I try to draw themed alligators for various US-centric holidays.
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]
Category: Banalities & Journaling
Caveat: What do you think?
Consciousness is a modern invention – and furthermore, it's an illusion – there is no consciousness.[1]
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: 韓山
Last week my friend Peter blogged on his blog about the origin of the name of the community where I live – Ilsan. He included a fairly flattering digression about our meeting a few weeks back. I learned some things about the name of this place that I didn’t know.
What I said back to him about it is as follows. They are really just speculations. For context, read what he wrote first.
I’m surprised you omit (or did Choi Jae-Yong omit?) mention of a very notable fact, which is that the hanja 韓 [han] is the same element in [hanguk = i.e. the modern name for Korea as used in South Korea], and [hangang = the Han River] (although the latter there seems to be some additional confounding factors of yet another hanja, 漢 [han], and there is another Han River (Han Jiang) in China, here, which seems to use both characters – check out 漢江 and 韓江 in Naver’s hanja dictionary).
So, I have no idea how accepted this next thought is among Korean linguists / philologists… but personally I find compelling the idea that this particular (very important) Korean word came into Korean directly from a Mongol or Turkic proto language (Altaic), and is cognate with the well-known word Khan, which means “great leader” or “chieftain”. Hence rather than saying that hansan means “big mountain” it would be more etymologically accurate to call it “chief mountain.” Likewise, hanguk is simply “land of chieftains” or somesuch. Check out the “names of Korea” discussion at wikipedia – 韓 [han] seems to mean more than just “big”, to the extent it became the representation for this non-Chinese-origin Korean word (although as mentioned above, the Chinese seem to use it more broadly, too, than just big, and may be tracking back to the same Altaic source).
Peter responded with some additional observations. Anyway, I think it’s all very interesting. Finding etymological information of Korean place names is nearly impossible for non-Korean speakers, so I suppose that’s a good reason to post this here.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: Sending a Sportscar into Space
Occasionally, I have the thought that I have arrived in the future. Most of the time, I don't feel this. Inevitably, the future arrives more slowly than I expected when I was younger, but it does sometimes nevertheless put in an appearance.
SpaceX corporation's test of their new Falcon Heavy rocket today is one such example. The real innovation is their recovery of the the booster stages for re-use. The recycling of these rocket parts, instead of just dropping them in the Atlantic, in old-school NASA style, will make space flight much, much cheaper over the long run. And the video of the simultaneous landing of two side booster rockets back at Kennedy is a pure science fiction moment, circa 1950s.
That said, Elon Musk, the visionary leader of SpaceX, is also a megalomaniacal plutocrat and basically a living incarnation of a classic James Bond movie villain. Perhaps this is the kind of person who advances humanity – I don't know. Is that just what it takes?
Musk's new rocket test needed a "dummy payload," so, in finest egotistical form, he launched his own sports car (a Tesla Roadster, manufactured by one of his other companies), with a mannequin in a space suit at the wheel. So now, humanity has launched a space-suited dummy at the wheel of a sports car, out into space, and eventually, past the orbit of Mars. Furthermore, he placed a towel and a copy of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide in the glove box. Can you imagine the aliens finding that?
Maybe Elon Musk will move to Mars. Somebody should move to Mars, right? Why not him?
[daily log: walking, 8km]
Caveat: Mr X’s Ecosystem
My student Seunghyeon, a 9th grader who insists of going by the English nickname of "Mr X," made a rather elaborate doodle on this TEPS listening answer paper during our listening class the other day.
When I asked him what it was, he told me it was an "ecosystem." I could see that. There are fish, oil, crabs playing some kind of sport on a beach, an man fishing, a buried fossil…
I think it all started because there was a question on the listening practice test that included a fragment of a lecture on the topic of sharks and their position in the food chain. So he drew the shark. The rest followed.
The doodle reminds me very much of the kinds of doodles I tend(ed) to do during boring meetings or classes (back in the day). Notably, I used to draw large numbers of buried fossils and skeletons on the margins of things. In high school, such skeletons even appeared on work that I turned in for my drafting (drawing) classes.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: my strong conviction
This morning I had dental appointment #2/?… I have no idea how many more dental appointments lie in my future, as they fix things up that have been neglected since before the cancer.
