Fuck.
I'm patiently waiting for my IV to be hooked up so I can get out of this sweltering room. Not only is the room an oven but I sit here WRAPPED in a FLANNEL sling and body wrap. It's like summer all over again. Ask any Korean though and they'll say its fall because beach season has ended even though the temperature is the exact same. Regardless, Aircon is no longer a word that computes on the peninsula. Thank goodness for friends who bring ice cream!
You know what? I think I'm just going to be a Moody Trudy and regale you of the ridiculous things I have to do at this hospital.
Cutlery
Cutlery is provided; your typical Korean chop sticks and soup spoon. Oddly enough you are in charge of washing your own cutlery, even though all the bowls and lids are washed elsewhere. Is this sanitary when you have one-armed people struggling to wash their cutlery?
Doctors
I have had two constant doctors throughout my life and they are almost identical: glasses, lean, horrible penmanship, and really hairy arms. This generally carries over to TV doctors as well. My Korean replacement has glasses ... and that's the only cross-over. This guy has a super fat face, legible writing (and its his second alphabet!) and always has long sleeves to hide his arms. At least he doesn't smoke, as far as I know.
Nurses
At home nurses always seemed like waitresses with those service lines: "Is there anything you need?" "Do you need an extra _____" "How about a sponge bath?"
Maybe that last one's only at Brazzers Hospital. There's nothing like that here and its horseshit. Oh my IV's here slowing down my typing two-fold. I'll end it that the nurses are both good and bad. I could write about their beauty for hours on end but at a later date. Maybe once this flannel junk is off.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Saturday, September 21, 2013
How I Broke my Collarbone and Accepted it.
It was the first week of Ultimate season. On paper, we were arguably one of the best teams in the league with leaders that helped our new players understand the game, and prepare everyone for our first games. The first two went really well: We won both with little difficulty and personally I played hard on both sides of the disc and was rewarded for it which was nice. Both games were well-spirited. My hat's off to Massive and the Overs.
The last game versus the Knights was our toughest game of the day. The team was mostly Korean players, some of the best in all of Korea. The game was very back and forth, we put a hard cup on their offense which didn't go to well after they got some swings going and getting the popper involved they were marching fast and frequent. While our team had the disc the Knights really struggled to force turnovers, we kept playing smart and trusting our handlers. The game started to get intense after the first couple points, both teams realized the importance of possession.
From here on I entered what I would call "the zone." Here I am 100% in the game mentally I know my jobs and stick to that. Time doesn't matter, nor do small details. So if you saw this happen and there's something you don't remember or an inaccurate fact then let me know.
For those who don't know, Ultimate is a self-regulated game meaning players make their own calls and consequently there can be arguments about certain calls. At points, players were looking at these moments of contact (fouls) with a magnifying glass. There was one foul called by our captain and the opponent who committed the foul guffawed at the idea that he committed a foul. Within the next two minutes we were back on defense and the Knights were swinging the disc. The disc got caught in the wind and was up for grabs. I knew I could get it and ran up from my position. The handler on the team was tracking it as well but I had more momentum and bowled him over going up for the disc. I smacked the disc down and when the handler came down he was rolling on the ground cradling his ribs. I took a knee and felt around for bruises on my body but the top of my left ear was throbbing, that was it. We clapped him to his feet and he kept playing on.
The game's intensity continued to pick up with the best of both teams going head to head in coverage. Cutting from the back of the stack, I was lined up for a break-side catch. The disc was right at my chest and when I'm in the zone peripheries aren't checked my mind was just thinking "disc, disc, disc." But I was blindsided by the Knights best player and hit the ground. After I stood up it felt like my shoulder was charlie-horsed. I took an injury time out and walked out of the game on my own strength. As I was walking, calling for ice, I tried rolling my shoulder and that's when I felt a pop. Shoulder separation, no biggie. I'll go to the hospital and have a doctor pop it back in after the game.
I don't remember the rest of the game, my team, Gang Green, ended the game with a hammer (they win games apparently) then we took a team photo. I took the subway back into the city and hopped off at the hospital by my school. I sat down and gave them story. They took me in for x-rays and found the clean break in my clavicle. The doctor told me I needed to be hospitalized and see a specialist the following day.
