So I have a few backlogged posts that will be coming up soon, so this will not be chronological, but due to popular demand I'm trying to get a post up ASAP, so the other things that I haven't finished yet will just be a little look into what I've been up to the past month.
So this past weekend I went to Daegu again. As you may remember, my IU sorority friend lives there with her roommate, and they hosted an ugly Christmas sweater party. Saturday morning I went to Daejeon to meet up with friends, do some shopping, then head to Daegu. We ate lunch at this delicious bakery, then took the 3:15 train to Daegu. It was a good time - I didn't have a sweater, but I did have a Santa hat. A sort of funny story: I had recently bought a very Asian sweater (i.e. it has like anime characters on it and looks sort of like something a little girl would wear) that I really liked and decided to wear on Saturday. This is what happened during lunch:
My friend: What are you guys wearing tonight?
Me: *points to anime sweater* This.
My friend: Oh, okay. That's what I thought, but I didn't want to ask if that was your ugly sweater.
Hey, I like that sweater!!! Whatever, we'll just say he has no fashion sense.
Regardless, it was good to see my friends in Daegu again. Sunday we went to this place called the Holy Grill. It's a Western restaurant owned by Canadians, and they have some AMAZING macaroni and cheese. It's practically worth a trip to Daegu alone.
Sunday night was our Secret Santa gift exchange. My friend Piro made dinner for everyone, and it turned out we had drawn each other for secret Santa. He got me this awesome purple scarf, some hand lotion, and Belgian chocolates (obviously, he knows me well), and I got him two bow ties and this Korean hat/glove combo (if you knew Piro, you would know how much he appreciated it).
Everyone's been wanting to know about Christmas in Korea. Yes, they celebrate Christmas... there are a lot of Protestant/Catholic Koreans. However, Christmas just isn't as big of a deal here. Kids have school on Christmas Eve, and I don't even know if they'd get Christmas day off if it wasn't a Saturday. There are some decorations and some Christmas music, but it's just not very Korean. We got some heavy snow on Friday, but it melted really fast and wasn't very deep anyway. The weather here appears to be much milder than that at home, but people keep talking about how cold Korean winters are, so either the cold hasn't settled in yet or the Midwest is just that much colder than everywhere else.
However, as previously stated, I don't understand the pathological Korean need for fresh air. The temperature extremes are kind of hard to take. On one hand, when it was snowing last Friday, the doors to the outside were open, so venturing into the hallway was equivalent to stepping outside. Going to the bathroom is NOT FUN. On the other hand, I can't even wear my jacket in the teachers' lounge because it's so hot. There's cultural differences for you.
For my own personal Christmas, I'm going to Boryeong (nearby city to the west) with about 29 other people from Buyeo and Nonsan. We've booked a "pension," which appears to be some kind of retreat/camp/cabin-type deal. Basically we'll head out there, cook lots of food, play games, secret Santa, and just celebrate Christmas together. I'm pretty excited; it sounds like a lot of fun.
I really can't believe Christmas is so soon - I think because Koreans don't really do much for it, it doesn't seem real. I also can't believe that 2011 is so close! I still don't have plans for winter vacation. I wanted to go on a trip with one of my friends, but she and I have different vacations so it didn't work out. I'm trying to convince one of my Buyeo friends to go on a trip with me, but she's on the fence about what she wants to do, so we'll see. If I don't leave the country I think I'll finally make it up to Seoul to see one of my hometown friends, and hopefully see some more Korean culture.
I've been getting busier and busier. When I first got here, I had a lot of free time. It's not like I don't still have free time, but I'm realizing how tiring and time-consuming it is to have a social life! As my network of friends in Korea continues to expand and I try to keep in touch with friends and family back home, I think more about how easy it is to keep in contact with people through the Internet, yet that same ease kind of translates to more work because since it's so easy, you just find more and more people to talk to and keep in touch with. But I'm happy to be able to talk to my friends and family so readily.
So the Buyeo Office of Education has arranged Korean lessons for all the native teachers, which is really nice. They started last week and are every Tuesday and Thursday from 6-8 and will go until the end of February for a total of 40 hours. Koreans love banners and certificates, so they made up this fancy banner for the first class and told us if we attend all the classes and do our homework, etc. we'll get a graduation certificate. I've already noticed the Korean propensity for banners and certificates, and I kind of love it, especially the certificate part.
I'd forgotten how hard it is to pick up a foreign language from ground zero. I've been studying French for so long that now it's more a matter of improving it, but with Korean I'm studying the alphabet! I think it's going to be helpful on so many levels though... I will be able to communicate/get around easier and I'll be able to better help the students because I will know more why they do the things they do. For example, the dreaded "finishy" and "Englishy" and "lunchy." In Korean, each box of symbols (i.e. 네) is one syllable, and each syllable is made from a consonant + vowel or consonant + vowel + consonant, etc. Basically, there's no such thing as a syllable without a vowel (I think). So the single syllable word "lunch" is impossible in Korean, they think of it as 른치. ㄹ = l, ㅡ = uh, ㄴ = n, ㅊ = ch, and ㅣ= y. So you get "른" luhn "치" chy, luhn-chy. Lunchy. No such thing as "른ㅊ." Have to have the "ㅣ", can't just have the "ㅊ." I've tried writing this direct translation on the board then erasing the ㅣ but they just don't get it.
Regardless, I'm having difficulty remembering the Korean from my classes. We're still in the ABC Hi my name is ____ I am ___ years old, etc, but even that I can't always remember. Some stuff I know is very useful though. I like how some of my phrases can be used in almost every situation. For example, 없어요 (hmm, I think that's how you spell it). Anyway, it's pronounced obseoyo, and it means "It's/They're not there, I don't have it/them, etc." Know how I know this? Because my kids are always saying, "Oh Teacher, notebook obseoyo. Pencil obseoyo." It works for people too as far as I can tell, so if I can't find someone I ask if they're "obseoyo." The other day taking a taxi from the train to the bus station the cabbie asked if I had an umbrella because it was raining, so I was just like, "Obseoyo." Nice guy, he insisted on giving me one since I didn't have one. Other handy Korean words/phrases I know:
Molayo. I don't know.
Kanchanayo. It's okay/No problem.
Nun yeogi. Eyes up here.
Yah! Hey!
____ juseyo. ______, please.
I can also ask how much things cost, but since I don't know money, this question is fairly useless to me. I really need to learn this though as it will be super helpful. I only know two money number, 1,500 won and 10,000 won. 10,000 is man won, and 1,500 is chon obek won. Why do I know these? Because 10,000 is easy and 1,500 is my bus fare. I've been having problems on the bus recently. I take the same bus Mon-Wed and Fri, but Mon-Wed I pay 1,200 to get to my main school, and Friday I pay 1,500 to get to my second school. However, lately the bus drivers have been hassling me about not paying the correct amount. I think because they see me go the 1,200 route so often they think I don't realize my Friday stop is 1,500. So last Friday the driver actually wouldn't let me off the bus, I had to go up to where he was sitting so he could tell me "Chon obek won!" and I was like, "I know! I paid you your chon obek won! Why weren't you paying attention since this is kind of your job, and instead now you have to shout at me in Korean on this bus full of strangers?" So I just pulled out a handful of change and let him take three 100 won coins, which is how I've arrived at my 1,200 theory. I think next time I get on the Friday bus I'll show him the chon obek won before I put it in the money box.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
I'm fine
If you've heard about North Korea firing on South Korea in the news, don't worry, I'm fine. From what I've seen online on CNN, etc. it looks like the North shot artillery of some kind into a South Korean island on the northwest coast. I don't really have anything else to say about it besides that I checked the US travel website and nothing's up yet. If I learn anything else I will let you know.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
A great story, plus a few random details
I've been meaning to mention this but keep forgetting, so here it is: the toilet seats at Seokyang are heated. Yes, heated. During the hot months I was absolutely repulsed by this because it was already super hot and then you go into the bathroom and sit down on ugh, a warm seat. However. Now that it's winter, it's an amazing luxury! No cold porcelain or plastic! Also on a bathroom note, the Seokseong bathroom has motion sensors that turn on the lights AND cue music. Pomp and Circumstance is often on, which makes for an amusing trip to the bathroom.
Now for the story. Last Friday I ran into Kevin in Dongnam. Here is the conversation.
Kevin: Celina texted me today. *pulls out phone* She was mostly just confirming what I already knew.
Me: *reads text message* "the other teachers say kevin teacher is most handsome native teacher. haha."
Kevin: I don't know if they just mean Buyeo, but I'm going to go ahead and assume they mean all of Korea.
Cue dinner with Celina later.
Me: I read that text you sent Kevin about him being the most handsome teacher.
Celina: Yeah, it was hilarious. All the female teachers were talking about something in the teachers' lounge in the morning, and they were like, "Celina, we talk to you at lunch." So I go to lunch and they're like, "Celina, you Hong Kong, right?"
Celina: "Yes."
Teachers: "But you England, right?"
Celina: "Yes."
Teachers: "Ooooh, there's very handsome English teacher from England here!"
Celina: "What's his name?"
Teachers: "We don't know."
Celina: "What's he look like?"
Teachers: "Handsome!"
Celina: "Uh, is his name Kevin?"
Teachers: "Yes! Kevin Teacher, very handsome!"
Male teacher: "Yes, handsome!"
Apparently Kevin's co-teacher told everyone else he is very handsome. I told him from now on I'm going to call him Handsome Kev, or just Handsome for short.
Now for the story. Last Friday I ran into Kevin in Dongnam. Here is the conversation.
Kevin: Celina texted me today. *pulls out phone* She was mostly just confirming what I already knew.
Me: *reads text message* "the other teachers say kevin teacher is most handsome native teacher. haha."
Kevin: I don't know if they just mean Buyeo, but I'm going to go ahead and assume they mean all of Korea.
Cue dinner with Celina later.
Me: I read that text you sent Kevin about him being the most handsome teacher.
Celina: Yeah, it was hilarious. All the female teachers were talking about something in the teachers' lounge in the morning, and they were like, "Celina, we talk to you at lunch." So I go to lunch and they're like, "Celina, you Hong Kong, right?"
Celina: "Yes."
Teachers: "But you England, right?"
Celina: "Yes."
Teachers: "Ooooh, there's very handsome English teacher from England here!"
Celina: "What's his name?"
Teachers: "We don't know."
Celina: "What's he look like?"
Teachers: "Handsome!"
Celina: "Uh, is his name Kevin?"
