One Year: Fall Term

I arrived one year ago in August 2008 to begin my Korea teaching career. I can't believe I've been here for over a year now. In the Spring semester of university, I didn't know what I would do after graduation. Determined to teach abroad for one year, I applied to only one company and accepted. Job search: check. I thought to myself, "I can get that desk job whenever." Entering Korea, my intentions were one year of teaching, save money, and then travel. I never knew I would have saved so much money, the US economy would still suck, and I would get a boyfriend. You just never know. I have now re-signed for another 18 months (thankfully with a easy exit clause pending a 45 day notice). Now, my intentions are to work for the Fall term and then take a term-break in the Winter. After backpacking throughout south east Asia, I will return to Chungdahm for the Spring term, and make back the money I spent during the trip.

Knowing very well that a 3 month vacation was in the horizon, I made my last term the best I could. I ended up having the best classes I've ever taught. Best is very subjective because every teacher has different approaches, styles, and personalities. I am the type to do all the exercises, but keep discussion as the main focus full of jokes and sarcasm. I probably showed a movie trailer in every class because movies appeal to young people creating interest in often times very dull subjects; health care, trash disposal, or sand storms. I also like to have running themes to create "inside jokes" within each class. My first Bridge Elementary class, our topic was about phobias. Our discussion led to my fear of Stephen King's "It". These children were probably born after 1990, and had no idea about this movie. They all tried to look it up, and couldn't find it. Of course this discussion led to nightmares, which led to all things gross and horrible. Thus brought on the idea of the "Shadiyah Milkshake"; the running theme of our class. I told other classes about my fear of the clown in "It". Many classes would look up Youtube clips of the movie during break time and imitate the clown. This would translate into the critical thinking projects. In the end, my classes were not only comfortable with my teaching style, but knew how to joke, yet keep on track with the lessons.

If you ask me, my favorite students to teach are middle school students. Not to say, I don't enjoy the elementary level, but there just seems to be something challenging about those shy and apathetic junior high students that I want to break. Luckily, I broke through these "too-cool" students, by making them act during the critical thinking project. To do this, I acted a lot myself. By the end of the term, I got these students to "swim" in the coral reefs for a lesson on how to protect the coral reefs. They had to show what to do and not do when taking a tour of the coral reefs. One female student actually pretended to pee on them! On another occasion, we had a debate about slavery in the United States. The most hard-working boy and girl were paired together to prosecute slavery and the two most slacking students were on the pro-slavery side. Funny enough, the lazy students who played around during the brainstorming part ended up with the better arguments for slavery. They argued that slavery was necessary at the time to boost the US economy and that it provided many slaves with better opportunities for education and jobs then and now. The smarties were stunned and couldn't come up with anything but the tired argument of human rights. It's sad, but true.

Having a successful term cannot be all attributed to myself or the students participation. Much of my success has to be attributed to the classroom I had. I was lucky enough to have the best classroom everyday. It had a TV attached to the computer so I could show all those movie clips. My only high-level elementary class actually used the TV to show the Earth as round in a project. The lesson that day was about religion vs. science in Copoernicus and Galileo's time. The students pretended that Galileo had been called by the "future" and was told the Earth was round. Then, they prosecuted the Pope rather than prosecuted themselves by the Catholic Church as history has told. Another class used the TV to promote a commercial of Samsung investing in Africa to expand business opportunities. One students pretended to be an African and poo in the field because they think Africans don't know better. They wanted to have Samsung invest in toilets in Africa. I can't even describe the uproar in the classroom when the girl squatted and made grunting noises. That day, I actually had a new instructor watching my class for ideas. Yikes!

At the end of the term, I always take photos of each of my classes. Who knows how long my teaching career will last in Korea, but I want to keep these memories so I can reflect back knowing I made a good decision out of university. So far, it's been the right one.

