this is my last post from south korea. it's crazy that it's been a year. and while i'm very ready to go to school and move forward with becoming a teacher... i don't want to leave. i like it here. i like life here, a lot.
ever since i thought of going back to school for elementary education, i've considered coming back here an option. lifechurch sunday services are held at an international school called gsis. and i have friends that work there now. well, lately it's becoming a more forefront option. definitely something i'll be looking into and praying about for the next year. anyone want to come back with me?? :)
this past week has flown by. not only have i been preparing to leave, i've also been helping transition two new teachers to slp. they have been following me and another teacher around all week. it's been fine, but mostly i'm thankful that tomorrow i'll have my classes to myself one more time to say goodbye. it's going to be a very hard day. i'll have goodbyes lasting through the entire day. mostly it's three classes i'm very sad to be leaving. both my preschool classes, and my old preschool class. theyre all amazing kids and i wish i could follow them all around and make sure they get only the best things in life. but i guess that's part of teaching... or so i'm told. something else i'll have to learn, on top of the goodbye thing. i'm pretty good at that already though.
in case it's not been made clear... here's what's next for me:
tomorrow is my last day as a teacher at slp. at 10am on saturday i fly out of seoul and arrive into chicago at 3:30pm on saturday. i will sleep at home and then sunday morning i move to columbia city, indiana. i am living with ruthie and melissa duttweiler. i start classes on monday. yes, like monday august 31. i will take classes for fall '09 and spring '10. i will student teach fall '10. in december '10 i will be an elementary teacher.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Thursday, August 13, 2009
"in front of them all"
this past saturday i had the opportunity to go the DMZ--demilitarized zone. i went with liz and two of her friends visiting from indiana (sarah and marlise). i had to wake up at 4:30am and be at the USO office by 7:00am. in case you dont know me well: i dont do mornings. but we made it, despite me not having my passport, liz and sarah not having collared shirts and marlise having opened toed shoes. :)
i sat in a window seat on our way up. we went along the han river all the way north. i started noticing on the way up that there was barbed wire running along the gated shore. and then there were military posts every mile or so. the later explanation we got is that the han is also the imjin river...the border river between north and south... ...
so anyways, we got up to camp bonifas, which is the last military base outside of the DMZ. there we got briefed on the history and current situation. and what was expected of us. it was really interesting to hear about the level of security and day to day intensity of their jobs up there. then we got on military buses and began our journey into the dmz. the first thing we camp upon was a blockade that is set up so that tanks cannot come through. there was A LOT of vegetation! i dont know why i was so surprised by it. i guess i hadnt really thought about it that much. but i think its what scared me most. i mean, when we were on the bus we couldnt see anything except directly in front of us. nothing has been cleared in over 50 years... finally we came out of that and were able to see the south korean village...the freedom village, or taeseong-dong.
then we got to the JSA--joint security area. we got off the buses and filed in two lines through a building to 'the line.' the MDL--military demarcation line. i was at the end of the end of the line. so when i was finally able to see anything, i realized i was staring at north korea. kinda fun, eh? there were 2 ROK--republic of korea (the good guys)--soldiers on the sides of our group. a UN soldier giving us the tour and 3 more ROK soldiers down on the line in front of us. we could only see 1 DPRK--democratic people's republic of korea (bad guys)--soldier. he was a bit freaked out by all 90 of us tourists and i got a good picture of him with his binoculars checking us out. we took some pictures and then walked into T-2. its the middle "temporary" building set up by the UN where all armistice talks are held. there were 2 ROK soldiers in here too. they locked the n korea door so we were safe. this was my chance to stand on the MDL and IN NORTH KOREA!
we left the JSA and went to the third tunnel. yes...third. because they've found 4 in total of n korea trying to spy/invade. the tunnel was intense. we walked straight down for uhm...at least 15 min. oh and we had to wear yellow hard hats. then we walked through the tunnel for another 15 min...apparently n koreans are shorter than americans bc dude, it was a LOW ceiling. when we got to the end there was a door. and we could look through a window to see another door which was the MDL quite a bit underground. then we turned around and went back the way we came. that was quite hard. quite. couldve used my lost inhaler at that point, lol.
