Not the chaos I was expecting

Middle school students have always struck me as the most terrifying combination of 1) the brains of older students with 2) the hyperactivity and immaturity of younger ones. From the stories I've heard from other teachers, high schoolers are more like zombies than disorderly hyped-up students that will swing from the rafters (which was the mental picture I had of elementary, at first). While my current students have neither rafters nor the height with which to reach them, middle school poses a viable threat to my mental stability.

To say that I was nervous to be solely responsible for a group of all male middle school students would be a colossal understatement. We're talking 'bad dreams for a week' level of stress. The plan has always been to eventually expand my teaching horizons beyond elementary level, but was I ready for a coteacher-less lesson for my first experience?

In the end, the idea of the camp was what sold me. The students would act as ambassadors to us native English teachers, highlighting important parts of Daegu, and educating us on the cultural significance of these sites. Had this been my assignment in middle school, I am confident that I would have picked McDonalds or some ice cream shop and bullshit  say something about how they were vital to the growth of capitalism in America, or how this doughnut is beacon of freedom! Or anything else that would let me eat (my priorities have never been subtle).

But these kids blew me out of the water. Although there was only a year difference between them and my older students, the way they handled themselves around me was impressive. They were incredibly polite and curious, asking questions that weren't too invasive, constantly checking up on me to make sure they weren't walking too fast or leaving me behind. They translated signs and messages when I was staring for too long trying to read (a regular occurrence for me). When it was time to buckle down and finish the presentation, they put together an incredibly well made video to showcase the day's adventures.

We went to two parks in downtown Daegu, neither of which I had been to before. The first park was made in remembrance of high school students disobeying the government and joining in a demonstration in favor of the Democratic Party on February 28, 1960. After that, we went to the park (and small museum) in remembrance of the Korean National Debt Repayment. The Japanese had been controlling Korea under the threat of the money that was owed to them. A movement began of citizens donating their money and gold to the government to be melted down to help pay back this enormous debt. This meant a lot to my kids; one even told me how his great great grandmother (+/- a great) gave up her wedding band and baby jewelry to the cause. The idea of an entire country pitching in whatever they can to help pull themselves out from another's rule is admirable. The movement was a failure, but admirable nonetheless.

To balance out the seriousness of those two parks, we went to an arcade and they won a necklace and USB multi-port for me from the machines (stuffed animals were attempted, but to no avail). We played games for a while, which mostly consisted of me kicking their collective butt in Time Crisis, got some street food, and went back to the school to work on the video.

We took more pictures than the assignment called for, and overall had a fantastic time. The leader even texted me a few days later to let me know that our group got 2nd place for their presentation.

After the rousing success with these kids, I'm much more confident in my ability to handle older students, and can see myself having fun teaching them in the future. I genuinely hope that I get the chance to teach kids that are as interested and motivated again.

(Sorry no photos, having some technical problems...)
안녕!

Little rain isn't gonna stop us

The second half of our 2013 Chuseok vacation was 2 days in Taipei. Naturally, with my luck, the timing wasn't great; there was a typhoon hitting the south end of Taiwan just as we were arriving at the north end of the island.

The good news is that it didn't hit the city directly, only got caught in waves of rain.

The bad news is that the threat of the typhoon caused the cable cars up to Maokong Mtn to close, which was a main attraction in Taipei. There are tea houses at the top which are said to be delicious and full of traditional Taiwanese foods.

Because of the rain, we were secluded in the hotel room most of the time, which worked out just fine when we were trying new kinds of snacks from the convenience store and playing cards. I taught Alex and Roberta the classy games of Bullshit and Rummy.

I'm not convinced that Roberta isn't some kind of Irish card shark who's just been biding her time...

But when we braved the rain to explore the city, we were all pretty impressed. Downtown was clean and there was art on every street corner.

Rain apparently keeps everyone inside...? More room for us to play!

My lovely travel companions :)

Interesting and providing valuable public service!

 We spent most of our full day in Taipei at Taipei 101, the tallest tower in the city. The top floor is an observatory, but was decidedly more interactive than Shanghai's. The entire floor was full of interesting facts about Taiwan and the construction of the tower itself. Not only that, but we got to go to the center of the building and get a look at a damper, the giant wrecking-ball-thing that keeps the massive building steady during at storm with gusting winds. The cartoon damper people were a little excessive, but it was still fascinating to get a firsthand look at something I had never given much thought to before.

After the observatory we stuck around and looked at the shops, sat outside of a Starbucks waiting for the rain to take a break, and did a fair amount of people watching.

At night we saw the Shilin night market, the largest in Taipei and only a few blocks away from our hotel. We ate at a Mongolian BBQ restaurant, which was delicious and SO cheap, then walked around to investigate the content of the booths. There were T-shirts for several dollars each, carnival games, and cheap knick knacks that make you wonder who actually buys them. Walked away from the market with several 'gifts'. I put gifts in quotes because I have grown attached and am unwilling to part with them. Namely my stormtrooper and smurf t-shirts. Terrible grammar and all, they're mine.

Night market, where you can find anything and anything cheap

Oh and food. Glorious food. The smell of roasting chicken and some kind of bread dessert product was everywhere, and it was mouth watering.I was surprised not to see very many strange food items. The stinky tofu (yes, that's the actual term) was expected, but besides that I only saw some gelatinous thing that had pictures of frogs on the side. Assume away.

Mongolian stir fry at the night market.
Cheap, delicious, and filling!

I would eat dumplings every day if I wouldn't look like Jabba

'Crab Hand Roll' flavored chips. They were surprisingly delicious

We also got to visit Longshan Temple, one of the oldest, most intricate temples within the city. There was a service being held at the time, and walking around taking photos while people were offering incense and singing prayers felt disrespectful, so we didn't stay long. Although not particularly large, it was still incredibly beautiful. I am always intrigued by how vastly different the Chinese/Japanese/Korean temples are in style, even those of the same religion (Buddhist, typically).

Overall, I really loved Taipei, so much so that it's on my short list of cities to potentially live in one day. The people were incredibly friendly, the food was delicious, it was clean and relatively easy to navigate. Not much more I can ask for in a city.


안녕!