I don’t know if Chad mentioned that it was raining A LOT when we were in El Nido.  Above is a picture of Chad on our first day.  We were famished and dirty from the bus ride.  We just sat and watched the waves.

A view from the restaurant in our hostel.  Watch out for sea spray!

I have to say, yes, I went to the Philippines because I wanted some Vitamin D.  That being said, it was really wonderful to see the islands surrounded by storms.  You never see clouds in a postcard.  Despite the fact that we couldn’t run around in the sand without being pelted by rain drops, it was very beautiful.

One our second day the weather cleared up by the late afternoon so we decided to take a sunset cruise.  Cleared up meaning we could walk without being drenched.  It was a rocky boat ride but it was nice to get out and Chad took some magnificent photos.

On the third day we decided to sign up for an island hopping tour and brave the weather which cooperated above and beyond our expectations.

Island Hopping Boat Tour – Sea Level

Sunshine!  We are so happy!

Next is a video of me waving.  Woot.  You can tell we were adjusting to the underwater filmography.

Kate Waving – UNDER WATER!

My mask was a little tight.

Chad has some awesome nautical moves!

This is probably me favorite video (LaGOONy).  Chad head butts the camera and when the lens is in and out of the water it looks like we have HUGE bodies and tiny heads.  Oh, and NAME THAT TUNE!  Sorry, it’s me and not Chad singing!

LaGOONy

We finally found fish!  This spot was amazing.  We saw more fish here that our entire diving trip in Thailand last year!

Fish

Look forward to another fish video at the marine sanctuary on Panglao.

This is our lunch spot.  Look at the video for a panoramic view!

Lunch Break Beach

Relaxing after a long and wonderful day on the water – wow we got roasted!

The porch area of our hostel.

Our final day we decided to do a cliff climb.  It was fantastic.  Just us and the guide and limestone!

The view was incredible and terrifying!  Look at the video!

Cliff View of El Nido

We could see that red flag from the beach in front of our hostel – it was soooo tiny!

Me with our guide.

Water break!

Whoa Nellie!

So, after the sunset sail we went on an evening swim in the ocean.  I got in a fight with a stray board – it won.  While we were snorkeling my wounds got sunburned!  You can tell that I had fun!

Time to go back to Puerto Pincessa.  Above is the kind of bus we took to El Nido.  Below is the less comfortable option we took back.

Next, Bohol!

In other news, we are doing really well!  I can’t believe that our time here is almost up.  We finish at school next Wednesday, we leave Samcehok a week from tomorrow, then we take off for Beijing on the 4th!  Also, we will officially be back in Chicago on the 19th of April at 3:10 PM!  YAYY!!  We can’t wait to get home and see all of our family and friends!

Thank you for keeping Grandpa Baird in your thoughts – keep it up!  He is improving to the point of serenading Grandma Baird on her birthday/Valentine’s Day!  We are very happy!

Well, it’s time to look for some more Couch Surfers for our trip.

See you two months from today!

Love, Kad & Chate

Recently our school went on a double field trip day with some of our Garden school funding.

NOTE: Our school was designated a “Garden School” earlier this year and given some huge amount of money to renovate and redesign the programming.  Kate and I have no idea really why our school was given this “honor” but we can assume it has something to do with our Vice Principal who last year was a supervisor at the office of education, so he has lots of connections.  This all doesn’t really affect us toooo much except that everyone is going crazy trying to figure out how to spend all the money and we’re cramming in a bunch of field trips before the end of the school year to use some of it up.  Hence.. the double field trip day.

The 4-6 graders went to Seoul for 2 days to visit another Garden school and to see some museums etc.  The 1st-3rd graders went to Gyeungju.  This city is about 3 hours south of Samcheok and used to be one of the dynasty capitals before the country was unified and Seoul became the capital.  We’re talking 600-1000 years ago…  So we toured some of the major historic sites, a museum, and a famous Buddhist temple.  I’m glad we got to go on this trip even though the 1st-3rd graders are more difficult to handle than the older kids.  We’ve seen Seoul so many times, it was nice to check off another place (even if our trip was very fast and not at all comprehensive ).

