So here I am, separated by months from my last blog post, but back on the same continent.
Summer back in the USA was excellent. I loved spending time with my friends, eating chipotle, hugging my family members, and driving around the expanse that is the American Midwest. I discovered new music, consumed way too many calories, packed some heavy suitcases full of American goods, and worked out at the YMCA pretty regularly. It was a great time. And by the end of it, I was ready to come back. It's scary to come back because it's never the same. I'm without some of the single ladies now (Jenn and Becky, we miss you!), and I'm without my SoKo bestie Kim.
However!
I'm so so so excited for the upcoming school year. I've run into a couple kiddos at school and it's just. so. exciting. I think it's odd how attached I and my coworkers get to our students, until I think about how much of my time I spend with them. I'm not telling them any secrets, but my especially my HS students and I start to really know each other - reading moods, patterns, triggers, and much more from each other. There's obviously separation, as teacher and student, but the lines start to get blurred when you feel so invested in their well being and future. Most of my students will go to college in the states, so I sometimes start to feel like it's my job to make sure they're going to succeed socially in my home country. They're all such great people and I'm sad to see them go when they graduate. Every time (well, I guess both times.... cause I've only graduated two classes!) it sucks to see them go.
I can't wait for this year to start - we have some big plans in the basement (music department) and I'm really looking forward to what the kiddos will get out of it all. I try to remember how old the kiddos were when I arrived and they've changed so much!
Anyway. Changes. They happen.
I've got such good vibes about the new people who've joined our school.
I picked out some kick-ass music for my students.
I have so much to do.
and I'm so glad to be doing it! :)
Saturday, August 8, 2015
Monday, April 20, 2015
Disruption
Life keeps speeding on - I had an INCREDIBLE experience at the AMIS Band and Orchestra Festival in Singapore. AMIS is like All-State for international schools, which makes it all-planet, which is pretty freaking cool. Check out this video to see a little bit more about the festival I was at (you can see one of my students who plays the cello around 2:30ish) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYCsOEvoUr0&app=desktop
Kim and I went to Malaysia - visited Penang (Batu Ferringhi & Georgetown) and Kuala Lumpur. What a beautiful vacation. We struck the perfect balance of fun, learning, and relaxation. Penang is worth a visit, seriously.
We are preparing to host an interscholastic music event at my school which is awesome, and the choir that I'm a part of has a TON going on. We have our concert this Sunday, performance of Beethoven's Mass in C Major on May 9th (I'm playing for that one), and a performance with the Brigham Young University band on my birthday. WOOOO! All while gearing up for end of the year concerts, the first ever (insert my school's name here) Arts Night, trying to keep the seniors in their seats and relatively decent, and saying goodbye to friends who are leaving for different positions in the fall. Also - what am I going to do after my third year in Seoul? It's on my mind almost constantly and it's been a rollercoaster.
I was, and am, incredibly lucky. I came to Seoul with my mom, unsure if I would make any friends or survive my first year teaching (not even worried about the second one!). I met 5 wonderful women who were in the same boat, except that they'd been teaching for a while. We quickly bonded and realized we had so much to learn from each other - The Single Ladies were born. We traveled to Vietnam and Japan together, Kakao'd about all of our Korean mis-steps, successes, and questions, and lived life together as a family. I'm moved to tears over what we have gone through together and how fortunate I am to know these women. As the baby of the crew, they really took me in and accepted me for who I am. We are each other's family in a place where family is so far away. When things go wrong, my mom can't talk to the insurance company for me or bring me soup - it's my friends. We've been here for each other through it all - and I mean all. Last Friday, it was a somber and confusing evening. We packed up Becky as she prepared to move back home. This isn't my story to tell, but she had to go home because of things going on with her family. We packed up boxes, cleaned out cupboards, sorted clothing, and cleaned it all up. I laughed through it all - how could I not? We are 6 HILARIOUS and intelligent women, enjoying some pizza and alcohol in a small apartment. My laughter, however, felt so nervous and wrong. I am so so sad to see her go. Every year it'll be the same, I know... people leaving, me leaving, who knows. It just felt so earth shattering to have one of my own crew - one of my people - a single ladie, leave us. Our time is coming to an end. We'll continue to evolve and keep in touch, remembering the troubling and exhilarating times near and far away.
