Roh Motorcade

This is a short clip of the motorcade that carried former President Roh to the crematorium near our apartment. This was shot from our window. He was cremated there and then the motorcade went back by on the way to his hometown. This has been a very interesting story in Korea the past few weeks. Roh committed suicide a week ago as a result of the shame and embarassment he was experiencing from a bribery / money issues / corruption investigation. I feel like my first reaction (and that of other westerners I've talked to) was that this was kind of him skipping out on his responsibilities; running premenantly from his problems. The media here has had that take and also another one that is a little troubling to us. In many media outlets he is being painted as a hero. He has saved his family much shame by sacrificing himself for their safety and securuity. Our paper said that is was "honorable" that he commited suicide. It is a persepective that I honestly do not understand.

Knights of the Rad Table

A couple weeks ago our school put on its first full length drama production. It was entitled "Knights of the Rad Table." It was a take on the King Arthur / Sword in the Stone story. The students did a great job and it was much more comedic (intentionally and unintentionally) than I was expecting. Here are some clips from the show. Listen closely. There are some funny one-liners here and there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQgpY2ebmvA

counting down

6 days left. But hey who's counting right. Bonnie and I have been keeping ourselves busy writing and now grading finals for the past 2 weeks. We each have a couple finals left to give and grade and then we'll be done.

I felt bad today. I had a student break down into tears during my final. I think she had just completely freaked herself out. When I went over to talk to her she would barely utter a word between fought back sobs. She had convinced herself that she couldn't remember anything and she was going to fail. It was gut wrenching and troubling all at the same time. She managed to pull it together enough to finish the test, which she actually did quite well on. Final time is tough, especially for freshmen and sophomores. Many of these kids put a ton of pressure on themselves to get the best grades; let alone the pressure their parents add too. I guess learning to cope with imperfection is something you have to learn in your own time.

On a lighter note...did you know that it costs $0.44 to send a letter within the US and $0.46 to send a letter from Korea to the US. Bizarre.

kimchi

I can't believe we have lived in Korea for 9 months and we have not blogged about kimchi.

Kimchi is a staple in Korea that is served with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It is basically pickled cabbage that has fermented with some other spices and it's very red (so it can be a bit spicey sometimes). There are actually many different kinds of kimchi, as well.

When we first moved here I thought kimchi was disgusting. It looks gross, it tasted gross. I talked with one of my students about it last semester and he said, at first you try it and won't like it but then you keep eating it and you will be addicted. Despite my taste preferences, I followed my student's advice and so on many occasions when we go out to eat I will take a bite of the kimchi (I forgot to mention it is a side dish that is served with almost everything, everywhere you go). For months I continued to hate kimchi, and then one day it was like everything changed...and i thought, hm...kimchi is alright. I think I like this. I would not say I am addicted to kimchi by any means, but I now embrace it as a food that is alright and with the right combinations of other foods is quite enjoyable. We even have our own kimchi refrigerator so we can make our own kimchi and have it ferment in the apartment. If you couldn't guess, our kimchi fridge is completely empty and will stay that way.

Here's to kimchi and to Korean food.

3 cakes, 2 pints of ice cream, one great bday

Thanks to everyone for the bday wishes this year. As always I sought to make my birthday a week long celebration, and this year was not a disappointment. Tuesday night I discovered the Baskin Robbin's ice cream cake in the freezer. This was actually quite funny...I open the freezer to get something out and I was like, man something is different. I didn't really look around the freezer, I just yelled out to Tom without thinking "How did our freezer get so full???" And then Tom shines this little smile and it hit me...My birthday cake is in there!!! So of course I couldn't wait and we ate bday cake the night before my birthday.

Wednesday (the actual bday) rolls around and I get a surprise cake from a fellow teacher Steve (he has served as a mentor figure for me this year) and I got to share the cake with my homeroom students. My students were pretty excited it was my birthday after that. Wednesday night was the school play so Tom and I decided to go out to dinner and then to the play (more to come on the play).

Friday Tom organized a bday get together at Pho Mein, a Vietnamese restaurant that is so tasty! I can't believe that in four weeks I'll be eating legit Vietnamese food in Vietnam. After that we had some friends over and two friends brought some birthday love. My friend Laura brought 2 pints of Baskin Robbins ice cream and my friend Jane got a cake. It was such great fun. My favorite part about this past bday week was just spending time with friends and having an excuse to talk to more people from home. I love community.

Man Boutique Friday

As we have mentioned in previous posts Koreans like to give gifts. Last Friday was teachers day here and as a result I received two new male hygiene gifts: Lancome shave foam and Clinique aftershave. When I got up this morning I decided that I was going to try and use my new Lancome shave foam. It was alright. I'm used to Edge shave gel so it had a different feel. Then I transitioned into the shower. It was there that I noticed sitting on the shelf a bottle of Chanel men's body wash that I had scarcely touched since I received it at Christmas (I typically go for the gold Dial bar of soap). That's when Man Boutique Friday began. I decided to use it. After the shower I finished up with the Clinique aftershave. I'm feelin' clean, smellin' good, and ready to take on my Friday.

The most important lesson of marriage

The most important lesson I have learned in the past (almost) 3 years of marriage occurred exactly two years ago today. Let me set the scene.

