Tasty Tuesday: Pizza!

So, no lie, I made real, American-style pizza.  I forgot to take pictures during the process, but the next time I make pizza I will.  Like I promised, all the ingredients can be found in Korean stores.  The end product looked like this:

...and it tastes as good as it looks.

Want to know how to make it?  Here we go:

Media Monday: Conan O'Brian Visits a Korean Jjimjibang

I don't get TBS here, obviously, but my mom linked me to this last week.


So, jjimjibang is kinda a public bath-house/spa type deal.  To be perfectly honest, I haven't done it yet...mostly because from what I have heard Conan's experience is pretty authentic.  Anyway, it;s funny...and I doubt I could make the experience any more humorous.

Here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k70xBg8en-4&list=PLVL8S3lUHf0TT2SGhaJy5FREpv2rUx2i3&index=44

Sorry

Dear Readers,

Just a quick note to apologize for my unplanned hiatus.  I've had a lot on my mind these last couple of weeks.

It's the end of the Korean school year, which means co-workers leaving and new ones coming in, students graduating, new students, spring cleaning (for me anyway) and MY FIRST TOOTH CAVITY.

Really, the last one has upset me more than anything.  I have gone 33 years without one and now I have 4! :(  Bummer!  I'll have a post about my experience with my Korean dentist soon.

Anyway, I plan to be back on schedule soon.  Until then!

Thursday Trivia: Van Gogh: 10 Years Exhibition

I went to the Van Gogh exhibit at the War Memorial of Korea.

It was a fantastic exhibit that takes Van Gogh's work, digitized them and then added movement to them.  It sounds strange, but it's beautiful.  I've always loved Van Gogh's work...the color and emotion...the fact that he made something beautiful out of a very dark time in his life.

The exhibit has left...but I took some video of the pictures.  They're stunning, really...and popped then into a little video for you.

I would also recommend you check out the War Memorial, too.  It's really interesting and quite moving in itself...Korea really does museums well.  The easiest way to get there is to take either line 4 (light blue line) or 6 (brown line) to Samgakji station (it's a transfer station) and take exit 12.  Walk straight...don't cross the street...follow the curve of the sidewalk to the left and you are right there.

The video I made is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8h9K9SL6xA

Tasty Tuesday: Dubu Jorim

So...this is one of my favorite things here: Dubu Jorim, or braised tofu.

I did not grow up in a pro-tofu world...but once I tried it, I thought that it wasn't bad...even if it wasn't something I thought I would ever crave.  I stand corrected.  I really love this dish!  It's great as a side dish (which it usually it), but sometimes I make it as a main dish.  It's low fat, high in protein, and a good source of calcium and iron so it's really quite healthy.

So, a little Googling and a little trial and error and I think I have it.  Here's how I make it:

Media Monday: Korean English Program Follow-Up

So, I ran across this...and felt like this was a nice follow-up on some of the things that I've been talking about on the Korean (specifically) English Education.

To me, this article says Korean students (middle and high school level) feel like they do not get anything out of their public school English education.  They feel they don't learn much from their Korean English teachers....that they focus on receptive skills (reading and listening) and grammar and not productive skills (writing and speaking).

I absolutely agree.

So, this here's the thing.  Ok, 2 things....here's 2 things about this:

The English education system has to...HAS TO...be reevaluated and readjusted to more practical acquisition and evaluation of the student's English ability.  It's not what students want or need to feel comfortable with their use of English.  I help a lot of my students analyze their exam answers, and in honestly, I feel like some of the questions do not evaluate the student's English ability level at all.  A lot of questions are subjective (as opposed to objective) and really are more for linguistic measure than language competence.

If, according to this article, if Korean English teachers are not able to and/or are not comfortable with teaching the things students want (like writing and speaking) then it is illogical and not practical to be reducing the number of Foreign English teachers country-wide.  If the Foreign English Teachers are the ones that build actual competence in English (or at least in my class...we focus a lot on speaking and writing), then the number of Foreign English Teachers, if anything, needs to be increased.

Again, I think that the education system, at least for English and other foreign language learning, needs to be reevaluated and modified to system that strongly encourages communicative skills.

Here's the link to the article I am referring to:
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/01/116_171702.html