Field trip

31.7.10

7:00 Wake

8:00 Breakfast

9:00 Leave to Incheon

12:00 Arrive: Pizza, Eat, Glaze Pottery

3:00 Leave Incheon

4:30 Arrive Seoul

7:00 Pho for Dinner

Field trips can be exciting and engaging and almost always exhausting.

Today we went to Incheon on a field trip. We had planned to see a pottery museum. Unfortunately, what should have been a 1.5 hour ride was 3 hours (not a good idea to have drunk coffee this morning) and so we had to cancel the visit to the museum. My bus arrived a little later and the students already there were sitting in groups of 10 or so in a large open hanger.

The facilitator instructed the students that every two students were to make a pizza pie. They were called up in groups to get their ingredients. For some 100 students it took a while before my 1st and 2nd graders, who were in the back of the building, to get their ingredients. Then there was baking all these pies in electric ovens that baked only 6 pizzas at a time. The students began to line up in the humid hanger by the hot oven. They were amazingly patient. They were eventually told to sit down and the pie tins were stacked and baked with no regard as to whose pie was whose. Not surprisingly, it took a while before the children were served. While we were waiting, some students observed a potter throw pots. By around 2:00, the children were served—after eating any snacks they had brought with them. Each of my students got about 2 slices—which seemed enough at the time but insufficient for the long journey home. Then there were plenty of pizza pies left over.

The students were then invited to get some bisque ware to glaze. But by that time my students were done. They completed their project and ran around the hanger to get their energy out and keep cool. We started our journey home and got back to Seoul in 1.5 hours--much faster than this morning. The parents were waiting at the dorms when we arrived. What a day.

Phil and MinSoo hanging out.

Jenny and Jennifer waiting for pizza ingredients.

Amy and Jenny with the uncooked pizza pies.

© Hector Lee, 2010

 

Sachoom

28.7.10

7:00 Wake

8:30 Breakfast

10:00 Work

6:30 Gwanghwamun with Yoon Jeong

8:00 Sachoom

When I told Lori, who is Korean, that I was going to Seoul for two weeks she gave me her sister’s number and urged me to call her when I arrived. I called Yoon Jeong (Helena) and made plans to meet up with her near Gwanghwamun.

Sometimes meeting a friend of a friend can be a bit awkward. While I know Lori I may not be able to connect to her sister. But it was a treat to meet a native so kind and patient. Yoon Jeong runs her own media consultancy business. She had a client to see that evening and gave him tickets to a musical/dance review. While we were there, we met up with the production manager, who invited us to stay for the show—Sachoom. The show's simple story is about dancing. What a treat.

29.7.10

7:30 Wake

8:00 Breakfast

9:00 Prep

10-5:30 Work

6:30 Dinner

30.7.2010

8:00 Wake

8:30 Breakfast

9:30 Prep

10-5:30 Work

6:00 Dinner

7:00 Show

Fresh Seafood.

Last night I was people watching in Hyehwa. On a particular corner, street vendors sold seafood: steamed mussels and snails and live octopus and red sea cucumber which were in oxygenated tanks. One couple ordered octopus and the vendor pulled out one elegant creature from the tank. She disemboweled the animal and proceeded to cut it up with a knife. She placed it on a plate, garnished it with sauce and onions and served it. The couple began to eat it even as the tentacles were still alive and moving. I wish I had tried it.

© Hector Lee, 2010

bibimbap

Food street vendors in Hyehwa.

27.7.10

6:30 Wake

8:00 Breakfast

10:00 work

6:30 Insadon: bibimbop

Today was our first full day of teaching and what a long day it was. Perhaps I will acclimate to the back to back classes by the end of this week.

We also went to Insadon where we had some delicious bibimbop—white rice with seasoned vegetables, gochujang (chile paste), sliced meat and a raw egg. It was served in a very hot stone bowl and the ingredients are mixed before eating. Yummy.

While the portrait doesn't look like Elly--her attitude is accurate.

© Hector Lee, 2010

Day one of Korea Summer Writing Camp

Today was our first day of the UC Berkeley Summer Writing Camp in Korea.

The day started with a morning assembly in the auditorium. The students (grades 1-8) were adorable and rambunctious. But the scheduling and logistics seemed a bit chaotic.

From there the students gathered in their groups (letters A-L) of ten students each with their teacher assistants. Each of the TC (Teacher Consultants from BAWP) had two writing groups, which met for two writing sessions of about an hour each, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon. Each of my groups had 10 students, grades first to second (and later two third graders). The students seemed normal enough—boys who talked incessantly and girls that wouldn’t. My first impression initially is that all the students had some proficiency in English—but a few had a proficiency in English that was comparable to students in the US. Later I assessed that I had a few students who knew little if any English. Since I had the youngest students some switching was done so I had the youngest non-proficient students.