After hearing the news, the length of time I would be in the hospital, and the fact I won't be moving my arm til the new year, I was totally crushed. Goodbye ultimate season, goodbye guitar, hello one-armed life. It was tough and I kept playing the sequence over in my head blaming the player on the Knights for this. At one point I deduced there was a bounty on my head after laying out his guy, and the hit he laid out on me was retribution. Even if that was true, I don't really care, it's his way of standing up for his team, what happened happened. I can keep replaying it in my head and ponder the what ifs or just accept this and move-on. Maybe its like a break-up it sucks but everyday you get stronger and get your composure back and now, after a week here, I'm confident that everything is going to be all right.
I can't say that's only because of me meditating on this and moving on but my outside food providers and visitors have been a ray of sunshine. Once again, to everyone who visited or sent me a "get well something-or-other" message I always appreciate your good spirits... or beer, whatever you drop off.
The last game versus the Knights was our toughest game of the day. The team was mostly Korean players, some of the best in all of Korea. The game was very back and forth, we put a hard cup on their offense which didn't go to well after they got some swings going and getting the popper involved they were marching fast and frequent. While our team had the disc the Knights really struggled to force turnovers, we kept playing smart and trusting our handlers. The game started to get intense after the first couple points, both teams realized the importance of possession.
From here on I entered what I would call "the zone." Here I am 100% in the game mentally I know my jobs and stick to that. Time doesn't matter, nor do small details. So if you saw this happen and there's something you don't remember or an inaccurate fact then let me know.
For those who don't know, Ultimate is a self-regulated game meaning players make their own calls and consequently there can be arguments about certain calls. At points, players were looking at these moments of contact (fouls) with a magnifying glass. There was one foul called by our captain and the opponent who committed the foul guffawed at the idea that he committed a foul. Within the next two minutes we were back on defense and the Knights were swinging the disc. The disc got caught in the wind and was up for grabs. I knew I could get it and ran up from my position. The handler on the team was tracking it as well but I had more momentum and bowled him over going up for the disc. I smacked the disc down and when the handler came down he was rolling on the ground cradling his ribs. I took a knee and felt around for bruises on my body but the top of my left ear was throbbing, that was it. We clapped him to his feet and he kept playing on.
The game's intensity continued to pick up with the best of both teams going head to head in coverage. Cutting from the back of the stack, I was lined up for a break-side catch. The disc was right at my chest and when I'm in the zone peripheries aren't checked my mind was just thinking "disc, disc, disc." But I was blindsided by the Knights best player and hit the ground. After I stood up it felt like my shoulder was charlie-horsed. I took an injury time out and walked out of the game on my own strength. As I was walking, calling for ice, I tried rolling my shoulder and that's when I felt a pop. Shoulder separation, no biggie. I'll go to the hospital and have a doctor pop it back in after the game.
I don't remember the rest of the game, my team, Gang Green, ended the game with a hammer (they win games apparently) then we took a team photo. I took the subway back into the city and hopped off at the hospital by my school. I sat down and gave them story. They took me in for x-rays and found the clean break in my clavicle. The doctor told me I needed to be hospitalized and see a specialist the following day.
After hearing the news, the length of time I would be in the hospital, and the fact I won't be moving my arm til the new year, I was totally crushed. Goodbye ultimate season, goodbye guitar, hello one-armed life. It was tough and I kept playing the sequence over in my head blaming the player on the Knights for this. At one point I deduced there was a bounty on my head after laying out his guy, and the hit he laid out on me was retribution. Even if that was true, I don't really care, it's his way of standing up for his team, what happened happened. I can keep replaying it in my head and ponder the what ifs or just accept this and move-on. Maybe its like a break-up it sucks but everyday you get stronger and get your composure back and now, after a week here, I'm confident that everything is going to be all right.
I can't say that's only because of me meditating on this and moving on but my outside food providers and visitors have been a ray of sunshine. Once again, to everyone who visited or sent me a "get well something-or-other" message I always appreciate your good spirits... or beer, whatever you drop off.
One handed blogs
I've been in the hospital for almost a week now with a fractured collar bone. As a result my left hand is not very mobile so I don't put anymore weight on my shoulder. The surgery to repair it went well and I'm on the mend.
