Bungee jumping, waterfalls and a bicycle made for two!
Last weekend I embarked on another Adventure Korea trip, this time it was cycling and Bungee jumping (and no I didn't jump - but Emily, Brian and Kristen did!).
Our first stop of the day was bungee jumping then onto the bike riding.
Loving the pose Emily.
VIDEO - Emily's bungee jump - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Bungee%20and%20bike/emjump.WMV
Emily found it a little difficult to actually jump off the platform! She was only the third person to jump and the first that showed any hint of fear, but the assembled crowd were soon cheering her on.
VIDEO - Emily after her jump - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Bungee%20and%20bike/emedited.WMV
More pictures can be found here.
Once the bungee jumping was over we went for a short walk to a beautiful waterfall. Dave, a South African guy, got his first ever glimpse of snow at the waterfall.
The waterfall.
Dave sat on a large piece of ice.
Then it was onto the bike riding. Usually I enjoy bike riding, but for some reason last weekend I wasn't feeling it. Maybe it was the early start (5am) or the waiting around for, literally, hours for the bungee jumping to finish, but by the time we arrived at the bike rental shop I was really not up for it.
Cycling though a stretch Korean countryside it became an effort to push the peddles around and only having the use of two of the 21 gears on my bike didn't help fuel my enthusiasm for the ride ahead.
Near the beginning of the cycle route we passed a carting track. I watched some Koreans amble slowly around the track and wished I could have persuaded the others to stop and let me play with the cars. Go-carting beats biking any day! It was then that I realised quite how much I miss driving. What I would give to spend just a couple of days with 'the Baby' cruising the lanes at the top of Redhills - or even better caning it around an auto-test!!
With thoughts of 'the Baby' and the approaching (Mini) show season in my mind the further I cycled the more I longed for home.
Cycling further into the country side conjured up memories of riding my bike through the nature reserve in Preston on warm summers evening. Then route took us along a river reminding me of bike riding as a child through 'smelly alley' and along the river Exe.
With thoughts of home in my mind, and not having been up for cycling in the first place, I couldn't be bothered to keep up with others happily moseyed along at the back accompanied by my memories.
Kristen, me, Kat, Brian, Emily and Matt on our bikes.
But upon arriving back at the rental shop my wows were soon forgotten as amongst much hilarity we attempted to ride the tandems!
VIDEO - Attempting to tandem - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/Bungee%20and%20bike/tandem.WMV
Once we'd discovered that riding a bicycle made for two is much harder than it appears it was time to find the bus and begin the journey back to Seoul.
At the office...
Before afternoon lessons began on Tuesday all the teachers were summoned, with zero notice, for a picture for the school website. I thought I'd share it with you and introduce you to some of the poor soles who permanently work at the place I rant about so frequently.
I think the website is new as it was the first time I'd heard it mentioned. I'd post the link to the site but the site is all in Korean, I had to ask one of the teachers to direct me to the photograph!
Left to right: Katrina Teacher, Jinny Teacher, Sophia Teacher, Henry 'Helly' Teacher, Alice Teacher, Anne Teacher and Jenna Teacher.
Henry is called 'Helly' because none of the Koreans, including himself, can pronounce his name properly!
The director Mr Kwak looking very smug. (Nothing new there then!)
A flatus expelled through the anus...
...the dictionary definition of fart.
A word that throughout my childhood I associated with being borderline naughty. If, as a six year old, I'd gone to my parents and proclaimed to have "farted" I would have been told" "that isn't a nice word" and rather sternly informed I was not to use it again. I was therefore somewhat surprised at the use of the word fart in some of my teaching materials.
I am currently teaching a book to my kindergarten kids that says:
I am going to the library with my skunk.
It farts.
Here, there, here, there, everywhere.
Look everybody!
In the exercise section of the book it then asks the kids to "fart like a skunk," offering a picture of a man with a cloud coming out of his behind by way of explanation. I've not taught this as I dread to imagine the consequences as 10 six year olds attempt to push a cloud of smoke out of their bottoms!!!
Whilst teaching a reading book to the older kids I was equally surprised when, in a story about two parents who no longer lived together, I read this passage:
"Your father kicked me out [10 years ago] because I made a very loud fart." !!!
