We were asked Friday by our co-worker if we wanted to go to Busan on Sunday with her and her husband. Hmmm. Chin-cha? Interesting and why Busan?
There was to be an educational conference, of sorts, taking place at a Foreign Language College. Of course we had to go.
Wake up at 3:30am. Dress and catch a taxi to the train station. Arrive a little after 4am. Wonder why we are here this early when the train doesn't leave until 5...looking around for a coffee place to be open and then remember--too late--that the world of Korea coffee doesn't open until 10am. Dang it.
We meet up with our coworker and her hubby and board the train. They wisely arrive about 10 minutes before the train left. Things run on time here in Korea (I know, right?).
We board the train and try and sleep most of the way there of the 3 hours.
Arrive bleary eyed and a little less sleepy and take the taxi to the college. We have to admit here that we were not expecting a great conference. We have been to our share of conferences back in the United States and most are great while others are sorely lacking. This one was surprisingly okay and actually informative. We had coffee, snacks, etc. as a breakfast and we were given a coupon for lunch (and reminded not to lose our coupon several times during the morning). Cambridge Press, Harcourt and eFuture were there along with Costco giving out coupons, cookies and discounts on memberships. There were maybe 200 people there to attend and there were 6 presenters speaking about how to better teach English Language Learners.
This is all information Joseph and I have learned and mastered in our State side trainings and teachings; however, it was lovely to get a foreigner view on how to use these strategies to our advantage in Korea.
After the conference was over we took all of our goodies and decided to go to the world famous fish market. It was awesome. A street filled on all sides with fish vendors and most of those vendors having a shack in the back nibble that vendors speciality. We walked around and settled on one of the vendors for dinner. Six whole fish and a plethora of refillable sides (the usual) for less than $30 USD for four adults. Okay. We left soon after with bellies full of fish and wandered across the incrediably busy street to Busan Film Festival Street and Food Street where tons of people go nightly to sample the goodness of food and film. The night we were there (Sunday) was no different. Packed and crowded as sardines in cans we wandered around and slightly wished we hadn't eaten because there were several things we all wanted to try.
The train ride back was interesting. Joseph and I had standing room only tickets which means that we play musical chairs all the way back to Daejeon. We stand until there is an available seat then we sit until that person comes to claim their purchased seat. Then we stand and repeat. Picture a crowded cattle car (without the smell) and you have an idea what the train looked like on our way back. We actually got a permanent seat about an hour left of our journey and were able to sit the rest of the way without changing. Nice. Got home about 1am and crashed. Awesome day in Busan!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Carmen...the Opera 10-29-11
Opera. Some hate it, some love it, some don't know what it is and most don't care. What is Opera? It is an artform in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score usually in a theatrical setting. There are elaborate costumes and sets and is part of the Western classical music tradition. Most Operas, though certainly not all, are performed in the Italian, French, German, and Russian languages. Opera was first brought about in Italy at the end of the 16th Century.
Another great performance in Daejeon this past weekend with Joseph and I and 2 good friends. We were fortunate to see the opera, Carmen in all of it's eleborate goodness. The performance was wonderful--the performers doing a splendid job. The entire opera was performed in it's original language, French, and the Korean actors did well. There were suptitles in Korean on either side of the stage for the audience to be able to know more of what was going on.
The performers were accompanied by a full orchestra and they did a very nice job as well except for ONE french horn player who was so flat--he must have been tone deaf not to hear himself and I can't believe no one around him told him about himself--at least he was 3rd or 4th french horn. Lee Ann and I winced each time he played and we were in completle sympathy about Hannibal Lecter eating the flat Flutist in the movie, Red Dragon (great movie). It made us giggle. Our seats were in the second balcony on middle stage right and still had an excellent view and were able to hear everything we needed to hear. Wondeful performance (except you, flat frenchy--you were terrible).
If you are not familiar with Carmen, you may read about it here.
