So far, it’s a dream, of course! Yesterday’s lessons didn’t go as well as planned, for a couple of reasons. First, my flash drive decided to stop working, so I no longer had my PowerPoint presentations or any of my visuals. I was a little flustered without them. Then, the fourth grade class was much rowdier and larger than my previous classes, and what I had prepared didn’t really work well for them. I think the novelty of a new room and the somewhat cramped quarters, not to mention my presence, may have had something to do with it, too. Hopefully. Otherwise, I don’t know how we’re going to survive this year!
So I guess maybe fourth grade was the only failed lesson. I thoroughly enjoyed the first grade class—they were so attentive and cute! Also, the first grade teacher is like my surrogate mom. She is the one who asked me to call her Kyoung Hee Sam (Her first and middle name, plus the shortened name for teacher. Everyone always laughs when they hear about it—it must be some kind of joke.) She is so fabulous and helpful. Now, whenever she sees me getting together teaching materials, she insists on assisting me. She has a lot of good ideas, too. She doesn’t speak too much English, but I found out last night that she was really good at it back in the day. She was never good at pronunciation, though—just grammar. And that doesn’t help me. But she has taken it upon herself to teach me Korean. She will tell me random words throughout the day in Korean. So far, she’s managed to hit upon words I already learned, for the most part. I don’t have the heart to tell her I already know the words, so she just thinks I am amazingly intelligent. Boy, will she be surprised when my “progress” comes to a halt! Oh, and she brought me a present today—a cell phone charm her daughter made. It’s really pretty. Basically everyone has a cell phone charm here. It’s a very strange thing for me, but I do like mine a lot.
I also taught kindergarten, which went fine, and was supposed to teach one class of second grade and a teachers’ workshop, but both were cancelled. Whew! I wasn’t quite ready for either. My Tuesdays are going to be soooo busy!
In the afternoon, one of the second grade teachers, Lee Ho Seong, came over with my co-teacher to look at my internet because it hadn’t been working. Evidently, he’s some kind of technological wizard, and boy, did he prove himself with my internet! It’s amazing to be connected again! Now all of you can call me on Skype! My name is jennifer.reinsel, and my number is coming soon.
After that, we went out to dinner in Buyeo. It was the dietician’s farewell party, but I never did figure out who the dietician was. I spent the evening at the ladies’ table, deserted by my co-teacher. I heard my name come up a bunch of times, but I couldn’t really figure out what they were actually saying and it was so frustrating! I sat between Kim Eun Soon, the young female fourth grade teacher who wanted me to live with her, and Kyoung Hee Sam. It was entertaining. Kim Eun Soon is very quiet, for the most part, while Kyoung Hee Sam is, well, loud. I can tell she is funny, but I never know what she is saying! I think the main thrust of the conversation, however, was that I should become friends with Kim Eun Soon, which I think both of us would like but communication is hard. She’s not that great at English. I’m not sure exactly why she wanted to host me.
Anyway, afterwards we all went to the principal’s house for a party. It was kind of insane. There were about twenty of us sitting on his floor around a couple low tables, drinking insane amounts of beer and eating even more fruit. A couple of the men arranged for a friggin beer delivery while we were walking over, and a bit later a man showed up with a GROCERY BASKET full of beer. But there must have been some miscommunication, because the sixth grade teacher showed up with a large cardboard box of beer, too! The vice principal kept encouraging me to get wasted because I obviously wouldn’t have to drive (he lives in Hongsan, too, so we got a taxi together with another man I recognize but do not know). I just smiled and nodded and sipped away. No chugging for this girl in professional company. I thought the bar last weekend was more interesting, to be honest, but maybe it was only because my co-teacher was there to translate. This week, he had to go home, so I was on my own.
I think the principal was trying to set me up with the third grade teacher again. He is evidently leaving us at the end of November for his two years in the military, and the principal managed to communicate to me that we should get to know each other before then. We’ll see….I may be single, but I am sooo not desperate! Oh, and another gem from the night…I was told that the principal has a sizeable liquor cabinet (he does) and that I was welcome to whatever I wanted, with one stipulation…whatever bottle I opened, I had to finish. What an elementary school staff, eh?
Today’s lessons were a bit smoother. I managed to prepare some last night, even in my buzzed state, and did some more in my sleep this morning. Third and sixth grade will also be challenging for me. Basically, my consensus is that I like teaching the youngsters better. They are more responsive and cuter! But some of the older ones are really great. It’s really just some of the boys who are giving me trouble. And I can’t even say anything to them…I have to just DO something! I am glad the other teachers have been in the room with me to regulate, just for that reason, but it makes me feel incompetent. In the third grade class (which really didn’t go that well), there were at least 3 boys sitting out on a continual basis. Oh, well…it’s not my deal, really!
This teaching thing is turning out to be a lot more work than I anticipated. I am definitely putting in my 40 hours per week, at least at this point. I suppose it wouldn’t be that stressful to teach 20 hours per week in some situations, but I have to prepare so many lessons that I begin to feel overwhelmed. Plus with trying to learn names and write up curriculum plans for the entire semester…it’s a mess! I was thinking about this today, and some of the other teachers only teach as many hours as I do, and they’re not even teaching a foreign language! Now I know why the principal was so appreciative of my willingness to take on so many hours! It’s fun so far, though, as long as it doesn’t end up ruining my weekends. I definitely stayed as late or later as all of the other teachers tonight, and I can definitely see that happening on a regular basis.
I did manage to get in some badminton during the fifth period “extra class.” It’s fun—the sixth grade teacher, who also teaches this, usually pairs me with some poor student, probably instructed to go easy on me, and we lob it back and forth for half an hour or so. My right arm is going to be so buff!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
First Lessons--Monday, August 28
Today was the big day of finally doing what I came to this country to do: teach English! I think it went pretty well, though I have to remember these kids are very low-level. I went a little fast for some of them out of nervousness. Also, it was weird to have another teacher in the room. I think I would prefer to teach alone, if possible, so everything I say is not translated and my every move analyzed (well, probably not, but it feels that way!). Perhaps that will gradually happen anyway.
I taught kindergarten first and that lesson went the most smoothly (besides the fact that I forgot my alphabet poster). We learned the letters A and B and the words apple and banana today. We also sang our ABCs. It was great fun! Well, actually, I was pretty nervous, teaching my first lesson AND with another experienced teacher in the room. The kids were soooooooooooo cute! I think I am in love with that class. When I first came in, they were quickly instructed to sit on the mat in three neat rows. When I asked them to sit at their tables to color, they were excused by row. When their row was called, they jumped up and called “Hanna! Duel!” (which means “One! Two!”). It was precious. I could hardly contain myself. I am definitely looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow! I hope that my lesson today was effective and they will actually remember something. Otherwise I’ll seriously reconsider the status of our relationship.
After that, I taught both fifth grade classes, one at a time. The second one definitely went more smoothly, but I think I should have done some more explaining. The teacher had been prepping them for my lesson, anyway, so maybe that’s why it was better, too. I think they like me, so at least that’s a start. I just hope the teachers do, too. I made them all fill out notecards with their name, birthday, and favorite color on it and they’re supposed to bring pictures of themselves to the next class to tape on the back. Hopefully I will be able to learn everyone’s names this way! It’s my year-long goal.
I was mobbed again by my second grade secret admirers right after lunch. Well, actually, two of them watched me eat the last parts of my lunch and escorted me out of the room and back to my room in the library, where I was promptly accosted by at least five more. It was ridiculous! I could hardly even BREATHE, let alone finish up the work I was hoping to do before I had to leave. They are far too loveable, though…I forgave them instantly. They all took me back to the teachers’ room, too, and we were quite a sight. They were grabbing all parts of my body. I felt like an octopus and I loved it.
This afternoon, I went to Nonsan to visit two elementary schools with exemplary English programs with my co-teacher. Since we arrived after school had been let out, we only observed the classrooms. It was actually quite informative to see how they had designated special English-only zones and equipped the rooms with English learning materials. The second school even had sensors by the front door that blurted out English phrases when people walked by! And all the classrooms were labeled in English! I got a few ideas for making our school English-friendly. I wish I had more flexibility in my room, though…the tables are large and cumbersome and definitely not ideal for learning, and I don’t even have a chalkboard! All I have is a computer with a projection machine and a CD player. Granted, they are very nice, but still…I’d love a chalkboard, nice desks, and wall space to hang English learning materials. Oh, well. At least I do have my own space and don’t have to travel from room to room.
My co-teacher is seriously so great. I am definitely over my initial disappointment about his gender. He is so nice and helpful and very funny, too! Whenever we drive somewhere, he’s constantly telling me funny little Korean words and explaining their meaning in English. It’s actually pretty effective for learning. I think my Korean will improve because of his help in the long run. Today he brought me a present his wife prepared—a funny, old-timey alarm clock. It’s so cutesy and Korean. And he invited me to his family’s Thanksgiving day celebrations in October. Basically, we have a week off in the first part in October because of this traditional post-harvest celebration—Korean Thanksgiving. But I guess Christians don’t take part. I had been planning to spend the time with them, but if it’s not a special holiday to them, I might take off instead.
He took me to a Buddhist temple near Nonsan because we had a little time after visiting the other elementary schools. It was pretty cool. I guess he spent a lot of time there as a kid (he was born in Nonsan). This temple has the largest stone Buddha statue in Korea. It's made of two immense stones and is exactly 1000 years old. It was so amazing to see and think about all this sculpture has endured. Evidently, the stone in its forehead used to be pure gold, but my co-teacher said it was stolen by the Japanese during colonization. He is not a big fan of the Japanese and I think his sentiment is shared by many Koreans.
Tonight I watched my host mother make kimbap (essentially the Korean version of sushi). It usually has Spam in it (the Koreans eat Spam like no one’s business), but this variety had long strips of egg, cucumber, carrot, and pickled radish wrapped inside rice (bap) and seaweed (kim). It was pretty delicious. My taste buds have changed since coming here, though, so I might not have thought it so great a couple months ago. I mean, right now I am enjoying unripened peach. (I don’t think I’ve had a single piece of ripe fruit here. I’m not sure why—I guess most Koreans like it crisp? And in my host family at least, the skin is NEVER eaten. They don’t even eat grape skins!) Basically, life is good. And I have another school party tomorrow night to look forward to!
I taught kindergarten first and that lesson went the most smoothly (besides the fact that I forgot my alphabet poster). We learned the letters A and B and the words apple and banana today. We also sang our ABCs. It was great fun! Well, actually, I was pretty nervous, teaching my first lesson AND with another experienced teacher in the room. The kids were soooooooooooo cute! I think I am in love with that class. When I first came in, they were quickly instructed to sit on the mat in three neat rows. When I asked them to sit at their tables to color, they were excused by row. When their row was called, they jumped up and called “Hanna! Duel!” (which means “One! Two!”). It was precious. I could hardly contain myself. I am definitely looking forward to seeing them again tomorrow! I hope that my lesson today was effective and they will actually remember something. Otherwise I’ll seriously reconsider the status of our relationship.
After that, I taught both fifth grade classes, one at a time. The second one definitely went more smoothly, but I think I should have done some more explaining. The teacher had been prepping them for my lesson, anyway, so maybe that’s why it was better, too. I think they like me, so at least that’s a start. I just hope the teachers do, too. I made them all fill out notecards with their name, birthday, and favorite color on it and they’re supposed to bring pictures of themselves to the next class to tape on the back. Hopefully I will be able to learn everyone’s names this way! It’s my year-long goal.
I was mobbed again by my second grade secret admirers right after lunch. Well, actually, two of them watched me eat the last parts of my lunch and escorted me out of the room and back to my room in the library, where I was promptly accosted by at least five more. It was ridiculous! I could hardly even BREATHE, let alone finish up the work I was hoping to do before I had to leave. They are far too loveable, though…I forgave them instantly. They all took me back to the teachers’ room, too, and we were quite a sight. They were grabbing all parts of my body. I felt like an octopus and I loved it.
This afternoon, I went to Nonsan to visit two elementary schools with exemplary English programs with my co-teacher. Since we arrived after school had been let out, we only observed the classrooms. It was actually quite informative to see how they had designated special English-only zones and equipped the rooms with English learning materials. The second school even had sensors by the front door that blurted out English phrases when people walked by! And all the classrooms were labeled in English! I got a few ideas for making our school English-friendly. I wish I had more flexibility in my room, though…the tables are large and cumbersome and definitely not ideal for learning, and I don’t even have a chalkboard! All I have is a computer with a projection machine and a CD player. Granted, they are very nice, but still…I’d love a chalkboard, nice desks, and wall space to hang English learning materials. Oh, well. At least I do have my own space and don’t have to travel from room to room.
My co-teacher is seriously so great. I am definitely over my initial disappointment about his gender. He is so nice and helpful and very funny, too! Whenever we drive somewhere, he’s constantly telling me funny little Korean words and explaining their meaning in English. It’s actually pretty effective for learning. I think my Korean will improve because of his help in the long run. Today he brought me a present his wife prepared—a funny, old-timey alarm clock. It’s so cutesy and Korean. And he invited me to his family’s Thanksgiving day celebrations in October. Basically, we have a week off in the first part in October because of this traditional post-harvest celebration—Korean Thanksgiving. But I guess Christians don’t take part. I had been planning to spend the time with them, but if it’s not a special holiday to them, I might take off instead.
He took me to a Buddhist temple near Nonsan because we had a little time after visiting the other elementary schools. It was pretty cool. I guess he spent a lot of time there as a kid (he was born in Nonsan). This temple has the largest stone Buddha statue in Korea. It's made of two immense stones and is exactly 1000 years old. It was so amazing to see and think about all this sculpture has endured. Evidently, the stone in its forehead used to be pure gold, but my co-teacher said it was stolen by the Japanese during colonization. He is not a big fan of the Japanese and I think his sentiment is shared by many Koreans.
Tonight I watched my host mother make kimbap (essentially the Korean version of sushi). It usually has Spam in it (the Koreans eat Spam like no one’s business), but this variety had long strips of egg, cucumber, carrot, and pickled radish wrapped inside rice (bap) and seaweed (kim). It was pretty delicious. My taste buds have changed since coming here, though, so I might not have thought it so great a couple months ago. I mean, right now I am enjoying unripened peach. (I don’t think I’ve had a single piece of ripe fruit here. I’m not sure why—I guess most Koreans like it crisp? And in my host family at least, the skin is NEVER eaten. They don’t even eat grape skins!) Basically, life is good. And I have another school party tomorrow night to look forward to!
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Buyeo/Lazy Sunday--Sunday, August 27
Today was a day for adventuring, I decided as early as yesterday. I’ve spent too much time in this house! I don’t want to become a pain for the family and/or go stir crazy! Also, my host mother and father spend the whole day out on Sunday—presumably at church, but the children come home before lunch so I’m not really sure what they do. Last weekend I just enjoyed some privacy. This time, I decided to venture out.
Before I left, though, I got tied up in this Korean drama. They’re so addicting, even when you can’t understand a word! I bet they would be AMAZING translated. Anyway, this one was about some high schoolers and included deception, broken hearts, and hardcore dancing. It was rockin’. I’ll definitely have to watch it again sometime.
I was very proud of myself for getting to Buyeo without a problem. (See a view of the city from above to the left.) However, once I was there, I realized I didn’t know where to go. The bus was just making random stops and didn’t seem to be going to a central station. I eventually got off sometime after the bus left the part of town I was familiar with because I was afraid I’d end up in a different city. I just walked for a while and found myself at a historical site, of course. Buyeo is chock-ful of them. Anyway, it was actually pretty cool—the old palace/fortress where the Baekje court resided during its heyday over a thousand years ago (Buyeo was the capital city of Korea at that time). It’s called Busosanseong Fortress. Of course, there wasn’t much left of those days, but there were some good walking paths and temples and viewing areas. My favorite was this cliff edge overlooking the river where, according to legend, court ladies committed suicide when Baekje kingdom was defeated. It’s a famous spot—I’ve read about it in a lot of guide books. The picture below shows a view of the Geumgang River from this spot. T
Luckily, there was a tourist information office right outside the park and they gave me directions to a stationary store (my original purpose for coming to Buyeo). I got lost, of course, but that’s to be expected with me, really. And then, I waited for the bus. Silly me. I thought the Hongsan bus would stop at one of the regular bus stops, like it had on the way in, but no. After twenty minutes of waiting and two buses who told me no, I finally found the Intercity Bus Terminal and made my way back to Hongsan, one hour later than planned. Again, to be expected with me. I was marginally frustrated, but more worried my family would be wondering where I was, since I said I would be home around 3. I thought about calling, but they wouldn’t be able to understand and then would probably have to call my co-teacher and it would become a big mess. I’ll have to think about this dilemma in the future.
This evening, I have been lesson-planning AGAIN. I am pretty nervous for tomorrow. No matter how much I was talking myself up earlier about how useful I will be as a native speaker, the school has still gone through an awful lot of trouble to acquire me and I feel some pressure to give them returns on their investment. Tomorrow, it begins. Man, am I looking forward to the day when it becomes a breeze—when I know the routine and the kids so well, it doesn’t seem like work anymore. Right now, I’m just as nervous as can be about it all!
Here are my little replacement siblings, by the way:
Before I left, though, I got tied up in this Korean drama. They’re so addicting, even when you can’t understand a word! I bet they would be AMAZING translated. Anyway, this one was about some high schoolers and included deception, broken hearts, and hardcore dancing. It was rockin’. I’ll definitely have to watch it again sometime.