Bridge Listening Elementary Monday & Friday 4pm
The "Shadiyah Milkshake" Groups

Birdie Reading Elementary Tuesday & Wednesday 4pm
The Samsung Africa Toilet Group

Eagle Listening Elementary Thursday 4pm
The Galileo Group

Eagle Listening Middle School Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 7pm
The Coral Reef Groups

Birdie Reading Elementary Tuesday 4pm
Funny project where a student dressed as a tarot card reader to help students predict the future about both personal (Will I marry a pretty girl?) & environmental affects (Like the movie 2012).

Eagle Listening Elementary Thursday 4pm
Students dressed as malfunctioning robots for a lesson involving humanoid robots

At the end of the 13 weeks, we usually have a class party. This term our branch decided to do something different. Our FM Marc found The Fun Theory. It is a VW sponsored worldwide competition for people to come up with fun ideas that change the world. We pushed their interest by giving the day's winner a pizza party. We also told them the 1st place world wide prize was 2500 British pounds.

The Piano Stairs
http://www.thefuntheory.com/

These two classes had very creative ideas. The first picture shows a class demonstrating "The Shape Run". It is an outdoor track with light up squares on the track. At the top of the track is a screen that will display a shape. Runners will run to the shape when they see it on the screen. Winners will get a card with discounts for heathy food at local groceries. The second picture shows a class demonstrating "Whack the Trash". It is machine where people will throw away bottles, cans, and trash. Only cans and bottles will pop up for the person to whack. This makes throwing away trash more fun.

I've never been more proud of my classes than this term. I had a blast teaching them and helping them come up with interesting project ideas. I hope that I will not only see them in the Spring term when I come back from vacation, but also teach them again.

Sweaters & Scarves

Autumn is my favorite season. The air is crisp. The foliage is beautiful. The fashion is great. I get to layer shirts and sweaters and top off with a huge scarf over my pea coat. Seoul got cold quickly. One week it was t-shirt weather, and the next week I was already pulling out my UGG boots.

For me, fall starts in October, my favorite month. Here are some highlights from the start of Fall.

Dave's Birthday Gifts & Dinner at Mercado Brazilian Steak House

My birthday is October 4th. This year I turned 24. Does that mean I'm in my mid-twenties now? Getting closer to 25 or even worse, 30, was a little shocking, but I'm glad I got to spend it with some great friends and great food. I woke up to find 4 presents from Dave. One of the best gift-givers, he had a very clever set-up of presents. My first present was nail polish & nail decals from Skin Food. This can be found only in Korea. I've used so many different nail polishes, and I find that Skin Food has the best non-chipping polish. He got me 2 MAC (my favorite makeup) eyeshadow pots. The third present was a very "Korean" wallet. He noticed I still use my tattered beer-sponged Coach wristlets from university, so he got my a stylish leather wallet from a company called Lovcat (ironic b/c I hate cats, but he wasn't aware of the brand). My last present was big. It was a white binder used from Chungdahm training filled with colored pages of my blog. It is one of the most sentimental gifts I've ever received. He spent probably 100,000 ($75) at the PC Bang (Internet Cafe) to spring colored pages of my blog. I can't wait to fill up the pages with more of my entries. That evening, after a mass text to everyone I know in Seoul, we ate dinner at Mercado. This restaurant is a treat in Seoul because it serves limitless Brazilian steak with the best sides of mashed potatoes, garlic rice, and coleslaw. After dinner we enjoyed soju cocktails. Although I spent another birthday away from home, it was spent with my "family" in Seoul.

Junggye October Babies Birthday at Ho Bar in Hongdae
Mierie, Me, Ben, & John

A week later I had my second birthday party with the rest of my co-workers celebrating all October birthdays. This is the second time I've had a birthday party at Ho Bar III in Hongdae.

Initiating New Co-Workers to the Nowon Bar Scene
Norma, Me, Dave, Hannah, John, & Jenn

Mid-October is the best time to see the foliage. We went to Seoraksan, the most famous site in Korean to see that magical transformation.