The story then goes on to tell how a boy tried to reunite his parents by pretending to sell melons outside his estranged fathers house. When his father tried to buy a melon the boy refused to sell him one and the story continued with the boy talking to his father:
"Do you ever fart?" asked the boy. "What are you talking about?" his father said. "Well," said the boy, "I only sell melons to decent people who don't fart." "You're crazy. Everyone farts, even the king of our country," his father said.
After this exchange the boy told his father he was his son, the father "realised his mistakes... he asked his wife and son to return to his house" and "they lived happily ever after!!!"
Sometimes this country is far too random!
- Posted by j150vsc on 27/03/2007.
- 2 comments
My name is .....
The new school year stared on the first of March. I knew things were going to change, especially in Kindy, but I wasn't prepared for quite how much.
On the second of March I walked into kindy expecting the number of students to have depreciated by four due to Pink class graduating. But instead I found an additional four students in (the new) pink class and three more students in (the new) blue class, none of which had ever spoken a word of English before!! Oh the joy.
Later that day I was thrown into teaching two classes of complete beginners mixed with students who'd been at the school for quite some time. I had just forty minutes notice and zero time for preparation. After all, why would it be necessary to inform me earlier that seven new students, with no English what so ever, would be starting. It's not like their lack of English skills would effect they way I taught the class. Obviously once they'd set eyes on me they would have picked up everything they needed to know: sit down, be quiet, read, write, listen etc... by a process of osmosis!
Shortly before I entered the first class I'd been told to teach both classes; my name is ...... and; I am ..... years old. Basic questions, but most of the new kids had heard the word 'Hello' for the first time today and had only been given their English names an hour ago! Was the five minute break as the Korean teachers ushered them into classroom and sat them down enough time for me to find a way of teaching them something?
The day began with pink class. Being older some of the kids have pretty good English and were able to explain to the new kids what I was asking. Before the end of the lesson each kid had said my name is Steven, Sabrina, Sophie... and most of them had managed to mutter something along the lines of: "I am seven years old." Whether or not they understood what they were saying was another matter. At that point my sole goal was to make them say it. I then asked them to: "stand up," waited for them all to stand up then said: "sit down," after a few times this just about aroused a giggle and it was time to end the lesson.
My next class wasn't to be so easy. I began with: "what is you name?" To which seven blank faces stared back at me. I managed to coax a: "My name is Brian, Irene, Jinny, Eric..." out of the kids who'd been there a while. But no matter what I did the new kids just stared vacantly at me. They had absolutely no idea what I asking. Nobody had bothered to tell me their English names so I was stuck in a vicious circle. I couldn't help them unless they told me their name but they didn't know what I was asking! Great, what happens now? I don't speak Korean, they haven't a clue what I'm on about, I don't know their names, and they haven't taken the hint from the other kids. It was time to surrender and find reinforcements in the shape of one of the Korean teachers.
Once I'd explained to the Korean teacher that the kids had no idea what I was saying and wouldn't even answer me in Korean she came into the class and told me their names. It was at this point I discovered that asking: "What is you name?" had been a fruitless question anyway because the kids themselves didn't know their names!
After a shaky start the lesson proceeded OK and by the end most had repeated "My name is Tina, Lucy, Tiffany... It was a start even if they didn't know what they were saying!
After a week the kids had settled in and picked up most of the important phrases: sit down, be quite, listen... even if, most of the time, they chose not to obey them.
Since the fist lesson their English skills, if not their obedience, have improved massively. From not having a clue what the question: "What is your name?" meant three weeks ago they are now more than capable of understanding and answering that question as well as telling me how old they are. Even if most if the time I have to ask them to sit down ten times, then repeatedly tell them to be quiet before I can even ask the question!
So, by way of introducing the new kids I have uploaded a video of each class doing My name is....
Below the video are some introductory photos of each of my new kids. Guess which one I find the cutest?
VIDEO - Pink class, My name is .... - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/kindy%20stuff/pinkmynameis.AVI
VIDEO - Blue class, My name is .... - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/kindy%20stuff/bluemynameis.AVI
Lucy - Blue class.
