Wavegookin

This weekend, I went to a Samsung Lions baseball game again, along with 13 other Waygooks. We ended up starting the wave (and by "we" I mean Amanda). The BEST WAVE IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. Ok maybe not the entire world, but it was awesome. Amanda stood up at the front and screamed something along the lines of "Hey, look at me!" in Korean, then explained that we were going to start the wave. Now, we knew it would take a few tries. We have seen waves started by Waygooks at the baseball games before, so we figured probably 3 times before it got maybe half way around the stadium, where it would hit the opposing team's fans and die out.

So we started... 3... 2... 1... GO! And BAM. There is a perfect wave. Traveling all the way around the stadium, through the opposing team's fans, through the Samsung cheering section, and back to us! So we figured we would try to keep it going... and it worked! It went around about 3 full times... THEN it got back around to the cheering section and it was like a light switch, they slowed it down to a slow-motion wave... it was the coolest thing I've ever seen! So it went around, ssssssssllllloooooowwwwww mmmmooooooo... then as it hit the cheering section again, ZOOM it was a super fast wave.

And that is the story of the Wavegookin.

Picking a team name

I recently did a game day with some of my classes where they have to choose a team name. It is incredible to see how difficult it is for them to understand the concept of choosing an ENGLISH team name... a lot of time they want to pick one of the student's names or something that is in Korean, but this is English class so I make them choose something in English. I tell them it can be anything... Purple Stars or Black Ninjas... anything they want... so at first I was expecting something along the line of Pretty Girls or Iron Man (some have come up with something like these) but it is so funny to see what they actually decide to choose.... here is a list of the names that I've remembered to write down after the classes.... I've grouped them into the class groups...

Playboy (in retrospect I probably should've made them change this)

Johnson (again, probably should've made them change this)

Passage

Alistar

Jelly Bean

Ryze Hair (it means bald, but I found this out after class)

Ah

Oh

Q

BBBig

Teletubby

Girls Generation (GG)

Goblin

Mafia

Kokomo

Farmer

Pig

Troll

Beak

Alistar

Sleepy

Bighead

Dragon Man

Texas

Challenger 

Perfect Man

Gentlemen

King of the Mountain

Bronze

Back Door

Marshmallow

Prada

Samsung

Pretty Girls

Star (literally a picture of a star, not the word)

Hannah Montana (can you guess the movie they watched during their speaking tests)

Yo

Woo

Ah!

Princess

Bagel Girls

Ho

Mini

Princess

Call

Foxy

Crystal

Rr

I Want You

Get Guy (I made them change it from Gay Bar)

Sexy Boys

Ugly Boys

Action Mask

Uncle

Wow! (the entire class would all scream "WOW!" when I gave them points)

Oh Yeah! (again, would scream "OH YEAH!")

Hey Guys

Peace

PG (short for Pretty Girls)

Yahoo

There are so many others, however I didn't write them all down... but I find their choices absolutely hilarious and wanted to share :)

I speakie Englishee

As a native English teacher in a Korean High School, I get the privilege of conducting speaking tests for all of the 1st and 2nd graders in my school. I just got finished with the 1st grade tests... each class takes 2 class periods to do, so they lasted for 2 weeks... The prompts were:

1. Tell me about yourself (introduce yourself)
2. Describe your favorite movie or a book
3. Explain the differences between Korean High School and American High School (this is because I did a lesson on this with my classes)

They were told to make it under 2 minutes and they were graded on grammar, vocabulary, fluency,  pronunciation and task completion, each counting for either 12, 14, 16, 18 or 20 points.

Some of the responses were OK, others struggled pretty badly, but others blew me away... I wanted to share a few of the moments or common comments I heard throughout the 2 weeks of 1st grade tests (a follow up blog on the 2nd graders to follow after those are finished).....

1. Most students started their speech by saying "From now on, please listen carefully.".... as if I wasn't going to listen to your speaking test, since it is just you and me out here in this hot hallway

2. A lot of students told me their height and weight (yes even girls, though their weight was usually "secret")... except they pronounced it "hate" and "weight"... guess because they are spelled alike, they think they sound alike.

3. Everything is "cute" or "funny".... their sisters are cute, their friends are cute, the color blue is cute... their favorite movie is funny and soccer is funny too.