Seoraksan National Park Entrance
Me & Hannah



Buddha the Base & the Steep Mountain Above



Beautiful Foliage & Mountain Top View

Drinking Mokkoli (Rice Wine) & the Ravine

After hours of hiking and crying at the top (I'm afraid of heights), we took a 30 minute bus back to Sokcho, a famous port to Russia. Sokcho is also famous for seafood. We ordered a fish and had half of it sashimi style and the other half fried. To fill our bellies, we added some scallops.

Hardworking Seafood Preparation & Result

Clams to Choose From & Sokcho Port

Since the weather is so nice during Autumn, it becomes a great time to walk around and enjoy the neighborhood. Since golf ranges are too far away, we went to the next best thing: screen golf. This is a phenomenon in Korea. We paid 20,000 won ($15) to play for an hour, rent shoes and glove, play with a full set of clubs, and display all of our shame on a screen. The room is very big with turf. You step on a button and an arm swings out placing the ball on the tee. After swinging, a laser reads your drive and assesses distance and curve of the swing. Unfortunately, the receptionist witnessed this on the CCTV and came in telling us, "It's like swinging a bat, just lower." Yeah right.

Screen Golf: Bad Driving Form

Fall also marks Texas Moon's (bar in Apgujeong) Battle of the Bands. Of course Juliann and I had to go since our boyfriends are lead guitarist and bassist. We brought along co-workers for moral support. They got 3rd!

Battle of the Bands
Hannah, Me, Juliann, & Mierie

To end the best month of the year is to of course celebrate Halloween. Underfunded, lack of imagination, lack of time -whatever you call it- I was a sexy pumpkin. I got the idea from How I Met Your Mother when the main character is infatuated with a "sexy pumpkin" he met at a roof top Halloween party a year ago and vows to find her again. I already had the scarf and hat. I found the orange top at a donation store and cut out felt for the face. Voila! Sexy Pumpkin!

Sexy Pumpkin

Hilarious Panda & "Hannah-nim"-Korean for "God"
Me, Mikey & Hannah

Jem, Super Villain, Maria, & Little Bo Peep
Me with Norm, John, Maria & Rachel

These last pictures are of my very creative friends. Norma is Jem who is a cartoon rock singer from the 80s. John loves comic books and created this costume also from a donation store. Maria is too cool for dressing up for Halloween. Rachel is from New Zealand were there are lots of sheep, so why not be Little Bo Peep?

This October was so eventful. I hope next Fall will be just as eventful. Sadly, I won't see many of these people because I only have one month left till I leave for 3 months backpacking to Canada, US, & South East Asia. Very needed break and very excited!

I just want some bacon!

After a wonderful year in Korea eating boundless amounts of samgyeopsal (Korean BBQ pork bacon), dongas (like chicken fried pork) and rice almost every meal, guilt became to creep its ugly head at me. I have about 3 weeks till I set foot in America again and I don't want my close friends and family thinking, "Wow, you really did enjoy Korea." Not to say I'm fat, but I'm not at that comfortable size 6 anymore. I don't run as much as I did in college and I don't eat as much salad as I used to either. Furthermore, I've also acquired the "relationship gut" disease.

Unsatisfied with my level of physical fitness and overall health, I decided to do the Master Cleanse. The Master Cleanse is a 10 day detox that cleanses your body of impurities. Losing weight is just an added bonus. A few of my co-workers have tried it in the past, but failed to reach the 10th day. However, my boss Marc had completed it before, so I asked him for advice via text. The next day I found a book in my locker entitled Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days.

The Master Cleanse "Bible"

Ready for a challenge and get healthy again, Dave and I attempted the Master Cleanse during middle school exams. This is 2 weeks where middle students do not come to academy because they are busy studying for their school midterms. With very little faith and enthusiasm, we failed to start and decided Week 10 would be the best time. Week 10 at Chungdahm is IBT (Internet Based Toefl) test time. It is an entire week of testing where teachers simply administer the test --needing very minimal energy. This time we were serious and ready.