Teachers: "Yes! Kevin Teacher, very handsome!"
Male teacher: "Yes, handsome!"
Apparently Kevin's co-teacher told everyone else he is very handsome. I told him from now on I'm going to call him Handsome Kev, or just Handsome for short.
The jimjilbang
I've gotten really used to not understanding anything that happens around me. I don't even notice that I can't understand the students, teachers, etc. It's really easy to tune out what to me is essentially just gibberish, and I think it's going to be weird to go back home and suddenly hear and understand everything. For example, I just zone out when people are talking on their phones or whatever, but it will be harder once I get back home.
However, it will be nice when everyday things aren't so hard anymore. For example, last Friday. Celina and I went out to dinner, and we realized that we can only go to places we've already been, or places with pictures. Sometimes even pictures aren't good enough because you can't always tell if it's chicken or pork, spicy or not, etc. We ventured to an unknown restaurant and ended up with some delicious chicken, but it wasn't without a lot of second-guessing and blind jumping.
Then on Saturday I went to Daejeon to meet up with Kevin. Celina and I were supposed to go there in the day to do some shopping, but she wasn't feeling well so I hung around my apartment until 4:30 when I hopped the bus to Daejeon. It was definitely one of my worse bus rides... Korean drivers have that awful step on gas pedal, get up to speed, then release gas pedal approach. Also there was insane traffic, so the usual 1hr30min ride took two hours. When I got to the bus station, Kevin and his friend Carl still weren't there because they took a bus from Hongseong (where Carl lives) and apparently it was the bus ride from hell and took them 2hrs30mins. So anyway, I had about 40 minutes to kill before they showed up, so I decided to head downtown. I got in a cab and told the cabbie Timeworld Galleria, a big shopping center. He said okay, and then for some reason kept peppering me with questions in Korean no matter how many times I'd say, "Sorry, I don't understand. I don't speak Korean." It got kind of annoying, actually. This was what the "conversation" looked like:
Cabbie: blahblahblahstuffIcan'tunderstandblahblah chingu Galleria? (chingu is friend)
Me: Aniyo chingu. (trying to communicate that no, I am not meeting a friend at the Galleria)
Cabbie: blahblahblahblahblahblah.....
Me: Sorry, I don't speak Korean.
Cabbie: blabhblabhlabhalbhlablhbalbha
Me: .................
Cabbie: Chingu? Galleria?
Me: ANIYO CHINGU.
Cabbie: Home? Buyeo?
Me: Ne. (Yes.)
Cabbie: blahblahblahblah home Galleria blahblahblah.
Me: ?????
Cabbie: blahblahblah house Galleria?
Me: No, I don't have a home at the Galleria. I live in Buyeo.
Then he finally ceased and desisted with the questions. I just don't get it sometimes - I clearly can't answer you!
So finally I met up with Kevin and his friends, and we went to drop our stuff off at the jimjilbang. Now here's some real Korean culture for you. A jimjilbang is like a spa, and you pay like 6,000 won for 24 hours, and you get this change of clothes and a locker, and pretty much it's a giant bathhouse. Tons of hot tubs, steam rooms, saunas, massage chairs, etc. Very Asian. You can also spend the night at a jimjilbang, which is what our plan was because it's so cheap. However, you have to sleep on the floor in this giant community room. So the real kicker is that at the jimjilbang, everyone is completely naked. Now obviously they're gender-segregated, but still - this is a milestone in cultural immersion, in my opinion. I knew this going in, but I was still not fully prepared for the jimjilbang experience... by myself. Yes, I braved this experience solo because everyone I was with was a guy, which meant that we had to split up. We all checked in together and got our jimjilbang outfits (for when you're in the locker room), and then it was all, Okay we'll see you in 15 minutes for dinner! And bam, they were gone before I could ask any questions.
(For purposes of walking you through this point in my life, I'm going to switch to present tense. Makes you feel more like you're in the story.
Also, as you read this story, please remember that every time I am in the locker room area, I am surrounded by naked Korean women of all ages. So already I'm in a strange place where I can't communicate, am unsure of the social norms, and have no idea what proper procedure is. Now add lots of naked women to this situation.)
Let me lay down the setup of this situation.
So the jimjilbang is on the fourth floor of this huge shopping center building. There's the main desk where we paid, then there are two separate entrances for men and women to lead into the actual jimjilbang. When you walk through the entrance, there's small lockers with keys for you to put your shoes in. Then you walk around the corner and there's the actual clothes locker area and spa part. So there's a key for the shoes locker and then one for the clothes locker.
So I walk through the entrance, take off my shoes, put them in a locker, take the shoe locker key with me, then go up to the front desk. I have no idea what to do - drop my things off in a locker? Sure, sounds good. Do I just claim any clothes locker? Is this permanent? I get a clothes locker key from the lady at the desk and give her my receipt and the shoe locker key in exchange. I put my backpack in a clothes locker, then go back to the desk and questioningly look at the woman for help. She gives me the shoe locker key in exchange for my clothes locker key, I go and get my shoes, then as I'm trying to leave some old lady takes my shoe locker key and puts it back in the locker.
Hmm, how do I get back in? Now I've got no key of any kind and no receipt. This can't be good. I decided to walk outside and ask Chris and Jake what I'm supposed to do. Of course, I go out and no one's there. I decide to go back in and see what I'm supposed to do upon reentry while my face was still fresh in the lady's mind. I walk in and whoops, different woman working at the desk. She gives me a nasty look when I give her my shoe locker key in exchange for the clothes locker key and demands my ticket. "Uh, I already gave that other lady my ticket." This does not go over well as this woman's English is maxed out with the word "ticket." I go to my clothes locker, get out some mascara and put it on, then replace my belongings. I go back yet again to the woman to exchange my keys. Again, she gives me an awful look and throws the key at me.
I walk outside and Jake and Chris are there.
Me: So... how do I get back in?
Jake: Don't you have a key? *Shows shoe key.*
Me: Uh, no, some old lady made me put it back.
Jake: Oh, go get it. Or else how will you know which locker is yours?
This makes sense to me. I dart inside and grab the shoe key, then dash out before any more old ladies try and make me put it back. The jimjilbang is inside a huge mall area, so we walk around looking for food (Kevin and Carl were showering at the jimjilbang). We decide to leave and get food elsewhere, and I decide to put my coat away because I don't want to carry it all night. Uh oh - have to deal with the rude woman at the desk.
I go back, take off my boots, put them away, and attempt a shoe key/clothes locker key exchange. Massive fail. The woman looks super pissed off that I keep coming and going, and I realize she thinks I haven't paid because I never gave her a ticket. She makes me go outside to the main front desk whereupon the women working there confirm that yes, I have paid. They want to know if I lost my ticket. No, I gave a different lady my ticket. Where's my key? That rude woman has my key! She took it and didn't give me the locker key. Did you lose your key? NO, THAT WOMAN HAS IT.
Finally, the rude woman gestures for me to follow her back inside and finally gives me my locker key. I put my coat away and for the millionth time go back for another swap to reclaim my shoes. The lady totally loses it and starts hassling me in exasperated Korean, saying Why? Why? gesturing to my locker then the door, obviously wanting to know why I keep coming in and out but not actually using the jimjilbang. You know what, lady? If I want to use this place like a glorified locker, I will. Pipe down because I don't understand what you're saying and you're being ridiculous.
Then I just left and went for dinner.
(I now realize that old lady in the beginning of the story must have thought I was leaving the jimjilbang for good, not realizing that I was planning to come back later and sleep there, so that's why she wanted me to leave my key in the shoe locker. She was pretty nice about it, just trying to help the foreigner out.)
However, the jimjilbang experience is still not over. I ask the guys what to do about sleeping arrangements, and they said that you just grab a mat and pillow and sleep on the floor. Okay. Sleeping on the floor is not new to me in Korea. So we get back, I go into the women's side, search for a mat and pillow. Unsuccessful. Confused and tired, I decide to simply find a spot in the corner and go to sleep. The next day Kevin confronts me.
Kevin: Tree, where were you last night?
Me: Uh, sleeping?
Kevin: But you never made it to the sleeping room.
Me:.........
Kevin: I texted you!
Me: *checks phone, sees text* "in sleeping room"
Me: I just assumed you meant you had gotten to your side of the jimjilbang.
Kevin: No, Tree. There's a big room separate from the locker/spa area meant for sleeping. There's like a hundred people there! That's where the mats and pillows are.
Me:...........
Kevin: Did you just sleep in the locker room area?
Me: Um... yes?
Kevin: *Dies laughing*
Me: Not gonna lie, I was super confused as to why there weren't any mats, pillows, other people, etc! Chris and Jake told me you just grab a mat/pillow, no one said anything about a separate room...
So now I can never return to that jimjilbang as I am the crazy foreigner who didn't pay, treats it like a locker, and apparently sleeps on the floor like a homeless person.
Another day, another adventure.
However, it will be nice when everyday things aren't so hard anymore. For example, last Friday. Celina and I went out to dinner, and we realized that we can only go to places we've already been, or places with pictures. Sometimes even pictures aren't good enough because you can't always tell if it's chicken or pork, spicy or not, etc. We ventured to an unknown restaurant and ended up with some delicious chicken, but it wasn't without a lot of second-guessing and blind jumping.
Then on Saturday I went to Daejeon to meet up with Kevin. Celina and I were supposed to go there in the day to do some shopping, but she wasn't feeling well so I hung around my apartment until 4:30 when I hopped the bus to Daejeon. It was definitely one of my worse bus rides... Korean drivers have that awful step on gas pedal, get up to speed, then release gas pedal approach. Also there was insane traffic, so the usual 1hr30min ride took two hours. When I got to the bus station, Kevin and his friend Carl still weren't there because they took a bus from Hongseong (where Carl lives) and apparently it was the bus ride from hell and took them 2hrs30mins. So anyway, I had about 40 minutes to kill before they showed up, so I decided to head downtown. I got in a cab and told the cabbie Timeworld Galleria, a big shopping center. He said okay, and then for some reason kept peppering me with questions in Korean no matter how many times I'd say, "Sorry, I don't understand. I don't speak Korean." It got kind of annoying, actually. This was what the "conversation" looked like:
Cabbie: blahblahblahstuffIcan'tunderstandblahblah chingu Galleria? (chingu is friend)
Me: Aniyo chingu. (trying to communicate that no, I am not meeting a friend at the Galleria)
Cabbie: blahblahblahblahblahblah.....
Me: Sorry, I don't speak Korean.