Korea is a very careful place despite enforcing zero rules, so I'll be in the hospital for about another 2-3 weeks from today. Time's flying because I've had so many visitors drop by with so much good food, and its takes twice as long to do most things except watch TV. By the way: free wi-fi.
The food has been pretty bad but when you're forced to eat in a bed I find myself sitting in for 8-9 hours a day (Breaking Bad is soooo good, I just started watching yesterday) it tastes even worse.
Because of holidays it looks like can get by with all my paid sick days and I might need to take one or two unpaid ones. Bills wise I only need to cover 20% of the bill, but that's what I've been told, we'll see if the board gets cold feet when the bill rolls up to their door.
All in all, I feel I'm making the best of my situation. I'll tell you the story of how it happened another time. Now i'm off to play Settlers of Catan!
Korea is a very careful place despite enforcing zero rules, so I'll be in the hospital for about another 2-3 weeks from today. Time's flying because I've had so many visitors drop by with so much good food, and its takes twice as long to do most things except watch TV. By the way: free wi-fi.
The food has been pretty bad but when you're forced to eat in a bed I find myself sitting in for 8-9 hours a day (Breaking Bad is soooo good, I just started watching yesterday) it tastes even worse.
Because of holidays it looks like can get by with all my paid sick days and I might need to take one or two unpaid ones. Bills wise I only need to cover 20% of the bill, but that's what I've been told, we'll see if the board gets cold feet when the bill rolls up to their door.
All in all, I feel I'm making the best of my situation. I'll tell you the story of how it happened another time. Now i'm off to play Settlers of Catan!
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Candidate Teachers come to School.
This week we had teacher candidates, or student teachers, at our school to take observations as an assignment or something. I don't know, they didn't put me in charge of this. This is one of those times when I look at these eager scholars and realize how far I've come and how far away Teacher's College was and the inevitable thought that I'm archaic in their eyes. Also every guy wears a suit and tie so I look like a schmuck because it's still too hot for long sleeves. Some of the ladies were really outgoing talking to me in the cafeteria about where I'm from and other random questions you'd find on an online dating form.
Nothing really changed in my schedule I had an open class with the worst grade 5 class, which was awkward to say the least. Especially when we played a spelling game where students spell words letter by letter up and down the rows and a TC, sitting in the line of fire, spelled soccer S-O-C-C-O-R. She turned bright red as the 28 necks simultaneously snapped around to stare at her.
The other thing that changed was my conversation class; my co-teacher asked all the candidates if they wanted to attend. Obviously no one is going to sit out on this opportunity if one person goes and that's how I had a conversation class of 35 people. Because this is a "big deal" the head co-teacher explained to me that I would need clear topics and questions and probably other things too only pretend to hear. In the end I told my the wiser teacher what was going on and then she asked if she could plan it. I said sure because I'm not going to turn away free help from someone with more experience than me.
This ended up being a super awkward train wreck of silence. Usually our classes are really intimate and you don't get that vibe at all with 30+ people. It's also the shyness of CTs and TCs which was perplexing, to say the least. Eventually after trying to squeeze blood from this stone of a morgue (the topic was friendship and the silence went on for so long I brought up and taught the term "bros before hoes" no one seemed to get it except the guy who was engaged.) we went around the table and introduced ourselves. This was almost just as bad as the silence. There were a few teachers who were able to talk about themselves but others went like this:
"Hello, my name is __________. My family is mudder, fadder, me and brudder. I study at Pusan University of Education Elementary school teacher. I like (insert food or sport here). I am 20-something years old" The second last sentence is out of the grade 4 textbook, an open-class they had that day. I'm glad to see it came in handy.
The best one, by far, was a pretty cute Korean girl with those popular over-sized black rimmed glasses. It was the standard this is my family, I'm this old and then said "I was out drinking last night and I don't want to talk anymore," she turned to the peer next to her, "Your turn."
Nobody laughed at this, I said "I see a lot of you in me." The next day she sat next to me in the cafe and I asked her if she went out again. She did. Get ready Korea because this will be a real life movie coming your way in 3 years when this gal gets a job teaching your children through movies, and breaking into BMCOE offices to prepare her students for tests. Call me when its car wash weekend.
