안녕하십니다.
저는 채크리 입니다.
저는 25생이 입니다.
저는 선생 학생 부인입니다.
남편이 한국 사람 습니다.
매월 요일에 수요일에 금요일에, 저는 학원에 갑니다.
학원에서 영어를 가르칩니다.
매 토요일에 학원에 갑니다.
학원에서 한국말 공부합니다.
hahaha! My first e-mail to my Korean teacher. Let's see what my grade is. :)
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
My First Opera in Korea...or Anywhere for that matter!
We knew that there were going to be a lot of people at the theater because of the crowded subway. As soon as we exited the station we just followed the long line of people headed for only one place: Sumi Jo's concert.
As usual, I knew nothing about this lady. My husband was astounded and patiently informed me that Sumi Jo happened to be one of the most famous opera singers in the world. The following day I did some research and wikipedia says this about her: "Sumi Jo is a Grammy award winning South Korean lyric coloratura soprano known for her interpretations of the bel canto repertoire." I read on and felt like such a dumb ass for thinking that Kim Yona (the world's figure skating champ) was Korea's most famous superstar. I wouldn't be surprised if they had some more that I, the ignorant, just didn't know of.
Anyway, back to the program. We finally reached the concert hall and BOOOOY was it packed. The seats in the middle are (I'm just guessing) those who 1. paid quite a lot of money for their seats 2. VIP's and 3. sponsors (although maybe I should count those sponsors as VIP's as well.) The group of seats directly after the seats in the middle are the seats for people like my husband and myself, who only got the tickets for free (from Youngbae's friend, Seungbum, who got the tickets because he's a VIP at Hyundai Department Store, the show's main sponsor) as well. Sadly though, the best seats were already taken and we simply retired ourselves to the seats at the side of the stadium. It was really hard to see the stage, something I discovered after several failed attempts at seeing at least the face of the conductor using our camera's zoom-in function.Often frustration would take over and during those seconds when the futility of my actions were dancing in front of my eyes I'd just aim the camera at the huge tarpaulin on the left side of the stage where videos or pictures would be shown---sometimes of the singers, sometimes of the orchestra, at other times of videos shown to accompany the music.
I've attached some videos here for you to see. Sumi Jo is really amazing, so I hope you guys enjoy. :D
Here's a video of the opening that the orchestra did for the concert:
As usual, I knew nothing about this lady. My husband was astounded and patiently informed me that Sumi Jo happened to be one of the most famous opera singers in the world. The following day I did some research and wikipedia says this about her: "Sumi Jo is a Grammy award winning South Korean lyric coloratura soprano known for her interpretations of the bel canto repertoire." I read on and felt like such a dumb ass for thinking that Kim Yona (the world's figure skating champ) was Korea's most famous superstar. I wouldn't be surprised if they had some more that I, the ignorant, just didn't know of.
Anyway, back to the program. We finally reached the concert hall and BOOOOY was it packed. The seats in the middle are (I'm just guessing) those who 1. paid quite a lot of money for their seats 2. VIP's and 3. sponsors (although maybe I should count those sponsors as VIP's as well.) The group of seats directly after the seats in the middle are the seats for people like my husband and myself, who only got the tickets for free (from Youngbae's friend, Seungbum, who got the tickets because he's a VIP at Hyundai Department Store, the show's main sponsor) as well. Sadly though, the best seats were already taken and we simply retired ourselves to the seats at the side of the stadium. It was really hard to see the stage, something I discovered after several failed attempts at seeing at least the face of the conductor using our camera's zoom-in function.Often frustration would take over and during those seconds when the futility of my actions were dancing in front of my eyes I'd just aim the camera at the huge tarpaulin on the left side of the stage where videos or pictures would be shown---sometimes of the singers, sometimes of the orchestra, at other times of videos shown to accompany the music.
I've attached some videos here for you to see. Sumi Jo is really amazing, so I hope you guys enjoy. :D
Here's a video of the opening that the orchestra did for the concert:
Below is a video of one of Sumi Jo's performances. Pardon the clarity (or the lack of it), but listen to the voice. Forget watching. All you need to do is hear that voice!
I LOVE THIS GUY. It's when I listened to him that I KNEW I was listening to an OPERA. Amazing! He brings pictures of fat women singing to mind, but it's not a bad image! It's just that little Miss Ignorant doesn't know much, except stories of how those large women are some of the best opera singers before! :0 Enjoy!
My second to the last video, because I think I've posted one too many videos already. This video is of Miss Sumi Jo singing the "Ave Maria :-)
This last video is of Sumi Jo singing "Champions", the song she sang for the World Cup in Seoul in 2002. :-) It's not very clear, but still I hope you enjoy. :D
The night ended with me and Youngbae crossing the street to get something to eat then heading home for our needed sleep. The next day was going to be another adventure, after all. :-)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The i-touch is such a blessing
Ever since I discovered that the OS of my i-touch could actually be converted into English (it was originally in Korean) I've discovered why people have been crazy about it. I used to see it as just a higher version of an i-pod, its main use as an audio book or as a music player that you can easily carry around. Yet now I've discovered its many, beauuuutifuuuul! uses, and I'm currently using it to read through books, learn Korean faster, and surf the internet whenever I'm bored.
