they have been trying to keep up with the passengers on the bus, you ask something like “What color are the bus drivers eyes"?”.  I think the record for the most repetitions was something like 6 before they caught on.  Usually when they figure it out they get very loud and the groans can be heard on the floor below.  Not only are those types of stories very enjoyable, they also test their powers of observation. 

 

On another note, there is a Korean “old wives tale” that states, those that have been here can back me up on this one, “if you fall asleep with a fan on blowing in your face and all the windows are closed then you will die.”  I have been trying to find out the origin of this belief and to date am still lost.  While I found it very humorous, many intelligent Koreans still believe this saying to have some merit. 

 

I found out that my 9th graders believed it when I made reference to an American old wives tale.  When they asked me what that was, I told them it is something that is believed to be true but isn’t backed up with any real evidence like the Korean fan myth.  Stunned silence met my remarks and then “Oh, really?” and “Are you sure?” (which are very common expressions from them) rang out.  Whoops!  I think I burst a cultural bubble there…

 

And that is about all can think to say.  I will hopefully have some more interesting things to say after this weekend.  I think Charity, Lisa, Mylinda and I are going to go to Itaewon for some electronics shopping and probably go and look at some kittens for Mylinda…they taste just like tender chicken.

 

Just Kidding!!!

 

More later…

"Will Smissa"

One of my students in her excitement for the weekend, told me that she can't wait to see some new movie involving "Will Smissa". I asked what she was talking about and she gave me the name of the movie. I then had to tell her to stick her tongue out when she said "Smith" in order to get the right sound at the end of the last name.

That was Friday and she still refuses to say "Smith" correctly--ahh well what are you going to do...

I realized that I haven't posted in awhile and thought I would throw a quick update out to anyone still interested in this little web-log. I sincerely wish to be a more frequent "blogger" but I am finding myself somewhat distracted by a whole country, with new things to see, and teaching, which is still new enough to create some preparation challenges.

Let me see if I can bring you up to date. First, Charity is fully invested in the idea of us getting a dog. Not a big dog mind you but a canine with such diminutive and somewhat demoralizing prefixes to their breed as to include "toy", "miniature" or "teacup". Right now we are looking frantically for something that makes Charity's voice get high and making her almost cry. That seems to be the way we can decipher a good pick over another dog that is just okay.

Who knows though as we have been trying to find one for almost a week now and are continually hindered by the ever-present language barrier. Dave's ESL and Craigslist only give us access to English speakers.

It was funny when we went to the closest pet shop. There were no adults in the store and the small boy "running" the store wanted so badly to tell us about all the great deals and the details of all his inventory. By the way, his inventory included a baby alligator (yes, I said baby ALLIGATOR!) --which he was holding proudly--and a Boa Constrictor which I am guessing was about 6 foot long plus.

As we were leaving he asked me if I would like some "Copi" (an instant coffee drink) and when I said no (by crossing my arms in front of my chest) he held out a handful of various candies to me. When I went to take one, he turned my hand over and traded the handful of candies from his hand to mine.

All and all it was a very comical situation. Him saying things we couldn't understand and us trying to respond with the appropriate "yes" nods and "no" shakes. Us asking questions or making statements but with no ability for him to respond in our language. The whole thing was just shy of ridiculous!

On another note, our washing machine went on the fritz on Friday and we haven't been able to do any laundry since then.

What you have to understand is that the washing machine we have both washes and dries the laundry. That means that the water has to come in from the faucet and then be completely pumped out of the machine before it can begin the next cycle. Now, my diagnostic skills are good enough that I could tell that the water wasn't being pumped back out. (I opened the unit to see how it works and could tell that the pump wasn't even running) I told Pastor Gogh at SCS and he came over this afternoon at 3:00pm (the timing is critical). He spent about 30 minutes on the phone with the company trying different things. Then when he got off the phone and told me to expect the "repair engineer" between 5 and 10pm. I then responded "tomorrow?"

"No", he said, "tonight."

