Charpie's Travels

For now, anyway, my favorite restaurant in Seoul is an Indian place. I went again with some coworkers tonight. This restaurant has the music, the decor, floor seating, and even an Indian movie running on one of the walls. (The Korean employees seemed out of place at first, but now they fit right in.) The samosas can't compete with anything made by a De (or Charpie) or Mohinani, but I still get unnecessarily excited about them. Same goes for the naan.  I ordered milk tea this time. It was also super, though its super-ness had less to do with its taste and more to do with what it makes me think about. I haven't been homesick yet...not even close really. But if any one thing in Korea can possibly make me homesick, it's gonna be the milk tea. At the same time I'm thinking of my favorite people in Minnesota and Texas, and I find myself wishing I could stop by Kerala for an afternoon cup of Molly's amazing tea.

The loudest, hyperest, and happiest pre-k kid is Justin. Keeping him in a chair is nearly impossible, but he's great. When I lost my voice, I had him "be my voice" for a while. He sat right in front of my desk that day, so I'd tell him something and he'd yell it at everyone else. The only problem was bringing him back from his power trip. "Everybody! Teacher says you must listen to ME!"  Each week I give a vocab test. Then they all draw on the back of the paper while I make the rounds and grade the tests. I was kneeling in front of Justin's desk, circling all his correct words, and he started laughing. One of those quiet, but hard laughs that makes your entire body shake. His face was all scrunched up so you could barely see his eyes. It wasn't a mean laugh either. Whatever happened, it was just that hilarious. "What's so funny?" I asked, not sure whether I really wanted to know. "Your nose..." and he started l...

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...

Work was pretty different this week. That sounds like I actually know what “normal” is here. I just know it wasn’t this. The students have these big tests every month, and all the teachers have to do for those hours is pass out tests, make sure no one cheats, and find puzzles or games or videos to fill the post-test time. I bought fruit this week. I got a couple pieces that looked like they might be sweet limes (like we had in India). They were not. More like weird grapefruit. I picked up a pomegranate and noticed when I got home that it’s from California. I bought banana chips, and I don’t care what you say … they count as fruit. I tried to buy oranges. If you bag your own fruit, you’re supposed to take it to the man at the scale who weighs it and slaps a sticker on the bag. Who knew. I did not visit the scale man, and so my oranges stayed at the check out. I also bought some beef, which is nothing like fruit. It tastes much better. Also, rice here is ridiculously expensive. On ...

My Korean co-teacher had my students make these cards for me.  Christmas Cards