I have a bench in my classroom. This bench is small, cute, and a fun thing to have. The kids in my class both last year and this year have put the bench through a lot! It has been closed for my kids to use for a while because I haven't had the time to fix it (and I usually would forget my toolbox when I went to school). Here is the bench as it was: Note: The top of the bench was taken off for the purpose of the picture. Now, here is what the bench looks like after almost an hour of hand screwing screws and dealing with cheap furniture construction. It's a little lop sided but that was due to not having quite the correct materials and not wanting to leave and go to the hardware store and just get something better than what I had. I can be lazy like that!
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At our school, the classroom that is the "cleanest" is chosen each month to win the Golden Broom award. For the month of March, my classroom was the cleanest! (Honestly, I don't know how my classroom won it but I think we tried really hard and that work paid off!)
I celebrated my mom's birthday with her a while back. We went to see Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias. We spent most of our day exploring and shopping and ended our day at his show. He was great! It was a really good way to celebrate my mom's birthday!
A while ago, we had our school board appreciation event. Last year, we punned upon donuts for our appreciation. This year, we punned about fruit pizza! Take a look at the craft and at the actual fruit pizza we made as a team!
At my school, in Kindergarten, we make gingerbread houses at Christmastime. Here is my setup for my class's gingerbread house making day. Now is the time to ask yourself, "Is it really a day in Kindergarten if there are no crazy surprises?" Your answer should be, "NO!" BECAUSE . . . about 1 hour after these pictures were taken and kids were coming in and I was showing them how to make their gingerbread house, the power went out! So, we had the fun and exciting experience of making gingerbread houses in a completely dark classroom with lanterns and travel lights. It really was an experience and made for an interesting morning of Kindergarten as we were all dismissed early. At least the kids will remember this! I know I will!
There was this really fun event called "Enchant" at SafeCo Field in Seattle that happened and I decided to go with my family. It was such a fun event! There was a light maze that covered the ENTIRE field! We had to find each of Santa's reindeer and mark them off on a scratch off card. It was so much fun and the lights were GORGEOUS!
Here was my bulletin board from Fall! I made the tree out of construction paper and the kids each finger painted a pumpkin. This was a really fun craft and ended up looking really pretty!
I love books! I have a LOT of picture books to use in my class. For the longest time, I did not have nicely labeled and sorted book bins. Near the beginning of the school year, I put these new labels together for my nicely sorted books! I still have more to add and sort but this is a good place to start!
Last week, I posted about my new chair pockets in my classroom. I thought that I might share what my classroom looks like right now. Ignore the boxes but look at the cute apples that my kiddos made! This is probably one of the least attractive angles of my classroom but it's a good look at the chair pockets! I also added a color coordinated word wall this year and I'm quite excited to see how my students use it!
It is now the start of a new school year! I am still teaching Kindergarten and I have 18 lovely kiddos that are in my class. I decided to add some new flare to my classroom and make some new bulletin boards for my students. I decided that I could make a foray into sewing because I have an old sewing machine that I never learned how to use and I thought that learning to use it to make chair pockets for my classroom would be cheaper than buying chair pockets for my classroom. I didn't really have a pattern but I had an idea and I successfully made a class set of chair pockets in four different colors! This wasn't the most perfect chair pocket of the ones I made but it shows the basic structure of the pocket. There's a small pocket that fits over the chair and a large pocket on the other side to hold different things. I also folded a flap on the front so that I could have a vinyl pocket to put the child's name in. It was a really fun experience and I made about 19 chair pockets in about four days working on and off on them and it only cost me about $50 which would be about $2.65 per chair pocket while buying them online might cost me $20 per chair pocket. Hopefully with these being my first big sewing machine project, they will last the year and not have too much wear and tear on them.
Hello! It's a new year! I got to go see my family over winter break and have a nice Christmas. Unfortunately I now know that I was also battling strep throat and mono at the same time. I'm almost back to 100% (finally!). It's been nice to be back in my classroom and in my school and working with my students again! Here's a picture of the bulletin board that I made recently with my students' crafts. They made birds because we are learning about birds and the characteristics that make them birds (wings, beaks, and feathers). They did such a nice job that I had to display it for everyone to see! Additionally, one of the second grade classes at the school has been talking about random acts of kindness and participating in activities that support that kind of climate so I found this on my door after taking my students to lunch! It was just such a nice gesture from the kiddos!