Report Card: Pretty good kid. One of the slower ones but usually tries hard. Usually pays attention and finishes her work - which is always good.
Tiffany - Blue class.
Report card: Very good kid. Has picked up a lot very quickly. Is usually one of the first to finish the work.
Tina - Blue class
Report card: Good kid, sometimes is staring in the wrong direction but has picked up a fair amount pretty quickly. Usually gets her work done.
Amanda - Pink class.
Report card: Very loud but pretty bright. Has been picked on a bit by some of the other girls but most of the time isn't bothered by it. Works hard but you often have to repeat yourself six times before she does as she's told!
Sabrina - Pink class.
Report card: Seems to be pretty bright despite seeming like she is in another world most of the time. She is always the last to line up at the end of lesson and often doesn't finish her work.
Sophie - Pink class.
Report card: I think she is brighter than she lets on. Often does the work well but can be very quiet in lessons.
Steven - Pink class.
Report card: Can be quite slow but he tries very, very hard.
The Andy Warhol Factory
Usually wondering around art gallery's and exhibitions, for me, is about looking at the paintings and exhibits rather than finding some hidden meaning in the art. I have never completely understood how people can look at a picture and derive some meaning conveyed by an artist who may have lived centuries ago. However walking around the Andy Warhol Factory the art, on some level at least, made sense.
Maybe it was the English tour explaining the exhibition as I went or maybe it was because I could comprehend some of the ideology behind Warhol's pictures but, for the most part, I actually understood the message behind the art.
The exhibition was split into four parts: I want to be a machine, I love stars, Shadow of Death and Unseen Warhol.
The exhibition began with some of Warhol's early work in the section titled 'I want to be a machine'. The exhibition leaflet explained:
Featuring everyday things like a Campbell's soup can and a Brillo box, Andy Warhol's pop art reconciles the traditionally separate realms of art and life. Furthermore, he named his studio 'The Factory' and produced many images that reproduce the same image repetitively through the silkscreen technique. Thus applying the industrial method of mass production to art making. The art made in The Factory was one that eliminates the artists originality, individually and emotions and mass produces the same object. It is in this light that Warhol stated: "I want to be a machine."
Emily beside and image of Warhol's famous Campbell's soup painting.
This part of the exhibition was about consumerism and making people aware of their own obsessions. The fact that Warhol chose to make his art in a way that enabled easy mass production speaks volumes about the message conveyed by his art.
The second part of the exhibition was called 'I love stars'. This included the famous picture of Marilyn Monroe that I have always associated with Andy Warhol. Many of Warhol's images of stars were repeated. This in emblematic of the way the mass media over produces images of stars setting them in a light that, for the most part, is unobtainable by the ordinary individual.
The leaflet said:
Stars are fantasies manufactured by the mass media. Warhol is said to have carried around a picture of Marlon Brando, evidence of his deep interest in popular cultural stars. He is now well know to the public for his many portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy and Mao Tse-tung but also for portraits of wanted criminals. He at times composed his portraits as grids of identically repeated images and, removing the individuality of each subject, turned it into a sign. This unique method of Warhol's points to the excessive production of images by the mass media and also symbolises its undervalued authority in society.
The exhibition then moved on to Warhol's 'Death and Disaster' series. In this area there were some incredibly graphic images of death that Warhol used to demonstrate how constant reproduction of shocking images in the media will eventually desensitise the public. Arguably this art was very forward thinking as evidence of Warhol's message can be demonstrated by looking at what was acceptable to show in the media back in the '60s, when the art was produced, compared to what is acceptable to show in the media today.
One of the pictures shown in the exhibition is below: WARNING - it is quite graphic.
A picture of a car crash from the 'Death and Disaster' series.
The leaflet provided this information about the 'Death and Disaster' series.
Warhol's 'Death and Disaster 'series began with the image of an aeroplane crash that killed 129 passengers in 1962. Works in this series are found reportage photos of car accidents and scenes of death amplified and reproduced by means of silkscreen. Here the originals lose their reality and turn into mechanically reproduced indifferent images. Lucidly addressing how even terrible images of death can become simple objects of every day consumption by being repeatedly shown to viewers by the mass media. Warhol's 'Death and Disaster' series also revels well the characteristics of the artist's 1960s pop art.