I reiterate my strong conviction that cancer hospitals are preferable to dentists.
That said, I am still alive. So there's that.
[daily log: walking, 7.5km]
Caveat: A message for the spies
Some months ago, the whiteboard in room 212 had been coming loose. There was worry that it would fall down at an inopportune time, so Curt told Mr Park (the 과장님 – literally "supervisor" or "chief" but really he's a kind of glorified handyman and janitor at Karma) to add some reinforcements to its support. He duly attached some extra screws with fat washers to hold the whiteboard in its place on the wall.
I guess for whatever reason, one of the girls in my HS2-M cohort noticed these rather larger features in strangely placed, apparently random locations on edges of the whiteboard.
"It looks like a CC camera," she observed. It did rather, if you didn't look too closely.
"Someone is spying on you," I observed, perhaps teasing a bit.
Another girl turned and pointed at the "official" CC camera, mounted on the ceiling in the corner of the room. "Of course," she observed.
Such CC cameras are ubiquitious in Korean life, and as far as I can figure out, are actually legally mandated for settings like schools and hagwon. Presumeably, they serve to provide reassurance to parents that nothing bad can happen to their children because there is a record of classroom activity. And I know Curt has spent money to make sure they are all working and well-maintained, which supports the idea that there's a regulation requiring them – but I don't know this for certain.
"That one is unofficial," I clarified, pointing at the screw-with-washer on the whiteboard. This obligated me to spend several minutes explaining the word "unofficial." Which, of course, is exactly the sort of conversation I most like to have with my students: relevant, student-driven, but, hopefully, full of new information and/or vocabulary.
After that, one of the other girls, Gayeong, asked, "Who would want to spy unofficial?"
"Kim Jeong-eun," I joked. One of the other kids laughed.
"Oh no!" Gayeong declared, and mimed an insincere, mocking look of shock and terror. The North Korean leader is mostly an object of derision and gallows-humor for typical South Korean middle-schoolers. He's not taken very seriously.
But then a soft-spoken and shy girl, who happened to be sitting closest to the whiteboard, really shocked me. She leaned forward, toward the "camera," and in an earnest whisper said, simply, "Fuck you."
"Jiwon," I declared, both impressed by this very idiomatic experession and dismayed by its vulgarity. "What's that about?"
Of course, even without teaching them, all the kids know this type of English – it's too ubiquitous in American pop culture (movies and music) for them not to know what it means and how it's best deployed effectively.
Jiwon just shrugged and smiled. "He's a bad person."
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: What would Justinian have done?
I had a flu some weeks back, and I feel I have not ever really recovered.
This whole week I have slept at least two hours longer than my normal sleep time each night, which for me a reliable sign that something is amiss with my general health. Despite my occasional bouts of hypochondria, I don't think worry about cancer is well-placed, since just a few weeks ago I passed my semiannual inspection successfully. I'm just feeling unhealthy and consequently rather glum about life.
I should add to the above the fact my normally predominant escapist hobby – my geofiction – has been on indefinite hold due to a strong sensation of burnout with respect to what you might call the internal politics of the website where I was engaged in that.
So I have been feeling adrift and painfully uncreative – allowing a possible exception for my daily effort at poetry, but with the caveat that even there, I am "depleting my reserves" rather than doing much that is new.
So what am I doing with my time, outside of work and sleep?
I have been reading history. Almost exclusively, and for many hours each day. I began, a few weeks back, with a curiosity about the Byzantine Empire, I have been wandering off wherever my interest leads: Sassanids (Persian pre-Islamic); Avars and Lombards and Franks and Visigoths; Khazars and Göktürks. It's notable that with the internet as it is today, one hardly needs to go out and buy books to pursue these eccentricities.
From this reading, I have only this generalization to draw:
The world is always just about to end. There is nothing new under the sun.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: scrambling over the wall to the other side
Apparently Ursula Le Guin has died.
I thought she might not. She seemed a forever type of person. But actually everyone dies.
She was a great writer. And a philosopher, though not in the conventional sense. I don't need to review her life or work – others can do that better than I can. But her writing has influenced me profoundly.