I've discovered that a small benefit of living in a small town is that there are little holiday community events all over the place! I got my weekly town newspaper and the entire front page was dedicated to these different events. Tonight, I went to the holiday parade and tree lighting ceremony. There was also a town wide sale event put on by the local businesses. I actually didn't get to see much of the parade as it was really short and I was late but I got to see a few floats. I only got a picture of one float that was a small train but I did get a picture or two of the town tree being lit. There's the little train. It was really dark and I didn't want to use flash so it's quite a poor picture but the train was so cute! Here's the tree. Again, it was a low light picture so it's not the best quality and the gas station sign is in the background but it really is a cute tree. Also, at the tree lighting, there was Santa and Anna and Elsa from Frozen. The kids from town were really enjoying those special guests. I've got 13 days left before my winter break begins so I've got to hurry up on my report cards and all that jazz so that I can spend the next week or so not stressing out too badly!
So, I am now working in a kindergarten classroom in Washington. I am really excited to be there! I was coming into this school in October after the school year had already started and creating a fourth kindergarten class to accommodate for all of the unexpected enrollments for kindergarten. It's been an interesting transition for myself and the students. The other kindergarten teachers are fantastic and everyone has been very supportive so I'm glad to say that I have a job in such a good place.
For the next year, I'm in a small one bedroom apartment that is kind of like a cube with walls but it's definitely bigger than my place back in Seoul. I've got enough space and I'm still LOVING living without roommates. One thing that is a challenge is I am living in a very small town where you can walk from one end of the central area to the other in ten minutes or less. It's a really small town. I ended up getting probably the only available apartment in the entire city. Quite lucky if I do say so myself but there's not too much happening in town. There are about eight restaurants total in town and if I want anything commercial, like fast food, I have to drive about an hour away. It's definitely different but at least that drive is GORGEOUS! I've got about a week until Thanksgiving break when I get to go home and see my family and pet my dogs and my cat and eat a ridiculous amount a food. It'll be good and I'm excited! I'll try to keep things updated on here! So, when I originally planned on posting this, I did not have a job. I completed my time at my local theme park and I went out and did quite a few fun things. I thought I might share a few of the cool things that I have done now that summer is over (I have procrastinated A LOT in creating and finishing this post!). Hiking! So I got to take a day trip to Silver Falls about forty minutes from my house! I went with one of my friends from high school and two of her friends from college. It was such a fun day and it was cool to see all of the different waterfalls. We ended up hiking about 6 miles to see most of the falls. It was so fun! Back in July, one of my all time favorite Kpop artists, G-Dragon had a tour date set for Seattle. I decided to buy a ticket and go. My mom and I drove to Seattle, explored, I went to the concert, and then we spent the night and went home the next day. It was one of the BEST concerts I've ever been to. I would definitely go to see him again if he ever comes near where I live! Here are some pictures from the concert (the quality is REALLY low but I guess that's okay!). I also put in some pictures from exploring Seattle! For my best friend, I helped her decorate her mortarboard for graduation. She is a big fan of Game of Thrones so we designed it and got it all put together and I think it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself! As a REALLY late birthday present/graduation gift, my friend and I also went to a local winery for a tour and a tasting. We went for the afternoon and it was a gorgeous day and the wine was fantastic! I also went to our local art fair that happens every year! It was really fun. They also had a car there that people could draw on so I drew Franklin the space monster on the car. I also took a fun picture of the attack owl sign because I just think it's funny that there is an owl that attacked so many people that they had to put a sign up about it. :) So that's a few of the things I did over the summer. I'm sure I did more but these seemed to be the big fun things that I did.
So, I now have a job at a school in Washington! I will be teaching Kindergarten with a lovely team of ladies! I'm really excited but it's also a bit scary as I am moving several hundred miles from my hometown on a bit short notice but I'm looking forward to the challenge and the experience!
