Manjanggul Lava Tubes

The Manjanggul Lava Tubes is a one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites that Jeju is so proud of. They are an hour and forty minutes from our house via the east coastal bus.

It as a challenge to take photos in such dim lighting, but the location is absolutely beautiful. The tubes feel cold, wet and a little mysterious. Sometimes the space between the floor and ceiling is so big it seemes like nature's cathedral.

Later we discovered another opening to the tubes. There was a huge sturdy ladder leading into a dark hole. It seemed like workers were scouting new places to open for visitors. Each of you can form your own opinion about whether we did a little unauthorized exploring.


These are the stairs leading into the part of the tubes open to visitors.


This is is the lava formation at the end of section open to the public.

Kama

Hi All!

Here are some photos of Kama Elementary. I spend Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at Kama.



This photo was taken from the front steps of Kama. It shows a piece of a very large school yard. Kama is lucky to have such a beautiful field. Many schools I pass on my way to work have dirt in the yard, but both of my schools have lush grass complete with playground equipment. Mike said that the schools in his area are putting grass in the fields, so it is possible that there is a beautification initiative. Finally Kama is fortunate to have a lovely view of the water. A peaceful rocky beach is only a five minute walk from school.





This photo shows most of the students, staff, and a few volunteers at Kama. They are standing near the east entrance and in front of a new mural. Every student contributed to the painting thanks to the patience and facilitation of awesome volunteers.

Thanks for reading!

School Lunch

There are a lot of great things to love about teaching at my schools, but one of my very favorites is lunch. For just under $3 per plate school lunches on Jeju Island all made from 100% organic products. Most of the produce is farmed on Jeju, and some of it is even grown at school.

The lunches always have three staples; rice, soup, and kimchi. Typically there is some kind of meat either to the side or in the soup, but it is never much and it's always easy to pick the meat out. One day, the wonderful lunch ladies at Kama even went to the extra effort to set aside a portion of rice for me before they added the meat to it. It made my day that they thought of me.

Every Wednesday is special lunch day. These lunches are more food, use more expensive ingredients, and harder to prepare. Special main dishes may include Bibim Bap, chicken noodle soup, stew, or fancy rice. The special side dishes could be fruit, juice, or homemade vegetable doughnut. Radish kimchi is always served on special lunch day.

School lunches in Jeju feature a lot of delicious fresh fish products. Fish is only served in the United States schools in the form of reheated fish sticks which were previously fried and frozen. I was so surprised the first time I recieved crab in my soup. It wasn't even a special lunch day, but there it was, big pieces of crab still in the shell. I had no idea how to eat it without tools. My kids showed me that I should just bite into it, suck out what I can, and discard the rest. The waste still has plenty of meat in it, and all I could think was "Crab is so expensive!".

The only complaint I have about school lunch, and Korean food in general, is that it’s really salty. I’m always thirsty despite drinking several liters of water. Korean food is probabyl doing bad things to my blood pressure. In the summer the extra salt may be helpful since you lose so much sodium on hot, humid days. Although, between the salt and the sweat, I’m just not sure how to stay hydrated when summer comes.

Historically the Korean diet is really healthy, but it has taken a turn toward the processed in the last several years. Everything is sweet here, including chips. Many things are fried as well. Obesity is definitely on the rise in Korea, just as it is in every developing country.

The most surprising recent change in the Korean diet is the inclusion of milk. Nobody my age and older drinks milk, but somehow special interests have convinced the government to give milk to all the school children every morning. Both of my schools were confused that I don’t like milk, and don’t consider it healthy. Many colleagues and students thought that everyone from the United States drinks several cups of milk a day.

(Please click on The Cancer Project to learn briefly about why dairy should be consumed with moderation. Click here for the long version. Try here to search brief articles on your favorite topics.)

Marathon Stuyding

Several people have asked how long kids stay in school, so I thought I would write a blog about it. :)

The Korean government and most Korean people value education very highly. Normal school hours are M-F 9am until about 3pm depending on the grade. Saturday class was standard, but it is ending with the start of the 2012 school year. Nobody goes home at 3pm when normal class ends. There are after school classes, and studying every day. Gama offers flute, English, reading/writing, and computer science. Tosan offers martial arts, flute, piano, and I’m not sure what else. Part-time, specially contracted teachers instruct the extracurricular classes. If it isn’t a testing time, then everyone usually leaves my elementary schools by 5pm.

Middle school and high school are notoriously stressful in Korea. Testing is the driving force behind the stress. The average test score determines the school ranking so there is a lot of pressure from the administration for students to score well. Additionally test scores determine what school a student will attend after elementary. At the higher levels testing seems to be endless. One teacher joked that testing was the students’ hobby. Classes get canceled, and kids stay at school late to prepare for tests.

Even the elementary students study much harder than we are used to in the United States. The sixth grade students at my schools were studying for a regional exam until 10pm under the guidance of their homeroom teacher. One of my fourth grade students told me that she was up until 11pm studying with her mom.

A high school student expecting to go to university arrives at school around 7:30am and leaves around 11 or 12pm. A high school student at our kook sul gym told me that she studies at school with other students until 11pm every night. She said teachers are sometimes at school helping them study. The same student also told me that she lives at school and sleeps at home. She is only able to practice kook sul during school breaks, because she spends so much time studying.

There are exceptions though. Three high school boys at our kook sul gym arrive to train at 4pm, and leave at 10pm. These boys don’t want to go to university though. One of them is going to a culinary college after high school. I’m not sure about the other two. They are shy around me, and they don’t seem to speak much English.

Additionally there is a huge market for private schools in Korea. Kids, and sometimes adults join these institutions after normal school or work hours. There are private schools for English, science, music, visual arts, sports, martial arts, traditional arts, and more. The Korean government has chosen to spend money on extracurricular classes in the public schools because not everyone can afford to attend a private school after normal classes. The Korean government makes a valiant attempt at creating equal opportunity for low income kids, and students in rural areas. Unfortunately kids with higher socioeconomic status still have a significant edge over their low income counterparts.

We knew coming to Korea that education was extremely valued. We assumed that our students would be enthusiastic little angels eagerly soaking up every nougat we shared with them. This was the height of naivety on our part. Kids are kids, no matter where in the world you are. Yes Korean kids are trained, and expected to study harder than in the United States, but they are still chatty, show up late, get bored, mouth off, and fall asleep. Everyone gets bored with the same old routine even in a culture that cherishes education.

School Year

The Korean school year is coming to a close. The students have vacation from the last week of December until the first week of February. Then the students are back at school the first two weeks of February for the graduation of the highest grade. After two weeks at school, the students have spring break. The new school year starts the first week of March.

Korean students still have classes during their vacation. There are optional language camps, and extra curricular classes. I have two weeks of vacation in January. For the rest of the students vacation I'll be teaching language camps, extra curricular classes, planning the next school year, and desk warming.

Desk warming is when showing up to work, is part of the contract, but there is nothing to do. Perhaps a desk warmer will watch a movie, facebook, read blogs, plan grad school, e-mail, or do small crafts. It's always nicer to be home, but who can complain about using work time as free time?