4. I'd really like to know who told them to say "My family number is four"....

5. After "My family number is four" they would continue with "Mother, Father..." and every time I wanted to interrupt "GENTLEMAN" right after... only one student joked about it... I gave her extra points... if you don't know what I'm talking about watch this

6. I've never heard a hotel manager called a "hotelier" until now... and EVERY SINGLE Korean calls it that

7. One girl explained the difference between American HS and Korean HS and told me how, in Korea, everyone wants to go to college, but in America only a few people want to go to college

8. One boy told me "I'm shorter than my friends, so I drink milk every day"

9. Hopefully they don't think it is OK to, before sitting down, violently cough on someone that you will be speaking to... but apparently one boy did

10. One student told me that they are interested in learning other cultures, so they watch the Simpsons a lot to learn about America... oh great

11. One student said "My favorite color is blue, because I like it"

12. Another boy sat down and stared at me for a few seconds, then mumbled something in Korean, got up, and walked away

13. That boy unfortunately got the same score (as low as I could give) as the boy who sent the Korean teacher out to tell me he didn't prepare anything at all and wouldn't be coming out to try

14. A classic example of what "maybe" means in this country... when I asked someone if they were finished... "Yes, maybe" then proceeded to get up and leave

15. One boy, whom I knew had studied abroad before, just blurted at the end of his perfectly natural introduction "Can I go now?" uh, sure I guess...

16. One girl sat down, and started to speak perfect English, however it went something like this: "I like actually studied in America for like one and a half years. Like, I lived in Atlanta. Like. LIKE. LIIIKKKEEE"... though I gave her a 100, I really wanted to tell her, like, she shouldn't, like, use "like" like all the time. LIKE.

17. One boy sang me part of Jason Mraz's Lucky... he knows the way to my heart, and could really sing!

18. Another girl sang part of Beyonce's Halo (she was great)

Overall though I was really impressed. A lot of the students did very well... a LOT better than I had expected. I was so happy when I was surprised by someones English, but I was also proud of myself for realizing who a lot of the students were and knew kind of what to expect.

It was, however, hilarious to see how nervous they were... So many of the students would sit down and whine... several were shocked when I started the clock and made me stop it and start over... You could pretty much tell that most of them were reciting a memorized speech... it was like I could see them staring off into space, reading the lines of the paper in their head... though that's better than the few that ACTUALLY just read from their paper... I really wish I could've video taped these kids... they were just so darn cute!

It was a great time listening to the 1st graders responses, but I'm even more excited to hear what my 2nd graders have to say (and meeting the classes I don't teach yet)! Another blog to follow...

Row Row Row Your Raft

Again, another awesome weekend! This one is definitely in my top favorites!

This weekend, Adrienne and I, along with several other friends, headed back up to the northern part of South Korea (why do we keep doing this to ourselves? Those bus rides are horrible!) for some outdoor fun. On the agenda for the weekend: paintballing and white water rafting!

We woke up SUPER early Saturday morning, which I actually liked a lot better than sleeping in... it made it easier to fall back asleep once on the bus...and headed to the pension where we had only a few minutes to change before heading straight to paintballing...

Once we arrived at the paintballing site, we had to endure an extremely long speech from a Korean ex-marine being translated (he kept getting mad at us because we were talking)... I think he didn't realize that we were there just to have fun... he wanted blood though... he really wanted us to be serious... at one point he told us we were not allowed to hit each other with the guns if we were out of bullets... no shit!?! Once we finally got dressed and had our guns in hand, we were divided up and set out on the course...

Team Blue!

The Girls

The course

I've only been paintballing once before, but it was a little different this time. We were actually in the woods, and there were gullies and ditches that you had to run to, you used trees and tall grass to hide your body, there was even a huge hill on one side that you could climb and end up attacking the other team from behind. It was actually tons of fun and I had a blast. I was really impressed with myself because I was not one of the girls that just sat in the back and hid... I ran out of ammo all 3 games, and "killed" someone each game as well. The first and last round, I was the one that ended up rushing while my team members covered and getting multiple people out, which surprised me. Though the second game my team was up the hill, rather than at the bottom, and I ended up getting stuck in some bush and couldn't get a clear shot and eventually wasted most of my bullets (though I did end up getting one or two people out). It was tons of fun and my team ended up winning all three rounds (and I didn't even get hit!).

