Incheon Rosie

My adventures teaching in a Hagwon in Incheon, South Korea

[mindyyang]

Your dream doesn’t have an expiration date. Take a deep breath and try again.

(via mindyyang)

[incheonrose]

I'm leaving Korea

I’m leaving Korea. My problems have been many while here ands I’ve decided that Korea is not where I should be. this least week I hage been so stressed and my employers are not doing what they should to fix it.

The current situation is that I have bedbugs again, at first my boss wouldn’t do anything. And I didn’t handle it too well, I fell apart, last time in Incheon it took my first boss three months to finally move me. I’m also not dealing with stresses as well as normally because of my father’s death in March.

This time after two weeks of being unable to sleep well and getting bitten every couple of days, I moved myself into a 고 시 완 (goshiwon) which is kind of student housing. They usually have a shared kitchen and laundry. The one I am in is a but more expensive and has a toilet and shower in each room.

my boss was irritated that I moved myself, and when want going to do anything about my apt for another four weeks. Add to that I hasn’t been paid on time, usually three our four days late and I found that I had no medical insurance which I was supposed to have per my contract.

So, I gave notice. The manager tried to convince me, but still wouldn’t hear of moving me. By the end of the week, a meeting was organized with the owner, who promised to fix things, and if the treatment of the apt didn’t work she said they would move me.

They treated the apt, which I didn’t trust because my first boss had done that twice and it hadn’t A week later I had new bites, and their reaction wasn’t promising. I had kept the goshiwon room and moved myself back into it. This once again caused a problem, I’m not sure why.

This last week I had several meetings with the manager, where she alternately said: “of you’re just not immune to Korean bugs, they aren’t the same bugs as before, the last teacher didn’t have any problems, it’s to expensive to move you (true it is expensive to break a housing contract), if we move you it will be a much smaller apt, and such." She apparently tools my recruiter that my apt didn’t have bedbugs. 

I responded that my contact started that they were to provide safe housing, ands if they couldn’t do that then I’d have to leave.

I’ve been so stressed and tired, that I spoke to my mom about coming home. I will have to defer my student loans and find a job, any job that can pay my bills, I have credit cards that I’ve been paying. And I’ll have to sleep on my brothers’ couch.

Overall not the year I was hoping for when I came here last August worked, and I moved back home.

dear god, sorry for all the typos!

[eversolightly]

“There is a place. Like no place on Earth. A land full of wonder, mystery, and danger!” The Last Bookstore Los Angeles, California

[gaywalkers]

[edwardspoonhands]

Catching up on Night Vale is all I’m doing on my trip to VidCon.

[fishingboatproceeds]

Tumblr, why didn’t I find out about Night Vale until like two weeks ago? I DEPEND ON YOU FOR THESE THINGS. 

[incheonrose]

the same thing happened to me! But I've dived head long into it now!

[incheonrose]

Speaking of hanguel. This video helps show pronunciation of the letters as well as adding information on the way to write them (which lines are drawn first) and the differences between printed (like on a computer) and handwritten letters which I found confusing for a while until I caught on.

It isn't complete, he's only addressing some of the consonants and in their initial position only.  His other videos address the rest of the alphabet and some practice with syllables, how to form and how to pronounce.

[rosie-girl]

I like these videos she over explains some things because I already know it, but the lovely thing about a video is that I can skip ahead.  

She includes the words in hanguel (Korean writing) and clarifies the syntax verbally.  I’d still like to see it in an English gloss, like I used to use for ASL.  In ASL it would be NAME WHAT (with eyebrows down to show the question).  In the Korean the syntax for ‘what is your name?’ is: Name what is?  Interestingly it is almost the same between ASL and Korean. Except that ASL doesn’t have a ‘be’ verb. ;)  

Her other videos are worth watching, this isn’t an introductory video by any means.  I can already read hanguel and knew some of the phrases.

[incheonrose]

My Korean kindergarteners always make a distinction between sky blue (light blue) and blue (dark blue), but don't seem to make the same issue with light/yellow green and dark green in the color pencils. A few did call the lighter shade 'sky green' which is an interesting issue. I think I remember this from my Language Acquisition class as something like: they learn the rule, then they overapply it, then they learn the exceptions, then they use it appropriately.  Like when a student in my older group (7 years old by Korean calculation, so probably 6 by western standards) tried to form the plural of horse as: "horsssssss".  The student was overapplying the 'rule' of adding /s/ to the end of a noun to make it plural.  Makes sense too.  Korean has some double consonants, you can stack the consonant that makes the /s/ sound, it simply becomes more stressed. 

I need to ask a co-worker about the color distinction in Korean. Or if this is simply something they learned, for example: "the light blue is called 'sky blue'".  But I think that their may be some bleed over in color separation from Korean because this is my second job in Korea and the students in my first school did the same thing.  Not much distinction with the two greens but insistence on a difference in the blues.

[willieverbefluent-deactivated20]

If you would like to buy a large printout go here -> http://shop.aboutletters.com/

For  a higher definition online version go here ->

http://vtkaumc.org/xe/files/attach/images/592/218/001/Hangulposter-AboutLetters.jpg

Shows all the hangul characters and a lot of rules for constructing syllables and words

[incheonrose]

While I don't expect to be fluent in Korean, I would like to learn more.  I only have a handful of basics down.  I can read it reliably well now which does help.  

I met with a tutor for two months, but we have parted ways. We frustrated each other. I wanted to know the answer to linguistic level questions and needed to spend a bit more time on some things and she wanted to follow the book and just keep moving.  We were probably both right. I just needed to go with it more and not try to understand all the things and she could have done with some more training in language acquisition.  She's a good tutor but not for me.  