Cabbie: blabhblabhlabhalbhlablhbalbha
Me: .................
Cabbie: Chingu? Galleria?
Me: ANIYO CHINGU.
Cabbie: Home? Buyeo?
Me: Ne. (Yes.)
Cabbie: blahblahblahblah home Galleria blahblahblah.
Me: ?????
Cabbie: blahblahblah house Galleria?
Me: No, I don't have a home at the Galleria. I live in Buyeo.
Then he finally ceased and desisted with the questions. I just don't get it sometimes - I clearly can't answer you!
So finally I met up with Kevin and his friends, and we went to drop our stuff off at the jimjilbang. Now here's some real Korean culture for you. A jimjilbang is like a spa, and you pay like 6,000 won for 24 hours, and you get this change of clothes and a locker, and pretty much it's a giant bathhouse. Tons of hot tubs, steam rooms, saunas, massage chairs, etc. Very Asian. You can also spend the night at a jimjilbang, which is what our plan was because it's so cheap. However, you have to sleep on the floor in this giant community room. So the real kicker is that at the jimjilbang, everyone is completely naked. Now obviously they're gender-segregated, but still - this is a milestone in cultural immersion, in my opinion. I knew this going in, but I was still not fully prepared for the jimjilbang experience... by myself. Yes, I braved this experience solo because everyone I was with was a guy, which meant that we had to split up. We all checked in together and got our jimjilbang outfits (for when you're in the locker room), and then it was all, Okay we'll see you in 15 minutes for dinner! And bam, they were gone before I could ask any questions.
(For purposes of walking you through this point in my life, I'm going to switch to present tense. Makes you feel more like you're in the story.
Also, as you read this story, please remember that every time I am in the locker room area, I am surrounded by naked Korean women of all ages. So already I'm in a strange place where I can't communicate, am unsure of the social norms, and have no idea what proper procedure is. Now add lots of naked women to this situation.)
Let me lay down the setup of this situation.
So the jimjilbang is on the fourth floor of this huge shopping center building. There's the main desk where we paid, then there are two separate entrances for men and women to lead into the actual jimjilbang. When you walk through the entrance, there's small lockers with keys for you to put your shoes in. Then you walk around the corner and there's the actual clothes locker area and spa part. So there's a key for the shoes locker and then one for the clothes locker.
So I walk through the entrance, take off my shoes, put them in a locker, take the shoe locker key with me, then go up to the front desk. I have no idea what to do - drop my things off in a locker? Sure, sounds good. Do I just claim any clothes locker? Is this permanent? I get a clothes locker key from the lady at the desk and give her my receipt and the shoe locker key in exchange. I put my backpack in a clothes locker, then go back to the desk and questioningly look at the woman for help. She gives me the shoe locker key in exchange for my clothes locker key, I go and get my shoes, then as I'm trying to leave some old lady takes my shoe locker key and puts it back in the locker.
Hmm, how do I get back in? Now I've got no key of any kind and no receipt. This can't be good. I decided to walk outside and ask Chris and Jake what I'm supposed to do. Of course, I go out and no one's there. I decide to go back in and see what I'm supposed to do upon reentry while my face was still fresh in the lady's mind. I walk in and whoops, different woman working at the desk. She gives me a nasty look when I give her my shoe locker key in exchange for the clothes locker key and demands my ticket. "Uh, I already gave that other lady my ticket." This does not go over well as this woman's English is maxed out with the word "ticket." I go to my clothes locker, get out some mascara and put it on, then replace my belongings. I go back yet again to the woman to exchange my keys. Again, she gives me an awful look and throws the key at me.
I walk outside and Jake and Chris are there.
Me: So... how do I get back in?
Jake: Don't you have a key? *Shows shoe key.*
Me: Uh, no, some old lady made me put it back.
Jake: Oh, go get it. Or else how will you know which locker is yours?
This makes sense to me. I dart inside and grab the shoe key, then dash out before any more old ladies try and make me put it back. The jimjilbang is inside a huge mall area, so we walk around looking for food (Kevin and Carl were showering at the jimjilbang). We decide to leave and get food elsewhere, and I decide to put my coat away because I don't want to carry it all night. Uh oh - have to deal with the rude woman at the desk.
I go back, take off my boots, put them away, and attempt a shoe key/clothes locker key exchange. Massive fail. The woman looks super pissed off that I keep coming and going, and I realize she thinks I haven't paid because I never gave her a ticket. She makes me go outside to the main front desk whereupon the women working there confirm that yes, I have paid. They want to know if I lost my ticket. No, I gave a different lady my ticket. Where's my key? That rude woman has my key! She took it and didn't give me the locker key. Did you lose your key? NO, THAT WOMAN HAS IT.
Finally, the rude woman gestures for me to follow her back inside and finally gives me my locker key. I put my coat away and for the millionth time go back for another swap to reclaim my shoes. The lady totally loses it and starts hassling me in exasperated Korean, saying Why? Why? gesturing to my locker then the door, obviously wanting to know why I keep coming in and out but not actually using the jimjilbang. You know what, lady? If I want to use this place like a glorified locker, I will. Pipe down because I don't understand what you're saying and you're being ridiculous.
Then I just left and went for dinner.
(I now realize that old lady in the beginning of the story must have thought I was leaving the jimjilbang for good, not realizing that I was planning to come back later and sleep there, so that's why she wanted me to leave my key in the shoe locker. She was pretty nice about it, just trying to help the foreigner out.)
However, the jimjilbang experience is still not over. I ask the guys what to do about sleeping arrangements, and they said that you just grab a mat and pillow and sleep on the floor. Okay. Sleeping on the floor is not new to me in Korea. So we get back, I go into the women's side, search for a mat and pillow. Unsuccessful. Confused and tired, I decide to simply find a spot in the corner and go to sleep. The next day Kevin confronts me.
Kevin: Tree, where were you last night?
Me: Uh, sleeping?
Kevin: But you never made it to the sleeping room.
Me:.........
Kevin: I texted you!
Me: *checks phone, sees text* "in sleeping room"
Me: I just assumed you meant you had gotten to your side of the jimjilbang.
Kevin: No, Tree. There's a big room separate from the locker/spa area meant for sleeping. There's like a hundred people there! That's where the mats and pillows are.
Me:...........
Kevin: Did you just sleep in the locker room area?
Me: Um... yes?
Kevin: *Dies laughing*
Me: Not gonna lie, I was super confused as to why there weren't any mats, pillows, other people, etc! Chris and Jake told me you just grab a mat/pillow, no one said anything about a separate room...
So now I can never return to that jimjilbang as I am the crazy foreigner who didn't pay, treats it like a locker, and apparently sleeps on the floor like a homeless person.
Another day, another adventure.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Seokyang recital
My main school, Seokyang, had a school-wide recital last Friday. Because I'm at Seokseong on Thursdays and Fridays, I missed the actual performance but I did see the dress rehearsal on Wednesday. It was absolutely adorable! Here are some pictures.
Hannah and Chuck, the sixth grade emcees. Hannah is not actually a midget - Chuck is almost my height, and she does happen to be pretty short.
4th grade Korean mask dancing
3rd grade. Left to right: Kylie, Aaron, Sarah, Ian. Every day Aaron comes up to my desk and says, "Hello, Miss Kretch. How's the weather today?" I reply, "Hi, Aaron. It's cold/sunny/cloudy/foggy etc." Then I ask him how's the weather, and he parrots back whatever I just said. It's adorable because I think he's trying to talk to me, but this is kind of the only English he knows.
6th grade sign language. The kid in the back left is Elliott, my student who likes to eat paper. ("Teacher, paper, delicious!")
5th grade taekwondo
6th grade drum performance
4th grade rhythmic jump rope
3rd grade dance. The little boy in the front right is Thunderer. I learned from another native teacher that he has a Thunderer and several Ices as well, apparently the names are from a comic.
5th grade. Don't these skirts/shorts make you think of St. Tom's uniforms?
1st grade
Kindergarten
1st grade emcees
Apartment crawl! My friend from Paris study abroad, Misa.
Apartment crawl: Celina, me, Gena, Elise, and Misa
Hannah and Chuck, the sixth grade emcees. Hannah is not actually a midget - Chuck is almost my height, and she does happen to be pretty short.
4th grade Korean mask dancing
3rd grade. Left to right: Kylie, Aaron, Sarah, Ian. Every day Aaron comes up to my desk and says, "Hello, Miss Kretch. How's the weather today?" I reply, "Hi, Aaron. It's cold/sunny/cloudy/foggy etc." Then I ask him how's the weather, and he parrots back whatever I just said. It's adorable because I think he's trying to talk to me, but this is kind of the only English he knows. 
6th grade sign language. The kid in the back left is Elliott, my student who likes to eat paper. ("Teacher, paper, delicious!")
5th grade taekwondo
6th grade drum performance
4th grade rhythmic jump rope
3rd grade dance. The little boy in the front right is Thunderer. I learned from another native teacher that he has a Thunderer and several Ices as well, apparently the names are from a comic.
5th grade. Don't these skirts/shorts make you think of St. Tom's uniforms?
1st grade
Kindergarten
1st grade emcees
Apartment crawl! My friend from Paris study abroad, Misa.
Apartment crawl: Celina, me, Gena, Elise, and MisaI was the most impressed with this performance by the third grade.
One of the sign language numbers the sixth grade did. The best part is Isaac, front and center. He appears to be the only one really making any kind of effort.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Pepero Day!
Happy Pepero Day! Actually, I don't know that's what you're supposed to say. So here's the lowdown: there is a Korean holiday called Pepero Day every year on November 11th. It's sort of like Sweetest Day for many reasons.
1. A Pepero stick is pretty much a long, skinny biscuit dipped in chocolate. Looks sort of like a very thin pencil. They're made by this company called Lotte.
2. On Pepero Day, you give people boxes of Pepero sticks. The boxes are usually red, and boys are expected to give their girlfriends boxes of Pepero. Kids also get them, and so do friends. In this aspect it's sort of like Valentine's Day.
3. However, I'm comparing it to Sweetest Day because this is a glaring example of a manufactured holiday. Lotte denies creating Pepero Day... it seems they claim sales just go up in November, so they "encouraged" the holiday. Yeah right, Lotte, I'm sure every November people must just get a hankering for some Pepero. No way you had a hand in this.
4. Pepero Day is Nov. 11th because the 11/11 looks like four Pepero sticks. Seriously.
Regardless, I gave Pepero boxes to all the teachers in my schools, and they were really excited. I think they were mostly impressed that I actually knew what Pepero Day was.
