Saying Goodbye to Seoul

Sunday we went to the Ancient Village which is about an hour south of Seoul. It reminds me of New Salem, Lincoln's hometown. I thank my fine friend Sang Shin for recommending it to me. I will have to come back to see it again. It truly is a beautiful place, and we got a sense of the real history and daily life of the Korea of the past. It is worth remembering that Korea was not a wealthy country fifty years ago, and it has really been transformed in that time. The value of hard work is definitely here.

Along the way, we saw high rises everywhere but lots of lush green forests. There are many, many greenhouses here, and judging from the wonderful diet here, I can imagine that a lot of them are for raising vegetables.

Yesterday we saw Phillip off. We will miss him, and I particularly will miss the way he and Jocelyn loved to tease one another. Last night after Phillip left we watched the absolutely wonderful movie Sassy Girl. If you ever have the chance to see it, you will see someone who is the Korean version of Jocelyn!

Today I am leaving for Delhi. Tom and Jocelyn have been absolutely wonderful hosts here, and I cannot thank them enough. I have met some great people here, and I know I will remember them all--Cindy, Sean, Candy, John, Tom's brother in law, and many others. I went on my last run in the Children's Grand Park. The old man who must be close to 90 waved to me again today. The women who for the last week has been giving me a drink of green tea gave me an entire bottle of it. I did not see the young man who pushes himself around on a wheel chair. But I am sure he will be there, and I was motivated to run faster when I saw him wheel himself up the steep hills. There is a stretch of the run which is under a canopy of trees which reminded me of a road I once ran down in Luzon lined by flowers. It is a great place. You should all come to see this.

The Cheonggyeecheon River

One of the great places in Seoul is the Cheonggyecheon River. The story about it is worth reading, and I hope you can look at the link here. It is a great place to run or walk, and at night the water falls and fountains have made it a new tourist attraction. These waterfalls are not just beautiful; they contribute greatly to the cleaning of the water. The Chicago Water Reclamation Board has done some similar things, but Seoul's example is so evident to everyone that it has become know throughout the world.

The concern for the environment is very evident here. When I visited the Center for Green Technology in Chicago last year, I learned about how sidewalks can be made "porous". Rather than having asphalt or concrete, walkways can be made of bricks with spaces between them where water can seep through rather than run off. The problem of excessive run-off is a truly important one. I would be interested to find out if that is the purpose of the bricks here are in order to make the walk ways more porous. I suspect it is, but I can't say for sure. Although Seoul and other urban areas seem to be one high rise after another, it is clear from the numbers of hikers I see that many Koreans really love nature and the environment.

One of the other things which is really evident in Seoul is that there are many street vendors. People set up shop on the main streets, in the subway, and in the small winding streets like the one where Jocelyn and Tom live. There are also in general far more shops here, and while there are some big places to shop there seem to be far more snall shops for eating, selling clothes and computer games. Seoul, by the way, is the computer gaming capital of the world. The streets here, like in the Philippines, seem much more alive with activity than in the United Startes.

Juggling at the Flea Market... in the rain

Phillip has learned how to juggle. And like many people who have just learned how to juggle, he had to see how many throws he could complete. Which, of course, can drive people around him crazy, but that doesn't include me.

So yesterday when we went to the Han River, is was raining and we ended up going to a "Flea Market" under one of the bridges. This particular flea market seemed to be sponsored by the Seoul Global Center which is a community space for foreigners in Seoul. It actually sounds quite interesting, and when it finally dawned on me that I am foreigner, it seemed even more interesting. I probably would have just walked by, but the shelter from the rain made it inviting, and then Phillip decided he needed to practice juggling. Well, I cannot stand to see someone juggling alone so I joined him.

And soon we had an audience.

It started with the 75 year old veteran of the Korean War who liked Chicago. Then it grew to lots and lots of kids, several photographers, and a delightful volunteer from the Seoul Global Center. The kids practiced their Korean on us, and having spent several months practicing, I got a few gasps from the crowd when I finished off by juggling five balls. It was fun, and many of the kids left knowing they had met Juice or Zee Ooze.

We had originally planned to meet some Filipinos for a picnic, but because of the rain we ended up gong to the house of Gigi who is in the Korean class. Her husband George is Korean (note that many Koreans take American names when they meet us), and he turned out to be an accomplished pianist so we had a great time playing music for one another and then trying some duets. I have been working on a variation of Arirang, and we actually tried that a few times. I have promised my song writer, Danny Ayam, that I willl have an idea for it by the time I get to Cebu in August.