The experience has revealed who I am as a teacher. I need to feel the space, the qi, the feng shui as it were, I am to teach in. I need to prepare and order the classroom so I know the space I am to inhabit and teach in. I was fortunate that Mary had set aside a room for me to teach in. It was a simple room with conference style tables (at least they were not university desks) and chairs. No chalkboard or whiteboard. I moved the tables into two larger tables in the front of the room around which eight children could sit. And I made a space in the back of the room for Read Aloud and Authors’ Chair. Later a white board magically appeared. The rest of the furniture I shoved into one corner. Later the room would be used for the older students to watch movies after school.

I also need to have my materials in place. For writing I needed to have: pencils, post-its, loose leaf paper, erasers, markers, and a place to put the work (folders or a when-done box). But these materials were not necessarily in place by the time class started. I had to accept some level of uncertainty and chaos and believe that eventually everything would fall into place.

A third and important part aspect of my teaching is the planning, which I had largely done back in San Francisco—imagining the students I would have, what they could do and how I could teach them. My mental preparation came in reviewing the lessons I had, making some educated decisions about the first days’ activities. I think part of preparing the space, materials and mind is that they are what I had some control over and the most important element in teaching are the students, over which I have no control. But once I know the students, I am more at peace and can plan and prepare more precisely because I have a sense of who they are.

Start of the Summer Writing Camp seemed a bit chaotic but eventually scheduling and logistical problems were ironed out. I felt there needed to be a principal or head teacher for this—some one who helped over see the needs (lunch scheduling, transition times, discipline issues, play time and down time) so instruction can take place. We had some 120 students (the size of a small school). Carol, advocated for us TCs but there was a need for an instructional leader to make decisions.

Below was our daily schedule:

10:15-11:15 First Writing Group

11:30-12:30 Second Writing Group

12:30-1:15 Lunch

1:20-2:10 Art (group 1)

2:25-3:15 Art (group 2)

3:15-3:35 Break & Snack

3:35-4:25 First Writing Group

4:35-5:25 Second Writing Group

Mary teaching art to our combined classes.

Edward waiting for inspiration.

Jenny reading at Author's Chair.

The Korea Summer Writing Camp Faculty 2010

I am a morning person and the most difficult part of the day for me is the afternoon—I was spent by 5:30 even though I had wonderful students. Eventually the schedule worked for me. I would wake at 7:30 to shower and dress. Go to breakfast from 8:00 to 9:00 and then prep from 9:00 to 10:00. We were in Daehangno, near Hyehwa station, near many universities, but you were hard pressed to find anything open before 8:00 am. Those that were open were western style cafes: Paris Croissant, Lombardia, Tous Les Jours, where you could get pastries and coffee. I learned to relish my mornings to write, reflect, and sketch. Eventually I learned to prep from 8:00-8:30 and spend an hour and a half at breakfast which was precious as gold.

In search of bulgogui

Since the group of teachers I work with asked me to select a restaurant for the evening, I thought I would select one of the BBQ places I had seen the night before in my walk through the neighborhood. I had seen many restaurants where people were barbequing at their tables so I assumed they all served bulgogui (the signature dish of thin slices of marinated beef barbequed over hot coals). At the first restaurant around the corner, we flowed in. The menu was in Korean so I asked for bulgogui (beef) and dakgüi (chicken) but there was none. Only pork. So we ordered pork and a vegetable platter. The pork was steamed and it came with kim chi cabbage and a kim chi root--very good but not what I expected. There was a row of triple fat pork which is loved here, but to which we are unaccustomed. We had some but it was largely untouched. The vegetables (squash, mushrooms, greens, carrots and a bit of bulgogui) were cooked in a broth. It was very tasty. The whole meal was not the bolgugui I had hoped for but the meal was great nonetheless.

As Evan said, "It was not what we expected, but it was what it was." Good advice. It makes the experience much more enjoyable.

© Hector Lee, 2010

Korea Summer Writing Camp

Hyehwa at night

25.7.10

Wake

Breakfast

Old and Modern Korea walk

Jongjuk stop

Bosingak bell

River walk: Cheongye stream

Lunch

Cheongye Stream

Dongdaemon Market

Back to NIIED

Dinner

My fellow Teacher Consultants at Cheongye Stream: Page, Evan & Gillian.

Summer Writing Camp in Korea.