We woke up on November 11 and got a TGI Friday Burger, the best burger we've had in Korea. This was in response to an episode of How I Met Your Mother where the characters we're all in search for the best burger in New York City--and it wasn't found at Corner Bistro! To take full advantage of this last day of indulgence, we took on an order of TGIFridays macaroni & cheese bites. After our massive meal, we went to Costco to pick up our supplies: maple syrup ($40), lemons (3 bags 8$ each), cayenne pepper ($3), non-iodized salt ($3) , and water.

Pre-Cleanse Last Meal
TGI Fridays Burger & Macaroni & Cheese Bites

It's important to never to go Costco hungry because you'll end up buying everything in sight. It's usually tough to avoid getting a slice of their pizza, but we were stuffed from our TGI Fridays lunch. After Costco, we came home and made a fatal mistake. We downloaded whole seasons of Bravo Network's Top Chef. This was an addiction of mine in college. This is a reality show of aspiring chefs from around the US competing in high intensity challenges to be named the Top Chef and $100,000 to start their own restaurant. This show is addicting because they have such absurd challenges, but always end up making technical, creative, and delicious dishes. Hungry again, we went to our local favorite, Kimbap Chonguk and chowed down on our regular cheesy ramyeon and chamchi (tuna) kimbap. Determined to do this cleanse right, especially since we ate absurd amounts that day, we went to the dollar store and bought drink containers and poster board. While watching Top Chef, we created our Master Cleanse progress charts. This was a crucial part of our journey because having a chart made us look at our progress knowing the end was in sight--or at least at the bottom of the chart. So that night, we took our laxative tea and went to bed knowing the next 10 days were going to be foodless torture.

Supplies: $80-100 for a 10-Day Cleanse

Bottles, Water, Cayenne Pepper, Maple Syrup & Lemons

The Last Supper
Cheesy Ramyeon & Tuna Kimbap

Each day we had to begin with a salt water flush. We had to quickly drink 1000ml of water with 1 tablespoon of salt. This was to ensure a flush of our system. You can guess that what this really meant was a huge bowl movement. At first they were solid, but after 3 days to the end of the cleanse, the eliminations turned into mucky dark goo. This is a good sign because it shows the body's eliminations of the waste. After the flush, which happened approximately 30 minutes to an hour after drinking the salt water mixture, we had to make the lemonade. We made 2 1000 ml bottles. Each bottle had 8 tablespoons of lemon and maple syrup followed by 2 shakes of cayenne pepper. The lemon juice acted to cut the waste from our body. The cayenne pepper sped blood flow and the maple syrup ensured energy. Together with water, this mixture gave enough energy and nutrients to last throughout the day. Whenever I felt low energy, usually after the salt water flush or mid-day, a good chug of the lemonade revitalized me. My biggest complaint about the mixture is the scratchiness of the cayenne pepper at the back of the throat, which also accumulated at the bottom of the bottle. So the last chugs of the lemonade mixture are always full of the cayenne pepper. After a full days worth of work plus a salt water flush and two 1000 ml lemonade mixtures, it didn't take long for us to accept that we weren't allowed to eat anything else. We ended our day with a little more mixture if we were going to stay up late. We also had to drink a laxative tea to help with the elimination the next morning. Each day I documented my energy level out of 10 and comments for the day.

Day 0: Energy Level 8
Excited, but scared. Hoping to make it to 3 days.

Day 1: Energy Level 7
Headaches in the p.m. maybe because I ran 4 km. Not hungry, but craving. Everything smells good.

Day 2: Energy Level 8
Overwhelming heightened sense of smell. Looking and feeling thinner. Cold too. Neon yellow liquidy poop. Really wanted to eat because it's fun and I'm bored. No headaches.

