영어 캠프! (Vignettes from English Camp)

On the last day of English Camp, as a review, I gave the kids a bunch of letter posters (I printed PowerPoint slides with the letters of the alphabet in different fonts) and let them decorate them.
Sarah arrived on Friday, but my vacation didn't start until Tuesday. On Monday, I had to go into school and teach my last day of English Camp. My first English camp was with the first and second graders and we studied the alphabet. I'm not sure how effective it was; half the kids clearly already knew the alphabet from their hogwons and the other half were floundering because trying to cover the entire alphabet is a lot for one week. Due to construction (all the classrooms are getting new floors, hopefully ones that don't give people splinters) class was held in the library. It's a nice library, very modern, but it was also full of crazy Korean robot children who spend their summer vacation studying in the school library. Every time I did something that was even remotely noisy, like play a game or speak in a slightly raised voice, I would have an instant audience of forty or fifty kids, only half of whom were my camp students.


I had some alphabet letters that had originally been bought for the English room. They were meant to be used on a felt board, but we just glued then on the letter posters.
I gave all the students English names on the first day of camp. I wasn't planning on it, but everyone seemed to assume they would get English names out of the deal and it certainly did make it easier to learn the kids' names. Coming up with a list of English names off the top of your head is surprisingly hard, so I used a website that randomly selected three popular English names and let the kids pick which one they liked best. The list was based on the most popular names in America for 2007 and wow, people name their kids some weird and gender-ambiguous names. There were a few traditional names like Jack and Amy, but there was also an Ashlyn, a Brayden, a Riley (boy) and a Kennedy (girl).


The idea was that the kids were suppose to decorate the posters with things that started with the letter. Some kids did better than others. Steven glued random letters onto his R poster. It ended up spelling ROJ.
To make each class a little more fun, I found a bunch of alphabet clips from Sesame Street and played them as we started. The kids loved them, and a few of the more outgoing boys would come up to the stage and dance to the music. My mother (of four children) always swore that Sesame Street was a really fun show, but I never believed her until now. I ended up spending a lot of time going through the archives on the Sesame Street website and wow, there are some really funny skits and some really talented musical guests, like Anderson Cooper reporting live from GNN or Tilly and the Wall singing the ABCs.


Audrey just drew some flowers and a heart around her (upside-down) Ss. I didn't have the heart to tell her the poster was upside-down.
I taught the kids to fist bump me when they did a good job or finished an assignment and they loved it. My siblings and I have been fist bumping each other and shouting, "Pound it!" for years, so it only seemed right to teach my students to do it too. The kiddos were *very* enthusiastic about the fist bumps and I spent the rest of the week nursing sore knuckles.


Caroline, on the other hand, did very well. Not only did she draw a glass (one of the examples from the textbook) and grapes (not one of the examples, she's just that smart), she wrote both words out phonetically in Hangul. She also wrote out G phonetically in Hangul (지 = gee). Gee is the name of a popular Kpop song that came out this spring. When we learned the letter G, half my students immediately started singing the song. I always appreciate it when Kpop helps with my lessons.
Sarah came with me to school on Monday and sat in on the class. The principal quickly learned that there were two - count them, two - foreigners in the building and came to the library to meet Sarah. The first time he stopped by we were in the middle of class so, after some mutual bowing, he left, but the second time he came by during a break, so I was able to introduce Sarah, my 미국인 친구 (American friend). Then he came back a third time, this time with a camera, and took a few pictures of me and Sarah. I imagine the photos will show up on the school website soon. What a great promotional picture to show the parents - look! we have TWO American teachers at our school, at least for a day. My kids were also fascinated by Sarah. When they first saw her, they hid behind me and asked, "Teacher! Who dat?" One of my second graders, Audrey, likes to tell me what color things are. "Teacher," she says, pointing at my shirt, "green! Brown (my skirt), red (my glasses), pink (her dress), blue (another student's shirt)." On Monday, she marched right up to me and Sarah and started telling me the colors. "Teacher, green (my pants), black (my shirt), purple (my glasses), red (Sarah's shirt)." Then she pointed at Sarah's blonde hair and said, "Teacher, yellow hair!" "Yes," I told her, "that is yellow hair." Sarah and I laughed about it for the rest of the trip.


