Carpe Diem: The Downloadable Edition

Remember when my students were super awesome and recorded a song?

Well, now you can watch it, courtesy of the incredible Adam Thomas of Adam Thomas Photography :

And you can download it.

I'm so ridiculously proud of these kids all over again.

Carpe Diem and “Nae Soneul Jaba (내 손을 잡아)”

I want to take a moment to jump back to Korea.  I've been sitting on a secret for a few months now, and I can finally tell you:  My music students partnered with new, Philadelphia-based record label, FeedbackLoop to write and release an original song.  It's out this month, obtainable only by subscription.

The sign that adorns my music students' practice space also declares the name of their band.

It’s confusing, I know - What was I, an English teacher, doing with music students? Sometimes, it hits
me all over again, and I chuckle all the harder. When I originally came to Korea from Nashville two years ago, I thought I had left the music industry behind me. But, as the old saying goes, you can take the girl out of the industry, but you can’t take the industry out of the girl.

Every day, I’d sit at my desk waiting for it. I’d dread it. I tried to love it, but it wasn’t happening. I mean, there’s only so many times a girl can take hearing Gangnam Style wafting up through the floorboards. The school cover band met every day in the room immediately below mine, and I was starting to lose my mind. Winter break came and went all too quickly, and I soon found myself back at my desk, tensing for the opening notes of Psy’s hit that I knew would inevitably come… but was greeting instead by the opening strains of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.” For a couple of weeks, I listened through the floor, and then I contacted Justin.

The moment that started it all

The kids couldn’t believe what I was telling them when I explained to them that I, their English teacher, had worked in artist management before coming to Korea, and that I, their ENGLISH teacher, wanted to help them write and record a song to be put on a label in America. I’m still not convinced they believe me.

Kim (right) collaborated with another girl in the band, Ji-Hye Lee (left),
who quickly proved her musical worth as well.

Over the course of the semester, we practiced various songwriting techniques, and then we got down to business. One girl in particular, 김주향 (Ju-Hyang Kim), showed a particular interest in the project and came to me with half a song in nearly flawless English. I brought in a fellow Nashvillian-turned-English-teacher Ashley Harden to help guide her in the process (sadly, I have never been much of a lyricist) and sound engineer (also turned English teacher) Adam Thomas for engineer consultation and to direct and shoot the music video, and the rest is history.

Kim taught each player his or her part, down to the last
detail.  No chord bend or slide was there without her
having intended it to be.

Kim quickly proved her musical prowess, writing not just the lyrics but going on to also collaborate with 이지혜 (Ji-Hye Lee) in writing parts for each instrument. They made my job much easier than I thought it was going to be, leaving me with only a couple vocal coaching sessions and the recording process to do. Of course, I also had quite the job to do in refocusing the band, from time-to-time. After all, it is made entirely of 14-to-16-year-olds. The kids have exceeded every expectation I had of them, and I couldn’t be more proud.

Carpe Diem is a band comprised of and led by middle schoolers in South Korea.

Read more about what provoked my long-time friend Justin to take us on and bring you “Nae Soneul Jaba (내 손을 잡아)” - and how you can get your very own copy of it - here.

Psy's a Gentleman?

This is my preemptive strike at your questions, dear American friends.  You just can't get enough of Korea these days, can you?  Let me assure you, they're loving that over here.  Frankly, it's about time, too.  Korea is where the 90's went to hide from you.  90's music is over here.  90's clothes are over here.  90's computer games are over here... All of you 90's kids who complain because you miss that decade... How come you're still over there?  So Korea just had to leak a little Psy onto the scene.  Now, I don't think that Psy is an accurate representation of the full scope of Korean culture these days, and I know I'll be slaughtered if I even try to suggest that he's anything like the 90's, but I love that you're getting into him, and I hope that you'll use him as a gateway to other aspects of Korean culture.

So "Gentleman."  Let's hear it for the man that knocked Justin Bieber out of a record-holding position!  In just 24 hours, Gentleman had over 18.9 million YouTube views, as compared to The Biebs' then record-breaking 10.6 million views for his collaboration with Nicki Minaj on "Beauty and the Beat."  It's been a horrible week for that kid, and I can't help but feel slightly bad for him... that is, until I realize that it's pretty much his ego that's been causing all his troubles.

I'm hesitant to post the music video for Gentleman, considering the outrageously vast number of Americans who have already taken it upon themselves to watch all four minutes of the video before jumping to conclusions about what it means, but, since you're here at my blog, I'm assuming you're looking for a slightly more Korean perspective on the Korean singer's song that came out of - where? - Korea, rather than the perspective of an American who may or may not have even bothered to translate the lyrics before jumping into an in-depth analysis.  (Yes, that is an actual article.)  I'm going to put the video here, trusting that you will continue reading it even after you watch it.

Even as I put that here, this thing has a jaw-dropping 137,001,850 views.  Holy crap.  Sadly, it looks like we're going to have to put up with drop-crotch jeans a bit longer, because if that many people have watched the video, I don't think we're going to have able to keep them a secret anymore.  Seriously... why are you people wearing those things?  They look horrible.

