Sometimes I forget my camera....
So no pictures in this post. Which sucks. Because I had an awesome couple of days.
On Thursday afternoon, I went up to Gwangju, a city near Suncheon. The Jeollanamdo Education Office was having a day of workshops on Friday, and I was (woohoo) one of the presenters.
Stu, Nicola, Max and I had arranged to meet up in downtown Gwangju. Imagine our surprise when our meeting place coincided with some sort of battle-of-the-bands concert thing. We danced a bit, then waved goodbye to the band on stage (they waved back and shouted "See you later!") and wandered off to enjoy some sort of random cultural festival - every corner had artists, fashion shows, drum concerts, dance shows... whatever. And there was a ton of people. The thing about Gwangju is that, even though it's a much bigger city than Suncheon, they seem to have less foreigners there. This means that there is a lot more pointing, whispering, giggling etc. I don't get that anymore in Suncheon, and it does bring you back to reality (hey, we're not Korean... who knew?)
We shopped, met up with Lana (from original orientation group - her blog is at left. She lives near Suncheon, but I don't see her enough!), ate at TGI Fridays (non-Korean food), then went back to our motel, where Nicola, Lana and I had a sort of pyjama party (Sex and the City on TV, face masks and girl talk). Lana and Nicola were also presenting workshops on Friday, and we were quite nervous as we'd just heard that our presentations were to be filmed and posted online!
On Friday, we went to Damyang, to face the cameras. Lana presented a real class to students, while about 60 Korean and foreign teachers watched her. Vanessa (her blog is also listed on the left) also presented. I can't imagine how stressful it must have been for them to do that. They both did an awesome job, to say the least. Then, we went back to the main auditorium for the other presentations. For the rest of us, we had only 10 minutes to present a lesson plan that we had already used in class. It all went well, but the best part was reconnecting with people I meet here and there in Jeollanamdo, but don't see often enough, like Jessica (yes, her blog is also listed at the left....). The whole day was such a whirlwind that I hardly even got to chat with folks like Carol and Maura.
Anyway, feeling peckish, Max, Stu, Nicola, Lana and I headed back to TGI Fridays, (once again dodging concerts, and crowds. Nicola almost got run over by a male model in a fashion show in the middle of the street!) and then to a... DOG CAFE. No, we were not eating dogs. We were petting them. Imagine, if you will, a bunch of well-groomed dogs (some dyed pink or green, some wearing bows and dresses) and a handful of cats (wearing t-shirts!) running around a... well... a cafe. It was great fun, and I was able to pick up some very reasonably priced toys etc for Jakob (owning a cat in Korea can be expensive... they are not common pets, so litter can cost up to $20). Then, it was a mad dash to the bus station for everyone to go their separate ways again.
Something strange is happening: Sometimes, I can read and understand Korean. I don't know if it is just a case of recognizing certain words or what. Of course, there's the problem of reading a sign, but not having a clue what the words actually mean. With the amount of English (or Konglish) here, however, it's sometimes amusing to spend a few minutes sounding out a sign to realize that it says "ka ser-bi-suh" or "Car Service". This evening, the cabbie was listening to the news and I could recognize certain words: Kim Jong-Il, meeguk (USA), hanguk (Korea), chunguk (China). Okay, the news report was about North Korea and, obviously, the response from the US and China. What they were really saying is beyond me, but it's interesting to me that the language is no longer just a bunch of incomprehensible noise. While shopping, I can understand the prices, and even hand over correct change now.
Then again, I have been here for.... 6 months.
Happy Birthday greetings need to go out today to:
Meron, my best friend and constant blog commenter (Oct 19)
Kelly, my best friend, who surprised me this week (Oct 20)
On Thursday afternoon, I went up to Gwangju, a city near Suncheon. The Jeollanamdo Education Office was having a day of workshops on Friday, and I was (woohoo) one of the presenters.