It was a good activity, even if most of the kids didn't really grasp the whole point. Happy students are happy!

Gyeongbokgung

Hyangwonjeong @ Gyeongbokgung
The first of the vacation posts! (Technically, it's the third of the vacation posts, but it's the first of the post-vacation wrap up posts, i.e. the part where I feel guilty for ignoring my blog for weeks and spam it with photos. Lots and lots of photos.) Sarah arrived on a Friday and the next day, we headed into Seoul for some shopping and sight seeing. We spend a few hours looking at fans and posing for (other people's) pictures in Insa-dong, then walked to the nearby Gyeongbokgung, or the Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven.

Gyeongbokgung was built in 1395, shortly after the foundation of the Josoen Dynasty, and served as the main palace until 1592, when the Japanese burnt it down. It was rebuilt 300 years later, only to be destroyed by the Japanese again in 1915. It's a story that's repeated throughout Korea; this was once a site of important cultural patrimony until the Japanese burnt it to the ground. I had no idea the Japanese were so arson prone. Restoration of Gyeongbokgung began twenty years ago and it's a lovely, if no longer authentic, site. (In all honestly, I spent enough time in the museum and archaeology business to know how very few "historic sites" are truly authentic and Gyeongbokgung is at least a well done restoration.)


We arrived at Gyeongbokgung in time to see the changing of the guard ceremony. Maybe it's my own history in historic reenactment, but I always love watching other people suffer through it. I especially enjoyed the costumes (I know that one's pure schadenfreude), the weapons and the dude playing a conch shell.


One of the things I like the most about the Korean palaces are the roofs. The mixture of the upturned roofs and the brightly painted eves create an appealing and quintessentially Korean image. (I do apologize for sounding like a travel guide. I can't help it; I just really like traditional Korean roofs.)


The main throne hall of Gyeongbokgung, Geunjeongjeon, is surrounded by a two tier terrace decorated with statues of the Chinese zodiac and the guardian spirits. This one is, I think, a tiger, or possible Baekho, guardian of the west. The palace guidebook and my two week only memory are unclear as to which.


Korean buildings are heated by ondol, a system of heated passageways underneath the floor. Traditionally smoke from a wood fire was used to heat the passageways, while modern ondol systems are a series of pipes filled with hot water. (The heater in my apartment didn't work particularly well, so this winter my apartment was heated solely by my building's ondol.) This is the chimney for the ondol system at Gyotaejeon, the queen's primary residence.


Behind the main palace is Hyangwonjeong, a small pagoda on an island in the middle of a square pond. The lily pads were so thick that the ducks in the pond had to waddle across them to reach open water. Hyangwonjeong is a well known symbol of the Joseon dynasty - I've seen multiple pictures of it - but I didn't know where it was until I visited Gyeongbokgung.




Gyeonghoeru Pavilion was built as a spot for the king to entertain guests and throw lavish parties. It's surrounded by a pond, and the king and his entourage would boat around the pavilion during the parties while Mount Inwangsan towered over them. I'll be honest, I would have totally partied with the Joseon king.

The full set of photos are here.

Taco Night!

Sarah taught me how to make homemade tortillas* on Wednesday! She's in the Peace Corps, so she knows these things. They were super easy to make, which was a surprise. Sarah said they were easy, but me and cooking don't get along so well. If I was the sort of person who ever made Jello, I would probably manage to burn it.

On Monday, we went to Lotte Mart, the Korean equivalent of Super Wal-mart, and bought flour, salt and oil for the tortillas. We also picked up some tomatoes, onions and garlic to use as filling. We tried to buy beans, but could only find the sweeten red beans used for 팥빙수 and while 팥빙수 is delicious, tacos are not the time nor the place for sweet sticky beans. Then on Tuesday we went to Costco and, among many other things, bought avocados and cheese.