Audience performance etiquite. You know, don't get up while the performance is going on, don't talk, turn your cell phone off, etc. All of us should know these basic fundamential guidelines to performance etiquite. I have to say the Korean's do a great job at these "rules" in the more expensive seats. If you are fortunate enough to sit in the upper balcony you may not have the same set of guidelines to follow. The opera was almost 3 and half hours long. That's a long time to sit still in the dark. I must say that I am impressed that the Korean people do a great job of turning their cell phones to the silent position. No vibrating or ringing--not even once. I wish American's did that. There were several children of all ages above 6 (younger than 6 are not allowed) that did wonderfully during the performance. There is not an announcement before the performance saying to turn off cell phones, but there is a reminder that children 6 and younger need to be in the play area and not in the hall.
A great night at the opera for less than 10 USD. I'm sorry, but that would have never happened at home with the same calibar of performance from both the actors and musicians. After the opera we went to dinner at a resturant not far away where the only item they served (basically) was a "bab" [rice] bowl. You are given about 20 or so side dishes on your table and each person gets a very hot bowl of rice and a raw egg. You choose your sides and put the raw egg on top and mix. The bowl is so hot that it cooks the egg almost instantly. It is delicious.
A great night had by all of us and we are looking forward to more.
Another great performance in Daejeon this past weekend with Joseph and I and 2 good friends. We were fortunate to see the opera, Carmen in all of it's eleborate goodness. The performance was wonderful--the performers doing a splendid job. The entire opera was performed in it's original language, French, and the Korean actors did well. There were suptitles in Korean on either side of the stage for the audience to be able to know more of what was going on.
The performers were accompanied by a full orchestra and they did a very nice job as well except for ONE french horn player who was so flat--he must have been tone deaf not to hear himself and I can't believe no one around him told him about himself--at least he was 3rd or 4th french horn. Lee Ann and I winced each time he played and we were in completle sympathy about Hannibal Lecter eating the flat Flutist in the movie, Red Dragon (great movie). It made us giggle. Our seats were in the second balcony on middle stage right and still had an excellent view and were able to hear everything we needed to hear. Wondeful performance (except you, flat frenchy--you were terrible).
If you are not familiar with Carmen, you may read about it here.
Audience performance etiquite. You know, don't get up while the performance is going on, don't talk, turn your cell phone off, etc. All of us should know these basic fundamential guidelines to performance etiquite. I have to say the Korean's do a great job at these "rules" in the more expensive seats. If you are fortunate enough to sit in the upper balcony you may not have the same set of guidelines to follow. The opera was almost 3 and half hours long. That's a long time to sit still in the dark. I must say that I am impressed that the Korean people do a great job of turning their cell phones to the silent position. No vibrating or ringing--not even once. I wish American's did that. There were several children of all ages above 6 (younger than 6 are not allowed) that did wonderfully during the performance. There is not an announcement before the performance saying to turn off cell phones, but there is a reminder that children 6 and younger need to be in the play area and not in the hall.
A great night at the opera for less than 10 USD. I'm sorry, but that would have never happened at home with the same calibar of performance from both the actors and musicians. After the opera we went to dinner at a resturant not far away where the only item they served (basically) was a "bab" [rice] bowl. You are given about 20 or so side dishes on your table and each person gets a very hot bowl of rice and a raw egg. You choose your sides and put the raw egg on top and mix. The bowl is so hot that it cooks the egg almost instantly. It is delicious.
A great night had by all of us and we are looking forward to more.
Turkey Day...Almost
Thanksgiving in Korea? Who'd of thunk?
As most of us know, Thanksgiving is a traditional holiday in the United States. Other countries have their variation, but "Thanksgiving" is all U.S.A.
How does one celebrate this United States holiday in Korea? Take some awesome friends and even a family member and throw in a great dinner and the "whatcha thankful for" speeches and that's about it.
