Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011

Ahn-nyoung (“Goodbye”) from So. Korea:

I went to visit Tayler’s first period class Friday morning.  They are studying Hamlet right now.  It was fun to observe him teaching even for just a couple of minutes.  They got to ask me a few questions, and then I took their class picture.

                Tayler is just to the right of the middle near the back.

I’m flying to Kauai today on New Year’s Eve.  I’ll meet my friend, Carol, in Honolulu, and then we’ll head over to Kauai for a week and then Oahu for five days.

                 Ready to leave for the Incheon International Airport.

I wanted to tell you a bit about the school that the kids teach at.  It’s fairly typical of the schools here.  Incheon International High School is a public boarding school, but the students must be tested in order to enroll there.  It’s four years old and is for Years 1, 2, and 3 – the same as our Grades 10-12.  There are approximately 450 students enrolled.

                                   Tayler in front of the school.

Tayler teaches AP World History, AP European History, International Issues, International Relations, and Humanities.  Meghan teaches Critical Reading, English Grammar, Essay Writing, and Humanities.  Classes started on March 2 to December 23, but they still go to classes during the break.  The majority of the students stay at the school, but if they choose to leave, they go to an academy for more classes.   They only get to see their families on the weekends and, during break, late in the evenings IF they go to academy.

Classes start at 8:00 AM and end at 8:00 PM or 9:00 PM, depending on their classes.   The students go to school Monday through Saturday. They leave around 2:00 PM to go home until Monday morning at 8:00.  They only get an hour for lunch at 1:00 and an hour for dinner at 6:00.  After classes in the evenings, they have to stay at the school and study until midnight.  Their dorm rooms are locked at 8:00 AM and the whole building is locked up until midnight, so they can never go back to their rooms until then.   They are extremely careful with energy here (at least at the school).  They only have the lights go on at midnight for one hour while the students go back to their rooms when school is finished.  They don’t heat the classrooms during the day, so the kids have to wear their coats all day and freeze to death.

   Some of the dorms.  Tayler and Meghan's apartment is in the building on the right.

Apparently, testing is huge here also, and if the students don’t pass, some of them actually commit suicide.  So. Korea has the highest suicide rate among teens in the world!  That’s a pretty sad commentary.  Education is highly stressed here.

…Aloha from Hawaii

I’m now sitting in the Honolulu International Airport in the SUNSHINE!!!  It’s warm, sunny, and great.  I left Incheon at 7:00 PM on Dec. 31 (yesterday now by my body time).  I arrived in Honolulu at 7:56 AM on Dec. 31.  I gained a day in traveling this direction.  I had only gotten about 1 ½ hours of sleep when all the cabin lights went on and we were served breakfast.  That was around 12:30 AM by Korean time.  I’ve been wandering around the airport for hours, got checked in for Hawaiian Air, and am waiting for Carol to arrive later this afternoon. 

I have to put a plug in here for Korean Air.  It is BY FAR the nicest, most accommodating, organized airline I’ve EVER flown on!  When you get to your seat, they have a warm blanket (much nicer than any other airline), a pillow, a bottle of water, headphones, and a little packet with slippers, eye covers, and earplugs!  They give you a towelette to clean off with shortly after you arrive, then serve drinks and snacks.  Later we got dinner.  Between dinner, they brought more drinks and snacks like muffins and bananas.  We got a hot, moist towel this morning to help us wake up.  I started to blow my nose when I first sat down on the plane.   The flight attendant saw me, went to the bathroom, and got me three tissues.  I was stunned!  The flight attendants were all very quiet and just sort of “floated” throughout the plane.  They were very solicitous!  I’d fly Korean Air every day of the week if I could over the “lovely” airline choices we have in the USA.

                         Very helpful flight attendants.

Speaking of the US, however, I had a reaction I hadn’t expected this morning as I opened my window and saw Oahu to my left.  I lived here for four months when I was 21, and this morning, I felt like I was “home”. I’ve been back to Hawaii many, many times.   I think my reaction was partly because of previously living here, but more so because I was FINALLY back in the United States.  I actually got tears in my eyes!    When we got off the airplane and had to take a shuttle over to Immigration, there was a big mural above the escalator that said, “Welcome to the United States”.  Again, my heart took a leap for joy.  This has been an amazing adventure, but I’m SOOOOOO GLAD to be back in the United States.  I don’t care what anyone says.  We have more opportunities and more everything than any other country in the world.  I would even include first world countries when I say that.  I LOVE AMERICA!!!!!!!

Well, that’s it for Korea and my flight to Hawaii.  From here on out, unless you are one of my readers in So. Africa, Kenya, India, or Germany, or you’ve never been to Hawaii before, my blog might not hold as much interest for you.   I do hope you will check in again now and then, just the same.  I’ll show you more pictures of the fun things we do.

Have a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Kadi