It mixes me up, for sure.
Too many feelings.
Too many changes.
as Hayne said today at recess, "There's been a disruption to the Single Ladies. And I don't like it".
Here's to you, Becky.
"Trouble Finds Me - the Becky-san Story"
When trouble finds you, we'll be here. (Or wherever you need us to be, via skype or one plane ride away)
Kim and I went to Malaysia - visited Penang (Batu Ferringhi & Georgetown) and Kuala Lumpur. What a beautiful vacation. We struck the perfect balance of fun, learning, and relaxation. Penang is worth a visit, seriously.
We are preparing to host an interscholastic music event at my school which is awesome, and the choir that I'm a part of has a TON going on. We have our concert this Sunday, performance of Beethoven's Mass in C Major on May 9th (I'm playing for that one), and a performance with the Brigham Young University band on my birthday. WOOOO! All while gearing up for end of the year concerts, the first ever (insert my school's name here) Arts Night, trying to keep the seniors in their seats and relatively decent, and saying goodbye to friends who are leaving for different positions in the fall. Also - what am I going to do after my third year in Seoul? It's on my mind almost constantly and it's been a rollercoaster.
I was, and am, incredibly lucky. I came to Seoul with my mom, unsure if I would make any friends or survive my first year teaching (not even worried about the second one!). I met 5 wonderful women who were in the same boat, except that they'd been teaching for a while. We quickly bonded and realized we had so much to learn from each other - The Single Ladies were born. We traveled to Vietnam and Japan together, Kakao'd about all of our Korean mis-steps, successes, and questions, and lived life together as a family. I'm moved to tears over what we have gone through together and how fortunate I am to know these women. As the baby of the crew, they really took me in and accepted me for who I am. We are each other's family in a place where family is so far away. When things go wrong, my mom can't talk to the insurance company for me or bring me soup - it's my friends. We've been here for each other through it all - and I mean all. Last Friday, it was a somber and confusing evening. We packed up Becky as she prepared to move back home. This isn't my story to tell, but she had to go home because of things going on with her family. We packed up boxes, cleaned out cupboards, sorted clothing, and cleaned it all up. I laughed through it all - how could I not? We are 6 HILARIOUS and intelligent women, enjoying some pizza and alcohol in a small apartment. My laughter, however, felt so nervous and wrong. I am so so sad to see her go. Every year it'll be the same, I know... people leaving, me leaving, who knows. It just felt so earth shattering to have one of my own crew - one of my people - a single ladie, leave us. Our time is coming to an end. We'll continue to evolve and keep in touch, remembering the troubling and exhilarating times near and far away.
It mixes me up, for sure.
Too many feelings.
Too many changes.
as Hayne said today at recess, "There's been a disruption to the Single Ladies. And I don't like it".
Here's to you, Becky.
"Trouble Finds Me - the Becky-san Story"
When trouble finds you, we'll be here. (Or wherever you need us to be, via skype or one plane ride away)
Korea, Fall 2014
Hanoi, September 2014
Ho Chi Minh City, September 2014
Tsushima, September 2013
Friday, April 10, 2015
KPop
So, I learn more about Korea every day.
Tuesday, I went to my first Korean baseball game - it was a blast.
What I learned at this baseball game was that Korean people staring at me isn't a big deal because they seem to have no control over or shame associated with staring. The "cheerleaders" or dancers were above/behind where I was sitting and it was just a hoot to watch all these heads turn around as soon as the teams were changing.
What I also learned was a ton of KPop. I kept my Shazam open at all times and snatched as many songs as possible. So fun. So here's some KPop songs, in case you're wondering what's cool in Korea right now:
*warning* it's a lot of korean ladies dancing a little sexually.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nCLBTmjJBY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfQRC4xZuBA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRY0Dk9avck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEYOyZVWlzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7AbIQHYidQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-FhDScM_2w (this one is so catchy...i sing along but don't know the words)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfXZ6ydgZyo
boom. kpop.