Random Observations

Many people here, particularly older people, go hiking or walking. It is not unusual to see women on a warm day wear white gloves, long sleeves, pants, a very long visor and even masks covering their faces while they walk. Umbrellas were often common as shade from the sun.

Younger women, in contrast, often wear very short skirts. This is a real contrast to the Philippines where long skirts below the calf and jeans are what practically all women wear.

Older men often wear very conservative clothing. A white shirt, dark pants, and dress shoes. Very few younger men had tattoos or body piercing.

There seems to be much more recycling both inside homes and on the street.

Lots of classical music is heard on the street here. Phillip and I noticed a lot of western music in the form of rap or country western, and it was only after listening carefully for a while that we realized it was in Korean!

There are many small streets that seem almost like alleys here with people walking on them moving to the side on occasion when a car comes through. I have not seen any parking lots, and the cheapest gas I calculated as being about $6 a gallon. (They, of course, use liters here).

There are professional teams for companies, but pro sports seems to be nowhere near the level that we find in America. There are no Cubs, Sox, Bears, or Bulls that I could see although everyone knows who Michael Jordan is.

Everyone seems to know about Hillary and Barack. How many of you know who the candidates were in the last Korean election?

Everyone, of course, places their shoes at the entrance of the door, and most eating is done at small tables where one sits cross legged on the floor. For Phillip, Jocelyn, and me this is pretty difficult, but I am convinced it is good for stretching muscles. There are sooooooooooooo many more vegetables in the diet here. Pop comes in tiny thin cans.

From my tiny sample I noticed that the younger kids seemed more outgoing, and the older kids seemed much more shy. Children's days are very busy often going from one academy to another after school.

Heating is through the floors rather than forced air or radiators. There is air conditioning, but I never used it.

People talk about pollution from dust storms coming from China.

Dr. Seuss and Roald Dahl are really fun to use when teaching kids English. I could repeat the stories over and over, and students would not get bored. I also found that juggling with students and giving them directions in English was amazingly effective. "Toss the ball to my from your right hand", "Balance the ball on you the back of your hand,""Bounce the ball and hand it to the person in front of you," were a sample of phrases that built up vocabulary for the kids who didn't know much English.

In spite of the fact that Korea is a very different country from America, it seems easy to adjust to. People seem more serious, kids seem more driven to succeed, and there seems to be much less emphasis on fast food and malls, but I have a sense that the difference between the U.S. and Korea will pale next to the differences between India and the U.S. Stay tuned while I adjust my turban.

Honest Abe or Juice? (You decide.)

Today I woke up and went running in the huge Children's Grand Park that is nearby. Usually I run along feeling very anonymous without anyone noticing that I am there. But for some reason today four people waved to me, and as I was finishing some sprints on the soccer field, one of the many walkers that I see greeted me with the familiar Anyong Haseyo and asked me if I wanted some green tea. I am not sure why today was different, but it was.

The morning Korean class was fun as usual. The Korean teacher addresses me as Abraham Lincoln rather than Juice, and all the students are constantly joking and passing around food. They make sure the teacher gets food too. Today I memorized my first Korean poem. We all have to recite it, and I am really intent on getting it right. After class we meet for lunch in a Korean restaurant and everyone speaks Tagalog so I am having both a Korean lesson and a Tagalog lesson. Tagalog is easier to understand in part because I have heard it a lot more and also because it has so many more cognates. I can tell that all the Filipinas welcome a chance to speak Tagalog so there is practically no Korean or English spoken at lunch. I realize now that I am better at Visayan than Tagalog. Maybe I willl greet everyone with Maayong Buntag this morning. Ha ha

Tchalee and the Chocolate Factory: Part 2

This is the continuation of the Tchalee and the Chocolate Factory story by Candy and Sean. However, it is being finished by Sean and Cindy.

The Galbee House where Tchalee was to get his birthday dinner was owned by Wonje Wonka. Wonje Wonka had developed the most fantastic recipes. People came from all over Seoul to see Wonje Wonka and eat his amazing Golbee dinners. No one knew how he had made them. No one ever saw the chefs who worked in his kitchens, and no one ever saw any trucks arriving to bring the meat and yaechae (vegetables)!! There was great speculation about how his food came to be as extraordinarily delicious as it was.