I was 12 years old when I first read the Earthsea series of fantasy books. And I really doubt that I have spent a single day in my life since then when that imagined world hasn't crossed my mind in some way or another. It's a visceral thing – I don't know that the philosophical and psychological ideas there were so impactful – though they're undeniably present in the books. I only mean that I imagined that world quite vividly, in reading those books. and so 
now I think of it, much as one remembers a memorable trip, perhaps. For example, I think every day of the years I lived in Mexico, or the two months I spent in South America, or my one month studying in Paris, or my six months in Chicago. They were profound and memorable experiences, which shaped who I am. Likewise, the reading of those books, at that time in my life, left a similar type of indelible impression.
Her novel The Dispossessed had a more philosophical impact on me. I consider it a great philosophical novel. The "sci-fi" aspect is nearly irrelevant, except as a way to set the scene – the same story could have been written in a different way, set on Earth in some slightly altered historical context. I would put this book in my Universal Recommended books list.
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]
Caveat: illusory precision
Not much going on. Just work.
Meanwhile, I offer this.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: Torpidity
I’m having a torpid weekend. I can’t find energy or motivation. So.
What I’m listening to right now.
Arnold Schoenberg, “Verklärte Nacht, Op.4.” Schönberg apparently made this self-portrait of himself in 1911.
[daily log: walking, 1km]
Caveat: Making cabbage in other ways
I just learned that South Korea has a horrible "kimchi deficit," in an article here.
The same article points out, however, that overall, Korea runs a major trade surplus. And they make plenty of money on that surplus, which, apparently, they spend importing cheap Chinese-made kimchi.
The irony is that "cabbage" (배추) is a slang word for money, in Korean, as well as being a main ingredient in most varieties of kimchi. So they make their "cabbage" selling the world smartphones and memory chips, and then spend that "cabbage" for real cabbage from China.
Personally, I'm going to have to look more closely at the labels on my pre-made, store-bought kimchi, because I prefer to avoid food imported from China – the quality issues in the past have seemed quite notable. I do marvel, however, at the fact that China has become such a dominant food exporter in so many product domains: a country with so many people, where people were dying in famine half a century ago, still manages to export vast quantities of food.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: undiagrammable sentiments
Yesterday I went to an actual, non-cancer-hospital dentist. That's the first time I've gone to a non-cancer-hospital dentist since I had cancer. It thus marks a milestone.
Observation: I prefer cancer hospitals to dentists.
What I'm listening to right now.
They Might Be Giants, "I Love You for Psychological Reasons."
Lyrics.
lately I've taken to vacantly making repetitive movements mistakenly seen as improvements
nearing perfection but wisely electing to shun my reflection preferring instead shoe inspection
cheese and chalk do not talk but their eyes synchronize with a secret rhythm
which is a way one could say that I love you for psychological reasons
mumbling failure in jail my extremities flail and I wail though my arms and my legs to the chair are nailed
under the table unwilling unable the torture's medieval the dream is a fable with feeble wings
why does the mouse share the house with the louse they won't say but they feel their feelings
doesn't subtract from the fact that I love you for psychological reasons
reasons I can't really go into now
reasons we should probably not get into right now
I'm ashamed to admit I'm afraid of assuming the blame for my lame abnegation of braveness and fame
brain in a jar in a car in reverse I'm rehearsing the way I'll replay how to say how to be where you are
flammable undiagrammable sentiments pass between animal beings
hard to explain but it's plain that I love you for psychological reasons
why does the mouse share the house with the louse they won't say but they feel their feelings
doesn't subtract from the fact that I love you for psychological reasons
reasons I can't really go into now
reasons we should probably not get into right now
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]
Caveat: the supremacy of the individual conscience
On Monday, the US commemorated Dr Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. Dr King's memorial has become the somewhat anodyne fillip to an annual dialogue about race and civil rights, couched in terms guaranteed to offend no one. But he was pretty offensive to those aligned against him, in his era – and those people were offensive right back at him. Not least, consider this bit, written shortly after his assassination:
Those who mourn Dr. King because they were his closest followers should meditate the implications of the deed of the wildman who killed him. That deed should bring to mind not (for God's sake) the irrelevance of non-violence, but the sternest necessity of reaffirming non-violence. An aspect of non-violence is submission to the law.
