Osaka, Japan

It seems as though I have done more traveling, then actual work! For the Chuseok break I set off to Osaka to meet up with Sonya Van Schaijik (eFellow11) who was on her Sabbatical traveling the globe visiting different schools and educators. I have to mention these virtual connections she had made prior to her sabbatical adventure through social media such as Twitter, which invited opportunities for her to link up with these teachers face to face. You can check out her journey here. Sonya has been a great influence to my teaching over the last few years, especially during our year as eFellows with Core Education. I will share more about Sonya in the next few posts, especially in relation to #teachmeetnz which I recently presented at virtually via Google Hangouts. 

We sat down thinking we were going to eat, being told "no, no this is a Museum!" 

The actual restaurant with Aiko's lovely friend who showed us around Gojo

We met with Aiko, who was an exchange teacher that lived with Sonya in NZ 14 years ago. Aiko is from Gojo and we got to visit her Nursery School. Probably a bit cheesy to say I met the most *gorgeous* babies that really did make me miss working with that age group! It was an interesting environment to see, and although the children are in separate age groups, they seemed to do everything together. There was a feeling of warmth and comfort that reflected from this learning space and although I can say how much children benefit from a stimulating environment that encourages curiosity, discovery, imagination and so on. Yet this short but enlightening visit shared such a beautiful lens of how these children were in an environment of love, care and most of all happiness. 

Aiko 

  

'Studying' hard 

The navigation around Osaka was interesting. . I am probably the worse navigator if I don't have Google maps pointing me in the direction every step of the way. Visiting Ryan at Kansai Elementary in Takastsuki, we ended up on the opposite side of Osaka in Takagucci. You see, I don't think I am all to blame (haha) as the Metro map for the subway app Sonya purchased for $5 was half cut and didn't have Takastuki on it, yet Ryan's instructions led me to think oh it must be Takagucci. . ermm no, epic fail much!
After many calls to Ryan and metro stops later, we finally made it to Kansai Elementary and met Ryan who showed us around his school. The school is only a couple of years old, and Ryan is one of the English teachers. The school has beautiful grounds and reflects a journey of great growth in their short life so far.

Kyoto set the scene for the local markets of fashion, food and Japanese ornaments. Aiko shared how much Kyoto has changed over the years and is becoming more "hip" with the modern world. I must say I do prefer the rural towns to gain that 'authentic' experience of the Japanese lifestyle. Being in Gojo, we visited the "oldest street"and also got to see a farmer at work in his rice farm. It's the little things like this that interest me more than the bright lights of the city. Although I think the farmer thought we were quite odd, taking photos of him at his 'normal' everyday job! (Tourist life)

 

Kyoto 

 

Overall we spent a lot of time traveling between places. It is easy to get to one end of Osaka to the other, yet the train prices do get rather pricey. It is recommended to purchase rail passes online before heading to Japan. I would have loved to of visited Hiroshima, for me those are places

with such rich history that have left an undeniably large footprint on our world library. I remember visiting the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam a few years ago, and being so moved by the reality of it all. It brought the book I read at Intermediate School to life and made the experience so much more meaningful yet at the same time very surreal to actually be where it all took place. 

Although we didn't make it to see the Deer park in Nara and other sights in Osaka, just being there was enough for me. Traveling, you embrace these countries with appreciation and I feel that it really is a blessing to be able to experience life beyond NZ! Living it, and loving every minute. 

Thank you Osaka! 

My brother Brandyn sent this to me prior to leaving for Japan and unfortunately I didn't get to experience the sardine squash! 

Life in Korea.ish

I have met a lot of wonderful people in Korea who come from all sorts of life. There is quite a Kiwi community spread throughout Korea as well, so it is nice to make those familiar connections so far away from home. I am living in Bundang, which is 40 minutes away from Seoul. Bundang is quite a wealthy area, especially where EtonHouse is located.

 

Learning the Korean language was interesting. . . I started a (free) lesson and then did not continue after that. As the great learner that I say I am, I think there are some areas of grey that need a push, or maybe a shove! I know if I would have persevered I could be stringing more everyday sentences and building on from this. Instead I choose to talk with gestures and play charades when communicating with people that only speak Korean. 