Here are some of our pictures from the trip.  If you’d like to see the full gallery check it out in the photo pages or click here.

*A note to the reader, Chad did the grunt work for this and I am filling in the captions.  Now you know why Chad suddenly became much more effeminate.  It’s just me!    -K

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The sunrise on our way to see the old city.  We have to leave at 7!

I’m also in the process of uploading videos from the event.  They’ll be up soon. UPDATE: They’re up now!

As always – click the image to see a larger version.

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This is MinJae – one of the students in our skit.  He’s amazing… and has the best smile around!

The reason I want to share this with you is that reading this essay  proved to us that the little things we do are paying off.  Not soon after we arrived here we realized that we were not in Korea to make sure everyone can respond to “How are you?” twenty different ways.  We are here as diplomats of the English language and western culture.  Our goals became much bigger that the difference in the pronunciation of ‘rice’ and ‘lice.’   Every time we reach out to those kids and accept them for who they are and for what they already know, they will become more and more comfortable with us and our way of life.  Every time Chad treats me as an equal or says that he cooked dinner he is showing the students that  women and men are equal.  It’s a much bigger goal than we had originally anticipated but much more fulfilling.

Mi Guem’s essay proved to us that our efforts are working.  The entire essay can be read bellow but the parts that pertain to my blog post are in boldface.

안녕하세요. 만나서 반갑습니다.

Hello. Nice to meet you.

저는 근덕초등학교 4학년 진미금입니다.

I’m Jin Mi-geum, a 4th grader at Geundeok Elementary School.

저는 오늘 우리 학교에 대해 말하고자합니다.

I want to tell you about my school.

우리(our) 학교는(school) 한(each) 학년에(Grade) 한반씩(have 1 class) 있는 작은(small) 학교(school)입니다.(is)

My school is a small. We only have one class for each grade.

근덕초등학교에 와 보신적이 있나요?

Have you ever been to my school?

우리(our) 학교는(school) 작지만(small but) 예쁜(pretty or beautiful) 학교(school)입니다.

It is a small but pretty school.

운동장에는(in the playground) 잔디(grass)가 있고,

There is grass on the playground.

교실앞에는(before classroom or in front of my classroom) 정원과(garden) 큰 나무(big tree),

We have gardens and a large tree outside the classrooms.

언제나(every time, or always, all the time) 앉아서(sit) 쉴 수 있는(be able to rest) 긴의자(long chair, bench)가 있습니다.(there are)

There are benches where I rest everyday before class.

여름에(in summer) 나무(tree) 그늘(shade or dusk) 밑의(under) 긴의자에(bench) 앉아있으면(sit),

In the summer I sat under the trees in the shade.

불어오는(swelled up?) 시원한(cool) 바람에(wind or breeze) 기분이 좋습니다.(I feel good)

The cool breeze made me feel good.

우리(our) 학교(school)에는 2명(two person)의 원어민영어선생님(EPIK teacher)이 있습니다.(there are)

There are two EPIK teachers at our school.

선생님의 이름은 케이트와 채드입니다.

Their names are Kate and Chad.

성은 몰라요

I don’t know their last names.

저는 그냥 케이트, 채드라고 부릅니다.

I just call them Kate and Chad.

한국 선생님들은(korea teachers) 케이트 선생님(teacher kate), 채드 선생님(teacher chad)이라고 부르라고(call) 하는데, 이름만(just name) 불러도(call) 영어선생님들은(EPIK teacher) 화내시지 않아요.(don’t angry)

Korean teachers tell me I should call them “Teacher Kate and Teacher Chad” but they don’t get angry if I just call them by their names.

그래서(so) 더(more) 가깝게(close, intimately, friendly, near) 느껴집니다.(feeling)

This makes me feel closer to them.

저는(I) 영어 선생님들과(with EPIK teachers or English teachers) 공부하는(studying) 수업(class)시간(time, hour)이 정말(really) 좋습니다.(like, good)

I really like English class with the EPIK teachers.

영어선생님들(EPIK teachers)은 참(really) 재미있게(fun, interestedly ) 가르쳐주십니다.(teach our)

Their classes are very fun and interesting.