Stu, Nicola, Max and I had arranged to meet up in downtown Gwangju. Imagine our surprise when our meeting place coincided with some sort of battle-of-the-bands concert thing. We danced a bit, then waved goodbye to the band on stage (they waved back and shouted "See you later!") and wandered off to enjoy some sort of random cultural festival - every corner had artists, fashion shows, drum concerts, dance shows... whatever. And there was a ton of people. The thing about Gwangju is that, even though it's a much bigger city than Suncheon, they seem to have less foreigners there. This means that there is a lot more pointing, whispering, giggling etc. I don't get that anymore in Suncheon, and it does bring you back to reality (hey, we're not Korean... who knew?)
We shopped, met up with Lana (from original orientation group - her blog is at left. She lives near Suncheon, but I don't see her enough!), ate at TGI Fridays (non-Korean food), then went back to our motel, where Nicola, Lana and I had a sort of pyjama party (Sex and the City on TV, face masks and girl talk). Lana and Nicola were also presenting workshops on Friday, and we were quite nervous as we'd just heard that our presentations were to be filmed and posted online!
On Friday, we went to Damyang, to face the cameras. Lana presented a real class to students, while about 60 Korean and foreign teachers watched her. Vanessa (her blog is also listed on the left) also presented. I can't imagine how stressful it must have been for them to do that. They both did an awesome job, to say the least. Then, we went back to the main auditorium for the other presentations. For the rest of us, we had only 10 minutes to present a lesson plan that we had already used in class. It all went well, but the best part was reconnecting with people I meet here and there in Jeollanamdo, but don't see often enough, like Jessica (yes, her blog is also listed at the left....). The whole day was such a whirlwind that I hardly even got to chat with folks like Carol and Maura.
Anyway, feeling peckish, Max, Stu, Nicola, Lana and I headed back to TGI Fridays, (once again dodging concerts, and crowds. Nicola almost got run over by a male model in a fashion show in the middle of the street!) and then to a... DOG CAFE. No, we were not eating dogs. We were petting them. Imagine, if you will, a bunch of well-groomed dogs (some dyed pink or green, some wearing bows and dresses) and a handful of cats (wearing t-shirts!) running around a... well... a cafe. It was great fun, and I was able to pick up some very reasonably priced toys etc for Jakob (owning a cat in Korea can be expensive... they are not common pets, so litter can cost up to $20). Then, it was a mad dash to the bus station for everyone to go their separate ways again.
Something strange is happening: Sometimes, I can read and understand Korean. I don't know if it is just a case of recognizing certain words or what. Of course, there's the problem of reading a sign, but not having a clue what the words actually mean. With the amount of English (or Konglish) here, however, it's sometimes amusing to spend a few minutes sounding out a sign to realize that it says "ka ser-bi-suh" or "Car Service". This evening, the cabbie was listening to the news and I could recognize certain words: Kim Jong-Il, meeguk (USA), hanguk (Korea), chunguk (China). Okay, the news report was about North Korea and, obviously, the response from the US and China. What they were really saying is beyond me, but it's interesting to me that the language is no longer just a bunch of incomprehensible noise. While shopping, I can understand the prices, and even hand over correct change now.
Then again, I have been here for.... 6 months.
Happy Birthday greetings need to go out today to:
Meron, my best friend and constant blog commenter (Oct 19)
Kelly, my best friend, who surprised me this week (Oct 20)
posted by Ms Parker at
9:35 PM
3 Comments:
Sweetie, the blogs are listed on your *other* left. O-ren-cho!
;)
By
Jen @ Light Enough to Travel, at 12:23 AM
Funny - I am totally having left and right issues today.
Almost got lost in the taxi today when I "Orenchucked" when I should have "Wenchucked". Had to do a full-on covered-mouth giggle to ensure that the cabbie didn't get too mad at me.
By
Ms Parker, at 3:20 AM
stressful? HA! I wish I could do that everyday. Have class with students i don't know, teacher with a teacher I'd met 5 minutes before, and have lots of friends and strangers watch me. HEAVEN!
in actuality, i forgot about the audience after about 5 minutes. you'll do it next time, I know it :D
I have to do another demo tomorrow (monday), but this time it's for my county Educational Supervisor. While all the teachers will be running around like chickens with their heads cut off, this one will be a breeze compared with Friday!
Glad you had a good weekend. Doesn't girlz night rule?
By
Vanessa, at 8:24 PM
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