Thanksgiving this year was celebrated in South Korea. With my husband, sister, and two people who should be part of the family. The day itself was not celebrated due to us working. That was strange because at home we have had the entire week off. Oh, how that is missed! The weekend came and with it so did my sister and a few friends. Saturday began with shopping for last minute items to ship back home for Christmas (believe me, that is a blog in itself) and then joining up with Kate, Amy and Lee Ann so we could all finish our shopping. Joseph met up with us later and we all went for dinner. Shabu shabu. Delicious. It is a bowl of boiling water surrounded by a BBQ grill and then you have Korean [cow] meat and you grill that at your table. There is a plate of raw veggies: cabbage, carrots, beets, onions, and sprouts. There is also rice paper that you dip in rose water and add the meat and whatever veggies you like, add sauce and wrap it up. Think non-fried spring rolls (Billie Jo: Pho' 97). After your wraps, meet and veggies are gone, noodles are added to the boiling water and then eaten. After they are gone, if there is any water left in the bowl, rice and an egg are added along with more veggies and stewed until a thick rice type porridge is created. It is too delicious for words. A few of us had cameras but neglected to take pictures. Don't worry, a blog will be dedicated to the stuff Joseph and I normally eat as soon as we have enough pictures to do it. We sat at the table for a few hours talking and eating and then were kicked out simply because Koreans don't sit at the table and talk. It isn't their culture. None of this socializing business. They go to bars for that. So we moved our party to Cafe Benne which is a coffee and gelatto shop. We sat in there for a few more hours and ate gelatto and laughed and then it came around to 'whatcha thankful for?" Even in Korea, this is one tradition that has to be done. Every one of us groaned and moaned but then we all put up our best and came up with some pretty awesome things about what we are thankful for.
Without giving specific information we are thankful for...
*the opportunity Korea provides us
*drama free environments and people
*great friends and food
We didn't even miss the traditional American Thanksgiving food--almost.
Korea Rocks.
As most of us know, Thanksgiving is a traditional holiday in the United States. Other countries have their variation, but "Thanksgiving" is all U.S.A.
How does one celebrate this United States holiday in Korea? Take some awesome friends and even a family member and throw in a great dinner and the "whatcha thankful for" speeches and that's about it.
Thanksgiving this year was celebrated in South Korea. With my husband, sister, and two people who should be part of the family. The day itself was not celebrated due to us working. That was strange because at home we have had the entire week off. Oh, how that is missed! The weekend came and with it so did my sister and a few friends. Saturday began with shopping for last minute items to ship back home for Christmas (believe me, that is a blog in itself) and then joining up with Kate, Amy and Lee Ann so we could all finish our shopping. Joseph met up with us later and we all went for dinner. Shabu shabu. Delicious. It is a bowl of boiling water surrounded by a BBQ grill and then you have Korean [cow] meat and you grill that at your table. There is a plate of raw veggies: cabbage, carrots, beets, onions, and sprouts. There is also rice paper that you dip in rose water and add the meat and whatever veggies you like, add sauce and wrap it up. Think non-fried spring rolls (Billie Jo: Pho' 97). After your wraps, meet and veggies are gone, noodles are added to the boiling water and then eaten. After they are gone, if there is any water left in the bowl, rice and an egg are added along with more veggies and stewed until a thick rice type porridge is created. It is too delicious for words. A few of us had cameras but neglected to take pictures. Don't worry, a blog will be dedicated to the stuff Joseph and I normally eat as soon as we have enough pictures to do it. We sat at the table for a few hours talking and eating and then were kicked out simply because Koreans don't sit at the table and talk. It isn't their culture. None of this socializing business. They go to bars for that. So we moved our party to Cafe Benne which is a coffee and gelatto shop. We sat in there for a few more hours and ate gelatto and laughed and then it came around to 'whatcha thankful for?" Even in Korea, this is one tradition that has to be done. Every one of us groaned and moaned but then we all put up our best and came up with some pretty awesome things about what we are thankful for.
Without giving specific information we are thankful for...
*the opportunity Korea provides us
*drama free environments and people
*great friends and food
We didn't even miss the traditional American Thanksgiving food--almost.
