Lasek Eye Surgery

Over a week ago, Jayson and I got Lasek Eye Surgery. This is something we always wanted to do. Especially on the days when our contacts didn't go in right, or my hairstyle didn't fit my glasses, or having to take out contacts before swimming or sleeping. These were our main reasons for choosing the surgery. Jayson had worn glasses since he was 2 years old, although there were some cute pictures of him as a kid, he is ready to throw the 25 year old eye style in the trash. I have only worn glasses since high school, but my eyesight got worse over time. So, the decision was easy.

We heard our friends talk about Lasek eye surgery in Korea and at first thought it was crazy, but we quickly proved ourselves wrong when we looked into it. Every friend we talked to went to the same doctor, Dr. Yun. Dr. Yun (at I Yun Eye Hospital) is a reputable surgeon who has performed more than 40,000 surgeries. He’s had 11 years of experience and graduated from the top university in Korea, Seoul University for his doctorate. So, we decided to go check this guy out.

OK, the truth is I was scared out of my wits to get the surgery done. Just going to the hospital to get some information had my stomach in knots. All I could think about was laying there and watching them operate on my eyes. Was I able to do that? Well, I was and I did. So, yay for me. haha. Ok, what helped the most was the hospital. They made us feel so comfortable and with the amount of pretests they did on our eyes, I knew they were going to be very thorough. So, on Aug 14th we had our first appointment and scheduled our surgery for the next week Aug. 21st.

Surgery day I was freaking out. Our appointment was at 2pm, which left me with the whole day to worry. Well, I got the apartment all clean and I cooked about 3 meals to last us for a week. Once we arrived to the hospital, I had to focus on my breathing. They did a few more tests to make sure they were going to correct our eyes correctly. Good idea. Then we had to wait. Once I put my head between my legs, was when the nurse came with my happy pill. Oh, that was the magic pill I was waiting for all day. I demanded that I was first, so I wouldn't chicken out.

So, I was first..... I was in la la land now and just going through the motions. They didn't speak very much English so I just followed their hands. Set your purse here, put on this robe, put on this hair net, and now follow me into the operating room. Now, lie down on this table and hold this pink, stuffed hippo (right like that was gonna calm me down). Finally, the doctor came in and spoke English to me. He talked me though the whole process. He put anesthesia drops in my eye, picked at my eye for a few minutes and the then I stared at the laser for 9 seconds. They did one eye at a time. My hands were gripping that hippo and my feet were going crazy. But, they said the most important thing to remember was look at the red light. And I did. I'm pretty sure they all thought I was crazy for freaking out so much. I could hear them say something in Korean and then they all laughed. This happened several times during the procedure. But, looking back I would have laughed at me too because there was nothing to worry about. There was no pain.....until after.

Jayson and I had Lasek not Lasik. Our eyes had hyperopia, so we needed the Lasek procedure. With Lasek, the procedure is painless, but the recovery is longer and more painful. We knew that, they warned us. Oh man, was that first day and night a nightmare. Jayson and I both couldn't open our eyes, nor did we want to talk or eat. This is where the idea of us both getting the surgery done at the same time seemed like a bad idea. Oh well, you live and you learn. During day 2 I could open my eyes a little. Jayson's laser was 27 seconds (triple mine) so he had more recovery then me. It took about 5 days to go outside with sunglasses on comfortably. Now, I can see pretty well. It will take a few weeks for our eyes to reach 100% of their potential. The doctor is very good with us. We have frequent appointments, which makes feel really comfortable.

So, after all the worrying and the pain, I would do this again in a heartbeat. So, anybody considering it should do it if they have the money. We saved $3000 each doing it in Korea. I think this experience has made me stronger :) haha we'll see

Summer Camp PinishE

Wow, summer has gone by fast. As you know we went to China for 1 week, taught summer camp for 3 weeks and got lasek and recovered for a week. For this blog post I am going to talk about summer camp and next post I will talk about our Lasek eye surgery.

Ok, summer camp. The schedule was one group of students come to school from 9am to 12pm and the next group of students came to school 1:30 to 5:30. There are six classes of students and they rotate through each native teacher, which means I had other native English speaking people at my school. It was a nice treat to be able have a regular conversation with someone everyday. I volunteered to teach Drama in the morning and then I taught the text book to the afternoon kids.