After we were finished, we headed back to the pension and had a few minutes to change before heading to the rafting site. We divided into teams and drove the short way up the river. I was kind of nervous because I had never done rafting before, but then I kind of expected it to be slightly boring as well, thinking there wouldn't be much to the rafting course. I was wrong though! There were several times where my "family" ended up slipping and falling into the raft (thankfully not out of the raft). And MAN does rafting require you to use your muscles! Between my legs holding me in, my abs having to keep me from flailing around, and my arms having to actually row the raft, it was painful at times, but still a lot of fun! We got to swim on the more relaxed parts of the river, and they took us onto the land where there was a really cold stream that they dunked us in, the whole experience was just amazing, I can't wait to go again.

The Family

At one point in the trip I wasn't paying much attention and the instructor was talking to us and I turned and said "yes" as in "yea we are listening"... apparently he had just asked if I had WINKED at him! haha.... so from that point on, we were "boyfriend and girlfriend".... at one point he had his arm around me when we were walking, then he gave an ore to his friend who had lost one, and he told me "his girlfriend" didn't have to work anymore, and at the end we got a cute little couple picture :) It was great how everyone in the boat caught on right away and it ended up being the ongoing joke of the day... we really had a great "family" in our boat, great atmosphere and great laughs!

Me and my Boyfriend :)

That night we had a cookout, but for some reason I wasn't feeling very well, so I ended up going to bed pretty early after helping cook a little. But the next morning I felt refreshed and we all ended up making the most of our day before loading back onto the boats by heading back down to the river to hang out for a bit. Some people swam and played, while others just dipped our toes in, but it was a wonderful end to a great weekend!

Our sleeping arrangements- Korean style

Glorious Morning

Relaxing before the long trip home

Fun times with fun people

Happy Birthday Buddha

This weekend was the weekend of Buddha's Birthday... which means LONG WEEKEND! A lot of people end up doing fun trips during this time off, and I was no exception. A few friends, Adrienne, Ashley, Malia and Keller, and I decided to sign up for an organized trip and go up to the northern part of South Korea to a famous National Park, Seoraksan National Park, for some hiking and adventure.

Photo credit

Our weekend started off on Friday morning with a grueling 5.5 hour bus ride. Man it was rough. And once we got to our destination, the weather had turned cold and gloomy, so our fun night at the beach turned into a stroll on the beach, just to be able to say we were "at the beach", a few token pictures, then we headed to dinner. Our night wasn't too glamorous or anything, but the next day was when the fun would begin.

Saturday morning we headed out to the park where we would spend the day hiking. Our group stayed together for the entire day, but we passed by and met up with other people along the way... there really isn't way to miss 100 waygooks in one park.

 My group started off by heading to buy tickets for the cable car up to the top of the mountain for later in the day (we had heard they sell out and we didn't want to miss it), then headed on the 1 hour, easy hike to one of the waterfalls. It was such a BEAUTIFUL hike, however there wasn't much challenge. It was mostly along pathways and bridges, but once we got to the waterfall we didn't regret it. We spent some time climbing around on the rocks, trying to find places to sit with our toes in the freezing water, and a few people even jumped in (even though there were signs that said no swimming- when in doubt, you can always pull the foreigner card).

We then set off to go back to the large Buddha statue and the temple. The Buddha was huge and fun to see, however when we arrived at the temple, we were really disappointed. We had heard that there are usually many many lanterns hanging, along with other decorations, at temples for the weekend of Buddha's birthday, but there was NOTHING here! We couldn't believe it! We finally spotted a few lanterns, but they were inside the temple, and we didn't know if we were allowed to take pictures of inside, so we looked for a bit, then headed back out.

We were going to try to hike up to one of the tallest peaks in Seoraksan, however  we didn't think we had enough time, so we grabbed a few snacks and found some rocks near a stream bed to relax on while we killed some time. It was actually really fun, soaking in the sun and just talking with friends. Adrienne, Keller and I decided to do a little rock hopping as well...

We then headed back to the cable car where we were taken to the top of one of the mountains. We didn't realize that, once you got up to the top, you could hike up one of the other peaks... and that you had to use a rope to climb up and down... It was actually pretty dangerous when you think about it, but it was totally worth it once at the top... the view was unbelievable... It was relaxing to me, but pretty funny to watch some of the other people freak out about the height (no offense, really, it was just funny, but I realize that there was reason behind the fear)...

That night, it started raining, so we decided we would get chicken delivered to the hotel and play drinking games. The night was hilarious, and ended up in a 15 minute session at a noraebang, before we were kicked out (they said they were "closing").

