The Month of May in Korea is often called Family Month. There's Children's Day, Parent's Day, and Teacher's Day. Korea takes Mother's Day to a whole different level! On these days you give your Children, Parents and Teachers gifts to show them how much you appreciate them. Children often benefit the most with candy and money being popular gifts. Teachers get quite a lot of gifts as well as they have many students and parents to receive gifts from. And that's why the month of May is called Family month in Korea! Well... did you learn something new about Korea? If you did, you'll be glad to know that you'll learn cultural tidbits in every single lesson at KoreanClass101.com! In every lesson, not only will you learn Korean that will... Show more

I've been a bit of a lousy orphanage volunteer these days. I am taking a class 3 nights a week, and buy with some other appointments on 2 days, so I haven't been spending the kind of time I used to at the orphanage. In a way, that's OK since I will be leaving in August, and to kind of gradually make my exit it probably the healthiest and safest thing for those kids. But on the other hand, I've really missed them! During a recent long weekend, I planned to spend the whole day with the orphans. They were going to some nearby beach. However, my friend Josh and I had to leave separately, and subsequently got stuck in a enormous traffic jam. Because of the holidays that week, the roads were absolutely jammed. We left the center of... Show more

Last week I wrote about one particular day.  Here is what happened after dinner. As it turned out there really was no one working in the elementary boys side that night. After dinner is usually shower time, and even with an 엄마 it can be hectic (it depends on which 엄마 is there)! The kids don't really wash every day. Often they do little more than splash some water around their waists.  Shower time is not managed well.  Granted, it is a big undertaking. Some parents struggle with just a few of their own kids, but 20+ kids is a whole different battle.  And only the oldest kids really do it themselves. 1st-3rd and sometimes 4th graders are washed by an adult. It struck me as odd when I first saw it happen, but it is indicative of an... Show more

I arrived shortly before dinnertime, which is pretty normal when I go during the week. The boys were playing around, and some were even studying! But I couldn't find any of the regular adult staff. It seemed like the boys were fending for themselves again. At dinnertime, someone (presumably an 엄마 from a different section made some announcement about dinner: "얘둘아..밥 먹으러 가!" (Kids, go and eat!) Most of the kids headed out for dinner, but a few were being stubborn. They claimed they weren't hungry and they didn't want to go to dinner. That really doesn't matter, they are still supposed to eat at every meal, and they really should. Sometimes I think they try to skip dinner so they can whine later. Then they might get to pig out on... Show more

Last week all of the kids and staff went out for dinner. Hence "외식." 외 literally means "outside" like in 의국인 "foreigner" or literally "outside-country-person." 식 means food, or a meal. You may remember a culture class from a few months ago where the KClass crew showed us what a typical "희식" looked like. 희 in that case means company, so 희식 is a meal with your co-workers. The orphanage does this at least once a year, and by good fortune I happened to be there this year again. It's really just a fun time with the kids, and I get to seem them in a different setting. I think it's a pretty good day for them, and one they really enjoy. It is one of the rare occasions when they really get to do something special with themselves that... Show more