So there is a saying, "It takes a village to raise a child." The saying for SoKo needs to be revised a bit, "It takes a village to get a student into university." It turns out my on-line applications to university were a piece of cake compared to the shinanigans that my students are expriencing. Absolute insanity. My students have had to compile endless amount of documents, take tests, travel to the universities for interviews and tests, fork up obscene amounts of money, and enlist the help of parents and teachers. Many of the teachers have been busy going over applications [View Full Entry]

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H1N1 has resurged in Korea... 10 of my students have gone home with either the potentiality of it or full-blown H1N1. This weekend should be cool. On Saturday I am going to the yoga leadership class for the first time since I graduated. It will be awesome to be back in the space. I am hoping that my Korean comprehension beefs up by then. Recently, I have been having such a tough time understanding Korean. I definately haven't been practicing enough. I found an awesome Korean drama that I love to watch on the internet, 'Queen Seon Deok,' buuuuuuut the site [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from a distant space... I seem to only be a “good” blogger sometimes. I guess that is the flow and rhythm of my life though, so I accept it. Life here is acutely chaos right now. I am hungrily devouring novels as I simultaneously walk to school. I have been lesson planning and planning my winter trip to India. I am missing my recently departed American friends, while trying to organize future activities (that I wish they could come to)… I realized yesterday, as I have been racing around that 1) I was practicing yoga (asana and pranayama) only once [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday was a blur. I have been awake, but asleep or like a robot. It has been a mad rush to get information. Information about India, information about Gyeongju, Samcheok, and Palgong Mountain… On Tuesday I rocked it at school and then around lunch time my friends came. We walked around and saw some of the students. We told them that we were going to have a free talk time. A group of about 15 students came to talk… 3 first years and about 12 second years. It was awesome. I was so impressed with the students. Then we took a [View Full Entry]

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I want to blog as much of this as I can before it jumbles up in my mind and becomes some huge blobby memory that is only made slightly clearer when I look at the pictures that were taken… This weekend, a magical four day weekend, ushered us off to the island of Jeju. I did as much prep work as I could muster. This was Chuseok weekend, which meant that businesses would be closed, at least, on Saturday. Also, the days preceding and following were mass travel days, so tickets were scarce. On Tuesday, with the help of my co-teacher [View Full Entry]

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This week I stopped shaving my armpits. The scary thing is that I have no idea what it will look like. Society has us so conditioned. The moment I had some peach fuzz, I was all over my mom to let me shave it so that I didn’t stand out. I’m actually kind of excited to see what it will look like. For something innate; it is insane that I am so disconnected from it. It makes me think about all of the bullshit that people call beauty in this world… Instead, I buy a razor and soap (or shaving cream), [View Full Entry]

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This week is just making me giddy. Yesterday was Kathleen's birthday and Friday at 1am I get to welcome Jamie and co. to SoKo. Sooo good. I got my Korean driver's license today!!! It was so much easier than expected. I think it is because I read some blogs of people from Seoul going and getting theirs. In Daegu, at least in the morning, the people traffic at the DLA was so minimal. It was incredible. BRING *17,000 won *3 photos (passport sized) *passport *ARC card (alien registration card) *driver's license from home country I arrived with my coteacher and there [View Full Entry]

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In case I have not said it yet, WELCOME FALL!!! The leaves are changing colors... There is a bite to the air... The rain cools the skin... All signs of Fall are making their appreance. I stand here looking out at the black night and am so greatful to be alive. To be witnesses so much life and to have the capacity to love. The awareness to know that I love. To feel with all of my senses and witness. Gratitude. Tonight was such a great night with my students I just had to share. First of all, I had one [View Full Entry]

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It’s 8:30pm on Sunday and I am settling back into life in Gyeongsan. I spent the weekend celebrating the birth of a friend. We went on a ‘camping’ trip. I put camping in parenthesis because the camp site was in the middle of a heavily trafficked area of a national park. We were expecting to go out into the woods and experience an escape from society. Instead we camped right next to the hustle and flow. We ended up in these white tents that had to raised platforms (common in Korea) of linoleum wood to sleep on. They lined either side [View Full Entry]

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I was handed a stack of essays to judge today. They made for an interesting read. The topic was mass media and the question was whether or not younger generations are effected more by mass media. Students unanimously stated that they believed younger people were more affected. The students cited examples such as the prevalence of cyber culture, how young people aren’t given the tools to critically think, and how information (however bias or accurate) is just a mouse click or remote control click away. I was thinking about this as I was walking home from work today and I noticed [View Full Entry]

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