Days 67-71

Ooh gurl, we one month out from 100 days.  Time flies~  Well, when you’re having fun.  Good thing I’m having fun.

Monday

SO LOUD YOU GUYS.

Shredded potatoes, tentacle salad, kimchi, quail eggs with beef, tofu/bean sprout/kimchi water soup, ice.

Kylo Ren’s preferred treat is red bean paste and ice cream filled fish waffles.

• Would you believe it if I told you that not only did I teach every one of my Monday classes, but they also all went well? WELL YOU’D BEST BELIEVE. YES THIS WARRANTS CAPS LOCK. THIS IS A RARE TREASURE. Monday morning Grade 4 went well.  I had enough activities that were varied, I used the textbook and my own things, and I figured out how to make my life easier and only hand-write 20 bingo cards instead of, like, 60, without having to make my own bingo markers (I just cut strips of coloured paper and had them rip those into markers).
• Then after school soccer club class was wonderful because these girls are angels who adore me and I adore them.
  • Teaching mixed level can be challenging but I think this group is small enough and supportive enough of one another that it works.
  • I also kind of see it as being a Rosie-led class with 경희 doing more of the support role, as opposed to a more co-taught approach.  As in, I do the lesson planning and execution, with her helping with communication.  And I say this as a “That is what I would like” since she’s already super busy and I think it’s good for them (and they appreciate) having more Rosie teacher interaction?  I’m sure it’ll evolve throughout the year but for now I like this set-up.
  • They wanted to know my full name, so I wrote it out with the accompanying hangul pronunciation guide, which doesn’t quite capture “z” or “th” sounds or the “yr” in Byrnes.  So now I’m Rojalli Kaetcheuhrin Mareuhgo Bunzeuh Roji Teacher. 🙂
  • I had large sketchbook sheets I’d drawn some soccer-related items on (for vocab) and I ended up cutting one of them into cards to use in some activities, and at the end of class they were a hot commodity, so I cut up the other sheet and those were grabbed up too.  Then they needed my signature on their cards, in addition to some artwork requests, which turned into me drawing characters for them on notebooks or backs of their picture cards.
  • Did I mention I love them?
• Announcements during the midmorning break were so long and so loud I had time to download a decibel level gauge to my iPhone and actually quantify how ludicrously loud the speakers are in the Grade 4 English room. It’s definitely not perfectly accurate but it’s better than my assessment of “loud af.”

Tuesday

Jake is popular.

Relay race practice.

Napa and radish kimchi, chocolate cake, allll the watermelon, seaweed and tofu soup, rice fried up with veggies and I think canned fish, and a salad of cucumber, perilla leaves, and possibly mint topped with sweet/sour chili-vinegar sauce.

ROSE FOR ROSE.

Azaleaaaas.

There are so many different colours of them here.

• Busted out my art skills for my Grade 5 lesson activity.  I had half the class time (20 minutes) to myself for activities since the book work dried up quickly, and it was a new lesson with the target language being “Whose ____ is that?” “It’s ____’s.”/”It’s mine.”  So I had to teach them that and get them using it without being lethally boring.
  • I found this activity idea and tweaked it into drawing three character heads from the textbook on the chalkboard and having a student ask “Whose [insert object chosen from options on slide] is that?”, having another student answer “It’s [choose character]’s.” and then I would draw the object beneath that character.  Then I could use those pictures to ask “Whose ___ is that?” and they could answer “It’s ___’s.” or “It’s mine.” if I assigned that team to be that character.
  • IT WAS FUN, OKAY.  Especially since the classes seemed to really like giving the character Jake, like, everything, including lipstick. Which meant I got to add even more objects to the characters who owned like nothing, by drawing scarves or earrings or glasses on them.
• 30 minutes into second period a real diapason starts playing over the PA system and the kids get real amped, closing their books and basically running out of the class.
  • Turns out it was practice time for Sports Day.  Sports Day being like track and field day in Canada but turned to 11 with way more music and way more “the entire student body standing in the field doing the same warm-up routine”.  IT’S GREAT.  I watched from the English room window.  Instagram video here, here, and here. My personal favourite was the chill Epcot vibes tune with bird sounds that accompanied the tai chi/martial arts group routine.
• Grade 6 was a review period and I bought some candy before school to use as incentive for them to keep playing the game which demanded that they practice giving dates based on, e.g. 04/22, 01/18.
  • The months in Korean are very logical (literally one-월, two-월, three-월 etc.) whereas English likes to throw in entirely new words with no relation to their former numerical value (October is the 10th month, cool cool).
  • And Korean days are also entirely logical, e.g. the 4th is literally four-일, the 14th is literally ten-four-일, the 24th is literally two-ten-four-일, none of this “th”/”rd”/”nd”/”st” business or new naming patterns for 11-19.
  • So basically they’re challenging to learn, and incentivizing went a long way as far as getting everyone to talk.