Nothing really changed in my schedule I had an open class with the worst grade 5 class, which was awkward to say the least. Especially when we played a spelling game where students spell words letter by letter up and down the rows and a TC, sitting in the line of fire, spelled soccer S-O-C-C-O-R. She turned bright red as the 28 necks simultaneously snapped around to stare at her.
The other thing that changed was my conversation class; my co-teacher asked all the candidates if they wanted to attend. Obviously no one is going to sit out on this opportunity if one person goes and that's how I had a conversation class of 35 people. Because this is a "big deal" the head co-teacher explained to me that I would need clear topics and questions and probably other things too only pretend to hear. In the end I told my the wiser teacher what was going on and then she asked if she could plan it. I said sure because I'm not going to turn away free help from someone with more experience than me.
This ended up being a super awkward train wreck of silence. Usually our classes are really intimate and you don't get that vibe at all with 30+ people. It's also the shyness of CTs and TCs which was perplexing, to say the least. Eventually after trying to squeeze blood from this stone of a morgue (the topic was friendship and the silence went on for so long I brought up and taught the term "bros before hoes" no one seemed to get it except the guy who was engaged.) we went around the table and introduced ourselves. This was almost just as bad as the silence. There were a few teachers who were able to talk about themselves but others went like this:
"Hello, my name is __________. My family is mudder, fadder, me and brudder. I study at Pusan University of Education Elementary school teacher. I like (insert food or sport here). I am 20-something years old" The second last sentence is out of the grade 4 textbook, an open-class they had that day. I'm glad to see it came in handy.
The best one, by far, was a pretty cute Korean girl with those popular over-sized black rimmed glasses. It was the standard this is my family, I'm this old and then said "I was out drinking last night and I don't want to talk anymore," she turned to the peer next to her, "Your turn."
Nobody laughed at this, I said "I see a lot of you in me." The next day she sat next to me in the cafe and I asked her if she went out again. She did. Get ready Korea because this will be a real life movie coming your way in 3 years when this gal gets a job teaching your children through movies, and breaking into BMCOE offices to prepare her students for tests. Call me when its car wash weekend.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Top 5: Student Interviews
I was given the task of interviewing/ conversing with Grade 6s last week with a mix of simple and advanced questions. These are my favorite kinds of things to do because it helps you get to know your students on a personal level... assuming they are confident speaking English.
That was the case for only a few kids. I am at the point where I know which of the 250 Grade 6 students speak at a low level but they're usually able to tell me their favorite subject, foods, and how many brothers and sisters they have and other simple questions. For higher level students I ask them things like their hobbies, where they'd like to travel, what music, books and movies they like, and questions that build off of simpler questions too. Sometimes when I was sick of hearing, " I have a younger brother," and "I like Pija" I'd tell them to ask me a question. After the first week of this activity my co-teacher and I collectively decided that the higher level students should think of questions to ask me. In the end we decided it would be better to give them a choice whether to ask or be asked.
5. One kid on the baseball team at my school was born in Korea, then lived on Long Island for eight years, and came back the same time I arrived. His English is significantly better than his Korean but now that's changing according to my CTs. However, we talked about the differences in between New York and Korea in terms of baseball and he finds that Baseball is more important here than in America. The baseball team's youngest players are in Grade 3 and the team practices from 3 to 6 almost everyday. I don't think that would ever happen in Canada (unless it was hockey) but I won't say the same about our neighbors to south.
4. I'm pretty close with one of the Grade 6 teachers and she told me one of her students (who doesn't look Korean at all) went to the Philippines to study English over the winter vacation. In class he's still a statue but with the interview he was a little more talkative. Despite the praise I have for this student he didn't exactly pick my favorite question:
"Do you have a girlfriend?:
"No,"
"Why?"
"I'm too busy. I travel on weekends, I play lots of sports and I'm a teacher too."
"I'm too busy too to have a girlfriend."
We both laughed, awkwardly, and ended it there.
3. I asked a girl how here weekend was and she had just started learning Chinese. I asked if she wanted to go to China and she shook her head. She knew the country wasn't very clean and, we didn't get into specifics here, she didn't agree with some of their customs and values. She reads and listens to the news frequently with her parents which was something I never had the patience to do. Big ups to her!
2. Another student chose to ask me some questions. The first two were "How old are you?" and "What's your favorite Korean food?" but his third question was really unique: "What is your heaven?" I took me awhile to answer him but eventually it came down to being able to see everyone in my family who had passed away and getting to see the ancestors I never got to meet... and get completely wasted with them.