I had to go to the teacher's meeting at 3:40 and as I am packing up stuff in my classroom 20 minutes later and Pastor Gogh calls my room and tells me that the egineer called--he was on his way.

As Charity and I rushed out of the school and back to our apartment we were passed by a man on a scooter (pretty common) heading to our destination (not so common).

To make a long story short (or what could be a much longer story shorter), the egineer ran some tests and told me that the motor to pump out the used water was fryed and he had it replaced in less than 30 minutes.

You find me a service tech that can do that in the US I would be surprised. Start to finish was less than 2 hours!

Conclusions/Observations:
The people here in Korea are not only very kind (the boy in the pet store) but they excel at welcoming visitors into their presence. Also, they may seem impatient about having to wait in line or to get what they want, but they are also amazing when it comes to customer service and efficeincy. Once more my Western filter has been challenged at thinking it is superior.

More again later...

Has it Been a Week of Silence Already????

I really intended to stay on top of this better, but I have been a bit busier of late...

Let me see if I can get you more up to date. First, Sunday was another good day of both fellowship and instruction in the Word. I will say that the singing is still something I will have to get used to. I am sure though that it is because of the syllables. Here I am singing "Guide me o..." and the Korean brethren start the same line with what sounds like a vowel or a "d" or something. So I think I am singing the wrong verse. I then pause and listen to the fellow English speakers only to find that I was on the right verse and am no longer keeping up my voice among the singers (no great contribution as it is...)!

The meal though was wonderful! It was an extremely eclectic mix of foods. There was everything from pizza to dishes I have no idea what to call them. The many types of rice and noodles were very delicious, but I think my favorite items were a meet and herb wrapped in some kind of larger pasta-like substance. I will say that kimchi is still a bit of a challenge and that there are and probably will be certain foods and flavors that will be assaulting my simple taste buds.

Monday was mostly uneventful except for the addition of a new student to the 10th grade. The one and only person in the 10th grade was happy that her class doubled! We shall see how well he does coming into the middle of the year.

Tuesday one of the other teachers was having a very bad bout with a local cold or flu so Charity and split her classes. While it was a little more hectic, it was also a lot of fun because I was able to spend some time with the 12th grade class. All in all a good day for the Mooreheads and not so much for the poor teacher who had to stay home.

Wednesday we finally got the equivalent after classes were over we attended the midweek service and prayer meeting. Again another good time of fellowship, worship and learning among the people of God.

Today was also a good day. I have been getting to know the students better and thought it was time that they met my family. Michael and Stacey were over at Mom and Dad's house with the girls. Using Skype (which I am growing to love) I was able to connect and we conversed shortly during homeroom. After lunch I connected with Nathan, Dad and Meganne and showed the "picture" to my Pre-Calculas students. I told them to wave at my family and they obediantly did and every one of them gave a very startled response when the "picture" waved back! Way too funny!

What I haven't mentioned is that I pulled Detention/Study Hall duty. On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday any student that had a D or lower during the last semester had to spend the next semster getting their grades back up in Study Hall. Detention on the other hand means that you broke a rule serious enough to warrent spending an extra 40 minutes at school. Usually they have to write a passage from the Bible (helps them learn better English), memorize a verse and finally write down what they did wrong. Let me just say that they are not too terribly happy to be there and I would prefer that nobody had to come but it is a needed part of the system so I attempt to fulfill those duties. Sometimes I think some of the student try to get things by me and I believe that at times they do.

I believe that they desire to do good, but just like everyone else in the world they fall into self-serving sinful actions. Ahhh, sinners...

Anyway, the clock says that it is midnight local time and now I have to get as much sleep as I can as the morning is coming rather quickly now!


Before I go, I thought I would leave you all with some contact info.

Our home address is:

Daniel and Charity Moorehead
Apt 202
Bongcheon bon-dong 902-32
Kwanak-gu, Seoul
South Korea

Also, I purchased a number in the states on Skype:

816-625-5200

You can even leave a message on there when I am not on (VOICEMAIL!!!).

Bye for now...