can you feel my heartbeat?!

here's a video of some of the highlights from my school's end-of-the-year festival, which included basketball and soccer competitions, a korean bbq party, fun (questionable) science experiments/demonstrations, student performances, fireworks, and an astronomy show!

happy holidays!! wherever in the world you may be!



my kids are great

joy

what brings joy?

maybe we can start with what takes joy away. my joy is killed when... i get hungry, it's raining, it's cold, i'm tired, i'm busy, i show up at school and find out that my classes have been cancelled, i'm on the bus and my butt begins to hurt and i'm only halfway to my destination, i miss the bus that i was supposed to have caught, i want to play guitar but it's too late so i don't want to disturb people, i run out of clean clothes, we have only vegetables for dinner or when my hostmom isn't home and my hostdad just gives me soup, somebody cuts me off while i'm driving, i begin to miss the people that were important in my life, i want something that i cannot have.

in light of all these joy killers, most of which i endure on a weekly, if not daily, basis, what is it, then, that brings me joy?

well, before i turn to that, maybe i should answer this first: do the antitheses of joy killers actually bring joy? in other words, does being full bring me joy? maybe. but there certainly is that fine line where i'm happy to be eating good food to where i want to die because i've now eaten too much. sun and warm weather? well, it depends if i am getting to enjoy it or not. being inside all day kind of negates that one. when i'm awake and my schedule is completely free? depends on how i choose to spend with my day i guess. people who cut me off certainly displeases me, but was there any joy there to begin with? am i actually joyful as i drive?

i could probably go on and break down the rest as well, but i think the point is beginning to become clear: the things that take away our joy (and there are many) aren't even necessarily correlated with bringing us joy. in other words, while these joy killers may explain our lack of joy, they do not explain when we do have joy.

now, what is it that can bring joy? one answer, and i have to thank my students for this, is relationships. yesterday, as i rolled into school, i was thinking about my lesson (on whose line is it anyway?) and how much fun i thought i was going to have with my kids. this led me to think about my kids and how joyful they can be. most of them are smiling whenever i see them and class is almost always a fun time. but as all of us know, being in school wasn't always the happiest times of our lives. with assignments and tests and the pressure to excel/succeed, how could anybody find joy in such a context?

so then, what? why are these kids so happy? i think it is because they truly enjoy their time with each other. my classes are so close with each other. closer then i remember being with my classmates in high school. party of this camaraderie is certainly built through the fact that they don't rotate classes, and are with the same 20 or so students all day, every day. anyway, i think there are few things in life that can bring as much joy as good relationships. we all want people to enjoy life together with. we desire people in our lives who truly know and understand us. who even love us in spite of the fact that they know and understand who we really are. and you know this too. just think back to some of your happiest memories and i'm sure you will be able to identify the people present who made those moments so meaningful.

to know and to be known. that is what brings joy.

i had one of my kids take pictures on "debate day." in all these pictures, you see the kids being with each other and being happy (well, aside from the first one where he's all by himself). i'm tempted to take all the credit and say it's because i'm such an awesome teacher and that my lesson was just that amazing, but honestly, even if my lesson was the greatest ever, if the kids didn't enjoy each other's company, do you think we could have had fun with it? can you imagine what it would have been like if the kids didn't like talking to each other?

all right, now to let the pictures do the talking...

superheroes puppet show!

it's finally here! enjoy...

now for some more classroom funnies:

one of my students is sitting there for awhile, then all of a sudden goes, "Oh, teacher! It's too easy!" I go over to look at his paper and all that's there is the name of his superhero: "Invisible Man."

one of my girls is telling me about her superhero, "Studyman:" "He is very handsome... he helps me with my homework... no one else can see him..."

me: so basically... you created an imaginary boyfriend?

girl: "yes."

one of my boys created "Gasman," who is elevated because he is farting: "By Newton's second law, he moves very fast."