그리고(and) 제가(I) 서툰(terrible, don’t know well, wrong) 말(words)로 물어보아도(ask) 잘(good) 알아듣고(understand) 대답해주십니다. (answer, respond)

If I ask a lame question, they always understand and answer.

케이트, 채드 선생님은 제가 3학년일때 우리 학교에 왔습니다.

Kate and Chad came to my school when I was in the 3rd Grade.

영어선생님들을(EPIK teachers, English teachers) 만나서(meet) 영어가(English) 더욱(more) 좋아졌어요.(like)

I like English more now because I met them.

우리 학교는(our school, my school) 올해(this year) 전원학교에(garden school) 뽑혔다(voted, was singled out, be elected, was chosen)고 합니다.(I heard)

I heard that this year my school was chosen to be a Garden School.

사실(In fact) 전원학교가 무엇인지(what garden school) 저는 잘 모릅니다.(I don’t know well)

To be honest, I don’t know very much about Garden Schools.

하지만 전원학교가 되어서 기쁩니다.

But I am very glad that my school is one.

전원학교가 된 이후로(since be garden school, after garden school) ‘야간(evening) 무료(free, pay free) 반딧불(firefly) 교실(class)’이 생겼어요.(create, make, come into being)

Because my school is now a Garden School, there are special after school classes for free in the evening.

야간 수업으로는 핸드 페인팅, 기타, 바이올린, 영어자격증반이 있는데,

Some of the evening classes include hand painting class, guitar class, violin class and English License Certification class.

부모님들도 배우러 오세요.

Even our parents get to come and study!

모든(every) 수업이(class) 무료(free, pay free)이고 기타(guitars)와 바이올린도(and violins) 학교에서(at the school) 학생들에게(to students) 줍니다.(give)

Each class is free and they even give the students violins and guitars.

저는 영어자격증반에 공부하러 가요.

I go to the English License Certification class to study.

5,6학년이랑 같이 수업을 받아요.

I study with 5th and 6th grade students in the class.

조금(little) 어렵기는(difficult) 하지만(but) 영어수업(enlish class) 받으러 가는게(go) 즐거워요.(fun. be pleasant)

It is a little difficult but I think the class is fun!

5,6학년 언니들은 이번에 영어자격증 시험을 봤어요.

(5th,6th Grade student took English license exam)

합격했는지는 아직 모르겠어요.

The 5th and 6th grade students already took the exam. I don’t know whether they passed yet.

저도 내년에는 영어자격증 시험을 보고 싶어요.

My school got extra money to train students to take the English License exam.

시험보는(testing, exam) 돈(money)도 학교에서(at school) 내줬어요.(gave, pursed, open one’s purse, lay out )

내년에(next year) 제가 시험볼때도(when I take exam) 그랬으면(same happen) 좋겠어요.(I hope. I want)

I plan to take the exam next year.

선생님(teacher)이 말씀하시길(say), 다른(other) 지역(city)으로 체험학습(field learning experience trip, learning trip)도 갈 거래요.

저는(I) 앞으로(future, forward) 기대(expect)가 많이(many, big, a lots) 되요.

My teacher said that we will go on many field trips to other cities. I am excited for the future trips.

시간이 되시면, 우리 학교에 구경오세요(lionize, watch, see the sight of).

If you have time, please come tour our wonderful school.

지금까지, 경청해주셔서 감사합니다. Thank you for listening.

좋은 시간 되세요. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

STOP

I think I could write an entire book about Mi Geum’s essay.  I hope that every foreign teacher with goals similar to ours gets to see how his or her work effected their students.

A note, most of you have probably picked up on the name thing here.  How you address someone is incredibly important.  We have been making a point to always be respectful to everyone – not just those above us. I love the Mi Guem thinks Kate and Chad are our last names.   Chad made a post recently, Annoying Our Students, in it we are teasing them about not understanding when they ask if Chad and I are a couple.  In the first video I say that Mi Guem is my friend, she spazzes out and says “No, you are my teacher!”  It’s cute, especially after reading this essay.

- – -

On another note, look forward to more pictures!  Chad sold our two old digital cameras and got an amazing new lense!  He had some great pictures of our DMZ trip but some are now gone, that’s for another blog post.

