Charpie's Travels

Today was not my favorite. It consisted of class observation and the threat of unannounced observation. Really, it wasn't all that awful. But at the end of work, I walked away with a mental recording of everything that went wrong and a bit of befuddlement over why in the world even the good kids act up when a visitor is present.  But that's not my reason for posting.  I walked into my first class this morning and one of my girls ran right into me.  "Teacher, here!" she yelled as she shoved an envelope at me. I took the sticker-sealed envelope and thanked the her. I couldn't tell you if she heard me; she was already halfway back to her seat.  I opened the envelope at break. Inside was a pink pen, a pink fold-out ruler, and a sheet of paper. On one side was a drawing of a girl (possibly me?) and on the other side was a note: Elizabeth teacher, Thank you for teaching me and loving me. Love, Grace Given the other events of the day, I'd nearly forg...

My pre-kinder kids are learning about contractions in Phonics class (how old are kids in the US when they learn this??). I've never had an opinion - good or bad - about contractions before this week, but now I love them. I love them because I get to hear 11 little children try to say "apostrophe."  Apparently, this was a new word for my class. They just called it a "comma" and made gestures to show me that it belonged on the top part of the word. I can sympathize with my kids when it takes 10 seconds to sound out a new word. That's what happens when I try to read Hangul. And 98% of it still means nothing to me, even after I sound it out.  Some Hangul letters cover for a couple different English letter sounds. Korean also doesn't cram together as many consonant sounds as English does (like the "str" in "apostrophe"). So, for my little kids, "apostrophe" comes out more like "uhh-potrow-pee." And whenever one st...

I'm sure this isn't unique to me, but I've learned so many things that would have been nice to know when I first arrived in Korea (or before I arrived). So, since everyone who moves to Korea in the future will stop by this blog first, I'm going to share those things that residents may not think to tell you right away... If someone cuts in front of you, spits where you're walking, or burps while passing you, don't take offense. The definition of "rude" is different here, and the sooner you can learn that the better.  You can put up to a few hundred thousand won on your T-Money card, but you're better off reloading small amounts more often. There's always the possibility of losing it ... or messing up the (very simple) reload process, freezing your card, and losing your money. Before buying laundry soap, find out what in the world a laundry detergent container should look like. Otherwise, there's a fair chance you'll go through s...