Getting the Vote: Campaigning Observations in Korea

I've really enjoyed seeing all the color and enthusiasm as Election Day draws near in Korea. June 4th is the big day and a couple of weeks ago I noticed a well-dressed man with a sash around his torso  standing on the corner of one of the busiest intersections in my city Icheon. Right by the bus terminal, I couldn't figure out what he was doing; he didn't have a bag or a suitcase and he was just standing there, arms straight at his side, waiting patiently. When the light changed and the traffic started rolling by, he began bowing. Deeper than the standard-everyday greeting bow, his bows lasted a few seconds. It is something I won't soon forget! "Oh, wow," I thought, "He's bowing to the drivers."

After School Club

I came into the new school year with three after school classes and a plan to focus on broadening vocabulary though the art and stories of children's book. I put together a "My English Notebook" for each of the after school club attendees, created worksheets and activities specific to each book, and established a sticker rewards system that they could track on the inside cover of the notebooks. With powerpoint versions of the books to display on the big touch screen, I was confident this was going to be awesome.

It was pretty clear by the second week that my plan had relied too much on their ability to focus that late in the afternoon. Combined with varying levels of English, extreme tardiness, and schedule changes, I abandoned the children's book lesson plan and opted for ABC and ABC phonics activities and English games - many of which I found here - that practiced the key phrases we were learning in our regular English classes.

Expressing Sewol

Thank You, Bus Drivers

The bus drivers here in Korea are cool, fearless, sometimes easily irritable, lay-on-the-horn type, and have a "I'm bigger than you" mentaility when driving. One of the city bus drivers I see more regularly has shocking white hair, wears aviators, and changes gears like he's flying a fighter jet. 

Red lights are optional and the bus drivers are, if possible, more anxious and impatient than the riders themselves to get where they need to go. Express buses to Seoul from my city, where seats are reserved (see below for online-iPhone reservation how to), leave the second the scheduled departure time rolls by. Leaving from Seoul, there's a great stand-by system that let people pay for seats of people who miscalculated their timing and don't get to the bus on time. When arrived at the destination, the express bus drivers stand outside the bus door and bow as each of us passengers get off. 

On the longer trips I've taken (to Busan and Seoraksan National Park), the bus driver has had a set of indoor driving shoes, driving gloves, and a suit and tie hanging behind his seat, you know, just in case. The level of professionalism and pride of ownership - I drive this bus - is so right. I've noticed in other places - taxis and public places like bathrooms and elevators - head shots of those in charge (the drivers, cleaners, operators and maintenance workers). It seems like a good system to me, one that says, "Hey, I'm here working and making life that much nicer for you." 

Doam Spring Sports Day

Happy Labor Day, all. I was thrilled to have a day off from work and even more excited to spend it outside at Doam with my co-workers and students. The weather today was sunny and cool, beckoning the track suits and visors of the abbreviated Sports Days.

I didn't write a post about Doam's Fall Sports Day, which was a full day of races, quirky games, whole-school choreographed dances, music, food carts, colorful decorations, and family onlookers. It was a big event, one of my favorite days in Korea. Because of the ferry, my second school's Sports Day was cancelled and Doam's Sports Day was significantly scaled back; absent were the dances, decorations, food carts, and flock of parents. There was only one big school relay race, otherwise small competitions (like dodgeball and jump roping) took place by grade in different sections of the playground yard. It was much less of an event and more a collective morning physical education class. Still great fun of course.