First Day Teaching of Fall Semester

Today (Tuesday) I began teaching 6th graders. 5 classes then 1 class of 4th Grade. It was good to see the students but I still feel like I can't quite fully improve everyone's level of English with close to 30 students per class. True that 25 of the students did really well writing down past tense verbs of ones in present tense. But those 5. Man, I just want to get them caught up. Even still, my co-teacher mentioned that while those in the "top" 25 can recite the past tense on a list they manage to not comprehend their speech and use present tense in conversation that requires past tense. So many things to think about while teaching. It's not so logical and linear. Sigh...

But my co-teacher, Jisoo, finally finished her Masters thesis early summer and graduated this past Friday. So she celebrated with offering our office some fruit and cookies. Korean custom flips things around and have the one celebrating give gifts instead of others give gifts. Like you buy your close friends dinner on your birthday as another example. And you give traditional rice cake (ddeok, less like the light airy fluffly snacks but more like thick dumpling in dessert form) to neighbors when you move into a new place.

So here are a couple pics of Jisoo's celebration table.

Jisoo's not pictured but some of the other office ladies are cutting apples and peaches. All the fruit was delicious. It's so hard for me to hold back and let others have a chance to eat...but I was good today. :D

Sohbaeksan

I still managed to say this imperfectly enough that my co-teacher had to repeat it for pronunciation comprehension when I told the students that I went to Sohbaek Mountain during summer vacation...

Adam and I took a 2 hour bus ride to the mountains quickly after I did most of my packing for a new apartment last Tuesday. The last bus to Danyang was at 6:00 pm and we arrived at 7:30 pm to the bus terminal. But thankfully the location we picked nearby was still offering rides. On Wednesday morning we made it to Danyang. Population of 45,000. We were on a type of island and so it seemed even smaller than that number (perhaps so because the area of Danyang is beyond the island). It is known for it's specialization in garlic. We passed a cute kitty near the Garlic Market.

The story is the Danyang village idiot married a queen. With her help he studied well and became a great general. He died eventually in battle but became a legend. All to say, that is why that dude has bushy eyebrows. Guess Koreans think bushy brows equals dummy folks. Education yo. Education.

The coffee shop we wanted to visit before our morning departure was closed. Called Hugs, sometimes with an apostrophe.

Adam taking a picture of our beautiful, scenic escape from Seoul. A bridge that lights up from Danyang to the road to go to Sohbaeksan. San means mountain.

It was cloudy on our hike too.
We couldn't see beyond 15 feet ahead the last kilometer of our climb.

On our climb up Sohbaeksan we also encountered much, much rain. :D It was nice until it got too cold on the top. But it was warmer down with the trees. We also saw a deer. It was tiny enough I think it to be a baby! Bambi!

Arriving back to Seoul I saw a new display of balloons at Noksapyeong Station.

Summer tour of DMZ

Ready for the tour!

Touristy photo 1

Tourist photo 2. That girl sees something out of the ordinary...

We did go inside the tunnel made by NK to invade SK even though it's a cease fire.

It was cold down there. Hard hats were a must.

Every few seconds you heard "clack" followed by "ouch".

Low ceilling.

Meal in the middle of the day

ribbons for family members in the North

Train with bullet holes from the war

More ribbons

Statues by bridge

The plan for a railway track from Korea to all over Europe

if reunification commences

Poster for the subway station

actual subway station

The place we finally wanted to see.

Top left is NK soldier.

Bottom right is ROK soldier.

The solider you see had binoculars. When our group came out he handed them to the man in the window to the left of him. There's a curtain so no one can see him.




Inside one of the blue freedom houses.

We are technically in North Korea now (non-gravel side).





With a RoK solider.
Tour guide said they stand in a Tae Kwon Do stance.




The end.

i have an iphone 4

...in my hand temporarily. My friend is starting a company called 'ego' and they'll sell covers for Apple products such as the iPhone 4. The iPhone 4 is not yet available in Korea but the company bought it to check the cover prototype.

Adam's glare is one of "what are you doing?"

Actually, he did say that after I took this picture.

Adam and I went to a park (see post below) with another couple and our friend, Leanne. The couple is Heather and her man visiting from another country.

Random Tandem

Adam and I whizzed around Olympic Park on an imperfect tandem bicycle. The two sets of pedals were out of sync. Very awkward. It felt like the back person was purposely rocking the opposite way when steering. It was much easier when I moved to the back.