story – Places And Spaces To Be In

Breakfast for one

Sabbath morning.

I forced myself to sleep in some more, even though my body woke me up around 6AM – the usual time I would get up during the week. This time around, my body is sore from the workout I had this past week, especially from yesterday’s workout when my friend helped me pump some steel. I made a promise to myself to care better for myself by exercising, sleeping more, and eating better. Especially breakfast.

On the breakfast menu:

Chicken (simmered in doengjang) sandwich
Coffee
Cucumbers

-A

P.S. Because I live alone, I’m still learning how to cook for one. It’s been a challenge, but a good learning experience. For those living alone too, how do you do it?

Nicknames

For the past 24 years of my life, I’ve received nicknames from family, friends, and schoolmates. Some of them are unique whereas others are just… random with no connection to who I am. These nicknames do reveal something about myself as an individual. Well, some do at least.

Dimple. Since my birth, this name has always been a part of my identity. How did I get the name? I was told that when I was born, I had about 18 dimples on my face (I must’ve been one chubby baby). Thus the name stuck with me. It was so that I didn’t even know what my real name was until I entered elementary school. Although I knew that Dimple was just my nickname, I never used my real name until my family emigrated to the U.S. Then, I became Arve. I’ve always thought that this nickname was my Philippine identity, whereas the name I now go with is my American me.
Harajuku Girl. Back in high school, when I was part of the show choir, my friend Vallene Karamoy (now Mrs. Hasibuan) and I spent so much time together. It got to the point that our show choir leaders noticed. Apparently, we’d always be walking into our rehearsal room together and would always be spotted together around school. Our leaders dubbed us as the Harajuku Girls for our “twin-like” and inseparable habit. And also because we were both Asians…
Agave. The most randomest nickname of all. This came from my best friend’s ex. Apparently, my name reminded him of “agave.” Go figure. Because of that, my best friend, Nadinne, became Nektar – dubbing her and I as “Agave and Nektar”.

Have a nickname? What is the story behind it? Share with me!

– A

Learning 한굴 (Korean)

안넹하세요! It’s been a while since I’ve shared about how my life has been here in South Korea. Well, it’s been a busy past two months and we’re wrapping up the current term while looking forward to the short break.

Since the beginning of this term, I’ve been putting more effort into learning Korean. So when I sent a message to 아리 (Ari) about helping me, I was very lucky that she said “Yes”. 소비 (Sophy), 아리’s best friend, has joined us. Both ladies were actually my former students. Thus begins an exchange program where they both co-teach me how to read and speak, and I help them improve their conversational skills.

This experience has been teaching me the following:

Pronunciation is IMPORTANT. You are one sound away from saying “a three-wheeled bicycle” (세발자전거) to a very bad word…
Grammar is quite different between 한굴 and English. For example, “할아버지다 오레산 키쿤나무” reads out to be “grandfather is older than tall tree” when in reality it means the reverse: “Tall tree is older than grandfather.” So one moment as I pull out my “Korean for Beginners” and review things…

We’ve been meeting once a week and I’m enjoying the laughter and stories we’ve been sharing between us.

Learning from a textbook and a children’s picture book.

So here’s to my slow, yet steady, learning.

-A

P.S. I’ve accomplished Day 36/100! Check out my Instagram of what those 36 moments and things are.

#happyarvedays

I’ve accomplished 17 days out of the 100 Happy Days Challenge.

Day 1: Happiness is… smiling big because you’re surrounded by one of your favorite things: flowers.

This challenge was the rage a couple years ago and was begun by the 100happydays foundation. Their goal is to make the world a happier place. The foundation claims that 71% of those participating in this challenge failed to accomplish it, due to time. In a world that is fast-paced and quick to look for the next, up and coming thing, it’s no wonder why such a small percentage were able to accomplish the challenge.

The foundation challenged the internet world with one question:

Can you be happy for 100 days in a row?

Like the 71%, I started to do this challenge about two years ago, and failed on the 46th day.

So, for the past 17 – going on 18 – days, I’ve been challenging myself to find the things and moments that make me happy. It doesn’t matter whether they are big or small, pertaining to one’s self or towards others, as long as it makes you happy in a healthy and positive way. I say healthy because there are many things that could make us happy. However, such happiness is bad especially for our mental, physical, and spiritual health. I seek to find things that invigorate me positively and healthily in those three aspects.

Day 11: Happiness is when you successfully get your students to enjoy the class material you’ve planned.

Day 17: Happiness is having a brother and (future) sister whom I could talk to.