One more final tidbit from the lived of Chad and Kate, I took the GRE on Saturday.  My last name, Korroch, is smack bad between Kim and Lee.  I had to raise my hand and ask that the protor read the directions in English!

Chad is out getting a haircut and curry ingrediants.  He is wonderful.  :)  I’m about to start nursing my cold with some Ugly Betty and EMERGEN-C.

OH, MY SISTER MOLLY IS COMING HERE FOR TWO WEEKS IN DECEMBER AND JANUARY!!!

I’m done.

Happy Hump Day!

Love,

Kate & Chad

School is going really well so far this semester.  The class that gave us the most trouble last semester is much better (so far)… not sure who’s to credit for that but we’re happy.  We’re feeling very good about our teaching and are pretty well planned out for the semester.  It’s old routine for us now…    Knock on wood everything stays this good.

This week we have the Seoul trip, another school field trip, and I have a day off from my small school on Friday due to a sports event.  In two weeks we have a 4 day weekend for the Korean Thanksgiving “Chuseok” then in the middle of October and November the classes will have testing for the national assessment.  Then we’ll be into December and almost done!  Wow it’s flying by so fast already.

Strange how I’m already beginning to feel like I need to take every bit of this place in before we leave.  We’re so lucky to be able to do this.

On another note… our students LOVE this video.. and I’m sure you will to.  Be sure to watch for a while… some funny guest singers pop up

Enjoy!

-Chad

“Weigookin” – Foreigner

Sometimes living in Korea as a foreigner and English teacher is a bit like being a celebrity.  Not so much that everyone wants your autograph or there are paparazzi everywhere, although those have both happened, more or less, but more that everyone who sees you is either overly eager to say hello or they’re terrified.  It’s never-ending.  Walking down the street a gaggle of middle school girls will pause when they see you, murmur to themselves, then all say in unison, “Hello!!”.  This is ALWAYS followed by uproarious laughter – never fails.  Occasionally we get some more advanced students who will throw questions at you like you’re a rag doll with a pull string.  “Where are you from?  Where are you going?  What’s your name?  How are you? etc…”

The other end of the spectrum comes when dealing with older people.  Anyone above the age of 55 is usually pretty confused when we walk into their place of business or walk by them on the street.  You’d think this was an over generalization but it’s mostly true.  Old men, “Ajishees”, typically just give you the long stare or, if they’ve been drinking, might try to spurt some incoherent Korean at you.  The old women, “Ajumas”, typically have the same stare but sometimes give you a smile of confusion or a look of death… either/or 

In the beginning this was all very interesting for us.  We didn’t mind being noticed everywhere we went and we just got used to it.  Now after almost 11 months of living here, I have to say it’s pretty annoying.  The anonymity of living in a culture like America sounds awfully appealing.  It’s been an interesting phenomenon to experience and one that neither of us will forget.    There aren’t too many other places on the planet where this kind of experience is possible.  Korea is one of the most homogeneous nations in the world.  They have been known for centuries as “The Hermit Kingdom”, and for good reason.  Even after years of foreign influence and cultural exchange comfort levels of average Koreans with foreigners are still very low.  We are, for many people we meet, the first foreigners they’ve ever known.

So with that, we look forward to 12 days from now when we board the plane back to our home country and the comfort of being one of many.  A much needed break.   Then we’ll come back here with our tanks refilled and do it again for 6 months.  Our trip home will probably bring a whole new set of interesting experiences.  The sudden shift from easily tuning out the Korean ramble on the bus or in restaurants to understand everyone around us perfectly will no doubt be very jarring.  If we act very distracted in public places this is probably why.  I’m not sure how pronounced that feeling will be but anytime we hear someone speaking in English around us here it immediately draws our attention.   I can’t imagine when it’s everywhere.

We’re excited to see the changes in America, good and bad, and then to return to Korea and see it with a fresh eye.  I hope the trip brings to light new appreciation for both cultures and countries.  We’ll see…

That’s my rant for the day…  We’ll be home soon!  We are soo excited.