in my interview class, we were talking about current issues. the students are trying to explain why it's so difficult to combat environmental issues: "If the government enforces environmental regulations, the companies will go..." they couldn't think of the word. i'm thinking to myself, there really only is one word - bankrupt - that could fit here. so they start looking in their dictionaries and the word they come up with "dishonor." "If the government enforces environmental regulations, the companies will go dishonor!" i respond, Dishonor?! the kids realize what they just said and start cracking up. eventually somebody says "bankrupt" and the rest all go, "OHHHH!!!"

same class, "The influenza vaccine has side effects. 60 people got sick. 1 person died."

me: is this the same vaccine that you took? (they had gotten vaccinated at school like 2 weeks ago; i remember, cause i tried to get one too, but was told that these were only for teenagers. apparently i might have been better for me to not have gotten it...)

"Yes."

me: ... good luck...

from my debates lesson:

Korean vs. American: Argue for why a korean/an american person would be better to marry.

korean side: "For koreans to marry americans will have many problems. with a korean person, we have the same diet. koreans like eating garlic, but americans hate garlic smell. so they will fighting."

american side: "Americans have blue and big eyes, blonde hair, s-line body, pretty muscle sometimes, white skin, and big house," "americans have a lot of money... oh just give me a little bit of money!" "if we marry an american, we can live in other places, for example, america."

there's always at least two ways to interpret everything:

many koreans think that american society is unsafe because all americans have guns so we're constantly killing each other. but, one student rebutted this point: "Americans have guns so they can protect themselves, so American society is safe." i'm not sure that's true, but interesting...

and lastly, and probably the best teaching moment so far, my interview class comes in and demands, "Teacher, we want to free talk." amused, but game, i ask, what would you like to talk about. "The flu!" "Debate, debate!" you want to have a debate on the swine flu? what about it? "How serious is it..." thinking to myself, hmm, this isn't half bad. okay, why don't you take 15 minutes to prepare. "We only need 5. we are science high school students." ... seriously. who is the teacher here?!

after the debate, i ask my kids, What should you do to stay healthy? So that you don't catch the flu? there answers: wash your hands. don't go outside. sleep. exercise. and of course, eat kimchi!

i'm going going back back to cali cali (and missouri..)

GUESS WHO'S COMING HOME DURING WINTER BREAK?!

after hitting up Urbana in St. Louis and kicking it a little in Missouri, i'll be home in LA from Jan 2-9. holla at yo boy, yo! and see you in the new year! (aka the year of lebron..) yeeahh boy!

LA to do list:

1. curry fries

2. hawaiian bbq

3. ramen (the real, legit japanese kind)

4. real pizza

5. thai food

6. in-n-out

7. banana pancakes/waffles

8. hash browns/tater tots

9. ribs

10. non-korean chinese food

hmm... i probably should've titled this my "to eat list"

are you trying to bullfight me?

let's get ready to rumble! the national bullfighting tournament was on saturday. it was so ridiculous! here's a clip if you don't know what bullfighting would look like:

the bulls waiting their turn outside. they look so peaceful... except for the one standing up who looked like he wanted to eat us.

a when bulls become apathetic and lose interest with one another, the trainers essentially pull them together in such a way that i'm sure they become intimidated by each other and begin to fight again

all the bulls had their names written on their backs. the bad boy on the left had a dragon!

the baby bull that was up for the raffle!

we were praying for baby bull to just knock over all those people..

the winner of the baby bull.. not us. sucks. dunno what we would've done with a baby bull anyway though. actually, yes i do. we would have bartered up and eventually ended up with a wii or something. anyway, we also left early, so it was possible that our tickets were winners later. we like to think so. we gave our raffle tickets to a mother and her son who had shared their oranges with us. that'd be sweet if the kid won a bicycle. or that bag of rice...

i was wearing my best rodeo outfit in case my number was called and i had to go throw down.

at the jinyang lake. it was so gorgeous. hard to believe it's already november. we were so lucky to get such good weather. could you imagine the bulls fighting in rain? that would suck. could you imagine me being outside in the rain? naw man. we would've been indoors all weekend.