Tuesday, I went to my first Korean baseball game - it was a blast.
What I learned at this baseball game was that Korean people staring at me isn't a big deal because they seem to have no control over or shame associated with staring. The "cheerleaders" or dancers were above/behind where I was sitting and it was just a hoot to watch all these heads turn around as soon as the teams were changing.
What I also learned was a ton of KPop. I kept my Shazam open at all times and snatched as many songs as possible. So fun. So here's some KPop songs, in case you're wondering what's cool in Korea right now:
*warning* it's a lot of korean ladies dancing a little sexually.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nCLBTmjJBY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfQRC4xZuBA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRY0Dk9avck
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEYOyZVWlzs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7AbIQHYidQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-FhDScM_2w (this one is so catchy...i sing along but don't know the words)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfXZ6ydgZyo
boom. kpop.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
Jet Lag Strikes. Random Musings
Coming to you at 6 am, after a solid 3 hours of surfing the net....
I went to bed exhausted at 10pm, to awake 5 hours later. Awesome. School's going to be super fun today! (In all seriousness, I'm really excited to be back at school. I would have preferred it be after a full night's sleep but you can't win 'em all)
While I was home, this commercial came on and my mom said to me "Were those supposed to be words?". I was watching The New Girl and The Mindy Project on Hulu this (very early) morning and that commercial came on. I was curious what the song was so I shazammed it. Turns out it's KPop! The song in commercial is a KPop group called 2NE1 (like twenty one, but pronounced like two-any-one). I know you want to hear more of it, so here it is.
I'll be using http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/ to learn some more korean this year. The korean teacher at my school offers classes for us foreign teachers, but I usually teach lessons during that time. It's a little embarrassing how little korean I know... but you'd be surprised at how easy it is to scrape by with taxi and restaurant korean. Everything else I do here is in English! Not a ton of opportunity to learn.
Nut Rage is a thing in Korean news. Macadamia nut sales soared after this incident. Apparently Korea has a great sense of humor.
I watched some quality films on the airplane rides to and from SoKo. This Is Where I Leave You, The Good Lie, The Giver, 21 Jump Street, and Billy Elliot. All worth watching. I sought out The Giver here in Korea and am so glad I did. I've been telling everyone I know that they need to watch it. I read the book back in middle school and loved it, which miiiiight contribute to my enjoyment of the film. However, the depictions of humanity (good and bad) are breathtaking. What an incredible movie. Go see it.
I went to bed exhausted at 10pm, to awake 5 hours later. Awesome. School's going to be super fun today! (In all seriousness, I'm really excited to be back at school. I would have preferred it be after a full night's sleep but you can't win 'em all)
While I was home, this commercial came on and my mom said to me "Were those supposed to be words?". I was watching The New Girl and The Mindy Project on Hulu this (very early) morning and that commercial came on. I was curious what the song was so I shazammed it. Turns out it's KPop! The song in commercial is a KPop group called 2NE1 (like twenty one, but pronounced like two-any-one). I know you want to hear more of it, so here it is.
I'll be using http://www.talktomeinkorean.com/ to learn some more korean this year. The korean teacher at my school offers classes for us foreign teachers, but I usually teach lessons during that time. It's a little embarrassing how little korean I know... but you'd be surprised at how easy it is to scrape by with taxi and restaurant korean. Everything else I do here is in English! Not a ton of opportunity to learn.
Nut Rage is a thing in Korean news. Macadamia nut sales soared after this incident. Apparently Korea has a great sense of humor.
I watched some quality films on the airplane rides to and from SoKo. This Is Where I Leave You, The Good Lie, The Giver, 21 Jump Street, and Billy Elliot. All worth watching. I sought out The Giver here in Korea and am so glad I did. I've been telling everyone I know that they need to watch it. I read the book back in middle school and loved it, which miiiiight contribute to my enjoyment of the film. However, the depictions of humanity (good and bad) are breathtaking. What an incredible movie. Go see it.