-Chad

ALSO:  Please check out the new design on my personal website!  www.chadjewsbury.com

–My school took me out to a restaurant near the ocean after work one day for a ‘true korean delicacy.’ I’d been out with them a lot before and we usually had some reallly good food. I learned to love korean food with these people. I’d eaten some strange things but nothing compared to that night. We went to a restaurant that was right on the water and the teachers ordered the food. They just told me fish soup – I thought alright.. can’t be too scary – at least it’s cooked, right? That’s more than usual around here. So they bring out this contraption that at first I wasn’t sure what it was.. but now it haunts me. They grabbed a fish – (still alive) – and dropped in the top. After turning the lever on the side for a bit – a fine purée of sorts started to fall out the bottom into the bowl below.  They repeated this for all the bowls and handed them out along with the usual side dishes.  I was very confused and really scared, but I tried it anyways.  One bite was all I could take.  After gagging and realizing what I was eating it was just too much to continue.  The luke warm ground fish soup was not for me…  So – if your school every says let’s go get Chua Tang  - SAY NO! –

A few months later, after our winter vacation we came back and the teachers all went out to lunch before the semester started again.  They took us to a small restaurant about 15 minutes from our school and told us we were eating fish soup, chua tang.  Regrettably, Kate and I both had forgotten the name of the soup that Mark had told us about and went along for ride.  This soup was different though.  It was a mix of Duang Jang Jiggae and Chua tang – or at least it had the Duang Jang spice in it, and it was hot!  Not so ‘fresh’ as Mark described.  So we ate it and picked the little bones out of our teeth and didn’t think too much of it until later that day when we saw Mark and told him we had this strange soup at school that day.  He reminded us of his story and we immediately both had upset stomaches.  The strangest thing about it was we had eaten it and, at least to the extent of continuing to eat it, liked it.  

I only bring this up now because Kate and I have had Chua Tang at 2 of our last 4 meals.  Yesterday our school went on a ‘picnic’ and went fishing in a stream in the mountains near one of our branch schools.  Some of those fish ended up in the soup.  Today we had it again for school lunch!  I hope this is a fluke and it’s not suddenly Chua Tang Season – I can only stomach so much of it.  And thinking about too much makes me sick.   

Sometimes it’s hard to get used to things over here.   I think we’ve done a good job with a lot of it,  but when it comes to things like Chua Tang… I guess I’ll  just never understand.  

The drive to the meeting took abnormally long. Maybe Kyo Ka Sanseinim (VP) was driving extra slow because we had left a half hour early for a meeting that was at most 15 minutes away. Maybe it was his odd choice of music – a strange mix of teenybopper pop and 80s garage band… all in Korean except for one song with a chorus that went something like “Ooh I really want you, I really want you.” Or maybe he just loves awkwardness and driving around in silence. More likely, he’s an upper middle aged man who drives slow and it only felt longer than it actually was.

We arrived at the Office of Education – a stately new building situated near the Chungsol Apartments (high rises) on top of the hill in Samcheok. I had been to the building before so this wasn’t new, but it always means an adventure… Never quite sure who will be there, what the meeting will be for, or how long it will take.
We walked in and up the stairs to the Education offices. I was told to wait in the hallway as VP went in to take care of some sort of business before the meeting started. Meandering through the hallways I was struck by the long sterile hallways of white and grey. All the doors were closed – presumably to conserve heat (as each room is individually heated). I couldn’t help but equate the space to the bureaucracy and the false perception of efficiency that were the hallmarks of the education system in Korea. Everything here was clean and eerily tidy out here, but behind the doors. . .

Other Weigooks (foreigners) started to come up the stars with their administrators or co-teachers and we all exchanged glances of confusion and sympathy. It’s always amusing to see other foreigners at these meetings because we’re almost always in the same boat – we were told of the meeting either 5 minutes before or if we’re lucky the day before, none of us know what the meeting is really about, we’re all hoping there isn’t a dinner afterwards because it’s always just kind of awkward with the supervisors, we’re hoping the meeting will be short, and we hope we can understand at least part of it. We all entered the usual conference style room to see the tables and chairs arranged in a U pattern to facilitate conversation and debate. It looked like a council meeting in some small town in the states – except for the banners. Koreans are obsessed with banners. It’s really quite odd… Every event or meeting or activity is accented by a bright colorful banner. This meeting, of course, was no exception. A large banner across the front of the room displayed some Korean writing and the date and time of our “summit”, if you will. The head of EPIK in Samcheok was at his desk at the top of the U and would oversee the meeting (with his own banner/poster next to him – in case we couldn’t see the big one behind him :). After everyone was seated in their appropriate seat behind their colorful name plate, the meeting began. The opening ceremony was short for this one (luckily). We stood for the national anthem, did the usual introductions and listened to Korean for a while. William, one of the foreigners in the TaLK program (Teaching and Learning in Korea) translated parts of the meeting into English (usually this does not happen and we are left to decipher on our own…).

