park at circle

Good bye and Hello

I'm changing blog thingies...

Come and see me over at parkatcircle.com.

Cabbage Pitch Kid

Remember Cabbage Patch Kids ?  Well, get ready to catch 'Cabbage Pitch' Kids!  This is bound to go over better than my 'Good-Bye Kitty' idea.

I decided to start practicing translating Korean into English today by using the Dong-A Ilbo's English news site.  They offer most of the articles in Korean text, so I am going to choose one article a week to work on.

Anyhoo, the article I chose was 'Park Myung-hwan's Controversial "Cabbage Pitch".

Putting aside the fact that I'm having a lot of trouble with the translation so far, the story is hilarious.  A pitcher in the Korean pro leagues decided that the best way to keep cool during the game was to put a cabbage leaf under his cap. 

Trouble, is his cap fell off a couple times, revealing the cabbage.  That is against rule article 8.02(b) stipulating: “a pitcher is immediately ejected from the game if he wears or carries a foreign substance”, but the officials did nothing about the cabbage.

Today's forecast was for partly sunny skies, a high temp of 28C (81F), and a 10% chance of precipitation.  The reality was:  no clouds, no rain, and, according to my school's principal, 31.6C (87 F).  Humidity was way too high for comfort. 

If there had been a cabbage leaf anywhere in the vicinity, I would have plopped it on my head in a heartbeat.

Computers hate me.

Yes, it's true.  Computers hate me.

I can't blog from work anymore because for some unknown reason, typepad sites AND blogger sites are inaccessable.  Nobody has been able to provide a reason.  A terrible thing, having lots of free time and no blog, it is.

I can't blog from our cafe because, for some unknown reason, the font is either too tiny to read or too large to fit on the screen.  Of course, only MY site is affected.  Now, my wife and I just play Kart Racer.

That leaves the home computer... unfortunately I'm never home.  Or if I am home, I'm too tired.

As The World Turns...

I read this in the June issue of National Geographic (scroll down to 'Did You Know?').  My wife and I kind of joked about it a little... 

"If we lived back then, would we have moved around at a higher speed and had really high sped-up voices?"

"How long would 'Happy Hour' last?"

  ...but, I've been thinking about it all day and wondering...

Would life have evolved if the day had remained at 10 hours? 

Would we sleep for 3 hours and 20 minutes at night?

How would we adjust if we could travel to another planet that had 12-hour days?

Actually, some of my thoughts are so complicated that I can't even express them... my head hurts.

No Soup For You!

I was excited when I saw this headline in the JoonAng Daily

KBS-TV adds subtitles for classic dramas

but the feeling died quickly when I read

Although the programs won't be able to be viewed in Korea unless you have a special satellite box, the shows will be aired in places such as the United States, Europe, Japan and others where KBS World TV broadcasts.

That's just not right.  That was my one and only possible excuse to sit on the couch all day... "But honey, I'm studying Korean..."

News from the North

I'll try the North Korea post one last time...

Last week, perhaps Thursday, I read three articles in just the first 3 pages of the International Herald Tribune about North Korea.

1.  Urbanites Farmed-out to Farms

Once again, the Norks are facing famine, due to shortages, a late start, and dwindling donations.  In the past, they could partially blame flooding, drought, and other natural disasters for the food shortages but this time, there is nobody to blame but Kim Jong Il.

2.  Norks Lied About Remains of Kidnapped Japanese Woman

After finally agreeing to send her remains home, experts disagree about the authenticity of Megumi's remains. 

It seems like a ridiculous thing to lie about.  There must be contamination.  Besides, I'd bet anything that Kim Jong Il is familiar with the TV show, CSI, and all of its spinoffs. 

3.  Bush Not Saying 'No'

I can't find a link for the third article (I read the actual print edition of the paper) but the basic point was that in the past, Bush has clearly ruled out military action against North Korea.  Now, the article states, Bush is clearly NOT ruling it out.

We Like Tha Moon!

A friend showed us a brilliantly obnoxious website last Saturday night.  We laughed so hard we nearly died and my ribs ached a little the next day.

I can't even describe it, just watch it.  Oh, and turn the volume down a bit before you play it.

Today, I text messaged 'We like tha moon' to the friends who watched it with me.  Within 5 minutes, they each replied with a different line from the song, something that would never happen if I'd text messaged an emergency like "I've been hit by a bus- please help me". 

Love Me Do

Finally, I'm back at work!  I can't believe I'm this happy to be saying this.

My students have done well and worked hard this semester so I decided to give them a little break this week and teach them a couple old Beatles songs.

I chose "Love Me Do" and "From Me To You" because they have minimal lyrics and a simple structure.

"Love Me Do" is the easier, and more enjoyable of the two.  It's a bit slower and has a narrower singing range.  An unexpected bonus was that the students naturally picked up the harmony... the boys went low and the girls went high.

I prepared lyric sheets with quite a few blanks, but 3rd grade and advanced 2nd grade doesn't get the sheets right away.  They must listen and write in their notebooks any words and phrases they recognize.  They call out their answers and I write them on the board and initiate a discussion.

Then, the sheets are handed out and, after another listen, the students fill in the blanks.

After checking the blanks, we just practice a  couple times (I help them with a couple tricky lines) and then have a 'singing test'.

1st grade and low 2nd grade skip the first notebook step, but follow the rest of the lesson as noted.

The kids have a lot of fun with it and feel good about speaking English.

North Korea in the News

To be rewritten later... I don't know what the problem is...

Conversation Tests Are Over!!

Finally, the testing is over.  It was a good break from teaching, but I am so ready to get back to my regular school.

One of my questions the last couple days was a telephone conversation.  I make a call and when the students answers, I ask for either George Bush, No Mu hyun (President of Korea),  

or Jeon Ji hyun (a famous and beautiful actress).

I asked one student, "May I speak to George Bush please?"

I was not prepared for his reply-  "I'm sorry. He's dead."

That particular dialog ended right there.