I was very proud of myself for getting to Buyeo without a problem. (See a view of the city from above to the left.) However, once I was there, I realized I didn’t know where to go. The bus was just making random stops and didn’t seem to be going to a central station. I eventually got off sometime after the bus left the part of town I was familiar with because I was afraid I’d end up in a different city. I just walked for a while and found myself at a historical site, of course. Buyeo is chock-ful of them. Anyway, it was actually pretty cool—the old palace/fortress where the Baekje court resided during its heyday over a thousand years ago (Buyeo was the capital city of Korea at that time). It’s called Busosanseong Fortress. Of course, there wasn’t much left of those days, but there were some good walking paths and temples and viewing areas. My favorite was this cliff edge overlooking the river where, according to legend, court ladies committed suicide when Baekje kingdom was defeated. It’s a famous spot—I’ve read about it in a lot of guide books. The picture below shows a view of the Geumgang River from this spot. T
Luckily, there was a tourist information office right outside the park and they gave me directions to a stationary store (my original purpose for coming to Buyeo). I got lost, of course, but that’s to be expected with me, really. And then, I waited for the bus. Silly me. I thought the Hongsan bus would stop at one of the regular bus stops, like it had on the way in, but no. After twenty minutes of waiting and two buses who told me no, I finally found the Intercity Bus Terminal and made my way back to Hongsan, one hour later than planned. Again, to be expected with me. I was marginally frustrated, but more worried my family would be wondering where I was, since I said I would be home around 3. I thought about calling, but they wouldn’t be able to understand and then would probably have to call my co-teacher and it would become a big mess. I’ll have to think about this dilemma in the future.
This evening, I have been lesson-planning AGAIN. I am pretty nervous for tomorrow. No matter how much I was talking myself up earlier about how useful I will be as a native speaker, the school has still gone through an awful lot of trouble to acquire me and I feel some pressure to give them returns on their investment. Tomorrow, it begins. Man, am I looking forward to the day when it becomes a breeze—when I know the routine and the kids so well, it doesn’t seem like work anymore. Right now, I’m just as nervous as can be about it all!
Here are my little replacement siblings, by the way:
Lesson Planning Galore--Friday, August 25 and Saturday, August 26
The past couple days have been busy, as usual. I am trying to prepare myself for teaching 20 classes next week and it’s tough! I really don’t know what will happen for any of them. I suppose I will learn as I go and they will definitely become better and with much less effort as the year progresses. Luckily, I have the time to devote to lesson planning now!
On Friday, my co-teacher took me across town to Songgan Elementary School, where Erin works. Erin is another elementary ETA who started in January, so she has some experience. She is also the closest Fulbright person to me—about half an hour away by car. I heard from her earlier, during Orientation, but it was nice to hear specifics about being the primary English teacher in a Korean elementary school. Her situation is actually easier, I think. There are only 57 students at the school as a whole, so there’s only seven or eight per class, and her co-teacher is actually an English teacher who Erin is essentially replacing. In contrast, I have up to 33 students in one class. My co-teacher is involved in either remedial or disabled children’s education (It’s really not clear—he says he works with “the kids who don’t like to study” but then pointed to a picture of a wheelchair. Go figure. I still don’t know how he got stuck with me, or if it was something he chose.) Instead, I have NINE co-teachers for the English classes. It’s a little complicated. I have been feeling overwhelmed all week, but talking to Erin and getting some of her lesson plans was very helpful. The situation feels a lot more manageable now.
We went out to lunch at the same restaurant in Buyeo where my co-teacher and principal first took me last week. I really like it. I’ll have to remember where it is, so I can go back! We had the same meal as before and it was divine. I have definitely fallen in love with the food here, now that I am not eating at that cafeteria anymore. I’m probably becoming more used to the spices, too.
After lunch, we attended an English lesson prepared by the third-grade teacher. It was very informative for me because I could finally see where I would fit in as a native English speaker. There was almost no English spoken in the class, and when it was, it was often mispronounced or had some sort of error (ex: clap one, clap two instead of clap once, clap twice). I know these teachers do the best they can, but they just can’t pronounce English right and don’t have a clear understanding of how to use it. Korean and English are soooo different…it would take YEARS of study, and still pronunciation is a barrier. So just by being there, pronouncing the words correctly, and providing an immersion experience will be helpful to these students, I think. They can also see how learning English can be useful—in talking to someone like me! So I’m feeling better about lessons.
Later that afternoon, my presence was requested at a meeting of former graduates of Hongsan Elementary. They were all men ranging in age from 40 to 80, I’d say. I have absolutely no idea what transpired at the meeting. It was long and dull and I was glad I was permitted to stay in the back and work on my lesson plans on the computer. I had to give my speech again—oh, the horror! I forgot a lot of it. And I tried to smile, but it was hard with all these old men staring at me. Oh, well…I guess they don’t have to like me.
I decided to spend the weekend at home. Not that I’m close to my host family yet, but I don’t want to set a precedent of one who just runs in and out of the house as she pleases. I have spent a lot of time here, though…it’s not like Hongsan has a night life or anything. I am thinking about going to Buyeo tomorrow while they are in church and walking around, and next weekend I have tentative plans to go to Cheongju, where my friend Jai lives. I’m not lonely at all yet. I rather enjoy the solitude and the time I can devote to writing, reading, knitting, and studying my Korean. I’ve embarked on an extensive program intended to promote my mental health and it fills up my days rather well.
So today, I wrote lesson plans. I didn’t think it would take me all day, but they’re still not done! I have those twenty lessons next week, plus I am supposed to turn in curriculum plans for all classes by Friday. It’s actually not a big deal—I like to have a plan for the semester so I develop a clear vision for the class and I have less work later on. At the moment, though, it’s consuming a lot of my time. I haven’t even started thinking about the teachers’ workshop or the enrichment class! I just wish I’d been here for the beginning of the school year. The Korean school year begins in March, so I am starting midway through. It’s weird to teach second semester first. It feels disjointed. Some of the teachers haven’t gotten as far as they should have, and since kindergarten, first, and second grades don’t usually learn English, I am starting from scratch with them in the middle of a school year. Oh, well…nothing I can do about it.
I wandered around some back roads today on my walk. It’s really interesting…a lot of the families around here must be poor, because I see almost all homemade shacks. I wonder if this is just a forgotten area of development, and if so, why my host family seems to be doing okay. I wish I could ask them! I came across three old men sitting in the shade of a tree today on the side of the road. They were staring at me, of course, so I said annyonghasaeyo, and then one old man tried to talk to me! I couldn’t understand much, but I did hear “Where are you going?” and gave a reply he understood! I also told them I was a teacher in Hongsan. I was really proud of myself. Random conversations with strangers in another language are not my forte.
Tonight I watched my host mother cook and even helped her a bit. We made some sort of kimchi, the name of which I forget. It was made with a leafy green vegetable. I have no idea what its name is, either, in English or Korean. It was pretty delicious. She also let me spoon out the rice! Otherwise, she didn’t make anything specifically for dinner tonight. Maybe tomorrow.
I decided that not only am I in love with Korean food, but the eating times are IDEAL. I always have a huge breakfast at 8ish. (I thought it would be weird at first to eat regular food for breakfast, but it hasn’t been at all and I thoroughly enjoy our breakfast meals. They say it’s better to have big breakfasts to start your day, anyway.) Lunch is usually anywhere from 12 to 1 or later. In my house at least, we have a snack of sorts around 5 or 6 and dinner sometime around 7 or even as late as 8:30. That’s exactly what my eating schedule had been at school and it’s perfect for me. The only thing is, I think I am eating WAYYYYY too much. It’s all so good! And when most of the food is in these side dishes that everyone shares, you can’t see how much you are actually eating. Also, my host mom is always making little snacks. For example, today I had a hearty breakfast at 9, then she brought me a plateful of grapes around noon, and then a big lunch at 1, kimchi mandu (stuffed dumplings) at 6, and then dinner at 7:30. I am stuffed, but very contented. Good thing I’ve been taking those walks!
On Friday, my co-teacher took me across town to Songgan Elementary School, where Erin works. Erin is another elementary ETA who started in January, so she has some experience. She is also the closest Fulbright person to me—about half an hour away by car. I heard from her earlier, during Orientation, but it was nice to hear specifics about being the primary English teacher in a Korean elementary school. Her situation is actually easier, I think. There are only 57 students at the school as a whole, so there’s only seven or eight per class, and her co-teacher is actually an English teacher who Erin is essentially replacing. In contrast, I have up to 33 students in one class. My co-teacher is involved in either remedial or disabled children’s education (It’s really not clear—he says he works with “the kids who don’t like to study” but then pointed to a picture of a wheelchair. Go figure. I still don’t know how he got stuck with me, or if it was something he chose.) Instead, I have NINE co-teachers for the English classes. It’s a little complicated. I have been feeling overwhelmed all week, but talking to Erin and getting some of her lesson plans was very helpful. The situation feels a lot more manageable now.
We went out to lunch at the same restaurant in Buyeo where my co-teacher and principal first took me last week. I really like it. I’ll have to remember where it is, so I can go back! We had the same meal as before and it was divine. I have definitely fallen in love with the food here, now that I am not eating at that cafeteria anymore. I’m probably becoming more used to the spices, too.
After lunch, we attended an English lesson prepared by the third-grade teacher. It was very informative for me because I could finally see where I would fit in as a native English speaker. There was almost no English spoken in the class, and when it was, it was often mispronounced or had some sort of error (ex: clap one, clap two instead of clap once, clap twice). I know these teachers do the best they can, but they just can’t pronounce English right and don’t have a clear understanding of how to use it. Korean and English are soooo different…it would take YEARS of study, and still pronunciation is a barrier. So just by being there, pronouncing the words correctly, and providing an immersion experience will be helpful to these students, I think. They can also see how learning English can be useful—in talking to someone like me! So I’m feeling better about lessons.
Later that afternoon, my presence was requested at a meeting of former graduates of Hongsan Elementary. They were all men ranging in age from 40 to 80, I’d say. I have absolutely no idea what transpired at the meeting. It was long and dull and I was glad I was permitted to stay in the back and work on my lesson plans on the computer. I had to give my speech again—oh, the horror! I forgot a lot of it. And I tried to smile, but it was hard with all these old men staring at me. Oh, well…I guess they don’t have to like me.
I decided to spend the weekend at home. Not that I’m close to my host family yet, but I don’t want to set a precedent of one who just runs in and out of the house as she pleases. I have spent a lot of time here, though…it’s not like Hongsan has a night life or anything. I am thinking about going to Buyeo tomorrow while they are in church and walking around, and next weekend I have tentative plans to go to Cheongju, where my friend Jai lives. I’m not lonely at all yet. I rather enjoy the solitude and the time I can devote to writing, reading, knitting, and studying my Korean. I’ve embarked on an extensive program intended to promote my mental health and it fills up my days rather well.
So today, I wrote lesson plans. I didn’t think it would take me all day, but they’re still not done! I have those twenty lessons next week, plus I am supposed to turn in curriculum plans for all classes by Friday. It’s actually not a big deal—I like to have a plan for the semester so I develop a clear vision for the class and I have less work later on. At the moment, though, it’s consuming a lot of my time. I haven’t even started thinking about the teachers’ workshop or the enrichment class! I just wish I’d been here for the beginning of the school year. The Korean school year begins in March, so I am starting midway through. It’s weird to teach second semester first. It feels disjointed. Some of the teachers haven’t gotten as far as they should have, and since kindergarten, first, and second grades don’t usually learn English, I am starting from scratch with them in the middle of a school year. Oh, well…nothing I can do about it.
I wandered around some back roads today on my walk. It’s really interesting…a lot of the families around here must be poor, because I see almost all homemade shacks. I wonder if this is just a forgotten area of development, and if so, why my host family seems to be doing okay. I wish I could ask them! I came across three old men sitting in the shade of a tree today on the side of the road. They were staring at me, of course, so I said annyonghasaeyo, and then one old man tried to talk to me! I couldn’t understand much, but I did hear “Where are you going?” and gave a reply he understood! I also told them I was a teacher in Hongsan. I was really proud of myself. Random conversations with strangers in another language are not my forte.
Tonight I watched my host mother cook and even helped her a bit. We made some sort of kimchi, the name of which I forget. It was made with a leafy green vegetable. I have no idea what its name is, either, in English or Korean. It was pretty delicious. She also let me spoon out the rice! Otherwise, she didn’t make anything specifically for dinner tonight. Maybe tomorrow.
I decided that not only am I in love with Korean food, but the eating times are IDEAL. I always have a huge breakfast at 8ish. (I thought it would be weird at first to eat regular food for breakfast, but it hasn’t been at all and I thoroughly enjoy our breakfast meals. They say it’s better to have big breakfasts to start your day, anyway.) Lunch is usually anywhere from 12 to 1 or later. In my house at least, we have a snack of sorts around 5 or 6 and dinner sometime around 7 or even as late as 8:30. That’s exactly what my eating schedule had been at school and it’s perfect for me. The only thing is, I think I am eating WAYYYYY too much. It’s all so good! And when most of the food is in these side dishes that everyone shares, you can’t see how much you are actually eating. Also, my host mom is always making little snacks. For example, today I had a hearty breakfast at 9, then she brought me a plateful of grapes around noon, and then a big lunch at 1, kimchi mandu (stuffed dumplings) at 6, and then dinner at 7:30. I am stuffed, but very contented. Good thing I’ve been taking those walks!
Friday, August 25, 2006
The First Few Days/PARTAY--Wednesday, August 23 and Thursday, August 24
As I write this, at 8:01 PM, there is currently a front-loader (I think) at work digging out our front and side yard. Why, you ask? Well, I have no idea why it is operating at night when it was perfectly bright and sunny today and probably will be tomorrow as well, but I do believe it is digging the foundations for an extension to our cow barn! It’s kind of exciting. Now I’ll be closely surrounded by moos on two sides. Good thing they actually are cute animals and don’t smell bad.
So the last two days at school have been pretty excellent. I have been trying to work out how I am expected to teach, with some help from my co-teacher but he is a very busy man. I have a feeling that he is pretty important at the school and does a lot of stuff for it. And now he has me to take care of as well. I feel that I am a bit of a burden, but he assures me that even though he is busy, I must come to him if I have questions. So I do. I haven’t been doing too much work at school. I have been looking through the teacher’s guides for the English course books we do have and finding out where the teachers are in the lessons. Basically, the lessons are already outlined for me and I think I am just expected to follow them almost exactly, with perhaps a bit of tweaking if it gets boring or if the kids become disengaged. That’s nice in a way, but I’m not sure if I agree with the whole method of learning by strict memorization. It seems tedious and also ultimately ineffective to me. I suppose it’s not my place to question their methods, though, if these are the agreed-upon educational methods in use. I think I will have more liberty in the kindergarten, first, and second grade rooms, so I’ll make sure to have a lot of fun there. Today I also found what seems to be a pretty good EFL website authored by a woman who taught in South Korea, actually. I think I will be taking a lot of song and chant ideas from there. I’ll be doing the hokey pokey all day long! In total, I will be responsible for twenty classes per week—each of the nine classes twice per week, a teachers’ workshop, and an enrichment class. Of these, only four will repeat (because I will use the same material for both second grade classes and both fifth grade classes). That comes out to SIXTEEN unique lessons per week, while most of my ETA friends are responsible for ONE. Sigh. Good thing my kids are so darn cute. It almost makes up for it. No, I’m kidding—I’m happy to do it. I am really happy at my school so far. All of the teachers are very nice, though a little hesitant to speak to me in English. A few have attempted real conversations with me and I am very appreciative. It’s been a good start so far. I feel so welcomed here, at the school and in the community.
I guess everyone at the school is happy with me, too. My co-teacher told me last night that he thinks the principal views me as the daughter he never had. He specifically told Choi Hyun Moon to tell me that he is very appreciative of the fact that I didn’t complain about my schedule and that he is proud of me. The principal really has gone out of his way to ensure I have a good time here—for example, in not letting me live in a house without a good cook. By the way, I found out that I was confusing teachers. It was a different female Kim who wanted me to live with her but was not allowed due to her poor cooking skills—the young fourth grade teacher. The principal told me (through my co-teacher, our interpreter) that he hopes we become good friends. I hope so, too, but she intimidates me a bit. She is probably only a few years older than me—30 at most—and very well put together.
Anyway, so this all happened last night at a party the school hosted. All of the teachers and staff came to a restaurant in Buyeo after our staff meeting yesterday. (I went to the staff meeting, too, but all I understood was my name, said a bunch of times by my co-teacher in what I think was a presentation of what all the teachers are expected to do with me, and the word hakseng, which means student. Not very informative for me. Instead, I tried to memorize teacher names but was largely unsuccessful because I was so tired!) It was a party given in honor of departing staff (a man who had been here as part of his mandatory stint in the army) and incoming staff—myself and the new nurse. The food was supposed to be really good, but to be honest, I like my host mother’s cooking better. Maybe because she caters to my taste. But they did make sure I was well-fed. I sat across from the principal and he ordered more of the side dishes without meat specifically for me. As I had been warned at Orientation, there was a lot of alcohol. Much more than I had thought possible. The principal basically was continually guzzling shots of soju in between bites. (For those of you who don’t know, soju is a Korean wine-like drink. I think it tastes like watered-down vodka. It’s about 20-25% alcohol and you drink it in shots with other people. It’s a social thing.) I think he must have had at least one bottle all to himself. I wasn’t watching the other men, but I think they were getting wasted, too. It was a perfect demonstration of the “Asian glow” phenomenon for sure. I made sure I wasn’t drunk, though. No need for them to see that quite yet.
