18 November 2009

pleased to meet you

2 cryers today, HOWEVER, Julie made friends with Monica today and started to speak, out loud, in sentences. BREAKTHROUGH, PEOPLE. It was awesome.

I wish you could see all of these kids, in person, in all their rambunctious, idiosyncratic glory. In our most fluid moments, it's like conducting, paying attention to each instrument at once, giving them their moment, trying to fit them all into an understandable whole. In many moments, we're a mash up of marching band and orchestra, everyone playing at once in a totally different keys, drummers and brass and squeaky violins, me with a broken conductor's wand, so small that no one can see me waving it furiously.

And so it goes.

Speaking of 'furiously,' today we did adverbs in the 2nd grade level class, and while it's easy to teach 'describes a verb,' it's not so easy when it's 'describes an adjective or another adverb.' Also, 'ends in -ly' is one thing, but then there's 'there' and 'here' and 'then' and 'now,' which really ought to be 3 lessons instead of just one. Also, I don't remember EVER learning about adverbs. Not directly, not by name. Ever. Whoops.

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So, since I've only received input from one source as to the subject matter to be covered in the impending weblog #200, THIS IS SERIOUS PEOPLE, I'm going to guess it's going to run a little like this: a life in review, 2005 - present. Epic. Sprawling. Incoherent and ridiculous. You ready for that? Yeah? If you have a better idea, or something you wish to be included, bring it, and bring it fast, 'cause I'm crankin' that baby out by the weekend.

Do you like how I write sometimes like I have an opera house's worth of an audience, instead of an intimate room full of the five of you? It's a lot like when I start talking to a crowd of 50 when I'm really only talking to my one friend who's sitting across from me. I need to be reigned in sometimes, and sometimes, it's just best to let me go.

Venus from chewingmedulla on Vimeo.

16 November 2009

Walking Tour

Best thing I've done in Korea.

Check it out.

Incheon Walkers' Stories

Another Monday...

...survived.

Julie finally said a word today in class. Barely a whisper, but she totally said 'yes' when I asked her if she was happy today.

Jenny didn't call Julie bad today.

Both the new girls have great handwriting.

Andy was back after being gone for 2 weeks and asked to call his mom 45 minutes into class because his stomach hurt, as usual. Poor kid/get a grip/both.

Thomas wasn't grumpy and didn't fall asleep.

Lots of kids really wanted to snuggle today, for one reason or another.

Samuel didn't fight me when I sent him to the hall for punching Nick.



Nobody cried today.



On a different note:

THE POLLS ARE NOW OPEN. Now taking votes on the theme/topics to be covered in without trousseau or change of underwear post #200.

15 November 2009

11.11

Pepero is a cookie stick, dipped in chocolate.

It's modeled after Japanese Pocky.

It's delicious, and sometimes it's covered in crushed almonds.

November 11th is Korea's Pepero Day, reportedly because 11.11 looks like four sticks of Pepero, and was apparently created by a bunch of middle school girls (literally) in the '90s. I'm currently eating my way through an entire box in an evening, which is probably not a great idea, health wise, but dang, some darkish chocolate covering a somewhat salty breadstick-like cookie to compliment a glass of red wine? How exactly could I be expected to stop myself? Not to mention they'll just go stale if I don't eat them all, anyway. 11.11 is like Korea's Valentine's Day - people give Pepero and various little gifts and cards to their loved ones, and (lucky me) sometimes to their teachers.

Yum.



Oh, yeah, I just remembered. The box of Pepero I'm currently munching my way through was given to me not by a student, not by my employer, but by one of the guys at the pizza place I go to in my neighborhood. He totally soothed my jangled nerves after a middle-aged Korean guy tried to get me to eat dinner at his house while I was sitting waiting for a pizza on the stoop of the restaurant. Thanks, Pizza Guy!

12 November 2009

Cheating, or...

... a picture's worth a thousand words?

21 October 2009

I am:

1. Homesick.

2. Full of delicious spicy cashew chicken with red and green pepper, onion, garlic.

3. Thinking that eating delicious food could possibly be the only way to get past being unbearably homesick.

4. Worried my kids will all fail their monthly tests tomorrow and Friday.

5. Looking forward to seeing some art projects on Saturday afternoon.

6. Wishing there was a cafe in my neighborhood where I could read books and drink coffee late at night. Doing that at home is just not the same. Especially when you have nothing but overhead florescents and folding chairs.

7. Devouring Her Fearful Symmetry at a perhaps dangerous rate.

8. Sad that I've already read 8 1/2 out of 9 of the Murakami books they have at the English language bookstore.

9. Overwhelmed by the list of things I should do to make myself feel less crazy, less burdened, less lonely, more productive, more clearheaded.

10. Proud of Samuel and Minnie for making Honor Roll.

11. Proud of my mama for learning how to email. Yay, Mama!

12. Homesick.

18 October 2009

Korean TV

This is the commercial that by all rights I should hate, should want to smash/burn/kill, but jeez the girl is cute and I get the jingle stuck in my head almost daily. I know it's evil, but I love it! Even though I don't speak Korean! Or have any idea what it's selling! Seriously, we all know this commercial, and more of us that you would guess secretly can't get enough of it.



I would give you the extended version with more people dancing if the internet would give it to me. CURSE YOU, INTERWEBS!

17 October 2009

Consumer Culture

My pants are wrinkled and I'm nowhere near business casual, let alone business business. I need an iron. And some nicer clothes.

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There are places to buy things every 2 feet here. Socks, underwear, utensils, plants, apples, rotisserie chickens, pancakes, squid jerky, sesame leaves, shower shoes, utensils, peanuts, live clams, fish shaped cakes with bean paste middle... On any busy street are shops and street vendors, on any given side alley, you might find an open air market. I live right near 3 marketplaces (that I know of) that combine tiny storefronts with covered stalls to carry all your daily essentials. The most fun, so far, to venture through is up behind my apartment, on the way towards the little mountain that you'd never guess was hiding back there.

Does anyone know how to get a whole octopus home from the market? Will they cut it into pieces for me if I ask? Or am I just going to have to put it on a tarp and employ several of my beefiest friends to help me carry it?



Not long ago, I ate what was basically brined fish jerky. Snack fish are big here. Along with snack squid and snack octopus.



Chili pepper chili pepper chili pepper. Imagine this many chili peppers. Okay, multiply it by about 15, imagine it in giant heaping piles on sheets on the ground being sorted through by aging Korean ladies. Hello! Welcome to the streets of Seoul!



I'm already beginning to suffer from withdrawal from the taste of chili peppers when I eat anything that's not spicy. Some people complain about the spice, and granted, in can obscure other flavors, but DANG it's exciting to eat food that makes your face go numb. Okay, maybe not for everyone, but I dig it.