The final part of the exhibition was called 'Unseen Warhol' and was mainly comprised of Warhol's self portraits. These were interesting in the sense that once he'd become a 'celebrity' he began to reproduced his own image in the way he had done with other stars. However he had a complex about the way he looked so many of his self portraits are devoid of detail.
According to the leaflet:
With a series of exhibitions of his work from 1962 onwards Warhol became a celebrity not unlike Hollywood film stars. The artist started making self portraits in 1964 and this reflects a desire to become a star himself for the man who had always been infatuated with stars. Paradoxically, however, Warhol's self portraits dispense with details and show his visages in intense dark-light contrasts, simultaneously revealing the artist like a star and completely concealing his self. Warhol never stopped strategizing to become a star and in the process became a work of art.
This was the only photo I managed to sneak inside the exhibition!
The picture above was one of my favourites in the Unseen Warhol section because looking at it gave you the feeling of having had one too many on a night out and not quite being bale to focus on what you were looking at!
I thoroughly enjoyed the Andy Warhol Factory, so much so that once the guided tour was over I went back for a second look round pausing to take a closer look at some the art work I hadn't had chance to view in detail before.
In doing a small amount of research whilst writing this article I have found that in many way Warhol's thinking was well ahead of his time. The now famous "fifteen minutes of fame" quote can be attributed back to him. I found this version of his quote on Wikiqoute: "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes. I'm bored with that line. I never use it anymore. My new line is: In fifteen minutes everybody will be famous." Maybe not fifteen minutes, but if today's obsession with reality television and the Internet keeps growing everyone really will be famous - even if it is only for the duration of the latest series of Big Brother!
Some more information on Andy Warhol can be found here.
From me it's over and out until another day.
Irish for a day
On St Patrick's day ever growing crowds of people, across the world, proclaim themselves 'Irish for a day', dress in green and descend on their nearest Irish bar, St Patrick's Day festival or Parade to drink Guinness and celebrate all things Irish - Seoul, South Korea was no exception.
Last Saturday, along with hundreds of Koreans, Americans, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders, we joined with the Irish expat community and headed to the Seoul Irish festival and St Patrick's Day celebration.
Arriving at the festival site corporate organises Diageo were well in evidence with Guinness logos emblazoned everywhere. Every second person was wearing a Guinness hat or T-shirt or both. Kids (including me and Kat) were being given Guinness balloons and as we entered the festival we were were given a mock airline ticket for Guinness airways, entitling us to free samples of Guinness and Baileys.
Once we'd checked out the festival site and sipped a Baileys blended with ice - no 12 noon isn't too early to drink - we found the customary face painters and got Shamrocks pained on our cheeks.
Me, Kristen, Emily and Kat, with Guinness in hand, showing off our face paint.
Then we headed for the free Guinness and, whilst watching a Korean band sing Irish pop songs, supped our drinks -after all St Patrick's Day is all about the alcohol - isn't it?
Kat and Emily looking like they belong in a Guinness advert.
VIDEO - A Korean band sing U2 - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/paddys/u2.WMV
Well actually no it's not (just) about the alcohol! According to Wikipedia St Patrick's Day dates back to 1737, when the first public celebration of St Patrick was held in - no, not Ireland - Boston, America! It is celebrated on March 17th because this is the day it is widely believed St Patrick died.
St Patrick was the second Bishop of Ireland and made it his life's work to convert the native Pagans to Christianity. The traditional icon of St Patrick's Day, the shamrock, is said to have been used by him to explain the Trinity. It is reported that in sermons he used the three leaf shape to represent how the father, the son and holy spirit could all exist as separate elements of the same entity.
St Patrick's Day didn't (officially) become an festival of all things Irish combined with too much alcohol until the mid 1990s and until the 1970s there was a law against pubs opening on St Patrick's Day. In the '90s the Irish government began a campaign to use St Patrick's Day to showcase Ireland and it's culture and set up a group with the specific aim of: "offering a national festival that ranks amongst the greatest in the world... providing the opportunity... for people of Irish decent (and those who sometimes wish they were Irish) to attend and join in imaginative and expressive celebrations," and to "project internationally an accurate image of Ireland as a creative, professional and sophisticated country with wide appeal..." (source Wikipedia).