So here’s to restarting the #100happydayschallenge.

-A

P.S. Check out my #happyarvedays on Instagram! I hope it makes you smile!

A Novice English Teacher’s Frustration About…

“Shocked” is the perfect word to describe what I am feeling right now. Let me explain…

For some reason, in one of my Junior classes, we are ahead of schedule with our class material. Because of that, I opted for a fun and competitive activity with this small class today. The activity: whoever writes a sentence with proper grammar, proper use of the word(s) given, and correct spelling, shall earn points. Ten points respectively for each action done correctly. The prize – a 2016 planner. Otherwise, everyone shall receive a choco-pie (really delicious stuff, I tell you).

Also, because I am an English teacher and I’m trying to encourage these kids to stop speaking Korean in class, I deduct 50 points for each time a student decides to speak in Korean. I know, it’s drastic – but with these kids, it’s necessary.

So the game began. Many were tied, and yet are sweetly improving their creative writing. Time came up for the the class to end and suddenly, the only boy in the class spoke in Korean. Minus 50 points.

Before I continue, let me give you a little bit of background about my relationship with these kids: we are chill. I joke around. They joke around. We get the work done. It’s a good day. All in all, I trust them until they give me a reason not to (like the other day, I allowed them to watch a video on the premise that it was related to the material and that it was going to be in English. It was related to the material – air pollution – however, it was a short animation in Korean. Figures). Bottom line: we chill.

However, I’m currently unsure about whether or not I should trust these kids anymore. This recent action has led me to believe that they think I find everything to be funny and I cannot be taken seriously. Well, you see, the student whom I just deducted 50 points from for speaking Korean, decided that it was funny to steal the prize and run out the door. The whole class thought it was funny and laughed right out the door. I was hoping that the thief would run back and return the item within a matter of minutes. But he didn’t.

Shocked. Disappointed. FRUSTRATED.

Which then leads me to ask this question:

Should teachers also be responsible in teaching children morality in the classroom or should we just leave that responsibility to their parents or guardians?

As a foreign teacher, it is advised that when it comes to situations such as disciplining, I should just leave it to my Korean co-teacher because of the cultural and language barrier. Easy. But now it leaves me with another situation – RESPECT. If I leave it to my co-teacher to solve the issue, how am I to create an environment of respect – not only for myself, but also to each other?

As for now, I don’t know. It’s a matter of continuous prayers and of me and my co-teachers to collaborate what the next best step should be.

They say that this younger generation doesn’t understand and practice respect as much as the older generation. I hope that immorality isn’t added into that list.

Of Having a Female Mentor

At the end of last quarter, I signed myself up to join a mentoring program that my friend, Maddy, set up. I was paired up with the VP of Enrollment and Marketing here at school. Before our first meet up, I was honestly intimidated. I mean, I’m about to meet one of the VP’s of my school!

Now, I need to share with you that I do have mentors. Two are in my department and one who travels around wherever the music goes. And they are all men. When I met my appointed mentor, one of the first things I shared with her about what I wanted out of this relationship, was that I needed that female perspective that my male mentors lack. So our conversations can range from anything to everything.

Meeting her for the first time was intimidating, but as we continued to talk, she’s a very energetic lady, who wants to have as much impact on the student’s life here on campus as much as our professors. The only thing that has kept her from truly doing that was that she rarely has that interaction that professors have. So when Maddy introduced this mentorship program, she was more than ready to grab onto this opportunity. On top of that, she loves Filipino food and culture. One of the few Caucasian individuals I know who appreciate Filipino food…

But back to our first meeting; we were talked about her career and how certain moments have lead her to our school. I’ve shared with her my worry of finishing school and life after college. Before we ended our meeting, she left me with the following insights:

What new skill do you want to learn? How can you use it to support yourself?
When you’re in a new environment (like a job), give yourself three years. It is allow you to understand the environment, culture, and the job, so when it comes to the third year, you are set!
When you’re speaking with your friends, don’t be afraid to share that you’re looking for a job – and tell them exactly what you’re looking for.

After speaking with her, I’ve taken up sewing (also because I’m a fashion designer for a charity event here at school – but story time at a another time…) and I’ve refreshed my Instagram to give it a new purpose. Those were the two things that have inspired me to do something new and different. Otherwise, I’m still working on the rest of her insights.

But keep posted! I’ll be sharing more of what she and I will talk about in all our hangouts. Hopefully you’ll learn something along with me – as I dig through her wisdom.