1. A Pepero stick is pretty much a long, skinny biscuit dipped in chocolate. Looks sort of like a very thin pencil. They're made by this company called Lotte.
2. On Pepero Day, you give people boxes of Pepero sticks. The boxes are usually red, and boys are expected to give their girlfriends boxes of Pepero. Kids also get them, and so do friends. In this aspect it's sort of like Valentine's Day.
3. However, I'm comparing it to Sweetest Day because this is a glaring example of a manufactured holiday. Lotte denies creating Pepero Day... it seems they claim sales just go up in November, so they "encouraged" the holiday. Yeah right, Lotte, I'm sure every November people must just get a hankering for some Pepero. No way you had a hand in this.
4. Pepero Day is Nov. 11th because the 11/11 looks like four Pepero sticks. Seriously.
Regardless, I gave Pepero boxes to all the teachers in my schools, and they were really excited. I think they were mostly impressed that I actually knew what Pepero Day was.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Yearbook photo?
My 5th/6th grade after-school English club at Seokseong. This was before class started... "Teacher, English game!"
My 1st/2nd grade class' Halloween artwork. 
I was invited to be a part of the Seokseong 6th grade graduation photo. Naturally I was informed 5 minutes before the picture was taken, and this picture will be framed and put up on the walls at Seokseong for the next who knows how many years. Can you spot me?
One of my Seokyang 6th graders. Nice sweater, am I right?
Out to dinner with Joo, my coteacher, his family, and Kevin. All that food was for us.
With my friends in Busan post-fireworks festival. It looks sort of like we're in a slum somewhere, but I was shocked at how quickly they cleaned everything up.
Busan fireworks festival. Probably the most crowded place I've ever been. 
Kevin dressed up as a zombie for Halloween and sent me this picture of him with his kindergarten class. Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Much ado about nothing
While walking to the bus stop yesterday I was flagged down by three of my 석성 Seokseong students: Sienna, Lucy, and Victoria. It was really cute - they were out of breath from chasing me down because I was listening to my iPod so I couldn't hear them calling me. Apparently they were at some computer class after school, which is why they were at 석양 Seokyang.
So there are really no updates since yesterday, but since Mr. Kim just gave me this news three minutes ago - "The extracurricular class is not," I have until 2:30 to do nothing really until we leave for the teachers' bonding/hiking/picnic/dinner. We just ate a giant lunch, so once again I don't know why we're going on a picnic then dinner. Classes have even been rearranged so that we can leave at 2:30 instead of 3:30.
Speaking of lunch, the Korean food is really growing on me. I think the main problem can really be linked to the smell, which usually ranges from inoffensive (rice, bibimbap) to tolerable (seaweed soup) to completely horrendous (tofu soup). Often the cafeteria simply REEKS, and this was what was really turning me off during the summer. But now I can usually eat/tolerate most of the cafeteria food. There's always rice, soup, kimchi, and two side dishes, and typically I can eat three or four of these things. Recently we've been eating a lot of what I privately refer to as "garbage soup"... that is, they've just taken everything they have in the kitchen and thrown it into a bowl and added water. This means tofu, bean sprouts, Spam/some meat, mushrooms, egg... you name it, they've got it. It's not too bad. Yesterday we even had a potato-type soup with vegetables. Sometimes when I'm out to eat I get this as a side dish: 물 국 (mul gook) aka... water soup. Yep, it translates directly to "water soup." Yummy, right? It's just broth, really, but the name cracks me up.
Yesterday the sixth grade was absolutely awful. Some days they're okay, some days they're really good, and some days they just don't want to do anything. Monday they irritated me by not paying attention, so they had to sit and do kkamji (writing) until the end of class, then I assigned them homework of writing a sentence for each vocabulary word. I specifically said to make REAL sentences, not "This is chalk. This is a pencil." etc. So yesterday I made a seating chart for their after-school classes because by now I know who talks, who knows a lot of English, who never says anything, who's friends with whom, etc. This went over like a ton of bricks. I've never heard sixth graders whine about anything so much. So then I look at their homework, and typically a bunch made sentences like, "My pencil. My eraser." I was like, "I told you this isn't good."
Then after I checked their homework, a bunch of them packed up their stuff and just left! I asked Mr. Kim what was going on, and apparently since this is an after-school class, participation is voluntary and they didn't feel like participating (likely because of the assigned seats). Great. So the rest of the class kept working, and maybe half of them were still being obnoxious. I went around and picked out the handful of kids that were actually working, and then I told everyone else to just get out. They looked really confused, and I pointed at the door and said, "If you don't want to pay attention and work, then get out. Leave. The students who want to learn can stay." Well then they're all, "Sorry, Teacher, I want to stay!" Then they shaped up. But this one girl and boy were playing on her cell phone two minutes later, so I kicked them both out.
I had really had it up to here, and since this class wasn't mandatory, then I didn't feel they were missing out on important curriculum learning that they would have to make up at some point. If they don't want to learn, then they can get out. I know some teachers use a reward system in their after-school classes because that gives the kids an incentive to learn, but I don't really know how I feel about that. I don't want to bribe them to learn since they have already chosen to be in this class. I don't mind rewarding them for hard work, but I also want them to realize being in class is a privilege and they're not doing me a favor by coming and being disruptive. I think I'll introduce a system they can understand. They all really like soccer, so I think I'll start red- and yellow-carding them. Yellow for warnings, and red means they're ejected from the class. The sixth grade teacher is very helpful - she's previously told me I can send noisy students to her. Today Mr. Kim told me she said she was sorry her students were so poorly behaved and that she was punishing them by making them sit in the back of the classroom writing English kkamji for a week. It's nice that she backs me up. I think I just need to do a better job managing the classroom though.
The thing is, the kids really are great. They are just noisy and don't listen in class. They're so great outside class though (some even while in class). One of my third graders, Aaron, comes up to me every day now and says, "Hello, Miss Kretch. How is the weather today?" I think this is the only English he really knows. And in class he's always demonstrating the "be quiet" index finger on the mouth. They (try and) ask me how my weekend was. They applaud me and are impressed when I can write anything in Korean. They give me orange slices and follow me around. In short, they are just kids with attention span problems - in other words, just kids. Actually, my affection for them is a problem sometimes because I can't really get angry at them! I'll put on my teacher glare and it will crack because they do something cute or funny. Though I haven't had a lot of trouble with this in the sixth grade lately.
The kids at Seokyang refer to me as Miss Kretch, Miss Kretchy, or just Teacher. The kids at Seokseong refer to me as Theresa Teacher or just Teacher. Mr. Kim introduced me as Miss Kretch, but it's pretty standard here to be known by your first name + teacher. In Korean people are addressed by their titles rather than just Mr. or Mrs. For example, Principal Oh, Head Teacher Chung, Teacher Kim, etc. Additionally, in Korean these words are reversed, so you get Oh Principal, Chung Head Teacher, Kim Teacher - this is what's responsible for "Theresa Teacher" instead of "Teacher Theresa." Literally - Theresa 선성님 (seonseongnim).
Teacher Kim = Kim Teacher = 김선성님
It's very exciting that I'm learning to read Korean. Granted, I have no idea what it means, but I can read some of it! I actually recognize symbols and sounds - it's not all gibberish anymore. My newest goal is to learn Korean money. This will make my life five times better because as of now, I still rely on reading the cashier's computer or whatever is available.
At the moment I've gotten Mr. Kim to translate, "Thank you for your help," so I can thank the sixth grade homeroom teacher. This will probably occupy my time until we leave for the bonding.
당신의 도움여 감사합니다 = dangsin-ui doum-yo kam-sa-hab-nida
Yes, definitely going to take me a while.
So there are really no updates since yesterday, but since Mr. Kim just gave me this news three minutes ago - "The extracurricular class is not," I have until 2:30 to do nothing really until we leave for the teachers' bonding/hiking/picnic/dinner. We just ate a giant lunch, so once again I don't know why we're going on a picnic then dinner. Classes have even been rearranged so that we can leave at 2:30 instead of 3:30.
Speaking of lunch, the Korean food is really growing on me. I think the main problem can really be linked to the smell, which usually ranges from inoffensive (rice, bibimbap) to tolerable (seaweed soup) to completely horrendous (tofu soup). Often the cafeteria simply REEKS, and this was what was really turning me off during the summer. But now I can usually eat/tolerate most of the cafeteria food. There's always rice, soup, kimchi, and two side dishes, and typically I can eat three or four of these things. Recently we've been eating a lot of what I privately refer to as "garbage soup"... that is, they've just taken everything they have in the kitchen and thrown it into a bowl and added water. This means tofu, bean sprouts, Spam/some meat, mushrooms, egg... you name it, they've got it. It's not too bad. Yesterday we even had a potato-type soup with vegetables. Sometimes when I'm out to eat I get this as a side dish: 물 국 (mul gook) aka... water soup. Yep, it translates directly to "water soup." Yummy, right? It's just broth, really, but the name cracks me up.
Yesterday the sixth grade was absolutely awful. Some days they're okay, some days they're really good, and some days they just don't want to do anything. Monday they irritated me by not paying attention, so they had to sit and do kkamji (writing) until the end of class, then I assigned them homework of writing a sentence for each vocabulary word. I specifically said to make REAL sentences, not "This is chalk. This is a pencil." etc. So yesterday I made a seating chart for their after-school classes because by now I know who talks, who knows a lot of English, who never says anything, who's friends with whom, etc. This went over like a ton of bricks. I've never heard sixth graders whine about anything so much. So then I look at their homework, and typically a bunch made sentences like, "My pencil. My eraser." I was like, "I told you this isn't good."
Then after I checked their homework, a bunch of them packed up their stuff and just left! I asked Mr. Kim what was going on, and apparently since this is an after-school class, participation is voluntary and they didn't feel like participating (likely because of the assigned seats). Great. So the rest of the class kept working, and maybe half of them were still being obnoxious. I went around and picked out the handful of kids that were actually working, and then I told everyone else to just get out. They looked really confused, and I pointed at the door and said, "If you don't want to pay attention and work, then get out. Leave. The students who want to learn can stay." Well then they're all, "Sorry, Teacher, I want to stay!" Then they shaped up. But this one girl and boy were playing on her cell phone two minutes later, so I kicked them both out.