then we watched a movie about all the tunnels and all the assassination attempts and all the post armistice agreement signing events...crazy. the DPRK military is a bit intense and insane.
after lunch we headed to an observation post. it was on a cliff so we could see quite a bit of n korea. we could see gijeong-dong, the north korean propaganda village from there. with their ridiculously large flag (30 meters wide). and tons of statues/monuments of kim il-seong and kim jeong-il. we werent allowed to take pictures except for behind a stupid yellow line. so my pictures didnt exactly turn out. but i saw it. should be good enough, right?
after this we went back to camp bonifas and got back on our bus back to seoul. when we got back, we went into the korean war memorial museum. it was incredibly interesting as well. that day was seriously one of the coolest experiences of my life. ...sorry i wrote in such detail. but it's that cool to me.
i sat in a window seat on our way up. we went along the han river all the way north. i started noticing on the way up that there was barbed wire running along the gated shore. and then there were military posts every mile or so. the later explanation we got is that the han is also the imjin river...the border river between north and south... ...
so anyways, we got up to camp bonifas, which is the last military base outside of the DMZ. there we got briefed on the history and current situation. and what was expected of us. it was really interesting to hear about the level of security and day to day intensity of their jobs up there. then we got on military buses and began our journey into the dmz. the first thing we camp upon was a blockade that is set up so that tanks cannot come through. there was A LOT of vegetation! i dont know why i was so surprised by it. i guess i hadnt really thought about it that much. but i think its what scared me most. i mean, when we were on the bus we couldnt see anything except directly in front of us. nothing has been cleared in over 50 years... finally we came out of that and were able to see the south korean village...the freedom village, or taeseong-dong.
then we got to the JSA--joint security area. we got off the buses and filed in two lines through a building to 'the line.' the MDL--military demarcation line. i was at the end of the end of the line. so when i was finally able to see anything, i realized i was staring at north korea. kinda fun, eh? there were 2 ROK--republic of korea (the good guys)--soldiers on the sides of our group. a UN soldier giving us the tour and 3 more ROK soldiers down on the line in front of us. we could only see 1 DPRK--democratic people's republic of korea (bad guys)--soldier. he was a bit freaked out by all 90 of us tourists and i got a good picture of him with his binoculars checking us out. we took some pictures and then walked into T-2. its the middle "temporary" building set up by the UN where all armistice talks are held. there were 2 ROK soldiers in here too. they locked the n korea door so we were safe. this was my chance to stand on the MDL and IN NORTH KOREA!
we left the JSA and went to the third tunnel. yes...third. because they've found 4 in total of n korea trying to spy/invade. the tunnel was intense. we walked straight down for uhm...at least 15 min. oh and we had to wear yellow hard hats. then we walked through the tunnel for another 15 min...apparently n koreans are shorter than americans bc dude, it was a LOW ceiling. when we got to the end there was a door. and we could look through a window to see another door which was the MDL quite a bit underground. then we turned around and went back the way we came. that was quite hard. quite. couldve used my lost inhaler at that point, lol.
then we watched a movie about all the tunnels and all the assassination attempts and all the post armistice agreement signing events...crazy. the DPRK military is a bit intense and insane.
after lunch we headed to an observation post. it was on a cliff so we could see quite a bit of n korea. we could see gijeong-dong, the north korean propaganda village from there. with their ridiculously large flag (30 meters wide). and tons of statues/monuments of kim il-seong and kim jeong-il. we werent allowed to take pictures except for behind a stupid yellow line. so my pictures didnt exactly turn out. but i saw it. should be good enough, right?
after this we went back to camp bonifas and got back on our bus back to seoul. when we got back, we went into the korean war memorial museum. it was incredibly interesting as well. that day was seriously one of the coolest experiences of my life. ...sorry i wrote in such detail. but it's that cool to me.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
it's august.
i'm back in korea and i can't believe that i was even gone for the past week.
my family and friends had the coolest surprise i've ever received waiting for me at the airport. kady! i was so amazed and thankful to have her around for the week. and what a week it was.
-coldstone outing...