Korea Rocks.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
My Date With Amy
I am a professional musician. I have not been to a concert of good or great caliber in a long while. How fitting my next one should be here, in Korea. Amy and I had the fortunate opportunity to go to the Daejeon Culture and Arts Center to see an International Guitar Festival. It was a fantastic time.
To begin with, the Daejeon Culture and Arts Center is comprised of more than just a performance hall. It is a huge complex incompasing an outside Amphitheater used for traditional Korean plays and dramas in addition to an Ensemble Hall used for smaller more intimate performances. In short, it is a sight to behold inside and out. The complex also links up with a grand park and it's surrounding areas (I have not had the pleasure of exploring this part yet so cannot write about it). This example of fine art is said to have been designed as one of the most acoustically sophisticated concert halls and equipped with the finest state-of-the art technology and systems in Korea. Having been to several high quality and varying performances, I have to say I agree.
Upon walking up to the huge building I was reminded of approaching a delightful example of modern architecture of steel and glass. It is both impressive and welcoming. Once stepping through one of the many doors leading into the very large lobby you are greeted with a feeling of "this is nice." There are two imposing box offices on either side of the entrance catering to the needs of anyone, Korean or not. There is also a coffee shop set to the far right and the smell of delicious coffee waifs in every direction up to the top of this large building. There are marble steps on either side of the lobby gently sloping up to the two balcony areas of the main hall. On this particular evening we were not to make our way up to either of these balconies as our seats were as close to the sweet spot of the hall as possible. We were seated on the main floor in the front of the room about 15 rows from the stage just off of center. Delightful. We were able to hear the best of the sound and get the full view we required off of this performance. We were lucky our tickets were complimentary for this particular concert as the price for these seats was out of our price range.
This concert was to be 4 seperate guitar duos backed by the Daejeon Orchestra. The pieces were mainly more modern pieces for guitar such as Concierto de Aranjuez, "Oyun" for Four Guitars op. 93, and Concierto Andaluz for Four Guitars and Orchestra and finally, L'Italiana in Algeri. These pieces were played to perfection. The performers were all professional and played their best. The orchestra was one of the best I have seen live. There was an encore performance where one guitarist sat and began a piece then a few bars in two of the other guitarists joined in on the same guitar then a few bars after that the other two guitarists joined in as well so all 5 guitarists were playing the same guitar for this particular song. It was a lovely and talented performance by all. There will definitely be repeat performances attended in the future.
After that remarkable performance we continued our date to dinner of delicious sushi. Eel and smoked salmon with freshly made miso soup and ginger salad. Yummy. Talking and meeting up with another friend until the wee hours in the morning with good coffee where we made plans to see the opera, Carmen.
It was a great date. Thanks Amy!
I hope we have another one soon!
To begin with, the Daejeon Culture and Arts Center is comprised of more than just a performance hall. It is a huge complex incompasing an outside Amphitheater used for traditional Korean plays and dramas in addition to an Ensemble Hall used for smaller more intimate performances. In short, it is a sight to behold inside and out. The complex also links up with a grand park and it's surrounding areas (I have not had the pleasure of exploring this part yet so cannot write about it). This example of fine art is said to have been designed as one of the most acoustically sophisticated concert halls and equipped with the finest state-of-the art technology and systems in Korea. Having been to several high quality and varying performances, I have to say I agree.
Upon walking up to the huge building I was reminded of approaching a delightful example of modern architecture of steel and glass. It is both impressive and welcoming. Once stepping through one of the many doors leading into the very large lobby you are greeted with a feeling of "this is nice." There are two imposing box offices on either side of the entrance catering to the needs of anyone, Korean or not. There is also a coffee shop set to the far right and the smell of delicious coffee waifs in every direction up to the top of this large building. There are marble steps on either side of the lobby gently sloping up to the two balcony areas of the main hall. On this particular evening we were not to make our way up to either of these balconies as our seats were as close to the sweet spot of the hall as possible. We were seated on the main floor in the front of the room about 15 rows from the stage just off of center. Delightful. We were able to hear the best of the sound and get the full view we required off of this performance. We were lucky our tickets were complimentary for this particular concert as the price for these seats was out of our price range.
