Japan Recap

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Japan!!!

"I'm currently on winter break, and i decided to go to Japan for 10 days. I don't have too much access to internet here so i'll post some pics for now and give the back story later

My New Bike

As i mentioned last time i became obessed with getting a bicycle. I went to about five different shops, telling them all that i wanted a single speed bike (or fixed gear)with coasting breaks. I thought hand breaks were not astheticly pleasing. Almost every shop i went to told me that sounded like a crazy idea. They said first of all, Korea has many moutains and hills so it's a good idea have a bike with gears. I told every shop that i don't want gears on my bike and if they insisted that i get a bike with gears then i would (and did) take my business elsewhere. While i was at one shop i heard about LSD bikes. But nobody knew the address, so i did some research on the net. I found a blog in which they mentioned LSD, i was able to get the phone number by looking at the pic. There were a few other blogs that mentioned them but none of them had a phone number or address. Also i really liked this blog becasue i thought the girl was cute. So i ended up calling the number but i got no answer, then i asked someone else to help me find their site and it turns they were closed. (they're always closed on monday and i just happend to be calling on a monday)

http://blog.naver.com/PostThumbnailView.nhn?blogId=soobin316&logNo=113793215&categoryNo&parentCategoryNo=19

So on Tuesday i had my co-teacher call and ask for the address, and that Saturday i went to their shop. When i got there i was greeted by growls from their dog penny. So i growled back at her, and that's when they called her back and someone came to help me. I told them what i wanted, a fixed gear with coasting breaks. He explained about korea having moutains and i told him i don't want no gears. He said okay and began to looking for a coasting break for his bike frames. He explained to me that a coasting break hub is different from the hubs on his frames. Later explained that no one imports coasting breaks to Korea so it would be impossiable. so i asked for a regular fixie bike with no hand breaks and he said that was no problem.

three weeks later i got an e-mail saying my bike was ready and i can pick it up when i'm ready. so i went to the store as soon as i got my paycheck and picked it up. I dub my bike with the name "Red Bull" for the time being. Until i get the new spokes i wanted by then i will change the name to "Red Star" Now i'm off to explore Korea with my new bike, or at least i will after i get back from Japan.

Open Class

Ok so you're probably wondering what an Open class is. Well for 2010 GEPIK foreign teachers its one class a year when other teachers from your area come watch you teach. It's a way for teachers to critique your class, so they can help you improve on your teaching methods etc. (since most of the foreign teachers don't have degrees in education)


As i mentioned in the previous blog, our theme was Christmas and we had six words for the vocabulary. 1) Santa Clause 2) Christmas tree 3) Star 4) Bell 5) Gift 6) Stocking. After the introduction of the vocabulary we played the whisper game (students make a line and whisper what was said to the student in front of them, the last student then holds up a card of that word).


After the game the students then made a christmas tree. They had stickers of the vocabulary words in three different colors Yellow, Red and Green for a total of 18 sitckers. They had to listen for the word and the color then place the sticker on the tree. We ended the class by singing ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS' "CHRISTMAS DON'T BE LATE"

When it was over we said goodbye to the studetns and went to another class for the critique to begin. Some teachers mentioned they were surprised that we had no Phonic lesson in our class. We explained that since it was 1st grade Phonics was too hard for them so we focus more on "flash cards" for our style of teaching. Other than that the teachers seemed impressed with our teaching method and our school was pleased with the work that Jin and I had done.

Catching Up

I've come the the realization that if anyone was reading my blog then they "was". ahahah, bad joke on my part. Anyway, i've really neglected my blog so here's the best i can do to help catch you up (if anyone is reading).


After my Summer English Class i went back to Chicago for about 15 days. Where i spent some time with friends, especially a few i haven't seen since elementary as well as some family.


After my 15 days i came back (i had renewed my contract to teach another year at the school) {the pic is from a Halloween role play with the 5th grade class} i was back to teaching.


Although some time shortly after Halloween i quit my private tutoring. One of the students didn't really study and she kinda got on my nevers. Only the oldest student actually studied (Liucia, the oldest student pictured above).


"Jin" my co-teacher/handler telling me that we need to prepare for my OPEN CLASS in December, and that we need to do a good job to keep up the school's reputation. Our theme was "Christmas" and we taught the children to sing ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS' "CHRISTMAS DON'T BE LATE". As well as played the whisper game. It took almost a month to finish the lesson plan (revisions and all), but once we were done we were told we did a good job. Jin was so nervous because it was her 1st grade class instead of 4th grade which planned earlier.




About two weeks before my open class i became obessed with getting a bike, but not just any bike. I wanted one that had coasting breaks instead of hand breaks. (i think hand breaks are not astheticly pleasing) So i went to about five shops and finally found one called LSD (Lake Shore Drive) which is known for custom bikes. I was told to go there to get a fixie, and then they would install costing breaks for me. To my dissapointment they said it could not be done. There are no frames in Korea that have the same amout of holes as the special hub needed to install the coasting break. (hub is the part of the bike that old the wheel and the frame together)


actually it took me awhile to find the shop, and if it wasn't for this blog i probably wouldn't have been able to
http://blog.naver.com/PostThumbnailView.nhn?blogId=soobin316&logNo=113793215&categoryNo&parentCategoryNo=19
anyway i ordered my bike which should be ready in a week, and that's about all so far. (give or take a few more details)

English Summer Camp

Just some pics of My first day (and first Summer camp. Here the kids are taking a break and having a snack before we resume with classes. Some of the kids are camera shy so i had to sneak photos with my Camera. The first day was sports day, where i taught them about sports like Water Polo and Football. After the lesson, we went outside (got rained on just a little bit) and play some sports. The girls really seemed to enjoy football more than the boys. Because of the rain, and since i was actually playing with the kids it was kinda hard to take pics. So i don't have any of them actually throwing the ball.

small update!!

It's halfway past 2010 and i haven't been updating my blog. Well, here's my first attempt. It's July and the children are offically on Vacation. As summer begins i have no classes but i have to continue going to school and staying there from 8:30am till 4:20pm. As i write this i notice that one of the teachers is leaving early (it's only 12:30pm)as it is his responsibility to watch after me. I think i might go home early today. Especially since he's leaving i would have to walk about three miles to get into town and take a subway home. As you can tell from my pic there are no sidewalks to walk on, and I fucking hate Korean drivers. They drive way too fast and they all think they own the street. If you look at my pic you might assume where i'm stading and how close the car actually passes by me when i walk down the road. As for the pic the car only moved away from me when he saw that i stopped moving and i wasn't going to walk in the mud.

As i said, it's summer and i have no classes so for the time being i sit at my desk and update my photo album on facebook and send a few e-mails. Also i look for songs that i might teach the children during next week's english camp. The only problem i really have is that the computer is kinda slow especially when i open up more than four windows.

Anway i have mixed feelings about going to Chicago next week for a two week vacation. I have no idea what i'm going to do when i get there, but i think it would be great to finally get some really good mexican food. I'm just afarid of gaining weight when i'm there, and returning to Korea fat as hell. (i've just been handed my lunch for the day, two peices of sweet bread) Anyway, like i said, i'm not sure what i'll do when i arrive in chicago, since most of my friends work now and a few of them will be going on thier own vacation when i get there.


Anway the other day i took some pics of my students wearing my glasses, here are a few of the ones that i thought looked cute wearing them.