-shopping
-craig's goodbye party
-crazy carnival ride! (ask about that sometime)
-hair cut and new drivers license
-packing, moving and unpacking in columbia city
-roadtrip to st. louis, LUKE'S WEDDING
i seriously can't believe i was home. and i can't believe i only have a month left...
even after just a week, it was so good to be back with my kids. i love them so much and i have so much fun watching them grow up and realizing how much english theyre actually learning. i'm going to miss them TONS! well certain ones more than others. i'm starting to wonder how much i'm going to miss my coworkers, church and friends, and actually korea. i really like living here. but i dont know how much of it is liking korea and how much of it is liking living as a foreigner. when i was home and was sharing with person after person about living here... i started to realize when i was describing it, that a lot of what i was saying was similar to my life in the DR. maybe it's all just related to living in a foreign country... somehow. i find it easier. and more comforting. weird, but not sure how to explain.
my family and friends had the coolest surprise i've ever received waiting for me at the airport. kady! i was so amazed and thankful to have her around for the week. and what a week it was.
-coldstone outing...
-shopping
-craig's goodbye party
-crazy carnival ride! (ask about that sometime)
-hair cut and new drivers license
-packing, moving and unpacking in columbia city
-roadtrip to st. louis, LUKE'S WEDDING
i seriously can't believe i was home. and i can't believe i only have a month left...
even after just a week, it was so good to be back with my kids. i love them so much and i have so much fun watching them grow up and realizing how much english theyre actually learning. i'm going to miss them TONS! well certain ones more than others. i'm starting to wonder how much i'm going to miss my coworkers, church and friends, and actually korea. i really like living here. but i dont know how much of it is liking korea and how much of it is liking living as a foreigner. when i was home and was sharing with person after person about living here... i started to realize when i was describing it, that a lot of what i was saying was similar to my life in the DR. maybe it's all just related to living in a foreign country... somehow. i find it easier. and more comforting. weird, but not sure how to explain.
Friday, July 24, 2009
goggles and swim caps
ok. so my sporadic updates are not from lack of eventfulness... its just that it all seems normal now. (it's going to be interesting living in indiana after this year)
we went on a "field trip" yesterday to the swimming pool. it was also the day of my last (and most difficult) open class. so i wore shorts and a tank to the pool. i was not planning on getting wet. i figured the swim instructors and the three other teachers could handle it. well... one of my preschoolers was have issues with her goggles, so i went over to her to help her out. the kids were so adorable with their goggles and all of them had swim caps. so then, without (an english) warning, i was soaked. one of the instructors told the 50some students to splash me!! so at this point i just jumped in. when the pool fun was over we followed the girls into the showers, where christina and i proceeded to rinse off our naked lil girls. they stripped their suits and just stood there in lines waiting for us to rinse them off. then they pranced into the changing room and changed. i proceeded to glare at the jerk instructor that got me all wet and then plop onto the cold tile floor waiting for jason to take pictures of all the kids. when we got back to school i changed into my dress for open class. i had a science activity with the lil newbie kids. when i walked in, they were all freaking out bc amy had smelly clay. so when i told her to put it away she started pouting. then hugh started pouting bc his helicopter pieces were white and not colored. so i switched him. but then amy wanted by pink balloon. so i gave it to her, but then she popped it. so i had to give her her old one back. and then hugh and jessica popped their balloons and jessica started crying. so i made her stop crying but then she climbed onto my lap and the strap on my dress started ripping. SOOO, i went home and changed for the third time that day. i ended up having to make a-young (one of my best/favorite students) write 'lines' today bc she was so disrespectful. and then my open class didnt go well bc the students wouldn't talk. they wouldnt even repeat new vocab words i was teaching them. my boss left me a note saying that the parents think the material i'm doing is too boring and that the kids dont speak enough. IT'S THE SCHOOL'S CURRICULUM!! bah
anyways, today stephanie offered to take all of the staff to a movie and dinner. no one went. so bryan and i went. it was incredibly awkward. i felt like i was in a class being taught on how to act like a 21yr old korean girl. i was disregarded and pushed aside so much by stephanie. she would barely answer anything i said to her. i was expected to sit there and listen. it was ridiculous. she was all talking it up with bryan. at one point bryan looked at me and was like "so beth, what do you think?" it's unbelievable that i can be one of her best teachers and that means squat to her. she treats the male teachers so much better. and she treats christina better bc she's older. but i get nothing. it's soooo completely different from the american merit based system. and i've had class after class tell be about the difference in certain cultures, but it's still so insulting when you have to live it.