Tuesday was also the day of the Asia Culture Centre tour.  A week or two back all the Gwangju EPIK teachers (and the teachers from the analogous program where Chinese teachers act as Guest Native Teachers) were offered the chance to tour the ACC downtown, on one of two dates.  I went with the 26th, and so right after classes ended I grabbed a bus to downtown and joined around 30 or so other EPIK teachers  (three or four from my intake, but mostly not).  Lots of pictures were taken, and some video.

The preserved buildings.

Big ol’ plaza on level one of the basements. It’s real big, with space for concert stages and public activities.

The entrance way to ACC Children, the children/family-centric facility with play spaces and activity rooms.

A nifty little exhibit on typeface setting technology.

There are bamboo gardens throughout the facilities, to help recycle air and reduce humidity.

And also to provide serene space to sit and read (this one’s right beside the library.)

The outdoor seating of the theatre space, that big glass wall retracts to open up to the theatre.

One third of the massive theatre hall, currently being set up for an exhibit/festival. Literally one third since it’s divided by retracting walls.

The BB-8/R2-D2 art.

This place was getting set-up, but we were allowed to use it as an entrance.

Kinetic art~

This thing was linked up to a machine that printed out the words you typed, but not actually printing: it punched paper holes out in arrangements corresponding to letters/words.

Chalk drawings done via a machine: it was a massive wall and those wires are attached to a computerized component that holds chalk, it receives messages from an accompanying computer and draws out what the machine dictates.

These tiles moved, which allowed for variation in the shadows cast by the yellow, cyan, and magenta lights.

A really amazing piece, a 25 minute performance of those white circles (which have mirrors at the centre). They’re all on two strings and move smoothly through the air. Soft Celtic music plays as coloured light is projected onto them.

This one was a pitch black room with just a long bench and two mirrored walls, which allowed the light to look as though it went on forever. The bench also vibrated in harmony to the lights and music.

This big ol thing hanging from the ceiling moved and flashed, and those roses holding led lights also moved, making them look like rose bushes having lightsaber duels.

All of these units held individual multi-media art experiences.

This thing flashed and made rhythms through the sounds of blenders and switched and motion and electricity.

Part of the Eurasia exhibit.

The exterior of the panoramic projection component–a silk screen beneath which were cut outs of city outlines from across Eurasia, which moved forward and back, revealing and removing their outlines from the silk.

Aaand dinns. Part of dinns. Lots of kimchi and salads, duck, pickled radish, tofu skin, dumplings, salmon that was slightly frozen, cucumber/apple/tomato/yogurt salad, and more~~