This concert was to be 4 seperate guitar duos backed by the Daejeon Orchestra. The pieces were mainly more modern pieces for guitar such as Concierto de Aranjuez, "Oyun" for Four Guitars op. 93, and Concierto Andaluz for Four Guitars and Orchestra and finally, L'Italiana in Algeri. These pieces were played to perfection. The performers were all professional and played their best. The orchestra was one of the best I have seen live. There was an encore performance where one guitarist sat and began a piece then a few bars in two of the other guitarists joined in on the same guitar then a few bars after that the other two guitarists joined in as well so all 5 guitarists were playing the same guitar for this particular song. It was a lovely and talented performance by all. There will definitely be repeat performances attended in the future.
 |
| Outside |
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| the Lobby |
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| People we met outside who wanted to be in our picture :) |
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| Our Date |
It was a great date. Thanks Amy!
I hope we have another one soon!
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
School Information
A few people have been asking about how our school works and what a typical day is like.
In teaching there aren't really any typical days, just normal crazy days with a few toned down days in between. This particular post will be continuing on various topics of interest and if anyone has anything specific you are curious about please email or comment on here.
1. The school's name is Reading Town English Institute
2. The school is located in Daejeon, South Korea (there are many independently owned branches around the world) it is on the 4th floor about a 5 minute walking distance from our apartment. On the same floor is a piano private school, a math private school and our school. There are 8 classrooms, a teachers room, an office of sorts and a reception area. It is "U" shaped.
3. The grades we teach are the equivalent of kindergarten through middle school--the highest reading level is a Lexile of 5.0. The comprehension level is a bit lower, around 3.2. Fluency is definitely a lot higher than the comprehension level.
4. Joseph and I each have about 40 students and the school has approximately 150. It is a smaller branch with 2 foreign teachers (us), 3 Korean speaking teachers, a director (assistant principal) and the owner. Something interesting is that parents send their children to these private English academies to be specifically taught by the English speaking teachers. That's why they want native English speakers and it is why Korean's pay so much for their native English speaking teachers.
5. We teach Speaking, Writing and Reading. The Korean teachers speak Listening and Comprehension.
6. The students read in English but they often translate within the books to better understand the context and vocabulary
7.
A typical day is us arriving at 1pm and we begin teaching at 2:10. Think of this type of school as an academy or private school like back home and you have the general idea--just very small. We have 7-8 classes each day with no more than 10 students in each class. Joseph has one class with only one student--how nice! Our classes are each 50 minutes long. In that time we speak English with the students about topics that are in the curriculum and also topics the students bring up in addition to the school curriculum. We can talk about anything appropriate and we are encouraged to do so. At the end of 50 minutes the students either stay in the classroom, go to break (5 minutes) or leave for the day. The teachers switch to another classroom within that 5 minute break and are back in another classroom after that 5 minutes.
Again, each school is independently run even if it is a branch. They are each owned by a specific owner or one owner will own several schools.
Our school is run through a New York based company. Our day ends on M-W-F at 9:25 PM and on Tues-Th at 8:35 PM. Back in Florida, Joseph and I used to wake up at 4am and be at our respective schools by 6:30am and home by about 6PM so this is a bit different.
Each school is different on the requirements for the teachers. Our school requires us to do weekly and monthly lesson plans and mid-terms/finals in addition to bi-weekly vocabulary word tests. Joseph and I are do-ers and find it hard to only do that so we when we inquired about the school library we were given the privilege to revamp it and just recently are talking with our school about writing a more effective writing curriculum.
