ROK On! is a post from: ROK On!

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ROK On! is a post from: No Kancho!

Banchan! #24 Love Motels is a post from: ROK On!

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Banchan! #24 Love Motels is a post from: No Kancho!

Go! Kfood #6 Hongeo is a post from: ROK On!

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Go! Kfood #6 Hongeo is a post from: No Kancho!

I guess I can understand their concept of spring. After all, you just spent 5 months inside in near -20 C weather.  The first time it came back to 0 C, it felt so good that I didn’t feel like I had to wear a jacket.

School sometimes takes its toll on me.  I like my school. But the student motivation is really lacking, especially since this is a technical school and they are interested in getting a job than anything.  It would be more helpful if the co-teachers themselves would be more helpful.  They tend to take it as a free period , students see that the teacher isn’t interested and that compounds their disinterest too. Tragic.  I would like to think positively and think that they think I am able to handle, because well I do – but there are so many situations and problems I could avoid if they were more active. Actually some classes I can handle just fine on my own, but unfortunately not all classes are like that.

This past weekend, despite the absence of time, I managed to take a small trip with friends to Nonsan for the strawberry festival.  

Had a blast actually. I knew Koreans were able to make so many products out of rice, but had not imagined they would the same for strawberries. Even had a strawberry hamburger…which I will not make the mistake of having ever again.

And of course, cute kids and harmless fun statues.

Courtesy of my new 60D, which is pretty awesome. I made a video as well, but I simply haven’t had time to edit it. The good thing about this video is that now that I have had some time to adjust to the camera, I can be able to get a better picture while recording.

Back to the festival! There was  strawberry makkeolli. It was my first time trying it and it was really good, quite opposite to the strawberry burger. There were over 100 different booths and tons of strawberry things to taste and see. Also, a  concert was being setup, but unfortunately we did not stay for that part.

After the strawberry festival we all went to pick strawberries. All you could eat in 1 hour for 10,000 won. Afterwards, they gave us some strawberries to take home as well. Quite nice.

Definitely worth checking out. It cost 13,000 won for a bus ride to Nonsan, the festival was free though not all things there were.  Will definitely go again someday!

And before I forget!

Double fried corndogs with additional batter fried fries…and ketchup. So bad, but so good.

No time, but strawberries… is a post from: ROK On!

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No time, but strawberries… is a post from: No Kancho!

Go! Kfood #5 Maeuntang is a post from: ROK On!

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Go! Kfood #5 Maeuntang is a post from: No Kancho!

Go! Kfood #4 Korean Sweets is a post from: ROK On!

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Go! Kfood #4 Korean Sweets is a post from: No Kancho!

And it works perfectly. It even works great with the true beginners. I am keeping busy by lesson planning for third-years,  first year advanced, and true beginners.  It may not seem like a lot but I tend to put a lot of research, planning, and consideration into all my lessons.

Most notable of all the events that have taken place in the past few days is the meeting with Governor Kim Moon-soo of Suwon. If you don’t about him, here is a nice video.

Needless to say, if you have never heard of the man, you probably had the impression that he was a major douche with a serious ajeossi complex.

It was so, in  my case. That is…until I had the opportunity to attend a blogger Q&A in Suwon. Obviously, I wanted to be well informed before diving in. So I spent a few days doing some research and following his policies.

I was baffled, the man is part of the Grand National Party (or New World Order party), yet his entire history is littered with opposition, demonstrations, protests, and he was even a prisoner for two years.  Highly conflicting with my perceptions.  That is probably why Koreans were so shocked when he did that.

The day came and I was able to meet him. This opportunity made possible thanks to Nanoomi.net, and thanks to them I am also getting a press pass that will allow me to get into some events and take either video or pictures.

We arrived and they had juice and some sandwiches for us, a room full of bloggers, and camera-men. I am not mistaken in thinking that this is a publicity stunt to redeem himself, they even had a jib set up.

I am not used to meeting famous people, probably wouldn’t recognize one if they shook my hand, even more true if they are K-pop or Hallyu stars.  One thing is for sure though, being an expat gets peoples attention, as it did from the governor.  The guy didn’t seem so bad,  I was surprised he made small talk with me – but then again there were cameras rolling – I am sure it looks good, you know politicians – but I was surprised that he spoke pretty good English, even started telling me about how he has been to Texas and about his daughter studying there.

Each blogger had a question or two to ask, mine pertained to ESL education.   Gyeonggido provice, like many areas around Korea, has been cutting down funding for Native English teachers and attempting to replace them with Korea ETs.  One rationale we were given for the cuts was that  NETs were being seen as less effective in high school, but more effective when students are in their younger years. That and officials want to get elected; demonizing foreigners usually does the trick, plus throwing in free lunch.  I asked if there would be any programs to support English education for the less fortunate families, the response was that there already is one, that is the English Village.  I don’t know much about it , but in  my honest opinion, one is going to need a hell of alot more English support than one small village, especially with the introduction of the new NEAT test, which according to a friend who received a leak “official booklet”, contains a writing section. (Update  - NEAT Stuff)

Low income families are really going to struggle if the students have to attend hagwons to improve their English, and hagwons are going to be very happy.

Back to the Q&A, there were a few topics that kept springing up. The 119 incident came up at least six or seven times. Near the end, the governor was the one bringing it up, but had initially seemed to avoid it a little.

According to the governor, Government officials frequently use firemen’s vehicles for transportation. Somewhere during the Q&A, the bloggers kept brining up the question of why he rides around in a firemen’s helicopter.  Although my understanding is that Gyeonggi-do is quite large, circular and surrounding Seoul – the governors response was something along the words of “I am a busy man.” I think he meant to say that he is a busy politician and needs to get places fast, with gyeonggido being the way it is, one can’t simply take the bus. Man just doesn’t have the right words.

