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| Right outside my apartment |
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| On my walk to work every morning |
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| LOVE the colors! |
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| The trees outside the front of my school |
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| The front of my school |
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| The entrance I see everyday! |
Monday, October 31, 2011
i said, how far do you wanna go?
i love fall. it is probably my favorite season out of all of them! i was worried about missing all the wonderful colors from home (because oregon falls are GORGEOUS!) but thankfully ilsan did not disappoint and i have been able to see some wonderful colors!
i am mentally preparing myself for the cold winter ahead. only 4 more months left in korea and they are going to be the coldest 4 months ever!
Monday, October 24, 2011
never break your computer in a foreign country
have i mentioned before that technology hates me... because i really think it does.
last wednesday i was finishing up my first grad school paper. my computer had been giving me trouble for some time. it's been really slow and freezing when i had too many programs open. but i couldn't find anything else wrong with it. everything was up to date, it was just slow. well while i was emailing my paper to my mom to check for me (and yes i do have my mom check my papers, don't judge), i was uploading pictures to facebook from the asia song festival, getting ready to skype with jennie and i was listening to my itunes. well apparently my computer was not happy with all this and froze. so i turned it off to give it a few minutes to rest and then.... nothing. it wouldn't turn back on. i just got to the grey screen with the apple logo and then nothing.
*gigantic freak-out/panic mode kicks in*
over the next few hours i call clara to get apple's phone number. my mom to tell her what happen/have her help be decide what to do. applecare to see what i should do. (they were less than helpful because i am no longer under warranty with this computer. my mom again to again freak out and have her make my decision for me (that didn't go over so well). finally apple customer service to order a new computer. i really didn't think i had any other choice. so my new computer was ordered and should be to my parents by wednesday (oregon time).
i go to school the next day, after only sleeping a few hours and tell my co-teacher what happened. hoping the school might have a laptop i can borrow. no such luck. but my other co-teacher graciously took it upon herself to find a repair shop that might be able to fix my computer. my co-teacher calls them, explains what is wrong and they tell me they will be able to fix it, i just need to bring it in. wonderful. next important question... "does anyone speak english there, since i'm going alone?" nope... but it won't be a problem i'm told.
it ended up being a small "mom & pop" shop in the basement of a papa john's building all the way in gangnam, a good hour or so from me. when i got there, no tech was there, just the receptionist, who didn't speak any english. after calling my co-teacher to translate it was established i had to leave my laptop as the tech wouldn't be back till later.
my co-teacher go a phone call the next day. they could fix my computer. the OS needed to be reinstalled and my hard drive needed to be replaced. i was desperate to have some sort of computer, as the new one i ordered wouldn't even be to my parents for a good week or so. so i said go ahead and fix it.
i was able to pick it up last night. and after 40 mins of waiting, we were able to get all of my documents and such off of my time machine back-up from before my computer died. so basically i have a brand new computer in the old casing. i ALSO have a brand new macbook pro in the mail to my parents house and then they are supposed to send it to me.
so now i am a little stuck as to what i should do. i have my fixed computer, which is basically brand new, and an actual brand new computer on the way... do i have my parents leave the computer at the house and wait till i get home? or do i have them send it and i can try and sell the old one while i am here? somebody decide for me...
last wednesday i was finishing up my first grad school paper. my computer had been giving me trouble for some time. it's been really slow and freezing when i had too many programs open. but i couldn't find anything else wrong with it. everything was up to date, it was just slow. well while i was emailing my paper to my mom to check for me (and yes i do have my mom check my papers, don't judge), i was uploading pictures to facebook from the asia song festival, getting ready to skype with jennie and i was listening to my itunes. well apparently my computer was not happy with all this and froze. so i turned it off to give it a few minutes to rest and then.... nothing. it wouldn't turn back on. i just got to the grey screen with the apple logo and then nothing.
*gigantic freak-out/panic mode kicks in*
over the next few hours i call clara to get apple's phone number. my mom to tell her what happen/have her help be decide what to do. applecare to see what i should do. (they were less than helpful because i am no longer under warranty with this computer. my mom again to again freak out and have her make my decision for me (that didn't go over so well). finally apple customer service to order a new computer. i really didn't think i had any other choice. so my new computer was ordered and should be to my parents by wednesday (oregon time).
i go to school the next day, after only sleeping a few hours and tell my co-teacher what happened. hoping the school might have a laptop i can borrow. no such luck. but my other co-teacher graciously took it upon herself to find a repair shop that might be able to fix my computer. my co-teacher calls them, explains what is wrong and they tell me they will be able to fix it, i just need to bring it in. wonderful. next important question... "does anyone speak english there, since i'm going alone?" nope... but it won't be a problem i'm told.
