Tidbits

The gym teacher was trying to poke fun at my coteacher by calling her a caveman. He surprised me immensely by saying "She is australopithecus." He then continued the joke calling her "Homo erectus." I took this opportunity to explain to them why middle school students always laugh when they learn about Homo erectus. It was a comical conversation with even more comical subtle hand gestures.

Today I was eating an after school snack in my favourite kimbap place (kimbap is the Korean version of sushi... it's similar in that it involves rice and seaweed, but otherwise is very different) and two groups of middle school students who used to be my grade 6 girls opened the door and came in to say hi! It was lovely. I asked how they were, and they said "Sad. Middle school is.... ugh." Haha pour things. One group included the girls who  made me that amazing rainbow letter. Walking home I passed another graduate of my school who couldn't remember my name but excitedly called out the name of my school and waved.

This inspirational quote is inside
a delicious but horribly
dingy Vietnamese restaurant.

This is a Vietnamese inspired meal called Shabu Shabu
(this is not the dingy place). It is AMAZING.
You cook the meat in the broth in the middle,
then you make your own rice paper rolls with
everything. It's unbelievably delicious. 

At Starbucks you can buy an
individually packaged "Chiquita
Super Premium Banana"

Went on an after school bike ride with a friend and
found this neat little traditional looking village.
We didn't have time to go inside, but we did
snap some photos with the statues and
glass ducks at the entrance.

Here are some quotes found on an optometry store window. Quite poetic if you ask me...

"Glasses were made for ovesight proofread

and protection

EYEWEAR

It is called speech

that is dress worn

in face

as glasses situate

On trend of fashion

Protect eyes,

give point to bored Kodi

item that

can produce various atmosphere.

Now, glasses are fashion!!!"

"Do not buy glasses,

it is that buy flavor and image

Feeling that want

to see

face near

Only my feeling

that have read intact mental image

Window that

have filled

alive impression

make only my flavor and style."

Even more blossoms!

I went back to Bomun today, but today I had some tour guides. I went with my neighbours and their Korean friends. This allowed me to not only avoid getting lost, but we took the most magical side route too. It was like walking in a fairy forest. The blossoms were amazingly full, the sky was blue (finally!) and whenever the wind blew it rained petals. Gorgeous. Also my friends have two adorable dogs and things are better with adorable animals always.

My awesomely neon Korean shoes surrounded by
petals

My two buddies,
Dolce and Bowser.
I love them so much!

Biking around Bomun Lake

I biked to and around Bomun Lake today. Boy am I tired! I may have gone the wrong way and sadly missed the sunlight on the more scenic side.. but either way here are MORE PHOTOS OF BLOSSOMS!

Old people garden in the riverbed. 

Viciously attacked by some very
effective plant.

planting flowers!

Family Words

Today I was teaching a class about different family member's names. It was amazing to note the differences between English and Korean.

Firstly, when I would say "how do you say brother in Korean?" there was three or four correct answers. The same went for sister. The words change depending on whether the sibling is older, younger, or.. I don't know what the third version is? Twins?

Secondly, they really had a hard time believing my brother was my brother (I showed pictures of my family). I don't know why, but they just really weren't buying it. Similarly when I showed pictures of him to my grade six's as an example of "School Band" they also were surprised. I know we don't look very similar, but I figured at least to Koreans we might!

We had them then make their own family trees. I printed a leafless tree, and then they drew their family members on leaf bushels which they cut out and glued to the tree. I figured this would allow for any family to fit on the tree (though I didn't see any step parents). A few kids with a higher grasp of English wanted to go beyond siblings, parents, and grandparents, so they asked my coteacher for some extra words. He would ask me to confirm, and the conversation went something like this..

"Anne, how do you say.. your father's brother?"

"Uncle!"

"Oh ok, but what about your mother's brother?"

"Uncle.."

"Oh same word? But what about your father's sister's husband?"

"...uncle..."

"My dictionary said Uncle in law?"

"Yes that's correct but usually people will just say uncle... Wow. English is lazy."

A similar conversation occurred about the word cousin. It's neat to see how much more structured their family words are, and how much more vague ours are. I suppose someone could argue that it's because family and bloodline is so much more important to them?

Also, I don't know why, but the kids got a hoot out of "great-grandmother" and "great-great-grandmother" haha. I would hear them mumbling "greatgreatgreatGREATmother" and chuckling to themselves. Oh boy they're funny.

Also cute: I saw one little girl this morning dressed in a lot of pink, and when I mentioned it she said "Yes! I am a pink princess!" 

Final cuteness: after I showed my family, the kids would ask "Where is the grandfather?" I surprised myself by saying "in heaven" because I'm not religious, but I couldn't really bring myself to say "he's dead" to them. Anyways, they were sweet about it and many would chime up "mine too!" I guess that doesn't seem so sweet now that I type it, but it was nice at the time. None of them got awkward or uncomfortable, they just understood that death happens and is a bummer.

Still no letters in my grade six mailbox, after they were so into it last year! I guess the novelty is over and they're entering puberty. Many are dating and it's adorable. Luckily, they're still beyond sweet and while I don't get written proof, they still shower me with compliments. Oh actually one last (I promise) little story...

"Teacher! You're so pretty. Small head big nose!"

"You know, in Canada a big nose is bad!"

"NO teacher! NICE BIG NOSE!"

Gotta love 'em.

Can't get enough of them blossoms.
Here's a view from a friend's window

Fave coffee spot (due to it's proximity to my place),
some blossoms, and a kid in my school's
gym uniform.

They're starting to fall already, boo.

You can call me Kim Minu cause I'm basically Korean
now that I can cook like one! Yummy soup by Anne.