눈 = snow (also "eye," but in this case "snow");
꽃 = flower;
therefore, 눈꽃 = snow flower, and you use it to refer to the snow that piles up on top of tree branches after a heavy snowfall.
눈 is pronounced "noon," and 꽃 is pronounced "goat." So: noongoat. Say it quickly, and let the "g" get stuck in your throat a little.
Showing posts with label happy snow time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label happy snow time. Show all posts
Monday, 25 January 2010
Friday, 22 January 2010
ok, fine.
I'll climb a mountain this Sunday. I'll buy crampons tomorrow to help with the whole "it's winter" thing. If only because I've never climbed a snowy mountain before, and KoHo is a good person to climb a snowy mountain for the first time with. This mountain isn't as hard as the last one we climbed, he assures me. Whatever, KoHo. I don't BELIEVE you anymore, but I'll continue to follow you anyway.
Maybe when I am finished climbing this new mountain, then I will stay at home and knit and drink something hot and sweet.
Maybe when I am finished climbing this new mountain, then I will stay at home and knit and drink something hot and sweet.
Monday, 4 January 2010
새해 복 많이 받으세요!
Today was the first business day of the new year, which means even though most teachers are technically on vacation right now, a lot of people, and especially the head teachers, were supposed to come to work today. There was a celebratory lunch, with persimmons and rice-cake/dumpling soup and sake and wine, and all around me, all day: 새해 복 많이 받으세요! (sae-hae bok manee badeusaeyo! = Receive a lot of luck this year! = Happy New Year!)
Winter classes commenced this morning, as did approximately 30 cm of snowfall - which is highly unusual for Seoul. I've been told that the last time Seoul got more than 10 cm of snow TOTAL over the course of an entire winter was 10 years ago. 30 cm in one day is absolutely unheard of. But despite that, very few schools canceled winter classes. Since the roads were horrid and nothing was canceled, the subways were a warzone. I've gotten pushy about my subway etiquette, but twice I had to let a crowded train pass and wait for the next one. People propel each other on and off the trains, I was being pushed forward so quickly that I lost all balance or control of my steps, and had a moment of panic when I realized I was crossing The Gap Between the Train and the Platform and not able to Mind it in the least (i.e. I couldn't see where I was stepping, but knew that somewhere down there was a gap big enough for my foot to fall through). It was terrifying, and it put me in a really bad mood. Luckily, there was a 10-minute walk through the snow to calm me down.
3 students showed up to students' English camp, which technically starts at 8:30 am but doesn't really start until 9 am. That means 13 students woke up, saw the snow, and decided it wasn't worth it. I don't really blame them.
But only 1 teacher was absent from teachers' English camp, and that was fun. A few teachers that I truly didn't know could speak English are attending, and their grammar is perfect and their vocabulary is huge and I really can't figure out why they haven't spoken to me before, since their enthusiasm today showed that there are a lot of questions they want to ask me (about English, about life in the U.S., about my life in Korea, etc). Anyway, it was fun.
I haven't written on this blog in what feels like ages. I guess ages = one week when I'm addicted to telling you all everything (not everything, never everything, but I try) about my life here. It doesn't feel right for you to not know what is happening.
I just realized this is going to be a long post. Prepare yourself, or give up now, whichever you prefer.
I have 2 important things to tell you:
1. I've decided where I'm going for my 3-week February vacation: Buenos Aires, Argentina, to meet Audra-friend and be silly and dance tango together. Financially, I'm being a little irresponsible, and setting myself back about a month-and-a-half paying back my student loans, but I've been working hard here, and I have both the time and the money to make the trip, and a good friend to spend time with while I'm there, and I don't know when all those things will coincide again, and anyway what I mean to say is I just really want this, and so I'm going. I've bought the ticket: Feb. 6, Seoul --> Hong Kong --> Johannesburg --> Buenos Aires, 35 hours total in transit. I can't wait.