Okay.  Let's start where it's easy... well... easy-ish.  The translation.  Thanks to a tip I got from a comment on an article with a translation, I realized that most of the translations you're going to find are missing a lot of the nuances of the song, going for word-for-word translations instead.  The best translation is (unfortunately for you, fortunately for Psy) found in the video of Psy's press release of the song.  Way to go marketing team, right?  So... if you want to get a good feel for the lyrics, you're going to need to listen to the song again.  Sadly, I've heard that there are some word plays in the song that I just don't have enough Korean language under my belt to be able to point out if there are any in the Korean of the song, but most of the English (like "mother-father" and "party mafia") is punny in Korea.  Here you go, listen away:

Now, did you notice the other difference?  Without the video, the song seems... less confusing?  Less poignant?  That's on purpose.  If you paid attention to my other Psy post, you already know that Psy loves the satire.  So I don't think anyone should be surprised when I say that he's done it again.  Let me clarify.  Psy is not condoning this mistreatment of women.  Psy is protesting it.

I've seen an article that I'm pretty sure is out of Canada mention that it could be a slam against rappers and the culture of violence (especially toward women) that seems to spring up in association with them.  Maybe he is, but I doubt it.  I've surveyed about 40 of my students (yes, for those of you who know my class sizes, that means I surveyed the one class I've had since I decided to make this post), and not a single one had any clue what was going on in the song.  They all knew what the word gentleman meant, and they all acknowledged that the words in the song didn't seem to match that.  But when I asked "So, why would Psy write it that way?"... crickets.  I gave my opinion, and they agreed it could be an option, although, I don't know how much of that was just a teacher-pleasing tactic.

Basically, I see it like this:  In Korea especially, there is a big problem with the inequality between genders.  Certainly, Korea isn't the worst country on this front, but it's far from the best.  Koreans my age and younger are really beginning to speak out about their distaste for this.  Based on his history of tongue-in-cheek exposés of topics he felt needed to be addressed in Korea, I think this song could easily be about the way men treat women in Korea.  There are many men who parade around, claiming to be gentlemen, while terrifying their families into submission, abusing their wives, and having affairs.  This is, unfortunately, somewhat normal, showing up even in one of the most popular dramas in Korea - My Daughter, Seo-Young - with quotes like "No normal man stays in love with his wife for three years."

Similarly, the general word out of Asia seems to be interpreting the song as a commentary on celebrities and their lifestyles.  It could easily be this, too, and, as I am in no way, shape, or form Asian, I would be more than happy to submit to that option, however, this is the word out of China and not yet the word out of Korea, so I am still waiting before resigning my opinion.  (Korea has remained rather silent on an interpretation.)

Now... that phrase you hear over and over - "mother-father" - is exactly what you're hoping it's not.  He is, in fact, saying "mother-father" and not some slurred/mumbled/un-enunciated version of "motherf*****", but these days "mother-father" has become a Korean euphemism for it's more colorful counterpart, much like dang or darn can be substituted for d***.  So, all these people who are wondering if he's trying to say he's the kind of man you can take home to mother and father... well, they're apparently not up on current Korean culture.

Finally, to answer MTV, he is most definitely saying "Wet Psy," not "West Side."  Although Psy did go to college in the States, he would have no reason to yell out "West Side" for his predominantly Korean audience.  Let's stop being ethnocentric and thinking the world revolves around American culture.  Simply because we chose to borrow a song from another does not mean that its writer will kowtow to ours.  "Wet Psy" has nothing to do with what you're fearing it is, incidentally, and everything to do with his sweaty armpits.

And that, friends, is my preemptive answer to your upcoming Psy questions.

Incidentally, if you're interested in looking at several hilarious-looking (I haven't watched any yet) parodies of this song, you can find a bunch here.

Ready... Set...

School started this week.  I mean, I'm not teaching this week, but that's okay; we need to get the kids settled in before throwing them into practical foreign language classes.  I'm pretty sure they're still having their grammar lessons, though, which is also good - get them ready to come to me so they can come with confidence.

I'm pretty pumped about school starting.  This isn't a new thing.  I'm always excited for school to start.  I'm that nerd that loves the scent of new books.  I love pencils when they're sharpened for the first time, and the way crayons look fresh out of the box.  Yup.  I'm a bookworm.  So, in spite of already having a scheduler, when my co-teacher Sam walked into the office holding a brand new, leather-bound, embossed teacher's diary for me, I got really excited.  It even has a space at the top of each week for me to write my lesson plan overview!  I'm so excited.

Speaking of lesson plans, this semester, I'm taking a different approach to how I teach my classes.  In the past, I've refused to give homework, claiming these kids are overworked as it is (and they are, don't get me wrong).  This semester, however, I'm assigning them things to pre-study, so, assuming they do it, we can focus on more fun things in class, while making sure their books get completed to keep their parents happy.  I've got a desk full of books I plan to use as supplementary materials, as well as two shelves full in my classroom (My school is so awesome about using their English budget well... AND they let me control what happens to what they buy... so awesome).

Now, I'm pretty sure I'm just in the pre-wedding stages with these classes, when I'm all giddy and optimistic, and  most kids aren't going to do the work I need them to do to run classes the way I want, but I figure this is a good jumping off point, and we'll work together, mesh our expectations, and find a happy medium.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

In the meantime, check out the website I made for my students here.

