So long 27!

Today I am 28. It seems crazy to me that it's been a year since I wrote a post on my 27th birthday. I had just arrived here in Korea and it was all new and crazy. Its been a whirlwind of a year that some how has become normal. I've traveled lots and met many people that I now call my closest friends.
I am not scared of 28. I find there are certain ages that don't scare you. You are just in them as if you are prepared. 22 and 24 were like this and they were some good years so hopefully 28 will be the same. I like being in my late twenties. You aren't old enough to be expected to have responsibilities but you aren't young enough to feel lost. Obviously its scary as 30 is fast approaching but I am happy and surrounded by fantastic people so I am just enjoying the moments as they come.
I do have to slap 27th year old Tania on the wrists as the normality of life has let me become lazy with the blog so I will get back into writing.
But here are some of the things I got up to as a Travelling 27 year old:

.Experienced one of the hottest Summers I've ever known
.Met even more fantastic people that I previously knew
.Made lasting friendships
. Visited Busan
. Wrote for 3 different magazines
. Had Photo's published
. Went to a rave
.Visited Pohang
. Went to a mud festival
. Lost all our money in Bangkok
. Washed and played with Elephants
. Trekked through the jungle.
. Visited Koh Samui
. Ate the worlds best Pad Thai
. Tried PatBingSu (Korean Dessert)
. Visted three of the best temples in Korea
. Visted Tokyo
. Ate the worlds best Mando
.Stood on the busieset traffic crossing in the world
. Visted Tokyo Disney
. Tried Sake for the first time
. Ate Ox Tail for the first time
. Got to use my camera A LOT
. Learnt a lot more Korean
. Went on 14 planes
. Met the worlds smartest robot
. Went to a Sumo tournament.
. Visited Scotland.
. My brother got Engaged.
. My sister passed her music exam and wrote some incredible music
. Had my first Wendy's
. Went to my first baseball match
. Had a lot of girls nights
. Ate bugs
. Ate arsehole (?)
. Had a food weekend in Seoul
. Taught elementary students
. Had my best friend visit me in Korea
. Made Clamato Juice and tried a Ceaser
. Learnt some of the best recipes I've ever tasted.
. Climbed 30 feet off the ground in the tree tops
. Had my first Christmas with Lee
. Had my first Christmas with friends
. Had a house party.
. Tried Yoga for the first time.
. Ran a 10k
.Spent a weekend in London with my girls
.Visited Wales
.Tried Snowboarding
. Walked on a frozen lake
. Went to the DMZ
. Made a human pyramid.
. Said a lot of hard goodbyes
. Went Blonde
. Moved house
. Owned 4 mac lipsticks
. Started teaching Art
.Celebrated my first Saint Paddy's day
.Celebrated Holi Hai
. Shot a gun
. Watched my best friend get married.

These lists can sound indulgent and feel silly when you write them but when you write it down like this you realise how many first you can still have , even at 28 , it does make me smile. It inspires me to make the next year even better. The world has been kind to me this year and I have made friends I will treasure for a lifetime, I miss my family every minute of the day but I've also found my own little family and my own home.
I can't imagine what the next year will bring.

How to get through Desk Warming

Firstly what is desk warming?

If you are thinking about coming to live in Korea you probably hear the term ‘desk warming’ being thrown around a lot so I thought I’d explain a little more about it.

During the summer and winter months the kids go home but the school stays open. The other Korean teachers will pop in over the month but the English teachers have a different contract.

For some unknown reason a few years ago some teachers moaned so much about their schedules being slightly different from others that the DMOE had to put strict rules in place. Now the rule is we come to school from 8:30 till 4:30 every day of the vacation (apart from your 8 /10 days holiday)

This sounds like a weird thing for the DMOE to ask you to do but to be honest it really is a fantastic way to spend a few days. I think I may have been more productive in this job than every before.

If you are smart you can do a years set of lesson plans, read a few books, write, draw, watch movies or do some crafts. Pretty much anything you want since the school is empty.

It is annoying I suppose since the kids aren’t around but on the plus side…..the kids aren’t around.

So now that you know what it is, how do you cope with 3 weeks of it…well its actually about 7 weeks in total with exams and summer vacation so its good to have a way to cope straight away.

The only way I have coped is with lots of planning. Here are a few ideas:

.Blogs

Your initial reaction when you hear about blogs might be to roll your eyes, although you are reading this one so hopefully it’s not too much of a stretch for you to start one. Blogs are indulgent things but they are also a fantastic record of your time and a great way to practice writing.