• Sparknotes: The ACC is amazing and beautifully designed and I’m so glad I live in Gwangju, which is being built up as the cultural hub of Korea.  It’s a space for art and artists, across all domains, and for the people of Korea to really learn and explore contemporary history and culture and how it relates to and with art.  It opened last November and is really such an incredible space.
• Long version:
  • Let’s start with this diagram from the ACC About Page, about the underlying purpose of each of the five facilities of the ACC:
    • 
  • The architecture of the ACC itself is incredible, too, with the preserved buildings from the May 18th Democratic Uprising being the only ones that exist aboveground, and the other four facilities existing in multi-level basements.  But the architect also really paid attention to Gwangju’s literal translation of City of Light, so the basement buildings are still flooded with natural light and full of open spaces that keep it from feeling remotely claustrophobic.
  • The theatre spaces are incredible, with the really innovative one including moving floors, seats that sink below ground and can accomodate over 1,000 people, 50 metre ceilings, convertible spaces (one to three theatres out of one hall), and 50m tall doors/walls that can open and close to turn the outdoor pavillion into an extension of the theatre itself.  Then there’s also a more traditional style theatre.
  • The ACC Creation facility has five or six different spaces, but they aren’t gallery spaces in the traditional art exhibition sense?  They’re all so different and flexible and conceptual and embracing of multi-media and experiential on different levels.  From the kinetic art to the space devoted to exploring colonialism and Asia’s identity in relation to its colonial history, to the Plastics space full of 30+ small spaces of contemporary art that pushes you to consider what is and isn’t art (a robot etching Buddhist scripture into glass panes? Short looping videos? Rube Goldberg-esque rhythm makers made from household refuse?). IT WAS COOL Y’ALL. And we were pretty rushed through, so I will definitely be returning.
  • The Archive/Library building is entirely free and devoted to all aspects of art–visual, performance, performing etc.  It’s full of books and original documents and open space and exhibits and film archives and and artwork and exhibits on exchange from other museums.  Books about art that you’re free to look through, in an air-conditioned space, including plenty in English and French? Count me in.
• We got a free buffet dinner afterwards.  Sadly I was not with people who understand the true potential a buffet offers and had to stick to two small, shallow plates and some dessert.  Super tasty, super free.

Wednesday, Thursday & Friday

죽 with poached chicken, mushrooms, and I think maybe some seafood. It was so comforting and risotto-y since it was made with really savoury broth. The top right salad was strange but lovely: tentacles, apples, and some type of green that tasted very floral/cardamom-y, plus the usual sweet/spicy/acidic sauce. Kimchi x2. Okay, top left, those were some strange clam like things, like I don’t even know. I didn’t /dislike/ them but I’m glad I only took two. That weird tale part was texturally like biting into buttercream, and the rest was oyster-y. ODD. Then a lovely little donut and some apple yogurt drink.

The below-mentioned map.

Top left is a fish and potato stew that’s very savoury and rich and lovely. Nori for wrapping around rice. Kimchi and spinach namul. Rice. Kimchi liquid/soybean paste based soup with greens and tofu and onion.

Watermelon :’)) Myeolchi with roasted green chillis and a very sweet sauce–I love these things, and this was one of the tastiest variations I’ve had. Napa and radish kimchi. Omelette with veggies. Beef and kimchi soup. Rice.