Does this dialogue bother anyone else?

Sometimes, there are things that come up that really bother me to teach.  There's nothing I can do about it, though.  For example, I have to play this dialogue for my students this week.  It's a listening thing, so I'm hoping that they'll miss the finer points and not realize how bad it is.  Ugh.  I grit my teeth every time.

What do you think?

Uncle John: Is that you, Yujin?
Yujin: Yes, it's me.  Nice to see you again, Uncle John.
UJ: Me, too.  How was the train ride?
Y: It was OK.  It only took two hours.
UJ: That bag is heavy, isn't it?
Y: Well, just a little.
UJ: Let me help it.
Y: OK.  Thanks.
UJ: Don't mention it.

Am I a freak for letting that get to me?

Saturday Class: Letters to President Obama

I wish I had more of these, but a lot of students took them home to finish for homework.  There might have to be a second part, if I can get photos before we seal these up and send them off.  Sorry, some of these are a bit blurry, but they're totally worth muddling through!

Day 1

I finished my fourth first day of middle school today.  I hated middle school the first time.  I went to three of them (thus this is my fourth first day), and you'd think I would have found one that I liked, but no.  None.  Zero.  Today, was different.

I love my classroom.  It's beautiful.  It's just eclectic enough for me to like it, but subdued enough to be a good learning environment.  I didn't get any photos today, because I was holding on for dear life.  When I settle into a routine, I'll be sure to take some pictures.

My students seem to be the same level of rowdy as my fifth and sixth graders were (thus far), but today I was much more willing to roll with it.  I feel like that may have been because I was definitely the head of my classroom.  The other teachers barely said anything, but it was beautiful and it flowed.  If discipline needed to happen, it did.  If stuff needed to be translated, it was.  If I needed to joke with someone beforehand, it happened.

And that's another thing.  So far, all of my co-teachers speak flowing, beautiful English.  I even explained my pajama dream to the woman who has the desk next to me, and she laughed!  She laughed hard!  She went so far as to say, "I guess you were very nervous!"  I didn't have to explain it any more than I would to a native speaker.  Furthermore, Sam, who sits across from me, is SO helpful.  He explains everything I have a question about (even when he ran into me on the way home and I was having a bit of trouble ordering dinner).  He doesn't know it, but he also made such a HUGE difference between this school and the last one: he closed today by saying, "You did a great job today."  Yes, my other co-teachers gave me positive feedback, but I had to ask for it.  This was out of the blue, and it was wonderful to hear.  Don't get me wrong, I am all for constructive criticism, but the balance goes a long way.  He also told me what I most wanted to hear: "The most important thing you can do is be friends with [the students]."  He took the pressure off and told me that I'm doing well.  What more could you ask for in an office mate?

My students even seem excited to see me!  I ran into a couple of them on my way home, and they gave the very classic "Oh!" that means "I recognize you and I wasn't expecting to see you!", and quite eagerly spoke English to me.  What strange, parallel universe am I in?

I'm not foolish enough to believe that this isn't tainted by the first day, rose-colored glasses, but I'm very happy with my decision to change schools, so far. :)

The Story-Writing Challenge

I challenged my 5th and 6th grade Saturday class to write a story, using some words that I gave them.  I'm sorry, I don't remember all of the words, but they were things like "with Judy", "hungry", and "sunglasses" (I assure you, Mom, I had someone else pick these out.)  The kids rose to the occasion wonderfully, and I have their stories to share with you.  The first class was not thrilled with the idea of being filmed, thus the papers in front of their faces, but, I told them from the beginning it would happen, so this was not a surprise to any of them; I thing they were just hoping we'd forget.

Please be sure to vote and tell me your favorite, so I can tell my kids, as that was the purpose of the filming.  Understand, these are the equivalent of American 4th and 5th graders, for most of whom English is not the second language they're learning, but the third.  These students have had access to English classes through the public schools for two or three years, depending on their grade level.  That being said, I'm thoroughly impressed with what I got, especially considering that there was no co-teacher present to translate instructions for them.

So, again, please be sure to vote!!!  Thanks!

P.S. Just try to guess which team has the native speaker who moved to Korea. ;)

1.

"One day., there were Sam and sammy.  Their's mother told to Sammy 'You have to buy jeans with Sam.'  So they went to the jeans store by a bike.  Soon, they felt hungry.  So, they went to the restaurant, and they ate foods.  A few minutes later, they noticed they were lost the way to buy jeans store.  So, they asked to a woman 'Where is the jeans store?' said Sammy.  The woman said 'Go straight., turn left and turn right.  Then, it's next to the bus stop.'  'Thank you.' Sam said.  Then, they found jeans store and bought jeans!"

2.

"On Sunday, I went go shopping with Judy to buy the sunglasses.  We was in the shopping mall But we didn't where sunglasses shop it is.  So they ask the greeter ' where is the Sunglasses shop?'  greeter said 'go straight and Turn right'  So They go Straight and turn right but it's wrong it is a clothes shop They ask again where is the Sunglasses Shop?  So Shop greeter ask turn Left and GO Straight so They go Turn Left and Go Straight NOw it is Correct!  NOW, They bought a sunglasses and back their home  But they're tired so take a rest in the living room  In TV their hand Some boys group In TV.  They eat in kicthen."

