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Can’t Stop the Reading

February 14, 2017

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Read-A-Thon is back at YISS! Our elementary students celebrate reading during February and March. The theme this year is Camp Out with a Good Book.

David helped with the music video again this year. He rewrote the words to Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” and changed it to “Can’t Stop the Reading.” We work with so many talented people! From singing to sound mixing, video editing, and dancing… I love how the final product showcases the creativity and joy of our school!

Watch it on Facebook, Vimeo, or below:

This year, each grade level team was featured reading together. (The third grade teachers at the pool were my favorite!) This is David with his fifth grade team (and yes, he’s surfing on his friend Ross in the river):

Here are the lyrics:

I got this feeling inside my bones
What adventures will this new book take me on?
All through Seoul city, all through my home
I can’t put down this book, I’m in the reading zone

Cuz I got that new book in my pocket
It’s got stories, oh so sweet
When I read it, it’s exciting, I can’t stop, ooh
I can’t take my eyes up off it, reading so phenomenally
I’ve got more books on the docket, so I don’t stop

We’re reading tonight and everyone knows
Whether it’s fiction, drama, or prose
When you read, well, you already know
We just imagine, just imagine, just imagine

Camp out with a new book, this is your chance, chance, chance, feel
This one’s a good book for you, so just glance, glance, glance, come on
Reading’s so exciting, so let’s just dance, dance, dance
Everybody’s reading, so keep dancing

I can’t stop the reading
So just dance, dance, dance
I can’t stop the reading
So just dance, dance, dance, come on

Ooh, there’s something wonderful
I read the Good Book (Scripture) and it helps me carry on
In every season, it leads my soul
It shows me Jesus Christ, who came to make me whole

‘Cause I got that Good Book in my pocket
Gotta get up off of my feet
I’ll tell everyone about it and I won’t stop, ooh
I can’t take my eyes up off it, living so phenomenally
It’s His guidebook, He designed it, so don’t stop

We’ll shine our light, so everyone knows
He came and died and in three days he rose
He’ll come again and will call up his own
So just imagine, just imagine, just imagine

His good plan offers you a second chance, chance, chance
The Good book explains it all to you
So you glance, glance, glance, come on
Everything He gives will make you
dance, dance, dance
Jesus will be coming soon, so keep dancing

I can’t stop the reading
So just dance, dance, dance
I can’t stop the reading
So just dance, dance, dance
I can’t stop the reading
So just dance, dance, dance
I can’t stop the reading
So keep dancing, come on

I can’t stop the, I can’t stop the
I can’t stop the, I can’t stop the
I can’t stop the reading

Everybody sing
(I can’t stop the reading)
Gotta share it with somebody
(I can’t stop the reading)
Gotta share it with somebody
(I can’t stop the feeling)
I think reading’s my new hobby
(I can’t stop the feeling)
Gotta share it with somebody
Break it down
Gotta share it with somebody
Can’t stop the feeling
Gotta share it with somebody, come on

» Watch last year’s Read-A-Thon video “Good Book Life” here!

Students Say The Funniest Things: Part 7

May 24, 2016

Leah

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Ladies and gents, this is our first edition of Students Say the Funniest Things: Korea. Yes, it took us an entire school year to gather enough quotes!

There haven’t been nearly as many gems as often as we used to hear. David spends almost all of his day with fifth graders and teaches very few English language learners. (There are 4 fifth grade classrooms at our school of over 1000 students.) I volunteer in the elementary library one morning a week. Enjoy!

David wears a collared shirt and tie every day (aside from dress down days). On a day he wore his suit jacket:
Fifth grade girl: “Mr. B, today you look like a gentleman.”

When David’s was in need of a haircut (his hair gets really curly as it gets long):
Fifth grade girl: “Mr. Benedict, I saw you from behind on the stairs and you looked like Zeus.”

And after a haircut…
Fifth grade girl: “Mr. B, your haircut makes your beard look full and luscious.”

When I was volunteering in the library:
Second grade boy: “Do you have any books about honey badgers? They’re my favorite animal because I’m just like them.”
Me: “Oh? How so?”
Boy: “They have four legs, they snarl (krrraaarh!), and are grumpy all the time. My sister is like a honeybird. And I’m like a honey badger. They’re symbiotic creatures just like me and my sister.”

Two of David’s students were running down the hall and one clumsily ran into a wall and knocked down some posters.
David: “Boys! Slow down and come back here.”
Boy: “What?! My body’s been changing lately.”

This is a good one I stole from a friend:
During chapel, the elementary counselor was talking about transitions and asked the kids if they had thought about what changes are coming next in their lives. One of the fifth graders said to his friends “Middle School!” And another said, quite happily, “Puberty! I don’t know what that is, but I know it’s next!”

After the Read-A-Thon music video was released, seeing David in the halls was exciting for some of the younger kids.
First grader: “Hi Mr. Singer Man!”
Another student: “I saw you in the video!”
Another student: “Hi Mr. Singer!”

Overheard conversation at VBS:
Second grade boy: “Never put a rubber band on your wrist. It makes your blood vessels just stop.