It's a gift from God. I love it! :-D
It's a gift from God. I love it! :-D
Thursday, March 25, 2010
A Sad Truth (of a Non-native English Teacher in Korea)
It was December last year when my father-in-law took my husband and I to a school outside Seoul. Darkness was overpowered by the bright lights outside and made everything feel so surreal.
So even after my interview with the principal, everything felt surreal, unreal, like a dream that had just begun. I didn't want a job at the time; the job just came to my doorstep, and my husband was more excited than I was at the offer of his father's friend. I was thinking of studying Korean more at the time, actually, but how could anyone also reject such an immediate opportunity to fulfill one's dream? "A teaching job!" My husband had said, the words lighting his eyes up. "a job with no stress and you'll only have to work for half a day. Isn't that great?"
Of course it was. I had a month later begun to feel the loneliness being a wife in a country whose language she couldn't speak could feel, and the teaching job was a way to get to talk to other people within the same country. I developed friendships and discovered new things, and teaching here, albeit much harder than teaching in China, is still a good experience.
Sadly though, the goodness of this experience is slowly disappearing. This past month children from the school that I'm working in are slowly starting to drop out not because they feel that the quality of the education has been compromised, but rather because they feel that their teacher has an accent that they would not like to copy. My principal tells these people of my qualifications---a TESOL certificate, a graduate from a prestigious university, experience teaching abroad... qualities that my principal had felt would surpass the qualifications the other native speakers who had applied for the same job had. Yet her theories do not seem to be shared by the other parents, and one by one students are dropping out like flies.
I'm happy to have been given this chance to work in this company, as demanding as the job is most of the time. So I pray that this gets better, not just for the sake of pursuing this dream but also for my company's sake.
So even after my interview with the principal, everything felt surreal, unreal, like a dream that had just begun. I didn't want a job at the time; the job just came to my doorstep, and my husband was more excited than I was at the offer of his father's friend. I was thinking of studying Korean more at the time, actually, but how could anyone also reject such an immediate opportunity to fulfill one's dream? "A teaching job!" My husband had said, the words lighting his eyes up. "a job with no stress and you'll only have to work for half a day. Isn't that great?"
Of course it was. I had a month later begun to feel the loneliness being a wife in a country whose language she couldn't speak could feel, and the teaching job was a way to get to talk to other people within the same country. I developed friendships and discovered new things, and teaching here, albeit much harder than teaching in China, is still a good experience.
Sadly though, the goodness of this experience is slowly disappearing. This past month children from the school that I'm working in are slowly starting to drop out not because they feel that the quality of the education has been compromised, but rather because they feel that their teacher has an accent that they would not like to copy. My principal tells these people of my qualifications---a TESOL certificate, a graduate from a prestigious university, experience teaching abroad... qualities that my principal had felt would surpass the qualifications the other native speakers who had applied for the same job had. Yet her theories do not seem to be shared by the other parents, and one by one students are dropping out like flies.
I'm happy to have been given this chance to work in this company, as demanding as the job is most of the time. So I pray that this gets better, not just for the sake of pursuing this dream but also for my company's sake.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
An Hour to finish Vocabulary Words
Why is it taking me an hour to finish 15 vocabulary words!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Arrrr haha arrr!!!!!!!!
Arrrr haha arrr!!!!!!!!
When Procrastination Beats You
It is 5:43 AM. I woke up at 5AM today telling myself that I would be getting some job done, finally, because I need to. I promised myself I would, and yet to this very second I am doing what I always do---procrastinate.
In a previous life I interviewed a man who explained to me what true laziness is. Laziness comes in different forms, and procrastination is another form of it. If there were ten things on your list but you choose to do the one that you like best instead of the one that needs urgent attention, then you are lazy. To claim otherwise is to defend your laziness; a lazy person is a lazy person, unless of course the person in question is able to overcome this.
Sadly though, I still have been unable to overcome this laziness. It's not due to lack of interest in the subject, but rather due to the numerous tasks that I have to do every time I teach my classes. I've never taught in a school wherein there are at least 3 tasks to do per class per day. I want to say that it's stressful, but like my husband says, it's just a time management problem.
Argh, back to work. Somebody give me an adventure again.
In a previous life I interviewed a man who explained to me what true laziness is. Laziness comes in different forms, and procrastination is another form of it. If there were ten things on your list but you choose to do the one that you like best instead of the one that needs urgent attention, then you are lazy. To claim otherwise is to defend your laziness; a lazy person is a lazy person, unless of course the person in question is able to overcome this.
Sadly though, I still have been unable to overcome this laziness. It's not due to lack of interest in the subject, but rather due to the numerous tasks that I have to do every time I teach my classes. I've never taught in a school wherein there are at least 3 tasks to do per class per day. I want to say that it's stressful, but like my husband says, it's just a time management problem.
Argh, back to work. Somebody give me an adventure again.
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