3. 

Magic sunglasses

"I will go to the beach with Judy.  So, now I'm making a lunch of the kitchen  I'll taking a delicious kimbab and the magic sunglasses.  These sunglasses are the magic Sunglasses.  It can read Person's mind."

-Beach-

Judy: Hi!  Scarlet!  Let's Play until over night!

Me: Oh~ that sounds great!

"They took a rest on the chair and wearing Sunglasses  Suddenly, a handsome man pass through these two girls.  'Where is the bank?'  The bank is between the Post office and the market.' 'thank you, bye!'"

Me: oh, no!  my sunglass said the man is the robber  Call the Police!

Policeman: thank you.  You Catch the robber.

4. 

Day at VIPs.

Lucy was riding a bike with Sam.  They felt hungry because they rode the bike for too long.  They wanted to go to VIPS but they didn't know the way to VIPS so they asked someone on the way, "Excuse me, how can I go to VIPS?" asked Lucy.  The stranger replied, "Go straight and turn left.  You should ride the bus at the bus stop.  Then go straight and turn right.  It's next to the jean stor."  Lucy and Sam went to VIPS.  "What would you like for lunch today Sam?" asked Lucy.  "I want a steak medium-rare," Sam replied.  "Me too.  Excuse me, could you take our order?" Lucy shouted.  "Yes.  What would you like?" said the waiter.  "Two medium-rare steaks." said Sam.

What I've done since then

The following is what I've done since my epic display of my gastrointestinal pyrotechnic abilities.

First, I'd like to say I've discovered a newfound respect for nice anorexic people.  I'm not saying that to encourage people to be anorexic.  Don't do it.  It's not a good life choice.  I'm saying it because I ate so very little this week, and found that it's exhausting and makes it nearly impossible to be nice to anyone. It's not a good place to be.  But, on Friday, I started eating again and felt a LOT better.  Well enough, in fact, to go see The Dark Knight Rises with my friend Megan.  Let me tell you, it was most excellent, and I think you should go see it.  I so strongly feel that way that I did my nails to show my support for the Batman.  


That being said, I also want to extend my deepest sympathy to the families of the people who died in the recent tragedy surrounding this movie in Aurora, CO.  It's horrific, and It brings tears to my eyes to think of anyone involved. Violence is never the answer, friends.  Only G-d can ordain the loss of life, and He ordains few to orchestrate that.

On Friday, I also received my Korean name (finally) from a friend who works in my favorite skin care store near the mall.  She decided that I should be 행복 (Haengbok) in Korean, which means "Happiness."  I like it!  She's so sweet. :)

Saturday was my productive day.  With the help of Josh Broward's wife, I dropped off my dress at the dry cleaners to be altered for Meret and Casey's wedding.  We then went back to la casa de Broward and played with a couple babies.  That was fun.  Following that, it was off to work for my final adult English class of the semester.  We Skyped with my friend Greg, who is always great in his efforts to help me teach however he can.  After class, one family offered to drive me home, which I gratefully accepted, although I managed to leave my phone in their car.  After managing to meet up with them again to get it, we agreed to meet the next day for me to take them to the nearby English-speaking church, led by none other than the previously mentioned Josh Broward.  I finished the day with some cleaning and comic-drawing, along with some TV-watching.

Today, I met up with my friend Nick for breakfast at McDonald's.  Now, before you judge me, this is maybe the fourth time I've been there this year.  Currently, they have various "Taste of [Continent]" specials, in honor of the Olympics.  We opted to try both Taste of Americas.  One was an Egg McMuffin with Canadian Bacon (mine went to Nick), tomato, and lettuce.  The lettuce was just what this hot day needed.  The other was your classic McDonald's giant pancake breakfast platter.  Once it was sausage-free, I enjoyed it immensely.  


Recently, I found something I really liked about this McDonald's.  When I ordered my food to go, they handed me this timer and asked me to flip it.  They guaranteed my food hot and in my hand before the timer ran out.  As you can see, they came quite good on that promise.  Maybe I'm just too American, but I must say, I like it when my fast food is incredibly fast.


I met up with the family from English class immediately following McDonald's and off to church we went.  The kids had a blast at children's church, which I think made the experience for everyone involved, although, for me, I thoroughly enjoyed meeting's Cora, Kris' girlfriend, who just moved here... YESTERDAY.  I found myself just smiling, smiling, smiling, because I was so happy to see them safely reunited here.  It's a weird feeling for me, as I'm not much of a romantic, but maybe it's because they weren't being too mushy?  I don't know.  I'm just glad CORA'S HERE!!!


After church was some much needed Mt. Fishtail, with the ever lovely Rashell, Taylor, and Becky.  Pretty much the whole church ended up deciding to lunch there, though.  Okay, I exaggerate, but still... I really like the idea of going out to eat after church.  It was sort of a tradition my family had as I was growing up, and it makes me feel more like Sunday when I get to do it.  Yes, the weekly luncheon at Yeshuat Yisrael is wonderful, and I wouldn't trade it, but that's definitely a Saturday feeling to me.  Sunday calls for some fellowship in a restaurant.  But that may just be my opinion.  If you've made it this far and can follow instructions, why don't you drop me a line and share what makes Sunday feel like Sunday for you?