I had really had it up to here, and since this class wasn't mandatory, then I didn't feel they were missing out on important curriculum learning that they would have to make up at some point. If they don't want to learn, then they can get out. I know some teachers use a reward system in their after-school classes because that gives the kids an incentive to learn, but I don't really know how I feel about that. I don't want to bribe them to learn since they have already chosen to be in this class. I don't mind rewarding them for hard work, but I also want them to realize being in class is a privilege and they're not doing me a favor by coming and being disruptive. I think I'll introduce a system they can understand. They all really like soccer, so I think I'll start red- and yellow-carding them. Yellow for warnings, and red means they're ejected from the class. The sixth grade teacher is very helpful - she's previously told me I can send noisy students to her. Today Mr. Kim told me she said she was sorry her students were so poorly behaved and that she was punishing them by making them sit in the back of the classroom writing English kkamji for a week. It's nice that she backs me up. I think I just need to do a better job managing the classroom though.
The thing is, the kids really are great. They are just noisy and don't listen in class. They're so great outside class though (some even while in class). One of my third graders, Aaron, comes up to me every day now and says, "Hello, Miss Kretch. How is the weather today?" I think this is the only English he really knows. And in class he's always demonstrating the "be quiet" index finger on the mouth. They (try and) ask me how my weekend was. They applaud me and are impressed when I can write anything in Korean. They give me orange slices and follow me around. In short, they are just kids with attention span problems - in other words, just kids. Actually, my affection for them is a problem sometimes because I can't really get angry at them! I'll put on my teacher glare and it will crack because they do something cute or funny. Though I haven't had a lot of trouble with this in the sixth grade lately.
The kids at Seokyang refer to me as Miss Kretch, Miss Kretchy, or just Teacher. The kids at Seokseong refer to me as Theresa Teacher or just Teacher. Mr. Kim introduced me as Miss Kretch, but it's pretty standard here to be known by your first name + teacher. In Korean people are addressed by their titles rather than just Mr. or Mrs. For example, Principal Oh, Head Teacher Chung, Teacher Kim, etc. Additionally, in Korean these words are reversed, so you get Oh Principal, Chung Head Teacher, Kim Teacher - this is what's responsible for "Theresa Teacher" instead of "Teacher Theresa." Literally - Theresa 선성님 (seonseongnim).
Teacher Kim = Kim Teacher = 김선성님
It's very exciting that I'm learning to read Korean. Granted, I have no idea what it means, but I can read some of it! I actually recognize symbols and sounds - it's not all gibberish anymore. My newest goal is to learn Korean money. This will make my life five times better because as of now, I still rely on reading the cashier's computer or whatever is available.
At the moment I've gotten Mr. Kim to translate, "Thank you for your help," so I can thank the sixth grade homeroom teacher. This will probably occupy my time until we leave for the bonding.
당신의 도움여 감사합니다 = dangsin-ui doum-yo kam-sa-hab-nida
Yes, definitely going to take me a while.
Monday, November 1, 2010
So, where did I leave off?
Sorry again folks... even though it's been business as usual around here, I've managed to not find time to write in the blog. Now where was I? Okay.
Oct. 22-24th was my trip to Busan. Even though it was a very cool place, I don't think I'll be going back for a while. It's just so hard to get to. Here's a rundown of the itinerary to get there:
5:15 Bus from school to Buyeo - 15 minutes
5:50 Bus from Buyeo to Daejeon - 1 hr 40 minutes
7:32 Taxi from Seobu Bus Terminal to Daejeon Station - 15 minutes
8:01 Train from Daejeon to Busan - 2 hrs
10:01 Taxi from Busan Station to hostel - 20 minutes
Catching the 8:01 train out of Daejeon just put my life under a lot of stress. Don't think I'll do that again any time soon.
Luckily the trouble getting to Busan was worth it. It's a gorgeous coastal city. We went to the aquarium and the Busan International Fireworks Festival. It was nothing short of insanely crowded - the kind of crowded where you could literally be picked up off your feet and swept away. The fireworks were good, but I wouldn't go again. For all the hype I was expecting a lot more. Maybe Koreans just don't know how seriously Americans take their explosives because 4th of July fireworks are just as good in my opinion. Either way I'm still glad I went for the experience. I got back Sunday evening.
The following weekend was Halloween! Or as the Koreans insist on calling it no matter how many times I correct my students, Halloween Day. They don't really celebrate it, but some kids dress up (I don't know about trick or treating though). I bought fairy wings at Homeplus and was a fairy. I went to Cheonan with some people from Buyeo - there was a big group of foreigners (waygooks - Korean for foreigners) congregating at a bar for Halloween.
I did Halloween lessons Thursday afternoon and all day Friday at Seokseong. I think the kids enjoyed it. I showed my older kids one of those goof YouTube videos where you stare at this peaceful-looking car commercial and all of a sudden this monster jumps out screaming. So many of them freaked out! Then all day long it was, "One more time! Teacher, one more time!" The 1st/2nd grade class made jack o lanterns, and 3-6th played a Halloween game. Kevin dressed up like a zombie, face paint and bloody shirt and everything, and he said one of his 3rd graders cried because he was "so scary."
Tomorrow the Seokyang teachers are going on a picnic, then we're going to a dinner. I don't know why we're going on a picnic and then dinner. Last Wednesday Mr. Kim told me we were going hiking instead of volleyball, and now we're going on a picnic instead of hiking. Oh Korea. If I had 1,000 won for every time Mr. Kim said, "The ______ is not," I would be able to buy a kimchi refrigerator. Today, "The 3rd grade class, is not." Sure thing. I'll just hang out for the 40 minutes when I'm usually teaching 3rd grade.
Then Thursday I have a teachers' dinner with Seokseong. I think it will be good... the last teachers' dinner I attended with Seokyang was fine. However, I am glad I don't work at Celina's school. The way they do things there is both baffling and appalling. For example: she went hiking with her fellow teachers. They weren't done until like 6, I think, and then they went out to a restaurant, and she didn't even leave to return to Buyeo until 11:30! This was a Wednesday night! It's also the second time she got roped into staying out with the other teachers an insanely long amount of time. Don't the other teachers want to get home to their families? Also - she doesn't speak Korean! That is a long, long time to socialize when you can't communicate. Based on my previous teachers' dinner experience, I don't think this will happen to me, but I'm a little concerned. Two teachers' dinners in a row can be a lot.
Oct. 22-24th was my trip to Busan. Even though it was a very cool place, I don't think I'll be going back for a while. It's just so hard to get to. Here's a rundown of the itinerary to get there:
5:15 Bus from school to Buyeo - 15 minutes
5:50 Bus from Buyeo to Daejeon - 1 hr 40 minutes
7:32 Taxi from Seobu Bus Terminal to Daejeon Station - 15 minutes
8:01 Train from Daejeon to Busan - 2 hrs
10:01 Taxi from Busan Station to hostel - 20 minutes
Catching the 8:01 train out of Daejeon just put my life under a lot of stress. Don't think I'll do that again any time soon.
Luckily the trouble getting to Busan was worth it. It's a gorgeous coastal city. We went to the aquarium and the Busan International Fireworks Festival. It was nothing short of insanely crowded - the kind of crowded where you could literally be picked up off your feet and swept away. The fireworks were good, but I wouldn't go again. For all the hype I was expecting a lot more. Maybe Koreans just don't know how seriously Americans take their explosives because 4th of July fireworks are just as good in my opinion. Either way I'm still glad I went for the experience. I got back Sunday evening.
The following weekend was Halloween! Or as the Koreans insist on calling it no matter how many times I correct my students, Halloween Day. They don't really celebrate it, but some kids dress up (I don't know about trick or treating though). I bought fairy wings at Homeplus and was a fairy. I went to Cheonan with some people from Buyeo - there was a big group of foreigners (waygooks - Korean for foreigners) congregating at a bar for Halloween.
I did Halloween lessons Thursday afternoon and all day Friday at Seokseong. I think the kids enjoyed it. I showed my older kids one of those goof YouTube videos where you stare at this peaceful-looking car commercial and all of a sudden this monster jumps out screaming. So many of them freaked out! Then all day long it was, "One more time! Teacher, one more time!" The 1st/2nd grade class made jack o lanterns, and 3-6th played a Halloween game. Kevin dressed up like a zombie, face paint and bloody shirt and everything, and he said one of his 3rd graders cried because he was "so scary."
Tomorrow the Seokyang teachers are going on a picnic, then we're going to a dinner. I don't know why we're going on a picnic and then dinner. Last Wednesday Mr. Kim told me we were going hiking instead of volleyball, and now we're going on a picnic instead of hiking. Oh Korea. If I had 1,000 won for every time Mr. Kim said, "The ______ is not," I would be able to buy a kimchi refrigerator. Today, "The 3rd grade class, is not." Sure thing. I'll just hang out for the 40 minutes when I'm usually teaching 3rd grade.
Then Thursday I have a teachers' dinner with Seokseong. I think it will be good... the last teachers' dinner I attended with Seokyang was fine. However, I am glad I don't work at Celina's school. The way they do things there is both baffling and appalling. For example: she went hiking with her fellow teachers. They weren't done until like 6, I think, and then they went out to a restaurant, and she didn't even leave to return to Buyeo until 11:30! This was a Wednesday night! It's also the second time she got roped into staying out with the other teachers an insanely long amount of time. Don't the other teachers want to get home to their families? Also - she doesn't speak Korean! That is a long, long time to socialize when you can't communicate. Based on my previous teachers' dinner experience, I don't think this will happen to me, but I'm a little concerned. Two teachers' dinners in a row can be a lot.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Culture
First of all - Aunt Nellie, I was looking back through the blog and noticed a post by you I had missed earlier... sorry! Actually yes, I have met a few parents, but it's been pretty coincidental. Everyone knows who I am, so sometimes random people will approach me. The mother of one of my fourth grade boys came up to me at the bus stop because apparently she works at the restaurant that's right next to my stop. She was really nice - she gave me a little fried dough thing shaped like a fish with red beans in it.
Also - Uncle Tom, I hear you were not happy with my lack of posting. I will try to update more often!
I hope everyone had a great time at the pumpkin party!
So a note on red beans. I don't know if I've gone into detail about this, but Koreans LOVE red beans. They are under the impression that red beans = dessert food. I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten some kind of pastry full of what appeared to be chocolate only to bite into it and discover mashed up red beans! It's actually pretty good, but you can imagine my disappointment when I'm expecting chocolate and I get... beans. What a letdown.