Drama was a lot of work and responsibility, but still a lot of fun. I went into it thinking I had to teach each class of students a play and after 3 weeks they would perform in front of all of their family and friends. After one week I realized the difficulty of teaching each class a different play, so I had some classes perform the same play. The class that was the least motivated (class 5) just learned songs. These kids were out to get me, but I won and stuck to songs instead of torturing them with memorizing lines of English they did not understand. BUT, my most proud teaching moment was when the lowest class (class 6) decided to take on the task of memorizing a play. The did “Jack and the Beanstalk.” They worked so hard and actually had fun. They made teaching Drama an easy choice for me.

Afternoon classes I taught 3 lessons out of the book and 3 lessons of my own. The book was way over their head and I had to alter the lessons anyway. It seems similar to the states. I guess it’s true, no matter where you are it is difficult to choose a textbook program that fits all teachers/students needs. But, through experience I have learned just pull from it what you need and go from there (but stick to the standards haha). I felt my own creation of lessons were more effective because I stuck to one English concept and ventured from there. I also taught a lot of games. Everyday the kids would walk in and say, “teacher game?” I caved and realized it was English CAMP and was meant to be fun. Can you believe a parent actually called and complained that their child was not completing their text book? So, the last day of school the kids had to just finish pages out of their workbook. One parent and every camp in the area had to finish workbook pages. Come on parents, you need to trust us teachers. UHG! I guess that’s another similarity to the states. There will always be parents who think they know better then the teacher:)

All in all, Summer Camp was a good experience. The kids were cute and I met some new English teachers. We had a sports day, a market day and a performance day. The performances were not perfect, but pretty good for 3 weeks of work.

China

Wow China! We had an amazing time. I have to admit I am a bit naive. Since we are living in an Asian country, I didn’t think visiting China would have be much different. It even sounds wrong witting that and I can’t believe I thought that at first. I think it was due to exhaustion. I was so ready for a vacation and I got so much more. First was Beijing. We met up with our friend Melvin and our first stop was the Temple of Heaven. The Temple was closed, but we were able to cruise the park. It was a beautiful shaded park filled with ancient architecture, people and fresh cut grass. Ya, I haven’t seen fresh cut grass for a few months. First Shocker: Beggars. They will ask you to buy anything and you name your price. They follow you, complement you, lie to you. Anything for some yuan. In the hot sun filled with hundreds of people, it gets annoying, but if you want to name your price on a souvenir, it’s helpful. We also were asked to take our first picture with locals. I was being followed by these two girls. I smiled and said Hello and walked away. Jayson told me they looked so sad and he thought they wanted to take a picture with me. I couldn't believe it. Sure enough, he was right. Their eyes let up when I posed with them to take a picture. This happened all over China. It made us feel like movie stars.

The next day we joined a tour that took us to the Great Wall, Ming Tomb, Jade Factory and Tea House. On our 2 hour ride to the Great Wall we learned how over populated China is. Our tour guide explained to us that every hour is rush hour. There are only designated days that people can drive their cars. And, it’s true you can only have one child if you live in the city. If you live out of the city and your first child is a girl then you can have one more child. This policy has helped their growing population and they have seen no population growth for a consistent amount of time. Second Shocker: Population. Third shocker: Heat. Once we reached the Great Wall my eyes grew big by the amount of people I saw. It was packed from top to bottom and side to side. And the umbrellas, oh the umbrellas. We hiked thousands of stairs to reach the top. I was hit by umbrellas, shared sweat with some shoulders and locals still wanted to take pictures with my drenched self. This Great Wall experience was not as enchanting as I thought it would be. The rest of the tour was great, but I was left a little disappointed. So, a few days lated Jayson and I got a private driver and he took us to another part of the Great Wall. We got there early before the crowed and heat. We took a ski lift up, danced on the Great Wall and took a toboggan down. That was the magical, enchanting experience I was looking for. I still get chills thinking about it.

In Beijing, we also visited the Forbidden City and Olympic Park. Of course, the Forbidden City was filled with crowds of people and their umbrellas and the scorching sun. But, we were able to skip away to the quiet and serene side rooms. We took beautiful pictures and was able to take in the history and feel like we were there hundreds of years ago. Once again....magical. Olympic park was amazing too. I love watching a location on TV and then actually being able to go there. The Aquatic Cube was closed, so we were only able to go inside the “Birds Nest,” but we walked around the whole park and took pictures. Our nights in Beijing were filled with Beer Gardens in downtown and along the river. Live music was always playing and good people watching too.