1. I asked a lot of students what their favorite bands and musicians were. Most of them said K-Pop people I'd never heard of, no one was a huge fan of Psy but they don't hate him either. One girl told me she likes Justin Bieber and THE BEATLES! That was probably the coolest moment of all the interviews, hence the power ranking. Knowing that kids can and do listen to music from my parents era makes me think anything is possible and the internet is an amazing time capsule.
As a teacher I really want to be able to continue this routine with my students even when I'm finished with ESL and I recommend this as a space filler or warm-up for speeches.
That was the case for only a few kids. I am at the point where I know which of the 250 Grade 6 students speak at a low level but they're usually able to tell me their favorite subject, foods, and how many brothers and sisters they have and other simple questions. For higher level students I ask them things like their hobbies, where they'd like to travel, what music, books and movies they like, and questions that build off of simpler questions too. Sometimes when I was sick of hearing, " I have a younger brother," and "I like Pija" I'd tell them to ask me a question. After the first week of this activity my co-teacher and I collectively decided that the higher level students should think of questions to ask me. In the end we decided it would be better to give them a choice whether to ask or be asked.
Here's the top 5
5. One kid on the baseball team at my school was born in Korea, then lived on Long Island for eight years, and came back the same time I arrived. His English is significantly better than his Korean but now that's changing according to my CTs. However, we talked about the differences in between New York and Korea in terms of baseball and he finds that Baseball is more important here than in America. The baseball team's youngest players are in Grade 3 and the team practices from 3 to 6 almost everyday. I don't think that would ever happen in Canada (unless it was hockey) but I won't say the same about our neighbors to south.
4. I'm pretty close with one of the Grade 6 teachers and she told me one of her students (who doesn't look Korean at all) went to the Philippines to study English over the winter vacation. In class he's still a statue but with the interview he was a little more talkative. Despite the praise I have for this student he didn't exactly pick my favorite question:
"Do you have a girlfriend?:
"No,"
"Why?"
"I'm too busy. I travel on weekends, I play lots of sports and I'm a teacher too."
"I'm too busy too to have a girlfriend."
We both laughed, awkwardly, and ended it there.
3. I asked a girl how here weekend was and she had just started learning Chinese. I asked if she wanted to go to China and she shook her head. She knew the country wasn't very clean and, we didn't get into specifics here, she didn't agree with some of their customs and values. She reads and listens to the news frequently with her parents which was something I never had the patience to do. Big ups to her!
2. Another student chose to ask me some questions. The first two were "How old are you?" and "What's your favorite Korean food?" but his third question was really unique: "What is your heaven?" I took me awhile to answer him but eventually it came down to being able to see everyone in my family who had passed away and getting to see the ancestors I never got to meet... and get completely wasted with them.
1. I asked a lot of students what their favorite bands and musicians were. Most of them said K-Pop people I'd never heard of, no one was a huge fan of Psy but they don't hate him either. One girl told me she likes Justin Bieber and THE BEATLES! That was probably the coolest moment of all the interviews, hence the power ranking. Knowing that kids can and do listen to music from my parents era makes me think anything is possible and the internet is an amazing time capsule.
As a teacher I really want to be able to continue this routine with my students even when I'm finished with ESL and I recommend this as a space filler or warm-up for speeches.
Saturday, September 7, 2013
Through the Eyes of the Waygook: At the Movies.
There are a lot of different things about Korean movie theaters that make the experience a lot better. The only down side is the selection isn't the same as back home: the major blockbusters usually make there way over, as do Oscar Nominated films. Certain films will not be coming here like This is the End, We're the Miller's, and any B or below movie about American History. Right now the big films from North America are Elysium and Now You See Me with Riddick and Adore (which is called Two Mothers here) on the way.
The five films I've managed to see while here were Silver Linings, Man of Steel, An Unexpected Journey, Life of Pi, and Now You See Me. In total I've spent less than $60 at the movies including snacks! Tickets are usually $7 or $9 but snacks are not as enormous but you're not paying $10 for a bag of popcorn either. My friend and I usually go dutch on the couple-package which is two medium bags of popcorn (flavored popcorn costs the same) and drinks for 10,000 won. If I've eaten a big meal before I go for a bottle of water from a convenience store because they are built into some of the theaters.