Something interesting we learned is that students here are not staffed. For anything. That is slowly changing but we have been learning that if a child is somehow learning disabled, EH, ADD, etc. the parents don't want their children tested. From what we understand it is a non-issue at most public schools. They just don't do that kind of thing here (in my mind this sounds a bit off so I will further research this topic and write about it at a later date). If it is something severe, the child is usually not mainstreamed and is put somewhere else either kept at home and taught or another type of school. From what we are learning it is rare for a special needs child (from either end of the spectrum) to be in a "public school" but we would like to do more research on this topic. I find it interesting and a bit bizarre to simply let it go at that. IEP's [Individual Education Plan] (or their Korean counterpart) have never been heard of here. Can you imagine that back home? My mind goes straight to the court cases for ESE and ESOL.
We will have another blog with pictures and perhaps a video of our students and school. :-)
Further topics to research: *Korean ESE students, *ESOL standards?, *Private school funding
Any other ideas?
In teaching there aren't really any typical days, just normal crazy days with a few toned down days in between. This particular post will be continuing on various topics of interest and if anyone has anything specific you are curious about please email or comment on here.
1. The school's name is Reading Town English Institute
2. The school is located in Daejeon, South Korea (there are many independently owned branches around the world) it is on the 4th floor about a 5 minute walking distance from our apartment. On the same floor is a piano private school, a math private school and our school. There are 8 classrooms, a teachers room, an office of sorts and a reception area. It is "U" shaped.
3. The grades we teach are the equivalent of kindergarten through middle school--the highest reading level is a Lexile of 5.0. The comprehension level is a bit lower, around 3.2. Fluency is definitely a lot higher than the comprehension level.
4. Joseph and I each have about 40 students and the school has approximately 150. It is a smaller branch with 2 foreign teachers (us), 3 Korean speaking teachers, a director (assistant principal) and the owner. Something interesting is that parents send their children to these private English academies to be specifically taught by the English speaking teachers. That's why they want native English speakers and it is why Korean's pay so much for their native English speaking teachers.
5. We teach Speaking, Writing and Reading. The Korean teachers speak Listening and Comprehension.
6. The students read in English but they often translate within the books to better understand the context and vocabulary
7.
A typical day is us arriving at 1pm and we begin teaching at 2:10. Think of this type of school as an academy or private school like back home and you have the general idea--just very small. We have 7-8 classes each day with no more than 10 students in each class. Joseph has one class with only one student--how nice! Our classes are each 50 minutes long. In that time we speak English with the students about topics that are in the curriculum and also topics the students bring up in addition to the school curriculum. We can talk about anything appropriate and we are encouraged to do so. At the end of 50 minutes the students either stay in the classroom, go to break (5 minutes) or leave for the day. The teachers switch to another classroom within that 5 minute break and are back in another classroom after that 5 minutes.
Again, each school is independently run even if it is a branch. They are each owned by a specific owner or one owner will own several schools.
Our school is run through a New York based company. Our day ends on M-W-F at 9:25 PM and on Tues-Th at 8:35 PM. Back in Florida, Joseph and I used to wake up at 4am and be at our respective schools by 6:30am and home by about 6PM so this is a bit different.
Each school is different on the requirements for the teachers. Our school requires us to do weekly and monthly lesson plans and mid-terms/finals in addition to bi-weekly vocabulary word tests. Joseph and I are do-ers and find it hard to only do that so we when we inquired about the school library we were given the privilege to revamp it and just recently are talking with our school about writing a more effective writing curriculum.
Something interesting we learned is that students here are not staffed. For anything. That is slowly changing but we have been learning that if a child is somehow learning disabled, EH, ADD, etc. the parents don't want their children tested. From what we understand it is a non-issue at most public schools. They just don't do that kind of thing here (in my mind this sounds a bit off so I will further research this topic and write about it at a later date). If it is something severe, the child is usually not mainstreamed and is put somewhere else either kept at home and taught or another type of school. From what we are learning it is rare for a special needs child (from either end of the spectrum) to be in a "public school" but we would like to do more research on this topic. I find it interesting and a bit bizarre to simply let it go at that. IEP's [Individual Education Plan] (or their Korean counterpart) have never been heard of here. Can you imagine that back home? My mind goes straight to the court cases for ESE and ESOL.