Wednesday, December 10, 2014
Too busy to know
It is a busy and emotional time of year!
It's BEEN a busy and emotional school year so far.
Taking on some additional roles and making big decisions have made this first semester of school a memorable one. I've been at the extremes of my emotional range, for sure.
School's great - still love my kiddos and my work. Because I feel I still have more room to grow and like a lot about my life currently, I decided to stay another year at my school. So! Not going anywhere (permanently) until June 2016.
BUT! Between now and June 2016, who knows where I'll go.
We had two students accepted to the AMIS festival, so I'll be traveling to Singapore with them right before spring break. A visit to Toronto is on the calendar for this summer... and then who knows what'll happen next year.
I'm headed home for christmas, but not until we've had our two christmas concerts. ALL of my students will be performing - grades 6-12 on Wednesday evening, and then grades K-5 on Thursday morning. Can you tell I don't have any say in the scheduling of concerts? hahaha. I'm going to be seriously tired when I get onto that plane on Saturday morning. Scheduling complaints aside, I am really excited for my groups to perform - they just keep sounding better and better!
As a musician, I just finished up my first season with a chamber choir - we finished our year with a performance at the British Embassy on Tuesday. The rest of the week has been filled with rehearsals, preparing for Handel's Messiah. I sang in the chorus last year and really enjoyed it. This year I am playing in the orchestra and am really excited for our performance on Saturday! I felt like myself again after a 3 hour rehearsal - it is so therapeutic and soothing to make music with other humans. I felt challenged and determined... and I wasn't leading rehearsal (a nice break for a music teacher :P)!
Between ordering presents to be shipped to minnesota, rehearsing the Messiah, coordinating KIMEA honor festival details, getting the details for the AMIS festival travel in line, and leading classes I've had NO TIME to enter grades! Uff da. Does anybody know if Delta has wifi on the plane? Maybe I'll read my HS semester projects and listen to my MS playing test on plane ride home :P
SO many good things.
Happy Christmas, Harry!
just yes.
It's BEEN a busy and emotional school year so far.
Taking on some additional roles and making big decisions have made this first semester of school a memorable one. I've been at the extremes of my emotional range, for sure.
School's great - still love my kiddos and my work. Because I feel I still have more room to grow and like a lot about my life currently, I decided to stay another year at my school. So! Not going anywhere (permanently) until June 2016.
BUT! Between now and June 2016, who knows where I'll go.
We had two students accepted to the AMIS festival, so I'll be traveling to Singapore with them right before spring break. A visit to Toronto is on the calendar for this summer... and then who knows what'll happen next year.
I'm headed home for christmas, but not until we've had our two christmas concerts. ALL of my students will be performing - grades 6-12 on Wednesday evening, and then grades K-5 on Thursday morning. Can you tell I don't have any say in the scheduling of concerts? hahaha. I'm going to be seriously tired when I get onto that plane on Saturday morning. Scheduling complaints aside, I am really excited for my groups to perform - they just keep sounding better and better!
As a musician, I just finished up my first season with a chamber choir - we finished our year with a performance at the British Embassy on Tuesday. The rest of the week has been filled with rehearsals, preparing for Handel's Messiah. I sang in the chorus last year and really enjoyed it. This year I am playing in the orchestra and am really excited for our performance on Saturday! I felt like myself again after a 3 hour rehearsal - it is so therapeutic and soothing to make music with other humans. I felt challenged and determined... and I wasn't leading rehearsal (a nice break for a music teacher :P)!
Between ordering presents to be shipped to minnesota, rehearsing the Messiah, coordinating KIMEA honor festival details, getting the details for the AMIS festival travel in line, and leading classes I've had NO TIME to enter grades! Uff da. Does anybody know if Delta has wifi on the plane? Maybe I'll read my HS semester projects and listen to my MS playing test on plane ride home :P
SO many good things.
Happy Christmas, Harry!
just yes.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
You're my favorite book
Life keeps moving fast. I looked at my blog and realized my last post was in SEPTEMBER! It's now November which means a lot has happened.
