Who I'm Listening To

  • Lupe Fiasco - Love Letter to the Beat (single)
  • N.E.R.D - Nothing
  • Janelle Monae - Without a Fight (single)
  • Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer
  • Kanye West - G.o.o.d Fridays

Monday, April 19, 2010

My cherry-na....(My Sharona)...relax...

I’d like to start this post by talking about some things that made me smile/laugh the past week and a half.

Everyday I give the children a letter of the day. I give them 5 words that start with that letter, and they're usually words that aren’t given in their textbook but that I think they’ll find useful in their daily lives.  On the letter K day I gave them the word “knot.” I asked, “Ok, my friends, who can tell me what this word is?!” Jenny, one of my smarter and more ambitious students stood up and said, “Teacher, KUNT!” Bless her soul. I tried to be an adult about it, but I was expecting if she messed up for it to be along the lines of "kah-not." I laughed, but caught myself and told her I was laughing because of the class clown behind her, not her mispronunciation.

The day of letter P was great too. In Hangul, the Korean alphabet, there is no “f” sound, but rather all “f” sounds are said with a “p.” When I asked the students if they knew any P words before I gave them their vocab for the day, these were their responses: pish, pight, and priend (pronounced puh-ren-duh).

As for the rest of the week, I signed up for Taekwondo, at the same place where all of my students practice. The meeting with the master of the dojo was a task. Imagine my speaking to someone with the same grasp of English that I have for Korean. We stumbled through an hour-long meeting in which we both went through our rolodex of foreign language knowledge. As of now I think I am supposed to be in at 10pm on Monday to have a special class and program for my age/skill level. Part of me thinks I’ll walk in Monday night to a room full of my students, in classic Kramer-esque fashion (better longer version). I’ll be sure to update.

This weekend, though. I’ve noticed that since I left California and the spoiled weather situation I’d grown so accustomed to, I have a deeper appreciation for the sunny days. Saturday was perfect. The sun was working overtime and the zephyr its friendly companion. A group of us rented bikes and cruised the city of Gyeongju where cherry blossom trees were in full bloom. It was a solid 6 hours on bikes, stopping off in a park for an hour, and ending with a sunset by the river (listening to E.Badu on my ipod-priceless). Here are some pictures, and the video is comedy. Adrian was trying to retrieve a Frisbee for some folks and it went all wrong.  You can hear my crying at the end. 













3 comments:

  1. OMG! In typical Dorian-esque, you're laughing in the background! I was glad to hear that at least you waited to see if he was ok to laugh. I'm glad you're having fun. ILUWAMH!

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  2. Hello Dorian,

    I am Nathan's mom, Becky. I enjoyed reading your blog, and the pictures are so beautiful. I really laughed at the video. Please continue with the blog. I don't get to talk to Nathan very much and reading you blog and seeing the pictures lets me see the beauty that all of ya'll are seeing. Sounds like you're having a great time with the kids. Nathan has mentioned your name a couple of times when we have talked. He said your a really good friend to have.
    Take care,

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  3. You are an amazing writer with an incredible sense of humor!! i love this site dorian.. be back soon!!

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