beautiful.

as much as i clown on my city, jinju's definitely got some sweet spots.

goodnight, fair city.

the korea herald

i meant to do this like a month ago, but apparently i completely forgot all about it.

when i left cheongju the first time i visited, corneli's host-dad bought me an english korean newspaper.

i skimmed through most of it, so here is a little taste of what's going on in korea (on September 29 at least, lol):

Seoul Signals No Changes in N.K. Policy

"Foreign Ministry officials yesterday indicated that there would be no changes to Seoul's North Korea policies demanding "irrevocable" denuclearization measures from Pyongyang in return for extensive economic and social aid."

N.K. Constitution Empowers Kim

"North Korea's revised constitution states that chairman of its National Defense Commission, a post held by Kim Jon-il since 1997, is the country's "supreme leader," in an apparent bid to give greater authority to Kim."

Families Bid Farewell After Brief Reunions

"Ninety-seven South Koreans and their 233 relatives from the North said painful goodbyes, with no guarantee of whether they would be able to meet again."

"Chung Dae-choon, the oldest South Korean to take part in this year's reunion at the age of 95, kept repeating "this is the last," as he held his son Wanshik's shaking hands before sending him away."

Number of Elementary School Students Hits Low

"The number of elementary school students in Korea has dropped to its lowest level, reflecting the country's dwindling birth rate"

More Elderly Suffer Abuse

"This year alone, a total of 29,969 cases of such abuse were reported as of August."

"Considering most victims hesitate to report their family members, the actual number of abuse could be larger."

No More Suicidal Bridges Over Han River, Says Seoul

"Seoul City has decided to keep a watching eye on major bridges over the Han River for potential suicide attempts."

"The 13 billion won ($10.8 million) project involves detailed guidelines on the prevention, urgent responses and post-factum measures following a suicide attempt."

1,033 reported suicide attempts from 2007 to July of 2009.

Yo, for real. That's absurd. Spending $10 million to keep people from killing themselves? Why don't you take that money and put it towards the poor who are doing everything they can to stay alive and are still dying! As you can probably tell, i was very angered by this article.

Police Breathalyzer Tests Unreliable

"Breath tests administered by police at road checkpoints have been found to be unreliable, with results of breath and blood alcohol tests not matching in nearly 98 out of every 100 cases, a police report showed yesterday."

And that's where i got tired of reading.. korean news is depressing as hell, damn.

weddings, puzzles, and power rangers

first of all, pitzer represent!

i had such an amazing weekend. (err, 2 weekends ago. sorry, it took me some time to gather the pictures. pretty much none of the pics in this post are actually my own)

headed out for cheongju on friday. for dinner, kate made mac and cheese, and her host-mom provided pizza-toast and chicken... so good! no joke, one of the best meals i've eaten in korea. when kate suggested eating mac and cheese i almost cried. i didn't realize how much i had missed eating cheese and all things not rice.

then all the cheongjuites and seth and i got dressed up to go be classy at some english-speaking wine party. i'm not gonna lie, it was kinda awkward at times, but then again what about my time in korea hasn't been? the highlight was definitely the warm fuzzies (look it up). i lost. and was awarded -8 points for allegedly cheating.

we wedding crashed kate's principal's daughter's wedding the next morning. straight up, korean weddings are ridiculous. first of all, everyone arrived on time, if not early, which i was not expecting at all. half of the people went upstairs to where the ceremony would be, got their lunch tickets, and just went to the dinning hall (we later discovered there was a live feed of the ceremony on huge screens in the dinning hall). the bride is in some room, basically on display. so we go over and take pictures of her. we felt too awkward to actually take it with her, but yeah. the groom looked like he was in middle school. all the guests are out in the hallway with very few actually in the wedding hall. even after the wedding party goes in, most of the people still stayed out there. and they never stop talking. throughout the entire wedding people were just talking. it was such a shame. everything looked amazing. that would never fly in the US. anyway, some highlights of the ceremony: the bride and groom cut the wedding cake with a sword. and then as they were walking out, two official looking women party poppered them. it was definitely a happy ending. oh, and the entire ceremony lasted a whopping 30 min. in conclusion, if you get the opportunity to crash a korean wedding, do it!