Rashell and I stayed late, talking at the restaurant and then walked around a bit.  I broke my brown sandals (sad!), so I will need to do some shoe-shopping in the States when I come (happy!).  I took an afternoon nap, and - wait for it - did Rosetta Stone today!  Stuff makes a lot more sense on that thing, now, which is awesome.

And now, you are quite caught up.  I hope you had a great weekend, too!

I need some lions, some witches, and some wardrobes.

Life and Third Graders

Today, some of my third graders stopped by to see me during their lunch. Normally, at that time of the day, I'm pretty tired and grumpy, but a fervent prayer in the morning to put me in a better attitude to minister to these kids kept me in stitches at all of their antics all day long. My sixth graders stole my heart (we did one-on-one testing today, so I got a chance to know them as humans and not just students), and then these kids did, too.

The one little girl, 서영, has Down's Syndrome, as does her twin, and they've taken a real liking to me. This one is constantly babbling, whenever I see her. Today, I realized that she's saying, over and over, "영어 선생님!" (English teacher.) She got right up in my face to say this to me, today. I usually just let her do her thing, but the question is always there, "What am I going to do if she kisses me? What is the correct course of action?" I'm thinking I'm just going to let it slide, but I don't know what my co-workers will think is and isn't acceptable.

So, they stopped by to talk, and I brought out some stickers. Well, 서영 thought they were just the snazziest things she'd ever seen, and she didn't want me to be left out, meaning that, after I put her sticker on her hand, she grabbed the sheet from me and proceeded to empty it onto my arms and face. I returned the favor by decorating her glasses. She then removed some from my arms to do my glasses. It was very cute.

Then, I had a brilliant idea. "Teachable moment!" I said.

"Girls, how would you like to make a video for America?"
- "For America?"
"Yes. I can put it online."
- "All of America would see?"
"Well, they could if they wanted."
- "Would Obama see?"
"Maybe. If he wanted."
- "Okay."

They were hooked, and I think you will be, too, because they're so stinking adorable. This is what I got out of it. (Interestingly enough, it kind of fits what I'm sure a lot of people are thinking right now. Please note, I'm keeping my opinions on that subject entirely separate from this blog.)

"Hi Obama! I'm Korean people, and you is... uh... You name is Obama. And you is too tall and ugly."

Me: "What?! You should not tell Mr. Obama that!"

"No! It's you're handsome!"

Me: "Oh, ok. Good."

"이명박 [Korea's president], too."

Me: "All right, tell Mr. Obama bye-bye."

"Bye-bye!"

"No! No, no!"

Me: "No?"

"No bye-bye!"

Me: "No bye-bye... Do you have more to say?"

"No, no. Byeee!"

Me: "No? Oh, ok. Bye."

Blimey Cow photo-a-day 28. Joyous news!

I think this one speaks for itself.  ^_^

All right, friends, No bye-bye to you, too. ^_^ I've got to hit the sack. Goodnight!

16. Inspiration

I was in the middle of writing an entirely different blog post to you, when, suddenly, I got up, changed into jeans and just left my apartment.  I had no intention of doing it; it jut happened.  I started by stopping by the kitten area from yesterday's photo.  I hadn't seen a mom with them, so, as per my friend Nick's request, I went to see if they had someone/something caring for them.  I'm pretty sure I saw a momma cat today.  But, instead of coming back home, I started wandering around aimlessly.  I'm pretty sure I saw the Korean version of the mob, but I kept on moving.  I didn't stay around long enough to confirm it for you.

Blimey Cow photo-a-day 16. Inspiration
This is a photo of my receipt from Applebee.

I didn't know where I was headed, but my feet beelined for the most expensive restaurant I know here: Applebee (not to be confused with America's Applebee's).  It's this expensive buffet place that offers some high class food as well.  They're really good, and my pastor is always desperate to take people there.  But, in being there, I broke almost every rule I'd set for myself.  I broke my budget (the meal was roughly $25), I broke my water rule (I couldn't find the water filter at first, but was surprised to find that I didn't like the pop I had at all {as KelliTaylor said would happen} -too sweet!), I broke my unwritten "no eating out alone" rule, and I actually even broke my kosher rule (I'll come back to that).  To tell you the rather embarrassing truth, I didn't even have on socks, makeup, or deodorant.  My brain hadn't intended on going there, but, surprisingly, it was really refreshing and just what I needed.  Go figure, the introvert had an almost extroverted night.  Almost.

The entire staff there went out of their way to help me out.  We played charades for a bit, because Applebee has this not-so-complicated-but-feels-complicated-at-first system of placing plastic coins in the receiving bucket of your choice to order the food item of the corresponding picture above the bucket.  I knew this, but they really wanted to explain it to me, so I let them, first in Korean, then by a guy grabbing me by the hand and leading me across the restaurant to pantomime the whole process not one, but two times.  I later found out that one of the bus boys studying English in the US for 8 months, and, consequently, spent the rest of my meal pondering why they hadn't just grabbed him.  Either way, the directions were given and understood, so I grabbed one of the coins and went to place an order.  My mime, however, came running after me with my other coin, saying "Two!  Two coin!"  As it was the only thing he had worked up the courage to say to me, I figured it must be important to him.  Thus, I read through the Korean names, only recognizing one word: Creme.  I figured that was a pasta dish and ordered it.  Everything else looked to be meat, but I selected one that looked like it had the possibility of not being so.  I was right and wrong at the same time; it was shrimp.  Thinking of what Paul would say if he was there, I ate every last bite of that shrimp, and it was surprisingly delicious.