As a funny section on his end-of-the-year class survey, David asked: “What are your thoughts about Mr. B’s beard?” (Keep in mind you rarely see Korean men with facial hair. The majority of his students were of Korean heritage.) Here are a few of the responses:

At first sight I thought, “Is he a dirty man?”
Fluffy, Orange, and Cool.
It is like a jungle.
It looks like a birds nest covered in throw up.
SHAVE IT!!!!!
It’s long and weird.
Weird in a good way.
An awesome amazing gorgeous fluffy puffy vast planet full of unicorns and dogs with turtles on backs and delicious pieces of food and 번데기 also with a thick red forest. There is a cave in the middle of the forest that has a thick smell of coffee as well as delicious pieces of food. You have to be careful though for the giant hand that is always touching the beard.
I like it. (Kind of. Needs to be more longer.)
It’s too long.
IT’S SO COOL AND FLUFFED UP!
It’s red, and there’s a lot of it.
It makes you look older than your real age. Sorry! But it’s true.

I’ll leave you with the flash mob dance the elementary teachers performed during field day. (Watch for David in the green shirt!)

» Read Students Say the Funniest Things: Part 1
» Read Students Say the Funniest Things: Part 2
» Read Students Say the Funniest Things: Part 3
» Read Students Say the Funniest Things: Part 4
» Read Students Say the Funniest Things: Part 5
» Read Students Say the Funniest Things: Part 6

Good Book Life

February 15, 2016

Leah

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February 15 through March 7 is Read-A-Thon at David’s school. The goals of the program are to encourage elementary students to read joyfully, help students develop a lifelong love of learning, and to promote the enjoyment of reading through a variety of activities. There’s even prizes involved for classes and individuals!

David helped the elementary principals rewrite OneRepublic’s “Good Life” to create a theme song. An amazingly talented coworker recorded and mixed the music and produced the video. Check it out below!

You can also watch the video on Facebook or Vimeo! Here are the lyrics:

“Good Book Life”

Woke up in London yesterday
Found myself in the city near Piccadilly
Don’t really know how I got here
It must be the book I’m in
New adventures, yeah! Come on, let’s go
Address to places like Narnia, oh!
Day turns to night, night turns to whatever we want
Adventures from books we read

Oh this has gotta be the book life
This has gotta be the book life
This could really be a book life, book life
Say oh, got this feeling that you can’t fight
Gonna finish this book tonight
This really be a book life
A book, book life

To my friends in Busan, I say hello
My friends in Jeju they don’t know
Where I’ve been for the past few years in books
Paris to China to Colorado
Sometimes there’s books that I can’t put down
I carry my new book all around
We’ve got our stories, but please tell me
What your book is all about

When you’re reading like a fool
Let it take you over
When everything is out
You gotta take it in

Oh this has gotta be the book life
This has gotta be the book life
This really is a book life, book life
Say oh, got this feeling that you can’t fight
Gonna finish this book tonight
This really is a book life
The book life, book life

Truthfully
I feel like there might be an adventure here
Truthfully
I can hear God’s voice coming through so clear
Truthfully
I’m learning about the freedom of Jesus here
‘Cause Truthfully
The truth is we have so much to Praise God and give thanks about!

Oh this has gotta be the Good Book
This has gotta be the Good Book
This book really is The Good Book, Good Book
Say Oh, God has given us a guide book
It’s the Bible, take a good look
This really is the Good Book
The Good, Good Book
Good, Good Book

To my friends in Busan, I say hello
My friends in Jeju they don’t know
Where I’ve been for the past few years in books
Paris to China to Colorado
This book is one that I won’t put down
Carry my Bible all around
He writes our stories, so please tell me
What there is to complain about

Happy Pepero Day!

November 11, 2015

Leah

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Pepero Day is a kind of holiday in Korea on November 11 (aka ¹¹⁄₁₁). The tradition is to give people Pepero, which are long skinny cookie biscuits dipped in chocolate. It’s similar to Valentine’s Day but has the underlying Hallmarkism of Sweetest Day. There are prominent displays at the grocery stores of the seven different flavors of the original Pepero brand.

Pepero is manufactured by Lotte, a multinational food, chemicals, and shopping corporation. Lotte seems to rule Korea… there’s even a Lotte World amusement park.

People once exchanged Pepero with wishes to be tall and skinny (so says Wikipedia). However, now people give Pepero as a sign of affection. The tradition started sometime in the 80’s.

David came home with a lot of boxes. Some students wrote cute messages on the back:

As someone who is a fan of 11:11 and chocolate, I can get down with this holiday. I don’t have a lot of hope that eating these will make me taller, though. Maybe wider.

Happy Pepero Day!

Sixth Grade Retreat in Daecheon

November 6, 2015

Leah

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Every year the school has a Week Without Walls where middle school students spend time learning outside the classroom. A friend asked if I’d be willing to help during the sixth grade trip.

We traveled three hours south to a small retreat center on Daecheon Beach (대천) in the coast city of Boryeong. It was a short trip; we were gone three days and two nights. The place where we stayed was beautiful with fall colors and a porch that overlooked the Yellow Sea.