cutting the cake with the sword. seriously..

we get home and we're exhausted. but kate's got these puzzles. her and her host-bros already finished the smaller 2 but the 500-piece one was still incomplete (i'd say it was at like 15% finished). so i tackle it. it's been years, maybe decades (maybe just 1) since i've done puzzles so this was so much fun. i didn't actually set out to finish it, i just wanted to put some of the cool things together. but one thing led to another. and somehow it was established that i couldn't take a nap until we finished. so there we were. sprawled out on the floor. being frustrated since all the cloud pieces, and ground pieces, look identical to each other. eventually we finish! success! it was probably my biggest accomplishment since coming to korea (even better then what would happen the day after). and then it's nap time cause playing with puzzles is tiring...

before i move on from cheongju, i gotta talk about banc shirts. i can't remember if i've talked about these or not. but they are sick! they are shirts with lego people on them. i feel in love the first moment i saw them. i have bought many many many of these. mostly for other people. some as gifts for when i get home. my favorite ones that i've seen are the batman and the park ji-seong. the park ji-seong has been hard to come by. i've been searching for a few months now. lucky us. we find some in cheongju.

sunday morning i head out for suwon to play in a volleyball tournament. the tourny is being hosted by some church and all proceeds are going to orphans in the middle east(?) and the homeless in korea. i really have no idea what it was for, i'm not gonna lie, i really went just because i heard the word volleyball. unfortunately, our team was the best. by far. we cruised straight to the title. one team had one really good player. that was the most exciting game by far. probably half of all the people there that day were watching us too. so the atmosphere was amazing. and they were mostly cheering for us. i mean, how could you not? we were the power rangers. all in all, i'd say it was fun coming out of my 5-month retirement to spike on fools again... well, i shouldn't say that. i kinda sucked. i'm definitely not what i used to be. i couldn't jump at all. one of the guys says to me, "you been setting too much lately? you forget how to hit?" yeah... it's back into retirement i go.. or at least until next may, when my school has a vball tournament which we must win! i have already guaranteed us a victory. and there's no reason why i will not be able to deliver on this. here, they play 9-man volleyball and they don't rotate. plus they might be playing on a girls net. there are two teachers here who seem to be decent at vball, so plus me, there's our frontline.

the tourny also had a prize for the best dressed team. we decided to be the power rangers. and of course we took home that award as well.

IT'S MORPHIN TIME, YO!

we the redeemed

i went on a retreat with Jubilee church last weekend. it was so amazing. first of all, i gotta say that my time in korea has been pretty hard. i've struggled to follow god. i would say that when i was coming out to korea, i had a lot of hope for what could happen. i wanted to experience life and to experience god in new ways. after coming here though, i slowly began to turn away from god. i came to a point where my heart had just become hard towards god. a month ago, when i heard about this retreat, i knew i had to do it. i knew this was the kind of thing that i needed - to get away for a weekend and to spend it with loving people and to try and find god again. although i wasn't necessarily excited about going, or even really looking forward to it, i knew that i needed this.

the weekend was crazy. long story short, i had essentially forgotten about my experiences of god. there have been certain things that have happened in my life that, for me, absolutely force me to believe that god exists. i have seen crazy things happen. i myself have been healed in more than one way. my experiences of god are why i know that god is real and that he loves me.

at one point during this weekend, i feel like god pierced through my hardened heart. he softened it so that i could feel him again. and in that moment, i felt so ashamed. i couldn't believe that i had fallen to where i had. how could i have turned my back to god when i have had such powerful experiences of him? i couldn't believe that i could let my relationship with god deteriorate to the point that it did.

one of the reasons why this could happen is because i didn't take all of my actions seriously. i thought that as long as i was doing okay on the whole, that things would be fine. what i didn't realize was that every small step i took away from god would add up until i was so far away that i could no longer see him. this really is a daily battle isn't it? every decision, every action or inaction, matters.