2. I was talking to Park Mi-Ran the other day, and she was telling me about some changes our school might be making to their admissions process for the 2011 school year, which would allow students from all over Korea to apply, whereas right now only students who live in Seoul can apply. In theory, that would mean that instead of admitting a group of underprivileged and largely unmotivated students who have done poorly in Seoul's middle schools, my school would admit a group of students from rural Korea who have never before had a chance to receive a big-city education and who would (probably) be highly motivated. It would be exchanging one group of students who never had much of a chance in the Korean education system for another group of students who never had much of a chance in the Korean education system. But Park Mi-Ran really hopes the change happens, because she is excited to be able to see the students working hard and to be able to watch their English improve. With our current group of students, it's sometimes hard to see improvement. With a few exceptions, they're not very motivated to learn English.
Anyway, I am getting close to the important thing I have to tell you. About half-way through my conversation with Park Mi-Ran, I realized that she was telling me about these possible changes to try to convince me that I should renew my contract at Seoul Electronics High School. It made me really happy to know that she wants me to stay, that she wants to continue working with me. What she doesn't know, and what you maybe don't know, is that with or without the projected changes to school admissions, I really really really want to stay, I think, I really really really want to renew my contract. The time hasn't come to make the final decision, yet, and it won't come for at least another 5 months, but you should know that I'm seriously considering staying in Korea for another year beyond my current contract, maybe even longer. I'm in love with my school, both the teachers and the students, and I have a lot of goals here. I don't think I'll be ready to leave until I'm satisfied that all of them are complete: 1. become proficient in Korean, enough that I can carry out any necessary conversation without resorting to English; 2. become a confident English teacher, to both high school students and adults (subgoal: get my TEFL certification); 3. travel the Korean countryside extensively, climb a lot of mountains; 4. travel to places that are more convenient to travel to from Seoul than from other places I am likely to live in the future: China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, New Zealand, maybe India.
In conclusion, I feel (and have felt for a while) that I am in this for the long haul. That feeling is subject to change, of course, as my time here continues and my perspective shifts, but right now, I'd put the cap on my time here at somewhere around 3-5 years.
Are these 2 important things I have told you making you unhappy? I hope not. Realize that I am doing both of them not to hurt or avoid any of you, but because I feel that these decisions are what's best for me right now, these are the things that are making me happy.
Winter classes commenced this morning, as did approximately 30 cm of snowfall - which is highly unusual for Seoul. I've been told that the last time Seoul got more than 10 cm of snow TOTAL over the course of an entire winter was 10 years ago. 30 cm in one day is absolutely unheard of. But despite that, very few schools canceled winter classes. Since the roads were horrid and nothing was canceled, the subways were a warzone. I've gotten pushy about my subway etiquette, but twice I had to let a crowded train pass and wait for the next one. People propel each other on and off the trains, I was being pushed forward so quickly that I lost all balance or control of my steps, and had a moment of panic when I realized I was crossing The Gap Between the Train and the Platform and not able to Mind it in the least (i.e. I couldn't see where I was stepping, but knew that somewhere down there was a gap big enough for my foot to fall through). It was terrifying, and it put me in a really bad mood. Luckily, there was a 10-minute walk through the snow to calm me down.
3 students showed up to students' English camp, which technically starts at 8:30 am but doesn't really start until 9 am. That means 13 students woke up, saw the snow, and decided it wasn't worth it. I don't really blame them.
But only 1 teacher was absent from teachers' English camp, and that was fun. A few teachers that I truly didn't know could speak English are attending, and their grammar is perfect and their vocabulary is huge and I really can't figure out why they haven't spoken to me before, since their enthusiasm today showed that there are a lot of questions they want to ask me (about English, about life in the U.S., about my life in Korea, etc). Anyway, it was fun.
I haven't written on this blog in what feels like ages. I guess ages = one week when I'm addicted to telling you all everything (not everything, never everything, but I try) about my life here. It doesn't feel right for you to not know what is happening.
I just realized this is going to be a long post. Prepare yourself, or give up now, whichever you prefer.