But Tchalee's hal aw baw je (grandfather), Ginbum Buket, had his theory, and it was a most fantastic theory. He believed... no, he knew, that the Galbee House had cooks that were the tiniest of humans. They spent their entire lives apparently in the Galbee House. And it appeared that the beef cattle for the Galbee came from within the walls of the Galbee House. No one had ever seen them, but they clearly had never come from the United States and no one ever protested about how they were inspected.

On Tchalee's birthday, he and the other six members of his family got dressed up to eat at Wonje Wonka's Galbee House. They were all going to gather around the one dinner that Tchalee would get for his birthday. The seven of them would have to share the one spoon and the two metal chopsticks that were provided. The room where they ate was collosal and the sick tack (low table) where they sat with their legs crossed was made of the most beautifully polished wood in all of Korea. The Galbee dinner was extraordinary, but the seven members of the family had to hold back their appetites. Each one took a tiny nibble of the Galbee, and munched on the most delectable morsels of kimchi and ggack ttoo gi.

When Wonje Wonka heard of these unusual patrons, he had to see them. He was used to people who loved his dinners but left some of the food uneaten, and the sight of these seven people lovingly consuming his masterpieces so touched him that he burst into nun mul (tears). From then on, he announced, Tchalee and his family would always be welcome at his Galbee House. And from then on, once a week the Bukets would arrive there to have a wonderful sumptuous dinner with Mr. Wonka.

Tchalee and the Chocolate Factory

Today we have a story written by two of my favoirte students--Sean and Candy. You have heard of them before. They are very smart! We are reading the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and today we are going to change it into a Korean story.

Tchalee Buket was a poor and sleepy boy who lived with his umma and apba (mother and father) and his two halmoni (grandmothers) and his two halawbawje (grandfathers). The seven of them lived in a dan kan pang (cement house) which was only six feet square. For acheem, jumshim, and jun nyok (breakfast, lunch, and dinner), they had only cold watery ramen day after day. But once a year on his birthday, he got the chance to eat Galbee. Galbee tastes marvelous, especially to Tchalee. Galbee is a special kind of meat from beef cattle. Although Tchalee was extremely poor, in the distance he could see a Galbee House and smell its fantastic smells. It was masheta (delicious). His apba only had a part time job sweeping up trash in the Children's Grand Park. But once a year one of the people who hiked in the park would give him money for a dinner at the Galbee House, and Tchalee would get to share the dinner with his parents. (To be continued)

Cindy's Upcoming Departure

Cindy is leaving for Hanoi in three days. She will be living there for sometime, maybe three years or maybe six. Today we read from a book that Barack Obama wrote, Dreams From My Father. This particular book was signed by Barack to my wife. Cindy had heard about Barack Obama on the news. She knew that he was very smart, and he is running for President in the United States. Phillip told us that his brother had seen Barack at his health club and Zeus lives just around the corner from him. Cindy knew that Barack was a black man, and she found out about Barack's father who was from Nairobi which is the capital of Kenya.

Cindy says she is not looking forward to going to Hanoi, but she will try to make new friends there. At the new school they will speak only English. In Korea Yoo Yoo means crying but we know that Cindy is a very friendly smart person, and we think that she will make great friends. We already feel like she is a great friend to us. So we will play one more game of Thumb War and see if she can win this time.

Argh.

She won this time and won't let me play it again.

Seoul Sites

Seoul is a beautiful city with a wonderful transportation system and some really nice parks. There are so many small shops and winding streets here, and although one occasionally sees a fast food restaurant, they do not fare too well against the other smaller places. Tom tells me that many people do not like fast foods. People here seem pretty health conscious and although I do not see too many people running, there are lots of people of all ages that love to walk and hike.

Over the weekend we went to see the Emperor's Palace and the War Museum. The Palace was impressive, and the changing of the guards really gave a sense of the ancient history of this country. We had lots of opportunities to take pictures, and the most fun was going up to a group of girls and asking if they could be in a picture with Phillip. Hopefully we can send a whole collection of these soon. I, myself, was quite happy that my camera did not seem to be working, but then I figured out its problem. Drat. I hate taking pictures.

Our trip to the War Museum was fun because we managed to fit eight people into a car!!!!!! On the way back we decided to divide up and take the subway, and it was great fun getting lost and finding our way back. It was even more fun juggling while on the train. It was nice to have an audience. Te he. Well, I have to go soon. We have a Korean class in a little while. All the students except Phillip and I are Filipinas and they love joking with Phillip. When he told them that he was 16, they told him they were 14. ha ha

On the Sale of U.S. Beef

South Korea has a President and a Vice President. The President is Lee Myong Bak. Unlike the United States which has a Senate and a House of Representatives, South Korea has one group of people that makes the laws. It is called the National Assembly. According to Sean, President Lee looks like a bird with small eyes. He has short hair, and his face is oval. Sean thinks that President Lee is bad because he allowed imports of beef from America. People believed that if they ate this meat they might get mad cow disease. Cows that get this disease have brains that become like sponges.