Day 3: Energy Level 8
No headache. Less food craving. had the feeling of emptiness all day like when you wake up.

Day 4: Energy Level 7
Sleepy at the end of the day. Less energy to work out. Colder in the afternoon. less poop. Slightly weak in the head at the end of the day.

Day 5: Energy Level 6
Headaches in the evening. Highly emotional. Bored. No cravings. Less discharge. Sick of cayenne. Feeling like I'm getting sick perhaps coming from the students.

Day 6: Energy Level 7
Steady energy throughout the day. Sleepy by 11pm. Hate burn at the back of the the throat because of cayenne.

Day 7: Energy Level 7.5
Did nothing, but watch cooking shows, so used very little energy. Therefore, drank very little mix. Developing a cough maybe because there's a change in weather.

Day 8: Energy Level 8
Weak after the salt water flush because of lack of sleep. Didn't drink much at work. Sick of the taste. Smelling everyones food. Good energy at work. Cough is worst in the morning.

Day 9: Energy Level 8
Cough is getting worse. Growling stomach. Smelling everyones food. Wish I could eat with co-workers tonight since we just got paid.

Day 10: Energy Level 7
So read to be done. I keep teaing I'll eat at midnight. Talked about cheeseburger and macaroni and cheese bites and I missed it. Tough to finish last 500 ml. Steady laid back energy.

It was such a relief to complete the entire Master Cleanse. So many times, I would nearly convince myself to quit because I was ready to eat food again. After Day 5, Day 10 seemed to get so much closer than before. I would often joke to Dave about cooking bacon at midnight of Day 10--which is technically Day 11 right? He was adamant to not eat until Day 11. But how could you resist if I cooked bacon and graced your lips with it? Nevertheless, the instructions were to only drink orange juice in Day 11 and maybe have soup in the evening. We took this seriously.

We went to Lotte Department store and bought packaged dry soup broth, lots of veggies, tofu, and shrimp for flavor. We wanted our first soup to be amazing.

First Non-mixture Food
Korean shrimp stock tofu and vegetable soup

On Day 12, we had our first solid food--tuna kimbap and kimchi mandu --our favorites. I couldn't eat my usual helping. In fact I was so full from only half a serving and felt nausea after leading into my classes. My body missed juice. The only thing I wanted was orange juice. It was a mistake to eat too soon. I decided to stick to salads for a few days. We took our left over shrimp and tofu and fried them with a garden salad on Day 13.

The Aftermath
Shrimp & Tofu + Salad & Empty Water Bottles

In retrospect, I'm glad I accomplished my goal. My first goal was to get through 3 days. After doing that, I knew I could complete the entire 10 days. I probably won't ever do this again. It's a jump off point to start eating healthy again and exercise more. If I ever attempt this again, it'll be because I'm in desperate need of a cleanse. I did clean out 24 years of build-up. Perhaps I'll do this again 24 years from now.

World Knowledge Forum

Practice Day 1
Listen to 36 minute speech given by William H. Gates III called "A New Kind of Capitalism for the 21st Century."
Practice Day 2
Listen to a panel at the World Economic Forum discussing the global energy crisis.
Practice Day 3
Listen to a 45 minutes speech given by Barack Obama to Congress on health care reforms.

I did all this practicing for the 10th Annual World Knowledge Forum held in Seoul at the lovely WalkerHill Sheraton Hotel & Casino.
*Unfortunately, I did not get any time at the Casino.

http://www.wkforum.org/WKF/v3/eng/main.php

Many people were asked, but after careful consideration between FMs, Training Center, and Faculty Management, a mere 20 people were asked to be candidates to attend. We had to go to 3 training sessions to prove our press release writing ability. True, the room was filled with high-caliber writing talent spanning from people with Masters in English to those with newspaper and radio backgrounds. Intimidated, I walked in with only a blog under my belt. Sure I was a contributor to my university newspaper and had received As on various essays and research papers, but nothing could really prepare me for these training sessions. It wasn't the draw of seeing George W. Bush open the WKF. I wanted to go as a reporter for Maeil Business Newspaper. This would be a great professional and learning experience.