Despite the origins of St Patrick's Day the festival in Seoul certainly didn't pertain to be a religious celebration, unless you worshiped the mighty pint of Guinness!! Instead it was about celebrating and country, a culture, getting together with your mates and having a jolly good time...oh... and having a few beers.
The closest thing to religious symbolism. Me, Emily, Kat, Ryan and Kristen pose with the Irish priest.
Two pints of Guinness taking a Saturday afternoon stroll.
By the time we'd exhausted our fee samples it was time for the organisers to begin gearing up for the parade. With no more fee alcohol on offer we walked the 200 meters where the parade would begin and watched them prepare for the off. Little did we know that we would end up IN the parade!
We'd been standing around chatting and getting our photos taken with Korean kids (who'd obviously be set some school work to talk to foreigners) when a guy came and asked us if we were in the parade. "No," was our response, obviously that was the right, or wrong answer, depending on how you look at it, because before we knew it we'd been whisked us away and positioned behind a large banner that we'd been charged with carrying for the duration of the parade. How do we get ourselves into these things?
Emily, me and Kat with some Korean kids.
Kristen, me, Kat, Emily and Ryan with the banner we carried during the parade.
The parade set off and once I'd overcome the initial embarrassment of once again being stared at, having my photo taken and literally, being paraded in front of hundreds of Koreans I soon got into the spirit of things. There was a Korean dancing band in front of us and we were all soon jiggling about, waving to the amassed crowd and getting into spirit of the event.
The assembled crowd all poised with cameras.
The band that were in font of us during the parade.
VIDEO - The parade - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/paddys/parade.WMV
Once the parade was over and we'd packed away our banner there was nothing more left to do than head home and reflect on one of my more unusual St Patrick's Day experiences.
More photos of the day can be found here.
Going to big school
Check out the video below of the Kindergarten kids at their graduation ceremony.
The video begins with the kids singing the Korean National Anthem then Pink class (the kids who are graduating) show off their English skills with a number of the things they learnt for the kindy performance.
VIDEO - Kindergarten graduation ceremony - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/kindygraduation.WMV
I arrived that morning and couldn't believe how smart the boys looked in their suits, and the girls always look so cute in their Hanbok's.
Left to right: Kandy, Julia, Jack and Danny.
A bit about the kids.....
Jack obtained the nickname 'pick your bum' because I caught him doing just that one day during my lesson. Children really can be vile! Jack was also a total pain in the arse in every single lesson, he was incapable of sitting still or paying attention for more than a millisecond.
Danny was also incredibly annoying. He didn't do anything specific other than whinge teeaaacchhherrrrrrr, teeaaacchhherrrrrrr constantly like most of them do! But for some reason I took a dislike to him and he just used to irritate me.
Kandy is a really sweet kid. She is the daughter of one of the teachers and while she wasn't the brightest kid in the class she always tried hard.
Julia was easily my favourite in this class. She could communicate better then most of my older kids and was always sweet and smiley. Plus she loved to be the centre of attention so you could always rely on Julia to pose and perform when the camera came out!
Julia, Kandy and Jack have started elementary school and come to the school in the afternoons so I still teach them once a week. On their first afternoon lesson with me I walked into the classroom and Julia screamed: "Jenna Teacher," before running over and hugging me in a vice like grip. It took me a good five minutes of pleading, culminating in a very stern: "JULIA, SIT DOWN," to get her to let go!
Visiting the dead
I awoke last Saturday to another dull day in Korea - it's beginning to seem like the wait for spring is endless. Before I left the flat and already bleak day had turned even darker threatening yet more rain - and I thought Korea's rainy season didn't arrive until July.
By the time the bus reached Seoul the inevitable rain had arrived and before we arrived at our destination, the Seonjeongneung Royal Tombs, the rain had turned to snow.
We met David, a new guy who's living in our area, in Seoul. He'd been out the night before but had neglected to figure out how to get home. Luckily he'd been drinking all night so hadn't had time to miss his bed! However little did he know that hanging out with us in Seoul for the day would mean about another 12 hours before he would even set eyes on his bed.
