Continuing the Update...

Okay, I'm splitting my entries up so they don't get too long, although they tend to be long anyhow...

Anyhow, on the weekend, I met up with JiYoon unni (I met her in MN last summer, but she has since come back to Korea) and we went to this really cool art center, Zien Art Space, and made our own pottery!!! We both ended up making jewelry boxes.  The place will glaze and fire it and send it back to us, so I haven't gotten to see the final product yet.
There was also a museum dedicated to a famous Korean pop artist, Nam June Paik.  Pretty cool!!!

my jewelry box

unni's jewelry box

TV garden!!!

Jiyoon unni and me

That following Wednesday, Nathan gave a talk at the deaf school I volunteer at to the high school students.  I was really impressed because Nathan gave the whole thing (twice, as the students were split into two groups) in Korean Sign Language. Wow!
Some of the student's comments were pretty funny.  One of them was like, "why does he (meaning Nathan) keep writing on the board in English?!"  Most of them got that Nathan grew up in the US, but I think the fact that Nathan looks Korean threw the kids for a loop~
Anyhow, I think it was a really great experience for the students - I think any sort of cross cultural communication is beneficial for students.  And Nathan is a role model for them; good education and good job.

 Nathan talking with the students

 Em is a super star~ 

 the kids all really liked her!!! 

It was really hilarious because at one point, some of the students were asking Nathan what some of his hobbies were and he mentioned StarCraft (very popular computer game) and the boys instantly perked up!  But then, maybe five minutes later, Nathan was talking about how good study habits are really important and crucial to a good future, and the teacher literally nearly jumped with joy.  The boy who had perked up upon discussing the computer game looked thoroughly dejected.  Em (a Fulbright ETA whom I met through Nik) and I were cracking up. lol!
After the talk, Nathan and I both felt that you could tell which students had had early language exposure and acquisition.  Those students were the ones who were inquisitive, actively engaging in dialogue and asking well thought out questions.  The students who were more quiet were more recent transfer students~ It was amazing to see such a stark contrast.

high school seniors~ 

Em, was also the star because, well, she looks very American aka, she's white.  One of the students came up to me and told me she was the first American he had ever met.  What are Nathan and I then? haha.  But, I got what he meant. ^^

On May 5, we had another day off from school, as it was Children's Day.  Oh, I do love children!!! Especially when they get me a day off! haha.
Nik and I went with my classmate Chika and her friends to an airshow way down south, near Oido.  It was really cool!!! The coolest planes were the Black Eagles, the Korean Airforce demo team and this American woman who did solo flights.

 Post-it Notes!!! Go 3M!

 Black Eagles

 Afterwards, we headed to 오이도 (Oido) which is the last stop on the Seoul metro line 4.  It is really famous for 조개 구이 or grilled clams/mussels etc.  I really don't like eating those, but so it goes...

 

gotta work for your food

Anyhow, when we first got there, we were expecting to see this beautiful ocean.  We climbed up on the walkway to look out and what we saw looked like a scene from some disaster film.  We realized later, the tide hadn't come in yet... Oh.

wasteland... 

We stopped by the 어시장 fish market to look around.  I totally saw those crayfish things I'd eating the week before, except they were all alive crawling around in a bucket... 

Lunch was pretty decent.  I ate more seafood that day then I've ever eaten in my life.  I mostly stuck to the 갈국수 (noodle soup) which was amazingly delicious.  But I did try everything at least once.

that bowl was HUGE! look at the cup next to it.

yeah. I ate that. 

The amount of shellfish that came out was impressive!!!  I'm surprised we got through it all!!!  You just stick the shellfish right on the grill and as they cook, they open up.  I felt kinda bad because they were alive...

We found a baby crab inside of one of them. I guess the crab was being eaten until the shellfish became a meal itself.

Anyhow, after lunch, we went out and the tide had come in!!! So, I have now touched the East Sea and the West Sea (the ocean near Oido was the West Sea).
Last year, when I went to Soraksan with my old host family, I really wanted to touch the East Sea. So, I crept close to the water and was leaning forward to touch it when a huge wave came in and doused me... Thankfully, this time, I managed to touch the West Sea without getting my shoes all wet. ^^

tide came in!! me touching the West Sea

funny ajusshis and an ajuma having a picnic on the rocks

On Friday, after work, I met up with Hyunjoo unni and HyunTak oppa for dinner in 종각 (Jongak). That's a really cool area! I need to explore it more... We went to an Indian resturant and ate curry~ ^^

On Saturday, I met up with the CIEE girls!!! 5 out of 8 of us from study abroad are back in Korea!!! Woot! I haven't seen some of them since study abroad, three years ago!!! It was really great seeing everyone and honestly, it felt like almost no time had passed. We kind of just picked up where we left off~ ^^

we made a detour through 이대 Ewah Women's Univ.

I had a most epic Saturday.  We (Lonny, KaoNou, Emily, Vianey, and I) met up for brunch in Itaewon at the the Flying Pan, which serves American style breakfasts.  They even had hummus!!! Emily and I were very happy.