ok. well that's just a small glimpse as to what my days consist of. haha.
i'll be in chicago/nwindiana from july 25-july 30. and st louis for july 31-aug 1.
we went on a "field trip" yesterday to the swimming pool. it was also the day of my last (and most difficult) open class. so i wore shorts and a tank to the pool. i was not planning on getting wet. i figured the swim instructors and the three other teachers could handle it. well... one of my preschoolers was have issues with her goggles, so i went over to her to help her out. the kids were so adorable with their goggles and all of them had swim caps. so then, without (an english) warning, i was soaked. one of the instructors told the 50some students to splash me!! so at this point i just jumped in. when the pool fun was over we followed the girls into the showers, where christina and i proceeded to rinse off our naked lil girls. they stripped their suits and just stood there in lines waiting for us to rinse them off. then they pranced into the changing room and changed. i proceeded to glare at the jerk instructor that got me all wet and then plop onto the cold tile floor waiting for jason to take pictures of all the kids. when we got back to school i changed into my dress for open class. i had a science activity with the lil newbie kids. when i walked in, they were all freaking out bc amy had smelly clay. so when i told her to put it away she started pouting. then hugh started pouting bc his helicopter pieces were white and not colored. so i switched him. but then amy wanted by pink balloon. so i gave it to her, but then she popped it. so i had to give her her old one back. and then hugh and jessica popped their balloons and jessica started crying. so i made her stop crying but then she climbed onto my lap and the strap on my dress started ripping. SOOO, i went home and changed for the third time that day. i ended up having to make a-young (one of my best/favorite students) write 'lines' today bc she was so disrespectful. and then my open class didnt go well bc the students wouldn't talk. they wouldnt even repeat new vocab words i was teaching them. my boss left me a note saying that the parents think the material i'm doing is too boring and that the kids dont speak enough. IT'S THE SCHOOL'S CURRICULUM!! bah
anyways, today stephanie offered to take all of the staff to a movie and dinner. no one went. so bryan and i went. it was incredibly awkward. i felt like i was in a class being taught on how to act like a 21yr old korean girl. i was disregarded and pushed aside so much by stephanie. she would barely answer anything i said to her. i was expected to sit there and listen. it was ridiculous. she was all talking it up with bryan. at one point bryan looked at me and was like "so beth, what do you think?" it's unbelievable that i can be one of her best teachers and that means squat to her. she treats the male teachers so much better. and she treats christina better bc she's older. but i get nothing. it's soooo completely different from the american merit based system. and i've had class after class tell be about the difference in certain cultures, but it's still so insulting when you have to live it.
ok. well that's just a small glimpse as to what my days consist of. haha.
i'll be in chicago/nwindiana from july 25-july 30. and st louis for july 31-aug 1.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
when the rain starts to pour
i'll be home in 2 weeks and 2 days. for 1 week. for lunch today morg, christina and i went to galguksu. its amazing soup--noodles and veggies (galbi pego -- without beef). we ended up eating with jordana. a friend of ours from cali. she just got back from 2 weeks at home. she still has four months here, but she said it was so strange being home so close to the end of her contract. when she woke up this morning she said it felt like it'd all been a dream. and it was really hard to be there, but it was even harder to leave it after just 2 weeks. we'll see how i do after just a week, with less than a month left.
i dont really have a reason for not writing on here in a while. i havent been that busy or anything. just laziness i guess. i feel like im starting to slide into my normal leaving process with people here. i've been getting annoyed or even arguing with people here more.
we just had another song contest on monday. my alligator preschoolers ended up being one of the two classes that won. bobby chose surfin usa for them to sing. they were so good. everyone sang and they even did motions and a bit of dancing. i had chosen aint no mountain high for my bear kids....which they all knew, but they just dont like singing as much. but their motions were great! haha i'm going to miss those kids so much.
today one of my kids told us that his dad was yelling at his mom last night so she started to yell back at him. then she got really mad when he said something so she starting hitting him a lot. then another student piped in with his own story. he was working on his homework the night before. he was reading his storybook when his mom came over and yelled at him because he wasnt working hard. he told her he was trying very hard. so she grabbed his book and threw it at the trash can. some of the stories our kids tell us are heartbreaking. like...earlier this week one of my elementary school students told me that he had fallen at soccer practice and scraped up his arm. then when his mom saw him asleep doing his homework she started smacking his wound until it broke open. can you imagine?? ugh. i wish i could scream at their parents! and then take all my kids... i dont know what i'd do then. but still.
