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pepitagator
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Name: Becky
Birthday: 7/22/1985
Gender: Female
Interests: I'd rather be playing my oboe ;)
Expertise: Answering phones
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
Member Since:
8/10/2004
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| Well, my time here in Korea is almost up. It will be exactly two weeks from tomorrow that I will leave. I will admit that I am looking forward to returning to the States. There is someone in Indiana who I have been missing a little bit while I have been here... Okay, so I've been missing him a lot. There is still a lot to do in the last two weeks however. Starting this week, I begin decreasing the amount of teaching that I do, but we still have a concert to prepare for. The Middle School Choir Concert is on the 11th and the Elementary School Concert is on the 17th. A lot of work to get done in a short amount of time! Pray that I don't start tearing my hair out in the next two weeks! | | |
| Okay, here it is... pictures of some of the kids I work with every week! Fifth grade band, kindergarten, and third grade. The pose the third graders are in is their final pose for the son g Consider Yourself from Oliver! that they are singing at the Christmas Concert. Yes, each grade sings one or two non-Christmas songs at the Christmas Concert... Kind of weird, I know, but oh well, I'm just the student teacher.  
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| So the gardens we went to were the location of the Imhaejeon Hall which was an adjunct building to the Wolseong palace or Banwolseong (half moon fortress). Only the ruins of the palace remain (which we did not see) and the Imhaejoeon Hall has been rebuilt. The hall, which consists of three buildings is located right on a lake, with the gardens surrounding. This was a beautiful place to visit at night and the pictures just don't do it justice...  
What an amazing reflection... | | |
| This past weekend I went on a women's retreat with TCIS to Gyeongju - a historical city on the south eastern side of South Korea. I went on a cultural tour Saturday afternoon and to the gardens of what used to be a palace in the evening along with the other activities at the hotel. Our tour guide told us that Gyeongju is to Korea what Rome would be to Italy or Athens to Greece. Gyeongju was the capital of the Silla kingdom - a dynasty that lasted from BC 57 to 935 AD! The city is one of the largest tourist attractions in South Korea and has some of the most history (as you can tell from the dates). I took some pictures... First we went to a temple: 
The following is one of two pagodas located in the temple courtyard. I'm not exactly clear on what a pagoda is, I will do my best at explaining it, but perhaps James could help me out with that... From what I understand they hold religious significance, particularly to Buddhism. They are tall, tiered towers that are sometimes tombs or hold relics and sacred relics. The story behind these particular pagodas is that there was a woman (princess? I'm not sure) who was waiting for her lover. He was inside the temple and she would not be able to see him until the pagoda was built. She would know when she could see him when she would be able to see the top of the pagoda rising behind the temple gates. She waited years and years for her lover and in vain she flung herself into a pond by the gate and committed suicide. One of the pagodas is more simple, signifying the woman, who committed suicide and the other one is a little bit fancier - for the lover. The picture beside the pagoda is me and two other teachers at the school. Melody, the one beside me is a fifth grade teacher and Nicole teaches high school history.   We then went to the tombs of some kings. The kings are buried in mounds just as the Egyptian kings would be buried in the pyriamids. However, these kings have their ashes left inside the tombs. One tomb was open as a small museum, but of course we were not allowed to take pictures. Here is one tomb with a pretty red tree:
The gardens will have to wait for the next entry so stay posted because they're coming soon! James, if you have anymore information about this area I would greatly appreciate it! Now, it's back to school. One of these days I will write some about what's going on in the classroom and post some pictures of my cute Korean (and Australian, French, American, and Canadian, but mostly Korean) students. | | |
| A witty teacher once asked his class the following question: You know in the song "Up on the Housetop" where it says "Reindeer Pause?" Is it "pause" like stop or "paws" like their feet. Well, the students mulled this around for a few seconds; a few of them were convinced it was "pause" and a few were convinced it was "paws." Well what was the teachers response? Of course it's "pause, p-a-u-s-e" because reindeer don't have paws, they have hooves! Now you might be wondering why I told this story... The middle school choir is singing a santa medley and one of the songs is "Up on the Housetop." Well, this girl raised her hand and said, "Mrs. Kim, they spelled "pause" wrong in the music. Shouldn't it be "paws" like their feet." I started laughing... yes, Mr. Vogler, I was thinking about you today and missing your jokes... I think Mrs. Kim needs a rubber chicken in her classroom. | | |
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