Warning: total sentimentality overload. It’s no secret that I love Dr. Seuss. I mean, how could anyone not? I use his books often as a way of introducing my kindergarteners to English spoken more quickly than we normally talk to them, as you kind of have to read the stories quickly in order to hear [...]
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About halfway through my alcohol-free month of Project Pull Self Together, I am pleased to report that I am a much happier Hails. No doubt this is partially to do with the relief being experienced by my body, particularly my poor liver and sleep-deprived brain, but I have also been making a conscious effort to [...]
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To understand what I’m talking about today, you’ll need a brief crash course in Korean. Ready?! OK. In the Korean language, there are three main ‘registers’ or levels of speech – which one you use depends on your relationship with the person to whom you’re speaking. The highest register – the most formal one – [...]
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Freezing and hungry as I made my way back to the train station last night, the smell of kimchi jjiggae stopped me in my tracks and lured me into a little station eatery for some hot, comforting goodness. I am comfortable here now. I can hop on and off the subway in various cities with [...]
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For the most part, I identify very well with little children. I am in one of probably very few jobs where having a childish mentality is a bonus! I understand the things they find funny when we read a story or watch a movie. I know how to make them laugh or wake them up [...]
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January was a unmitigated disaster. Let’s just get that out of the way from the start. No question about it, living a life that is 50% isolation and 50% drinking away your money in a bar is not good for the mind, body or soul. I’ve seen myself go from a happy and fulfilled person [...]
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Yeah, I’m really not wild about octopus heads, guys, mused a friend of mine last Saturday afternoon as – still in Friday night’s clothes – we groaned our way through a somewhat hungover breakfast at her local Korean restaurant. Such comments are perfectly commonplace in my life these days, and yet I still find them [...]
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I honestly don’t know what I find more frustrating. Is it the fact that you can spend entire lessons teaching a specific sentence structure or grammar point and there will always be one or two students who clearly have not listened to a single word, as is nicely illustrated when they hand in their homework [...]
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Having sat up talking to my best friend back home until after 4 o’clock this morning, I once again wanted the world to end when the alarm went off a few hours later. I really am not a very sensible person, these days. Still, I crawled out of bed – spilling a forgotten glass of [...]
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…is not good for me. It’s not on a lemon tree, though – it’s in my classroom. While work is (as my last post described) an absolute joy at the moment, the periods between classes are becoming difficult for me. I’m alone. I don’t mean in general – I have the best friends I could [...]
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You Say Goodbye, I Say… Historical Snapshots It Just Makes Me Happy
