Seoul Searching: Winter Camp, Soccer, Jazz, & Raw Fish

January 9th: last day of my two week stint teaching English at Deokam Elementary winter camp. I taught a group of 19 students from grades 3, 4, and 5, most of whom attend different schools during the year. My group had the lowest level of English proficiency (out of the three classes at winter camp), so my Korean co-teacher, Jennifer, and I sometimes had to simplify the lesson material provided in the course manual. Despite their shyness, the children staged a performance for their parents on the last day of camp: each student presented a holiday of the year, and described how people celebrate it. The other classes also sang or performed skits.

One lesson involved making PB&J sandwiches, following the recipe in English.

Another involved rudimentary geometry activities in English - using Tangrams!

My favorite time: Story time! (The books my co-teacher provided were priceless.)

Above left: Maggie, another new English teacher and CulCom student, from Chicago.
Above right: Lana, Maggie's teacher on Saturday and now one of my two new teachers, ever since I decided to swap my Thursday evening class time for more accessible Saturday afternoon. Plus, my old teacher, Bohyeon, is now working full time, 7 days a week, at two jobs. Busy guy!
Bottom center: A brief visitor from Kentucky on a whirlwind tour through Southeast Asia and beyond. He got lost trying to find his residence for the weekend in Seoul.
Bottom left: another friendly CulCom member, who rescued said visitor off the street and offered his guidance for a couple of days.

James and I visited the World Cup Soccer Stadium and the adjoining soccer history museum, along with his friend. I managed to communicate with her in a halting fashion, with Jame's help, since her English was at about the same level as my Korean. In the evening, we had pig's feet for dinner with Monty, another old friend of James'. I was a little wary at first, but the meat was so tender and tasted surprisingly like turkey! James' family just arrived from Newzealand, to pay him a visit in Seoul, before the lot of them fly back to their new home in Sidney, Australia, in a week or so. For several years now, James has been a traveling agent on behalf of language institutes in Newzealand and Australia, that cater to Korean students studying abroad, as well as potential immigrants.

Jihyun and I had dinner at a classy little Spanish restaurant in Hongdae, a district whose University is well known for its art and design programs. The place is littered with trendy bars and ethnic food restaurants, as well as some live music venues, though they can be hard to find! I I noticed how Jihyun's ginkgo leaf-coloured overcoat matched the rice dish and sangria.

We stumbled upon a live Jazz club, after being turned away from the crowded Giocat or "cat cafe" (more on that later). The young musicians were superb: their timing faultless and their improvisation impressive. I reveled in all the jazz standards and classic love songs: the same ones that Mr. Woods, my old piano teacher, used to teach me. It was my first time seeing a good live music performance since arriving in Seoul, and I hope it won't be my last!

The whole gang again, eating out at a raw seafood restaurant, to celebrate Jared's birthday, as well as Cia's, Sean's girldriend. Jared just returned the night before from an enviable trip to the more temperate Jeju island, south of the Korean peninsula: the first place we originally applied to work as english teachers. You can follow the link to his blog to see plenty of cool pictures from the Jared and Cholong's trip! (Jared has January off work, as stipulated in the new contract he signed with our employer at BCM.)