We were asked to watch a clip of either a speech or panel discussion that spanned topics that would be featured at the World Knowledge Forum such as the recession, the currency exchange, and the energy crisis. Then, we would have to rush to a computer somewhere within the 4-story building and create a press release in standard format with at least 10 direct quotations.

Equipped with MP3s, blank sheets of paper, and a writing utensils, we set-off in a writing competition to prove our ability since only 10 people would be chosen out of 20.

Without research done ahead of time, we were fresh fish starting relatively on level playing ground. My first session felt insanely hard. Thankfully, we listened to Bill Gates who is relatively easy to understand. I had over 8 pages of loose-leaf notes. I picked a room where the air-conditioning was set to heater mode. I thought that listening to music and retyping all my notes would help me, but these approaches proved time-consuming leaving my content bare, disorganized, and unfinished.

My second practice session was even harder. We were given a panel of non-North Americans discussing the global energy crisis. What made it even worst is that were were not given one of the names of the panels; perhaps the most important-the head of OPEC! They used unfamiliar terminology and had thick accents.

My third attempt was my best. We listened to Barack Obama, an eloquent speaker full of great sound-bites for the press release. Furthermore, since he is the President addressing Congress, there were plenty of pauses for clapping or emphasis-crucial time needed for getting clear notes and quotations. I attacked this assignment differently than the others. This time I wrote a 5 point outline of his speech, then placing appropriate quotes within each category. All was left was for me to paraphrase his ideas and write around the quotes. I was left with 5 extra minutes to proofread.

Happy about my last attempt, but still in the doldrums about my total performance, I was very discouraged about my chances of going as a reporter at the WKF. We were given chances to talk with the editors about our 3 practices, but I didn't even want to entertain the idea of failure. Nevertheless, I was surprisingly chosen.

We had to submit research prior to the event to show management of our dedication. Lazy and pressed for time, I submitted lengthy research mostly copy-pasted bios. However, as the event approached I watched YouTube clips of interviews I would be covering. The presentations and panels I covered are below.

Paul Krugman, 2008 Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics

"The Global Economy"

"New Mobile Map 2015"

Woo-Young Kwak, Executive VP, LG Electronics

Zane Moi, Regional Director, Research in Motion (RIM)

Esko Aho, Executive VP, Nokia Corporation & Former PM of Finland

"Creative Marketing in Down Times"
Jean-Claude Larreche, Professor, Insead
Joe Fuller, Chairman, Monitor Group

Sue Shim, Senior VP Marketing, Samsung

Bernd Schmitt, Professor, Columbia University

Bill Rhodes, Vice Chairman of Citigroup
"The Global Economy: the Outlook & Role of Korea"

After we finished the press releases, they would be edited, and then posted in PDF format on the WKF website. Even more rewarding, they were used by Maeil Business Newspaper reporters to create actual news stories.

*Press Releases can be found here http://www.wkforum.org/WKF/v3/eng/sub3_1.php

I spent 2 days with 20 Chungdahm writing experts. We held a corner of the Maeil Business Newspaper press room. Our table was covered with laptops, half-eaten sandwiches, and mounds of empty coffee cups. We racked our brains for the perfect word, the right quote, and meeting the 45 minute deadline. We sweated in our business suits waiting for the next session to begin or just the day to end. Thankfully, Chungdahm paid for us to stay at the W Hotel, the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in. My experience at Chungdahm has had its ups and downs, but this has been by far the best learning experience I've had during my tenure at this company. I've made friends with the best and brightest of this company and I know this won't be the last time we work or at least see each other.

World Knowledge Forum Chungdahm Writers