I have 3 blogs that I keep. One for travel, one for animation and one for my love of all vintage things. I did intend to blend the vintage and travel blog but in the end they were such different things that I kept them separate. The animation one is just a geek fest so that’s hidden away too.

These became my life line during free lessons since I had to sit in the large teachers office with no internet. I would have to look busy so opening Word and just typing away was the perfect distraction. Another great things about a blog is that it is always there. This experience of living abroad flies by with so many new things to experience that sometimes you forget those special moments, they all tend to blur in together. My blog helps me to remember the little things and hear the excitement in my writing from when I first arrived to the worry I felt before teaching for the first time. It is a silly thing and I wouldn’t go into it thinking you will be the next big thing in the blogesphere but if it’s being written for you and as a way to pass the time then it’s a great element to add to your desk warming routine.

.Projects

Everyone is different. Your project might be something you’ve been meaning to sew, recipes you’ve been meaning to type out or, like me things I’ve been wanting to animate and learn on different computer software’s for years. This is more of a long term desk warm. I am currently in my winter desk warming phase. I set myself the task of building my own character to animate and it’s made the week whizz by. Luckily my textbooks are all staying the same so my lesson planning is done. This allowed me to invest a large portion of time to anything I wanted and I am really happy with the results.

.Internet

This one is listed with caution. If you are one of the lucky few that not only has internet but has internet that’s not blocked then it’s a great source of entertainment. Especially for those one - off lessons when you have no classes. I have been more productive than I ever have been in my year at my desk but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been completely sucked into evil Facebook. It’s a hindrance I wish I wanted to get rid of but its definitely a necessity when living so far away from home. It makes you feel less alone at your desk. That being said, it’s easy to get sucked into a stranger’s page for hours. Have a quick catch up and then close it! Go to the BBC website and read a news story. ‘Wiki it’ and research something random and see what else it leads you to learn about. The internet is shockingly more than photos of friends drinking shots and videos of puppies. Who knew!

Korean

For the majority of Westerners coming to Korea, Korean is something you have visions of mastering. I always thought that after 3 months of being immersed in the culture I was bound to just wake up one day and understand everything they were saying, almost like my own ‘see the matrix’ moment. This of course is not the case (although I still live in hope). If you want to learn Korean, especially Hangul then your desk is as good a place as any. There are great websites out there such as www.memrise.com that will help you learn up to 60 words a day if you are dedicated. I am lazy. Because I can order food, read Korean and get taxi’s I have let my Korean studies slip but it really would be a shame to leave this place without at least being able to have a fully Korean conversation with the people around me. It’s my mission for year two.

Lesson plan

This sounds like an obvious one, so much so that I considered not putting it on the list but knowing lovely people such as my boyfriend who think planning is just a suggestion I thought I’d list it on here. Lesson planning is a pain, it really is and we all know it. We could all just troll through www.waygook.com and steal our lessons but there is something special and easy about teaching a lesson you created yourself. Saying that, I do love getting games from there for those awkward, ‘not learning - not playing’ lessons but when I’m teaching I like to create them myself. The beautiful thing about lessons planning is that it gets easier every time. The amount of things I added to my first lesson plans, just in case I ran out of material and had 40 kids looking at me, is probably enough material for 6 lessons. You learn very quickly how long things take in class and what the kids react to. Adding relevant and funny pictures to your power points will get a good reaction. Adding pictures of yourself will probably be met with raucous laughter but it will keep them engaged.

Tips for Desk Warming

. Make a ‘to do’ list and cross them off

. Think of things you’ve always wanted to research or learn

. Bring your own lunch if you aren’t sure it’s provided. (Some days there is one other teacher in the office who has a sandwich box with them and other days its 12 teachers who all order food but forget to ask me, it varies so an emergency Kimbap will keep you going)

. Bring coffee!

. Hangovers can be had but best avoided. That VP will be watching you closely.

No matter how much you plan I promise you there will be a moment when you want to pull your hair out and the clock goes backwards but I hope these tips help you to make the most of it. Most importantly, enjoy it.  Yes you are sat in school for 8 hours but you are being paid to do anything you want. Catch up on TV shows while you learn to draw, make a crazily ambitious present for friends who are leaving Korea, watch cooking shows and write down the recipe, join a fantasy rugby league. What every you end up doing, enjoy this time as it’s a rare gift you may not get again and have fun!

Happy Desk Warming Everybody.