Our next stop Shanghai. Shocker number 4: Shanghai is truly Paris of the East (like they say). This city is beautiful, the temperature was bearable and there were less beggars. Our first night we found a fabulous mexican restaurant. I know Mexican in China, but we have been living without it for several months and it was a real treat. The next day World Expo. Oh, wow was this place filled with people. They said 500,000 people visit the World Expo each day. There were so many people that we only went in 3 pavilions: China, USA, and Africa. But, we took a bus around and saw every country’s pavilion. I didn’t expect the Expo to be so big. Each country builds a pavilion to represent their county and their view of the future. China used a lot of technology and also had replicas of famous architecture of China. Africa was pretty much the same. But, USA a little disappointing. The building structure was your typical square and inside we watched 2 videos. The videos did focus on the future and explain how a little goes a long way. The message was nice, but the structure wasn’t that impressive. After a long day at the Expo we decided to visit that wonderful Mexican restaurant for some margaritas and a delicious bite. Bad idea, the next day we were both stuck in bed with food poisoning. We should of just kept to one day of Mexican. We are still recovering to this day.

We did make the best of our last day. We took the double decker tour bus around Shanghai. We visited the Jade Buddhist Temple, Yu Garden, and completed our shopping. In he evening we took a river cruise and tried to enjoy our last “real” Chinese dinner. 10 days was a long time and I wouldn’t of changed anything. Our experience was amazing. I hope we can go back someday.

Just a Boring Day, So I’ll blog….

It is in the middle of summer and it is raining. Huh? Oh ya summer is the rainiest season in Korea. On Saturday it was a very rainy day. We couldn’t go on a bike ride or go hiking, but we wanted to get out of our little box. So, Jayson decided to go bowling and I decided to go shopping. BAD IDEA! It wasn’t just raining; it was a non stop downpour. I thought I planned it right. I wore Capri’s and high heels in case I step in a puddle. I wore dark colors because water doesn’t show up as much. And I had an umbrella, of course. All of this pre planning did not matter. The streets were flooded, the people were pushy and water was flying from all directions. My adventure only lasted 2 hours and now I know to stay inside when it is raining like that.

Today is another rainy day, but luckily I have to stay inside and get paid for it. It is also one of the quietest days at school. It is so quite, that I could hear a pin drop (or that annoying screeching bird outside my window). The sixth graders are taking a very important test. So important that there are 2 teachers per room and a hall monitor. My job is to guard the answer sheets in my office. I think I can handle that. Hehehe

8 days until China! Yahoo!

Oh Teaching in Korea

Many people ask, "How do you teach a student English, when you don't know Korean.” There are many answers. First, I have a Korean co-teacher during my regular day classes. We plan lessons together. I explain activities in English and she translates if needed. We also sing songs, chants, play games and use lots of hand motions to make English class exciting. After school classes I teach by myself. The first hour I teach advanced kids who have a strong base of English. The second hour I teach students who barely know the alphabet. I use simple sentences and repetitive phrases for classroom management. It was very important to teach them key comprehension questions and phrases the first week of class. The Korean teachers taught them "Do you understand?" "Teacher help me please." Teacher I need more time." They also taught them the famous, "May I use the toilet?" These sentences were first over used because the students were eager to practice their new English sentence. So for the next two weeks I heard: "Yes I understand the meaning" even if I didn't teach them the meaning. Then they shortened the sentences to "Teacher help" "Teacher time" and they asked the toilet question any time they could. Even though these sentences were slowly abused, I understood what they were trying to say and it helps with the flow of the lessons.

When it comes to teaching lessons, I feel like I am one big song and dance act. I don't know what I would do without technology. Our computer is hooked up to a huge TV. I am able to show youtube videos and PowerPoints are my best friends. At first you wouldn’t think youtube would be so helpful, but it is an important tool for every English teacher in Korea. On youtube, you can find learning songs, books made to songs, short animation with translations. I use youtube for motivation. Usually I show a clip and then I say, "Ok, what do you think we are doing to learn today?" and the conversation begins. I also use youtube to teach songs. There are songs about everything, especially for kids. Songs teach kids new vocabulary and sentence structure and the kids enjoy it. Now, PowerPoint. The things you can do with PowerPoint are endless. I use PowerPoint for hidden picture, scramble sentences, and Jeopardy/Bomb games. If you have a PowerPoint prepared you don't have to waste time writing things on the board or flipping through pages. The Jeopardy and Bomb games are a fun way to review a lesson and to check for understanding.

My favorite part about teaching is when I teach 3 third graders the alphabet 30 minutes a day. I volunteer this time because I could tell they were sitting in class not understanding a word I said. I couldn't imagine being it that situation. I would probably quit the class. So, I decided to make English more enjoyable for these guys. It's so nice because it's with a small group of three kids, so there are no discipline problems. They hardly know English and I hardly know Korean, but I am still able to teach them the alphabet and phonics with flashcards and go fish. I think the small group learning environment took the pressure off and their brains were able to learn. It has been about 2 months and they can read 3 letter words. I think it is so amazing because I barely know the Korean alphabet. This is my most rewarding time.