Afterwards, we made our way over to our old stomping grounds; Yonsei.  We stopped by Suzanne's office (our old program coordinator), but obviously she wasn't there, as it was a weekend.  So, we gave her a call~  Then we went to the Flea Market in Hongdae, which was really fun! I love the flea market there - you can always find really cool handmade things.  I got some cool postcards.  However, it was uber crowded, probably because of the holiday weekend.

Lonny and Emily

Vianey, me and Kaonou

Afterwards, Vianey decided to get her hair cut, so we went and found a salon.  While we waited, we shopped around Hongdae a bit.
Unfortunately, Vianey did NOT like her haircut.  They gave her bangs without asking... Dang Korean hair salons...

We went to On the Boarder (Tex Mex) for dinner. Way way overpriced, but yummy!!!  Then, I dragged the remaining girls to Yeoido because my friend was doing a performance there.  I actually misunderstood and thought she was doing a poongmul performance.  She was actually doing "Rainbow Drops" this acrobatic thing.  Unfortunately, I didn't figure that out till later, so we left.  (I had planned to go back on Tuesday to watch the actual performance, but it rained and was cancelled... 아쉽다.)

it seemed like a really cool performance... my friend didn't come out til the very end though. She along with her fellow performers made a human web in the air!!! wow. 

After Yeoido, we headed to KaoNou's apt. to have a sleepover~ The next morning, Kaonou made us an amazing breakfast! and then Vianey, Emily and I headed over to Shinsegae Dept. store to visit the food court.  Seriously, their food court is amazing!!! We grazed and had a food court picnic.
After, Emily and Vianey needed to leave to catch their trains/planes back to their respective cities.  (Vianey is teaching English in Jejudo and Emily is still in Pohang.)

 먹자!

I met up with Taeseong oppa from camp. I've barely seen him since I got to Korea~  That was fun. We ended up in Itaewon. I swear I rarely go to Itaewon, but I recently its been almost every week!!!

Anyhow, thats all for this post! Till next time!!!

Korean Sign Langauge II

On Thursday I went to visit the Seoul National School for the Deaf (국립서울농학교).  Since the school is down the street from KoRoot, Pastor Son and his wife, me and Pastor Kim, director of KoRoot, met at KoRoot and headed out from there.
The school was started in 1913 during the Japanese occupation and will be celebrating its centennial in three years.  We went in and met with the headmaster, who gave us a very through tour of the school museum as well as school/facilities.  The headmaster spoke in Korean, so Pastor Kim translated into English for me and the Pastors wife interpreted for him.  Pastor Kim was really impressed because the headmaster knows every single one of his students name's, which is really uncommon in Korea.  If I understood correctly, the school serves infant through high school and apparently, the school has such good facilities and curriculum that hearing students want to go there too; they currently have 40 hearing students and 131 deaf students enrolled.

artifacts in the museum

 some of the early KSL books

 Helen Keller and Ann Sullivan came to visit the school in 1938!!!  (I think they said Helen Keller is the one on the right)

Pastor Son in the museum

The buildings all seemed really new and the decor inside was sooo nice! Everything was so aesthetically pleasing and pretty!  It looked like a children's museum.
The headmaster took us through the schools museum first.  It was really interesting and gave the history of the school, Korean Sign Language etc.  Interestingly, all the informational signs detailing the schools history were in both Korean and English.  The school was established in 1913 and in 1946, Yoon Baekwon, the first Korean headmaster (I think), created of the Korean manual alphabet. 

 original alphabet created in 1946

 present day alphabet

We also went to their speech and language area and the audiologist said that their equipment is better than any hospital around.  And they had really cool games and computer programs etc.  One of things they had was a pad and when you stepped on a certain colored square, it would show a picture and make a sound of something, like a car horn.  They also had another program that was obviously Korean-made, as it made sounds of various Korean traditional instruments, like the sogo! 

All the classes have SmartBoards (HUGE ones too! LdF, the school I student taught at had them, and at the time I thought they were pretty sizable, but these ones put them to shame. haha!)  We went into one classroom and the teacher was showing us how on the school website they have various videos in KSL, and spoken Korean for the kids to use. They had the national anthem in sign, as well as the text.  And other videos used students telling folktales in KSL etc. It was really cool!  Pastor Son, alumni of that school was really impressed.  We also saw the dorms, and rec room, which are really nice.

Although the school is really nice and equipped with great facilities, I learned that most of the teachers come in not knowing how to sign and learn it from the students as they teach. From my understanding, the deaf ed. programs don't require teachers to learn sign and leave it as an elective.  Plus, until very recently, like the past few years, the school had no deaf teachers.  But I guess the deaf community began protesting so the school hired two to "appease" them.  One of them is Pastor Son's friend, so we went and met with him for a bit.  He teaches high school social studies, and from how I understood it, his curriculum is so good, other schools are starting to implement it. Wow! Kudos, because curriculum development is really hard!

Since I wrote my senior thesis for both my anthropology and education majors on deaf education last year, and spent some time at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf, I was really interested in this school and wanted to check it out.  It was really awesome tour of the school and I felt I learned a lot.