School Festival

Today is the school festival.

My school has had its festival very late this year. All the other English teachers I know in Daegu have been showing me pictures and telling me about their students so I was excited to see what my school would get up to today.
The day started off with the orchestra. The orchestra practice right next to my English room so I have heard their progression from not knowing how to hold instruments to the fantastic renditions they shared with everyone today (believe me it’s been a loooot of practice, I’ve been humming their songs in my sleep) This was followed by the cutest elementary school orchestra from a school close by. It was a bizarre experience to see how my little first graders were actually giants compared to these small innocent creatures from elementary school. I saw a few of the elementary students look terrified at my 6 foot 3rd graders and to be honest I was right there with them. Those students could scare the pants off a nun.
Today marks the 9 month mark in my Korean stay so today was a fitting day for reflection. I love days were the school comes together. I can never quite get over the crowd of familiar faces. I know their personalities, preferences and weaknesses (but unfortunately not enough names) I really do love my kids. Being in a poorer area means I have kids that challenge me on a daily basis but I love them unconditionally. Changing schools next year was a serious option as they are very hard work and I’ve ended more than a few days near to tears but to be honest I just love them and their ways. I do sometimes wish for easier days and a job where I’m dancing and singing with cute little kindergarteners but then I laugh at a stupid joke my 3rd graders have made or see my 1st graders sprout 1 foot in a month and I am overjoyed. Being a teenager is a nightmare of a time in your life but its nice to be part of it. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera to capture the day so I only have some poor phone camera pictures to share. Watching my troublesome 2nd grade boys play up a storm on the Korean Traditional drums, watching the other teachers dance on stage and just giggling with coworkers has already made this a fantastic day. It’s also nice to not be the shouty English teacher for a few hours.

It’s only lunch time now and I’m looking forward to the second half of the day. Coming up is two dance groups who’ve been practicing in my room for a few weeks and two girls I have a real soft spot for who are going to sing. We have been practicing and singing 3 times a week for about 2 months now in anticipation of this day so I’m really hoping they pull it off. Just remembering back to any comprehensive school memory that involves performing in public makes me instantly feel the excitement and fear I felt all those years ago. It’s nice to watch my students making memories and really putting themselves out there. I couldn’t be prouder!
 I’ve signed myself up for next year so I best get practicing now :S

*edit* The rest of the day was just as good if not better! The kids were allowed to sing and dance. There are some amazing dancers in this school (the dancing was slightly too sexy for under 16 year olds but none the less!) I also had the honor of winning a prize, the kids had coupons to give to teachers that they liked and the coupons could by food that parents had made. It was a silly gesture but it made my day. I was over the moon. What a great day!

School field trip : Yeon Chon

It’s a rare and lovely day that schools in Korea send us teachers on field trips.

Today we were lucky enough to go to Yeon Chon city. Each city in Korea has a motto and Yeon Chon’s motto is ‘Star Yeon Chon’. The city is famous for its planetarium. With its lack of big city lights and secluded hill sides it is the perfect location for star gazing.

The trip started off with a tour of a village that was converted to a walking art gallery. The village is so small that there are only 5 surnames and the village has happily run itself for over 500 years.

The art itself was understated and interesting. It’s lovely to see a small village looking after itself in such an interesting way.

These were wishing stars the kids could draw on and leave in the ancient house that's said to have magical properties.

The next stop was a art center where the students could try their own hand at some art work. Namely a clock they were allowed to color in themselves.

The teachers were allowed to join in but also we got to sneak off and learn the Korean way of eating grapes. Grapes seem pretty straight forward. Buy and eat. But here in Korea it’s a different story. They suck out the middle and spit out the seeds. It is a bizarre way of eating and I love it. I’m glad someone told me before I arrived or I’d have looked like a fool. Who would guess that’s how you do it here?

We were then treated to a fantastic meal in a local restaurant. We had bean sprout bimbibap and it has better because of the twenty side dishes that came with it including aubergine, egg and amazing spiced tofu.

I wish I could find a place like this near my house as I’d eat there every day.

The non stop day didn’t let up for anyone and soon we were whisked away to the planetarium. The kids and I were allowed to take part in a great show (that required seat belts) as the floor moved around you to give the illusion of hurtling through space.

The kids seemed to really enjoy the day and it was nice to see them away from the stresses of the class room. I love how much English they learn outside the school.

IT was a fantastic day and I loved every part of it, especially the sleep on the bus on the way home. Heavenly!