The last public speech of Martin Luther King described his intention of violating the law in Memphis, where an injunction had been handed down against the resumption of a march which only a week ago had resulted in the death of one human being and the wounding of fifty others.
Dr. King's flouting of the law does not justify the the flouting by others of the law, but it is a terrifying thought that, most likely, the cretin who leveled his rifle at the head of Martin Luther King, may have absorbed the talk, so freely available, about the supremacy of the individual conscience, such talk as Martin Luther King, God rest his troubled soul, had so widely, and so indiscriminately, indulged in. – William F. Buckley, April 9, 1968.
Buckley, in essence, blames the actions of Dr King's murderer on the message he advocated and preached. It is deeply disturbing that in Buckley's view, "submission to the law" is a component of non-violence. This confuses the admonition to "render unto Caesar" for a quite different notion: "submit to Caesar." This is definitely not what any notable advocate of nonviolence has ever had in mind, including Jesus himself.
In light of this, please don't believe that dogwghistle racism and "blaming the victim" are in any way new to the right's discourses contra civil rights. I once thought rather highly of Buckley, but over the years I have seen more and more evidence to support the idea that he was, behind his high rhetoric, yet another defender of the Jim Crow status quo ante.
The only thing actually new in our current Emperor is a certain incisive vulgarity – the content of the message is little changed. Yet it is the content of the message we need to be concerned about, not the manner of presentation.
[daily log: walking, 7.5km]
Caveat: Call in the submarine
Last week's bitter cold and Saturday's snow are transformed, by a hazy weekend, into one-degree rain. Typical Korean weather, I suppose: precipitation from the south, and so it's generally a warming trend.
I got not much. Feeling exhausted from last week, but this week has stumbled up upon my doorstep, demanding attention. So …
What I'm listening to right now.
Gorillaz, "On Melancholy Hill." Like so many great songs, I suspect this one was written on heroin. Such is life.
Lyrics
Up on melancholy hill
There's a plastic tree
Are you here with me?
Just looking out on the day
Of another dream
Well you can't get what you want
But you can get me
So let's stand and see, love
Cause you are my medicine
When you're close to me
When you're close to me
So call in the submarine
Round the world we'll go
Does anybody know, love
If we're looking out on the day
Of another dream
If you can't get what you want
Then come with me
Up on melancholy hill
Sits a manatee, love
Just looking out for the day
When you're close to me
When you're close to me
When you're close to me
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: Blog Under Construction
Well, that weekend went by way too fast. I woke up, and it's Monday. A long week, ahead. The new schedule is … intense. I'll get used to it.
Meanwhile… a stupid joke.
Hypothetical Teacher: Would you like to hear a construction joke?
Hypothetical Student: Yes
Hypothetical Teacher: Well I'm still working on it.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: Inventing Secret Conspiracies
My friend Peter, who once lived here in Korea but is now a graduate student of Korean Studies in the US, dropped by on Friday morning. He travels back to Korea fairly regularly – which is a natural consequence of his major, I suppose. It's nice that he takes the time to visit.
We seem to always find a lot to talk about. He's one of the few people who can talk intelligently about Korean politics and religion, two topics that interest me but for which it's nearly impossible for me to find others who care – there's a certain need for caution when expressing opinions or ideas on these topics with my Korean colleagues, and most "foreigners" (people like me) seem genuinely uninterested in such things.
We spent some time concocting "just so" conspiracy theories (which I think neither of us would actually believe) about the "Korean deep state" vis-a-vis the weird preponderance of bizarre cults in South Korea and the North Korean situation. Or perhaps more accurately, I concocted and he encouraged me? Anyway, it's entertaining.
Here's Peter and I standing in front of the Karma sign in the little lobby, when he dropped by with me there.
Here he is looking meditative over our lunch at the 본죽 [bonjuk = a chain of "juk" (congee Korean savory porridge) joints].
[daily log: walking, 1km]
Caveat: Go. Don’t Go. Miracles.