But anyways, back to the 119 call. Apparently, the governor had a friend who needed transportation to the hospital and he wanted to call and ask if the firestation could supply the firetruck. Something broke out after that, it seems the bloggers pressed him for blocking the possibility of an actual emergency taking place, which he was preventing assistance to.   I may have this incorrect, but his response was something along the lines of that firemen should have a dedicated number for those calls then…to which the bloggers replied something like, “It is, its 119.”

Alongside all these, bloggers kept bringing up some issue with the parking outside. We weren’t allowed to park in the building and instead had to on the street, which I really don’t see it as much of a big deal, but apparently the other bloggers saw it of central importance as much as the 119 call or the helicopter ride. There was also someone who kept insisting and bringing up the issue of sex-slaves and that the governor should build a museum to let more foreigners know about it. According to the guy, foreigners need to know about it.

Later in the night, we went to eat chicken and beer together and I sat next to the governor. The sex-slaves guy was having a talk to him, called to me and in English asked me if I knew about sex-slaves. I said to him, “the first thing I learned about Korea was kimchi, dokdo, and sex slaves. ” It really isn’t a matter of foreigners being educated about sex-slaves, I would say that its more important to let people become more aware about Korea, instead of shoving their political issues down our throats. I am not trying to be insensitive but…”What do you want me to do about it?”  It is an internal affairs kind of thing, something that Japan and Korea have to sort out together.  Then he just ignored me and went back to talking to the governor.  Unfortunately, we (me, Andy, Cynthia, parking guy blogger) had to leave and didn’t have enough time to continue waiting for the chicken, but it was a good experience.

As for my opinion on the man, he isn’t too bad.  It has improved much more than when all I knew of him was the 119 incident. Sure he has some ajeossi-complex a little, but overall – it is not as bad as I had initially thought.

I really can’t speak too much about the session since my Korea is limited and had to rely on Andy to translate.

Beer with Kim Moonsoo is a post from: ROK On!

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Beer with Kim Moonsoo is a post from: No Kancho!

ROK On! #24 Noryangjin Fish Market is a post from: ROK On!

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ROK On! #24 Noryangjin Fish Market is a post from: No Kancho!

I won’t post serious writing or anything of importance, but its an alright place to build up a small library of my favorite movie scenes and camera work.

ROK On! The Tumblr Edition

Posts coming soon here, it has been a busy busy month.

Tumblr is a post from: ROK On!

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Tumblr is a post from: No Kancho!

It is draining. Ever since winter started, there really haven’t been many opportunities to go out because it is just too damn cold. All I want to do is cuddle in bed. Seriously, it is March already. When is it going to get warm again? Disregard the “four seasons” Koreans seem so proud of; I stand corrected, there are four seasons –  summer, rain, winter, and mini-skirt season which is open year round.

The great Noe in Korea Adventures have reached a standstill,  the outlook with every winter being this way is periled with disdain.  There are some good things like my videos and the podcast for one, but somehow deskwarming for a whole month doesn’t inspire me to write.  Things have started to pick up pace though.

For one, one of my very attractive coteacher just found out she had to move schools – at least I got to witness firsthand that even Koreans are not fond of these last second changes. She was not amused and neither was I when last Friday  they said I needed to change rooms and move all my things to the next floor. But so wasn’t another coteacher who had her things moved that same day. In all fairness though, I do prefer smaller rooms – it is just much cozier and it warms up sooner despite the open window+heater combo.

I don’t think I have mentioned much about SMOE either, but they are going through huge budget cuts – primarily geared towards high school NETs.  For those of us who are able to renew our contracts, we will be moved to either middle or elementary schools. That also means we have to change apartment.  We were officially told this in the latest mandatory lecture we had to attend. Additionally, we were told that teaching English is secondary to what we are really here for, to promote cultural exchange and to allow students to be more comfortable with non-Koreans.

It doesn’t exactly come as a shock to me.  I was told by a few other NETs that in one of the previous meetings, they were shown a hierarchical slide about where they stood in society and their needs. And it was below the janitor.  No joke, you can’t make this stuff up.  I am confident in my teaching and my credentials, but working for EPIK SMOE is starting to appear rather unstable. It will be one year this summer and I had intended on renewing, but am already thinking of alternatives – also the idea of University teaching. That is my goal after all, though I would much rather have more experience and me being rather young might be an issue too.

Korean pragmatics. I’m perhaps the youngest person at my school, besides the students. It is hard to participate in conversations with the older crowd – not because my Korean is limited, but because I just don’t know when to speak. I continuously wait for “my turn” and fail miserably at what I hope to be are “cues” to butt in. And when I do butt in, a few times I have been told to wait – which make me feel ever so sheepish.

Something I am not fond of is how my co-teachers would like me to teach. I mentioned before how they are rather fond of the PPP teaching method – which we were trained in with EPIK SMOE – but as for me, I do not feel my students learn very much. As much as people would like to believe otherwise, it is just too teacher centered.  This wintercamp I was able to put more into practice TBL and learned much better just what works well and what doesn’t with lower level students. Lord behold, I was able to get my hands on  copy of A Frame Work for Task Based Teaching – there was an entire chapter dedicated to modifying TBL towards beginners. And you know what? It mentioned what I had come to learn on my own plus more.

At least I was awed this past week by one of the male teachers.

“Your mustache is beautiful.  ”

Source

Then….Korea.

Who doesn’t feel that way really?

Your Mustache is Beautiful is a post from: ROK On!

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Your Mustache is Beautiful is a post from: No Kancho!