It's been a while since I've posted! I've been busy filling out teaching job applications and working at my current summer job. I'm hoping that I can get a teaching job secured before August but I don't know how that will go. Cross your fingers for me and wish me luck!!
I've been back home for a while now. I thought that writing this post might be a bit better to do after giving myself a little time to readjust to life in The States! I think some of my biggest takeaways from this experience have been that:
a) There are many generous and kind people willing to help and believe in you if you are willing to do the work and be flexible. I met and got to know so many wonderful people in South Korea and every one of them seemed genuinely interested in my success as a teacher. I did find that as long as I was professional, flexible, and willing to work my experience was very positive! b) It is important to have a sense of adventure and go out of your comfort zone every once in a while (disrupt your patterns). Often, I find myself in a pattern and do the same thing every day. I had to make a point to go somewhere new almost every day! I tried my best to use what Korean I knew/know when I could and not just hope that someone spoke English. I felt that it was important to do things that I would not get to do once I was back home. c) Meaning can bypass language but language is still REALLY important! I am by no means fluent in Korean. I still can't hold a conversation in Korean but I can do a few things. I can order food and ask for things as well as generally communicate in situations where I need something. A lot of my communication in the first few weeks was pointing and saying "please." In the classroom, I learned a few words to help with management and to give some instructions. In these situations, I was usually able to get my meaning across even if it was without language but I still felt the want and need to learn more to really effectively communicate with the people around me. To any anyone interested in study abroad, I would definitely say, "DO IT!" It is definitely worth it! The experience of living in a foreign country and experiencing being fully immersed in a culture that is different from your own is invaluable. It broadens your own views of the world and can help make you a more global citizen. Additionally, it is really fun! I immensely enjoyed my time abroad. I had some of the most fun and rewarding experiences of my college experience. I also had to challenge myself to do more than I might have done than if I had stayed in the U.S. for my student teaching. I feel that I have grown more confident in myself as an individual in the world. As to things I might have done differently, I would have wanted to learn a bit more Korean beyond what I needed for my basic needs. Once I learned how I would fulfill my role within the school, I was easily able to adjust my mindset to really commit to what was expected of me. Overall, I felt really prepared for my experience and through this experience, I have started planning for the next five or so years of my life. I can definitely see myself returning to teach in Korea again in the next five or so years. I can also see myself going abroad to a different place to teach. I would just love to continue to travel the world and eventually reach one of my personal goals of travelling to all seven continents (I have currently been to three of seven!). Overall, this entire experience has been very positive but if I had to describe it in just a few words I think it would be: This experience has been a personal test of patience, willingness to work, and ability to enjoy the small moments that life throws at you. It has been a reminder as to why I enjoy teaching and why I want to be a teacher. It has played a part in affirming my aspirations to become a teacher and reminds me that the work is always worth it. It may take a while for things to happen and it may be tough but it will be worth it in the end. On Saturday, I got tickets to go see VIXX in concert! My friend went with me and I met some new people! It was such a good concert and I had such a fun time!