I would have to say the biggest learning curve is working with children that have Korean as their first language. As a teacher in this environment it is something that I am still trying to grapple with, as the children are still learning their own language and then enter an environment everyday to learn "English" as well. Most of my class still speak Korean at times during the day, yet I don't disregard it or insist they "speak English!" In saying this, they do try and are becoming more confident each day at their own natural pace. The children are immersed in this English environment, yet personally I think their own language is still developing and should be the priority. Language is not a barrier to our communication, but a place where we have embraced Korean and English as one.

School Story: When painting for the first time, as soon as the children got paint on their hands they refused to paint and insisted on washing their hands (every time). . . It was experiences like this that shared so much more about the cultural dynamic in International Education, I think it is fair to say that teaching in Korea is commonly out of a textbook. I know that EtonHouse Asia is the paradigm shift of education in Asia today, there are already 70 EtonHouse pre-schools across 9 countries in Asia. Therefore parents sending their children to EtonHouse Korea, already have the prior-knowledge that EtonHouse is a school that encourages "Play" as learning and development. There is still a long way to go from shifting parents thinking into this zone and away from textbook learning for young children, but I feel will get there eventually.

Although our families are very supportive of what we do in the Jellyfish class, I think it is important to share stories from their own community. In a recent class newsletter, we attached a ted talk by Korean Author Young-Ha kim who shares an insightful talk on "Be an Artist right now". Young-Ha speaks wonders from a Korean perspective and I know has been an influential person for our parents to reflect on in relation to the work we are doing with their children and the thinking behind the scenes of our Jellyfish adventures. Enjoy!

Kuala Lumpur

Made with love from Jen Boyd! 

As the siblings made their way back home, Mum and I ventured onto KL in Malaysia. Now I know Malaysia is literally on the border of Singapore, but if you look at a 5 hour bus ride in comparison to a half an hour plane ride, comfort and time over rules scenic views and a bumpy ride. Flights were dirt cheap, yet when you add taxes, fuel and other additional prices than everything obviously accumulates very quickly. I take back the dirt, and replace it with reasonable!

When searching through my photos, I realised how sucky (yes I used sucky) I am at organising these traveling photos into some sort of collection like a photo book or flickr. Maybe I should practice what I preach as I tell many people about ways to store or share photos online and I don't even do it myself. Anyway, back to KL - excuse my tendency to vent during blog posts. I am sure you all want to know my deep and meaningful thoughts, haha.

Hotel

Just kidding. Kings Palace

Kings old Palace

KL is very modern in parts of the city and obviously a tourist hot spot. Staying in the heart of the Petrona Towers set the scene for this iconic building, only just being able to secure tickets to visit the towers. Times like this you need to book online (Biting my words) or get down there early to get a ticket as they sell out very quickly. Visits are done in an orderly fashion with groups of people going up at particular times.

The views are superb, as per the actual towers. No jumping, running or anything that will cause the building to "shake or move". It is quite eerie and picture perfect way up high. You do feel it moving like sea motion almost, doesn't it make you want to run that bridge just to satisfy your curiosity! (crazy, I know)

Batu Caves made for great exercise, 272 steps up to the actual caves. The monkeys greeted with such joy, and their seemed to be a Zoo of them as we puffed our way up to the top. Near the end of our stay, the King was opening his palace doors to the public which we were unfortunately going to miss. Yet it didn't stop my eagerness to go and see the palace anyway! I would have liked to visit other parts of Malaysia and be part of the local life, getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

 

Singapore

FYI: I am rather embarrassed by the layout of my blog though as it looks rather dis-jointed. I am trying to "fix" it to my liking, but it is taking a while. Frustration gets the better of me when I can't get it to do what I want! Speaking of frustration, I had internet problems at my apartment a while back and the 'internet' guy came to sort it out. Well the language barrier meant he couldn't understand the English on my laptop and he kept shrugging his shoulders and speaking to me in Korean. Fed up, I took the laptop off him and ended up solving the problem myself!

Anyway this post is going to be short and sweet. So I have this thing called "holidays" and this July, my mum and the siblings Tyrone, Alexcia and Brandyn flew over to meet me in Singapore. It was pretty cool to see the family, if even for a short while. We explored the sights of Singapore, enjoyed the tourist things you do and spent some quality time hanging out. I am quite the spontaneous traveler and just take things in my stride when I arrive in the country. Sometimes you find the best things, when you actually get there - well that is my argument for not pre-booking activities. I haven't been brave enough to do that with accommodation yet though, that is not really a lucky dip for me, more a priority to have a clean bed and a bathroom.

