That Orange Snack Food

Cheetos, that all-American snack
Healthy--no; satisfying--yes
Why orange fingers?
Use chopsticks instead.
Cheetos: an unhealthy picker-me-upper!

Supermarket Sea Creatures

Live octopi in a bag--how cool is that?

And some wompin big-assed crabs.

Biker Boy

Some pics of my new used bike, bought off Craigslist from another teacher-type in Seoul and transported home on the subway today (no little feat, but at least no one yelled at me; the first train I was on was freakin packed (and then a bunch of older folks got off at the stop labeled "Seoul Racehorse Park" . . . hmmm)).

I've been looking for a hybrid like this for a while now. Yeah!:)

New City View

Here are two pics, almost the same, from a 19th floor apt. in a building about 10 minutes from mine. The apt. these were taken from faces a different direction than mine, so the height and the angle show a different view of the city, a view mainly of other high rise apt. buildings (a lot of people living in a fairly small area; this is, after all, a Seoul "suburb").

School Posters

Many of our students have been making posters for class projects, partly to give the students a sense of ownership and pride in what they accomplish, but also to work on developing the functional English that accompanies such work: "Can I borrow your glue?", "I think we should . . .", "How about we . . .?", etc. Some of the posters have eroors, but that's ok:) This sampling shows the efforts of mostly my younger elementary students, with a few "pop culture" items from some other class.

What the . . .?

The sign (with the heart) might be a little hard to read; I tried two different shots/angles. Anyway, it says "Ice Cream Plastic Surgery" . . . Don't know if that is a combination of two things, a new medical proceedure, or what . . .

Making a Class Minibook

My one advanced class at our English academy, composed of 5th/6th grade students who are essentially fluent in English, recently completed a minibook. My boss backed our efforts to publish this text, and so it happened. I did not fully edit the students' writing, which goes against my training, but I/we wanted to give them full ownership of the 'book' so they typed and edited and illustrated everything. It turned out to be about 20 pages, and my one written inclusion was a letter to the parents about the project.

I am so proud of them and hope to repeat the process--on perhaps a bigger scale (especially after today, when I read two of the students' great poems in their diaries)--in the future.

You can see some of the pics of their work . . . cover, contents page, text, glossary, etc.

Weather

Fall weather rocks!!

(Just in case you didn't know that.)

About Obama's "Peace"

I am very glad that Obama is now President, as I think he might be able to acheive some wonderful things.

However, since when do you give a peace prize to someone who continues the U.S. policy of waging war in multiple countries?

That makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Unfortunately, I think the whole concept of the peace prize has been discredited, and that is a shame.

Getting My Antibiotics

I went to the doctor today. I don't like to go; when I have a sore throat as I do now I prefer to drink chammomile tea, oj, and V8, use Ricola sugar-free lozenges, consume daily quantities of garlic and kimchi, etc. Why? Because I believe all of these things will make me better. Repeated studies have shown, after all, that there is little difference in the cure rate between patients who were given "real" medicine (such as antibiotics) and those given placebos, or sugar pills. 35% vs. 31%, according to one study I read recently. It's all in the mind.

Up to a point, that is. My voice was going out on Tuesday and by Wednesday night all I could really manage in my last class was to write on the whiteboard and whisper--in a very hoarse voice--"You've got 10 minutes left" to my students.

Some of my students found my vocal difficulties a bit amusing, and since I haven't had a fever and therefore haven't been too grumpy, I agreed. I did sound funny.

By Thursday night I had had enough and I told my middle school students that I was going to go see a doctor the next morning. I should have anticipated their response, as it was 8 pm and they were moving into their 3rd hour of English instruction, all on top of a normal public school day. Middle schoolers are, after all, looking for any break they can get. So the dialogue, such as it was, went something like this (jokingly):

Students: "Teacher, we think you should go see a doctor now."

Me: "I told you, I'm going in the morning."

Students: "No, we think you should go see a doctor right now." (ie, cancel class)

Me: "Why?"

Students: "We want to see you next Tuesday."

Me: "What do you mean?"

Students: "You might die!"

But we did have class, finishing up the condensed version of The Elephant Man.

And I did go to the doctor this morning. Chammomile tea isn't going to cure a bacterial infection, which is what I think (and the doctor agreed) that I have. Got my antibiotics.

And here, I have to weigh in on the American health care reform debate.

I have Korean national health insurance. I co-pay 50%, which is less than $100 a month. The visit to the doctor, while not the most strenuous of exams, cost me the equivalent of $4.00. My medicine cost me $3.00.

I'm happy, and less than 9 hours after beginning my medication I already notice some improvements (I can talk a little).

Hopefully by Monday I'll be back to normal, and Tuesday night I'll get to see whether or not my middle school students appreciate the fact that I'm still kicking.

Animal Pics

Some animal sculpture pics from the park across the street . . .

Iran News Article

Take a read:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8282990.stm

"Game", "playing", and "manipulating" . . . hmmm, words I might have used.