glory to god though! he never gives up on us. and no matter what we do, or don't do, he can redeem us. there is this song that jubilee loves to play - it's called "we the redeemed," by hillsong. every time i hear this song, i am floored. to know that god would still chase after me even when i consciously choose to run away.. that is ridiculous. i know that god is real. it's time for me to really live like it.

johnnie jackson day

i'm trying to get as many different people to talk to my students as possible. i think exposing them to various cultures and various types of people would be a great experience. which is why i invited my buddy johnnie jackson to come out. johnnie teaches at the university of education in jinju and since his students are on strike, he really hasn't had much to do recently. when he said he'd come i already knew it would be a great day. but i had no idea how amazing it would be.. it was literally one of the funniest days i've ever had at school.

me and johnnie on that crazy ass day.

first, i get to school in the morning. my schedule was just changed so i now have to teach at 9:30am. It's like 9:25 when my co-teacher comes running into my office, frantic, and starts shouting in korean to the other teachers. before i continue i should mention that swine flu has officially reached jinju. my bro's school has like 11 cases. and one of my students just got it this weekend. which is ridiculous considering we are in jinju and my school is in the middle of nowhere. anyway... everyone with swine flu has to stay at the hospital, so the student's not here anymore. my co-teacher was trying to figure out whether i had class or not, which accounts for all the yelling. i ended up not having class because they had to sterilize the classrooms. hahaha. i really shouldn't laugh.. this is serious...

anyway, so without class, i head out early to meet up johnnie jackson, cause i gotta give him a ride to school. right as we start heading back to school, my co-teacher calls to tell me that my next class has also been cancelled and that we can just go out to lunch. at this point, the entire school has been evacuated, including the principle, and everyone's just out in the parking lot/field area. i'm thinking to myself, how fun! my kids never get any free time. they have self-study at 7am. and are pretty much occupied throughout the day until lights out at 12:30. they get maybe 3 hours of break time, which includes mealtimes. i've only played basketball with my kids once because after that their homeroom teacher banned them from it, until they finished testing/applying for colleges. it's ridiculous.

so we roll into school and the first thing we see is all the girls huddled into a circle standing in the middle of the parking lot. so like the excellent/nice/loving teacher that i am, i proceed to run them over. haha. they scattered and after i got through they all ran back together. so funny.

oh, korean girls...

after introducing mr. jackson to my principal and some other teachers, we head over to the throng of teenaged girls. of course their first reaction is to start giggling and clapping and exclaiming, "you are so handsome!" and then running away saying "shy, shy." haha! i love my girls. eventually they get up the courage to start talking though. and as if a volcano had erupted, start shouting for johnnie to dance! it was hilarious. and then they just started calling out random teachers. eventually they start talking exclusively in korean, but would look at us every once in awhile. it seemed pretty clear they were plotting something. at one point they even encircled us. but anyway, it was taking too long, so we bounced.

hit up the courts next. where we were promptly challenged to a game. we go change. and it was on! the kids are so funny. every shot we make impresses them so much. they ooh and ahh and clap. they're so cute.

good defense! it's like he saw me and just turned around and ran away! lol

i think this is when i dropped the no look pass. the kid should be somewhere behind johnnie.

we worked uhm

after lunch, it's finally class time. unfortunately the classes have all been switched so i have no idea where i'm supposed to go. we start wandering. and i go to the class i think i'm supposed to be in, but they say no. i start trying to piece the puzzle together. eventually i settle on a class. 5 minutes into johnnie's presentation, their real teacher comes by. it turns out my class was the first one i went to. those dummies. but every time we walked into a class, the students got all excited and started clapping and cheering. and whenever we left, they became depressed. at the end of the day johnnie goes, "do your students always clap for you?" haha. sometimes. when they haven't seen me in awhile. or if my lesson was good. some kids always do though. whenever they see me they go, "WOW!" i'm still trying to figure out exactly what that means..

