Commemorating Loved Ones in Korea

This week, when we got the news about my grandfather, my sister and mom were hiking in Seoraksan national park. There are many temples in Korea and to raise money, they often sell roof tiles on which you can write a personal message. Sarah and my mom decided to dedicate one to my grandparents. It really warmed my heart to know that their memory lives on, deep in the Korean mountains.

 

When the unfathomable becomes reality ...

Today I received the news that I never thought I would get in Korea, let alone by email. My beloved 90 year old grandfather passed away peacefully in the hospital.

A celebration of life will be held in the future when everyone (except, unfortunately, me) can be present. There remains a hole in my heart. You will be greatly missed Grandad. <3

 

 

James Albert Soles

January 11, 1923 - September 9, 2013

My last day with my Grandad. We ate Dairy Queen and walked around the lakeside park.

My #1 supporter of education!

McGill Graduates!

The only picture I have of JM with my grandfather. He really liked JM. Even gave him the classic
soft glasses case to put in his breast pocket.

A nice one of my dad and his dad.

Making silly faces.

A nice one of Sarah and our G-pa

60th Wedding Anniversary

 

How I will forever remember my grandparents ... sitting in the comfort of their home at 5 Cummings Ave.

 

Grandad relaxing in my new inflatable chair (circa 1999)

My Grandad came to hang out in our basement fort.

My grandparents were present for every birthday, Christmas, communion, and more.

One of my favourite moments captured on film.

My favourite people in the world.


 

Bad News from Home

While this week was supposed to be (and still is) exciting that my mom and sister have come to visit, there has been a shift in things back home.

My grandfather was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday. He was diagnosed with pneumonia, suffered a heart attack, and a brain stem stroke. While he is still choosing to fight, the battle for life appears to be a heavy one. He is truly the strongest man I've ever known.

My aunt has reported that while in and out of consciousness, he has been reaching for things. To comfort him, and to bring a piece of Sarah and I close (since we are both currently in Korea), she brought him our stuffed animals. The ones we've had since the day we were born.

Canada comes to Korea

My family is coming!! Sarah and my mom are coming to visit for a whole month. They arrive tomorrow (Thursday) at 6pm and I'm going to meet them at the airport. It'll be so nice to have familiar faces here in Korealand and I'm excited to show them where and how we live on the other side of the world! :D

Jennika

First Day at My New Job!

Today was my first day teaching at Dankook University as an English professor. All in all, I think the day was successful.

I was woken up with a skype call from my sister and my grandad wishing me good luck. It was really nice to talk to them and have them remember that it was an important day for me.

My classes are large, approximately 40 in each class, with a couple classes that have fewer than 40. The students seem ok. Today was just an intro lesson to give them my info, the textbook, class rules, etc. I also teach a night class for life long learners and I was really impressed with them tonight. I had heard that the life long class is hit or miss; sometimes you get students that signed up on their own free will, and others who's company forces them to take an English class. All my students participated and we took up the full 2 hours. It seems they all want to learn, so that's good. I am the youngest person in the room, and I'm the teacher, so we'll see how this plays out. In Korean culture, age is associated with more respect. I already had one lady call me out on my age and while I had told myself that I would say I was 32, once put on the spot I couldn't lie about my age. The difference between 28 (Korean age) and 32 is small when the pupils are 50+. Oh well!

I have more preps and more teaching hours than I expected. I have 6 different courses that I'm teaching: 5 bridge writing, 1 professional writing, 1 bridge speaking, 1 listening and pronunciation, 1 life long learning, and 1 psypsy, which is a conversation class. Coupled with 2 hours of volunteer tutoring, I have 21.5 scheduled work hours, not including all the time I'll spend prepping and correcting online homework.

My colleagues seem great so far. One in particular has been giving me lots of advice and help with lesson planning. I owe her big time! Everyone is really dedicated to their jobs and committed to becoming better teachers. Such a change from working at Bugil, where being a good teacher is frowned upon! It's nice to have the respect and liberties in my classroom.

I have a desk in a shared office, where lots of the teachers from the department have a desk. The Korean English teachers that I have met in my office are really friendly. One even studied at McGill! He was quite excited to share in the Canadian connection. As real, tenured professors, they are all conducting research and publishing in journals. After discovering that my background is in neuroscience, and specifically second language acquisition, a couple of the teachers have asked if I would read over and edit their papers. It's so nice to be in an institution of higher learning again!

Anyway, that's all for now. Time for bed! Tuesdays are a long 12 hour day for me. As of right now, the decision to move on from Bugil seems to have been a good one. I'm happy at my new job!

Jennika

Bugil Baseball Game

Bugil High School is known for their baseball team. This famous team has won the high school championships in Korea a few times. Many of the players are recruited and go on to have major league careers in Korea. The President's Cup, the final tournament of the season, was held on August 26th and all the students at Bugil got the afternoon off to go watch the game and cheer on their team. JM and I decided to join them.

Sadly, we lost in a roaring upset in the 8th inning, but it was still a good game!

Go Bugil!!

Lining up for the school songs

Bugil students singing their school song

Swing batter, batter, batter, swing!

Score!!!

Back to Korea - New job!!

Well, now that I'm back in Korea it's time to make an announcement: I HAVE A NEW JOB!!! That's right folks, I will no longer be teaching at Bugil Academy. Over the summer, many disappointing actions from Bugil prompted my decision to leave. I applied for and was miraculously accepted to teach English at Dankook University in their General Education department. I have been given a 1 year contract and a lot more responsibility. This is a great step for my resume and confidence.

 Dankook is literally just down the road from Bugil. It is the closest university I could possibly have taught at and my commute to work in the morning is only a fraction longer than what it was to get to Bugil. Since I have a bicycle, it will only take 20 mins or so to get there.

Considering how stressed I was the last few months at Bugil, I am very happy for this change. JM is still teaching physics at Bugil with the Global Leader program and they are not associated with the department I was previously working in. The hardest part about leaving is that I did not get to say goodbye to my students and I have been struggling with this. I went to visit Bugil twice this week already, but it was really hard. I love those students wholeheartedly and I would do anything for them. Unfortunately, things did not work out at Bugil, so I'm really looking forward to a fresh start with my Dankook students!

Jennika

Given to me by the dean - my certificate of employment, in a blue velvet folder!