it's definitely monsoon season. its been raining more often...every weekend at least. and today it was storming ALL day. it's not so much fun at this point to not have a car. maybe this is preparing me for when i'll own my own car. mama, i'm so glad i have those rainboots. best gift ever :)
i dont really have a reason for not writing on here in a while. i havent been that busy or anything. just laziness i guess. i feel like im starting to slide into my normal leaving process with people here. i've been getting annoyed or even arguing with people here more.
we just had another song contest on monday. my alligator preschoolers ended up being one of the two classes that won. bobby chose surfin usa for them to sing. they were so good. everyone sang and they even did motions and a bit of dancing. i had chosen aint no mountain high for my bear kids....which they all knew, but they just dont like singing as much. but their motions were great! haha i'm going to miss those kids so much.
today one of my kids told us that his dad was yelling at his mom last night so she started to yell back at him. then she got really mad when he said something so she starting hitting him a lot. then another student piped in with his own story. he was working on his homework the night before. he was reading his storybook when his mom came over and yelled at him because he wasnt working hard. he told her he was trying very hard. so she grabbed his book and threw it at the trash can. some of the stories our kids tell us are heartbreaking. like...earlier this week one of my elementary school students told me that he had fallen at soccer practice and scraped up his arm. then when his mom saw him asleep doing his homework she started smacking his wound until it broke open. can you imagine?? ugh. i wish i could scream at their parents! and then take all my kids... i dont know what i'd do then. but still.
it's definitely monsoon season. its been raining more often...every weekend at least. and today it was storming ALL day. it's not so much fun at this point to not have a car. maybe this is preparing me for when i'll own my own car. mama, i'm so glad i have those rainboots. best gift ever :)
Sunday, June 21, 2009
when letters arent enough
it's a sunday afternoon. i didnt make it to church this morning. i probably shouldve. its been a rough week and i really enjoy my time at lifechurch and the people there. but i just didnt have the drive to get up and go today.
yesterday xstina and liz were great. because our beach plans got cancelled on account of the beginning of monsoon season, they declared the day as "beth must have fun day." we ended up going into the city to gangnam to COEX. its the biggest underground mall in asia. and well, i'm pretty sure everyone in asia was there yesterday. i love the crowds, but i think it was getting to the girls. but they were good sports and pushed through. our first stop was the bookstore. we enjoyed sitting in there for an hour, finding books and eventually all walking out with one book. so to add to my list...i'm now reading brief encounters with che guevara. next we headed to find a movie to watch. we got tickets to see the taking of pelham 123. then we went to uno's for some amazing deep dish pizza. well, pretty good...not the same as giordanos though. we got some starbucks before the movie. it was pretty intense, but really interesting. it was fun seeing john travolta like that...haha.
our new coworker gets in today. his name is bryan schuetz. i guess they call him schuetz (shoots) instead of bryan. he gets five days of following teddy around before teddy takes off. its gonna be weird without him at school. definitely quieter. :)
68 more days
yesterday xstina and liz were great. because our beach plans got cancelled on account of the beginning of monsoon season, they declared the day as "beth must have fun day." we ended up going into the city to gangnam to COEX. its the biggest underground mall in asia. and well, i'm pretty sure everyone in asia was there yesterday. i love the crowds, but i think it was getting to the girls. but they were good sports and pushed through. our first stop was the bookstore. we enjoyed sitting in there for an hour, finding books and eventually all walking out with one book. so to add to my list...i'm now reading brief encounters with che guevara. next we headed to find a movie to watch. we got tickets to see the taking of pelham 123. then we went to uno's for some amazing deep dish pizza. well, pretty good...not the same as giordanos though. we got some starbucks before the movie. it was pretty intense, but really interesting. it was fun seeing john travolta like that...haha.