one of the kids asks johnnie if he can tell asian people apart because most foreigners can't. to which i ask the class, what do you think i look like? one of the kids goes, "handsome!" and starts giving me the sexy-time eyebrows.. the other students answer korean, japanese and american. but no one says chinese. so asian people can't tell asian people apart either. unless i'm just weird. which i won't rule out i guess..

it seemed like johnnie had a great time. i know i had a blast. it was hilarious. plus, because of the whole sterilizing thing, the atmosphere was so relaxed. i mean, this was only the 2nd time i've balled with my kids. i was a little bit worried about how they would respond to him. my kids are super shy too. but everyone was so excited about meeting him. so it was a great time. johnnie was saying that my kids actually talk more than his college students.

there was one kid in particular that johnnie loved. this kid was just exceptionally funny that day. the next time i saw him, he goes, "WHERE IS MR JOHNNIE JACKON?!"

so if anyone out there wants to come visit my school too, just let me know! my kids will love you!

national bullfighting competition

is coming to jinju!

saturday, november 7.

opening ceremonies at 2.

pre-ceremony concert at 1:30.

bullfighting at 2:30.

there will also be a raffle with such prizes as a washing machine, a TV, rice, and a baby bull (no lie, i wouldn't be able to make this stuff up on my own).

http://www.jinjubulls.com/

free the lanterns!

the wondrous jinju fortress/castle/palace/wall

the lanterns! out on the river! they were all ready to go for the lantern festival. stupid swine flu!

the day before chuseok, these women came out to the fortress all dressed up and ready to perform some traditional dance or whatever. too bad their performance was supposed to be on chuseok. they were not too happy when they figured this out. haha

some thing inside the fortress

like i showed earlier, the lanterns were already made! here's bumblebee

speaking of fortresses/palaces/castles, here is the gyeongbok palace. i swear to you it's there.

for real. just look harder.

nearby the palace is this sweet neighborhood, supposedly one of the richest in seoul, that has this european feel to it. amazing amazing place. there's us, sitting at the best seat in the house.

my friends knew the workers at this restaurant so we got hooked up!

at haeundae in pusan. some korean kid (walking away on the right) decided he would try and attack eric (on the left) who was in the water at the time. this made for pretty much the funniest minute ever. it was a travesty that none of us were able to capture that moment on camera. the korean dude ran into the water, fell down, got back up, only to be picked up by eric and thrown back down.

here is crazy korean kid for the second time. if i was him i would've gone after the girls to begin with..

check out that ridiculously looking sky

jennifer kim. it's pretty crazy how so many people from throughout my life are here in korea now... that's us after copping some sweet banc t's (see the yellow baggies)

the 63 building. people kept talking about this like it was a big deal. when i was in taiwan 4 years ago, the new year's celebration took place at the 101. so i'm like, 63? is that a joke? 3 of the 63 floors are underground too... they do supposedly have the world's highest art gallery though. it was a pretty good time.

my boy, jack kim. it took 7 years. damn.

a few hilarious stories before i end:

i'm gonna be playing in a vball tournament this weekend, so i decided that i needed to practice. i hit up the pe teacher, who i'm now pretty tight with, and he says that he can help me practice during one of his classes. and he did. he put me through an intense 40 min of nonstop hitting/blocking. i was drained by the end of it. it was so great though. he made the students "play defense." what this really amounted to was 9 or so kids standing upright on the court trying to dodge the ball as i hit at them. haha. soo great. but now i'm soo sore. i figure i can go hard for a couple of days, then rest for a few, and hopefully be ready for this weekend. shoot, i need all the practice i can. i suck now. i can't even jump anymore. it's just awkward.

one of my students is an only child so another student asks him, "Why are you alone?" His response, "My father's strength is not much."

i love my kids.

lastly, i just started my superheroes unit. when coming up with lesson plans this was the one that i was the most excited about (even more so then the prom one). and i've literally been counting down the weeks before i could do it. be on the lookout, it is going to be amazing!