I have 2 important things to tell you:
1. I've decided where I'm going for my 3-week February vacation: Buenos Aires, Argentina, to meet Audra-friend and be silly and dance tango together. Financially, I'm being a little irresponsible, and setting myself back about a month-and-a-half paying back my student loans, but I've been working hard here, and I have both the time and the money to make the trip, and a good friend to spend time with while I'm there, and I don't know when all those things will coincide again, and anyway what I mean to say is I just really want this, and so I'm going. I've bought the ticket: Feb. 6, Seoul --> Hong Kong --> Johannesburg --> Buenos Aires, 35 hours total in transit. I can't wait.
2. I was talking to Park Mi-Ran the other day, and she was telling me about some changes our school might be making to their admissions process for the 2011 school year, which would allow students from all over Korea to apply, whereas right now only students who live in Seoul can apply. In theory, that would mean that instead of admitting a group of underprivileged and largely unmotivated students who have done poorly in Seoul's middle schools, my school would admit a group of students from rural Korea who have never before had a chance to receive a big-city education and who would (probably) be highly motivated. It would be exchanging one group of students who never had much of a chance in the Korean education system for another group of students who never had much of a chance in the Korean education system. But Park Mi-Ran really hopes the change happens, because she is excited to be able to see the students working hard and to be able to watch their English improve. With our current group of students, it's sometimes hard to see improvement. With a few exceptions, they're not very motivated to learn English.
Anyway, I am getting close to the important thing I have to tell you. About half-way through my conversation with Park Mi-Ran, I realized that she was telling me about these possible changes to try to convince me that I should renew my contract at Seoul Electronics High School. It made me really happy to know that she wants me to stay, that she wants to continue working with me. What she doesn't know, and what you maybe don't know, is that with or without the projected changes to school admissions, I really really really want to stay, I think, I really really really want to renew my contract. The time hasn't come to make the final decision, yet, and it won't come for at least another 5 months, but you should know that I'm seriously considering staying in Korea for another year beyond my current contract, maybe even longer. I'm in love with my school, both the teachers and the students, and I have a lot of goals here. I don't think I'll be ready to leave until I'm satisfied that all of them are complete: 1. become proficient in Korean, enough that I can carry out any necessary conversation without resorting to English; 2. become a confident English teacher, to both high school students and adults (subgoal: get my TEFL certification); 3. travel the Korean countryside extensively, climb a lot of mountains; 4. travel to places that are more convenient to travel to from Seoul than from other places I am likely to live in the future: China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, New Zealand, maybe India.
In conclusion, I feel (and have felt for a while) that I am in this for the long haul. That feeling is subject to change, of course, as my time here continues and my perspective shifts, but right now, I'd put the cap on my time here at somewhere around 3-5 years.
Are these 2 important things I have told you making you unhappy? I hope not. Realize that I am doing both of them not to hurt or avoid any of you, but because I feel that these decisions are what's best for me right now, these are the things that are making me happy.
Sunday, 27 December 2009
Finally, some real snow.
Finally, my boots slide when they hit the road. KBS News says we're getting 1-3 cm, and that's a big deal, believe me. I'd realized it was snowing early on in the day, and felt irrationally cozier in my apartment because of it, but I just made a run to the convenience store on my street and realized we actually have a little build-up! Borderline temperatures mean that it will get icy soon, and if the snow stays long I'll definitely tire of it. But! I'm definitely taking a nighttime walk tonight. I'm definitely reveling in the crunchy-and-slippery that will probably be completely mush by morning.
Saturday, 5 December 2009
weekly pop music profile #1? (@bird_esque)
Maybe this will become a thing, we'll see.
This past week I did a "describing celebrities" lesson with a lot of my classes. I taught them how to describe appearance & repertoire (he/she sings ______, etc.) and then we played guessing games with Korean and American celebrities for the majority of the class.
The result of this is that I know way more about current Korean idols than I did before, a) because of the internet researching I did while lesson planning, and b) because of all the other celebrities that my students described to me.
All of this, to tell you that I've found a new boy band to be obsessed with: DBSK, or Dong Bang Shin Gi, which apparently translates to "The Rising Gods of the East."
Listen to my favorite song (so far) here.