The next morning we set off, but took a pit stop at the steepest zip-line in Korea. We first got to walk on a "Sky Walk", which is essentially a glass platform off the edge of a cliff, but it provided a really nice view. We then went up to the zipline, which was awesome fun... not like any of the ziplines I've done before though. With this one, you sit in a seat that is attached to 1 of 4 cables, and you zip with 3 other friends at your side before being stopped by a large spring at the end... it was really fun, but I definitely miss zipline "courses".

It was a great weekend with a great group... We will definitely have to head back out again soon...

Sports Day

When I think of “sports day”, I think of PE from back home. Things like relays, tug of war, dodge ball, waffle ball and maybe even a three legged race. When I found out that my school would be having a “sports day” where all of the teachers, first graders (freshmen) and second graders (sophomores) would be skipping classes for a day out on the “playground”, I figured these would be the types of games I would run into. I even got excited about the possibility of a game of soccer, baseball, volleyball or maybe basketball, but most definitely badminton, because that’s all they ever talk about here. But man was I wrong.

Yoomie (a nickname that means 'cute'), Mrs. Shin and Olivia (my handler)

The teachers let me know to wear “athletic clothes”. So I stroll in with my yoga pants and a Tshirt, only to find all the other female teachers in their normal, skinny teal jeans and cute tops. Go figure. Oh well, this was a day outside of the classroom, I was pumped. But the students definitely brought it. All of the girls classes had matching outfits (boys will be boys). They were lined up around the edge of the field with tents and chairs for each class. They had clappers, posters and full blown cheers. Awesomeness.

The day started with all of the students bringing carnations to the teachers because it was also “Teacher’s Day”. So cute.  After that, the fun began.

I wasn’t disappointed. I definitely got to witness a fair share of awesome PE-style games, just not the games I was used to. Yes, there were races and relays. My favorite was when 2-1 (second grade, class 1, boys) took their sweet time and let the student that is in a motorized wheelchair finish the last leg of the race, and the entire class joined him, carried a flag proudly, and just before the finish line, he stopped, turned the wheelchair around and finished going backwards. What an awesome morale.

There was also tug of war. But this was tug of war on steroids. There was not one, but THREE ropes. Two teams lined up at either end of the field then had to race to the three ropes. I’m not exactly clear on the rules, but you needed to have 2 ropes on your side to win. So if one rope was “lost” students would abandon the rope and then move to another rope in hope of winning it. It was craziness. I still don’t know how you know when to abandon your rope and how to choose which other rope to go to.

Then there was this game where the entire class would line up, 2 by 2, and two students had a rope in the front. They would drag the rope under the line of students while they had to jump over the rope, then the students with the rope had to round a cone at the other end of the field, then run back to the front, running while the rope was passing over the lined up students’ heads. Then they would pass the rope to the next pair of students and they had to repeat the process  until all pairs of students had been the one running with the rope. It might not sound that difficult, but this was just plain dangerous. I saw MANY students face-plant because they didn’t jump in time and their feet got caught in the rope. And several students got clothes lined from the back by the rope because they stood up too fast. If I never have to see another student get nearly decapitated again I’ll be happy (but it was a little funny sometimes).

And instead of 3 legged races, they had 10 legged races where 5 students were tied together at their ankles. They had to race across the field, go around a cone, then come back to the start, where they passed the relay stick off to the second half of the team. It was so cute to see some teams just try to run their hearts out (and promptly fall all over one another), while others had it together and were using rhythm and chants to keep pace.

Just before they all went tumbling to the ground

They also did jump rope, individual and team. Individual is pretty self explanatory, but the team jump rope was on a whole different level. They would have 2 people turning the rope while the rest of the students had to take a running leap into the rope and then jump out. They had this DOWN! They would make a large circle around the rope and just continually jump in and out. Talent and patience I tell you.

Then came the one teachers’ event. We (and I say WE because yes, I had to compete) had a “toy shoe relay”. We had large, foam, flip flop looking things you had to stand on and ropes that you held onto to lift the shoe when you walked. My team let me go first (not sure if this was a good thing, so I wouldn’t over think it too much, or a bad thing because I really didn’t know if I was doing it correctly), but it ended up being good in the end. I kicked ass. I ended up with a large lead from the rest of the teams, though my team didn’t end up winning in the end. Too bad. It was still fun.

My principal dancing 

Teachers, Principal and Vice Principal danced... students were excited

“Sports day” ended up going above and beyond my expectations. And while most of my pictures are gone from the event (my external broke), the memories will always be there. I can’t wait until next year!!!