Back home there's always the dreaded feeling after getting your tickets then walking into the theater room itself to see a mass of people sitting gobbling, talking on their phones, and someone shushing their baby in the pitch black not knowing where to sit. Korea has solved this problem by giving you assigned seating. Oddly enough at basketball and soccer games there is no assigned seating and tickets are cheaper than a ticket to the movies. Also I find the sound isn't as overwhelming, but after a year hearing twenty-seven chairs sliding along the floor simultaneously I might be used to loudness of theaters.
It's a different kind of experience in Korea but at the heart you still want to watch a magical story unfold in front of you on a screen at least 5 times the sizes of your TV.
The five films I've managed to see while here were Silver Linings, Man of Steel, An Unexpected Journey, Life of Pi, and Now You See Me. In total I've spent less than $60 at the movies including snacks! Tickets are usually $7 or $9 but snacks are not as enormous but you're not paying $10 for a bag of popcorn either. My friend and I usually go dutch on the couple-package which is two medium bags of popcorn (flavored popcorn costs the same) and drinks for 10,000 won. If I've eaten a big meal before I go for a bottle of water from a convenience store because they are built into some of the theaters.
Back home there's always the dreaded feeling after getting your tickets then walking into the theater room itself to see a mass of people sitting gobbling, talking on their phones, and someone shushing their baby in the pitch black not knowing where to sit. Korea has solved this problem by giving you assigned seating. Oddly enough at basketball and soccer games there is no assigned seating and tickets are cheaper than a ticket to the movies. Also I find the sound isn't as overwhelming, but after a year hearing twenty-seven chairs sliding along the floor simultaneously I might be used to loudness of theaters.
It's a different kind of experience in Korea but at the heart you still want to watch a magical story unfold in front of you on a screen at least 5 times the sizes of your TV.
Monday, September 2, 2013
The Halpertian Stare (trademarked)
If you're not a fan of The Office or, to a lesser extent Modern Family, you're not going to understand what I'm talking about.
Today I asked the language assistant were she gets these containers that're sturdy and stack-able. They don't look modern or appealing but they're extremely practical and I'd like to have some sort of storage system for my afternoon classes so they can have long-term projects that span over one class. And a place to keep their notebooks so I can mark them as I please. A co-teacher intervenes in the conversation preaching that they're quite expensive and I should ask the school to buy them.
"Well, [co-teacher],when can we do that?"
"Maybe next time."
Meaning ...?
And that's when I realized at times like this I do The Halpertian Stare. I turn my head into a vacant space in the room and stare blankly searching for someone in that space to relate to in this perplexing and frustrating situation. I presume my eyes are slightly sad or sighing. But nobody sees or understands. Meanwhile, the sane employees of Dunder Mifflin as well as the Dunphy and Pritchett families have a camera lodged in the fourth wall and an audience of a million plus to flash their straight face of negativity that cries for any form of escape or salvation.
Moments like this don't bother me anymore, I'm starting to realize I watch way too much TV, by which I mean Netflix. And too much vegging out is reason number three for starting Korean classes.
Today I asked the language assistant were she gets these containers that're sturdy and stack-able. They don't look modern or appealing but they're extremely practical and I'd like to have some sort of storage system for my afternoon classes so they can have long-term projects that span over one class. And a place to keep their notebooks so I can mark them as I please. A co-teacher intervenes in the conversation preaching that they're quite expensive and I should ask the school to buy them.
"Well, [co-teacher],when can we do that?"
"Maybe next time."
Meaning ...?
And that's when I realized at times like this I do The Halpertian Stare. I turn my head into a vacant space in the room and stare blankly searching for someone in that space to relate to in this perplexing and frustrating situation. I presume my eyes are slightly sad or sighing. But nobody sees or understands. Meanwhile, the sane employees of Dunder Mifflin as well as the Dunphy and Pritchett families have a camera lodged in the fourth wall and an audience of a million plus to flash their straight face of negativity that cries for any form of escape or salvation.
Moments like this don't bother me anymore, I'm starting to realize I watch way too much TV, by which I mean Netflix. And too much vegging out is reason number three for starting Korean classes.
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