I really enjoyed my teachers' training on Monday. Learning more things about Korean and Korea has definitely helped improve my teaching the teachers. For example, I inserted a little cultural tip on Monday. The book we're working with had a sample dialogue on how to get someone's attention (i.e. "Theresa?"), and I got to thinking about the differences in America and Korea when it comes to politely asking for someone's attention. In Korea, if you're sitting at a restaurant, you have to beckon the server over... no one will just wait on you if you "look ready" to order. How do you do this? 여기여! Yeogi-yo!! Essentially, this means "here!" Kind of rude in English, isn't it? I don't think you'd get great service if you just shout "here!" at a waiter/waitress in America. I have a hard time even calling out Yeogi-yo! in Korea because it just feels so wrong.
So I talked to the teachers about what's okay when you want someone's attention in English. If you know them, saying their name as a question works ("Theresa?"). I told them that yeogi-yo is actually kind of impolite, and they were so surprised! I explained that "Excuse me?" is the best way to get anyone's attention if they're someone you don't know. Koreans also really don't apologize for bumping into people, so I demonstrated how to use "Excuse me." as an apology.
There's also a major difference in nonverbal attention-getting. When you want someone to walk over to you, in America you extend your hand out palm up and curl your fingers at them repeatedly. This is really rude in Korea! That hand gesture is reserved for beckoning dogs. Instead, Koreans extend their hand palm DOWN and sort of flap their wrist/fingers toward themselves. I explained to the teachers that in America the first way is normal and if they attempted the Korean way, people probably wouldn't know what they wanted. This wrist/finger flap thingy works for taxis, too. Don't stand in the street and stick out your arm a la New York - this is a gauche foreigner move that I'm guilty of. Stick out your arm and do the flapping thing. Again, I demonstrated for the teachers and encouraged them to be very assertive when flagging taxis in America.
I think they really enjoyed the culture stuff. I know the vocab/dialogues, etc we work on are useful, but I'm trying to think of what I would want to know if I was just a tourist in a new country - these are the basic things that you might not know. In Korea I can get away with doing culturally inappropriate things because I'm obviously foreign so I get a little more slack, but Koreans in America wouldn't get the same consideration because it's not as obvious that they're foreign.
Also - Uncle Tom, I hear you were not happy with my lack of posting. I will try to update more often!
I hope everyone had a great time at the pumpkin party!
So a note on red beans. I don't know if I've gone into detail about this, but Koreans LOVE red beans. They are under the impression that red beans = dessert food. I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten some kind of pastry full of what appeared to be chocolate only to bite into it and discover mashed up red beans! It's actually pretty good, but you can imagine my disappointment when I'm expecting chocolate and I get... beans. What a letdown.
I really enjoyed my teachers' training on Monday. Learning more things about Korean and Korea has definitely helped improve my teaching the teachers. For example, I inserted a little cultural tip on Monday. The book we're working with had a sample dialogue on how to get someone's attention (i.e. "Theresa?"), and I got to thinking about the differences in America and Korea when it comes to politely asking for someone's attention. In Korea, if you're sitting at a restaurant, you have to beckon the server over... no one will just wait on you if you "look ready" to order. How do you do this? 여기여! Yeogi-yo!! Essentially, this means "here!" Kind of rude in English, isn't it? I don't think you'd get great service if you just shout "here!" at a waiter/waitress in America. I have a hard time even calling out Yeogi-yo! in Korea because it just feels so wrong.
So I talked to the teachers about what's okay when you want someone's attention in English. If you know them, saying their name as a question works ("Theresa?"). I told them that yeogi-yo is actually kind of impolite, and they were so surprised! I explained that "Excuse me?" is the best way to get anyone's attention if they're someone you don't know. Koreans also really don't apologize for bumping into people, so I demonstrated how to use "Excuse me." as an apology.
There's also a major difference in nonverbal attention-getting. When you want someone to walk over to you, in America you extend your hand out palm up and curl your fingers at them repeatedly. This is really rude in Korea! That hand gesture is reserved for beckoning dogs. Instead, Koreans extend their hand palm DOWN and sort of flap their wrist/fingers toward themselves. I explained to the teachers that in America the first way is normal and if they attempted the Korean way, people probably wouldn't know what they wanted. This wrist/finger flap thingy works for taxis, too. Don't stand in the street and stick out your arm a la New York - this is a gauche foreigner move that I'm guilty of. Stick out your arm and do the flapping thing. Again, I demonstrated for the teachers and encouraged them to be very assertive when flagging taxis in America.
I think they really enjoyed the culture stuff. I know the vocab/dialogues, etc we work on are useful, but I'm trying to think of what I would want to know if I was just a tourist in a new country - these are the basic things that you might not know. In Korea I can get away with doing culturally inappropriate things because I'm obviously foreign so I get a little more slack, but Koreans in America wouldn't get the same consideration because it's not as obvious that they're foreign.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Photo montage
Buddhist temple at Haiensa
More temple pictures
Joon, our Buddhist monk guide. A very nice guy.
My friend Gena celebrating the 3am wakeup call.
Me and Gena and another woman at the temple stay. Pictured: temple attire. SO fashionable.
Seokseong 3rd grade - Jason (Eungi), Thomas (Donghyeon), Evan (Jonghyeok), and James (Donggeun). The 3rd grade girls took this picture while we were waiting for the after-school class to begin.
Me with the 3rd grade Seokseong girls: Ruby, Sydney, and Alice. Presh.
Joseph (Kim I-Kyeom), Seokyang 3rd grader. Adorable, yet a total pain at the same time.
Mr. Kim getting ready to play some volleyball at Seokyang.
Ice (Lee Jae-Lin) and Cole. Ice comes into my room roughly 20 times a day - "Hi!" "Hi!" "My name Lee Jae-Lin!" "Ice!" Twenty. Times. Every. Day.
Don't know their names or ages, but these Seokyang girls like to escort me to the bus stop occasionally. They hold my hands and walk me out of school. They asked me to take their picture when they saw my camera... at least, they said "SomethinginKorean, please." (I know "please" in Korean) and pointed at my camera, then posed.
Cole (Heo Hyeon-Woo). Again... Seokyang 3rd grade. He drives me bonkers, but how do you stay mad at this face??
Seokyang
Seokyang 6th grade, left to right: Michael, Jake (orange), Chuck (blue hoodie), Christopher, and Thomas. Jake is my unofficial 6th grade translator... he's super good at English.
Seokyang 6th grade - we had a English competition in the gymFriday, October 15, 2010
Ppali ppali!!
So I realize that it's been a full week and a day since my last post. Sorry about that - everything has been ppali ppali (hurry hurry!) lately. The weekend temple stay was good. I had more than a few problems with transportation, but it ended up going fine. Made it to Daegu, then we went to Haiensa for the actual temple stay. I have now complied quite an extensive list of why I will never be a Buddhist monk.
1. They wake up at 3am and go to sleep at 9pm EVERY DAY.
2. They always sit on the floor, usually in lotus position, for literally hours.
3. They bow 108 times (like on the floor prostrate bowing, not head/waist bowing) every morning before dawn.
4. They meditate for hours every day.
5. Each year they do a week long mediation. They meditate 14 hours per day for seven days straight. Not a joke or a mistranslation... my group questioned our monk extensively.
6. They keep the heat on waaaaaay too high.
7. It's a 40 minute hike up a mountain to their living quarters (I know, we hiked there).
8. They drink tons and tons of green tea every day.
9. They are silent during meals and while walking.
10. They wake up at 3am every day. This deserves two spots on my list.
So yes, on a temple stay, I did most of the forementioned things. Meditation, green tea, 3am wakeup call, silence during meals, walking in a single file line, 30 min meditation, 108 bows... the works. A temple stay is not for the casually interested or easily bored. It's especially not for the out of shape or inflexible. Seriously. But I did have a good time and it was a good experience.
This week has been business as usual pretty much. School is becoming more routine, which I think is good. I've been struggling with my Seokyang classes because they're so rowdy all the time. Finally on Monday I cracked down hard on my sixth grade. I learned my new favorite Korean word, "gamji." It means writing sentences for punishment. I made the sixth grade write "I will not talk in class" 120 times and assigned them the pages we were supposed to do in class for homework. I also put Google translate to good use on Tuesday... I put it up on the overhead screen and Mr. Kim also translated (I assume that's what he was doing). Now I think they know I'm serious. The 3rd, 4th, and 6th grades all got a stern Stephen Hawking lecture via typing. I'm glad because I didn't want to punish them without any warning, but I can't warn them because they wouldn't understand. Now they know that if they act up there will be consequences. I don't want to go punishment-crazy, but I have to do something. From what I understand from other teachers and things I've read, Korean kids are used to pretty strict authority figures, so they will expect the same out of their teachers.
The 3rd grade was really grinding my gears, so I warned them a few times then finally said they have to come in during recess and sit quietly for 10 minutes. Gotta love kids - when they filed in, two little girls came up and hugged me around the waist... "Teacherrrrrr, I looooooove you... 5 minutes? 5 minutes?" Sorry, your cuteness will not faze me.
Wednesday in the 3rd grade one of the little girls got socked in the face by her seatmate. Now, the kids are always hitting each other... they tackle, wrestle, and punch each other, but this one actually cut her lip on her teeth. Blood is kind of a problem. She started tearing up, so I made the boy go stand facing the corner. After a while I went to get him, and when I turned him around, his little face was streaked with tears and his eyes were red and he was sniffling. I felt like a complete and total monster. I made a third grade boy cry. Or hey maybe he was crying because he punched that girl and made her bleed. Either way I never, ever want to see one of my students cry like that again because I can't just hug him like I really, really wanted to. I just had him go sit down and gave him a tissue. I think he got over it though... I went around giving high fives for a good job on homework, and when he low fived me I let him push my hand onto the desk, pretending he was super strong and he laughed. Even now though, a few days later, picturing his little face makes me kind of sick.
Today I'm going with Joo to Nonsan to meet his family. I'm very excited to see what they're like. The kids here are SO CUTE. I've been teaching the kindergarten and 1st/2nd grade some kiddie songs, and the 3rd and 4th grade the hokey pokey. They LOVE the hokey pokey. It's actually starting to become a distraction because all they want to do is "hokey pokey Teacher, hokey pokeyhokeypokeyhokeypokey." NO! Learn how to say "This is my family." I started "The Eensy-Weensy Spider" with the kindergarten yesterday, and when I dropped by their classroom after lunch they all said hi and started waving, and one little boy started doing the eensy-weensy spider hand motions.