We will have another blog with pictures and perhaps a video of our students and school. :-)
Further topics to research: *Korean ESE students, *ESOL standards?, *Private school funding
Any other ideas?
Rugby World Cup 10-23-11
Ah...sports.
I am not the most avid sports fan. I love Gator football of course, and I like the Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Dolphins, The Red Sox and even kinda sorta, the USF Bulls. I enjoy being at those games more than watching them on TV but who doesn't? I have found a sport I like watching just as much as being a part of the crowd. RUGBY. It's spectacular. Something about the energy on the field while the players are waging battle against each other is really exciting. I think it is truly fun to watch and I can imagine being a part of the crowd is even better.
This past Sunday (yesterday), Joseph and I got together with some friends and about 150 of their friends to watch the Rugby World Cup. For some history of the sport click here. I think of it as being similar to American football, only without pads and with a higher caliber man playing it. Not a better man, just very well built for as physical as the game is. I know I'm off on that description but [as a girl] I get the right to say that. Not to mention the players are amazingly...athletic. Not an ounce of fat on them and they move like machines across the field and plow right into each other from yards away.
I don't really know enough about the sport to have a favorite team but that doesn't stop me from having one. My favorite is New Zealand. The men who play this dangerous yet extremely exhilarating and energetic game are fantastic at it.
My favorite part of the entire game is when New Zealand performs the Haka before the game starts.
The Haka is a traditional Maori war dance from New Zealand. There are thousands of Haka that are performed by various tribes and cultural groups throughout New Zealand. The best known Haka of them is called "Ka Mate". It has been performed by countless New Zealand teams both locally and internationally. It puts a smile on my face and goosebumps on my arms and legs. It's really an awe-inspiring couple of minutes. It certainly gets the crowd revved up and you can see by the players intense faces and their body language it really is a "war dance" for the game.
Here is a video of yesterday's game of New Zealand performing the Haka. Notice how France walks toward NZ as if about to challenge them. Please also look at the facial expressions. They are great.
"Haka's are challenges and you're basically laying down the gauntlut to the opposite side. You know, 'let's go to battle' and the winner walks away. In Rugby, the winner walks away with the points." --Wayne Shelford, All Blacks NZ Rugby Team 1985-90.
The Haka is meant to be powerful and really fearsome. I think the All Blacks have achieved their goal and they really did walk away with the points yesterday.
I am not the most avid sports fan. I love Gator football of course, and I like the Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Dolphins, The Red Sox and even kinda sorta, the USF Bulls. I enjoy being at those games more than watching them on TV but who doesn't? I have found a sport I like watching just as much as being a part of the crowd. RUGBY. It's spectacular. Something about the energy on the field while the players are waging battle against each other is really exciting. I think it is truly fun to watch and I can imagine being a part of the crowd is even better.
This past Sunday (yesterday), Joseph and I got together with some friends and about 150 of their friends to watch the Rugby World Cup. For some history of the sport click here. I think of it as being similar to American football, only without pads and with a higher caliber man playing it. Not a better man, just very well built for as physical as the game is. I know I'm off on that description but [as a girl] I get the right to say that. Not to mention the players are amazingly...athletic. Not an ounce of fat on them and they move like machines across the field and plow right into each other from yards away.
I don't really know enough about the sport to have a favorite team but that doesn't stop me from having one. My favorite is New Zealand. The men who play this dangerous yet extremely exhilarating and energetic game are fantastic at it.
My favorite part of the entire game is when New Zealand performs the Haka before the game starts.
The Haka is a traditional Maori war dance from New Zealand. There are thousands of Haka that are performed by various tribes and cultural groups throughout New Zealand. The best known Haka of them is called "Ka Mate". It has been performed by countless New Zealand teams both locally and internationally. It puts a smile on my face and goosebumps on my arms and legs. It's really an awe-inspiring couple of minutes. It certainly gets the crowd revved up and you can see by the players intense faces and their body language it really is a "war dance" for the game.