Reasons why I think I like this song/video more than I like the other songs/videos I've watched (and let's be honest here, I watched DBSK videos for about 3 consecutive hours today):
1. BONDAGE IMAGERY. And it's the MEN who are being bound, at various points in the video, but notably at 1:00-1:02 and starting at 1:12.
2. Weird power dynamics. I'm creeped out by the ethereal woman-figure with gauze over her face, but she seems to be dominating all the men in the video. I think I'm interested in seeing (for once) men being made physically vulnerable by a female force (mysterious and face-less though she may be), instead of always the other way around. (See this video that Nora recently posted on the fb for why I've been thinking about women being threatened by a mysterious male force lately.)
But then, she's faceless! And towards the end of video, she's running away from them but then disappears! "My infinite crystals flow through your veins"/"I've got you under my skin." Both the "you" and the "I" in the song hold power over the other? The lyrics say "You can't escape me"/"You're my slave." Who is the "you," and who is the "I"? I can't tell. So, weird power dynamics.
3. Crucifixion imagery, wtf?
4. I don't know, maybe I like all the splashing of water that's going on?
Korea thinks the phrase "I got you under my skin" is inappropriate for minors, here for more.
The more I learn about Korean pop music, the more I discover that SM Entertainment is the immovable force behind the vast majority of top Korean hits. Super Junior, Girls' Generation, DBSK, BoA... most of the super powers of current Korean pop, all produced by SM Entertainment. The band members don't even come together on their own; they are recruited from mass auditions that SM holds and then built into a massively advertised performing machine. It creeps me out a little. (But I'm still obsessed with them.)
In other news, I saw snow in Seoul for the first time ever today! It didn't stick or anything, but the windy gusts were super fun to watch from the open window of my cozy 4th floor room.
This past week I did a "describing celebrities" lesson with a lot of my classes. I taught them how to describe appearance & repertoire (he/she sings ______, etc.) and then we played guessing games with Korean and American celebrities for the majority of the class.
The result of this is that I know way more about current Korean idols than I did before, a) because of the internet researching I did while lesson planning, and b) because of all the other celebrities that my students described to me.
All of this, to tell you that I've found a new boy band to be obsessed with: DBSK, or Dong Bang Shin Gi, which apparently translates to "The Rising Gods of the East."
Listen to my favorite song (so far) here.
Reasons why I think I like this song/video more than I like the other songs/videos I've watched (and let's be honest here, I watched DBSK videos for about 3 consecutive hours today):
1. BONDAGE IMAGERY. And it's the MEN who are being bound, at various points in the video, but notably at 1:00-1:02 and starting at 1:12.
2. Weird power dynamics. I'm creeped out by the ethereal woman-figure with gauze over her face, but she seems to be dominating all the men in the video. I think I'm interested in seeing (for once) men being made physically vulnerable by a female force (mysterious and face-less though she may be), instead of always the other way around. (See this video that Nora recently posted on the fb for why I've been thinking about women being threatened by a mysterious male force lately.)
But then, she's faceless! And towards the end of video, she's running away from them but then disappears! "My infinite crystals flow through your veins"/"I've got you under my skin." Both the "you" and the "I" in the song hold power over the other? The lyrics say "You can't escape me"/"You're my slave." Who is the "you," and who is the "I"? I can't tell. So, weird power dynamics.
3. Crucifixion imagery, wtf?
4. I don't know, maybe I like all the splashing of water that's going on?
Korea thinks the phrase "I got you under my skin" is inappropriate for minors, here for more.
The more I learn about Korean pop music, the more I discover that SM Entertainment is the immovable force behind the vast majority of top Korean hits. Super Junior, Girls' Generation, DBSK, BoA... most of the super powers of current Korean pop, all produced by SM Entertainment. The band members don't even come together on their own; they are recruited from mass auditions that SM holds and then built into a massively advertised performing machine. It creeps me out a little. (But I'm still obsessed with them.)
In other news, I saw snow in Seoul for the first time ever today! It didn't stick or anything, but the windy gusts were super fun to watch from the open window of my cozy 4th floor room.
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