So you may remember reading about kimchi in my blog. Recently there has been a serious spike in the price of cabbage as documented in this online news article, and it's really screwing with everyday life and the Korean economy. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/world/asia/15kimchi.html?_r=3&hp
Koreans eat kimchi every day three times a day. They love their kimchi. We're still getting it at school, and since there's such problems with it lately I feel really bad if I waste any so I've been eating all of it every day. Hasn't been so bad really... I think I'm getting more used to Korean food. This is good because the other teachers keep giving me food.
The funny thing is, the Korean teachers are really nice, and I think they're expressing this niceness via food. The problem is, I find about 90% of the food they give me to be not exactly my style. To date I've received a bunch of grapes, about 30 mushrooms, pork cutlets, a persimmon, multiple rice cakes, countless sweet potatoes, and pumpkin porridge with beans. None of these foods really appeal to me, but I want to show my appreciation so I do my best to eat them.
1. They wake up at 3am and go to sleep at 9pm EVERY DAY.
2. They always sit on the floor, usually in lotus position, for literally hours.
3. They bow 108 times (like on the floor prostrate bowing, not head/waist bowing) every morning before dawn.
4. They meditate for hours every day.
5. Each year they do a week long mediation. They meditate 14 hours per day for seven days straight. Not a joke or a mistranslation... my group questioned our monk extensively.
6. They keep the heat on waaaaaay too high.
7. It's a 40 minute hike up a mountain to their living quarters (I know, we hiked there).
8. They drink tons and tons of green tea every day.
9. They are silent during meals and while walking.
10. They wake up at 3am every day. This deserves two spots on my list.
So yes, on a temple stay, I did most of the forementioned things. Meditation, green tea, 3am wakeup call, silence during meals, walking in a single file line, 30 min meditation, 108 bows... the works. A temple stay is not for the casually interested or easily bored. It's especially not for the out of shape or inflexible. Seriously. But I did have a good time and it was a good experience.
This week has been business as usual pretty much. School is becoming more routine, which I think is good. I've been struggling with my Seokyang classes because they're so rowdy all the time. Finally on Monday I cracked down hard on my sixth grade. I learned my new favorite Korean word, "gamji." It means writing sentences for punishment. I made the sixth grade write "I will not talk in class" 120 times and assigned them the pages we were supposed to do in class for homework. I also put Google translate to good use on Tuesday... I put it up on the overhead screen and Mr. Kim also translated (I assume that's what he was doing). Now I think they know I'm serious. The 3rd, 4th, and 6th grades all got a stern Stephen Hawking lecture via typing. I'm glad because I didn't want to punish them without any warning, but I can't warn them because they wouldn't understand. Now they know that if they act up there will be consequences. I don't want to go punishment-crazy, but I have to do something. From what I understand from other teachers and things I've read, Korean kids are used to pretty strict authority figures, so they will expect the same out of their teachers.
The 3rd grade was really grinding my gears, so I warned them a few times then finally said they have to come in during recess and sit quietly for 10 minutes. Gotta love kids - when they filed in, two little girls came up and hugged me around the waist... "Teacherrrrrr, I looooooove you... 5 minutes? 5 minutes?" Sorry, your cuteness will not faze me.
Wednesday in the 3rd grade one of the little girls got socked in the face by her seatmate. Now, the kids are always hitting each other... they tackle, wrestle, and punch each other, but this one actually cut her lip on her teeth. Blood is kind of a problem. She started tearing up, so I made the boy go stand facing the corner. After a while I went to get him, and when I turned him around, his little face was streaked with tears and his eyes were red and he was sniffling. I felt like a complete and total monster. I made a third grade boy cry. Or hey maybe he was crying because he punched that girl and made her bleed. Either way I never, ever want to see one of my students cry like that again because I can't just hug him like I really, really wanted to. I just had him go sit down and gave him a tissue. I think he got over it though... I went around giving high fives for a good job on homework, and when he low fived me I let him push my hand onto the desk, pretending he was super strong and he laughed. Even now though, a few days later, picturing his little face makes me kind of sick.
Today I'm going with Joo to Nonsan to meet his family. I'm very excited to see what they're like. The kids here are SO CUTE. I've been teaching the kindergarten and 1st/2nd grade some kiddie songs, and the 3rd and 4th grade the hokey pokey. They LOVE the hokey pokey. It's actually starting to become a distraction because all they want to do is "hokey pokey Teacher, hokey pokeyhokeypokeyhokeypokey." NO! Learn how to say "This is my family." I started "The Eensy-Weensy Spider" with the kindergarten yesterday, and when I dropped by their classroom after lunch they all said hi and started waving, and one little boy started doing the eensy-weensy spider hand motions.
So you may remember reading about kimchi in my blog. Recently there has been a serious spike in the price of cabbage as documented in this online news article, and it's really screwing with everyday life and the Korean economy. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/world/asia/15kimchi.html?_r=3&hp
Koreans eat kimchi every day three times a day. They love their kimchi. We're still getting it at school, and since there's such problems with it lately I feel really bad if I waste any so I've been eating all of it every day. Hasn't been so bad really... I think I'm getting more used to Korean food. This is good because the other teachers keep giving me food.
The funny thing is, the Korean teachers are really nice, and I think they're expressing this niceness via food. The problem is, I find about 90% of the food they give me to be not exactly my style. To date I've received a bunch of grapes, about 30 mushrooms, pork cutlets, a persimmon, multiple rice cakes, countless sweet potatoes, and pumpkin porridge with beans. None of these foods really appeal to me, but I want to show my appreciation so I do my best to eat them.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
An uneducated take on the Korean language
After checking the date of my last post, I realize it was a few days ago. I'm getting busier at school, so I've found my blogging down time has seriously decreased.
Not much has happened. I think my classes/lessons are starting to improve. Now that I've had a few, I know better how long each activity will take so it's helping me plan. For example, I think this week's teacher training was a total success. It's the third one, but it's the first one that I really feel made some progress and I felt like I knew exactly what I was doing. I've picked up some Korean, and it's been incredibly helpful. Knowing some hangul has really helped me learn what's hard for Koreans and why. For example, most Westerners know that people who speak Asian languages don't really distinguish between "r" and "l." I finally know why! (At least, for Koreans.) The hangul symbol ㄹ is translated into the Roman alphabet as sort of a cross between r/l. The symbol ㅂ is b/p. You might remember how I mentioned that Buyeo (부 여) used to be called Puyo/Puyeo. I think (remember, this is not fact, this is just what I've hopefully deduced from the very, very short time I've been in Korea) that this is because in Korean there are no separate "b" and "p" sounds, so you can't actually phonetically translate it into Roman letters. There's also no "v" at all. Imagine trying to explain the difference between b, p, and v! Also imagine it in reverse - when I speak Korean ("speak"... i.e. say hello, Buyeo, etc.) I have to kind of jam b/p and d/t and r/l together. Buyeo isn't really BU-yeo, and it's not PU-yeo, it's like B/Puyeo. Let me break down the Buyeo symbols, then you too will know some Korean!
Like I said, it's 부 여.
ㅂ is b/p
ㅜ is u as in you
ㅇ when you see this "o" shape, it's silent unless it's at the end of a word, then it's a "ng" sound like Seokseong
ㅕ yeo as in yo man!
So now just sound out 부 b/p-u 여 silent-yeo and there you have it! And the best part is every time you see the ㅂ, ㅜ, ㅇ, or 여, they will always sound like the sounds I've just described. I think there's exceptions, but pretty much unlike English, what you see is what you get. ㅜ is always "u." In English there's really no good explanation that I know of for why "apple" and "father" both have "a" but they sound completely different, which makes learning English so hard.
So you see, if you were to try and write a word such as "library" in hangul, even though it's got the different "r" and "l," in hangul they would literally be the exact same symbol ㄹ. So if Korean is your native language, you probably think in hangul (just like I think annyeong haseyo instead of 안녕하세요 even though they're the same thing) so it would be massively hard to get out of the ㄹ box, you know? So essentially I think knowing these sorts of things can help me identify problem areas for my classes.
Okay, quick quiz: what's this Korean word? It's crucial to their everyday lives.
밥
You should know ㅂ by now, and I'll give you a hint: ㅏ is ah. Sound it out! Start with the upper left and read left to right, then down to the bottom.
Okay okay, it's bap/pap, aka RICE! Congratulations, you can now eat rice in Buyeo if you so choose.
Linguistics aside, I really feel like I'm taking control at Seokseong and I like it a lot. My lessons are getting more exciting. Yesterday with the 3rd grade and today with the 4th grade we learned how to ask, "What do you need?" and answer the question. I made a game where everyone gets several cards with things like "a pen," "scissors," "a pencil," etc. written on them. We arranged the chairs in a circle facing inward and everyone but one student sat down. The one in the middle had to choose someone and ask them, "What do you need?" The student sitting down would look at his/her cards and say, "I need a pen/pencil etc." If the student standing had the matching card, he/she had to give it to the student sitting down. Then they switched places. If the standing student didn't have the card, he/she said, "Sorry, I don't have any." (We also included, "Here you go." "Thanks." "That's okay.") Then everyone had to group in the center of the circle and I'd say, "Go!" and they'd dash for the chairs. Last one standing was the middle person. There was a LOT of squealing. The fourth grade were total angels - third grade was acceptable.
I feel like Stephen Hawking here. Not because I'm super smart, but because I like to communicate through a computer. Especially at Seokseong - my computer is hooked up to display the screen to the class, so when I'm on my own I'll leave Google translate open and if they don't know what I'm talking about, I'll type it in. Also we have "conversations" in between classes. One of my students told me via the computer that I was a very good Korean teacher! Not quite sure what that means because I am not actually a Korean teacher... I think she meant my Korean is very good. Probably, "Teacher, you have good Korean." and Google messed it up. Either way it was some kind of compliment so that's sweet. The 5th/6th grade hasn't seen me in a while since I was gone last Friday and they were on a field trip last Thursday and the week before, so they've missed that I've learned several important classroom words in Korean (Eyes up here! Scissors. Volunteer. 1-10. etc.)
I'm going out of town this weekend. I'm headed for Daegu, a city about an hour east of Daejeon. My friend from IU is there, and we're going to stay at a Buddhist temple Saturday/Sunday. I'll let you know how it goes... I googled it and it looks cool, but Kevin said one of his friends did it and it was "horrendous." Lots and lots of bowing and waking up super early and well, doing Buddhist-type things. I'm looking forward to the experience. All this out-of-town-ness makes the weeks very, very long though so hopefully I'll get back at a decent time on Sunday.