Sean said that when President Lee allowed America to start selling beef to Korea again, many people started bringing candles in paper cups as a demonstration. People gathered for forty eight hours near the entrance to where the king's house door was. There were many people there, and the demonstration is very big. Sean saw it on television. People who raise these cows should have the meat inspected to see that the disease cannot be spread. Many people think that the meat has not been inspected.

Messages from Su Sil & Da Hee

My name is Su Sil, and my friend's name is Da Hee. We are both sixteen years old, but in America we would be fifteen years old. Here, you are one year old when you are born. In America people aren't one until a year after they were born. We are both very quiet. Editor's comment: They admitted this very, very quietly.

Da Hee's hobby is playing the piano. Two years ago she played in a concert. She play a sonata. She got a lot of applause. Da Hee only likes to play the piano as a hobby. When she grows up, she wants to become an elementary school teacher. She likes kids.

Su Sil's favorite music group is Epik High which plays hip hop. Epik High is Korean, and has three members. Su Sil wouldn't say it, but Da Hee suggested that maybe it was because they were extremely handsome. Su Sil said that they sing very well. Her favorite song is Umbrella.

Polyglots

Yesterday morning I went with Jocelyn to a school where she learns Korean. All the students were Filipinas so it was quite an experience hearing Tagalog, Cebuano, Korean and English all in one setting. If Koreans are quiet and reserved, a class of Filipinos sounds like constant chatter. And the students and teacher were amazed to see that I could actually speak in Tagalog and even add some Cebuano phrases. The fact that there are cognates in Tagalog and Cebuano makes the vocabulary easier to understand. With Korean one has to learn the vocabulary without these aids. I know the Korean alphabet, but have real empathy for young kids learning our alphabet because by the time I have worked out the syllables in a word, I have often forgotten the entire word. Argh. ha ha.

In the evening we went to a wonderful ballet which included both dance and singing. I only wished I knew more of the words. One of the major roles was played by a girl who was classmates with our friend Cindy. The subway system is so well-organized, but we ended up doing a lot of walking. I think it says something about their system that the doors open to phrases from classical music. As we came to one stop, the Brandenburg Concerto played.

Today I had three of the quietest students I have ever seen. I had them interview one another, and they eventually told me about a well known hip-hop group which one can find on the internet. Amazing how things can be so different but so similar from one country to another.

Thoughts from Cindy and Candy

This page of the blog was written by Eun Bee Ko (°íÀººñ). She is called Cindy. Her sister is Chai Yoon Jee (ÃÖÀ±Áö). She is called Candy. Cindy is twelve years old, but in the Korean system of years she is thirteen. When a person is born, she is considered to be one year old. So at New Years the person becomes a year older. Candy is ten in international years but eleven in the Korean system.

My name is Cindy and I have been to the Philippines four times to study English. In school in Korea, the students learn only phonics, but in my case I wanted to learn how to speak and read in English. English is an international language which can be used for my future. Most of my classmates can't speak very well. They don't like English because it is too hard. Reading and writing in English is difficult because of the pronunciation. It is hard to get used to the alphabet. Writing is difficult because of the word order. For example, the verbs in Korean are always at the end of a sentence while in English they are in the middle.

My name is Candy, and I find speaking English hard. It is hard because of the pronunciation. For example, most people call Zeus, Juice. We don't have a Z in our alphabet. I think that there are many mosquitos in the Philippines, and it is much hotter than Korea. Sometimes you have to worry about robbers, but lots of the people are very kind. Even though it is very hot sometimes, I like the weather. The ocean is very, very clean, and I can see lots of starfish. I really liked Boracay. The sand is really white, and the water is just the right temperature.

Comments from Phillip and Sean

Today's blog is written by Phillip and Sean. Sean is a student from Seoul who is thirteen years old. Phillip Lunn has come to Korea with me. He is going into his sophomore year at Mount Carmel High School in Chicago.