So I'll see if I can work through some things on my own.  I have several books, audio programs, and online resources now and my Korean co-workers to ask questions of.  

I'm thinking that if I post my progress/explorations here on a regular basis then I may actually be able to keep myself going.  I often need the outside pressure of a class to keep me moving.  Maybe I should explore the possibilities of other types of classes.  I do live in Seoul, there are options.

[incheonrose]

Comforting

Sometimes I wonder why I love kindergarten so much. In korea they expect a few more academics than they do in the states. The ages of my children vary from Koran age 5 to 7. Some of my 5 year olds are as young as 3 and others are as old as 4by western calculation. Today while the buses staggered in there was a single 5 year old for about 30 minutes. I was in the next room and I realized I was hearing crying. Eric was sobbing because he was all alone. I gave him a hug and took him to another teacher to make sure he hadn’t been hurt, at a time like that your second language abilities desert you. The other teacher said he was afraid because he was alone, but she was busy and I wasn’t so I sat down with him and played with a building toy. He cried for his ah-ma, mommy, for a bit while I rubbed his back and then I talked about regular things. I tried to give him the space to cry for a bit but then to pull himself together. Trying to convey that its ok to cry but then you have to collect yourself. By the time other students came in, he was fine, but I waited until his homeroom teacher came in before I left. That class, London, is my favorite. Some of those kids are so young, and they are really sweet. So I love when I can help a student, wether it is understanding how to east a word or just making then feel better.

[incheonrose]

The Republic of Korea, South Korea, does not change their clocks, so I'm either 16 or 17 hours ahead of most of my family who live on the west coast of the US in the Pacific Time Zone.  It makes for some odd calculations and periodically someone gets it wrong and I may get a call at 4 am or I'll forget and text someone at 1 am their time. :)

[hitoritabi]

Korean version of Western folk stories — Alice in Wonderland, Beauty and the Beast, Swan Lake, Little Red Riding Hood.

[boxlunches]

I adore these.

[sugaracid69]

BEAST IS TOO ADORABLE AS A TIGER!!!!

[dduane]

This comes around every now and then and I never tire of it.

[npr]

(via 22 Maps That Show The Deepest Linguistic Conflicts In America)

Joshua Katz, a Ph. D student in statistics at North Carolina State University, just published a group of awesome visualizations of a linguistic survey that looked at how Americans pronounce words. 

Among the words he maps are crawfish, syrup, caramel, lawyer, mayonnaise and pecan. He also maps regions by how they refer to a carbonated beverage (the age-old soda or pop question) and how people address groups of two or more people — though as someone who spent time in Pittsburgh, yinz seems to be conspicuously absent. — heidi

[incheonrose]

I'm from Oregon and my natural pronunciation is with the one syllable, ash (as in 'man'). But I tend to shift it to match my students who are native speakers of Korean and learning English which turns into two syllables [ejo] "cray-awn".  They are kindergarteners and need to learn how to sound out words so I have tended to shift pronunciation to a longer form to assist their reading.

[afternoonsnoozebutton]

A pastor in Seoul, South Korea has created a “baby box” for people so that people who would otherwise abandon or kill their newborns can leave them somewhere safe instead. The box has a light, a towel lining, and a bell rings as soon as a baby is placed in it so the pastor, his wife, or one of his staff can come and get it right away.

Lee Jong-rak started the box in 2009, and has welcomed all babies, often disabled or the children of single mothers, that have been placed in the box since. The babies are given a loving home, food, and shelter in his orphanage. Currently, an average of 17-18 babies are placed in the box every month. 

One mother who had considered poisoning her baby before she heard about the Baby Box left her baby in the box with a letter pinned to his clothing that read: 

‘My baby! Mom is so sorry. I am so sorry to make this decision. My son! I hope you to meet great parents, And I am very very sorry. I don’t deserve to say a word. sorry, sorry, and I love you my son. Mom loves you more than anything else. I leave you here because I don’t know who your father is. I used to think about something bad but I guess this box is safer for you. That’s why I decided to leave you here. My son, Please forgive me.’ - ‘A single mother’s tearful letter’

Lee Jong-rak is the subject of a documentary called “The Drop Box”, which I haven’t seen - but I can recommend this 13 minute Dateline video. You can find the Facebook page for the BabyBox here.

[rosie-girl]

I didn’t know why I felt so emotional today until I realized that it is two months to the day that my papa died. 

[incheonrose]

 phoenvix said: :hugs:

Thank you. 

[teamepiphany-blog]

Virtual supermarkets are popping up in subway stations in South Korea, where commuters can virtually shop for items while waiting for the train to come. Customers simply scan an item’s QR code using the free “Homeplus” app and can have it delivered to their doorstep before they even get home. Ranked as the 2nd most hard-working country in the world to Japan, South Korea is rewarding its workers with this timesaving gem.

[adventureteaching-deactivated20]

This made our jaws drop. Has anyone seen a virtual supermarket in Korea yet?

Wow! I kinda love this idea.

[incheonrose]

Great idea!

[goodsfrontier]

[gummybearsgalore-deactivated201]

Do you ever have those days when you just feel like you’re in a funk? You just can’t shake those heavy, sinking feelings? Maybe you’re feeling stressed, empty, scared or stuck. In essence, you just don’t feel like yourself.

As a way to improve mental health in Canada, Blok Design worked with Partners for Mental Health to come up with a way to draw people into a conversation, encouraging an open dialogue. Using bright colors that represented a spectrum of moods, they got people on the street to, literally, wear their emotions on their sleeves.

[mastersamwise]

[kitoky]

#people who don’t like Nine don’t deserve him anyway

[lakrab]

Agreed