I was at the cancer center this morning again. This was for follow-up on the radiation necrosis in my jaw and gums – a separate issue from the cancer survey and check-up. The news here is about what I expected. I have dental problems – I know this. I don't necessarily need to follow up on them. They are annoying but not life-threatening, whereas a standard-style dental intervention (root canals, extractions) are likely to be unnecessarily deleterious and even dangerous, because of the necrosis, which inhibits natural healing in my gums and jaw bone.
So the advice is: you should see a dentist; but don't see a dentist.
I'm not even joking.
Anyway, life goes on. Which is pretty damn miraculous.
More later.
[daily log: walking, 11km]
Caveat: The Long Sleep
I was so tired yesterday.
I slept longer than I usually do, by several hours. That's probably good. I had been sleeping badly, probably feeling nervous and stressed about the upcoming cancer screening. I spend too much time ideating the "bad news" scenario. Way too much time.
What I'm listening to right now.
Easily Embarrassed, "Little Match Sister."
No lyrics.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: Catscan
Time for the semiannual you-know-what.
Update to follow…
… [UPDATE 12:30 pm, KST]
All clear – no cancer to be found. That's a good thing, right?
That contrast medium gave me a god-awful headache, this time, though. Burns all through body, and the world smells like lava.
Now… just have to deal with work.
[daily log: walking, 11km]
Caveat: the world outside looks the same as yesterday
… so, a bit of an anticlimax, as usual. Feeling a bit grumpy, this New Years Day.
Already, last Thursday, I knew I was getting sick. I had some stomach flu type symptoms Thursday and Friday. Saturday the stomach stuff cleared up, but it transformed into a more regular flu. I felt feverish Saturday and yesterday, and did even less than usual.
I napped a lot, and experienced some really unpleasant dreams. In one, I was driving on an LA freeway, but I kept missing my exit. Over and over and over and over and over. In another, I was talking to my father, but he'd become a conspiracy theorist, was living on the streets, and was spouting weird, vaguely right-wing nonsense. I was trying to take him to a mental health facility, and he was running away. He had a pet monkey.
I hope I get better. Work is going to be demanding this week, even with today off: all new classes, new curricula, new students.
So that's the not-so-fresh start to 2018, for me.
Plus, tomorrow morning, earlier then I would prefer, I have to get up and go to the hospital. It's time for my scheduled semi-annual anti-cancer scan. So that will be fun.
[daily log: lying around]
Caveat: 2017
I continued living in Ilsan.
[This entry is part of a timeline I am making using this blog. I am writing a single entry for each year of my life, which when viewed together in order will provide a sort of timeline. This entry wasn’t written in 2017 – it was written in the future.]
Caveat: Gary’s Gator Ranch
I don't have much to say. I've been a bit under the weather – some kind of stomach bug.
Meanwhile, I present 3rd grader Gary's Christmas-themed Alligator Ranch.
[daily log: walking, 7.5km]
Caveat: The Karmic Black Hole
Last night, we had a 회식 [hwehsik – Korean "business dinner"] at a samgyeopsal joint we frequent (Korean grilled pork, mostly "bacon" cuts but prepared differently). This was to wish a farewell to two departing coworkers, and a welcome to a new one.
I will particularly miss my coworker Kay. She has been probably the kindest "deskmate" I've had in my years teaching in Korea. She is good at conversation, and good at overcoming the inhibitions so many Koreans (even English teachers) have about communicating in English. She is happy to talk (or try to talk) about topics a lot of Koreans shy away from: politics, religion, the meaning of life.
She recently lost her sister, which I've blogged about, having gone to the funeral.
So she decided a life change was in order – which I am utterly sympathetic to. Therefore I am actually pleased she's going – for her.
But I will definitely miss her. And she is genuinely caring and interested in the kids – she has never been just a "time-keeping" teacher. She enjoys interacting with them.
She said something funny, the other day. But first, some background.
There's a kind of revolving door, at Karma. People leave. Move on. But then they end up back, working at Karma again. Curt (the owner) clearly inspires a certain loyalty.