• Nothing super exceptional on Wednesday aside from:
  • It being very rainy, leading to me managing to soak my shoes in water by stepping on a loose cobblestone that see-sawed, catapulting a hidden puddle directly into my shoe.
  • Seung Hee taking me to the post office to pay my apartment maintenance bill, since I needed to change my name on the transaction so they would know it was my apartment that paid. Turns out that doesn’t work, so it’s a good thing there’s only one Rosalie in the eight different 15-story buildings (my name is attached to the transaction, at least).
  • Lunch hour love advice from Seung Hee, Min Hee, and On Yu.  Real, honest-to-god girl talk.  So fun.  And funny.  They’re so invested in me and when/if I will finally get myself a boyfriend.
  • Shoutout to my internal clock: I use my laptop as my alarm clock, but it shut itself down for whatever reason while I was sleeping Tuesday night, but I still woke up at 6:47, leaving just enough time to finish up the things I needed to prepare for my lesson.
  • Shoutout to dry shampoo: that lesson prep time preempted shower time.
• Thursday
  • Grade 6 was a new lesson on giving directions.  I reproduced a map from the textbook on the chalkboard to much acclaim.  We used it to have students listen to directions and trace out the routes using a little paper person I stuck onto a magnet.  Drawing is a handy skill as a teacher. (Also I’m slightly mean with how elaborate the directions I gave to find a specific location on the map were.  Spatial awareness is hard enough in your native tongue. But it gave the students who already know all this stuff a chance to test themselves.)
• Friday
  • At the end of Period 2 all the kids were called down for Sports Day practice run (literally for the relay race practice).  I guess schools all have the same music/choreography? Because they were defs doing the same tai chi/martial arts Epcot Reflections of Earth style routine.  Amped for next Wednesday when it’s Sports Day for real here.
  • English Club topic was Favourite Childhood Memories, it was nice to reminisce about my own childhood and hear from everyone else.  I really love that this exists and counts as a teaching hour because it’s just so interesting and helps me feel closer with the people who join, which is nice since a few of them are teachers who I don’t see outside of Friday afternoons since they use a different staff room and I exist in the English room for the most part.
  • I’ve had a few packages I’ve been meaning to mail to Canada but have been putting off doing so for like…a month. At least.  Mainly because I was worried about needing to actually be able to communicate.  Finally just taped up the one for Alice (best frand) and mailed it, along with my packages for Sarah/Alex (sister/precious gem) and Mia (neighbour-sister).  39,000 won for all three, wahoo.  I mean it was surface mail, but still.  Canada Post would be insanely expensive, considering how heavy the one for Sarah/Alex was.  Turns out saying “surface mail” in Korean, having the addresses affixed, and filling out the declaration forms which were bilingual was all I needed.  Also Korean post offices have it on lock: just like E-Mart, they provide boxes and a station to tape up your packages, right there.

Random asides

• I miss cheese.  I miss cheese plates.  I miss baguettes and multigrain fruit and nut bread eaten with said cheese(s).  I miss good bread toasted and spread with butter and topped with Maldon flake salt, or with mashed avocado and a bit of honey and flake salt.  I also miss cinnamon.  Specifically the Costco cinnamon.  I miss the cupboard full of spices and vinegars and oils in my Port Hope house.  I miss our fridge full of condiments.  Well, I miss the condiments, not so much the fridge.
• I occasionally forget that all the textbooks use American spelling and that the kids have learned American spelling.  It pains me a bit to drop my “u”s.
• Little Grade 2 kid with the developmental delay who is so friendly is like, the highlight of my lunch hour.  He’s so friendly and just comes running up to hug me now.  He’s amazed by my nails which are super long (long nails don’t seem to be very popular here.)  He also ran into me in the morning before class one day and held my hand as we walked through the hall, and held my hand, swinging our arms, as we walked out of the cafeteria another day. It’s so cute like he just yells this semi-unintelligble version of 안녕 while throwing his arms around you?  (He’s a huge fan of On Yu, too.)
  • Kind of related: Being in the Child Health Specialization in BHSc (my uni program) I think has made me more aware of how important it is for me to really try to engage with my students with developmental differences.  (Or maybe that’s just any decent human being’s reaction to kids/students.) It’s not always easy, especially considering that it’s English class, which is hard enough for the brightest kids with financial access to further tutoring, but I really want them to feel that I’m at least trying to connect with them?  Honestly, this goes for every student–I don’t ever want them to feel like they have to earn my attention/respect/interaction through excellence in English class.
• RIP my gas bill this month since I managed to come home to an ajar freezer or an ajar fridge on two separate days.  Time to start taping those doors shut, since they don’t seal perfectly.  And I also managed to accidentally turn on the floor heating for a day or maybe two, since that button is above the heat-water-for-the-shower button.  And sometimes I forget to turn off the shower hot water button.  Woe, woe.
• Bought myself a sunhat and some sunscreen (what is the difference between sun lotion and sun cream, Korea, I don’t understand); come at me festival season.