After dinner, my co-teacher invited me to another place to drink. Now, I had been warned by my Orientation Coordinators not to go to “the second place” and definitely not to go to “the third place.” I was more concerned about getting a ride home, so I just went with the flow of that. So the group ended up being me, the new nurse (I forget her name right now), pretty Miss Kim, and all the men, most of whom were pretty intoxicated. We went to the river first. It’s called the White Horse River and is named after a famous battle in which Buyeo was overtaken by the Chinese 1300 years ago. I think. My co-teacher’s English was lagging at this time. Then we went to a traditional drinking house nearby. It had pictures of all these relics and featured Korean rice wine (and soju, of course!). It was here that I heard all of the above information from my co-teacher about my principal and Miss Kim. We hadn’t been sitting together at dinner, so I didn’t speak much to him then. It was actually really entertaining to see them all out having fun this way, and though the concept of school teachers hanging out and getting wasted together on a Wednesday night seemed a little weird, I was enjoying the vibe. Everyone made an effort to talk to and include me, and it was really fun. The nurse is evidently interested in getting to know me, too, and made Miss Kim switch seats after a while. She was really concerned that I was going to be sick today. Shows how much she knows about college in America! I hardly even drank last night, really. I was just people-watching and enjoying. I wonder how often they have events like this. I definitely wouldn’t mind doing it again!
I have suspicions that the third grade teacher was trying unsuccessfully to hit on me last night, and I think everyone else was encouraging him/maybe making fun of him, too. I didn’t understand the words, just the context. He sat next to me at dinner and became progressively more chatty as he was drinking. His English isn’t great, so it was a bit awkward, but I think he might be an awkward person anyway. He seems nerdy. It’s too bad that men and women aren’t really friends here at all. We’re only a year apart and I think we could be friends, if the culture would allow it. Anyway, he was making ridiculous comments on my skills with chopsticks (ha!), the color of my skirt (he applauds my mother’s choice of peach), and my lovely charm bracelet (thanks again, Mom—you appear to have made me irresistible!). He insisted on carrying my backpack to the second place because, according to him, in Korea the men must carry things for the women. (Yes, I had a backpack…it was full of my volleyball clothes, but we didn’t even play because it was too hot!) He was trying to tell me all about all the relics in and around the bar, too. The funniest part was when my co-teacher was telling me how this teacher (Kim Keun Hwak) and the second grade teacher call him “Older Brother,” indicating their close relationship. I then asked what he would call them in return, but he thought at first I was asking what I would call them. He said, “Oopa!” and then laughed. Oopa literally means big brother, but Korean girls often call their boyfriends oopa, too. I am sure he didn’t know that I knew this, but in any case, the third grade teacher was embarrassed, I think. Oh, if only they knew that I realized what was going on!
I rode home in a taxi with the vp, another teacher, and our outgoing army man. It was only 9 pm, but believe me, it was late enough. In fact, our army friend puked on the way home. Oh, memories! And strangely enough, Kim Keun Hwak was missing today…a bit too much of the sauce last night, perhaps? My co-teacher had to teach third grade in his place today, so I barely saw him. It was okay, though…I had an easy day.
My superstar status with the students has been continuing and even rising as they are becoming more accustomed to me and less shy. Even the little ones will usually say hi to me now. One fifth or sixth grade girl talked to me for a while this morning and introduced me to a lot of kids in the library. Too bad I forget their names. She was very nice. I went upstairs again after lunch, thinking I would do a bit more research online and then get out of there, but I didn’t realize that many of the kids played in the library instead of outside during their lunch hour. So I was literally smothered with small children. Most of them were second-graders, I think. It was really fun to talk to them. They actually knew more English than I thought—colors, numbers, the ABCs. It was definitely a broken conversation, however. And I only got my work done once the rascals left.
I finally found the post office today with the help of my little second-grade friends. They were ahead of me on the street, turned around, saw me, and immediately I had three little helpers vying for my two hands. And they were so helpful! They took me right to the post office (and proceeded to paw through my wallet while I was sending the letters). Then, they helped me pick out shampoo and toothpaste. It was a nice little interaction with my prospective students. One of them seems like she will be a handful, but I think I will really enjoy having them in class.
So the last two days at school have been pretty excellent. I have been trying to work out how I am expected to teach, with some help from my co-teacher but he is a very busy man. I have a feeling that he is pretty important at the school and does a lot of stuff for it. And now he has me to take care of as well. I feel that I am a bit of a burden, but he assures me that even though he is busy, I must come to him if I have questions. So I do. I haven’t been doing too much work at school. I have been looking through the teacher’s guides for the English course books we do have and finding out where the teachers are in the lessons. Basically, the lessons are already outlined for me and I think I am just expected to follow them almost exactly, with perhaps a bit of tweaking if it gets boring or if the kids become disengaged. That’s nice in a way, but I’m not sure if I agree with the whole method of learning by strict memorization. It seems tedious and also ultimately ineffective to me. I suppose it’s not my place to question their methods, though, if these are the agreed-upon educational methods in use. I think I will have more liberty in the kindergarten, first, and second grade rooms, so I’ll make sure to have a lot of fun there. Today I also found what seems to be a pretty good EFL website authored by a woman who taught in South Korea, actually. I think I will be taking a lot of song and chant ideas from there. I’ll be doing the hokey pokey all day long! In total, I will be responsible for twenty classes per week—each of the nine classes twice per week, a teachers’ workshop, and an enrichment class. Of these, only four will repeat (because I will use the same material for both second grade classes and both fifth grade classes). That comes out to SIXTEEN unique lessons per week, while most of my ETA friends are responsible for ONE. Sigh. Good thing my kids are so darn cute. It almost makes up for it. No, I’m kidding—I’m happy to do it. I am really happy at my school so far. All of the teachers are very nice, though a little hesitant to speak to me in English. A few have attempted real conversations with me and I am very appreciative. It’s been a good start so far. I feel so welcomed here, at the school and in the community.
I guess everyone at the school is happy with me, too. My co-teacher told me last night that he thinks the principal views me as the daughter he never had. He specifically told Choi Hyun Moon to tell me that he is very appreciative of the fact that I didn’t complain about my schedule and that he is proud of me. The principal really has gone out of his way to ensure I have a good time here—for example, in not letting me live in a house without a good cook. By the way, I found out that I was confusing teachers. It was a different female Kim who wanted me to live with her but was not allowed due to her poor cooking skills—the young fourth grade teacher. The principal told me (through my co-teacher, our interpreter) that he hopes we become good friends. I hope so, too, but she intimidates me a bit. She is probably only a few years older than me—30 at most—and very well put together.
Anyway, so this all happened last night at a party the school hosted. All of the teachers and staff came to a restaurant in Buyeo after our staff meeting yesterday. (I went to the staff meeting, too, but all I understood was my name, said a bunch of times by my co-teacher in what I think was a presentation of what all the teachers are expected to do with me, and the word hakseng, which means student. Not very informative for me. Instead, I tried to memorize teacher names but was largely unsuccessful because I was so tired!) It was a party given in honor of departing staff (a man who had been here as part of his mandatory stint in the army) and incoming staff—myself and the new nurse. The food was supposed to be really good, but to be honest, I like my host mother’s cooking better. Maybe because she caters to my taste. But they did make sure I was well-fed. I sat across from the principal and he ordered more of the side dishes without meat specifically for me. As I had been warned at Orientation, there was a lot of alcohol. Much more than I had thought possible. The principal basically was continually guzzling shots of soju in between bites. (For those of you who don’t know, soju is a Korean wine-like drink. I think it tastes like watered-down vodka. It’s about 20-25% alcohol and you drink it in shots with other people. It’s a social thing.) I think he must have had at least one bottle all to himself. I wasn’t watching the other men, but I think they were getting wasted, too. It was a perfect demonstration of the “Asian glow” phenomenon for sure. I made sure I wasn’t drunk, though. No need for them to see that quite yet.
After dinner, my co-teacher invited me to another place to drink. Now, I had been warned by my Orientation Coordinators not to go to “the second place” and definitely not to go to “the third place.” I was more concerned about getting a ride home, so I just went with the flow of that. So the group ended up being me, the new nurse (I forget her name right now), pretty Miss Kim, and all the men, most of whom were pretty intoxicated. We went to the river first. It’s called the White Horse River and is named after a famous battle in which Buyeo was overtaken by the Chinese 1300 years ago. I think. My co-teacher’s English was lagging at this time. Then we went to a traditional drinking house nearby. It had pictures of all these relics and featured Korean rice wine (and soju, of course!). It was here that I heard all of the above information from my co-teacher about my principal and Miss Kim. We hadn’t been sitting together at dinner, so I didn’t speak much to him then. It was actually really entertaining to see them all out having fun this way, and though the concept of school teachers hanging out and getting wasted together on a Wednesday night seemed a little weird, I was enjoying the vibe. Everyone made an effort to talk to and include me, and it was really fun. The nurse is evidently interested in getting to know me, too, and made Miss Kim switch seats after a while. She was really concerned that I was going to be sick today. Shows how much she knows about college in America! I hardly even drank last night, really. I was just people-watching and enjoying. I wonder how often they have events like this. I definitely wouldn’t mind doing it again!
I have suspicions that the third grade teacher was trying unsuccessfully to hit on me last night, and I think everyone else was encouraging him/maybe making fun of him, too. I didn’t understand the words, just the context. He sat next to me at dinner and became progressively more chatty as he was drinking. His English isn’t great, so it was a bit awkward, but I think he might be an awkward person anyway. He seems nerdy. It’s too bad that men and women aren’t really friends here at all. We’re only a year apart and I think we could be friends, if the culture would allow it. Anyway, he was making ridiculous comments on my skills with chopsticks (ha!), the color of my skirt (he applauds my mother’s choice of peach), and my lovely charm bracelet (thanks again, Mom—you appear to have made me irresistible!). He insisted on carrying my backpack to the second place because, according to him, in Korea the men must carry things for the women. (Yes, I had a backpack…it was full of my volleyball clothes, but we didn’t even play because it was too hot!) He was trying to tell me all about all the relics in and around the bar, too. The funniest part was when my co-teacher was telling me how this teacher (Kim Keun Hwak) and the second grade teacher call him “Older Brother,” indicating their close relationship. I then asked what he would call them in return, but he thought at first I was asking what I would call them. He said, “Oopa!” and then laughed. Oopa literally means big brother, but Korean girls often call their boyfriends oopa, too. I am sure he didn’t know that I knew this, but in any case, the third grade teacher was embarrassed, I think. Oh, if only they knew that I realized what was going on!
I rode home in a taxi with the vp, another teacher, and our outgoing army man. It was only 9 pm, but believe me, it was late enough. In fact, our army friend puked on the way home. Oh, memories! And strangely enough, Kim Keun Hwak was missing today…a bit too much of the sauce last night, perhaps? My co-teacher had to teach third grade in his place today, so I barely saw him. It was okay, though…I had an easy day.
My superstar status with the students has been continuing and even rising as they are becoming more accustomed to me and less shy. Even the little ones will usually say hi to me now. One fifth or sixth grade girl talked to me for a while this morning and introduced me to a lot of kids in the library. Too bad I forget their names. She was very nice. I went upstairs again after lunch, thinking I would do a bit more research online and then get out of there, but I didn’t realize that many of the kids played in the library instead of outside during their lunch hour. So I was literally smothered with small children. Most of them were second-graders, I think. It was really fun to talk to them. They actually knew more English than I thought—colors, numbers, the ABCs. It was definitely a broken conversation, however. And I only got my work done once the rascals left.
I finally found the post office today with the help of my little second-grade friends. They were ahead of me on the street, turned around, saw me, and immediately I had three little helpers vying for my two hands. And they were so helpful! They took me right to the post office (and proceeded to paw through my wallet while I was sending the letters). Then, they helped me pick out shampoo and toothpaste. It was a nice little interaction with my prospective students. One of them seems like she will be a handful, but I think I will really enjoy having them in class.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
First Day of School!!!--Tuesday, August 22
Today was my first day of school! I didn’t even set foot in a classroom and knew I wouldn’t heading into the day, but I was nervous anyway. I had no idea really of what would be happening.
First of all, it POURED just as we were headed to school. Luckily, my host father gave us (the two younger children and I) rides to school. Nice start to the day, really. I proceeded to sit and surf the Internet while the other teachers straggled in. I thought we were supposed to begin at nine, but it was maybe 9:15 before Choi Hyun Moon took me over to the auditorium, where 170ish curious eyes looked me over for the next twenty minutes while the principal spoke. I had to give my silly, horrible, Korean speech again, and though they did giggle, they were at least attentive.
It’s definitely an understatement that everyone in town has been eagerly anticipating my arrival. I have seriously been treated like royalty here. The teachers are all very nice and understanding with my halting Korean. Actually, they usually attempt English for my sake and try to engage me in conversation. I had heard that most Koreans are very understanding about the inability of white Westerners to speak Korean (though I hear that isn’t the case for Korean-Americans, or even Korean-looking Americans). They are not at all as judgmental about my behavior as I had expected and patiently lead me through proper behavior. They probably think I am a little bit stupid, but at least they are helpful. And the children….SOOOO cute! Seeing them lined up in rows for the assembly was so funny! Each class had two rows of children lined up backwards. They were so fidgety and adorable!
I spent the morning watching a video of a current elementary ETA (Pam) team-teaching with her co-teacher. I briefly met her during Orientation. It wasn’t the best lesson of all time, but was a good introduction to what they expect of me. I think it will be much more difficult in my case, however, because I will have nine people to teach with, none of whom will actually be my co-teacher. I am still wondering how this is all going to work out. I am supposed to spend this time giving myself a crash course in Korean teaching methods. It’s nice to have this time to prepare before I jump into lessons next week. I will be meeting with each of the other teachers sometime tomorrow to find out what they expect and what we should teach. I have strong suspicions that most of the teaching responsibility will fall to me—not because they would want to step back from doing their jobs, as all the teachers seem very hard-working, but because they will be embarrassed of their English in front of me. That’s fine with me, as long as they are clear on what they want to be achieved in the lessons and are there at least at first for discipline and translation, if needed.
I was interrupted on a few occasions this morning by curious students. First, all of the giggly sixth grade girls must have come in to say hello and talk to me. Their classroom is just down the hall from the library. I think they would have made the trek no matter what, though. Their English was actually quite good—I think I will really enjoy teaching them. I got the usual Drew Barrymore comparison from one and they were quick to tell me that I was pretty…no, beautiful…no, GORGEOUS! I am going to get a big head here…since I have been in Hongsan, it must be 5+ times a day that someone says I am beautiful. It’s awesome! They were so amazed that I am so tall…I am seriously a giant, at least in this section of the country. I am at least as tall, if not taller, than most of the men. They asked me my weight, too, but I pretended not to know. I know they wouldn’t be so impressed by that. They tried to come in during their next class break, but Choi Hyun Moon was with me, so they just watched for a while and then left. I was somewhat disappointed. He said they want to be just like me…very flattering.
Three first grade boys also ventured up to the library. I couldn’t figure out what they were doing at first—they were just fiddling around the room for a while, playing around on the computer and looking at books—but they finally came over and watched a bit of my movie with me. I was able to learn their names and what grade they were in with my rudimentary Korean. Yesss. I was wondering how they got up there, but I found out at lunch that they had asked their teacher if they could come find me.
When I am in the hall during their break times, I am literally ambushed with hellos. It’s a struggle to get anything else out of them, unless it’s one of the more outgoing students (more rare here than in America). I enjoy speaking to them nonetheless. I am glad they approach me, because I still feel shy and awkward in this situation. They make it much easier for me. Unfortunately, one little girl found out about my piercing and demanded to see my tongue. The whole group of twenty kids stared at my mouth eagerly. I tried to brush it off and pretended to not understand, but was only saved by another teacher shooing them to class. I hope they don’t tell on me. I still don’t know if it’s acceptable.
I had lunch with Mrs. Kim, one of the second grade teachers and the one who gave me the present yesterday. She is very nice. I guess she lived in British Columbia for three years…or maybe three years ago. I’m not sure. At any rate, her English is pretty good, I think, but she is definitely hesitant to use it. She told me a couple times already that she hates to speak it. I also spoke with Cho Kyoung Hee during lunch. She helped me by telling the lunch ladies I am a vegetarian and they were careful to pick around all the meat when dishing out my portions. She also carefully selected my grape bunch for me…it was a bit much, I think, but I wasn’t about to complain. I think they just want to make sure I am enjoying my experience here and they are doing a good job of it. She asked me to call her Kyoung Hee Sam, sam being short for songsaengnim (teacher). I like these little nicknames…it’ll help me learn names more quickly.
In the afternoon, I gave the principal (Baek jeong Hyun) his gift—a nice tablecloth that has a map of the United States on it. I thought it would be a nice gift and I think he liked it. It’s hard to tell. I also gave gifts to the vice principal and Choi Hyun Moon, but they didn’t open them in front of me, so I don’t know if they liked them.
I went on a little walk downtown after class and it was hot as hell. I was sweating very unprofessionally, let me tell you. And I must have seen every single Hongsan Elementary student, who each yelled out their hellos to me (though some were more polite and bowed). It was fun, but they definitely weren’t helpful in my fruitless search for the post office. Oh, well…the letters will have to wait.
Tomorrow I study more teaching methods, meet with the teachers individually, hopefully play some badminton with 4-6 grade students and Kim In Kyu, the sixth grade teacher, followed perhaps by some volleyball with all the teachers, and then a dinner party with all the teachers and staff in Buyeo to celebrate the two new teachers—me and a P.E. teacher. I’m looking forward to it all. Unfortunately, every passing day brings me closer to Monday, when I will actually teach, and I don’t know if I am ready for THAT quite yet!