I think, of my coworkers, every single one has left at some point, yet has come back to work again at Karma. Except Kay, of course. I would even count myself, in that – I worked for Curt back in the pre-Karma days, at LinguaForum. And I left, yet I returned.
So I joked to Kay about her coming back, later, at some point.
She got a very annoyed, but amused look on her face. "That can't happen. That really can't happen. It won't happen."
"Are you sure?" I asked.
There was along pause.
"This place is like a black hole."
We laughed.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: Girl Ambidexter
Sometimes my students reveal unexpected, surprising talents. The other day, because it had come up in some discussion of the word "ambidexterous," a middle school girl named Hyein announced that she could write equally well with both hands. I was somewhat skeptical, so she proceeded to write a demonstration on the whiteboard. She used her left hand. The writing was smooth and was comfortably quite fast, hardly slower than when she normally writes with her right hand. It exhibits her characteristic "messiness" that is also typical of her right hand, too – it reflects the same handwriting style, I guess you could say.
I was duly impressed. This is actually a pretty rare skill, and had always seemed to me to be indicative of quite a bit of both mental and physical acuity.
Hyein shared her story, though: she said that when she was 6 or 7, her mom had seen her writing with her left hand, and had told her she had to do it with her right hand. This is, of course, common in Asian cultures (and earlier-era Western cultures, too). So the girl is a "native" left hander, but in having been shifted to the right hand when younger, she retained her left-handed ability. Of course you hear about this happening all the time, but I had never run across it experientially, before.
[daily log: walking, 6km]
Caveat: At Rest
Today is Isaac Newton's birthday!
To celebrate, I am at rest, and will remain at rest.
[daily log: walking, 3km]
Caveat: Stealth Xenophilia
Hey, foreigners! Want some money?
I had this brainstorm as I was walking to work through the snow, listening to NPR about the newly passed tax bill in the US Congress. So here's a rare 2nd blog post for this day.
I have seen plenty of discussion of the way the new tax "reform" bill is essentially a wealth transfer from the poor and middle class to the wealthy. What seems less commonly commented upon is that it also will be a wealth transfer from US citizens to non-US citizens. This is remarkably dissonant with the Republican platform. I wonder what's going on.
Let's think about it. Who holds US equities? Who are the owners of stock in US companies? Some brief googling found numbers from 2015, that stated that foreign ownership of US equities was 21%. While this may be not exact, it hardly seems that far off, either.
The point would only be – that means 21% of the huge corporate tax break is benefitting wealthy non-Americans. Since the tax cuts are being financed by losses to government spending or by government debt, under best-case scenarios, or, by eventual higher taxes on US workers under darker scenarios, it becomes irrefutable that what the tax bill represents is not just a wealth transfer from the middle class (and poor) to the wealthy, but from Americans to foreigners.
Is that what they want? I can't imagine they're really so ignorant as to not realize that. Who are the international wealthy who own all these equities? Russian oligarchs, Saudi princes, China's party-member nouveau-riche.
Interesting, right?
Further, to the extent the tax bill is being financed by increased government debt, we need to also ask, who holds US government debt? One quick google search showed me that as much as half of US debt is held by foreigners. Now, to the extent that that debt is… debt, it's not really an asset transfer. But debt-holders are acquiring access to streams of future US revenue, in the form of interest payments on the debt (which come from taxes, right?), so again, this boils down to a wealth-transfer from US coffers offshore. Who are these US debt holders? #1: China. #2: Japan. The Cayman Islands is high on the list – which is just a proxy for people who are rich but don't want you to know about it. You get the picture.
They say this is going to help the US economy, right? How? Even if there's trickle-down (which is of course empirically questionable), it seems that a large chunk will be trickling into other countries' economies.
Indeed, to the extent that super-wealthy South Koreans (e.g. the Chaebol families, such as the owners of Samsung or Hyundai) hold US equities or debt (which I'm sure they do), I may benefit more from this tax plan as a resident of South Korea than I do as an American citizen.
And here's the snow I walked through.
Caveat: incessant talkers
I got nothing for you, today. It's been a bit busy, lately. So here's a stupid joke.
My kids are making me join a Twelve Step Program…
It's for incessant talkers and we call ourselves "On and On Anon."
