Exacto Knives for Children...do you see any logic?



That's right...this is an exacto knife shaped like a cute little school bus.
I took this from a student who started using it in class a few months ago. My first week teaching I had an unforgettable encounter with an exacto knife. I gave my students an activity involving cutting paper so handed out 6 pairs of scissors...one for every 2 students. I notice the little shy boy (8 yrs old) in the back acting a bit strange so I walked over to see what was going on. As he bashfully tried to hide his paper I noticed bright red blood smeared all over it and his hands were hidden under the table. I told him to show me his hands and saw the exacto knife (his had little teddy bears on it...how sweet) he had cuts all over his little fingers. I was shocked. After the boy returned with bandaids and a towel to clean his mess, I asked him why he didn't use the scissors. "Tommy was using them" he replied. I realized he was probably too shy to ask him. So the lesson of the day for me was "don't assign cutting activities without prohibiting the use of knives in advance, when teaching in Korea." All my students have exacto knives in their pencil cases and apparently use them for sharpening pencils and crayons. All with cute little designs and pictures of puppy dogs or hearts. Why not a pencil sharpener...they are smaller and considerably safer? I just don't understand the logic in giving an 8-year old an exacto knife. Do you?
-Heather

Halloween 2007
Well this marks the end of working for one year in Korea. I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. For Halloween this year Jennifer, Aurelia, and I dressed up as Superjunior....the cheesiest pop band of Korea. As you can see, they all look like women so we thought we could pull it off. Of course, most people thought I was Joan Baez since I appeared to be dressed as a butch lesbian. We even had a dance to
perform for people when they asked us who we were as well as a photo of the band. It was a great time being a Korean pop star for the night and we made a lot of people laugh. I realized through this experience, that I should never dye my hair black and get a mullet.

What do you think...are we Superjunior?





One of our biggest fans!

Noelle and Steve come to Korea!


yes, those are real pig heads



Since Noelle now lives and teaches in Vietnam....she was able to come visit me in Korea on her week long vacation. We had an incredible time. She said that Korea was the funniest country she'd ever been to. What I think she means by this is the quirkiness of this country and the random and bizarre things and situations you encounter here. Of course she was also impressed by the nature and beauty of the surrounding mountains and temples. You can feel like you're out of the city in only minutes because the mountains and ocean are so close. They absolutely loved the food...even kimchi. I took them to what I deemed to be points of interest...such as visiting a love motel to see a dildo vending machine, the dong-dong-ju (rice wine) cave with giant penis sculptures, a Korean red-light district, the fish market, a pig head soup restaurant, a waterfall,some temples, national parks, and cliff side coastal walks. One of the strangest and rather funny things that happened to us was when I introduced Noelle to a couple of old Korean ladies, whom I joyfully exchange hellos with every night on my way home. I told them she was my chingu (friend) and they got so excited they jumped up and ran to us...then grabbed our boobs and started rambling in Korean doing some sort of comparison or something. Really strange. Then Noelle showed them her soju bottle and apparently they deemed it a gift because they snatched it right out of her hand and stashed it behind their chairs. I have tons of other stories from their visit but I will post some pictures instead of rambling on.







Steve tried a bondegi (silkworm larvae...bugs!)These are often served free when you order beer or alcohol.

He didn't like it


We found some old military bunkers on our hike.



An "eat the seafood while it's still alive" food tent.


a link to more photos of when Noelle was here

Dog Lockers



This is a photo I took at Homeplus (a supermarket) of a dog locker. That's right...it's recommended to put your bags, backpacks, and dogs in a locker while you shop. Of course the ones for dogs have breathing holes. The lockers require a 10 cent deposit which you get back when you pick up your belongings or pooch. As you can see in the pic....it is also quite fashionable for dogs to have died green ears.
-Heather

Beijing, China



I had a short vacation from work so decided to go to Beijing with some friends. The flight there is only a couple hours so it's an ideal place to visit from Korea. China was an amazing city, full of culture and history. I traveled with 3 friends and we stayed at a full service apartment instead of a hotel. This was a great alternative and very nice for the price,especially since it was walking distance to most sights. We went to the Forbidden City, Tienanmen Square, rode bikes out to the Summer Palace, went shopping, and explored some of the Hutongs (traditional Chinese communities) saw the Temple of Heaven, and hiked up the Great Wall of China. We rode a zip line down from the Wall to a lake where we took a boat back to the parking lot.
Some interesting things about Beijing that I discovered were:
Most babies don't wear diapers....their mothers just hang them anywhere to let them go. The babies wear crotchless pants. The photo below of a child peeing, was taken at a coffee shop at the Temple of Heaven.



The Hutongs (neighborhoods) are quite poor and rundown. The city built big walls with beautiful landscaping all around these hutongs in order to conceal them. A visitor could travel around Beijing and never see any poverty. Sadly, many families have been displaced from their hutongs as the city rapidly renovates and entire neighborhoods are being wiped out. It seems a lot of the renovation is in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. I found the Hutongs to be some of the most beautiful and colorful parts of the city. Not to mention the beers were around 25 cents at their local bars. The people in the hutongs use a shared bathroom since their is no plumbing in their homes. It was quite an experience using a restroom with no partitions between toilets and having a Chinese lady squat next to me.
Check out the photos below of the hutongs and hutong bathroom.







The Forbidden City


The Summer Palace


Tienanmen Square




The Great Wall




Beihai Park




A link to my photos:

by heathersb9

SPAMMED AGAIN!!!!!

This weekend starts the 5 day holiday in Korea known as Chuseok It's similar to America's Thanksgiving with families getting together, big feasts, and giving thanks for a plentiful year. Families also pay respect to their ancestors and may perform ancestral worship rituals. Apparently it's also another holiday for the gift that keeps on giving....Spam. I received my lovely gift set of spam and canola oil today from my boss and once again pretended that it was just what I'd always wanted. We still have 6 cans of Spam from the last gifts. However, the olive oil was put into good use. I thought about starting some sort of foreigner Spam give away org. to help out the homeless. Jennifer came up with the great idea of giving our gift sets to our landlord. I hope the appreciate it more than we do.

http://www.sivananda.org/

Aurelia, Heather, Brian and I eating the freshest shellfish ever!!!


Hey All!!!

WOW.... We've been her for close to 11 months now! I am really a lazy girl when it comes to sitting in front of a computer! However, I really wanted to write tonight!

I have made some amazing changes in my life that I'm excited to share! In December I will be going to India by myself to practice at at Ashram, which is an place to practice yoga. They are all over the world, usually located in a secluded area. I will be free of alcohol, tobacco, mushrooms, onions, and garlic for 30 days. They believe in being pure and living a simple lifestyle. Onions and garlic supposedly are an aphrodisiac and mushrooms are dirty and well tobacco and alcohol are SHIT! I will live there for 30 days practice yoga and learn how to teach it as well!

http://www.sivananda.org/

Tomorrow I start teaching Yoga to children three days a week! I'm so thrilled for this opportunity! My first yoga teaching job... even though they are only 5 year olds!!

I really enjoy my life here in Korea. Life is good and life is easy! I truly love my students and teaching English! I will miss my life and my amazing friends here!

I am anxious to get to see my family and friends again though.... and I know I will see many of my "Korean" friends again one day!

-Jennifer