First of all, it POURED just as we were headed to school. Luckily, my host father gave us (the two younger children and I) rides to school. Nice start to the day, really. I proceeded to sit and surf the Internet while the other teachers straggled in. I thought we were supposed to begin at nine, but it was maybe 9:15 before Choi Hyun Moon took me over to the auditorium, where 170ish curious eyes looked me over for the next twenty minutes while the principal spoke. I had to give my silly, horrible, Korean speech again, and though they did giggle, they were at least attentive.
It’s definitely an understatement that everyone in town has been eagerly anticipating my arrival. I have seriously been treated like royalty here. The teachers are all very nice and understanding with my halting Korean. Actually, they usually attempt English for my sake and try to engage me in conversation. I had heard that most Koreans are very understanding about the inability of white Westerners to speak Korean (though I hear that isn’t the case for Korean-Americans, or even Korean-looking Americans). They are not at all as judgmental about my behavior as I had expected and patiently lead me through proper behavior. They probably think I am a little bit stupid, but at least they are helpful. And the children….SOOOO cute! Seeing them lined up in rows for the assembly was so funny! Each class had two rows of children lined up backwards. They were so fidgety and adorable!
I spent the morning watching a video of a current elementary ETA (Pam) team-teaching with her co-teacher. I briefly met her during Orientation. It wasn’t the best lesson of all time, but was a good introduction to what they expect of me. I think it will be much more difficult in my case, however, because I will have nine people to teach with, none of whom will actually be my co-teacher. I am still wondering how this is all going to work out. I am supposed to spend this time giving myself a crash course in Korean teaching methods. It’s nice to have this time to prepare before I jump into lessons next week. I will be meeting with each of the other teachers sometime tomorrow to find out what they expect and what we should teach. I have strong suspicions that most of the teaching responsibility will fall to me—not because they would want to step back from doing their jobs, as all the teachers seem very hard-working, but because they will be embarrassed of their English in front of me. That’s fine with me, as long as they are clear on what they want to be achieved in the lessons and are there at least at first for discipline and translation, if needed.
I was interrupted on a few occasions this morning by curious students. First, all of the giggly sixth grade girls must have come in to say hello and talk to me. Their classroom is just down the hall from the library. I think they would have made the trek no matter what, though. Their English was actually quite good—I think I will really enjoy teaching them. I got the usual Drew Barrymore comparison from one and they were quick to tell me that I was pretty…no, beautiful…no, GORGEOUS! I am going to get a big head here…since I have been in Hongsan, it must be 5+ times a day that someone says I am beautiful. It’s awesome! They were so amazed that I am so tall…I am seriously a giant, at least in this section of the country. I am at least as tall, if not taller, than most of the men. They asked me my weight, too, but I pretended not to know. I know they wouldn’t be so impressed by that. They tried to come in during their next class break, but Choi Hyun Moon was with me, so they just watched for a while and then left. I was somewhat disappointed. He said they want to be just like me…very flattering.
Three first grade boys also ventured up to the library. I couldn’t figure out what they were doing at first—they were just fiddling around the room for a while, playing around on the computer and looking at books—but they finally came over and watched a bit of my movie with me. I was able to learn their names and what grade they were in with my rudimentary Korean. Yesss. I was wondering how they got up there, but I found out at lunch that they had asked their teacher if they could come find me.
When I am in the hall during their break times, I am literally ambushed with hellos. It’s a struggle to get anything else out of them, unless it’s one of the more outgoing students (more rare here than in America). I enjoy speaking to them nonetheless. I am glad they approach me, because I still feel shy and awkward in this situation. They make it much easier for me. Unfortunately, one little girl found out about my piercing and demanded to see my tongue. The whole group of twenty kids stared at my mouth eagerly. I tried to brush it off and pretended to not understand, but was only saved by another teacher shooing them to class. I hope they don’t tell on me. I still don’t know if it’s acceptable.
I had lunch with Mrs. Kim, one of the second grade teachers and the one who gave me the present yesterday. She is very nice. I guess she lived in British Columbia for three years…or maybe three years ago. I’m not sure. At any rate, her English is pretty good, I think, but she is definitely hesitant to use it. She told me a couple times already that she hates to speak it. I also spoke with Cho Kyoung Hee during lunch. She helped me by telling the lunch ladies I am a vegetarian and they were careful to pick around all the meat when dishing out my portions. She also carefully selected my grape bunch for me…it was a bit much, I think, but I wasn’t about to complain. I think they just want to make sure I am enjoying my experience here and they are doing a good job of it. She asked me to call her Kyoung Hee Sam, sam being short for songsaengnim (teacher). I like these little nicknames…it’ll help me learn names more quickly.
In the afternoon, I gave the principal (Baek jeong Hyun) his gift—a nice tablecloth that has a map of the United States on it. I thought it would be a nice gift and I think he liked it. It’s hard to tell. I also gave gifts to the vice principal and Choi Hyun Moon, but they didn’t open them in front of me, so I don’t know if they liked them.
I went on a little walk downtown after class and it was hot as hell. I was sweating very unprofessionally, let me tell you. And I must have seen every single Hongsan Elementary student, who each yelled out their hellos to me (though some were more polite and bowed). It was fun, but they definitely weren’t helpful in my fruitless search for the post office. Oh, well…the letters will have to wait.
Tomorrow I study more teaching methods, meet with the teachers individually, hopefully play some badminton with 4-6 grade students and Kim In Kyu, the sixth grade teacher, followed perhaps by some volleyball with all the teachers, and then a dinner party with all the teachers and staff in Buyeo to celebrate the two new teachers—me and a P.E. teacher. I’m looking forward to it all. Unfortunately, every passing day brings me closer to Monday, when I will actually teach, and I don’t know if I am ready for THAT quite yet!
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Meet the Teachers--Monday, August 21
The big highlight of today was finally meeting all my co-workers for the next year. I did study my Korean this morning as part of my new dedication to the language, but I was really just filling time until my co-teacher came to pick me up at 11. He even brought the principal! There was all this fuss because apparently my phone doesn’t get good reception here, which I am fine with but is evidently unacceptable for the American sonsangnim. I guess there is going to be an antennae installed here...I’m not really sure what’s going on, as usual.
Anyway, I was taken to the school for the big meet-n-greet. The principal made a long introductory speech. He was talking about a lot of other things, I think, and maybe even introducing another teacher, but I was really nervous and it felt like I was standing up there being scrutinized forever. I gave a short, ugly speech in Korean, which I think they all found highly amusing, and was then introduced separately to every teacher and staff member—20 in all, I think, and approximately equal numbers of men and women. I was surprised that many of them seemed young. I am not the best at guessing the age of Koreans and they usually look younger to me than they actually are, but still...I was expecting to teach with a bunch of grandfathers in the countryside, not people my parents’ age or younger. I think it’s going to be a lot more fun this way. They were all excited to meet me, and one second grade teacher, Kim Jeong Sook, gave me a mug as a present. It was really nice. I think she is the teacher who wanted to host me but wasn’t allowed because of her bad cooking. My co-teacher says she really wants to be friends. We have desks right next to each other, so I am sure we will be seeing a lot of each other. I am looking forward to being able to talk to a woman, even though she is hesitant with her English. We’ll work on it.
On a more humorous note, I have definitely noticed the natural tendency toward coupledom in Korea. I had witnessed it before, certainly, what with everyone my age I see on the street wrapped up in someone of the same sex. There is even a “couple tee” phenomenon in which couples buy identical t-shirts (and sometimes even complete outfits!) and wear them together. It’s sooo weird. I cannot imagine any American guy I know doing that. Well, besides the two ETA guys I know who bought matching couple tank tops as a joke. Anyway, when I was out at the pool last weekend the host man definitely introduced me to his friend by saying, “Meet my friend. He is single. He is not married.” This man was definitely on the other side of 40. And today, when my co-teacher was introducing me around, the only thing he says about the third grade teacher is that he is single. Repeatedly. It’s so funny. I think they can’t stand to have single people around and thus try to set them all up. I did end up talking to the guy for a while because he helped me decipher the teacher names. I am determined to memorize them very soon. We had a long, semi-awkward conversation, but it was nice. Mostly, he flipped through this English book with questions written in English and Korean and asked me some of them, like “What is your favorite music?” and “What kind of music do you like?” and “Did you see Harry Potter?”
I have just been chillaxin the rest of the day. Tomorrow is the big first day! There will be an assembly first thing tomorrow morning, during which I will be introduced to all 188 students. Hopefully not individually introduced. And I dearly hope I will not be required to make a speech again. It’s enough to have 20 adults laughing at me. Two hundred future students should not witness my humiliation, too. They’ll never respect me! I will not be teaching this week, but instead will be observing the third, fourth, and sixth grade classrooms during their English hours (because English is already taught in these grades) and preparing the textbooks and lessons. It seems pretty chill and that’s fine with me. Apparently, though, I am expected to team-teach with all nine other teachers. I don’t know how that’s going to work at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up doing many of the lessons on my own. But we will see. My schedule is pretty sweet, anyway. I only have morning classes on Monday, Thursday, and Friday and one afternoon class each on Tuesday and Wednesday—a teachers’ workshop and a special class for accelerated English students. Those will be more fun, I think, because they will be without textbooks.
Though I am still loving the whole small town thing, it definitely has its downsides. I don’t think I will be able to do the extracurriculars I was thinking about joining—yoga, ceramics, or maybe even volunteer work. I am still thinking about TKD and am going to ask my co-teacher about it. It just might be weird if I am in class with my eight-year-old students. I guess if they’re cool with it, then I am, too. I was thinking today that a good thing to do might be to ask my host mother to teach me to cook Korean food. She really is a great cook and I would love to be able to take that back with me when I go, since I do love to cook, too. Also, it would probably help our relationship, which is no small consideration. I am hoping she will be flattered. So if all goes well, I will be a Korean chef extraordinare by the time of my return!!!
Anyway, I was taken to the school for the big meet-n-greet. The principal made a long introductory speech. He was talking about a lot of other things, I think, and maybe even introducing another teacher, but I was really nervous and it felt like I was standing up there being scrutinized forever. I gave a short, ugly speech in Korean, which I think they all found highly amusing, and was then introduced separately to every teacher and staff member—20 in all, I think, and approximately equal numbers of men and women. I was surprised that many of them seemed young. I am not the best at guessing the age of Koreans and they usually look younger to me than they actually are, but still...I was expecting to teach with a bunch of grandfathers in the countryside, not people my parents’ age or younger. I think it’s going to be a lot more fun this way. They were all excited to meet me, and one second grade teacher, Kim Jeong Sook, gave me a mug as a present. It was really nice. I think she is the teacher who wanted to host me but wasn’t allowed because of her bad cooking. My co-teacher says she really wants to be friends. We have desks right next to each other, so I am sure we will be seeing a lot of each other. I am looking forward to being able to talk to a woman, even though she is hesitant with her English. We’ll work on it.
On a more humorous note, I have definitely noticed the natural tendency toward coupledom in Korea. I had witnessed it before, certainly, what with everyone my age I see on the street wrapped up in someone of the same sex. There is even a “couple tee” phenomenon in which couples buy identical t-shirts (and sometimes even complete outfits!) and wear them together. It’s sooo weird. I cannot imagine any American guy I know doing that. Well, besides the two ETA guys I know who bought matching couple tank tops as a joke. Anyway, when I was out at the pool last weekend the host man definitely introduced me to his friend by saying, “Meet my friend. He is single. He is not married.” This man was definitely on the other side of 40. And today, when my co-teacher was introducing me around, the only thing he says about the third grade teacher is that he is single. Repeatedly. It’s so funny. I think they can’t stand to have single people around and thus try to set them all up. I did end up talking to the guy for a while because he helped me decipher the teacher names. I am determined to memorize them very soon. We had a long, semi-awkward conversation, but it was nice. Mostly, he flipped through this English book with questions written in English and Korean and asked me some of them, like “What is your favorite music?” and “What kind of music do you like?” and “Did you see Harry Potter?”
I have just been chillaxin the rest of the day. Tomorrow is the big first day! There will be an assembly first thing tomorrow morning, during which I will be introduced to all 188 students. Hopefully not individually introduced. And I dearly hope I will not be required to make a speech again. It’s enough to have 20 adults laughing at me. Two hundred future students should not witness my humiliation, too. They’ll never respect me! I will not be teaching this week, but instead will be observing the third, fourth, and sixth grade classrooms during their English hours (because English is already taught in these grades) and preparing the textbooks and lessons. It seems pretty chill and that’s fine with me. Apparently, though, I am expected to team-teach with all nine other teachers. I don’t know how that’s going to work at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up doing many of the lessons on my own. But we will see. My schedule is pretty sweet, anyway. I only have morning classes on Monday, Thursday, and Friday and one afternoon class each on Tuesday and Wednesday—a teachers’ workshop and a special class for accelerated English students. Those will be more fun, I think, because they will be without textbooks.
Though I am still loving the whole small town thing, it definitely has its downsides. I don’t think I will be able to do the extracurriculars I was thinking about joining—yoga, ceramics, or maybe even volunteer work. I am still thinking about TKD and am going to ask my co-teacher about it. It just might be weird if I am in class with my eight-year-old students. I guess if they’re cool with it, then I am, too. I was thinking today that a good thing to do might be to ask my host mother to teach me to cook Korean food. She really is a great cook and I would love to be able to take that back with me when I go, since I do love to cook, too. Also, it would probably help our relationship, which is no small consideration. I am hoping she will be flattered. So if all goes well, I will be a Korean chef extraordinare by the time of my return!!!
A Day of Leisure--Sunday, August 20
Today was a lazy day for me. I spent the morning decorating my room with pictures and emailing friends while the rest of the family was at church. The kids returned home around 10:30 or 11, but my host father didn’t come back until 3 and my host mother came back around 5. I have absolutely no idea where they were. It was enough that I even understood they would be gone all day when they told me this morning!
I went on another long walk today. I really want to find a mountain path, but all I’ve found so far are unfriendly, skinny, windy roads. I did get some good pictures, though, and I intend to keep searching. I am afraid of trespassing, too...it’s hard to tell which are driveways, and which are actual roads!
I still don’t know anyone’s names. I must learn quickly, but it’s so hard for me to pick them out! The only one told to me was the little boy’s, and I forget that one. I suppose I will learn the two younger children’s names in school, but I don’t know about the older girl.
I spent the rest of the day studying Korean, reading Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, going through the textbooks and CDs Choi Hyun Moon gave me, and reading up on Korean history in A New History of Korea. I intend to read it all, and then since it only goes through 1960, to find a more recent book and read it, too. History is really important in general and especially here and I would like to know more about where I am living. I am pretty sure I already read parts of the book for my Asian Traditions class at Pomona, but I really don’t remember anything I read. It was three years ago, after all. A brush-up can’t hurt. And now, it seems much much much more pertinent, strangely enough.
This afternoon, my host father had a friend over. He was really friendly and engaged me in a conversation about Africa and Montana which caught the attention of the entire house. I brought out some South Africa pictures to show them and they were impressed by the giraffes and the fact that I’d lived in Cape Town. This friend mentioned, however, that my face used to be fat! Of course, he was comparing it to now, but still...I don’t think it’s any thinner now. My hair’s just down more. I don’t want to be a fat-face! Overall, though, it was a nice interaction with the whole family (except my two host sisters). After feeling like a mute and dumb burden for the last few days, it was nice to finally connect with them in some way.
I feel very accomplished for today. I did many of the things I set out for myself today, instead of just being a lazy slob. Goodness knows I hate that. And I tried to help out around the house…it seems to be the least I can do. I don’t think my host mother is really into it, though. She let me wash the dishes this morning because they were leaving for church right then, but at dinner she told me specifically that she would wash, even though she didn’t even eat until after everyone else had finished and it would just make it longer for her. Maybe she doesn’t like how I clean dishes. I think it’s more that I am still a guest here and must be taken care of. It’s nice, but I want to do some things around the house, too, since I can’t do much else for them. Oh, they asked me about internet today…I might be getting it in my room! Sweet! I think they must be relatively well-off, based on their generosity so far and the status of the house. Though it’s small, it’s clean and obviously new, whereas some around here that I’ve seen on my walks are basically shacks. I didn’t expect to find so much poverty here, but it is apparent if you open your eyes. I didn’t mention this before, but our dorm at Kangwon was separated from a shantytown (for lack of a better word) by only a fence. It was strange to walk by it and look down (it was on a hill).
Tomorrow I go to school, but only to meet the other teachers. I hope I don’t have to give a speech and embarrass myself, but I expect I must. And they’ll laugh at me...
I went on another long walk today. I really want to find a mountain path, but all I’ve found so far are unfriendly, skinny, windy roads. I did get some good pictures, though, and I intend to keep searching. I am afraid of trespassing, too...it’s hard to tell which are driveways, and which are actual roads!
I still don’t know anyone’s names. I must learn quickly, but it’s so hard for me to pick them out! The only one told to me was the little boy’s, and I forget that one. I suppose I will learn the two younger children’s names in school, but I don’t know about the older girl.
I spent the rest of the day studying Korean, reading Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, going through the textbooks and CDs Choi Hyun Moon gave me, and reading up on Korean history in A New History of Korea. I intend to read it all, and then since it only goes through 1960, to find a more recent book and read it, too. History is really important in general and especially here and I would like to know more about where I am living. I am pretty sure I already read parts of the book for my Asian Traditions class at Pomona, but I really don’t remember anything I read. It was three years ago, after all. A brush-up can’t hurt. And now, it seems much much much more pertinent, strangely enough.