Which brings me to airbnb.com, now I used this service in Vancouver and Silicon Valley and stayed with the most loveliest people. I haven't had to use it since, as it is kind of my last option. Since there were a lot of us, we looked into this option for Singapore and again had another wonderful experience in a home away from home.

Singapore is expensive, but really depends on what you are wanting to do and buy there. If you are wanting designer bags, don't think the designer bag "sales" are sales like you know. They are still 4 digit prices, I did a double take thinking it was a typo or they hadn't reduced the prices. Errmm no, that was the "sale" price! Bargain indeed. How naive to think they would possibly be at a price I could afford, hah! Overall I really enjoyed Singapore, as per the family. Sentosa Island is great for the Bora Bora like beaches and Universal Studios. Oh, and my highlight would have to be the Chicago popcorn! drool. I am sure if you tried it, it would be your highlight too! haha.

Woo. She is on a roll people!

So, I haven't figured out how I will back track but I suppose I have to start somewhere. Lesson well learnt that is for sure. In March 2013, I packed my bags and set off to Korea, moving abroad was a long time coming to be honest. If anything the hardest decision to make was leaving a early childhood centre that had contributed to who I am today. I knew I was ready to move on, the million dollar question was where! EtonHouse Korea came into the picture, although Korea was not even an option for me, I knew the history of EtonHouse Singapore so my expectation was pretty satisfied. Not to sound snobby as such, but after being at a quality centre that drives the importance of early childhood education where you are living and breathing it everyday, I was looking for schools that spoke a vision that related to mine.

My Nursery class of 2-3 year olds are a delight, although there were challenges at first. . Obviously transition is different everywhere you go, but here the first day was literally the children's FIRST day. You can imagine the tears, doubt and worry that was expressed for the first few weeks! All understandable feelings from children whom didn't really know what was going on. Not only did they have to build a sense of trust with us, but had to adapt to a whole new environment, routine of life and this place called "school" . . Just like that? Not to mention a foreign teacher whom speaks "just English". I remember TG (3 years old) who said to her mum, Ms Hanna can speak English and not Korean, but how come Ms Chloe (co-teacher) can speak Korean and English? A very bold statement, where I will share more of TG's insightful perspectives as time goes on. 

So for the first few weeks, our main focus was establishing relationships with these children. Looking back, I can say how crazy and mad it was amongst all the crying, separation anxiety, reassurance with families and did I mention crying? Many times I pondered . . what have I got myself into! However 8 months on, I can honestly say what a change. The process has had its ups and downs, but it's hard to think the children that walked into our class 8 months ago are the confident, loud, question seeking, curious, creative and unique individuals they are today.

I learnt that resilience was paramount to ensuring sanity remained cool, calm and collected. Flexibility to adapt to whatever situation you are faced with in any part of the world. I know Korea is only the beginning, but boy did it ever leave a stamp in my memory that I will never forget! I can also say that 8 months into my 1 year contract, we have had to let our directors know whether we will be staying on for another year. It is public knowledge that I am finishing my contract in Feb 2014 and continuing with this international venture. 

Blogging Withdrawals

Terrible human being! So my last post was in June 2012, on return from the US and a whirlwind of visiting some amazing countries and early learning centers. A lot has kind of happened since then, I have to admit I have been really really slack on keeping up to date with my blog. Since then I joined Tumblr & aboutme.com, thinking to start fresh and maybe this one will disappear off the radar..HAH! fat chance, who am I kidding. I thought it would motivate me more to "follow" trend with what was hip and try out these other links. I mean seriously, you are what you post and therefore no matter what site you choose to use, you are the controller of that blog.

Anyway, as I try to figure out a strategy to see how to present my history of the last year in a nut shell is a great starting point. Twitter has been the tool in my communication over this year, keeping it short, sweet and simple. Making connections within the wider world and having it at my fingertips. Here I go again, making lame excuses for my lack of consistency! I am determined to make this work, as for the last 8 months I have been in Korea, how can that not be cool to write about! let alone where the next adventures will take me.

Ok so this is my truce with my blog to say I am back! not to be slack, but to be motivated and roll with the punches and keep this ongoing and reflective, as I say I am. Watch this space, she is bringing it back!

"Life is like a blank canvas and you need to throw all the paint on it you can" Danny Kaye