I was also surprised to find myself writing more of my novel in my head while sitting at my table.  I rather wished I had brought it with me.  For some reason, sitting and people watching gave birth to a new character, who I think will help get everything moving.  Well, I guess it's not really "for some reason."  When you meet her in the story, she'll be exactly where I was, doing exactly what I was doing.  She's just going to have a slightly different motivation.  She's going to be a lot of fun to write.  I

I'm thinking of naming her Charity, but I need a good last name for her.  My gut is saying Cambridge, but I'm thinking that's more of because J.K. Rowling named one of her characters Charity Burbage.  I'm thinking it would be better to not copy her so much, so, if you can think of a sophisticated, older-sounding, somewhat cooly intimidating surname for her, please list them off below.

In fact, how about this?: The person who comes up with the best name will win a giveaway.


Here's how this is going to work:

1. Make sure you leave your name in the comment section.
2. Make sure you leave your surname ideas for Charity.
3. Make sure you pop back in to see if you've won.  I plan to introduce her in the next chapter, so, I should be needing a name by next week.
4. If you win, I will send you something cool and exciting from Korea.  I haven't decided what yet, as I just decided to have this giveaway, but I'll go out soon and browse for the perfect prize.

Looking forward to your names!

First (and Second) Grade Philosophy

Today, in my first and second grade reading class, I read them a book that I knew was too hard for them, but, with the help of my head teacher's on-the-fly translating, they were able to understand.  I read it to them because I think it teaches an amazingly important lesson - one that it took me until college and Nate Kerr to learn, and here it was, all packaged neatly into a children's book (that one of my kids already knew and loved, mind you).  Here's what I want you to do.  I want you to log into your Amazon.com account, click on the title of the book below.  Read the preview pages and see if you can keep up with my first and second graders:

The Five Little Fiends

by Sarah Dyer

Now, I don't want you to feel bad if you don't come up with the answers my kids did.  These are the same kids that defined "friend" as "the act of loving." (Well, roughly.  We did that in Korean, so, technically, they defined "friend" as "사랑해.")

Blimey Cow Photo-a-Day 07. Something you LOVE:
My students.
Don't worry, they don't always look as frustrated as the guys do;
I'd just had them line up for their stickers when I remembered I wanted to take this shot.

So, I asked the kids to do a "thinking quiz."  I asked them to tell me what we should learn from this book. Here are the answers I got back, translated from Korean:

1. We shouldn't steal.
2. If we do steal, we should go to the police and give it back.
3. Everything needs everything else.
4. Everyone and everything is connected.
5. We need everyone.

They're impressive little munchkins, aren't they?  AND, this was with no prompting from the teachers, except the repetition of the question.  I'm proud to be their teacher. :)

I'll leave it up to you to decide which theme it took me until college to learn. ;)

Another long weekend finished

And I'm quite sad to see it go.  Perhaps this much time off isn't good for me.  I don't know.  I do know, however, that I also have Wednesday off; it's Memorial Day, here in Korea.  After that, I won't have time off again for a long time.  So, don't worry.  I actually will be getting some work done.

I'm pretty bummed to announce that my Korean teacher has left to travel the world.  I mean, I'm thrilled for her, but, as she'll be gone for at least a year, I'm bummed for me.  I'm sure you can relate. ;)  I think I've found another person to teach me, but I'm not sure how that's going to pan out.  I'll keep you posted.  I'm hoping to get back into lessons soon; if I don't, I'll be completely out of the swing of things.

Lastly, I'm posting today's photo of the day!  I'm hoping you can read it.

03. Something ridiculous.
This sermon was RIDICULOUSLY good.  This is a photo of the English translation I was given.

Be Thou my Vision

On Sunday, I sang my favorite hymn in church... in Korean.  They've been on me to sing/play a solo in church for a while now, but I've been hesitant, because I didn't see how I could do that without drawing the attention toward me and away from G-d, but then I figured it out: a melody that I know really well, paired with words my churchmates can understand (i.e., Korean).  So, I sang.  Don't get excited.  There's no media for you today.

From the best I've been able to understand, it's not an incredibly popular hymn here.  No one has recognized it when I've hummed it for them, but holy cow, did G-d speak through it.  Whether it was the shock of Korean coming out of my mouth or the power of the song (or both), I had their attention from the word go (or 가세요, more appropriately).  They "amen"-ed as much as they do during a normal sermon - loud, unashamed, and heart-felt.  G-d was moving.

We often don't pay attention to the words we sing, but what if the person who you could never understand before, suddenly stood up and starting singing one in your language?  You'd probably listen differently.  I think we need to start paying attention to the words we sing like that all the time.  I mean, in Korea, these words are so important that they're included as part of their Bibles.  That's a big deal.

My Pop-pop had a habit of making us read certain verses of songs when he really wanted us to pay attention to their meaning, and you know what?  I can still quote you the verse he did it the most on. (And when I think, that G-d, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in.  That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.)