This afternoon, my host father had a friend over. He was really friendly and engaged me in a conversation about Africa and Montana which caught the attention of the entire house. I brought out some South Africa pictures to show them and they were impressed by the giraffes and the fact that I’d lived in Cape Town. This friend mentioned, however, that my face used to be fat! Of course, he was comparing it to now, but still...I don’t think it’s any thinner now. My hair’s just down more. I don’t want to be a fat-face! Overall, though, it was a nice interaction with the whole family (except my two host sisters). After feeling like a mute and dumb burden for the last few days, it was nice to finally connect with them in some way.
I feel very accomplished for today. I did many of the things I set out for myself today, instead of just being a lazy slob. Goodness knows I hate that. And I tried to help out around the house…it seems to be the least I can do. I don’t think my host mother is really into it, though. She let me wash the dishes this morning because they were leaving for church right then, but at dinner she told me specifically that she would wash, even though she didn’t even eat until after everyone else had finished and it would just make it longer for her. Maybe she doesn’t like how I clean dishes. I think it’s more that I am still a guest here and must be taken care of. It’s nice, but I want to do some things around the house, too, since I can’t do much else for them. Oh, they asked me about internet today…I might be getting it in my room! Sweet! I think they must be relatively well-off, based on their generosity so far and the status of the house. Though it’s small, it’s clean and obviously new, whereas some around here that I’ve seen on my walks are basically shacks. I didn’t expect to find so much poverty here, but it is apparent if you open your eyes. I didn’t mention this before, but our dorm at Kangwon was separated from a shantytown (for lack of a better word) by only a fence. It was strange to walk by it and look down (it was on a hill).
Tomorrow I go to school, but only to meet the other teachers. I hope I don’t have to give a speech and embarrass myself, but I expect I must. And they’ll laugh at me...
The Homestay, Part II--Saturday, August 19
Today was another on-and-off day. We did have another amazing breakfast of omurice. I guess it’s not a fusion item after all, or it’s at least widely prepared. It was really good, especially with sides of tomato and broccoli. I never thought I would love fresh veggies for breakfast, but they are really great. I actually feel I am eating well-balanced meals again—maybe even better than I ever have! My fruit fears, too, seem to have no basis. The dining hall at Kangwon must not be representative of the rest of Korea, or my host family is trying to impress me, but in any case, I have enjoyed at least two servings of fruit each day. This morning it was grapes...mashisoyo! (delicious)
We went to the local pool for the day after breakfast. It was a strange experience on all sorts of levels. First, I didn’t realize what was going on (and probably still don’t know), but it was some sort of huge gathering with many families that we were a part of. There was the guy I met last night at the restaurant...I guess they’d been trying to tell me that he would be there at the pool today, not that he owned the pool! Maybe it was even his party—I really have no idea. Anyway, at one point he pulled me up to introduce me to EVERYONE, which must have been at least 40 or 50 inquisitive strangers. Then, he made ME give a SPEECH!!! All I said was hello, my name is Jen, it’s nice to meet you. They were laughing at me. I’m not sure if it was because I didn’t understand he wanted me to speak at first or because I probably mispronounced everything. Oh, well.
Another weird thing was the fact that nearly everyone, and especially the girls, swam in their regular clothes. Little kids generally had suits, but my older host sister and her cousin just went in their clothes and so did these other high school girls I met. (They came up to talk to me for a bit and were very entertaining.) I didn’t go in, though, because it wasn’t that warm and I didn’t want to get my clothes all wet. I brought my suit, but it was definitely not acceptable attire. So mostly I just sad. I am sure I was supposed to try to talk to people, but conversation is so difficult for both parties that I decided silence was better. I don’t want to punish anyone by making them talk to me in Konglish!
Later that afternoon, I went for my first walk around the neighborhood—really, a collection of farms. Most of them grow rice and some other vegetables I cannot identify. A few grow hot red peppers. And there are many hothouses where tomatoes and other vegetables are grown. According to my co-teacher, they are here because they cannot withstand the heavy monsoon rains. It was a nice walk, but I felt weird...it’s not really a walking neighborhood. I was walking on really narrow roads that are probably not that safe. I think the only people who walk on them are oojumas on their way to working the farms. So I really fit in.
After yet another scrumptious meal, I gave the family their present—Yahtzee, a Montana magnet, and delicious caramels. I think they liked Yahtzee. We played it all night last night. I don’t know about the others.
On another food-related note...I was thinking before I came here and even at Orientation that bread was not really common here, and even though there are many bakeries, that regular bread is not really a “Korean” thing. I was wrong, or my family is really trying to please the American. We had toasted bread the other day for lunch (we don’t have a toaster, or even an oven for that matter, so it was cooked in a frying pan) and we had it again today. The four of us kids went through a whole loaf!
Another thing I’ve forgotten...I met the grandmother the other day. I’m not sure whose parent she is, but I’m thinking the mother’s. She works outside on the farm every day, gathering plants of some sort. She exemplifies what a lifetime of field labor can do to you—she is permanently bent over at the waist and looks very old, though I’m sure she can’t be that old since my host parents are both 43. It really is an odd sight to behold. But she seems nice, even though she can’t speak a word to me. I think she told me I need to wear a hat to protect myself from the sun when I came back from my walk.
We went to the local pool for the day after breakfast. It was a strange experience on all sorts of levels. First, I didn’t realize what was going on (and probably still don’t know), but it was some sort of huge gathering with many families that we were a part of. There was the guy I met last night at the restaurant...I guess they’d been trying to tell me that he would be there at the pool today, not that he owned the pool! Maybe it was even his party—I really have no idea. Anyway, at one point he pulled me up to introduce me to EVERYONE, which must have been at least 40 or 50 inquisitive strangers. Then, he made ME give a SPEECH!!! All I said was hello, my name is Jen, it’s nice to meet you. They were laughing at me. I’m not sure if it was because I didn’t understand he wanted me to speak at first or because I probably mispronounced everything. Oh, well.
Another weird thing was the fact that nearly everyone, and especially the girls, swam in their regular clothes. Little kids generally had suits, but my older host sister and her cousin just went in their clothes and so did these other high school girls I met. (They came up to talk to me for a bit and were very entertaining.) I didn’t go in, though, because it wasn’t that warm and I didn’t want to get my clothes all wet. I brought my suit, but it was definitely not acceptable attire. So mostly I just sad. I am sure I was supposed to try to talk to people, but conversation is so difficult for both parties that I decided silence was better. I don’t want to punish anyone by making them talk to me in Konglish!
Later that afternoon, I went for my first walk around the neighborhood—really, a collection of farms. Most of them grow rice and some other vegetables I cannot identify. A few grow hot red peppers. And there are many hothouses where tomatoes and other vegetables are grown. According to my co-teacher, they are here because they cannot withstand the heavy monsoon rains. It was a nice walk, but I felt weird...it’s not really a walking neighborhood. I was walking on really narrow roads that are probably not that safe. I think the only people who walk on them are oojumas on their way to working the farms. So I really fit in.
After yet another scrumptious meal, I gave the family their present—Yahtzee, a Montana magnet, and delicious caramels. I think they liked Yahtzee. We played it all night last night. I don’t know about the others.
On another food-related note...I was thinking before I came here and even at Orientation that bread was not really common here, and even though there are many bakeries, that regular bread is not really a “Korean” thing. I was wrong, or my family is really trying to please the American. We had toasted bread the other day for lunch (we don’t have a toaster, or even an oven for that matter, so it was cooked in a frying pan) and we had it again today. The four of us kids went through a whole loaf!
Another thing I’ve forgotten...I met the grandmother the other day. I’m not sure whose parent she is, but I’m thinking the mother’s. She works outside on the farm every day, gathering plants of some sort. She exemplifies what a lifetime of field labor can do to you—she is permanently bent over at the waist and looks very old, though I’m sure she can’t be that old since my host parents are both 43. It really is an odd sight to behold. But she seems nice, even though she can’t speak a word to me. I think she told me I need to wear a hat to protect myself from the sun when I came back from my walk.
The Homestay--Friday, August 18
I know I kept longing for “real” Korea, but now I am thinking I was not ready for it at all. I don’t even speak the language!!! Now that I am here, I am feeling very out of place. Very welcomed, but awkward for sure. I found out today that not only did my family buy the air conditioner in preparation for my arrival, but they also bought the sofa in the front room and an entire bedroom set for my room. I almost wish they hadn’t gone to so much trouble. I really didn’t mind having my stuff on the floor. I did sleep much better in a bed, but I’m sure I would have adjusted to the floor. Oh, well...it was very nice of them, anyway. I just feel obligated to be this great guest now and I am not sure how to go about that. I will have to study my Korean on my own so I can at least talk to them.
My co-teacher helped me set up my bank account and buy a cell phone yesterday. My new bank is actually an agricultural cooperative. Guess I am in a small town! I don’t have any money in it yet, but I will put some in soon. When I stopped by the school yesterday after going to the bank, they gave me a paycheck for the rest of the month of August, which I was not expecting. Holding 600,000+ won in 10,000 increments is quite a wad of cash. I was definitely feeling rich! I met with the principal and vice principal as well and the principal told me quite sternly that I need to study my Korean very hard so I can have conversations with the other teachers and the students. I think maybe they were expecting more from 6 weeks of study and I am a disappointment to them in that regard. While it’s true that I don’t know much Korean, the little I do know flies straight out of my head when I’m confronted with a real-life situation because I get so nervous! Also, I feel so badly when I mangle their language. I will have to work on this. In a basic conversation, they will know what I am trying to say, anyway. I met a couple of the teachers yesterday, too. Both with the last name of Kim, which will be confusing for me. I have met a lot of people so far and I cannot remember anyone’s name, except that of my co-teacher! I hope that doesn’t come back to bite me.
We had to go to Buyeo to buy a cell phone and it was SOOOO expensive!! I got the cheapest one, and it was 275,000!! Good thing the school gives me 100,000 per month for my phone. It is the nicest phone I’ve ever had by far, with mp3, camera, and video capabilities. I guess that’s standard here. I think I will fall in love with it as soon as I download a rockin’ ringtone.
My co-teacher also took me to the school where the other elementary ETA, Erin, works. She is apparently in China right now, so we couldn’t pick up the 1st and 2nd grade lesson plans we were hoping to acquire, but I guess we will get them sometime next week. Her co-teacher seems really nice and offered to help me in whatever I need.
While we were driving around, we had some good chats, which I think was a real breakthrough in our relationship. I learned that this region produces a lot of cherry tomatoes and strawberries, and since I absolutely love both, it looks like I am in a good place to enjoy them. He says I will get my fill of both while I am here. I also learned that he loves Michael Jackson and even knows some of his dances, though unfortunately not the “Thriller” dance. He loves all pop music, so I guess we have that in common.
The bus stop was our last stop of the day. Choi Hyun Moon showed me the bus schedule and told me how long everything takes. Too long, it seems, but that’s okay. As long as I can still get places...
Last night, my bed, dresser, and desk arrived. Now my room looks so small and so American! Not Korean at all. It’s nice, but maybe I should be adjusting myself more to the Korean way of life. Oh, well...there is everything else to consider. My host mother’s sister and her family (they have a girl who must be about 14, a boy I would guess is 12, and a girl around 10) came over last night, too, for what I thought was dinner. I was very confused, because we ended up going out to dinner even though my host mother had been cooking for hours and it smelled delicious. I happened to mention earlier that day that I loved dukobi (I think that’s what it’s called...it’s fat, short, chewy rice noodles) and she made me a special plate when I got home! All this pampering really makes me uncomfortable, but I guess I should be glad it’s not negative attention.
Anyway, dinner was good. EVERYONE in the restaurant stared at me when I walked in, but it’s cool. That’s more of the reaction I’ve been expecting. I don’t suppose they see many Americans here, for obvious reasons. The food was really good. They fried some kind of beef and pork on two grills, both of which smelled really good, but I stuck to the side dishes and the soup. I received an unpleasant shock, however, when stirring the soup turned up some kind of shelled creature! I guess I have now demonstrated that I am willing to pick around meat, what with eating the dukobi even though it was mixed with fish cakes and now this. Oh, well...I really don’t mind that much. I don’t like being overly picky. My host mother also introduced me to some man—I think maybe he owns the pool we are going to today, but I am not sure. His English was pretty good, but I still have trouble picking out people’s words, even in my native tongue. He seemed very happy to meet me and introduced me to his family, too.
Later that night, I finally figured out that the cousins were staying over when everyone fell asleep on the main floor. They must live far away, or just like sleeping here for some reason. It was strange to see 7 or 8 people passed out on a hardwood floor. You’d never see that in America, unless maybe you were at a homeless shelter!
My co-teacher helped me set up my bank account and buy a cell phone yesterday. My new bank is actually an agricultural cooperative. Guess I am in a small town! I don’t have any money in it yet, but I will put some in soon. When I stopped by the school yesterday after going to the bank, they gave me a paycheck for the rest of the month of August, which I was not expecting. Holding 600,000+ won in 10,000 increments is quite a wad of cash. I was definitely feeling rich! I met with the principal and vice principal as well and the principal told me quite sternly that I need to study my Korean very hard so I can have conversations with the other teachers and the students. I think maybe they were expecting more from 6 weeks of study and I am a disappointment to them in that regard. While it’s true that I don’t know much Korean, the little I do know flies straight out of my head when I’m confronted with a real-life situation because I get so nervous! Also, I feel so badly when I mangle their language. I will have to work on this. In a basic conversation, they will know what I am trying to say, anyway. I met a couple of the teachers yesterday, too. Both with the last name of Kim, which will be confusing for me. I have met a lot of people so far and I cannot remember anyone’s name, except that of my co-teacher! I hope that doesn’t come back to bite me.
We had to go to Buyeo to buy a cell phone and it was SOOOO expensive!! I got the cheapest one, and it was 275,000!! Good thing the school gives me 100,000 per month for my phone. It is the nicest phone I’ve ever had by far, with mp3, camera, and video capabilities. I guess that’s standard here. I think I will fall in love with it as soon as I download a rockin’ ringtone.
My co-teacher also took me to the school where the other elementary ETA, Erin, works. She is apparently in China right now, so we couldn’t pick up the 1st and 2nd grade lesson plans we were hoping to acquire, but I guess we will get them sometime next week. Her co-teacher seems really nice and offered to help me in whatever I need.
While we were driving around, we had some good chats, which I think was a real breakthrough in our relationship. I learned that this region produces a lot of cherry tomatoes and strawberries, and since I absolutely love both, it looks like I am in a good place to enjoy them. He says I will get my fill of both while I am here. I also learned that he loves Michael Jackson and even knows some of his dances, though unfortunately not the “Thriller” dance. He loves all pop music, so I guess we have that in common.
The bus stop was our last stop of the day. Choi Hyun Moon showed me the bus schedule and told me how long everything takes. Too long, it seems, but that’s okay. As long as I can still get places...
Last night, my bed, dresser, and desk arrived. Now my room looks so small and so American! Not Korean at all. It’s nice, but maybe I should be adjusting myself more to the Korean way of life. Oh, well...there is everything else to consider. My host mother’s sister and her family (they have a girl who must be about 14, a boy I would guess is 12, and a girl around 10) came over last night, too, for what I thought was dinner. I was very confused, because we ended up going out to dinner even though my host mother had been cooking for hours and it smelled delicious. I happened to mention earlier that day that I loved dukobi (I think that’s what it’s called...it’s fat, short, chewy rice noodles) and she made me a special plate when I got home! All this pampering really makes me uncomfortable, but I guess I should be glad it’s not negative attention.
Anyway, dinner was good. EVERYONE in the restaurant stared at me when I walked in, but it’s cool. That’s more of the reaction I’ve been expecting. I don’t suppose they see many Americans here, for obvious reasons. The food was really good. They fried some kind of beef and pork on two grills, both of which smelled really good, but I stuck to the side dishes and the soup. I received an unpleasant shock, however, when stirring the soup turned up some kind of shelled creature! I guess I have now demonstrated that I am willing to pick around meat, what with eating the dukobi even though it was mixed with fish cakes and now this. Oh, well...I really don’t mind that much. I don’t like being overly picky. My host mother also introduced me to some man—I think maybe he owns the pool we are going to today, but I am not sure. His English was pretty good, but I still have trouble picking out people’s words, even in my native tongue. He seemed very happy to meet me and introduced me to his family, too.
Later that night, I finally figured out that the cousins were staying over when everyone fell asleep on the main floor. They must live far away, or just like sleeping here for some reason. It was strange to see 7 or 8 people passed out on a hardwood floor. You’d never see that in America, unless maybe you were at a homeless shelter!
Yonsei Week--Tuesday, August 15 through Thursday, August 17
Wow, what a whirlwind these past few days have been! I write now from my homestay in Hongsan, where I just arrived one hour ago. I can hardly believe I am here and will be calling this place home for the next year. It is really nice and basically exactly what I asked for. I am staying with a family with three kids—a fourteen-year-old girl, a ten-year-old girl, and an eight-year-old boy. The younger two will be my students, but the oldest girl is in middle school. We live on a farm of some sort, which my host father runs while my host mother takes care of the home. I am not sure what the farm is yet, because I arrived when it was already dark, but I know there are a ton of cows out front. My co-teacher informs me that they are “cute” cows, so I’m anxious to see that. I’m pretty sure I’ve never set eyes on a “cute” cow in my life. My host parents are both 43. So basically, I have as close of a replacement family as I could ask for. They have made it clear that I am to consider myself part of the family and I will act as an older sister to the children. That is perfectly okay with me!! We are still very shy with each other and the language barrier is proving to be difficult to overcome, but I’m sure we will grow to understand each other better.