I've had some crazy weeks - things that come to mind in the last 4 weeks include the SRC carnival, performances for the Camarata Chamber Singers, AMIS audition submissions, KAIAK large group competition, MS orchestra concert, and quarter grades being due.
I looked at my calendar and realized that between now and Christmas, I have one weekend that is open. I can't believe I have a life here! I remember having so many open weekends last year but that has definitely changed.
Everything's been going well, but I think everyone at my school is feeling stressed to the max. It just seems like we are more disorganized than in the past - more reactive. We're packing in too much. I think I've seen my Thursday after school group 3 times this year because THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING GOING ON, like a school-wide hike for spiritual emphasis week, a volleyball pep-rally, or staff development days. ALWAYS.
Anyway - same old same old. Life's good. Goes too fast. Still love my job and my kiddos.
Looking forward to being home for Christmas :)
I'll be in the USA December 20th-January9th.
I've had some crazy weeks - things that come to mind in the last 4 weeks include the SRC carnival, performances for the Camarata Chamber Singers, AMIS audition submissions, KAIAK large group competition, MS orchestra concert, and quarter grades being due.
I looked at my calendar and realized that between now and Christmas, I have one weekend that is open. I can't believe I have a life here! I remember having so many open weekends last year but that has definitely changed.
Everything's been going well, but I think everyone at my school is feeling stressed to the max. It just seems like we are more disorganized than in the past - more reactive. We're packing in too much. I think I've seen my Thursday after school group 3 times this year because THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING GOING ON, like a school-wide hike for spiritual emphasis week, a volleyball pep-rally, or staff development days. ALWAYS.
Anyway - same old same old. Life's good. Goes too fast. Still love my job and my kiddos.
Looking forward to being home for Christmas :)
I'll be in the USA December 20th-January9th.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Adventure Continues
The weather is changing, we continue to get to know our new coworkers, people are talking about grad school applications and different jobs for next year, and we've picked out our christmas concert repertoire.
Things keep changing, day by day..... and yet some things never change.
I still have random "adventures" - a euphemism for when I come to a screeching halt and remember that I am an American in South Korea.
Last Sunday I was baking up some scones and invited some of my friends up to eat one. I went to unlock my door so they could come in as they please and miserably failed. We use key codes on an electric lock - I irritated my lock so it started to beep at me. I, flustered by the beeping, found the batteries on my lock and took one out. The beeping stopped. I put the battery back in, and found myself essentially locked into my apartment. In taking the battery out, I had erased my lock's memory and therefore couldn't code into my apartment. Uff da. Once a friend arrived, I went down to the first floor to talk to our "security" dudes. I have never seen these men actually do anything.... they're usually sleeping with Korean tv going in their little booth. Not sure what we pay them for. Anyway! It took a lot of work, including an older man typing in Korean into HIS cell phone (because my iphone was beyond him), me typing what was on his screen into google translate, and then me translating a response. FINALLY one of them agreed to come look at my door. I was so frustrated. The man that came up with me couldn't read the directions on my lock, so he went back down to the first floor to get his partner. His partner came up 15 minutes later with a magnifying glass, as his vision also was poor. I had contacted one of my coworkers who is Korean and she talked to him on the phone. He handed the phone back to me and she said "I'll be there in 45 minutes". One she got to my apartment, she called the number on the lock - unscrewed something and found THE MAGIC BUTTON. I put in my code, and all was well. So. 4 hours and 3 helpers later, we got it.
I was incredibly frustrated when the translation apps were saying that the security guys wanted me to call an engineer. This was the equivalent of setting the time on your microwave, and I couldn't complete it because the directions were in Korean. You want me to call a locksmith/engineer!? AND PAY HIM MONEY!? no. absolutely not. Just come read the directions. They're ON THE DOOR.
nope. no. absolutely not. "Not our specialty" But by all means, keep speaking loudly at me in Korean, that will certainly help. It's so weird to feel like a self-sufficient person, and not be able to complete a simple task because of the language. I think that was where my frustration was coming from - I can do this, but I can't do it in korean. Uff da. I am SO thankful Llandy showed up and helped me get it fixed.
alternatively - last night Pendleton and I sat down to catch up on all our favorite american tv shows that returned this week (Scandal and Parenthood!) and ordered a pizza. I had been told that if you call Dominoe's and say "english", they'll hang up and call you back in a couple minutes, speaking english. We gave this method a try a couple weeks ago and had great success. I called last night and this is how the conversation goes:
Me: English?