Now we know what the meeting is about – a forum to discuss our feelings about any issues/problems we’ve had or ideas we might have about how the EPIK program could be improved. Our schools would each present how they have decided to structure their English programs and then we would each speak about our experience so far and any suggestions we may have. We start the presentations and an hour and 15 minutes later (of solid Korean) we start the discussion.

Here is what I find so odd about the Education system here. The foreign teachers are told to come to this meeting with all of our bosses, with free treats and drinks, and fancy banners, and nameplates – and then we’re expected to tell them everything that we don’t like about our experience so far. ? Although all of us have some problems with our schools or problems with our apartments or problems with some students etc… we’re not going to say these things in this kind of meeting. So, instead, we all go around the circle and say the same thing – “I’m happy here. My school has been very gracious and I really appreciate it. It has been hard to adapt to some parts of the culture but overall it’s been a great experience so far. The kids are wonderful and I enjoy teaching.” Some people throw in a few legitimate suggestions like offering more substantial Korean language lessons to teachers, or teaching more sentence structure to the older students, but none of us really express what we are all thinking – Stop making us go to pointless meetings like this where we usually don’t understand anything – Teach your Korean teachers more English… it’s the only way this is really going to work in the long run – Standardize the experience between schools for foreign teachers by developing (or buying) a curriculum and teaching plan to be followed in after school and co-taught classes and by enforcing more structured standards for living and working environments – Require that the administrators in charge of English education have at least some grasp of the English Language and an even better understanding of Western Culture. All of these are legitimate concerns that should be dealt with but they won’t ever get heard in meetings like these. It’s frustrating more than anything. This byproduct of the Confucianism that is still a part of everything here (although less in the younger generations) is so backwards from the way most of us here think. We are do-ers, thinkers, debaters, and for the most part tolerant people. We like to be challenged and made to accept other views or ideas. We like to get things right by working with everyone involved to perfect the system. This is of course at the core of what the administrators are trying to do, but until they understand how foreigners react to these meetings and how much more could get done with smaller groups and conversations from the bottom up, not just from the bottom to the top, the system will remain as it is.

Now, this isn’t to say a lot of great steps aren’t being taken. This fall Korea increased funding for foreign language education in elementary schools by some amazing amount and started requiring that there be one or two full time teachers at almost every school (hence why we are here now). In recent years they’ve started teaching English to first and second graders (although I’m not sure if it’s mandatory) which is crucial and already obviously working. But at the same time, more teachers are here and more problems have arisen – like schools who have never had a foreign teacher not knowing how to deal with them and leaving basically on their own, or teachers having to travel an hour or more to get to their school everyday because there isn’t enough housing in the small town. Without all the pomp of these meetings maybe they could get down to fixing some of these issues too.

With all that said- Kate and I are truly happy with our school. The teachers are all amazing and open to trying to talk to us, the administrators are all friendly and really want to make sure we are comfortable, the students are amazing and inspiring, our commute is never more than 20 minutes, we are usually told when things change in the schedule or meetings/events are upcoming, and most of all we’re treated like part of the Geundeok Family. We are extremely lucky. Many others here have not been as fortunate as we have and we are thankful for our school. I just hope that the system can be fixed even just a little bit so that more people can have the experience we have had. After all, we’re here for the students and the happier we are the better teachers we’ll be. Kate always says – “If we can leave here in a year with the kids feeling more comfortable and excited about meeting foreigners and learning English, then we were successful.” That part is easy if we are happy to come to work everyday.