Back to the beginning...this was just an amazing end to Orientation. The trip to Seoul was fantastic and even better than the one I took a couple weeks ago! We arrived on Tuesday morning, in time to unpack at Yonsei University. It is supposedly the Princeton of Korea and was sooooooo nice. The campus was huge, with trees and bushes everywhere, and made Kangwon look like a dump. The dorm was amazing, too...the furniture was new and matched and we had 24/7 air conditioning!! I wish we’d been able to stay there throughout Orientation for the campus alone, not to mention what Seoul can offer. It would be easier for everyone if we stayed in Seoul, since the Fulbright Office and our Korean teachers are there, so it must be much too expensive for the program to afford. I suppose they could have cut back on ETAs, but I think they focus on bringing more ETAS to instead of pampering us, which is a very understandable attitude. I don’t think I would be here if they had decided to cut back, anyway, so who am I to complain?
We were given a few hours to explore and have lunch before a contract overview meeting at the Fulbright office. I went with a big group of friends to Sincheon, the area of Seoul right in front of the university where the students hang out. We found a Smoothie King, of all things, which was a bit more expensive than in the States but really hit the spot on such a hot day. We finally had lunch at a random Korean restaurant we wandered into and it was really delicious. Thank goodness for my friends in intermediate Korean—they know how to take care of vegetarians! I guess we had a Japanese-style dish, but it was Korean enough for me. It was another meal in which the food was cooked right in front of us, but this time in boiling water instead of being fried. It was soo delicious, and I’m sure it was actually good for me, too!
The Fulbright meeting was a bore, really. Dr. Larson was there again to give another ridiculous speech. He also echoed everything Mrs. Shim said. I guess he felt we couldn’t understand her English or something. I think even she was annoyed, and I wonder again why he is the face of Fulbright Korea. Oh, well...it’s none of my business, and at least he’s nice enough. Afterwards, I raided the lending library and picked up another couple of books. I am afraid I won’t have enough reading material here, since I live in such a small town and only work 20 hours per week. Hopefully I will be able to trade around with other ETAs, too. Then, Jai, Bianca, and I went to a used bookstore called What the Book? in Incheon. I guess it’s in this section of town known as Hooker Hill, but I didn’t see any suspicious activity. OC Aimee told us not to go there at night, regardless. I got another couple books there. We were supposed to meet a bunch of other friends in front of this huge bookstore called Kyobo to go out for Indian food, but I managed to get us lost instead. Jai and Bianca said it was okay, but I was mad at myself and sad I was missing out on fabulous Indian food. We ended up back in Sincheon and wandered around for a long time, looking for tasty vegetarian food, before settling for fusion food (Korean/American) at a restaurant called Omurice12. Or Omurice/2. It was hard to tell. Basically, they served omelets filled with rice and other ingredients and topped with cream sauce. It was really good, too, so I didn’t feel so bad about making us miss Indian anymore. I have a solemn promise from one of my friends who went to the Indian restaurant that she will take me back, so I will definitely do that soon.
The next day, Wednesday, we went to the DMZ. I actually didn’t like it too much. I mean, it was neat to see that area, but I hate big tours like that and I also feel that a conflict zone should not be a tourist attraction. North and South Korea are technically still at war, for goodness sake! It just felt weird to me to be there, oooing and ahing at the border between two hostile nations. I suppose it was good for us to see it and hear a little more of that history, though, because it has been very important for South Korea’s development.
After we got back, we went straight to the U.S. Ambassador’s house for a pool party. He wasn’t there, but there was plenty of American-style food—burgers, bean dip, cheese and crackers, macaroni and cheese, fruit, and so many kinds of salads. I didn’t think I missed American food that much already, but it sure tasted good! I ate so much and topped it off with so much cake I thought I might be sick. It was sort of disgusting.
Later that evening, we finally made our way to Kyobo and picked up some essentials. I bought a book on teaching English as a foreign language for children that featured a lot of games and an electronic dictionary. The dictionary was expensive, but I think it will be worth it in the long run to have it around. Unfortunately, it does not pronounce Korean words for me, so I’ll have to work on pronunciation on my own. There were models that spoke in English, but not Korean, and they were also twice as expensive.
Today, finally, was the BIG DAY. We met our co-teachers and principals and went our separate ways. I am not too sad about leaving my friends because I generally don’t get sad for goodbyes and this country is so friggin small I am sure I will see them within the month, if not sooner. We’re going to be traveling all over on our weekends off and I will definitely make plans to visit some of them or meet them somewhere. I think it will be so much fun to spend time with the ETAs I genuinely like and to exchange stories. It might actually be better this way...I will end up spending time with the people I care about and not be bothered by those who annoy me.
I think today went okay. My principal, vice-principal, and co-teacher are all significantly shorter than I am and marveled at my height. The first thing they commented on were my looks and seemed to like me a lot because I was thin and beautiful, in their eyes. It makes me a little sad that it is so superficial, but if I can make them happy so easily, I am definitely not going to complain. I think I just fit their image of what an American should look like. They think the kids will really like me, too, for the same reasons. My co-teacher is convinced I look like Sabrina the Teenage Witch and likes to tell everyone as much.
I learned a lot about the school today, even though my co-teacher doesn’t have the best English. For one thing, it is not in Buyeo at all but a small town of about 5000 twenty minutes away. That is more than fine with me. I will be teaching all nine classes of first through sixth graders twice a week and the teachers two times a week, for a total of 20 hours. I think I will be teaching in the library and will work with the teachers of each grade. It sounds like it will be confusing, but I’m sure I will get the hang of it. Eventually, I will probably teach on my own, once they are sure I am competent. My co-teacher actually has nothing to do with English and I am not sure how he got stuck with me. According to him, he teaches kids who don’t want to study. I have no idea what that means.
Tomorrow my co-teacher (whose name, by the way, is Choi Hyun Moon) will pick me up to show me around the school and help me get a phone and a bank account. I think I will even get paid tomorrow! So far, everything seems to be going okay, even though I cannot communicate that well, and I hope they will continue to like me. They all seem very eager to please. My host family even bought an air conditioner for the house just for me (I think)!
Back to the beginning...this was just an amazing end to Orientation. The trip to Seoul was fantastic and even better than the one I took a couple weeks ago! We arrived on Tuesday morning, in time to unpack at Yonsei University. It is supposedly the Princeton of Korea and was sooooooo nice. The campus was huge, with trees and bushes everywhere, and made Kangwon look like a dump. The dorm was amazing, too...the furniture was new and matched and we had 24/7 air conditioning!! I wish we’d been able to stay there throughout Orientation for the campus alone, not to mention what Seoul can offer. It would be easier for everyone if we stayed in Seoul, since the Fulbright Office and our Korean teachers are there, so it must be much too expensive for the program to afford. I suppose they could have cut back on ETAs, but I think they focus on bringing more ETAS to instead of pampering us, which is a very understandable attitude. I don’t think I would be here if they had decided to cut back, anyway, so who am I to complain?
We were given a few hours to explore and have lunch before a contract overview meeting at the Fulbright office. I went with a big group of friends to Sincheon, the area of Seoul right in front of the university where the students hang out. We found a Smoothie King, of all things, which was a bit more expensive than in the States but really hit the spot on such a hot day. We finally had lunch at a random Korean restaurant we wandered into and it was really delicious. Thank goodness for my friends in intermediate Korean—they know how to take care of vegetarians! I guess we had a Japanese-style dish, but it was Korean enough for me. It was another meal in which the food was cooked right in front of us, but this time in boiling water instead of being fried. It was soo delicious, and I’m sure it was actually good for me, too!
The Fulbright meeting was a bore, really. Dr. Larson was there again to give another ridiculous speech. He also echoed everything Mrs. Shim said. I guess he felt we couldn’t understand her English or something. I think even she was annoyed, and I wonder again why he is the face of Fulbright Korea. Oh, well...it’s none of my business, and at least he’s nice enough. Afterwards, I raided the lending library and picked up another couple of books. I am afraid I won’t have enough reading material here, since I live in such a small town and only work 20 hours per week. Hopefully I will be able to trade around with other ETAs, too. Then, Jai, Bianca, and I went to a used bookstore called What the Book? in Incheon. I guess it’s in this section of town known as Hooker Hill, but I didn’t see any suspicious activity. OC Aimee told us not to go there at night, regardless. I got another couple books there. We were supposed to meet a bunch of other friends in front of this huge bookstore called Kyobo to go out for Indian food, but I managed to get us lost instead. Jai and Bianca said it was okay, but I was mad at myself and sad I was missing out on fabulous Indian food. We ended up back in Sincheon and wandered around for a long time, looking for tasty vegetarian food, before settling for fusion food (Korean/American) at a restaurant called Omurice12. Or Omurice/2. It was hard to tell. Basically, they served omelets filled with rice and other ingredients and topped with cream sauce. It was really good, too, so I didn’t feel so bad about making us miss Indian anymore. I have a solemn promise from one of my friends who went to the Indian restaurant that she will take me back, so I will definitely do that soon.
The next day, Wednesday, we went to the DMZ. I actually didn’t like it too much. I mean, it was neat to see that area, but I hate big tours like that and I also feel that a conflict zone should not be a tourist attraction. North and South Korea are technically still at war, for goodness sake! It just felt weird to me to be there, oooing and ahing at the border between two hostile nations. I suppose it was good for us to see it and hear a little more of that history, though, because it has been very important for South Korea’s development.
After we got back, we went straight to the U.S. Ambassador’s house for a pool party. He wasn’t there, but there was plenty of American-style food—burgers, bean dip, cheese and crackers, macaroni and cheese, fruit, and so many kinds of salads. I didn’t think I missed American food that much already, but it sure tasted good! I ate so much and topped it off with so much cake I thought I might be sick. It was sort of disgusting.
Later that evening, we finally made our way to Kyobo and picked up some essentials. I bought a book on teaching English as a foreign language for children that featured a lot of games and an electronic dictionary. The dictionary was expensive, but I think it will be worth it in the long run to have it around. Unfortunately, it does not pronounce Korean words for me, so I’ll have to work on pronunciation on my own. There were models that spoke in English, but not Korean, and they were also twice as expensive.
Today, finally, was the BIG DAY. We met our co-teachers and principals and went our separate ways. I am not too sad about leaving my friends because I generally don’t get sad for goodbyes and this country is so friggin small I am sure I will see them within the month, if not sooner. We’re going to be traveling all over on our weekends off and I will definitely make plans to visit some of them or meet them somewhere. I think it will be so much fun to spend time with the ETAs I genuinely like and to exchange stories. It might actually be better this way...I will end up spending time with the people I care about and not be bothered by those who annoy me.
I think today went okay. My principal, vice-principal, and co-teacher are all significantly shorter than I am and marveled at my height. The first thing they commented on were my looks and seemed to like me a lot because I was thin and beautiful, in their eyes. It makes me a little sad that it is so superficial, but if I can make them happy so easily, I am definitely not going to complain. I think I just fit their image of what an American should look like. They think the kids will really like me, too, for the same reasons. My co-teacher is convinced I look like Sabrina the Teenage Witch and likes to tell everyone as much.
I learned a lot about the school today, even though my co-teacher doesn’t have the best English. For one thing, it is not in Buyeo at all but a small town of about 5000 twenty minutes away. That is more than fine with me. I will be teaching all nine classes of first through sixth graders twice a week and the teachers two times a week, for a total of 20 hours. I think I will be teaching in the library and will work with the teachers of each grade. It sounds like it will be confusing, but I’m sure I will get the hang of it. Eventually, I will probably teach on my own, once they are sure I am competent. My co-teacher actually has nothing to do with English and I am not sure how he got stuck with me. According to him, he teaches kids who don’t want to study. I have no idea what that means.
Tomorrow my co-teacher (whose name, by the way, is Choi Hyun Moon) will pick me up to show me around the school and help me get a phone and a bank account. I think I will even get paid tomorrow! So far, everything seems to be going okay, even though I cannot communicate that well, and I hope they will continue to like me. They all seem very eager to please. My host family even bought an air conditioner for the house just for me (I think)!
Monday, August 14, 2006
Last Day in Chuncheon!!--Monday, August 14
I spent today packing, attending a talent show, watching Grey's Anatomy (AGAIN!), and eating a fabulous last dinner out in Chuncheon. I was actually surprised at how talented people in my group are--we had singing, Chinese water dancing, Russian poetry reciting, beatboxing, comedy, hula, violin playing, TKD demonstrations, and even a burping contest. Oh, and a patpingsu eating contest, which was actually disgusting because the winner packed it down in 1:30. That is a lot of liquid to ingest in that time! It was capped off by a really impressive slide show of pictures ETAs have taken throughout Orientation.
After that, the OCs prepared a big junk food snack for all of us. I normally don't eat much junk food, but that was simply too good to resist. Bianca, Jai, Janaki, and I then proceeded to watch our new addiction, Grey's Anatomy. I think I have the personality of an addict--I have so much trouble saying no! Oh, well...I don't have much else to do, anyway. We went out to my favorite Chuncheon restaurant after that, a place called Hyung in which every dish is $2.50. I love it! And it's so delicious! I tried something new tonight that I've been meaning to try. It's a variation of my beloved bibimbap, and I think I like it even better than the original because it comes in a hot cauldren that keeps everything warm and fries your rice. It's so delectable there are no words to describe it. We also split a plate of rice noodles. I'm excited for people to visit me eventually now that I know what foods are good! After my last Chuncheon patpingsu adventure (green tea this time), we're now back to watching Grey's Anatomy. I love this transition period into real work.
After that, the OCs prepared a big junk food snack for all of us. I normally don't eat much junk food, but that was simply too good to resist. Bianca, Jai, Janaki, and I then proceeded to watch our new addiction, Grey's Anatomy. I think I have the personality of an addict--I have so much trouble saying no! Oh, well...I don't have much else to do, anyway. We went out to my favorite Chuncheon restaurant after that, a place called Hyung in which every dish is $2.50. I love it! And it's so delicious! I tried something new tonight that I've been meaning to try. It's a variation of my beloved bibimbap, and I think I like it even better than the original because it comes in a hot cauldren that keeps everything warm and fries your rice. It's so delectable there are no words to describe it. We also split a plate of rice noodles. I'm excited for people to visit me eventually now that I know what foods are good! After my last Chuncheon patpingsu adventure (green tea this time), we're now back to watching Grey's Anatomy. I love this transition period into real work.
Waterfall Hike--Sunday, August 13
Today I went to an absolutely gorgeous waterfall near Chuncheon with a couple friends. It was about half an hour away by public transport. It was really beautiful and the ideal place to beat the August heat. There were a ton of families there, picnicing and swimming and even napping. There's a picture of the major waterfall to the left. It's not huge, but really cool because it's a series of waterfalls through a rocky crevice. It was a really hot day, but there was a cool breeze off the water that was amazingly refreshing. My two friends stayed at the bottom to write postcards and read, but I hiked up the stream further to Samaksan mountain. (FYI: "San" means "mountain" in Korean.) It was a slow hike up to the top, but I finally did make it. The humidity really wears on me after a while, so I don't move nearly as fast as I do back in Montana. And the terrain tends to be rockier and stairs are often built into the trail.
It was a beautiful walk, for the most part, however, and I did enjoy myself. To the right is a picture of the trail I followed further upstream, before it turned away from the water. On the way, I started to hear this mysterious singing and it was only when I accidently invaded a Buddhist temple that I realized where it originated. I couldn't read the Korean, so I didn't really have any idea where I was. It felt very awkward.
I could see Chuncheon from the top (about 6500m). In the other directions were forested hills, as far as you could see. It really was quite beautiful. There wasn't the mountain breeze I was expecting, but it was cooler nonetheless and a nice place to relax for a bit. There were many groups of Koreans picnicking up there as well, munching on kimbap (a Korean dish similar to sushi) and kimchi, of course.
I spent the rest of the day lazing around--eating, cleaning, and watching my new favorite TV show, Grey's Anatomy. It's excellent.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Seoraksan National Park--Saturday, August 12
Today I took a very long day trip to Seoraksan National Park in northeastern South Korea with six other girls--Ka'neda, Julia, Alexis, Melinda, Bethany, and Jill. Seoraksan is one of the biggest and most beautiful national parks here and is located near a city called Sokcho on the coast. We left Chuncheon at 7:30 am and took a very windy and semi-dangerous bus ride to Sokcho, which took about 2.5 hours. In fact, it was so windy that I got severely carsick and ended up puking all over Jill, making her my second puke victim. Oops! It was not a pleasant journey for any of us. Luckily, I was fine once we arrived.
From Sokcho, we took a local bus to Seoraksan, which took another hour or so because there was soooo much traffic! It was a really nice day, so I guess a lot of Koreans had the same idea of getting out of the city and taking in some nature. I have definitely never hiked with so many people before, even at the M (in Bozeman)!! We got a lot of excited hellos due to our obvious status as foreigners, but everyone seemed really friendly and nice.
Once we arrived, we started walking up a river. We didn't have a map, so we tried to follow some signs, but ended up just picking random paths. Everything was well marked, if you knew Korean better than us!! The picture to the right shows the terrain. We, of course, were on a well-traveled path complete with flights of stairs and guardrails, another (in my experience) uniquely Korean experience. It does seem to make sense to develop paths in this manner if you have the resources, especially since they are used by so many, because it must decrease erosion and human impact on the land. It still seemed a bit bizarre to this Montana girl, accustomed to scrambling up steep slopes.
