Is it...delicious?

Things I have eaten, as described by their labels or by Koreans:

"morning bread"

"raw cuttlefish body"

"spiced bread"

"persimmon vinegar fiber"

"glutenous collagen treat"

The Joys of Winter

This after the first snow and the roads being icy. In the car on the way to school.

Me (to my host dad): Does Wonju salt their roads?
HD: Yes, but Wonju is poor. Only a little salt.

The next day after the roads were so icy that teachers were 2 hours late to school.

Me (to my host mom): Why didn't Wonju salt the roads?
HM: City Hall was just moved to a new place in Wonju, and it's on a heated road. So, they didn't realize how bad the other roads are. (WOW! Way to go team Wonju!)
Me: That's ridiculous!
HM: Sometimes I email the government about it; do you want to email? I'll help you.

Random conversation about winter class.

Me (to my host mom): I found out when my winter class is. December 24th - Christmas Eve, December 25th - Christmas, and December 26th.
HM: That's too bad.
(My host mom explains what I said to my HD who is intently cleaning out our fish tank.)
HD (to me): Run away.

Gotta Love 'Em

We're doing American sign language connected with letters.

Me: Magic M. What words start with M?
Student: music
Student: mammoth (pronounced mamoseu...took me a while to get that one)
Student: monster
Student: MONEY!

Ok...normal enough.

Me: Nice N. What words start with N?
Student: number
Student: New York
Student: November

Normal enough still.

Me: Only O. What words start with O?
Student: October
Student: August... (No...that's A)
Student: Uzbekistan (Are you kidding me?! 1) That starts with a U. 2) Where the hell did that kid pull that word from?)

Me: Perfect P. What words start with P?
Student: pizza
Student: pie
Student: pumpkin pie (ooo...clever!)
Student: peace (WOOT!)

from my evening teachers' class

Mixing up the phrase of the day with the day's assignment:

Me: Do you have plans this Thursday evening?
Teacher: Yes. Monday...Monday..."I have a case of the Mondays."

and later....

Teacher: I have sports mania. TV mania! Movie mania! And sometimes (whispers conspiratorially)...alcohol mania.

STUV

What words start with S?
socket (WUUUUUUT???)
싸가지

What words start with T?
tell me, tell me, t-t-t-t-tell me
what's something you can eat that starts with T?
teacher
table
time
(correct answer: tomato)

What words start with U?
universe (impressive...)
USA
유도 (judo)
watermelon
omelet

What words start with V?
Volume (impressive)
바가지 (no)
very good
beautiful
blueberry

What do you put IN a vase?
김치 (kimchi)
correct american cultural answer: flowers

seeking: single Asian carnivore

We've moved on to personal ads here at Dong Middle School. (Note: Thanks, Heeb!)

HILLARY Personal ads are used for romance or friendship.
STUDENT And sex!

From a fill-in-the-blank personal ad exercise:

I am as attractive as my mother
me
Yoo Jae Seok (of Muhan Dojeon)
no

I like chicken (what a coincidence, me too!)
cookie

I have good eyes
two eyes
black and white eyes


I have yellow hair (I teach in Korea. This is a blatant lie.)


In my free time I like talking to you


My students have also told me that they want, variously, a rich man (or woman), one with "big chest," and a partner who is not fat. Personally, I want to be with the boy who is seeking a woman with "a beautiful heart."

I believe the children are our future

My classes have been working on future tense. Here are a few of my favorite sentences.


From a fill-in-the-blank "I will/You will/We will/They will" worksheet:

I will have an alligator .

I will study about squirrels .
You will not study about squirrels .

(Well fine, I didn't want to study about squirrels anyway.)


From fortune tellers/"cootie catchers":

You will be a hen.

You will eat a book.

You will be a useful man.

You will have many wifes. (Note: this was on the same one as the previous.)

You will have meat.

You will love girl. (From a girl; implies lesbianism as punishment?)

You will grow a robot pet.


From an exercise where my advanced second-graders had to speculate about the future to come:

"We will travel to the moon!"

"We will have robots!"

"We will have a food machine!"

I wasn't sure how to tell them that all of those things, you know, already exist.

i am not making this up

Playing Uno with my students:

Me: (shuffling cards) This is called shuffling. (deals cards) This is called dealing. (draws card from pile) This is called "drawing a card."

Me: (shuffles cards): What is this called?

Students: schu....schu....scarface???

From Disaster Movie Posters re: The Great Yeongcheon Disaster that Never Was

Big Disaster! Peoples dying...mother and son's fate?

Wow! People fly! If we have a hurricane...? Oh my god! It's real situation! Hurricane is so awful monster. People fly really! It's a spectacle. Expect real Hurricane. No dissapointment.

ERUPTION. Scared. Exciting. Humanism.

Misfortune City: Blizzard kill the Yeongcheon

FLOOD: Fight: to find money with a sea robber

Last year, I met flood in Yeongcheon. But I swimed. I survive. I got it.

-----------------

Interestingly enough, most of the posters featured drawings of pigs. Oink?

thanksgiving ...

me: what do americans eat for thanksgiving?
....blank stares....
me: ok who knows what is THANKSGIVING?
student: like chuseok
me: good, but AMERICAN style ... do you know what americans eat for thanksgiving?
student: RICE CAKES!!!

fruits and gifts

some interesting tidbits from 1st grade "fruits" lesson today

listen and repeat fun:
me: this is a PEACH
students: this is a peach (피치)
student0: 선어브비치도 있는데... (there is also sonofbitch)

"mike" and "mina" are the two main characters in our 1st and 2nd grde textbooks. so we watched a short clip introducing fruits at the market.
me: what did you see on the screen? WHO did you see?
student1: MIKE!
student2: MICHAEL
student3: MINA
student4: (singing) mariaaaa, ave mariaaaa (a la popular korean song)

me: i like grapes
student5: 선생님 왜 수박 싫어해요? (in korean) teacher, why don't you like watermelons?

me: i don't like peaches
student6: 왜요? 복숭아 맛있잖아요! (why not? peaches are so delicious!)
me: i have allergy
student6: (questioning look)
me: ALLERGY. i have AL-LER-GY
student7: 아~~ 오렌지가 싫데 (ohhh, she doens't like oranges)

5th grade english camp yesterday:
A: Welcome to my house!
B: Thanks for inviting me. I brought you something.
A: Oh, you shouldn’t have.

me: what does "oh, you shouldn't have" mean?
highlights:
*필요없다 (i don't need it/it's unnecessary)
*i have it already
*what should i bring
*you don't have anything

and my personal favorite:
i explained the situation a little more and role-played with one of the students: if you come to my house and you BROUGHT (showed exchange) me something and i SAY 'oh you should'nt have"- think in korean- what could that mean?
*더 가져오라!!! (BRING MORE!!!)

SEEN in Soko part II

Gems from the Korean front.