My friend and I had really planned to go to Busan particularly because of Spaland. Spaland is a Korean style bathhouse. There are the typical baths and there are saunas and other spa services. I had done a lot of research on Korean bath houses and decided that this would be an excellent place to start. SpaLand is a bit more expensive than normal bath houses and there is also a 4 hour limit for being there (many bath houses and saunas are open 24 hours and allow you to be there for as long as you want). When we got to the department store that the bath house is housed in, we had to search for just a moment before finding our way to the entrance of the bath house (it had a separate entrance from the department store). Once we found the entrance, we went to the reception desk and paid our entrance fee. After this, we were directed up an escalator and had to take off our shoes and put them in our assigned shoe locker. This first locker was only for our shoes. The key to that locker matches a bigger locker in the actual women's locker room. The key is also the method of payment when you are in the facilities. All purchases are kept track of on the key so you don't have to carry cash with you as there are services and goods that cost extra in the bath house. After putting all of our belongings into a locker, it was time to get ready for the baths. As bath houses are quite normal and embraced within Korea nudity in a bath house is completely normal. I was surprised at how easy this was for me! I felt right at home especially because it's not like I was the only person. After a quick shower, I tried out almost all of the different baths in the literal bath room. There were really warm baths as well as quite cool baths. My favorite baths were the outdoor baths that were surrounded by a privacy fence and roof. There were rocks all around and one of the baths also had a small waterfall! The water in these baths was also special. One bath had sodium bicarbonate and one had sodium chloride to make the experience even better. Additionally after soaking for a while I got myself a traditional Korean body scrub and face mask. This entailed one of the bath house employees using a coarse loofah-esque towel called an Italy towel to remove dead skin and dirt from my entire body. Online, people said that it was quite painful but I found it really pleasant and I would definitely do it again! My skin has never been so soft! After that amazing experience, I returned to the locker room and headed into the vanity area where there were sanitized brushes and combs available as well as hair dryers, skin care products, tissues, q-tips, and anything else I might have needed to finish my bathing routine. I then changed into my sauna clothes that were given to me when I entered the bath house and went to explore the different saunas. This particular bath house and sauna has a large number of saunas. I at least looked into every one but I only spent time in one that was mildly hot and one that was a bit cold. The others were way too hot! They even burned my feet when I went in as we were all barefoot at this point in time! I also spent quite a bit of time in the outdoor foot bath. There were areas to sit in the foot bath, different temperature foot baths and a textured area to walk on. It was quite pleasant and I could have stayed out there for quite some time! The bath house also has a relaxation room with reclining chairs and individual TVs as well as other spa services and massage chairs. There is also food! I did not get any food from the restaurant but from the one of the little cafe kiosks I got a pomegranate vinegar drink that was delicious and refreshing and I got the traditional korean bath house baked egg. These eggs are supposedly baked in the heat from the saunas and hot springs. They are very brown and have a unique color for the whites of the eggs. However, it tastes just like any other hard boiled egg. In addition to my sauna gear, I learned how to fold my towel into the traditional "sheep's head" hat. It was surprisingly easy and I felt super cute! At the end of my time at SpaLand, I felt super relaxed, soft, clean, and completely satisfied! I would definitely go again and I would encourage anyone who goes to Korea to go to a traditional bath house and sauna! It was so great and I could have spent such a long time there!
This last week was a bit of a vacation week for Korea. There were many holidays. There was Children's Day, Buddha's Birthday, and an Autumn Holiday all right before a weekend. This meant we got about 5 days off. It was a nice long break! I decided that I would go to Busan on the southern tip of Korea for part of my trip. I was there just for fun but also to visit the family of a friend from the United States. I was lucky enough that they generously offered to let me stay at their apartment for my stay. I took the KTX train from Seoul to Busan. It took about 2.5 hours to get from Seoul to Busan on the bullet train that travels near 300km/h. Until last December, this train was the fastest train in Korea! It was a nice and easy trip. I got to the train station, redeemed my ticket that I had bought online and waited for my train to arrive so that I could board. The train ride itself was very comfortable. There are outlets to charge your devices, free Wi-Fi, and the seats are decently sized. Once I got to Busan, I took the subway to my friend's family's subway station. It took about 30 minutes. I was met by my friend's family and at their apartment, I was greeted by a fabulous and delicious home cooked Korean meal. There was bulgogi, japchae, and soybean paste stew. It was so good! The next day, we went to a skywalk lookout where you can see about five islands off of the coast of Busan. It was beautiful and the skywalk was really cool! I also went out to the 40 steps monument that is a bit of a memorial for the many wars that Korea has had. There really were 40 steps! After this, I wandered for a while and I ended up finding this extremely busy street market. There were so many vendors and many people buying things. This market also covered several blocks of the street. It was really cool to see! At the end of the day, I got to have chicken and beer or chi-mek in Korean. It was super delicious! The next day, I met up with my friend that I usually adventure with in Seoul and we went to the Shinsegae Department Store in Busan which holds the Guinness World Record for the largest department store in the world. We were not there for the department store though. We were there for SpaLand. I'm going to be doing a separate post for SpaLand because it deserves it but SpaLand is essentially one of the fanciest Korean bath houses and saunas in Korea. It was an experience that was both interesting and amazing. I would definitely go again!