Though I am getting used to the humidity here, it's very irritating while hiking. I've never sweated so much in my life!! To beat the heat, we stopped after a while to wade in the river. It was a really pretty green color when it formed pools and wasn't too cold, either. I really wanted to swim, but I knew it would be unthinkable to remove my shirt
because of the conservative dress code here and cotton would take hours to dry in the humidity. So instead, I suffered. I seriously don't understand how Koreans can stand it. I was dying in shorts and a T-shirt, and I saw many people in pants, long-sleeved shirts, hats, and handkerchiefs. I heard the other day that some Asians don't sweat because of some genetic difference. I don't know whether this is true or not, but it would explain a lot...like the fact that they never seem to melt in the heat like I do. And why guys at the club in Seoul last weekend could wear jeans and beanies and not sweat or even look hot. I'm jealous, I admit.
After our swim break, we split up. Julia and I went ahead. She's a good hiking buddy for me--we hiked together at Songnisan, too. We both like to go quickly and quietly--it's an ideal matchup. The others seemed more inclined to take their time and chat a lot. We hiked up about 6.5 kilometers, I think...definitely not as far as I would have liked, since 3.5 more would have brought us to the peak, but we had some major time constraints because the last bus back to Chuncheon left at 7 pm. I actually wanted to stay the night there so we could get a full day and a half in, but no one else shared that wish. Guess I'm just too hardcore. Or silly. The picture to the left shows one of the more spectacular views we had during our hike (note the railing and path!). It was one of those cases where the limits of cameras are really frustrating for me, because the view was actually quite spectacular in every direction and I don't feel this picture conveys the true majesty of the place very accurately. But this is a crude representation of where I was today.
After we came back down, Julia and I met the others at the Buddhist temple at the bottom (shown to the right). It was quite pretty and seemed and ideal location for finding nirvana to me. And after that, unfortunately, we had to begin our slow journey home. I managed to keep my food down this time and it was a bit faster, so it was a good end to a fabulous day. On the way back home, though, I had my first patpingsu disaster. I guess they were running low on fruit and were compensating by adding extra red beans, my least favorite topping which now comprised about half of the bowl. It was a tragedy from which I am still trying to recover.
From Sokcho, we took a local bus to Seoraksan, which took another hour or so because there was soooo much traffic! It was a really nice day, so I guess a lot of Koreans had the same idea of getting out of the city and taking in some nature. I have definitely never hiked with so many people before, even at the M (in Bozeman)!! We got a lot of excited hellos due to our obvious status as foreigners, but everyone seemed really friendly and nice.
Once we arrived, we started walking up a river. We didn't have a map, so we tried to follow some signs, but ended up just picking random paths. Everything was well marked, if you knew Korean better than us!! The picture to the right shows the terrain. We, of course, were on a well-traveled path complete with flights of stairs and guardrails, another (in my experience) uniquely Korean experience. It does seem to make sense to develop paths in this manner if you have the resources, especially since they are used by so many, because it must decrease erosion and human impact on the land. It still seemed a bit bizarre to this Montana girl, accustomed to scrambling up steep slopes.Though I am getting used to the humidity here, it's very irritating while hiking. I've never sweated so much in my life!! To beat the heat, we stopped after a while to wade in the river. It was a really pretty green color when it formed pools and wasn't too cold, either. I really wanted to swim, but I knew it would be unthinkable to remove my shirt
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because of the conservative dress code here and cotton would take hours to dry in the humidity. So instead, I suffered. I seriously don't understand how Koreans can stand it. I was dying in shorts and a T-shirt, and I saw many people in pants, long-sleeved shirts, hats, and handkerchiefs. I heard the other day that some Asians don't sweat because of some genetic difference. I don't know whether this is true or not, but it would explain a lot...like the fact that they never seem to melt in the heat like I do. And why guys at the club in Seoul last weekend could wear jeans and beanies and not sweat or even look hot. I'm jealous, I admit.
After our swim break, we split up. Julia and I went ahead. She's a good hiking buddy for me--we hiked together at Songnisan, too. We both like to go quickly and quietly--it's an ideal matchup. The others seemed more inclined to take their time and chat a lot. We hiked up about 6.5 kilometers, I think...definitely not as far as I would have liked, since 3.5 more would have brought us to the peak, but we had some major time constraints because the last bus back to Chuncheon left at 7 pm. I actually wanted to stay the night there so we could get a full day and a half in, but no one else shared that wish. Guess I'm just too hardcore. Or silly. The picture to the left shows one of the more spectacular views we had during our hike (note the railing and path!). It was one of those cases where the limits of cameras are really frustrating for me, because the view was actually quite spectacular in every direction and I don't feel this picture conveys the true majesty of the place very accurately. But this is a crude representation of where I was today.After we came back down, Julia and I met the others at the Buddhist temple at the bottom (shown to the right). It was quite pretty and seemed and ideal location for finding nirvana to me. And after that, unfortunately, we had to begin our slow journey home. I managed to keep my food down this time and it was a bit faster, so it was a good end to a fabulous day. On the way back home, though, I had my first patpingsu disaster. I guess they were running low on fruit and were compensating by adding extra red beans, my least favorite topping which now comprised about half of the bowl. It was a tragedy from which I am still trying to recover.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Another Wild Friday Night in Chuncheon--Friday, August 11
Ok, so the plans I had carefully laid out last night were definitely shattered. It always amuses me when I think I'm going to bed early and then usually end up staying up even later than usual. I think the last time I went to bed early was the day I got here, when I was so jet-lagged I could not even function.
Dinner last night was really nice. We went out to dakalbi, which is a grilled chicken dish Chuncheon is famous for. There were 25 of us plus the Grandmaster and his assistant who taught us for a couple weeks. I think I talked about dakalbi before, but in case I didn't, it is usually made up of chicken, cabbage, potatoes, thick rice noodles called dak, lettuce, and sometimes onion and is smothered in a spicy red sauce and cooked on a platter in the middle of the table. Since everything had been arranged beforehand, I wasn't able to get a vegetarian dish, so I had to eat around the chicken. I definitely bit into a piece at one point and I am sure I accidentally ate some fat disguised as cabbage. Oh, well--it was delicious anyway. If anyone comes to visit me, we will definitely eat this!! We also had fried rice and another rice noodle dish afterwards. Oh, I'm hungry just thinking about it!
After dinner, the Grandmaster was intent on taking us out drinking and to a norebang. It was an interesting experience. We were in three separate rooms since there were so many of us. I was in a room with the assistant, who we affectionately call Grandmaster Flash (because he is so quick) or Rabbit (since he has inhuman jumping abilities which he expected us to imitate while under his guidance). I think he was bored most of the time, since he doesn't speak English really at all and definitely did not know the songs we picked out, but he sang a few Korean songs and they were really good!
After this, we walked home and I somehow ended up at good ol' GS mart, where I sat and drank for a couple hours. And on the way home was where it happened...somehow this dude gave us a full frontal. I cannot decide if he was really drunk and trying to look for someplace to pee or if it was an aggressive maneuver, but it was really disturbing and I was actually frightened. We were off the main road at the time and he had already walked by once. We went and hid behind some trees and then ran to the main road when he left. I have no idea what he was doing at the university. It was much too much. And then, to top it off, I didn't get to bed until 1 or 2!!
Dinner last night was really nice. We went out to dakalbi, which is a grilled chicken dish Chuncheon is famous for. There were 25 of us plus the Grandmaster and his assistant who taught us for a couple weeks. I think I talked about dakalbi before, but in case I didn't, it is usually made up of chicken, cabbage, potatoes, thick rice noodles called dak, lettuce, and sometimes onion and is smothered in a spicy red sauce and cooked on a platter in the middle of the table. Since everything had been arranged beforehand, I wasn't able to get a vegetarian dish, so I had to eat around the chicken. I definitely bit into a piece at one point and I am sure I accidentally ate some fat disguised as cabbage. Oh, well--it was delicious anyway. If anyone comes to visit me, we will definitely eat this!! We also had fried rice and another rice noodle dish afterwards. Oh, I'm hungry just thinking about it!
After dinner, the Grandmaster was intent on taking us out drinking and to a norebang. It was an interesting experience. We were in three separate rooms since there were so many of us. I was in a room with the assistant, who we affectionately call Grandmaster Flash (because he is so quick) or Rabbit (since he has inhuman jumping abilities which he expected us to imitate while under his guidance). I think he was bored most of the time, since he doesn't speak English really at all and definitely did not know the songs we picked out, but he sang a few Korean songs and they were really good!
After this, we walked home and I somehow ended up at good ol' GS mart, where I sat and drank for a couple hours. And on the way home was where it happened...somehow this dude gave us a full frontal. I cannot decide if he was really drunk and trying to look for someplace to pee or if it was an aggressive maneuver, but it was really disturbing and I was actually frightened. We were off the main road at the time and he had already walked by once. We went and hid behind some trees and then ran to the main road when he left. I have no idea what he was doing at the university. It was much too much. And then, to top it off, I didn't get to bed until 1 or 2!!
Friday, August 11, 2006
Graduation--Friday, August 11
Yes, it's true...I graduated our Korean language program!! I definitely didn't earn any awards, and in fact did miserably on our final exam, but I passed, and I know I did the best job I could. Languages just aren't my thing, I guess. We had a pretty lavish ceremony this morning, with speakers from Korea University (where our sonsangnims teach) and the Fulbright Office. The infamous Mrs. Shim was supposed to attend, but evidently she was not feeling well this morning, so another man came in her place. According to Aimee, our Orientation coordinator, this behavior is not characteristic of Mrs. Shim and is in fact quite worrisome. I suppose we will find out more next week, perhaps, when we are in Seoul. The man who replaced her was the single worst speaker I have ever encountered. It was PAINFUL. I have no idea how Stanford could possibly justify its decision to grant him a PhD. His speech was so disorganized and jumbled, not to mention irrelevant, that I tuned out almost right away. I cannot believe this guy represents America and is in this powerful post in Korea. Seriously...it was terrible.
This ceremony was my first glimpse into the competitive Korean mentality. I had heard a lot about academic competition here, but hadn't yet seen it in action. It is INTENSE. There was an award given in all six classes to the best student and I guess we were supposed to be competing for it. I personally tried to do my best for my own sake and didn't need competition as an incentive, but I guess that's how things operate in Korea. It's very strange and I don't think I like it. On the positive side, I did get a really impressive graduation document that I think is even nicer than the one I received from Pomona! It's bright red and fuzzy. Too bad it has my lousy grades in the inside.
I also experienced the Korean gift-giving culture in its full form. We have been giving so many gifts lately--to teachers and even our TKD instructors! It's actually kinda fun...I like the idea of being part of a culture that gives random, spontaneous gifts. It seems very considerate and caring. Not that I didn't receive gifts at home, but they were usually only from my family. Our teacher gave each of us a Korea University binder and T-shirt. They are both really nice.
Two guys in the beginning classes gave speeches in Korean, and I should have been able to understand them, but my listening skills are basically nonexistent. I did, after all, get a C+ on the listening section of our exam. They sounded good, though. The intermediate class had a speaker, too, but I definitely did not pick up on a single word he spoke. They also sang a really pretty traditonal Korean folk song. The advanced class made a PowerPoint presentation of our Orientation and spoke about it. It was really impressive. If I can get a hold of it, I will post it for you all. It gives a better picture of Orientation and the other ETAs than all the words I have written here.
For lunch, the cafeteria prepared a surprise for us--FRUIT!!! As much as we wanted!! Usually we are limited to a single piece because fruit is so expensive here, but we got a table full of grapes, watermelon, bananas, and half-ripe peaches in celebration of our accomplishments. There were also some dessert-like rice cakes and pseudo-cookies. It was really nice. It was too bad the normal lunch was terrible, but at least I got some vitamins along with my soy sauce!
This afternoon we had our last workshop together. It was about our first week teaching and gave us some tips for making it successful. It was informative, I guess, but I think I'll have to dumb it down a lot for my elementary kids. The problem was that all the OCs had high school students, and though they might be low level, they will definitely be ahead of my kids, I think.
I also bought a microphone/headphones headset so I can use Skype now. It's an internet program that allows you to make free calls from your computer. I think I am also going to download SkypeIn, which gives me a U.S. phone number that you all can use to call me without incurring international phone charges. I'll send all that contact info in a later email when I know my new address, too.
Tonight I am going out to dinner with all the TKD people and our instructors. I think it will be really fun. After that, I am either going to a movie or watching one here in the dorm. I want to get a lot of sleep because I am leaving tomorrow morning at 7 to spend the day at a national park. I should probably find out at some point where it is, because right now I have no idea. We're just going for the day and I'm really looking forward to it. My foot is looking better and though I'm sure it will hate me tomorrow night, I'm going anyway. I'm just going to wrap it in an Ace bandage and hope that my shoes provide the support it needs.
Cheers!
This ceremony was my first glimpse into the competitive Korean mentality. I had heard a lot about academic competition here, but hadn't yet seen it in action. It is INTENSE. There was an award given in all six classes to the best student and I guess we were supposed to be competing for it. I personally tried to do my best for my own sake and didn't need competition as an incentive, but I guess that's how things operate in Korea. It's very strange and I don't think I like it. On the positive side, I did get a really impressive graduation document that I think is even nicer than the one I received from Pomona! It's bright red and fuzzy. Too bad it has my lousy grades in the inside.
I also experienced the Korean gift-giving culture in its full form. We have been giving so many gifts lately--to teachers and even our TKD instructors! It's actually kinda fun...I like the idea of being part of a culture that gives random, spontaneous gifts. It seems very considerate and caring. Not that I didn't receive gifts at home, but they were usually only from my family. Our teacher gave each of us a Korea University binder and T-shirt. They are both really nice.
Two guys in the beginning classes gave speeches in Korean, and I should have been able to understand them, but my listening skills are basically nonexistent. I did, after all, get a C+ on the listening section of our exam. They sounded good, though. The intermediate class had a speaker, too, but I definitely did not pick up on a single word he spoke. They also sang a really pretty traditonal Korean folk song. The advanced class made a PowerPoint presentation of our Orientation and spoke about it. It was really impressive. If I can get a hold of it, I will post it for you all. It gives a better picture of Orientation and the other ETAs than all the words I have written here.
For lunch, the cafeteria prepared a surprise for us--FRUIT!!! As much as we wanted!! Usually we are limited to a single piece because fruit is so expensive here, but we got a table full of grapes, watermelon, bananas, and half-ripe peaches in celebration of our accomplishments. There were also some dessert-like rice cakes and pseudo-cookies. It was really nice. It was too bad the normal lunch was terrible, but at least I got some vitamins along with my soy sauce!
This afternoon we had our last workshop together. It was about our first week teaching and gave us some tips for making it successful. It was informative, I guess, but I think I'll have to dumb it down a lot for my elementary kids. The problem was that all the OCs had high school students, and though they might be low level, they will definitely be ahead of my kids, I think.
I also bought a microphone/headphones headset so I can use Skype now. It's an internet program that allows you to make free calls from your computer. I think I am also going to download SkypeIn, which gives me a U.S. phone number that you all can use to call me without incurring international phone charges. I'll send all that contact info in a later email when I know my new address, too.
Tonight I am going out to dinner with all the TKD people and our instructors. I think it will be really fun. After that, I am either going to a movie or watching one here in the dorm. I want to get a lot of sleep because I am leaving tomorrow morning at 7 to spend the day at a national park. I should probably find out at some point where it is, because right now I have no idea. We're just going for the day and I'm really looking forward to it. My foot is looking better and though I'm sure it will hate me tomorrow night, I'm going anyway. I'm just going to wrap it in an Ace bandage and hope that my shoes provide the support it needs.
Cheers!
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Last Day of Korean Class!!!--Thursday, August 10
Last night I finally went back to TKD to collect my yellow belt. I figured I had the battle wounds...I deserved that belt! I think the Grandmaster thought I was being a weenie until he took a close look at my foot and recoiled in horror. He is convinced I need to go to the doc ASAP. Well, I heard yesterday that sports medicine doesn't really exist in Korea, so acupuncture is the fallback cureall. I am not so into that. I think I will stick with ice for the time being. If I feel needle crazy, Bianca has already offered to poke my foot with her sewing needles.
Yesterday we also had a workshop on "Making a Good First Impression." The OCs really stressed me out, even though I think they intended to reassure us in giving us specific behavior guidelines. I think one of my big problems will be forgetting to insa (greet) people all the time. I am so used to just brushing by people, especially those who outrank me, that it will be weird to make a point to seek them out every day simply to bow. It makes sense, I guess, but I am afraid I will forget. I am hoping I will be forgiven given my foreigner status, but then again, when you are completely immersed in a culture, you tend to forget that standards of proper behavior are culture-specific because they seem so obvious. I know we experienced that with our exchange students at home. I suspect they really were rude, though...Europe is not that different, after all.
So anyway, that's one thing to worry about. In addition, evidently I am expected to take a lot of care with my appearance because how nice you look reflects your level of respect for those you meet in a given day. It's not that I am into looking grungy and gross, but I NEVER wear makeup anymore and I didn't anticipate being forced into silly superficiality here in Korea. We'll see how that goes. I also have to do my hair every morning and ALWAYS wear nylons or socks. I can already see that dressing for work is going to be one giant daily pain.
They also informed us that piercings beyond the standard two in the earlobe would probably not fly. I am really sad. I was under the impression from their responses to this very question before we arrived that there would be no need to remove piercings, and now they're telling me to take everything out! I think I'm going to keep them, though, at least for the time being. I mean, that would mean losing three very expensive piercings!
