Hello from the land of the morning calm. I realize it has been SO long since I've gotten on here to write about Korea. It's now springtime. The weather has been gradually shifting from cold to tolerable; however, this also means that spring showers contain heavy manufacturing soot that floats west from China. Are you familiar with the way that some U.S. cities issue 'ozone warnings' with the weather forecast? Here in Daegu, there are yellow dust (황사) (hwang-sah) warnings. I'll be wearing my medical mask this weekend. The man above is a Korean War vet with whom I had a chat on one of my weekend hikes. Uncle Bill: I mentioned you, but I'm not sure I got the message across. Anyhow he was a swell guy and he was fun to talk to. He kept saying this phrase that I didn't understand. (see next paragraph) Below is a photo of some adjective/adverb use from a 5th grade student. My hygiene is fine, Mom. He's just being a punk.
봄을 맞이할 준비가 됐어요. 거시기? got an interesting language lesson from my Korean coteacher. The word 거시기 (Kaw-Shee-Gee) is a regional dialectic term from Jeolla & Gyeongbuk province often used as a filler word similar to "you know?" or "YaMeen?" or "Knowhati'msayin'". The literal translation is : dick. I have been very confused by Google translate for the last time! The first sentece of this post means, "I'm ready for springtime, ya know?" but google translate will tell you that it means "we are ready for the birth of spring. Dick?"
Speaking of springtime, things are starting to bloom. When the sun is out, it is gorgeous in Daegu. I hiked a new peak on Apsan Mountain with my friend Dominic. We went to visit the Gatbawi Buddha statue (a carved stone that dates from more than 1000 years ago during the Unified Silla dynasty period) I entered the photo in Greenheart Travel's World Photo Competition, but I did not win. I will give myself the fictitious award for 'Most Vertical Kilometers Hiked With the Hope of Winning a Kindle Fire'
Above is a photo of the blossoms that I've borrowed from my friend Rebecca. She did a temple stay, which involves a small fee for a weekend spent living and dining on the grounds of a Confuscian temple. I'm working on getting my Korean language level high enough for conversations with monks about metaphysics.
At Dukin Elementary, we have begun a new semester. The students are working hard to prepare for midterm examiniations, but they are having a hard time focusing now that the weather has improved. I do my best to throw in different activities for a varied spectrum of learning styles. Below you can see our 4th grade kinesthetic activity of the week; we made mother's day cards. Also noteworthy is that Koreans have Mother's Day, Father's Day, AND Children's Day.
One pronunciation activity for my 3rd graders. After round one we also included the words 'chew,' 'two', and 'true'. I was sad not to have my copy of Dr. Seuss'
Fox in Sox. The tweedle beetle battle came to mind.
This photo comes from a visit to Busan. In most major cities in Korea, streets are named for the products that they sell. In Bosu-dong, this is book street. Again my apologies for my negligence with the blog posts. I am keeping abreast of U.S. news as it comes. I am particularly interested in the upcoming elections, as well as the NCAA March Madness Tournament. The weekend after next is opening day for the Samsung Lions baseball team, and I plan to attend with my coworkers. Going to the park to watch a baseball game is WAY more exciting in Korea. The beer is less expensive, and all of the teams have female cheerleaders that dance on the dugouts the whole time. Photo's will be included in my next update. Lots of love from David!
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