it ended up being a small "mom & pop" shop in the basement of a papa john's building all the way in gangnam, a good hour or so from me. when i got there, no tech was there, just the receptionist, who didn't speak any english. after calling my co-teacher to translate it was established i had to leave my laptop as the tech wouldn't be back till later.
my co-teacher go a phone call the next day. they could fix my computer. the OS needed to be reinstalled and my hard drive needed to be replaced. i was desperate to have some sort of computer, as the new one i ordered wouldn't even be to my parents for a good week or so. so i said go ahead and fix it.
i was able to pick it up last night. and after 40 mins of waiting, we were able to get all of my documents and such off of my time machine back-up from before my computer died. so basically i have a brand new computer in the old casing. i ALSO have a brand new macbook pro in the mail to my parents house and then they are supposed to send it to me.
so now i am a little stuck as to what i should do. i have my fixed computer, which is basically brand new, and an actual brand new computer on the way... do i have my parents leave the computer at the house and wait till i get home? or do i have them send it and i can try and sell the old one while i am here? somebody decide for me...
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
i would run myself in circles here without you
tuesday
the 11th of october is finally over! why is/was this day so important
that i am writing about it? it was the day of my open class. what is
open class you ask? allow me to explain.
last semester i was introduced to the concept of open class when my 5th grade teacher handed me a very, and i mean extremely, detailed lesson plan and asked me to check spelling, sentences, grammar etc. she informed me it was for her open class that was taking place in a few weeks and she wanted to make sure the English was basically perfect. open class? uh... should i know what this is and should i be preparing too?
open class is basically the opportunity for other teachers, in my case, other native English teachers and their Korean co-teachers from around my area to come into my classroom and observe myself and my co-teacher as we teach a class. once this was explained to me, i was instantly nervous. even though i was told it wouldn't be until october.
from then until now a few things had changed. my children had become monsters. not all of them, but a good chunk of them are monsters. my already monster children became devils, who get worse with every class period. my 6th grade co-teacher took a teaching job in Paraguay and left at the end of august. so i got a new co-teacher, who has never been an English teacher before. so i was a bit more nervous.
my new co-teacher said she was the one that was going to write the lesson plan, which i was happy to let her do. it meant less stressful work for me to do. we went through 3 drafts of corrections and changes before we had a final draft. materials were made and we were set. tuesday came and i was a mess.
tuesday was also picture day for the 6th graders for their graduation yearbook. which means we had to take staff pictures. i already had to dress nice for my open class, so that was fine. but it meant that i spent tuesday running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
9:00am: staff picture outside. where i had to sit in front with all the 6th grade teachers, because i am the 6th grade English teacher.
9:10am: run back up to the 3rd floor to start teaching. we spent the first 4 classes practicing our open class lesson plan on them, since it was the lesson everyone was on. this worked for 3 our of the 4 classes. naturally my 6-7 class of devils were in rare form, forcing me to making them write lines. a 6 line story, 15 times. they are so incredibly frustrating. i am at my wits end with them and honestly don't know what else to do other than what i am already doing. thankfully by the end of the day we were able to cut and fix a few things to where we were prepared for open class that afternoon.
lunch-12:20pm: we ate quickly so we could prepare things.
after lunch, my 5th grade co-teacher and one of the music teachers went down to the auditorium to take our individual staff pictures. low and behold when we walked in, my 6-5 class, also my class i chose to do my open class with, were in there taking their individual cap and gown pictures. after explaining to the photographer that i had an open class in the afternoon, so i needed to take my picture now, i was put on stage in front of the back drop. and also in front of 35 of my 6th grade students. yep... they watched as the photographer positioned me, placed my hands, tilted my head and took my picture 3 times. not awkward at all.
12:45pm: i am in the office getting my things together. i also have a minor panic attack while talking to mark and dani. mark's words afterwards: you were slightly freaking out. yah i was a little terrified. up until 2pm, my co-teacher and i were running around making sure that everything was set up. we went over our lesson a couple of times, made sure all of the equipment worked, all the materials were set up and everything was in order.
2pm: GO TIME! other teachers filed into the back of the classroom and sat down looking at our handout copy of the lesson plan. we went through the lesson plan, keeping track of time as to not go over. it went off really well. my class was amazing! they did a very good job.