Korea and the United states have several things in common but there are a lot of things that are different. There are things I can get and do in the United States that I cannot get or do here as well, there are things I can get and do here that I cannot get or do easily in the United States.
Things I miss from the United States: The space. In America, we have a lot of open space and because of this we have a strong sense of personal space. In Korea, there is not as much open space. I've seen open spaces particularly in parks, the front "yard" of some schools, and on highways. Those are some of the only places where I see a decent amount of open space. Everywhere else, the space is filled by tall buildings that are quite close together. I particularly miss grass. I know it's a bit of a weird thing to say but I miss grass. I have seen hardly any grass here in Seoul outside of one park! Back home, I see grass every day and can touch it, smell it, and enjoy it's grassyness. Here in Seoul, because the city is so dense, there is not much room for grass so there isn't much. I have seen grass though in some parks. Many parks though have no grass at all. They are concrete with some benches or other places to sit. Here in Seoul it doesn't feel common to see a lot of grass so I miss the grassyness of home! Seoul has a lot of ice cream to eat but I have found myself often craving Dairy Queen. There's something to be said about just wanting to eat a blizzard at the end of the day. This trip will be the longest time I have gone without driving in the last four years. It's kind of liberating to not have to drive everywhere (nor do I wish that I had a car here because I think I would get into an accident quite quickly due to the style of driving I have witnessed here) but I miss my boat of a car. I liked being able to go do what I wanted exactly when I wanted. Here, I have to wait for public transit which is perfectly fine because I know how to manage my time but I will be happy to have my car back and be driving again. My apartment here in Seoul doesn't have an oven. This makes it difficult to bake anything. I also do not have a microwave or a microwave oven. My main cooking equipment is a kettle and a hot plate. I'm also lazy and I don't like to do a lot of dishes if I don't have to so I have not actually cooked in the last three months. I have eaten out a lot which is pretty cheap and good/healthy food and I have also eaten a lot of convenience store food! I have quite a few favorite places to eat now. I have missed being able to come home and throw something in the microwave to eat but I also have been forced to go out and explore my neighborhood and try new and interesting foods! Things I'll miss from Korea I love Korean food. It is extremely delicious but my town in the US only has one Korean restaurant and their specialty is bibimbap. Bibimbap is not my favorite Korean food. It is good but There are other dishes that I quite like a lot better. In particular, I LOVE naengmyeon or cold noodles. They are my life! I have eaten them so many times here and I still love them like no other! I cannot easily get this dish in the US. Last time I was in Korea, I came back home and craved naengmyeon for weeks. It was really bad. I'm pretty sure the same will happen to me this time and it makes me sad that I won't have one of my favorite Korean dishes when I want it. I'm also really going to miss the bubble tea chain Gong Cha. I love Gong Cha. Their black milk tea with boba is AMAZING and I am sincerely going to miss it. Gong Cha does have a few branches in California but I'm hoping that eventually, they will expand to the entire US and make my bubble tea dreams come true!! Korean public transportation here in Seoul is quite amazing. The subway is easy to navigate and use. It is also super convenient and goes everywhere! I'm going to miss being able to just hop on and not worry about too many directions and just get to where I'm going! I will definitely miss all of the people that I have met. The students have been so wonderful and the staff at my school has been amazing. They are so wonderful, helpful, and kind! From my experience, the Korean people I have met are generous and kind. They are genuinely excited to share their culture with me and are happy that I am interested in their own culture. Everything is also so convenient here. I have a convenience store less than a minute from my apartment. The subway is about a minute walk from my apartment. My school is about a ten minute walk. Everything is so convenient and I can get anywhere I want to go in about a half hour! It's so great! In the U.S. it can take up to an hour to get to different places. Additionally, Korea and particularly Seoul is open very late. Many businesses don't close until well after midnight and other businesses are open 24 hours! Many places in the U.S. close between 6 and 8 depending on the type of business while Seoul stays open quite late. Korea also has amazing scenery. I am surrounded by mini-mountains/large hills. There is always something to see. The flowers this last spring were also amazing. On my walk to and from school each day, I would see something new every day in the scenery. It was so beautiful! Overall, I really have enjoyed Korea and I like my life in the United States but there are definitely things that I both like and dislike in either place. I think that in coming home, I might experience a bit of reverse culture shock. I feel that I have grown a lot as a person and as a teacher. One thing that will be interesting to readjust to will be eating all of my meals with a fork instead chopsticks and a spoon. I'm not overly concerned about reverse culture shock as I have maintained connections with my family and friends back home but I will have to wait and see how or if reverse culture shock will really affect me and to what degree. I'm hoping that this blog as well as the reflections that I kept during my teaching will support me in both sharing my experiences and transitioning back into my home culture. I also took many pictures to document my daily life so that I can share this experience with both my family and my friends.