When I got an email from Carol, in April to see if I wanted to teach writing in Korea, I was intrigued. Having had a difficult school year, maybe this experience might affirm my abilities as a competent teacher. After some consulting and some thought, I decided to say yes.

Grace, a Korean businesswoman, spearheaded the writing camp, an opportunity for Korean children to experience schooling from US teachers. She contracted BAWP, Bay Area Writing Project, which is located in UC Berkeley to provide experienced teachers. Initially, it would be four teachers: Mary and Rod, who taught the previous summer, and Evan and myself. Since the number of interested students kept growing the cohort of teachers grew to six; we added Gillian and Page.

Preparation of the course was challenging as I gathered lessons and materials (books) that would be appropriate for instruction within a two-week window for students did not know in a culture I did not know. I gathered lessons that had worked with English Language Learners (Latinos) and mentor books that would demonstrate English writing.

We stayed in NIIED (National Institute for International Education), a university that provides educational opportunities for Koreans to study abroad and international students to study in Korea. The place of a few buildings was rented for the summer writing camp. We stayed dorms of one building. They were simple rooms with their own bathroom and shower. I also taught in the same building on the 5^th floor, which made it easy to prep my instructional day and gave quick access to lunch in the “restaurant,” also on the 5^th floor.

We were supported by Korean teachers who were on summer break, who saw this as an opportunity to learn about US teaching styles, and by teacher assistants, who helped supervise the children and stayed in the dorms on the second floor. My teacher assistants were pivotal to me as I had a few students who spoke no English. I expected that the students wrote in English, but how could they, if they did not even know the English alphabet. The teacher assistants became a liaison to help my students understand the activities in Korean and then they were provided scaffolded sentences in English. For example, the children could say their story in Korean and the teacher assistant would translate it into a simple English sentence on a piece of paper which the student would copy and later read. Eventually I designed my lessons to the needs of the students I had. The morning sessions were around a writing content or craft and the afternoon sessions provided language frames on which the students could write their stories.

© Hector Lee, 2010

Korean Angel

I arrived in Korea last night after 10 pm. While the airport was new and clean, I was not impressed by the design. As soon as we deplaned we walked the terminal to a train platform. It seemed all the arrivals were funneling down to one platform where there was no enough room for all the passengers. I was already making comparisons.

Then after taking our luggage they had only two customs officers who were examining our customs forms. It was a bottleneck of travelers with carts and luggage. Poor planning I thought.

I decided to take the bus into the city. A man on the bus platform directed me to the correct bus for which for I paid 10,000 won (9.00 USD). The bus make prerecorded announcements in Korean and then in English of the forthcoming stops but I had difficulty hearing the Korean pronunciation of my stop: Sung Kyun Kwan University.

My seat neighbor asked me in English for my stop. “I think I missed my stop,” I replied and showed him the name of the stop.

He nodded, “Yes, that was your stop.”

I was unperturbed, “That’s OK. I will just get off on the next stop. I have to take a taxi to my address anyway.”

He got up and walked to the driver to ask if I could be let off. All indications said that he could only stop at designated stops. I got off on the following stop and he followed me down. I showed him the address (it was in Hangul) to which I was to arrive.

“I will get you a taxi,” he offered.

He hailed a taxi and I piled my belongings in the back seat. He asked me if he could come along and he got into the front seat. He mentioned that he was an information technology specialist working at Incheon Airport as we drove to my final location. Maybe someone else was working on the logistics of foot traffic.

When we arrived at NIIED, the address, the building was not visible from the street so he walked with me. At the security gate we were told that NIIED was further down a dark passageway along a construction site. My guide offered me his cell if I had a number to call. I told him I might need it.

We came upon a parking lot and I recognized the NIIED sign. “This is it.” I entered the building and told the security guard my name and he gave me an envelope from Carol and a room key. I was grateful to have arrived. I was grateful to the kindness of a stranger. His name was Hon Young Son. What a wonderful welcome to Korea.

Public art in Hyehwa.

DMZ

I had the opportunity to visit the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) on my second day in Korea The zone is an artifact of the this country’s history. While South Korea is a developed wealthy country, the zone is evidence that it is still at war with North Korea. The only way to visit the 38^th parallel, which divides the Korean peninsula in half, is by tour which allows for visiting many places in a brief time.