Here is a video of yesterday's game of New Zealand performing the Haka. Notice how France walks toward NZ as if about to challenge them. Please also look at the facial expressions. They are great.
"Haka's are challenges and you're basically laying down the gauntlut to the opposite side. You know, 'let's go to battle' and the winner walks away. In Rugby, the winner walks away with the points." --Wayne Shelford, All Blacks NZ Rugby Team 1985-90.
The Haka is meant to be powerful and really fearsome. I think the All Blacks have achieved their goal and they really did walk away with the points yesterday.
Go New Zealand! Great game.
Rugby World Cup
France vs. New Zealand
Score: 7-8
October 23, 2011
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Weekend Part 1: Yunseong Foot Spa (9-25-11)
Whew! Another nice weekend in South Korea. We are saving money and hence not a lot of trips outside of Daejeon yet but we are getting there. Promise.
On Saturday, Joseph, Amy and myself went to the "tourist area" in Daejeon called Yunseong Special Tourist Zone. We did not notice anything particularly touristy in this area. We did pause at the Yuseong Foot Spa which we later discovered was the tourist zone. This is a natural hot springs that goes as hot as 41 degrees Celsius which in my world is 105.8 F. We studied the people sitting around the spa with their legs in. We discovered that their legs were almost beet red from how hot it was. Surely that cannot be safe?
We were encouraged to try it and after a bit of deliberation we decided to give it a try. It was HOT. All of our legs turned red where the water touched them after about 5 minutes and the local patrons had been sitting around this spa for at least an hour or so. We were told this is healthy for our legs and circulation and known to cure all manner of skin ailments and an effective treatment for neuralgia and related maladies. I searched for more information about this spa and learned that written accounts of the Yuseong hot springs first appeared more than 1,000 years ago. It was only after the Gyeongbu and Honam railway lines began passenger service in the early 20th century that Yuseong began to attract the public′s interest. After the Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Office was relocated from Gongju to Daejeon in 1932, the Yuseong area came to be developed into a tourist resort.. The video below we found on You Tube which will give you a good idea about this foot spa. It is a smaller area and was filled with older people and some of their younger counterparts the day we went. A few families would have their feet in the spa then picnic for awhile and then get back in. Just another social day in Korea!
Spa Here
On Saturday, Joseph, Amy and myself went to the "tourist area" in Daejeon called Yunseong Special Tourist Zone. We did not notice anything particularly touristy in this area. We did pause at the Yuseong Foot Spa which we later discovered was the tourist zone. This is a natural hot springs that goes as hot as 41 degrees Celsius which in my world is 105.8 F. We studied the people sitting around the spa with their legs in. We discovered that their legs were almost beet red from how hot it was. Surely that cannot be safe?
We were encouraged to try it and after a bit of deliberation we decided to give it a try. It was HOT. All of our legs turned red where the water touched them after about 5 minutes and the local patrons had been sitting around this spa for at least an hour or so. We were told this is healthy for our legs and circulation and known to cure all manner of skin ailments and an effective treatment for neuralgia and related maladies. I searched for more information about this spa and learned that written accounts of the Yuseong hot springs first appeared more than 1,000 years ago. It was only after the Gyeongbu and Honam railway lines began passenger service in the early 20th century that Yuseong began to attract the public′s interest. After the Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Office was relocated from Gongju to Daejeon in 1932, the Yuseong area came to be developed into a tourist resort.. The video below we found on You Tube which will give you a good idea about this foot spa. It is a smaller area and was filled with older people and some of their younger counterparts the day we went. A few families would have their feet in the spa then picnic for awhile and then get back in. Just another social day in Korea!
Spa Here
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| Not us, a local :-) |
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| Not a very large place but very nice and relaxing |
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| Joseph's new friend |
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| We were regaled with entertainment |
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| Everyone was clapping along |
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