In order to keep my study abroad experience as a key factor in my life, I hope to continue to foster the relationships that I have developed here both in professional relationships I have made in the school and the more personal relationships that I have maintained with family of my friends in the United States. I also hope that in the next 5-10 years I can return to Korea and teach again. There are many programs to facilitate this within Korea. I think that it would be a great way to continue to grow as both an educator and as a person. I also hope to continue to develop my Korean language skill. I am able to read Hangul (written Korean) and I can understand a small amount of what I read. I can also understand more that is said to me particularly in regards to food but I am not particularly skilled at speaking or writing Korean. My productive skills are lacking but I would hope that by the time that I might return to Korea my skills would improve a bit! I also plan to find ways to incorporate what I have learned particularly about English language learners in my school into my own future classroom and to use that knowledge to better my skill as a teacher. This weekend was the Lotus Lantern Festival that one of the Seoul Buddhist temples puts on to celebrate Buddha's birthday. There were many events and lots of activities! My friend and I went out to see what this festival was all about. It was so much fun!! Starting a few days prior, there were lanterns set up for display around Seoul. We went and looked at the lanterns in the Cheonggyecheon stream. This is a small man made stream in the middle of Seoul. It is gorgeous! Because it was still daytime, the lanterns weren't lit but we did get to see many lanterns that were lit in the parade that night! This parade was about 2.5 hours long but it was definitely worth it! There were so many lantern floats and so many people in the parade! It was AMAZING! After the parade, there was a post parade celebration that the festival put on. It was so much fun! Initially, we all migrated towards the stage that they had set up in the middle of the street that was closed for the parade where there were performers getting ready to perform. Those of us who were closer to the stage were instructed to just sit down on the pavement and we did. It was really cramped for a bit but I'm so glad we were so close! After a bit of music, we all stood up and got to dance together. We did some traditional Korean dances where we are all in circles and dance around. My friend and I didn't really know what was happening but there were some really kind ajjumas or old ladies who quickly grabbed our hands and helped us into the circles! We danced for probably about an hour and a half doing different dances to more traditional music. Near the end, there were dancers up on the stage leading us in simple dances. It was AMAZING! Also, throughout the dancing, there were cameras showing people up on the big screen. My friend and I ended up on screen quite a few times, it was great! There was also pink confetti being released for almost the entire time. This experience was quite magical! Saturday night was magical but Sunday was still very fun! There were many cultural and traditional events and activities. My friend and I went to the street in front of the Buddhist temple that was blocked off and we walked the street and did a few activities. I wrote my name in Korean and made a gorgeous lacquered keychain! My friend and I also ended up entering a lantern making contest for foreigners at the temple. Neither of us won but we did make friends with the girl who did eventually win when we were making our lanterns. She flew from Japan specifically for this festival! Her lantern was GORGEOUS! Pictured is my lantern not hers! The temple itself was also decorated in lanterns. There were too many lanterns to count in this temple! It was amazing! There were also lanterns from the parade on display! This was an amazing festival and I would love to come back every year as it was a fantastic experience where I felt the generosity and love of the Korean people!
A few weeks ago, my friend and I decided to go to Seoul Forest. It's not much of a forest but a really large park with significantly more trees and grass than the rest of Seoul but it is definitely not a forest. We walked all around and got really hot and really tired but it was a really nice day and the "forest" was quite nice as well. It has many different areas with different features. There is a small lake, a playground for kids, sculptures, a deer corral, and much more! |
AllisonThese are the chronicles of my time before, during, and after student teaching in South Korea! Archives
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