This morning we all had to give speeches in Korean--eek! I am not a good speaker in English as it is, and this inability definitely transcended languages. It was pretty terrible, but now it's all over! We finished by writing farewell messages to each other in Korean on little cards our teachers made us and listening to ridiculous Korean songs. One was called "Patbingsu" and describes how to make and enjoy patbingsu, set to a candy-coated background beat. I guess it was a really popular song a few years ago, but we all thought it was a kid's song at first!
We took our homeroom teacher out to a farewell lunch today. It was actually a really fabulous and cheap lunch. She even helped me order a vegetarian item, so now I have another dish to select from when I eat out! It was a souplike noodle and vegetable dish somewhat like an egg drop soup. It was not spicy, but so hot temperature wise that I even started sweating! I am not a big fan of eating hot food on hot days, but evidently it is better to do so here to avoid food poisoning because higher temperatures create more favorable conditions for bacterial multiplication. Going back outside was a painful affair, though!
In the afternoon, we had a guest speaker visit us to talk about health in Korea. He is an American doctor who now lives in Seoul and is affiliated with Fulbright. He would definitely be my first choice if I become seriously ill. The talk was somewhat frustrating, though, because many other ETAs have the obnoxious habit of asking silly and even stupid questions. Maybe it's a product of college education in the U.S., where you're supposed to ask questions and participate? I don't know, but I hate it. In the end, we discussed STDs for about 15-20 minutes and I learned more than I ever planned to about that subject. It was so irritating--I mean, I for one do not plan to contract anything while in Korea, of all places!!!! I wonder what these other ETAs are going to be doing in their spare time....
Last night, we went out with our teachers to a norebang. It was pretty fun, but some silly ETAs started ordering chicken and other expensive items so it came out to about 7 dollars per person, which is much more expensive than other evenings we've had out. I only had a few beers and french fries, too! The singing was surprisingly good, however, and I enjoyed listening to them singing some of the songs. One guy on the program was really getting into it and listening to him serendade our sonsangnims (teachers) with such hits as Foreigner's "I want to know what love is" and Usher's "Yeah" (in which he did a fair impersonation of Lil Jon) was a hoot!
When I was walking home later with some friends, we met these two Korean girls who basically fell in love with me. They must have told me I was beautiful at least 30 times. In fact, I don't know if they even said much else, except to say that I look like Drew Barrymore. (Indeed, I must resemble her somewhat--in the last couple years, I cannot even count how many people have told me that I look a lot like her when I smile.) I have to say that I really enjoyed the attention and was really flattered. For the most part, I feel invisible in this country and it's a weird sensation because I KNOW people stare, but they do it so discretely that I never see it. It's disconcerting to know this and yet be in a situation where everyone is trying to act normally and politely. I'd actually rather that they openly stare, like they did in South Africa, just so it's not so awkward!
Yesterday we also had a workshop on "Making a Good First Impression." The OCs really stressed me out, even though I think they intended to reassure us in giving us specific behavior guidelines. I think one of my big problems will be forgetting to insa (greet) people all the time. I am so used to just brushing by people, especially those who outrank me, that it will be weird to make a point to seek them out every day simply to bow. It makes sense, I guess, but I am afraid I will forget. I am hoping I will be forgiven given my foreigner status, but then again, when you are completely immersed in a culture, you tend to forget that standards of proper behavior are culture-specific because they seem so obvious. I know we experienced that with our exchange students at home. I suspect they really were rude, though...Europe is not that different, after all.
So anyway, that's one thing to worry about. In addition, evidently I am expected to take a lot of care with my appearance because how nice you look reflects your level of respect for those you meet in a given day. It's not that I am into looking grungy and gross, but I NEVER wear makeup anymore and I didn't anticipate being forced into silly superficiality here in Korea. We'll see how that goes. I also have to do my hair every morning and ALWAYS wear nylons or socks. I can already see that dressing for work is going to be one giant daily pain.
They also informed us that piercings beyond the standard two in the earlobe would probably not fly. I am really sad. I was under the impression from their responses to this very question before we arrived that there would be no need to remove piercings, and now they're telling me to take everything out! I think I'm going to keep them, though, at least for the time being. I mean, that would mean losing three very expensive piercings!
This morning we all had to give speeches in Korean--eek! I am not a good speaker in English as it is, and this inability definitely transcended languages. It was pretty terrible, but now it's all over! We finished by writing farewell messages to each other in Korean on little cards our teachers made us and listening to ridiculous Korean songs. One was called "Patbingsu" and describes how to make and enjoy patbingsu, set to a candy-coated background beat. I guess it was a really popular song a few years ago, but we all thought it was a kid's song at first!
We took our homeroom teacher out to a farewell lunch today. It was actually a really fabulous and cheap lunch. She even helped me order a vegetarian item, so now I have another dish to select from when I eat out! It was a souplike noodle and vegetable dish somewhat like an egg drop soup. It was not spicy, but so hot temperature wise that I even started sweating! I am not a big fan of eating hot food on hot days, but evidently it is better to do so here to avoid food poisoning because higher temperatures create more favorable conditions for bacterial multiplication. Going back outside was a painful affair, though!
In the afternoon, we had a guest speaker visit us to talk about health in Korea. He is an American doctor who now lives in Seoul and is affiliated with Fulbright. He would definitely be my first choice if I become seriously ill. The talk was somewhat frustrating, though, because many other ETAs have the obnoxious habit of asking silly and even stupid questions. Maybe it's a product of college education in the U.S., where you're supposed to ask questions and participate? I don't know, but I hate it. In the end, we discussed STDs for about 15-20 minutes and I learned more than I ever planned to about that subject. It was so irritating--I mean, I for one do not plan to contract anything while in Korea, of all places!!!! I wonder what these other ETAs are going to be doing in their spare time....
Last night, we went out with our teachers to a norebang. It was pretty fun, but some silly ETAs started ordering chicken and other expensive items so it came out to about 7 dollars per person, which is much more expensive than other evenings we've had out. I only had a few beers and french fries, too! The singing was surprisingly good, however, and I enjoyed listening to them singing some of the songs. One guy on the program was really getting into it and listening to him serendade our sonsangnims (teachers) with such hits as Foreigner's "I want to know what love is" and Usher's "Yeah" (in which he did a fair impersonation of Lil Jon) was a hoot!
When I was walking home later with some friends, we met these two Korean girls who basically fell in love with me. They must have told me I was beautiful at least 30 times. In fact, I don't know if they even said much else, except to say that I look like Drew Barrymore. (Indeed, I must resemble her somewhat--in the last couple years, I cannot even count how many people have told me that I look a lot like her when I smile.) I have to say that I really enjoyed the attention and was really flattered. For the most part, I feel invisible in this country and it's a weird sensation because I KNOW people stare, but they do it so discretely that I never see it. It's disconcerting to know this and yet be in a situation where everyone is trying to act normally and politely. I'd actually rather that they openly stare, like they did in South Africa, just so it's not so awkward!
The Big Bad Test--Wednesday, August 9
Today I took my Korean final. I spent most of yesterday studying. It was not the complete disaster I anticipated, but I definitely did not earn any awards. Normally I'd be a little upset about this, but I am so burnt out on Korean and learning in general that I am simply happy it's almost all over. This experience reminds me why I didn't apply for graduate school right away...I need some recuperation time! It is also inspiring me to perhaps brush up on my Spanish because I realize now I knew so much more than I thought about the Spanish language. When I was taking the oral final today, I kept thinking of phrases I wanted to say and Spanish kept jumping into my mind.
Tomorrow I have to give a 3 minute speech about a trip I have taken. It has to be memorized. This is DEFINITELY going to be a disaster. I can hardly speak the language when it's written right in front of me--how am I supposed to be able to memorize a page of a foreign language??? I will try, of course, but I don't expect too much. I will just be happy to be done!
My foot is slowly getting better. The kankles are less visible now. I am still worried about my foot, but there's really not much I can do. I haven't been to TKD all week because I have been studying and I don't want to hurt my foot anymore, but this means I haven't been able to pick up my yellow belt yet and I really want it. I plan to go tonight just to get it, but I think he'll be mad that I haven't been there and I hope he won't take it away from me or make me work out because I will probably cry. I really do want to be there, but I don't think it's good for my health.
Things are really wrapping up quickly here, leaving me feeling somewhat disjointed. I have been stressin' about this exam for a while and have bitten off 9 of my 10 nails again. I am very excited about leaving Orientation because this has seriously been such a weird college-esque experience, but I'm also nervous to meet the people I will be spending the next 12 months with. It's very possible that we won't get along. I still feel very uncomfortable navigating this culture and I am terrified I will commit some unforgiveable cultural faux pas that will taint my year here. Though this orientation period has been relatively long, I am not leaving with as much knowledge about Korean language and culture as I anticipated. I am sure I have picked up more than I think, but venturing into "real" Korea is a daunting prospect.
Earlier this week, I received a package from my school. I think it had a lot of information about my school, but unfortunately all 200 pages or so are in Korean! I could read the word for school and I think I deciphered one chart. Based on this crude translation of the chart, I think the school has 190 students in 10 classes, first to sixth grade. There are more boys than girls, but the numbers are roughly equal. I am thinking that I may be asked to teach lower grades, too, instead of just fourth and up (the year English instruction begins), but I could be wrong. I will be meeting my co-teacher and vice principal next week, so I will find out very soon!
Tomorrow I have to give a 3 minute speech about a trip I have taken. It has to be memorized. This is DEFINITELY going to be a disaster. I can hardly speak the language when it's written right in front of me--how am I supposed to be able to memorize a page of a foreign language??? I will try, of course, but I don't expect too much. I will just be happy to be done!
My foot is slowly getting better. The kankles are less visible now. I am still worried about my foot, but there's really not much I can do. I haven't been to TKD all week because I have been studying and I don't want to hurt my foot anymore, but this means I haven't been able to pick up my yellow belt yet and I really want it. I plan to go tonight just to get it, but I think he'll be mad that I haven't been there and I hope he won't take it away from me or make me work out because I will probably cry. I really do want to be there, but I don't think it's good for my health.
Things are really wrapping up quickly here, leaving me feeling somewhat disjointed. I have been stressin' about this exam for a while and have bitten off 9 of my 10 nails again. I am very excited about leaving Orientation because this has seriously been such a weird college-esque experience, but I'm also nervous to meet the people I will be spending the next 12 months with. It's very possible that we won't get along. I still feel very uncomfortable navigating this culture and I am terrified I will commit some unforgiveable cultural faux pas that will taint my year here. Though this orientation period has been relatively long, I am not leaving with as much knowledge about Korean language and culture as I anticipated. I am sure I have picked up more than I think, but venturing into "real" Korea is a daunting prospect.
Earlier this week, I received a package from my school. I think it had a lot of information about my school, but unfortunately all 200 pages or so are in Korean! I could read the word for school and I think I deciphered one chart. Based on this crude translation of the chart, I think the school has 190 students in 10 classes, first to sixth grade. There are more boys than girls, but the numbers are roughly equal. I am thinking that I may be asked to teach lower grades, too, instead of just fourth and up (the year English instruction begins), but I could be wrong. I will be meeting my co-teacher and vice principal next week, so I will find out very soon!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
My Fat Feet--Monday, August 7
The big news for today is that I completely messed up my feet. They've been hurting for a few weeks due to running barefoot on a hard surface in TKD, and all my walking and dancing this weekend must have pushed them over the edge. I first noticed it last night when I was going to bed because my Crocs felt tighter on my feet than usual. I have a serious case of cankles and I am so upset I am missing out on my last week of TKD and all my morning walks! Argh! I included a picture of my disgusting feet so you can see what I am talking about. Both are a bit swollen, but the left one basically requires its own zip code. I am actually frightened I have messed up my body, but I am too afraid to go to the doctor to get it checked out because a) I hate going to the doc and b) I think they are grossly incompetent here. If my previous experience is any indication, they will probably diagnose me with a broken arm or something and prescribe vitamin C and Tylenol. And I'm only sort of joking.
We are immersed in the last week of Korean class--yay!! I am so burnt out on intense language study. It cannot be over soon enough. We have one more day of class tomorrow, a 4 hour test on Wednesday, 3 minute speeches on travel on Thursday, and then a graduation ceremony on Friday. It's going to be painful, but at least I will be done in less than 3 days!! And that night, I think all our teachers are going to take us out to the norebang, which should be interesting...
Sunday, August 06, 2006
the most expensive city in the world....-Saturday, August 5 and Sunday, August 6
This weekend's highlight was visiting Seoul for the first time!!! I had been wanting to take a trip there, but wanted to discover Chuncheon first, while I am living here, because I don't intend to come back. I worked out the perfect compromise--I spent Saturday walking around/exploring Chuncheon, and left late Saturday afternoon for Seoul.
After my lazy friends woke up, we headed out to walk around Chuncheon. We didn't have a plan or destination at all. I wanted to hike to a local waterfall, but we started out toward the river first. It was sooooo hot and humid that day...I even burned my scalp! We walked a total of four hours or so in the hot hot sun and ended up making a circle around Chuncheon. We didn't even make it to the "wilderness," unfortunately, but it was still fun. I have very entertaining friends who helped me forget the uncomfortable stickiness of 90 degress and 200% humidity.
Here's a picture from a little statue park we visited along the way. In it is my friend Robin, who wouldn't let me get any closer because she was a bit sweaty. It was sort of pretty, but very urban--on the other side of us was downtown Chuncheon.
In the afternoon, four of us--Robin, Irene, and our RA, Ji-meyong--headed out to Seoul to meet their friends and some other ETAs. The ETAs were all staying in a sketchy love motel by the name of Emerald, but we made arrangements to stay with Robin's friend from college. Score!
We went out to dinner right away to celebrate our friend Traci's birthday. She had never celebrated her birthday before and it was really fun to make it special for her. We went to TGI Friday's because she wanted a salad, but it wasn't very good and was VERY overpriced. I wasn't even craving American food, but let me tell you, that experience has not made me hunger for more. I'll stick with Korean and Chinese, thanks...it's cheap AND good.
After dinner we met up with one of Irene's friends who showed us around town. We went to a bar for a while first and then to a hiphop club called Noise Basement. This club was the craziest one I have ever been to, with millions of people crammed onto a sweaty dance floor. It was fun, but I'm pretty sure I sweated off 10 pounds on Saturday, what will walking in the midday heat and dancing in the night. I'm sure I will acquire it again on my cafeteria rice diet, so no worries! I am increasingly convinced that Korean people do not sweat and it is so unfair. They always look fresh and pretty when I am melting into a puddle of sweat. Some guys at the club were even sporting jeans and beanies...I cannot even imagine how hot that would be! I had to tie my hair back because it was drenched with sweat. It was really pretty gross.
Anyway...today I met up with Jon and Alyssa, two other ETAs from the night before, and we had a pleasant lunch and walked around town. It was a nice time and I got to know the Seoul subways much better. Seoul really is massive and makes Chuncheon look like the boonies. I'm definitely looking forward to visiting it more in the coming year, and since I should only be living 2 hours away, that will be entirely possible.
What an exhausting weekend! And all I have to look forward to this week is a big Korean final, a Korean speech, and lots of mandatory cultural workshops. I'm tired just thinking about it all!
After my lazy friends woke up, we headed out to walk around Chuncheon. We didn't have a plan or destination at all. I wanted to hike to a local waterfall, but we started out toward the river first. It was sooooo hot and humid that day...I even burned my scalp! We walked a total of four hours or so in the hot hot sun and ended up making a circle around Chuncheon. We didn't even make it to the "wilderness," unfortunately, but it was still fun. I have very entertaining friends who helped me forget the uncomfortable stickiness of 90 degress and 200% humidity.
Here's a picture from a little statue park we visited along the way. In it is my friend Robin, who wouldn't let me get any closer because she was a bit sweaty. It was sort of pretty, but very urban--on the other side of us was downtown Chuncheon.
In the afternoon, four of us--Robin, Irene, and our RA, Ji-meyong--headed out to Seoul to meet their friends and some other ETAs. The ETAs were all staying in a sketchy love motel by the name of Emerald, but we made arrangements to stay with Robin's friend from college. Score!
We went out to dinner right away to celebrate our friend Traci's birthday. She had never celebrated her birthday before and it was really fun to make it special for her. We went to TGI Friday's because she wanted a salad, but it wasn't very good and was VERY overpriced. I wasn't even craving American food, but let me tell you, that experience has not made me hunger for more. I'll stick with Korean and Chinese, thanks...it's cheap AND good.
After dinner we met up with one of Irene's friends who showed us around town. We went to a bar for a while first and then to a hiphop club called Noise Basement. This club was the craziest one I have ever been to, with millions of people crammed onto a sweaty dance floor. It was fun, but I'm pretty sure I sweated off 10 pounds on Saturday, what will walking in the midday heat and dancing in the night. I'm sure I will acquire it again on my cafeteria rice diet, so no worries! I am increasingly convinced that Korean people do not sweat and it is so unfair. They always look fresh and pretty when I am melting into a puddle of sweat. Some guys at the club were even sporting jeans and beanies...I cannot even imagine how hot that would be! I had to tie my hair back because it was drenched with sweat. It was really pretty gross.
Anyway...today I met up with Jon and Alyssa, two other ETAs from the night before, and we had a pleasant lunch and walked around town. It was a nice time and I got to know the Seoul subways much better. Seoul really is massive and makes Chuncheon look like the boonies. I'm definitely looking forward to visiting it more in the coming year, and since I should only be living 2 hours away, that will be entirely possible.
What an exhausting weekend! And all I have to look forward to this week is a big Korean final, a Korean speech, and lots of mandatory cultural workshops. I'm tired just thinking about it all!
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