Recipe #1: Creamy Chicken Pasta

Background   So I invented this recipe.  I mean not really, because there are probably a million similar ones out there, and I definitely based it off of a cookbook recipe I used to make in CA.  But for all intents and purposes, it is original.  Mostly because I just used the ingredients I happened to have on hand (read: needed to get rid of because it's crazy how fast things expire on you when you live alone.) Each week, a few friends and I get together for a home cooked meal, for which we alternate cooking.  A few weeks ago, I made a creamy-tomato penne pasta dish which I found on the fabulous Pioneer Woman blog.  (It's really simple and delicious, so go check it out, if only to...

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Behaving very politely at the DMZ

My trip to the DMZ South Korea, click to enlarge I live in Paju, which is a large city/county that borders the Demilitarized Zone.  Paju is pretty large, and I'm not in the town (Munsan) directly on the border, but I'm pretty close – about half an hour away by bus.  My group used the USO (United Service Organization, affiliated with the US military base) to book and provide the tour, which meant that our tour was conducted by some extremely well-briefed army officers.  Our tour cost 96,000 won each (82 dollars), but I believe there are cheaper options.  Wed did everything available and it lasted from about 9-5 (including travel time).  Check out their Korea site for more information on how to book.  DMZ...

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When cross cultural exchange backfires

Recently I have been teaching two kids privately after school for 40 minutes.  A giant (and apparently important) 6th grade exam is coming up, and most of the kids are in extra lessons after school.  When I saw the students who were coming for help in English, my first question was "Where are the other fifteen 6th graders who can't read?" Apparently those kids are bad in other subjects as well, so they're using their extra help time elsewhere.  This makes me feel a slight bit better - I'm not actually destroying many of the kids in my classes: they are generally poor students.  Today after class, the kids wanted to hang out in the English room for an extra 15 minutes before their next class.  I agreed,...

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Cooking at home in Korea: The banana bread incident.

I have decided to start sharing some of my cooking adventures on here. A warning.   I have a love-love relationship with food, and a love-hate relationship with cooking. It's like my relationship with art – I love looking at paintings and admiring photos, sculptures, etc.  This love, in turn, makes me want to create and contribute to the world of art.  But I have no technical ability. I also love food.  But I'm occasionally disastrous in the kitchen – like the time I exploded a glass oven dish while making chicken Parmesan.  Or the time I burnt myself while making spaghetti.  (I used rags as potholders and one of them caught on fire from the stovetop flame).  And then there were the 3+ times I botched...

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Gepik Training 2012

Gepik Training 2012. The first time I heard there would be a three day GEPIK teacher's orientation, I had four main questions: 1) Would I learn anything useful? 2) Why were they training me two months after I started teaching? 3) Would this be an opportunity to meet people?  4) Would the food be good? I was pleasantly surprised by the answers. Our GEPIK training group (B3) An Overview Orientation was three days and two nights.  It consisted of 10 mandatory sessions, two optional sessions, and open evenings.  For some of the sessions we were in large auditoriums with the entire group of GEPIK elementary teachers, and for some of the sessions we were split into smaller regional groups (of about 20).  Did I learn...

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Creating a music video with my sixth graders

Music is a key component of ESL teaching – or any teaching for that matter.  Sticking a tune onto information is a terrific memory aid, and I still remember song lyrics I learned in 2nd grade.  About a year and a half ago, I discovered The Beatles are the ultimate pop band for teaching English.  I'm not sure what it says about a band that a vast number of their song lyrics are ESL-friendly, but I've always been a huge Beatles fan, so I like to think of it as beautiful, universal simplicity.  Check out the following ESL Beatles lyrics: You say yes, I say no, You say stop, and I say go go go. Oh no. I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello. Hello, hello. And Love, love me do. You know I love you. I'll always...

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Why I decided to teach ESL in Korea

Sexy Korean men...was not on my list of reasons for moving to Korea.  Not that I didn't find Korean men attractive; I just already happened to be in a relationship.  So, in fact, the man situation in my life was actually working against my move.  But I'm getting ahead of myself. Sometime in 2010 I realized that job hunting in California without a car as a fresh liberal arts college grad was not my ticket to a successful career.  (On a related note, my plan to take Hollywood by storm through never finding an agent or going to an audition was not my ticket to fame and glory.)  I was also getting antsy. As in, location antsy.  As in, I no longer desired to live in America. So I sat in my room playing bellydancing music and reminiscing about my childhood. ...

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Stages of Culture Shock

I wanted to this post right, I really did.  I was going to do a bunch of research and cite sources and integrate quotes from sources, and go all out.  Instead, I started to read the first scholarly article about culture shock that appeared on Google, and I got overwhelmed.  Mostly by the nonuserfriendly format, but also by the realization (after skimming a few paragraphs) that this was one of several theories on the stages of culture shock. I regoogled for a simpler format, and the next article I saw was titled Plasmodium falciparum erythrocytic stages in culture. All of that to say, the information I bring you today will be based largely on personal experience and Wikipedia.  You are warned. According to Wikipedia,...

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