tabulas.com

Hello to all the students I met Jan. 3rd, 2005 in the winter Intensive English Program at The Catholic University of Korea.

(and "Hello!" to all my friends and family and other readers, too!)

If you would like to learn more about the English teachers here at Catholic University, please visit this site:

http://songsim.cuk.ac.kr/~ifle/a_02.html

A reminder to IEP students: Please click on the "Gallery" link to the right of this message and choose one photo to talk about (or ask me about) in class by Thursday, Jan. 6th. [You may choose a photo from this site or www.tabulas.com/~smilin7 (there's a full gallery of photos there, too). Within galleries on each site are albums -- click on the cover photo to each album and you'll see even MORE photos]

Here's a photo of me, with my husband and daughter, taken last week when they were in Korea. I miss them already!

Hello all! In class this week we've been discussing food.

Here's a short food idiom quiz link:

http://a4esl.org/q/h/id-lb-food.html

(note! You may have to click once on the “Refresh” button of your computer screen's menu bar to get the site to open up properly).

Have fun!

In class today, we were discussing money - and trivia details about the coins and bills and Presidents... and Ms. D (me!) was embarrassed because I could not answer all of your questions!

Here is a fun website link -- lots of photos and easy-to-read information about USA currency.

http://www.mistupid.com/currency/

Hello again world!

Below you should see a photo or two (or three?) of our 'Christmas Tree 2004' -- traditional style it is not! But celebrating our usual way was quite a challenge here in Korea.

My husband and daughter visited but did not bring our stockings with them -- so I made one for Amber -- out of construction paper! But it worked -- and 'Santa Claus' managed to fill it with an eclectic assortment of items, some fun, some useful, some whimsical!

Material gifts were sparse, but material gifts were not really needed, it was nice to be together that day.

A busy afternoon at the OBF (English Cafe) at CUK! A hard-working group of awesome IEP students visited the OBF today and challenged themselves with various activities set up at different tables. Activities ranged from sequencing picture squares and creating/telling stories, to fortune telling to practicing plurals to singing to drawing (how well can you follow and/or give directions?) to seeing how many details one could remember after only a brief glimpse at a photo album to trying a practice quiz... Here are a few photos -- more are in the gallery (or will be soon).

Look at the beautiful photos in my gallery -- folder named "Mark and Gina's wedding!"

They were married in CanCun -- wow!

I LOVE Gina's bridal bouquet -- what beautiful fresh flowers!

They look so happy; I wish for them to hold onto these beautiful memories and STAY happy!

Hope these photos help everyone stay smiling -- there are happy times in this not-always-so-pleasant world of ours... HOPE springs eternal, as they say...

A short story -- cultural differences, amazing service...

Last Saturday evening, I went shopping, late -- and spent nearly every last won I had with me. The ATMs closed down for the night at 10 p.m., and so when I tried to get more money, I couldn't! (MOST ATMs close early here, few are open 24 hours).

The next day, Sunday, I took the subway to meet some UU friends and when I scanned my subway card, it showed I had almost nothing left on my card -- not enough even for the return trip on the subway!

The ATMs don't open until noon on Sundays, so when I met my friends, I asked if they knew where an ATM was... and so we walked around the corner to an "all-bank-cards-served-here" machine --- I put in my card, punched the appropriate buttons, and got an error message -- in Hangeul (my mastery of the language is still in its infancy, so I could not decipher it) -- AND the machine gave me not only NO money, BUT it did NOT return my card!!!

So, now I am in Seoul, with not enough money for the ride home, with no Korean credit card, no cash, no ATM card, YIKES!

My friend's wife, who speaks fluent Korean, used the little "emergency" phone near the ATM, and in just under NINE MINUTES, a security guard drove up on his motorbike, unlocked the bank, opened the vault, and returned my card! (with a bow and a smile and NO FEE, NO CHARGE, NO TIP expected).

Not only that, he waited while I tried my card in another machine -- which also 'ate' my card and gave me no money! So, back into the vault he went, returned my card, made a phone call -- found out that on Sundays, this machine would not take my bank card (it would on Monday - Friday, and Saturday morning, though) -- and advised me (through my friend's kind wife/interpreter) that the nearest Woori Bank (my bank) was a few blocks away!

Now, for those of you from the states, tell me where you might get that kind of service, for FREE, with a bow and a smile, WITHIN NINE MINUTES, ON A SUNDAY???? !!!!!

I love you, Korea!