New American Reality

(I'm back--in Korea and here on my blog):

Well, that election didn't go as planned.

However, time to wake up America to the person you voted for as president.

He is not a nice person: he lies, he has allegedly cheated his workers, he has accepted Russian propaganda at face value, his wife cheated on immigration, he loves filing lawsuits and may continue to do so as President . . . but supposedly all of this was known before the election.

One deeply troubling thing is that perhaps many Americans knew of these faults-- these multiple ___isms--and yet voted for the person anyway, despite knowing that many leaders and people around the world do not want to have anything to do with this elected official.

That's why some stocks and currencies are dropping deeply as I write this.

Tomorrow will be a deeply changed day for people around the world, and maybe not for the better.


Sources:

http://www.dailywire.com/news/4834/trumps-101-lies-hank-berrien
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/27/opinion/campaign-stops/the-lies-trump-told.html

*http://www.salon.com/2016/06/10/the_art_of_the_steal_report_suggests_trump_cheated_hundreds_of_workers_out_of_pay_hed_screw_voters_just_the_same/

*http://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-russia-hillary-clinton-united-states-europe-516895

*http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/melania-trump-immigration-donald-226648

*https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2016-trump-lawsuits/

About Health

Read this news article about diet:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/29/mediterranean-diet-better-than-statins-for-tackling-heart-disease-study

Leaving Korea

In about 1 week I will be leaving Korea.

I don't really want to, as I enjoy living here--and where I live is so very convenient--yet it is time for a change.

So I will depart for America: the land of Trump-claiming-the-elections-are-rigged.

Sigh.

What a loser.

Yesterday, Friday, I said "Goodbye!" to my MWF students.  We had snack parties and played hangman and Quiddler  (if you are a teacher you should be using the Quiddler card game--it is like Scrabble but with cards).

http://www.setgame.com/quiddler

Stand by Me

Here's a music video that everyone should watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us-TVg40ExM

Trump's Business History (It Isn't Pretty)

A Time Magazine news article:

http://time.com/4465744/donald-trump-undocumented-workers/?xid=homepage

12-year-old Singing Sensation

If you haven't seen these videos, watch them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNxO9MpQ2vA

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2016/08/24/agt-star-grace-vanderwaal-bigger-than-taylor-swift/89245642/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy85aZaYL1A

This is a Nice, Feel Good Video

About helping out a hearing-impaired man:

http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/town-learns-sign-language-to-surprise-deaf-neighbor/

South Korea and Kimchi

An NPR news article:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/22/489805398/how-south-korea-uses-kimchi-to-connect-to-the-world-and-beyond

A New Presidential Candidate

Evan McMullin:

Read:

http://www.npr.org/2016/08/20/490619218/-nevertrump-candidate-mcmullin-envisions-a-country-of-understanding-and-respect

Writing Homework

Every class period, about 3 minutes before the end, I write the homework for the next class on the whiteboard.

I look at my report sheet and write what I prepared before class.

Students copy what I write on the whiteboard onto their homework sheets.

It usually looks something like this:

LG SB 74 LR3X
LG WB 72
NB LG SB 74 C. W1X
Diary

(LG = Let's Go (the name of the textbook), WB = workbook, NB = notebook, LR3X = listen and read 3 times)

All students are very familiar with this homework routine, especially as it signals an end to the class period or a prelude to breaktime (10 minutes between classes).

Often they call out the homework to each other, as my body is partially blocking the whiteboard while I am writing.

A month or so ago, in one 4th grade class, two great female students asked if they could write the homework.

"What do you mean," I asked them.

"We want to write the homework" they said.

My first thought was, "No, that is not ok".

However, I realized that there was nothing wrong with their request.

In fact, they were being confident in asking, using good English, and empowering themselves.

"Yes," I replied, "One of you can do it today and the other next class."

So, for the first time ever I stood back while one of the girls did my job.

She picked up my class report sheet and wrote the class homework on the whiteboard.

In the larger context it was a little thing, yet it meant a lot to her, and it taught me a lesson.

Students are sometimes good at teaching teachers a lesson:)

Trump Statues

Read this Time Magazine news article:

http://time.com/4458022/donald-trump-nude-statues/

Child Marriage in India

An interesting, personalized article about child-marriage in India:

http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/08/15/489790411/a-father-vows-to-save-his-daughter-from-a-plight-he-got-her-into

Trump's Campaign Chairman, Paul Manafort, has ties to Russia

Read the New York Times article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/us/politics/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

Weekend Trip

I visited the east coast the last two days to see a Korean friend.

A lot of other people also visited there (Gangwondo province, Gangneung city), as this is the end of summer vacation time and a 3-day weekend.  Additionally, it is hot, and there are some nice beaches in the area.

We had a big raw fish meal at the beach (we were three people, but there was easily enough food for five):

At this village in the country outside of Gangneung, there are no stores, schools, or any commercial establishments. Only small farming houses.  No children.  Yet you can see the stars at night, and for the first time I saw a marten ( a weasel-like animal) when it crossed the road in front of our car . . .

Anmok beach is the place where locals go (plus a lot of tourists) . . . tons of coffee shops, raw fish restaurants, some grilled shellfish places (my favorite), and more, all in a short stretch (maybe 1 km) along the beach.

Alternatively, you can go to Gyeongpo and hang out with the university-aged tourists from Seoul.

Not for me; I like Anmok.

This raw fish restaurant is in the Anmok beach area.

Lunch Pictures

I went to a shabu-shabu and sushi buffet restaurant with a friend (the meat gets put into the pot with the vegetables):

Fake Food

Plastic representations of meals in a display case in the food court area of a department store:

So many choices!

Korea: The 'Republic of Coffee'

Here's an article about the popularity of coffee in Korea:

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/business/2016/08/11/66/0503000000AEN20160811008200320F.html

Breadfruit

An educational NPR article about breadfruit:

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/08/09/487094806/productive-protein-rich-breadfruit-could-help-the-worlds-hungry-tropics

Harvard Anti-Trump

More bad news for Trump:

http://fortune.com/2016/08/05/harvard-republican-club-trump/?xid=timehp-popular

A Short Documentary about U.S. Olympic Fencing

5 minutes:

https://www.shortoftheweek.com/

"Nzingha"