The Jones' Korean Adventure

Working hard or hardly working? You decide!

After we had our fill at New York Fries, Sam and I decided to head to some royal tombs that were in the area. We saw the tombs of King Seongjong (he ruled from 1469 to 1494) and his second wife, Queen Jeonghyeonwanghu (imagine learning to spell that in kindergarten...huge disadvantage!). They both had lots of statues surrounding them, which was pretty cool. Everything from sheep and horses to what looked like a warrior and a priest were carved, and set up around the mounds that held their bodies. The graves were on two separate hills in the same park area. Both were set up exactly the same, with the same stone carvings around them. It was neat to be in a serene, park environment, and then look up and see the huge skyscrapers all around us. The old world meets the new world.
Here are some pictures.

This is Sam with the backside of one of the sheep carvings. As you can see, even the backsides were very realistic, and well done.

Here I am with one of the protective warrior statues.

You have to understand that we NEVER see grass. The grass on these tomb mounds was the most grass we have seen in a long time. Even though it was dead winter grass, I had to lie on it.

Here's Sam giving a larger shot of what the tombs look like. The statues and tomb mound was on top of this larger mound. You can kinda see the statue heads peaking up at the top of the hill.

Here's what I meant by "old world meets new world". The one side of this road led to an old building in front of one of the tombs...

The other side led to the downtown city area. Old meets new.

Crazy.
I have never said that 5 letter word as much in my whole life as I have in the past 7 months in Korea. For some reason, that word has the power to send Korean kids into fits of laughter. Whenever a class seems a little dull, and I can tell the kids aren't listening, I work the word 'crazy' into my lesson, they die laughing, and then I have their attention again.
Here's the story of how that one little word changed a class:

At our school we have one class that DOES NOT talk. Seems like a good thing, right? If they're not talking, that must mean they're listening. Believe me, it's not a good thing. This is one of our upper level classes, where they kids really need to be talking and practicing their English so we can know if they're learning or not. Sam, Mel, and I all teach this class, and we all have problems with them. Whenever one of us asks a questions we usually have to wait 2 awkward and painful minutes before someone in the class croaks out a half-hearted answer and returns to their silence. It feels awkward. It IS awkward. We hate it!
One day I decided to take things into my own hands. I wanted them to feel a bit of the awkwardness that I feel when they don't talk to me. I also wanted them to realize that it is, in fact, a good thing to communicate with one another and with me. Here's what I did. Class started at 10 past. I walked in, said hello, and then told them that I wasn't going to talk to them for half of class (25 minutes). I said, "You don't talk to me, so I'm not going to talk to you. You can talk to each other in English. If I hear you speak Korean, your name is going on the board. If you speak Korean twice, you have to leave my class". I then sat down, and started quietly taking attendance. You have to realize, that in any other class this "free talk" time would be celebrated and enjoyed. Friends would chat and laugh...they'd have a grand time. Not in this class. NO ONE SPOKE. Kids were tapping their fingers on their desks. One kid's head was going back and forth as he watched the heating fan move on the wall. The rest were staring at their hands, with eyes glazed over. I couldn't believe it! No one uttered a word for 15 MINUTES! I used that time to look at each kid in the room with a "why aren't you talking" look. It was unbelievably awkward, but I wasn't about to give in and be the first one to crack the silence. After about 17 minutes of silence, I stood up, went to the board, wrote "CRAZY" in huge letters, pointed at each kid, pointed at the board, and sat down. Worked like a charm - small giggles in the class, followed by whispered talking, following by bolder voices. Still quiet, compared to everyone else in the school. But a small step.
After the alloted 25 minutes of "free talk" time, I stood up and left the room. I'm sure that by this point they were all thinking I was off my rocker. I went and got an icecream bar and then returned to class to give it to Tim, who had spoken the most during the 25 minutes. That got the message across. All the kids were sighing, and huffing over the fact that they didn't get the icecream. I spent the rest of class telling them how crazy they were, and how they needed to talk, and why don't they talk, etc.
Besides the fact that the kids now truly do believe that one of their teachers is a bit mental, they have started answering more questions and actually say, "hello" when I walk through the door. Crazy baby steps!

I love cookie boxes in Korea! Sometimes the slogans are translated into English, which is a real treat. They make every cookie sound like it was baked by angels in God's kitchen, and sent to earth to give us an other-worldly experience.

Here are a few examples:

Walnut Cookie Bars: "The walnut cake, just what you have wanted. Taste harmony of tender feeling and savory walnut. This cake will lead you to sweet time." (Come again? The CAKE will lead me???)

Chocolate Cookie Bars: "It's a special gift only for you who are so romantic and luxury." (sounds like they're selling bubble bath or lingerie right? Nope - cookies!!)

Chocolate Cookies: "Your joyful biscuit! Just to everyone's liking at your home - children and adults all alike." (can't you just picture your 'joyful biscuit' smiling at you as you eat it?)

I love it!