Phllip has noticed that Seoul is a cleaner than Chicago. People seem friendly. People in Korea seem to eat much healthier. There are lots of vegetables. Sean says his favorite food is kimchi. He told us that Thanksgiving in Korea is in the fall. During Thanksgiving people eat songpyawn which is made from rice meal, honey, water, and sometimes beans. It is delicious. The Korean word for delicious is masheda. We get together with family for tradition. Thanksgiving is a holiday with no school and on the road there are many cars. Many people are traveling to see their family which includes aunts, uncles and grandfathers. In respect for the elders according to Sean, it is courtesy to bow 45 degrees and to say anyonghaseo. After Sean ate everyone socialized.


In America Thanksgiving Tradition is very important and different than in Korea. People eat vast amounts of food including turkey, stuffing and apple pie. Afterwards people lounge about watching football games and soon fall into a deep sleep.

Teaching Begins!

Today was my first full day of teaching in Seoul, and it was great fun. Most of the students here start off being shy, but that ends pretty soon if you start juggling for them, telling jokes, and playing games. I have been seeing small groups of kids for an hour at a time, and we read and write. But perhaps I should backtrack.

Why are they learning English? I would guess it is because English is the language of business. In Korea students have been learning English grammar for some time, but they are really weak in actually carrying on conversations. Jocelyn and Tom in fact met because many Koreans go to the Philippines to learn to speak English. As my Korean teacher, Sang Shin, told me, the government now wants to see students learn how to speak, and this requires something more than learning grammar. Jocelyn and Tom have started their school with about twenty students who come during the afternoon and early evening. Phillip and I are helping with the classes, and thanks to Phillip's mom, Laura Lunn, we have lots of children's books that we have added to the library.

When I asked two of the older students why they wanted to learn English, they said that knowing how to speak English would help them with job opportunities. This reminds me of the Philippines where I asked a 13 year old girl what she wanted to become and she told me an accountant. This would be a pretty unusual response for an American at the same age. For the little girl in the Philippines, education is a very specific means to an end. It is a way of getting out of poverty in the Philippines, and here in Korea it seems to be a way to get a better paying job.

The focus in the past on phonics and grammar, however, has had limited success in achieving these goals. And it doesn't surprise me. My old track coach, Ted Haydon, was an Olympic coach, and in explaining his philosophy of training he said, "You attract more flies with honey than with vinegar." I am not sure that I liked the idea of being referred to as a fly, but I think he was correct that you do better if you like to train, and similarly you do better if you like learning. So rather than stressing phonics, I have the kids read from books that make language interesting--Dr. Seuss is one example. The phrases in his books are fun to memorize because they are so memorable, and the students here had a great time just hearing the music in the writing. They also had a good time writing biographies of themselves in English. I have come to believe that learning a few things well each day works much better than trying to learn a great deal all at once. Sang Shin told me some of the sounds that kids here find difficult, and we also spent time pronouncing "all" so that it didn't come out "arr".

After teaching we went to dinner which is so much different than eating in America. Everyone sits down together on the floor crossing their legs. This will really get my joints working better than any yoga class. And there are vegetables everywhere. At 9 p.m. Tom suggested that we go climb Mount Achon. I assumed it was a short hike, and when his two nieces--Cindy and Candy--asked if they could go along, I was sure it would be a really short trip. Well, after an hour of steep hills, we did get to the top of the Mountain and got a beautiful view of Seoul at night. The hike was wonderful, and it was great to find this wilderness in the middle of such a busy city. Both Phillip and I marvelled at how athletic these two girls were. We were trudging up the hill, and they would periodically burst into a run! It is so much fun being around kids who like to adventure.

Well, the day is about to begin so I will end here...
Zeus

Korea

Yesterday I arrived in Korea with my student Phillip. We are staying in Seoul with my friends Jocelyn and Tom. It was a great flight. Asian Airlines is wonderful. The fact that the stewardesses reminded me of my student Dani Fregia is my way of saying that they made the whole flight enjoyable.

The flight actually came in an hour earlier than I expected, and no sooner did I leave customs then Tom appeared at my shoulder. He was there with his absolutely charming niece Cindy, and they took us from the airport in Incheon to Seoul. Tom is Korean, and is the most polite person I can imagine--well tied with my friend Sang Shin. Cindy has become my Korean tutor, and she enjoys laughing at my mispronunciations.

Yesterday I did my first teaching. I loved it. Today I will have more students. I have been juggling for the kids and playing the flute. Nearby is a huge children's park where we ran. There was a place for climbing and another place where for a small price you can go and pet a collection of about twenty dogs. They loved it almost as much as we did. Phillip saw two cute girls last night about his age and so he is motivated to learn Korean. ha ha
See you later!