[daily log: walking, 7.5km]
Caveat: I need to see that
We were looking at Christmas song videos the other day, in a middle school class – as a kind of reward at the end of class. So I was searching on youtube, and it was up on the screen with the projector. I actually like to do things like this – the kids can engage with a routine, day-to-day "how to search the internet in English" undertaking, at a practical level. They can sort of "look over my shoulder" as I try to find something, all the time as I also talk, explaining what I'm doing. They pick up vocabulary about things like "click there," "search for X," that kind of thing, which is often missing in formal curricula, if only because a lot of this terminology is still pretty new.
A girl who sometimes goes by Sally was quite funny. I had the youtube search results up, and I was scrolling through them. She jumped up, as if it were an emergency.
"Teacher! Stop!" She said, assertively. "You need to click that 'Official Video.' I need to see that handsome man right away."
Of course, I broke down laughing. "Oh, you 'need' to see that?"
She nodded vigorously, all seriousness.
So I clicked the video – some saccharinely handsome American pop star, singing a forgettable rendition of a Christmas song. I didn't bookmark it. But you get the idea.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: Crazy Frog
Yesterday I had some minutes at the end of my CC class, and wanted to show the kids something Christmas-themed. This is only vaguely Christmas-themed, but they found it quite entertaining. I did too.
[daily log: walking, 7km]
Caveat: Actually, your behavior is pretty weird
I had my middle school 7th grade cohort, HS1-T, write "Letters to Santa." But the idea was to create coherent, reasoned essays. They are my most talented class, linguistically and intellectually, if not, erm, motivationally.
I think in this case, however, they were very creative. One girl, Yeoeun, wrote a quite humorous letter. Here it is, unedited or modified.
Letter to santa.
Hello dear my Santa. Now I am writing letter to you! Wow very crazy. Very weird because I think you are not real and you are crinimal. If you are read this letter you will not give me the present. I am sorry . HAHA.
Actually, your behavior is pretty weird. You don’t know the people who believe Santa. However you trespass in to people’s houses. There are many criminal events similar like you. The crinimal inspire about your behavior and they use their crimine method. It is seriously bad event. Please stop being weird trespassing. It is peace for the world.
If you are a real, I want to go concert with you ! On Christmas, there are a many concert. There are ‘Golen Disc Award’, “Seoul Music Award’, and SBS, MBC, KBS’s ‘Song Festival”. I am the fan. I like the boy group ‘ Seventeen’. I try to get ticketing but I failed. I have very bad slow hand. So I want to see them. I love them and I respect them.
Third, I want to be a lotto winner! There are many people who win the lotto. But I am not win the lotto. So I want to be them ! I want always getting many money. If I have many money, I can burn the money. Overuse is always happy. Buy the clothes, cars, airplanes, buildings and do it all. Also I can get the concert tickets! I really want this things come true.
I know this is not a real. But many people believe you because of comfort.But I want you are a real. Your behavior is little bit crazy but maybe have a good heart. Merry Christmas !!!
[daily log: walking, 1.5km]
Caveat: Try
Seokhwan is a smart but extremely unmotivated sixth-grader. He's also very shy. He is capbable of having conversation in English, but he has to have something he wants to say. Mostly, what he wants to say is some kind of complaint about the current situation, whatever it may be. But I've noticed he's got a clever sense of humor.
Yesterday, we were taking our year-end "level test" – which will place the students in the new January classes.
Seokhwan to teacher: "I can't do this test."
Teacher to Seokhwan: "Just try."
Later, Seokhwan to teacher: "Really, I can't do this test."
Teacher to Seokhwan: "Try."
Still later, Seokhwan to teacher: "This test is too hard."
Teacher to Seokhwan: "Try."
After the test, looking at the test paper… teacher to Seokhwan: "What did you do? I can't even read your writing."
Seokhwan to teacher: "Try."
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]
Caveat: snowgator
The latest incarnation of my whiteboard-dwelling tribe of cartoon alligators is feeling cold. We're having cold weather, lately, here in Goyang (highs around -5 C, and -10 or -15 at night). So I made the snowgator.
[daily log: walking, 7.5km]