My friend Ji and I were the cooks. The menu was simple, but I had never put together quantities like that before! We served around 80 people. I have a whole new appreciation for cooks and caterers. We made around 180 sandwiches, 300+ pancakes, and hard boiled 180 eggs in two batches.

We spent most of our time in the kitchen, but were able to slip away twice to explore the beach. One afternoon we finished the sandwiches early and spent a couple of hours in a coffee shop a short walk away. We had the place to ourselves for a while!

It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed myself. I always love time near the water.

We laughed at this sign on the trip back to Seoul… merge right, I guess?

I can’t find website information on the retreat center itself. We stayed in the group area that had the kitchen, 14 bunk rooms, and an auditorium. They also have small cabins available for rent. Our time there was the latest in the season they had ever stayed open and they had to do special work on the heaters before we arrived. If I find out the name, I’ll update the post.

Senior Trip: Kalkan and Boat Tour

August 25, 2015

Leah

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Now that I have some time, I’ll be mixing in a few retrospective posts. (Our last few months in Turkey were crazy full and there’s so much we haven’t shared about yet!)

I was a senior class sponsor last year. During the June exam days, we drove south to the coast for a 5-day trip. The senior class was tiny with only six graduates and only five were able to go on the trip. There were benefits to having such small group – we all fit in the other sponsor’s van!

I feel like Turkey is one of the world’s best kept vacation secrets with over 7000 km of coastline falling along the Black Sea, Mediterranean, and Aegean. And it’s all stunning.

We traveled to Kalkan and spent two nights at Villa Derin. This rental was so wonderful! And very modern. It had four bedrooms, a private pool, and an incredible view. We used the kitchen for several meals and ate out on the porch. We drove to the town of Kalkan once and some of us took a ferry across the bay the other evening.

We spent one morning at Patara Beach. (Use the Müze Card for a discount!) I don’t have any photos from there because I didn’t bring my camera, but this beach was one of the nicest I’ve ever been to. There were some ancient ruins there as well, but we spent our time on the beach. It wasn’t crowded and we couldn’t have asked for nicer weather. Some of the kids rented an umbrella and some lounge chairs.

For the last three days of the trip, we rented a boat out of Kaş called Dilara. The boat followed along the coast. We stopped in bays to swim and anchored in other bays for the night. The boat had lounging mats on the top deck and some of the kids slept there at night. The scenery was ridiculously beautiful. We played cards and dominoes, kayaked, read, napped, and relaxed. The captain and his wife were very hospitable and the food they made was oh so good. One of the girls said, “I feel like on this trip I’m either eating or sleeping.”

The trip was a special time of bonding for the seniors. It was also bittersweet because by the end of the trip, we all wished it could have happened at the beginning of the year. I’m thankful for the time I got to spend with these students. They are talented with bright futures ahead of them! The trip was a breath of fresh air before the end of the year craziness, graduation, and the goodbyes we all faced.

My Farewell Speech

June 3, 2015

David

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We attended our end of the year staff banquet last Saturday. It is typical for teachers who are leaving to share a word with the group. It has been a hard few weeks thinking about leaving our home in the Middle East. I thought it would be appropriate to share some of the things I’ve learned while living in Turkey the past three years. Here is the abridged version.

Things I’ve Learned While in Turkey:

Goodbyes are the worst.
Assumptions can ruin a fresh perspective.
Humility is best learned where you are totally uncomfortable.
Vegetables in America are not as good.
Plastic forks in Turkey don’t taste good.
Wash your veggies.
Eggs don’t have to stay refrigerated.
The milk that’s sold at room temperature won’t kill you.
Everything at the bakkal costs iki buçuk.
When teaching Bible, it’s good to establish the proper pronunciation of condemnation: “There is no now constipation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
The world is not such a small world after all. There are many lost who need to hear the word.
The best way to get rid of a dog that is chasing you is to kick it in the face.
Travel is my refresh button.
Establishing a good work/home balance is important.
Camel köfte is a little bit tough.
European football isn’t all that bad. American football is still awesome.
The librarian is a hotty.
Some students who appear to have it all would rather spend all of their time at school because of the love shown there that they can’t access anywhere else.
Be prepared for the shock that ensues when a student asks you if his cat is asexual.
Tear gas really does make you cry.
It is selfish to worry about my students as I leave. It is beneficial to pray for them.
I spend a lot of time in the car in America.
Speeding laws are enforced in Turkey.
Intestine cooked on a rotisserie is actually not that bad.
Just give in to the personifications of the school printers. Also, both Fred and Wilma have staple functions.
Greg won’t go to the hamam.
Short on the sides and long on the top means a mohawk.
Usually, conflict starts with people hearing the same thing, but having different interpretations. Talking about these interpretations can solve a world of problems.
The Turkish Airlines cheese sandwiches are awesome.
Snow tubing with me is dangerous.
Sometimes when you play soccer at recess, a bicycle kick results in torn pants from your knee to your belt.
20 seconds of awkwardness could make an eternity of difference. Take advantage of every opportunity.
Family and home are relative.
Goodbyes are really just see-you-laters.