3pm: the evaluation by the other teachers. this is a big part i was worried about. most of the evaluation was done in korean, which means i didn't understand most of what they were saying. some of it was translated, but a lot of it wasn't. the two native English teachers that were there, were awesome. lots of good feedback. including all of the Korean teachers commenting on how much they like my voice... my loud voice comes in handy quite often here! :)
4pm: i got to go home early! it was a wonderful gift. i went home with every intention of doing my homework that is due tomorrow. i decided a nap would be a good idea, since i slept 3 hours the night before. my hour long nap turned into a 4 hour nap. i woke up at 9pm. ate a bit of dinner, looked at my homework and thought otherwise, skyped with mark and called it a night.
i am sooooooooooooo happy to be done with open class! and i survived just fine.
last semester i was introduced to the concept of open class when my 5th grade teacher handed me a very, and i mean extremely, detailed lesson plan and asked me to check spelling, sentences, grammar etc. she informed me it was for her open class that was taking place in a few weeks and she wanted to make sure the English was basically perfect. open class? uh... should i know what this is and should i be preparing too?
open class is basically the opportunity for other teachers, in my case, other native English teachers and their Korean co-teachers from around my area to come into my classroom and observe myself and my co-teacher as we teach a class. once this was explained to me, i was instantly nervous. even though i was told it wouldn't be until october.
from then until now a few things had changed. my children had become monsters. not all of them, but a good chunk of them are monsters. my already monster children became devils, who get worse with every class period. my 6th grade co-teacher took a teaching job in Paraguay and left at the end of august. so i got a new co-teacher, who has never been an English teacher before. so i was a bit more nervous.
my new co-teacher said she was the one that was going to write the lesson plan, which i was happy to let her do. it meant less stressful work for me to do. we went through 3 drafts of corrections and changes before we had a final draft. materials were made and we were set. tuesday came and i was a mess.
tuesday was also picture day for the 6th graders for their graduation yearbook. which means we had to take staff pictures. i already had to dress nice for my open class, so that was fine. but it meant that i spent tuesday running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
9:00am: staff picture outside. where i had to sit in front with all the 6th grade teachers, because i am the 6th grade English teacher.
9:10am: run back up to the 3rd floor to start teaching. we spent the first 4 classes practicing our open class lesson plan on them, since it was the lesson everyone was on. this worked for 3 our of the 4 classes. naturally my 6-7 class of devils were in rare form, forcing me to making them write lines. a 6 line story, 15 times. they are so incredibly frustrating. i am at my wits end with them and honestly don't know what else to do other than what i am already doing. thankfully by the end of the day we were able to cut and fix a few things to where we were prepared for open class that afternoon.
lunch-12:20pm: we ate quickly so we could prepare things.
after lunch, my 5th grade co-teacher and one of the music teachers went down to the auditorium to take our individual staff pictures. low and behold when we walked in, my 6-5 class, also my class i chose to do my open class with, were in there taking their individual cap and gown pictures. after explaining to the photographer that i had an open class in the afternoon, so i needed to take my picture now, i was put on stage in front of the back drop. and also in front of 35 of my 6th grade students. yep... they watched as the photographer positioned me, placed my hands, tilted my head and took my picture 3 times. not awkward at all.
12:45pm: i am in the office getting my things together. i also have a minor panic attack while talking to mark and dani. mark's words afterwards: you were slightly freaking out. yah i was a little terrified. up until 2pm, my co-teacher and i were running around making sure that everything was set up. we went over our lesson a couple of times, made sure all of the equipment worked, all the materials were set up and everything was in order.
2pm: GO TIME! other teachers filed into the back of the classroom and sat down looking at our handout copy of the lesson plan. we went through the lesson plan, keeping track of time as to not go over. it went off really well. my class was amazing! they did a very good job.
3pm: the evaluation by the other teachers. this is a big part i was worried about. most of the evaluation was done in korean, which means i didn't understand most of what they were saying. some of it was translated, but a lot of it wasn't. the two native English teachers that were there, were awesome. lots of good feedback. including all of the Korean teachers commenting on how much they like my voice... my loud voice comes in handy quite often here! :)
4pm: i got to go home early! it was a wonderful gift. i went home with every intention of doing my homework that is due tomorrow. i decided a nap would be a good idea, since i slept 3 hours the night before. my hour long nap turned into a 4 hour nap. i woke up at 9pm. ate a bit of dinner, looked at my homework and thought otherwise, skyped with mark and called it a night.
i am sooooooooooooo happy to be done with open class! and i survived just fine.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
it's official...
so it's official...
and i am officially nervous!!
It is my pleasure to notify you of your official Acceptance for Admission to Grand Canyon University. It should be noted that all official transcripts must be received in the Transcripts Department prior to having transfer credit evaluated and applied to your academic record. Once a final review of your transcripts is complete you will be notified of your official matriculation to your degree program.... though i am still waiting on financial aid to be finalized. but, as of this thursday, after i start classes, i am officially a graduate student.
Congratulations again on your acceptance. Please let us know how we can serve you as you pursue excellence in your academic endeavors.
Jennifer Lech
Vice President of Academic Compliance and Regulation
Grand Canyon University
and i am officially nervous!!
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