Although being away from my family and friends is difficult, I realize what I am gaining in Korea. I am making new friends, experiencing a new culture and becoming a better educator. I can't wait to get back in a California classroom and use everything I have learned here. I have 8 more months to learn, yahoo!

Hiking and World Cup - I love Korea

Wow, It’s been a long time since I wrote. A lot of new exciting adventures. Let’s start with Buddha's birthday in May. Jayson and I joined about 75 foreigners to a private island called Deok Jeok Do. A hotel was arranged for us to sleep in. There was 5 of us to a room and we slept on the floor. The weekend consisted of ultimate Frisbee, hiking, BBQ and campfires. Some travelers were more interested in drinking and at times I felt like I was caught in the middle of a MTV Spring Break. Jayson and I stuck to ourselves. Enjoyed a little drinking and some cards. It was a humid rainy weekend. We made the best of it, but our trip was cut short because a storm was coming and there was only one ferry leaving the island in the morning.

Since Deok Jeok Do, Jayson and I have been bit by the hiking bug. We love it so much. Korea has so many beautiful mountains. We hiked up Mt. Munsu. It took us about 4 hours round trip, but once we hit the top we could see beautiful Ulsan (our hometown). We hiked up Jansam. This hike had a river with waterfalls along the way. Last weekend we hiked up Boemoesa. This was my favorite hike so far. We started at the temple where we experienced daily life of monks and visitors that came to bow and meditate. The top of Boemoesa was amazing. At first we were stuck in fog, but after 5 minutes the clouds parted and we were surrounded with beautiful greenery. We are always planning a hike. It is good exercise and it forces us to explore Korea.

The World Cup has also been an amazing experience. I have never been interested in the World Cup, but the Korean spirit moved me. Jayson and I did not think soccer was such a big deal, but the first Korean match we found we were in for a real treat. We geared up in our red and white. We enjoyed some chicken and beer with some friends. The people in the streets were all wearing Red and shouting “dae han me guk.” Which means Republic of Korea. The best part was when we arrived at the river. There was a huge Jumbo Tron set up with a stage. Hundreds of Koreans gathered to watch the game together. They were yelling, singing, cheering, and booing as if they were at a live game. Luckily the Korean’s won and everybody was happy. The next game we watched at a soccer stadium and the final game we watched at a bar. They lost, so now it is over, but it was fun while it lasted.

There is so much more I could write, but this is all I have for now. I need to write more often. I will post some pics Love everyone and miss you soooo much!

May is a great month for teachers in Korea!

May is a good month because there are a lot of holidays and there are also special events at school. Two weeks my school had Sports day. Every school in Korea holds this event once a year. At my school every grade practiced one special event like circle tug-o-war, relay races, jump rope, dancing and running. For weeks before the event the classes would practice. The classes would also practice marching. The teachers began to stress out and I didn’t understand why. I just thought it was going to be a fun relaxing day like a jog-a-thon or something. It was fun for me. They would cancel classes, so they could practice. And once the day came, I understood what all the commotion was about. All the students wore matching gym outfits. All the teachers wore matching gym outfits (even me). There were tents set up along the perimeter. Flags hung all around. And there was a head table for the principal, the vice principal and top district big wigs. All the teachers were praying for a smooth event because all the eyes were on them and their class. There was an opening ceremony with flag waving, songs, speeches and choreographed exercises. And then, finally the games began. It was a long day and only my pictures can describe the rest. The teachers are much more relaxed because the event is over.

Last week my school had their birthday on Tuesday, so there was no school. On Wednesday it was Children’s Day, so there was no school. Children’s Day is a day where kids get presents, and a day off school. Some businesses are also closed for this holiday. Since we had the day off, we went to Haeundae Beach in Busan. The weather was perfect! Good friends, good Frisbee, and you are even allowed to enjoy a drink or two on the beach. I should have worn a little more sunscreen though. Ouch!

Today is Midterms, so I don’t teach. On Thursday and Friday we are going to a conference about 1 hour away. Next Friday is Buddha’s Birthday, so no school. We are going to Deok Jeok Do for that 3 day weekend. It is a private island near Seoul. About 60 English teachers will attend. There are sleeping facilities, but we have to bring our own food. So, it’s kinda like camping on the beach. Bring on the SUN! So, in conclusion (haha), May is a great month for teachers in Korea!