Our first stop was the surprisingly tranquil setting, considering it is in the middle of Seoul, of the Seonjeongneung Royal Tombs.
On the site lays the tombs of King Seongjong the ninth monarch of the Joseon period and his second queen and King Seongjong's son King Jungjong.
King Seongjong is burried with his second queen Jeonghyeonwanghu, because his first queen Gonghyewnaghu died when she was just 18. King Seongjong was born in 1547 and ascended the thrown at the tender age of 12. He ruled for 25 years during which time he encouraged learning, improved various systems and fathered 28 children with 10 concubines. In 1488 Queen Jeonghyeonwangh gave birth to their second son Jungjong, who was to become the 11th King of the Joseon Dynasty in 1506. King Seongjong died in 1494 aged just 37. Queen Jeonghyeonwangh outlived the king by 35 years ad died in 1529.
The actual tombs are fenced off allowing you only to peer over a fence at the majestic looking statues guarding the final resting places of long dead kings. But as we approached the tomb of King Seongjong we were lucky that a guide was showing some Koreans around allowing us to wonder freely around the statues guarding the ancient king.
David, Emily, Katrina and me stood in front of the spirit table at the tomb of King Seongjong.
The sacrificial building of the tomb of King Seongjong.
Kindergarten Performance
I'm taking you back in time to the day before Luna New Year. The end of the school year was approaching so the kindy kids put on a performance for their parents.
I had the day off so I didn't get to see the actual performance but we spent a few days before rehearsing. Here is some video I took during the rehearsals. (The video WILL take a while to download as it is nine minutes long).
The video begins with the kids reciting their story books. I have tried to edit this as much as possible to ease your boredom. Watch and imagine how bored the kids must have been memorising them in the first place, then doing nothing but reciting them for over a month.
Some of the books are actually quite difficult to remember. The first book is diamond starfish performed by Kandy and Julia. Julia loves to perform and they made up all the actions themselves. The next book is My finger performed by Yellow class (Irene, Eric, Brian and Jinny). I found this book a little odd as the finger is stuck up their nose!! They go to someone whose name begins with each letter of the alphabet from O to Z (eg Octopus, Queen, Zoo Keeper), to see if they can get their finger out. Talk about hard to remember, I had to write it down, and they are only five!
Then watch what happens when you expect two six year old kids to memorise a book about dinosaurs that includes such sentences as my diplodicous is a violinist, my ankylosaurus is a fire fighter, my stegosaurus is a vet and so on... It took me a while to memorise it so they did a truly amazing job.
Next the video moves onto conversation. These were written and taught by me. I tried to make them as interesting as possible for the kids to learn. Pink class (Danny, Jack, Kandy and Julia) are in a restaurant ordering food, they got to choose what food and drinks they ordered. Blue class (Amy, Rebecca, Jane, Cindy, Jim, Paul and Josh) are at the school disco. I incorporated the Hokey Cokey into this to try and make it more fun, notice how, during the song, the kids love nothing more than to bang into each other as hard as possible and fall over!
Lastly the video moves onto songs, these the kids actually quite like doing and surprise surprise it's all taught by the Korean teachers.
The first song is the Korean National anthem. It amazed me how well the kids knew it and how passionately the sang it. I can't imagine a five, six or seven year old in England knowing the words to the national anthem.
Next is yellow class with a song about Captain Hook being 'big and tall' and Peter Pan being 'small and short'. It follows on from their play, which didn't make any sense (the script can be found here), and as I refused to teach it their pronunciation is terrible, hence why it isn't featured in my video.
Next is pink class with 'I love you' this was part of their play about Cinderella. Then blue class with 'Are you alright' this was part of their Pinocchio play. (I didn't video these plays because they were too long).
Then Julia sings by herself before the video ends with a Korea song. I guessed the Korean song had something to do with the end of the school year. But the only words I could make out were goodbye teacher, none of the other kindy teachers spoke enough English to explain it to me!
VIDEO - Kindy performance - http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/performance.WMV
(This WILL take a while to download so go make a cuppa.)