our new coworker gets in today. his name is bryan schuetz. i guess they call him schuetz (shoots) instead of bryan. he gets five days of following teddy around before teddy takes off. its gonna be weird without him at school. definitely quieter. :)
68 more days
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
사랑
i just bought a new cd on itunes. thanks lukie. its a cd by stephen kellogg and the sixers--bulletproof heart. music suggest by my cousin...and 4 starred by me. just in case you wanted to check it out.
yesterday we had a field trip to Herb Land. we were on the bus for about 45 min to get there. it was sort of ridiculous, but we had fun on the bus. when we got there, all the kids sat in a lil green house at tables and we made soap. here's a video of the kids mixing the oils, water and scrapings.
the kids seemed to have fun making it. they were a lil concerned about getting the hands messy at first, but it was fun. even the teachers got all messy. then we helped them put their names and decorate them with leaves and flowers. i kind of wish i had one myself. we served them lunch there and then ran around the green house a bit.
the ride home was a bit more difficult. i put four of my 6 boys in the back of the bus and then sat in front of them with the other two and sarang. the ride home took an hour and by the end of it i was more angry with troy than i had ever been in the past 9 months. he would not listen!!
i have an open class tomorrow. i wrote up my lesson plan for it today. i seem ready...but im putting a lot on the kids. its my best class...jenny, jo, john, coral, ayoung. so i have a lot of faith in them...but its still a lot riding on a bunch of 7yr kids. kay (head teacher) was telling me that i shouldnt care if their whole class pulls out to go to another school. i tried to explain to her that i love these kids and theyre my favorites...and i'd just be really sad. she didnt get it. i dunno. its hard to explain how i feel about some of these kids. well... some of them. like yesterday...on the bus ride home from the field trip. sarang fell asleep on me. i kept having to move her bc i had to deal with other kids. but she slept through it all. she's so small. she's so precious. she's a ha
ndful. but through it all, i've gained her trust. she's like a mini-me. so i know its a big deal to have her trust. and i was realizing all this as i looked down at her. she'll probably not remember me in 5 yrs, but i'll always remember her. and i prayed for her right then. that someone would always love her like i do. always care for her as a person...even beyond what her parents can give her. and that someone would be there when she starts asking the big questions...someone with the right answers. and that He would just keep her safe and miraculously help form her into a better person, even though her environment isnt that great. ugh. hopefully when i become a teacher i wont get this attached to my kids.
yesterday we had a field trip to Herb Land. we were on the bus for about 45 min to get there. it was sort of ridiculous, but we had fun on the bus. when we got there, all the kids sat in a lil green house at tables and we made soap. here's a video of the kids mixing the oils, water and scrapings.
the kids seemed to have fun making it. they were a lil concerned about getting the hands messy at first, but it was fun. even the teachers got all messy. then we helped them put their names and decorate them with leaves and flowers. i kind of wish i had one myself. we served them lunch there and then ran around the green house a bit.
the ride home was a bit more difficult. i put four of my 6 boys in the back of the bus and then sat in front of them with the other two and sarang. the ride home took an hour and by the end of it i was more angry with troy than i had ever been in the past 9 months. he would not listen!!i have an open class tomorrow. i wrote up my lesson plan for it today. i seem ready...but im putting a lot on the kids. its my best class...jenny, jo, john, coral, ayoung. so i have a lot of faith in them...but its still a lot riding on a bunch of 7yr kids. kay (head teacher) was telling me that i shouldnt care if their whole class pulls out to go to another school. i tried to explain to her that i love these kids and theyre my favorites...and i'd just be really sad. she didnt get it. i dunno. its hard to explain how i feel about some of these kids. well... some of them. like yesterday...on the bus ride home from the field trip. sarang fell asleep on me. i kept having to move her bc i had to deal with other kids. but she slept through it all. she's so small. she's so precious. she's a ha
ndful. but through it all, i've gained her trust. she's like a mini-me. so i know its a big deal to have her trust. and i was realizing all this as i looked down at her. she'll probably not remember me in 5 yrs, but i'll always remember her. and i prayed for her right then. that someone would always love her like i do. always care for her as a person...even beyond what her parents can give her. and that someone would be there when she starts asking the big questions...someone with the right answers. and that He would just keep her safe and miraculously help form her into a better person, even though her environment isnt that great. ugh. hopefully when i become a teacher i wont get this attached to my kids.
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