It is Bonnie's birthday and we are going over to Mike and Jerre's house for dinner. It is our first birthday we are celebrating as a married couple. We enjoy a wonderful homemade meal of some of Bonnie's favorite mother-made dishes. When Bonnie has finished with her meal and we are just sitting there talking she asks, "What's for dessert?" I look at Jerre. Jerre looks at me. I ask, "You got a cake right?" She responds, "Why would I get a cake? She's your wife." Meanwhile, Bonnie is sitting there forlorn and shocked. She has no cake for her birthday. I have never heard the end of it. Needless to say I made sure that issue did not arise this year. Thank you for Baskin Robbins being on every corner here.

That was my most important lesson of marriage. Make sure you get your wife a cake on her birthday.

Happy Birthday Bonnie!

Conclusions are good

This past week Bonnie and I wrapped up two big things. First: Middle School Basketball.

For the past 4 Saturdays we have gone to basketball jamborees with the GSIS middle school boys. This has been good but very tiring. We are so excited to sleep in next Saturday. We were looking back over the semester and we think Bonnie has had something going on pretty much every Saturday since early March (I've had 1 or 2 of those off). It was really beneficial for us to coach because we really didn't know any MS kids. But overall we are extremely happy that this has concluded. We don't plan on coaching it next year. That may sum up our experience in the most concise manner.

Second: High School Spiritual Emphasis Week (SEW)

This occurred this past Wednesday-Friday. This was actually totally awesome. We shut down the HS for those 3 days and focused on spiritual and character development. It was a really great time to get to know our students better. We got to take off our "teacher" hats and act more like friends and mentors. It reminded both Bonnie and I of our Young Life days quite a bit. Some of the highlights:
We flew in a band from the states called Station 2 (http://www.station2music.com/). They were a quality band and even more quality dudes.
We had a water war at the end of school on Friday. It was great to soak some of our students.
We had ice cream bag shakes twice! Amazing.
We had a sex/dating/marriage/etc. seminar. Nothing like taking about sex and dating in front of your students. (This actually was potentially the coolest part of the week)
We got to watch some students rise out of apathy and begin to care about something meaningful.

Now we just need to get those pesky finals written... 3 more weeks!

IB

Well one of the things that we have blogged about from time to time is the fact that our school has been trying to get certified to teach the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. We we found out about 2 weeks ago that we were in fact certified. See:

http://www.ibo.org/school/003708/

That was a huge victory for our school as it continues to grow and mature. It was also a big stress reliever for Bonnie and I because we had spent a lot of time training and working on things related to the IB.

America or Korea?

This weekend we had our third middle school basketball Jamobree. For this jamboree we got to go to Osan Air Force Base. This was quite a treat because it is an American base with American perks...Taco Bell being one of them. So how it works is you arrive at the main gate to the base, go through security, and then you enter into a different world. You look around and it's like your in America. There are American cars, American businesses (see Chili's), and there is GRASS!!! Not only that, the cars actually stop and wait so you can cross the street. Surely, this cannot be Korea?! For those of you who watch LOST it's kind of like Dharmaville. Let me explain, on the TV show LOST the setting is in this mysterious/awesome island. A plane crashes and the survivors try to live on this island. While surviving in huts on the island the survivors find that "others" already live on the island. And then one day they discover where "the others" live. And it's so weird because it's this modern/American looking community in the midst of this island (this place has been nicknamed Dharmaville). I now know how these LOST survivors must have felt, because in the midst of Korea you walk into this secret area and it is like you are in modern America. You're in Korea, but it feels like you're in America. It's mind blowing.

The biggest highlight was the food court. Pizza hut with regular sausage! Subway!!! Blue Gatorade!!!! And the biggest treat---Taco Bell!!!! The last picture above is Tom in the line for Taco Bell. If you can't find him, just look for the head that sticks out from all the others.

The jamboree was just okay. It was somewhat disorganized, but overall I think the kids enjoyed it. America or Korea? I'm not sure where we were yesterday.

Driving

This past Friday Bonnie and I decided that it was time that we became legally able to drive in Korea. We have some friends coming in June (Adam and Mary Kate) and we are going to make a trip with them to Jeju Island. Jeju is Korea's resort island just off the southern coast of the peninsula. From what we hear from folks it is a lot easier if you rent a car while you are there and the driving is not very crazy. So we are going to risk it and try driving in Korea in about a month or so.

Our school was kind enough to help us in this venture of getting a license because we never would have been able to do it without them. I would say that our DMV experience it Korea was a little more polite than America. But the process goes a bit more quickly in America.

We first had to start out upstairs at a counter and chat with a lady. Then we had to go downstairs to a photo booth to take passport sized photos ($5 for 6). Then we had to go back upstairs to fill out a form. Then we had to go back downstairs to take a vision test ($5 to take the test). Then back upstairs to a different counter to get a stamp on our form ($7 for the stamp) to show we passed the vision test. Then back over to the original counter we started at to turn in our form. Finally we wait for about 20 minutes and get our license. In all the process took about 90 minutes.

The black stripes on the photo are some number that we felt it would be best not to post for the world to see.

new video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te2DHF-iCrM

Enjoy