Recent Learning

My students have had two days off now while we (the teachers) have been at school doing professional development. For those of you less familiar to the world of education, it's kind of like school for teachers. The formats and focuses differ from school to school and year to year, but generally PD consists of large group meetings/lectures/workshops on something the administration thinks will help you as a teacher. It's pretty cool - we as a school are dedicated not only to our students' learning, but our continued learning as well. We welcomed a man who directs a school in Nagoya, Japan to our school for two days to learn about assessment. I was not too jazzed about assessment, because seriously when's the last time you took a music test (I am not looking at you, all my music major friends). I was thinking very mainstream, very classical, very... in the box. We learned about learning outcomes, styles of assessments, planning, and rubrics (among other things).

One of the biggest transitions I've been making since moving to Korea is working and living independently. Living is going well most of the time - its more like college than I thought it'd be. People are always around if I need some social stimulation, but I get to have my alone time and I DONT HAVE TO SHARE A FRIDGE! Anyway, I always thought of myself as an independent learner and worker, but I didn't realize how heavily and frequently I required input or affirmation until it's not been readily accessible. I have a great supportive work environment, but we have different jobs. This is one of the first times that I've been solely responsible for a different task that really matters. It's hard to not be able to say "I'm going in this direction with that assignment, but I'm struggling with this aspect... what do you think?". We have different assignments, different applications, different students, different teaching styles, etc. This is me accepting ownership and trying to make a program what I want it to be. I'm responsible for what musical knowledge these kids leave with in May. That's big - it's huge! It's what I've been wanting since I was 17, but now I have it and I'm stuck puzzling over what to do next. It's such a large task I get stymied and take it day by day - I don't think that's really working for me or my students so I'm glad that we worked on planning and assessment for PD.

In other news,
I've had some big successes.
I think this is particularly fitting because today in our workshop, the leader asked us "What is your most recent learning? How did you know that you were really getting it". I talk often about being a life long learner, about always being open, about always viewing challenges as opportunities to learn - but when he asked me "what's the last thing you learned?" I struggled. I came up with a couple options, but did I really learn or did I just survive in these instances? Anway, I now realize my most recent learning:

I went back to Yongsan electrical market with a handwritten note, a receipt, and a faulty macbook pro charger. The note explained that after 20 minutes of use, the charger started smoking. The man at the store was so kind! He read the note, and asked if I wanted "change or money"... I said (mimed) that I didn't know. He plugged in a new charger with my adaptor, let it charge up for a while, monitoring the temperature of the charger, he tried it another ten minutes with his adaptor, we plugged it into different outlets, he smelled the faulty charger, he smelled the charger he wanted me to take.... and away I went. No more money spent, and I got the right charger! Wahoo! It took probably an hour and a half to get there and back, but time actually spent in that gigantic market was minimal. most excellent. By the way,  I have not learned to write in Korean - one of the Korean teachers at school wrote it for me (shout out to Nam Hee for helping me to get my poop in a group, and shout out to Sophie and Jeff for letting me borrow their extra charger for a week!) See, I told you I work with the best people! (What did I learn: it's okay to ask for help - particularly in written form)

Secondly - Today I paid bills (besides student loans) for the first time! 

I also had my gas shut off for the third time since moving here, but... we'll let that slide. In case you were wondering, this is what it looks like when they've shut off your gas.

What was surprising to me is the amount that they were hung up on. My bill was 7,500 won - about $7. SERIOUSLY!? whatever. So, I found my bill (which I had already tried to pay, but got confused), and off to the bank I went after school today (shout out to my principal Scott and his wife April for taking me to the bank and walking me through it!). I figured out how to do bank transfers recently, a very popular and common form of payment here in Korea. It's just transferring money from one account to another - but you must know the account number. I was able to pay my 2 bills via wire transfer today. This is remarkable because previously these services were not available in English at the ATM. This is also remarkable because normally you have to use a certain ATM that is designed for bill payment, and only works in Korean. Today friends, I worked the system. I paid my bills, and I have gas in my apartment. But, by the way... if this ever happens to you, you can just pull the lever back up and use the gas. They only bolt it down (shutting it off) if you owe more than $100. I find it particularly amusing that this is THE THIRD time I've had my gas shut off since I moved here because during the first week, one of my principals said "oh they'll never shut your gas off, I've not paid mine for months before and they've never shut it off". These were the first bills that I was required to pay because someone else lived in my apartment last year and owed some from then, and then there was no tennant this summer, so the school paid those... it's just been a process... full of cold showers. ha. 

THIRD,

Tonight Melinda and I went to the Nakwon Music Arcade in Insa-dong tonight. We made it there, not getting lost, and found most everything we were looking for. What's even more is that Melinda haggled. Way to go, Melinda! I got some rockstops, shoulder rests, and rosin and Melinda found a sopranino recorder and ORFF BOOKS IN ENGLISH. It was a great nerdscursion that ended with dinner by Don. We mixed their makgeolli from a festival with Acai/Grape juice - tasted like a wildberry smoothie. Some photos of the market/arcade:

 SO MUCH STUFF

 as she's singing "I'm in heaveeeeeen"

a quality/hilarious find: a bow less, inadequately clothed violinist with poor posture. why not.