Visting the DMZ was a surreal and contradictory experience. On one hand are the hopeful signs for unification: the sculptures and memorials to peace, Dorasan train station the farming villages that live in the area and the resurgence of wildlife in the zone. Dorasan train station was built by South Korea for the time when travel between Seoul and Pyongyang will occur; but it has the feel of a wistful movie set since it has never been used. On the other hand you there are the signs of hostility: the barbed wire (it is ubiquitous; it marks off the Han river as you drive north), the land mines that saturate the area, the four discovered tunnels North Korea has dug to infiltrate the South, the restrictions on taking photos, the checking of passports, and the unavoidable military presence. But life is often contradictory, so why should I be surprised that the desire for peace lives along the pride of war.

After visiting the DMZ we saw what looked like a Lego Hotel. I was later told it is a love hotel.

© Hector Lee, 2010

Okinawa and Japan

Yoriko & Kalin and our sandman

17.7.10

I am on my 4th day in Okinawa. Tokashiki is laid back squared. I have difficulty communicating as I do not speak Japanese but the people are very patient and willing to meet you half way on communicating. If I were to learn Japanese, it would be heer. The people are friendly and patient enough for me to make mistakes. The challenge would be to be disciplined enough to study. I am fortunate Yoriko is Japanese.

And yesterday our friend Yuki joined us. We spent the whole day at the beach. I am becoming brown again--just hope for no burning or skin cancer.

Yesterday, I had Okinawan kakigori (shaved ice). It was like a snow cone but with sweet red beans (Asian preference), sweetened condensed milk, coconut, kinako (soy bean flour) and ube (a purple yam). Sweet and cool for hot, humid Okinawa.

I have been eating sashimi every day here. Yum yum.

18.7.10

There are mosquitoes here but they concentrate in the heavy vegetation. But interestingly, flies do not seem to be a problem, and while it is steamy and hot, I have yet to see a cockroach or rodent. Lucky Okinawans.

19.7.10

7:30 Wake

Storm

Breakfast

Pack

Wait

Wait

Wait

Wait

Wait

Wait

Lunch

Nap. I don’t feel well

4:30 to Ferry Naha.

We woke up to a stormy day. Just as well, as I feel lethargic and feverish.

I had got sunstroke in Okinawa. I felt feverish, tired and had a headache. I spent a good part of an afternoon on a tatami in a room sleeping. I think it is because I didn’t hydrate enough and not enough protection from the sun (sunblock and clothing). It would not feel better until I got to Kuwana city, at Yoriko’s parents’ home, where I could rest and get better.

Yuki, Kalin & Yoriko at Noodle Restaurant

Okinawa Soba--delicious even on hot days.

Fish Market in Naha, Okinawa

I had my first chicken sashimi (raw chicken) in Naha.

20.7.10

Wake

Breakfast

Shurijo Castle

Noodle Palace

Market

Airport

Arrive in Nagoya.

Before the Japanese took over Okinawa in the 17^th century, it was an independent kingdom of Ryukyu, which owed its allegiance to the emperor of China. Shurijo castle’s vermillion color is indicative of the Chinese influence. The Ryukyu Kingdom was a commercial transit center in East Asia: between China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia.

Shuriju Castle Park

Kalin, Yoriko, Yuki and myself at the gate of Shuriju Castle

Shisa are Ryuku guardian spirits the ward off evil spirit to homes. One Shisa has its mouth open and the other, closed.

Japan, land of politeness, wrapped gifts, and automated toilets.

There are the surface aspects of a culture, which are evident to an observant outsider, who can appreciate, dislike or fail to understand cultural norms (like the giving of wrapped gifts when visiting a home). Then there are the experiential aspects to a culture which are understood by being in the culture and living in it (like the taking of an evening bath). It is in the doing that one understands. Finally there are the subtle, more profound aspects to culture that are subject critical analysis (like the hierarchical structure of Japan and other Asian cultures). They are the aspects of a culture which can enhance and bring life to one person but may be constricting and oppressive to another. This analysis comes only from someone who lives and understands the culture.

My host family from 2005: Joo Ha Kim and Boo Yoon Kim

One of the treats of going to Japan is osento--hot spring baths. This one was so beautiful and well designed, I actually thought it was artificial...

21.7.10

Rest due to sunstroke

Dinner

Osento: Spa Land

22.7.10

Train to Ise

Lunch with Hoo Ja and Kim San

Jinju shrine

Train to Kuwana

Yuka’s for dinner

Ito San and Yumiko San, Yoriko's parents. It is always a treat to see them.

23.7.10

Bus to Airport

Arrive Narita

Arrive Incheon

Arrive Dormitory in Seoul.

Some airports have restaurants and shops even after you enter through security: San Francisco. Some airports have convenience food stalls and a few shops after security: Narita. And some airports have nothing after you enter the security gate: Bangkok.