So, in the spirit of truly looking at the words we sing and the message they're trying to give us, I'm going to post the words of this song for you (as printed in the Wesleyan hymnals I've seen), coupled with the Korean, since I seem to have a decent amount of Korean visitors.  I hope you will take the time to read it all.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;

내 맘의 주여 소망되소서

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.

주 없이 모든 일 헛되어라

Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,

밤이나 낮이나 주님 생각

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

잘 때나 깰 때 함께하소서 

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;

지혜의 주여 말씀으로서

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;

언제나 내안에 계십소서

Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;

주는 내 아버지 나는 아들

Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

주안에 내가 늘 살고지고

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,

세상의 영광 나 안보여도

Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:

언제나 주님의 나의 기업

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,

주님만 내 맘에 계시오니

High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

영원한 주님 참 귀하셔라

High King of Heaven, my victory won,

영원한 주님 내 승리의 주

May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!

하늘의 기쁨을 주옵소서

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,

어떠한 고난이 닥쳐와도

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

만유의 주여 소망되소서

Amen

아멘

Lent: Found

***Don't forget to sign the petition to save refugees from North Korea!***

Blessing #37 - The trash pile at Kara Kara Spa

Today was a strange day for me, for many reasons upon which I'm choosing not to expound.  The result was, however, that I spent the day very high strung.

I taught my first round of Saturday classes at a school other than my normal one, and I enjoyed it.  I'll be posting more about that probably sometime this week.  I'm doing a revamped Superheroes study with them, and, if it continues to go this well, it will end up on my lessons plans blog.  My uncle draws a comic strip that I've always admired, and, as such, he also instilled in me quite the enjoyment of superheroes.  They're not as high up there as Harry Potter, but they're higher than most people would expect.  (My favorite is Batman, but, as I told my kids, Wolverine is my boyfriend.)

After teaching, I met up with Adam Thomas to be part of the cast for his next two videos.  They're going to be pretty amusing, and helpful for my classroom, even though we're using different textbooks.  The joy of a national curriculum is that all the kids learn the same things before the school year is over, so I can still use Adam's materials.

For the final scene that we shot, we needed to be around a dumpster, so I showed everyone where I salvage newspapers to line my rabbit's litter box.  As we were walking up, we see a guy very clearly getting ready to throw away his guitar.  I held my breath, looked at Adam, considered the fact that he was able to bring his guitar with him, and said, "MINE."  He said, "Okay."  My whole body tensed for the split second it looked like the guy was going to smash the guitar, but he was participating in what could only have been a date to the trash center, so he refrained.  As a result, I got this:

There's a little bit of damage to the neck and fretboard, and it's missing the 9v battery cover, but they all seem extremely fixable.  It even had new strings on it, so I'm figured the guy must have over-tightened the strings, putting the neck and fretboard under too much stress, thus causing the damage, which he tried to repair by screwing te fretboard to the neck, and that did not work out too well.

However you look at it, I'm excited.  It felt good to have a guitar in my hands again.


What do you miss doing the most?

Lent: Too tired to type

***Don't forget to sign the petition to save refugees from North Korea!***

Blessings #33-35: Sweet Potatoes (or Ketchup), Poop, and Laughter

What every day, seemingly mundane things are your most thankful for today?

****Addition on 3/30:****

This is the first page of the book I read, entitled "Poo, Poo."

Lent: Munchkins

***Don't forget to sign the petition to save refugees from North Korea!***

Blessing #32 - People who fight for the same goal

I've had the pleasure of working with my fifth graders on understanding the U.N., why it started, and what it aims to do.  I haven't gone into the details and such, but we've talked about the basic concept - very basic, as their lesson is simply, "Hello, I'm __________.  I'm from ________________.  This is ________.  (S)He is from ___________."

Nonetheless, it's made me remember how grateful I am for the thinkers and movers behind the U.N., who believe that we don't have to be slaves to our country borders and are radical enough to think that we can act out of non-selfish motives.  That's a number among which I wouldn't mind being counted.

That being said, here's the final product of the 5th graders' model U.N. project.  I hope you enjoy!

Who are you, where are you from, and for what do you fight?

Lent: Te protejo con la sangre de Cristo

Blessing #1 - Orlando

In 2009, I visited Nicaragua, the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere (80% of the population lives on $2 a day).  Just before I left to go there, I developed a massive inner ear infection.  The school nurse was nervous about the amount of pressure that was on my ear drum at the time.  I started my antibiotics, and I got on the plane anyway.  I spent a couple days on my own, meeting one of the kids I sponsor through Compassion International, and then I met up with my mission group in Costa Rica.  We stopped long enough to pick up our missionary, David Webb, and his summer intern, head to the river, get on a boat, and enter Nicaragua by water.

It was there that I met Orlando, the then Nazarene District Superintendent for that area.

Orlando touched my life deeply those two weeks.  The man traveled all the way from his home to be with us, but chose to sleep on the dirt floor of a nearby house.  I don't know if it was because he wanted to show solidarity with the community or he had some moral or dictated stance against accepting a room from us in the hotel where we stayed or what, but it touched me nonetheless.