Wednesday night, we made the tortillas. We spiced the dough with Cajun seasoning to make them extra tasty (and because my family is insane when it comes to Cajun seasoning). Sarah also suggested adding taco seasoning or garlic for flavor. Both sound delicious. Sarah showed me how to make dough and I made the tortillas. We bought a rolling pen, but they still came out pretty oblong. Cooking is hard, yo. After we made the tortillas, Sarah chopped the vegetables while I cooked the tortillas. Well, actually she chopped all the vegetables while I watched the first tortilla cook. My stove is actually a hot plate and isn't very efficient. (I have to pre-boil water if I want to make pasta or else it takes half an hour for the water to boil.) The first tortilla took nearly twenty minutes to cook, but the rest went much faster.


The first plate of toppings: tomatoes, red onions, avocados and garlic. We possible cut too much garlic, but it was super tasty.


The second plate of toppings: cheese and avocados. You'll notice there are avocados on both plates, to which I say, "What's your point? Girls gotta have their avocados!"
Once the tortillas were cooking at a decent speed, we piled our toppings onto the tortillas while they cooked and then ate them straight from the stove. They were delicious! We only had vegetable fillings this time. Next time I either need to find beans to use or saute some tofu to use as filling.


Om nom nom nom nom!
*I'm currently reading 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus and on the way to the airport to pick Sarah up, I read the section about maize and homemade tortillas and I very seriously considered running away to Mexico, right then and there. Because making life choices based on the availability of tortillas is a totally valid decision.

Vacation!

I've been friends with Sarah since high school. We met when I first moved to North Carolina in 8th grade, but I mostly remember her as that girl who skipped very violently and she says I was the new girl with the weird pig lunch bag. We had the same PE class in 9th grade though, and ended getting in a long conversation about Harry Potter and how, seriously, was child services never called? We've been friends ever since.

Sarah is currently serving in the Peace Corps in Tonga (in the South Pacific), but right now, she's in Korea visiting me! (She's currently on the floor of my apartment watching Gossip Girls. Korean internet is a tad bit faster than Tongan internet.) This is super exciting for a number of reasons. I haven't seen anyone from home for the past ten months AND I'm getting the next two weeks off school.

Taking a vacation at home, especially when you have a guest, is a new experience. I'm enjoying taking the opportunity to really look at my city. I tend to get stuck in a rut, hanging out with my friends and ignoring all the things Korea has to offer. On Saturday, Sarah and I went to Insadong, a shopping district in northern Seoul. Insadong mostly sells traditional Korean objects: hanji (traditional Korean mulberry paper), celadon pottery, silk bags and fans.


There will be loads of posts coming, but right now I'm just going to enjoy Sarah's visit and my vacation.

Deoksugung

A few weeks ago I visited Deoksugung, one of the five grand palaces of Seoul. Deoksugung, the smallest of the palaces, is located across the street from City Hall. It first became a royal palace in 1592 after the Japanese invaded and burnt all the rest. In 1897, King Gojang founded the Great Han Empire and made Deoksugung his primary palace. (It was a very short great empire. Thirteen years later, the Japanese invaded again, forced King Gojang to resign and burnt some more palaces. Always with the invading and the burning. It's no wonder the Koreans dislike them so much.)

I originally visited Deoksugung because I wanted to see their traditional changing of the guard ceremony, but when I showed up, there was a sign saying the ceremony had been canceled and hundreds (literally) of police officers were sitting in front of the main gates. The palace was still open though, so I sidled through the crowd and went to take a look.


Junghwajeon Hall was the main throne hall of Deoksugung. It's a new building, only built in 1902. King Gojang would have conducted official state affairs and greeted foreign dignitaries here.


In front of Junghwajeon Hall are two lines of court stones. Court stones are engraved stone tablets that indicate where each civil and military official of the court was to stand during official ceremonies.


Seokjojeon is a western style building next to Junghwajeon Hall, built in an attempt to modernize the Great Han Empire. It was completed in 1910 and housed the emperor's sleeping quarters and audience hall. It was a bizarre juxtaposition; this neoclassical building surrounded by traditional Korean architecture.


The grassy area in front of the fountain was off limits, but that didn't stop the children from exploring the fountain. A whole pile of them hopped over the rope fence to get a look and enjoy running around in the fresh grass.


Behind Seokjojeon there is a small, forested garden. The high rises of modern Seoul are visible from most of the palace, but in the garden is was possible to get away from the city for a few minutes and just enjoy the nature.

The full set of photos (with commentary) is here.