Dominoe's: ....no. See & Me? 926?
Me: neeeee. deliver?
Dominoe's: Ne. pijja?
Me: Cheezuh.
Dominoe's: Medium? Largie?
Me: Largie.
Dominoe's: crust?
Me: Original
Dominoe's: carduh?
Me: Cashie
Dominoe's: (price in Korean) ok bye bye
yep. The pizza guy KNEW me and my residence.
The pizza showed up in 30 minutes and was delicious.
Two very different reminders that I am an American living in Korea, just one week apart.
I shake my head and laugh.
What a weird life.
Things keep changing, day by day..... and yet some things never change.
I still have random "adventures" - a euphemism for when I come to a screeching halt and remember that I am an American in South Korea.
Last Sunday I was baking up some scones and invited some of my friends up to eat one. I went to unlock my door so they could come in as they please and miserably failed. We use key codes on an electric lock - I irritated my lock so it started to beep at me. I, flustered by the beeping, found the batteries on my lock and took one out. The beeping stopped. I put the battery back in, and found myself essentially locked into my apartment. In taking the battery out, I had erased my lock's memory and therefore couldn't code into my apartment. Uff da. Once a friend arrived, I went down to the first floor to talk to our "security" dudes. I have never seen these men actually do anything.... they're usually sleeping with Korean tv going in their little booth. Not sure what we pay them for. Anyway! It took a lot of work, including an older man typing in Korean into HIS cell phone (because my iphone was beyond him), me typing what was on his screen into google translate, and then me translating a response. FINALLY one of them agreed to come look at my door. I was so frustrated. The man that came up with me couldn't read the directions on my lock, so he went back down to the first floor to get his partner. His partner came up 15 minutes later with a magnifying glass, as his vision also was poor. I had contacted one of my coworkers who is Korean and she talked to him on the phone. He handed the phone back to me and she said "I'll be there in 45 minutes". One she got to my apartment, she called the number on the lock - unscrewed something and found THE MAGIC BUTTON. I put in my code, and all was well. So. 4 hours and 3 helpers later, we got it.
I was incredibly frustrated when the translation apps were saying that the security guys wanted me to call an engineer. This was the equivalent of setting the time on your microwave, and I couldn't complete it because the directions were in Korean. You want me to call a locksmith/engineer!? AND PAY HIM MONEY!? no. absolutely not. Just come read the directions. They're ON THE DOOR.
nope. no. absolutely not. "Not our specialty" But by all means, keep speaking loudly at me in Korean, that will certainly help. It's so weird to feel like a self-sufficient person, and not be able to complete a simple task because of the language. I think that was where my frustration was coming from - I can do this, but I can't do it in korean. Uff da. I am SO thankful Llandy showed up and helped me get it fixed.
alternatively - last night Pendleton and I sat down to catch up on all our favorite american tv shows that returned this week (Scandal and Parenthood!) and ordered a pizza. I had been told that if you call Dominoe's and say "english", they'll hang up and call you back in a couple minutes, speaking english. We gave this method a try a couple weeks ago and had great success. I called last night and this is how the conversation goes:
Me: English?
Dominoe's: ....no. See & Me? 926?
Me: neeeee. deliver?
Dominoe's: Ne. pijja?
Me: Cheezuh.
Dominoe's: Medium? Largie?
Me: Largie.
Dominoe's: crust?
Me: Original
Dominoe's: carduh?
Me: Cashie
Dominoe's: (price in Korean) ok bye bye
yep. The pizza guy KNEW me and my residence.
The pizza showed up in 30 minutes and was delicious.
Two very different reminders that I am an American living in Korea, just one week apart.
I shake my head and laugh.
What a weird life.
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