Orlando got up before us and went to bed after us.
Orlando organized our missions activities.
Orlando suffered through our horrible attempts at Spanish, making efforts to          communicate with all who tried.
Orlando sat with me as I heaved my parasite-infected guts out under the                Nicaraguan sun.
Orlando found me a doctor in the middle of the night.
Orlando woke up the bus driver to take me to the hospital.
Orlando insisted upon staying by my bedside, to wake every time I                        whimpered.
Orlando showed me Christ in a way I had never seen before.

David, Orlando, and another man who helped us do construction on a school.  Photo taken by Ashley Meeks.

The question still occasionally baffles me: Why would a man shepherding the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere make time to care for a spoiled little rich girl like me?  Surely, he has much more pressing issues on his plate.

And yet, he still continues to take care of me.  I want to share with you one of the most recent emails I got from him.  I will post it in the original Spanish, because I believe firmly in preserving the intended quality of the message (many things from many languages simply cannot translate into English).  You can find the translation here.

Anne, 

Dios te bendiga, espero que cada dia mejores en tu vida espiritual.

Te protejo con la sangre de Cristo y el poder de Cristo cada dia en tu vida.  No dejes que el diablo te robe la bendicion y la salvacion de alma.  No dejes que  la oscuridad de este mundo empañe tu salvacion y las dudas te sieguen tu mente.  No dejes que tus impulsos  te traicionen. 

Los problemas de este mundo siempre estan.  Nosotros nos morimos y los problemas se quedan en la tierra. 

Con Cristo estoy juntamente crusificado y ya no vivo yo mas Cristo vive en mi:  

En Cristo,
Orlando Alvenda 

I can't tell you the blessing it is, knowing I have a prayer warrior like Orlando on my side, slashing away at Satan for me, when I get too weary to do it myself.  Orlando is the man I think of when I direct my thoughts to my Christ-model here on Earth.  Yes, Orlando is definitely only human, but if I look forward to one day hearing Christ come to him and again say, "Bien hecho, siervo bueno y fiel."

Who is your Christ-model?  Why?

***Don't forget to sign the petition to save refugees from North Korea!***

Wear better clothes.

I'm going to start this post with the conclusion, just so there's no confusion on it: I am absolutely a non-fan of confrontation.  Yes, I like being able to yell my head off and voice my opinions, provided that there are minimal repercussions (i.e. I won't see them again, or they'll yell back, but that'll be the end of it... etc.), but, when that is not an option, I entirely shy away from it.  Just the thought of confronting such a situation gets my heart rate up.  Especially when I realize that my shirt is see-through.

Earlier this evening, I tried my hand shopping at a bigger store than the one I went to when I still lived on KNU's campus.  The mission was a success - I got both my pantry and fridge stocked - but it took three times longer than usual, and I still didn't end up with the fancy trash bags I'm supposed to use.  I may just haul my trash back to KNU and let them handle it... or take my garbage out in the middle of the night.  But, the point of this paragraph is not to debate the morality of ignoring cultural norms when the culture makes it impossible to find the supplies to participate in said norms.  The point of this paragraph is to express how exhausted I was when I finally made it home after my errands.  It was quite a day - TESOL, then a trip to City Hall to turn in my Change of Address, then an attempt at finding a new bus route to school using the 1 Bus (which is a great deal closer to my apartment than the faithful 14) - no dice, btw - , then the E-Mart trip, putting me home around 8:30.  I took care of the rabbit, started some chores, and finally sat down to dinner at (prepare to be horrified) 11:30.  Somewhere in the middle of this, I changed into a pair of pajama shorts and an undershirt that my friend who used to live here, Tori, left me.

It was around the time that I peeked out my front door to investigate the sounds of English coming from the hallway that I realized my shirt was very much see-through.  Great.  Glad I chose to wear a cute bra today.  So, I talked to what turned out to be some other friends of mine for a bit, and then went back to bustling about the apartment, promptly forgetting the encounter.

That is, until I had to run upstairs to Kris' apartment to fix something with our shared internet.  He's not there right now, so I knew that wouldn't be an issue.  What I wasn't expecting was to find Kris' neighbor, sulking in the stairwell, smoking his cigarette.

So, I came flying up the stairs, two at a time, until I saw him.  I stopped, teetering on the edge of the top step.  He stopped, one arm folded across his chest, the cigarette perched against his lip, as if he had been about to take a long drag.  We made eye contact, and, in that second, I thought about the amount of time Kris has spent trying to catch this guy in the act of smoking in the hallway (right underneath the no smoking sign, mind you).  I thought of Kris' determination to drive him out, bleaching the hallway, convinced that the smell would be too intense for him to stay.  I thought of the mad dashes outside in the middle of conversations at just a wiff of smoke.  I thought of all these things, then broke eye contact and ran away, slamming Kris' door behind me.  It would have put some of Carrie Bradshaw's antics to shame.

And, true to form, I left Kris a note, explaining what had happened and apologizing for my lack of filling his shoes.

Confrontational situations: 2
Confrontations: 0

I don't know whether to label this as a win or a fail.  So, I'm also not going to confront that, and label this one a wail... or a fin... or a whale fin.  Yeah, that's it.  A whale fin.

May your day consist of whole creatures and not just their appendages.

<3,
Anne