Not much has happened. I think my classes/lessons are starting to improve. Now that I've had a few, I know better how long each activity will take so it's helping me plan. For example, I think this week's teacher training was a total success. It's the third one, but it's the first one that I really feel made some progress and I felt like I knew exactly what I was doing. I've picked up some Korean, and it's been incredibly helpful. Knowing some hangul has really helped me learn what's hard for Koreans and why. For example, most Westerners know that people who speak Asian languages don't really distinguish between "r" and "l." I finally know why! (At least, for Koreans.) The hangul symbol ㄹ is translated into the Roman alphabet as sort of a cross between r/l. The symbol ㅂ is b/p. You might remember how I mentioned that Buyeo (부 여) used to be called Puyo/Puyeo. I think (remember, this is not fact, this is just what I've hopefully deduced from the very, very short time I've been in Korea) that this is because in Korean there are no separate "b" and "p" sounds, so you can't actually phonetically translate it into Roman letters. There's also no "v" at all. Imagine trying to explain the difference between b, p, and v! Also imagine it in reverse - when I speak Korean ("speak"... i.e. say hello, Buyeo, etc.) I have to kind of jam b/p and d/t and r/l together. Buyeo isn't really BU-yeo, and it's not PU-yeo, it's like B/Puyeo. Let me break down the Buyeo symbols, then you too will know some Korean!
Like I said, it's 부 여.
ㅂ is b/p
ㅜ is u as in you
ㅇ when you see this "o" shape, it's silent unless it's at the end of a word, then it's a "ng" sound like Seokseong
ㅕ yeo as in yo man!
So now just sound out 부 b/p-u 여 silent-yeo and there you have it! And the best part is every time you see the ㅂ, ㅜ, ㅇ, or 여, they will always sound like the sounds I've just described. I think there's exceptions, but pretty much unlike English, what you see is what you get. ㅜ is always "u." In English there's really no good explanation that I know of for why "apple" and "father" both have "a" but they sound completely different, which makes learning English so hard.
So you see, if you were to try and write a word such as "library" in hangul, even though it's got the different "r" and "l," in hangul they would literally be the exact same symbol ㄹ. So if Korean is your native language, you probably think in hangul (just like I think annyeong haseyo instead of 안녕하세요 even though they're the same thing) so it would be massively hard to get out of the ㄹ box, you know? So essentially I think knowing these sorts of things can help me identify problem areas for my classes.
Okay, quick quiz: what's this Korean word? It's crucial to their everyday lives.
밥
You should know ㅂ by now, and I'll give you a hint: ㅏ is ah. Sound it out! Start with the upper left and read left to right, then down to the bottom.
Okay okay, it's bap/pap, aka RICE! Congratulations, you can now eat rice in Buyeo if you so choose.
Linguistics aside, I really feel like I'm taking control at Seokseong and I like it a lot. My lessons are getting more exciting. Yesterday with the 3rd grade and today with the 4th grade we learned how to ask, "What do you need?" and answer the question. I made a game where everyone gets several cards with things like "a pen," "scissors," "a pencil," etc. written on them. We arranged the chairs in a circle facing inward and everyone but one student sat down. The one in the middle had to choose someone and ask them, "What do you need?" The student sitting down would look at his/her cards and say, "I need a pen/pencil etc." If the student standing had the matching card, he/she had to give it to the student sitting down. Then they switched places. If the standing student didn't have the card, he/she said, "Sorry, I don't have any." (We also included, "Here you go." "Thanks." "That's okay.") Then everyone had to group in the center of the circle and I'd say, "Go!" and they'd dash for the chairs. Last one standing was the middle person. There was a LOT of squealing. The fourth grade were total angels - third grade was acceptable.
I feel like Stephen Hawking here. Not because I'm super smart, but because I like to communicate through a computer. Especially at Seokseong - my computer is hooked up to display the screen to the class, so when I'm on my own I'll leave Google translate open and if they don't know what I'm talking about, I'll type it in. Also we have "conversations" in between classes. One of my students told me via the computer that I was a very good Korean teacher! Not quite sure what that means because I am not actually a Korean teacher... I think she meant my Korean is very good. Probably, "Teacher, you have good Korean." and Google messed it up. Either way it was some kind of compliment so that's sweet. The 5th/6th grade hasn't seen me in a while since I was gone last Friday and they were on a field trip last Thursday and the week before, so they've missed that I've learned several important classroom words in Korean (Eyes up here! Scissors. Volunteer. 1-10. etc.)
I'm going out of town this weekend. I'm headed for Daegu, a city about an hour east of Daejeon. My friend from IU is there, and we're going to stay at a Buddhist temple Saturday/Sunday. I'll let you know how it goes... I googled it and it looks cool, but Kevin said one of his friends did it and it was "horrendous." Lots and lots of bowing and waking up super early and well, doing Buddhist-type things. I'm looking forward to the experience. All this out-of-town-ness makes the weeks very, very long though so hopefully I'll get back at a decent time on Sunday.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
"Orientation" is Korean for "death by lecture"
I have finally, finally, FINALLY returned from orientation. It was touch and go for awhile but I made it out. This was easily the worst orientation I have ever gone to for anything in my life. It was a just a perfect storm of awful: short notice, missed my field trip, missed my soccer game (which, incidentally we won 1-0!!), had to travel 3 hours to Asan in order to even get there, didn't get paid overtime, am about to work 12 days in a row, was forced to eat rice for breakfast, was on total lockdown for three days straight, and I didn't even have a bed. Yeah, I went all-out Korean on the room thing... we were assigned roommates and rooms, and for some bizarre reason, all but four of the rooms had beds. It's kind of an old-time Korean thing to sleep on the floor so this isn't super strange, but the deeply irritating part was that nearly every single TWO PERSON room had THREE beds. Yes, three. Was I allowed to sleep in another room? No. Was I allowed to move a bed into my room? No. Was I allowed to move a mattress into my room? No. Why? "It is not Korean culture."
It was three very, very long days. I took the 7:30am bus from Buyeo to Asan, then another bus to the Sucheonhyang University, then a taxi to the Korea Financial Institution. We had the opening at 11:00am and went until 9:00pm with two hours for lunch and dinner. Saturday we had a cultural trip to Independence Hall, which was essentially just museums, then lectures from 2:00-9:00. Sunday we had lectures from 9:00-5:00. Breakfast was from 7:00-8:00, so even though we didn't have to be ready until 9:00, we had to be up for breakfast by 7:30 because that's when they'd start clearing away the food.
Okay now enough complaining. I really enjoyed our cultural trip... I don't know much about Korean history, so it was cool to learn some stuff.
I'll write more about it later, but for now please enjoy the assortment of pictures.
Me and Celina at Independence Hall in Cheonan. The guide said this sculpture is supposed to represent two hands praying for peace.
My kindergarten Seokseong class. You can't really see their adorable faces so well though.
Kevin on the spinny/bouncing ride at the Great Baekje World Festival. This is a pretty accurate representation of how Kevin looks most of the time - fingers poised in Asian peace sign mode.
Parade at the Great Baekje World Festival.
Blake, Kevin, and Chris on the pirate ship. Kevin is afraid of heights and kept claiming his side "went higher" than our side. Please observe that apparently no one wanted to ride with the foreigners.
Pirate ship. Looks quite small from this angle.
This is what I'm surrounded by every day. Adorable.
Parade for the Great Baekje World Festival.
Independence Hall - orientation group
It was three very, very long days. I took the 7:30am bus from Buyeo to Asan, then another bus to the Sucheonhyang University, then a taxi to the Korea Financial Institution. We had the opening at 11:00am and went until 9:00pm with two hours for lunch and dinner. Saturday we had a cultural trip to Independence Hall, which was essentially just museums, then lectures from 2:00-9:00. Sunday we had lectures from 9:00-5:00. Breakfast was from 7:00-8:00, so even though we didn't have to be ready until 9:00, we had to be up for breakfast by 7:30 because that's when they'd start clearing away the food.
Okay now enough complaining. I really enjoyed our cultural trip... I don't know much about Korean history, so it was cool to learn some stuff.
I'll write more about it later, but for now please enjoy the assortment of pictures.
My certification of completion for orientation. Quite fancy, actually.
Saturday night of orientation. Lucky us - there was a noraebang (karaoke) underneath the Korea Financial Institute. This is how serious Koreans are about their noraebang. Louis, who's Korean-Canadian, and I performed two duets: Ain't No Mountain High and One Sweet Day (Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men). I picked the former and he picked the latter. Next day at orientation I was chosen by my peers to receive a fancy-pants bookmark because of my singing ability! Those of you who have been lucky enough to hear me sing might be pretty surprised to hear that, hahahaha. It was tremendously fun.
Me and Celina at Independence Hall in Cheonan. The guide said this sculpture is supposed to represent two hands praying for peace.
My kindergarten Seokseong class. You can't really see their adorable faces so well though.
Kevin on the spinny/bouncing ride at the Great Baekje World Festival. This is a pretty accurate representation of how Kevin looks most of the time - fingers poised in Asian peace sign mode.
Parade at the Great Baekje World Festival.
Blake, Kevin, and Chris on the pirate ship. Kevin is afraid of heights and kept claiming his side "went higher" than our side. Please observe that apparently no one wanted to ride with the foreigners.
Pirate ship. Looks quite small from this angle.
This is what I'm surrounded by every day. Adorable.
Parade for the Great Baekje World Festival. Independence Hall - orientation groupMonday, September 27, 2010
Fashionista!
So I've been jotting notes in my blog draft because I didn't have time to write a full post, and now I've got all these random things I wanted to talk about. Therefore I'm going to do this in list form to make things easier.
1. Orange nails
So I get along really well with the two Seokyang kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Lim and Mrs. Chung. Sometimes I forget that we don't ever actually have conversations because neither of them speak any English! I sometimes go visit the kindergarten room after lunch because Mrs. Lim is teaching me how to count and write the numbers in Korean, and I am teaching her how to count and write in English. Mrs. Chung always makes me coffee, which is nice. Anyway, so as a part of our bonding, I thought Mrs. Lim asked if I wanted to cut flowers with her (I deduced this because she pointed to her fingers, the nails and tips of which had been dyed a deep orange color, then pointed at a bush and said, "Flower.") Sure, I'll cut some flowers with you. Don't know where or when, but why not? So this is how I accidentally roped myself into getting my fingernails dyed. Turns out that she didn't mean cut flowers, she meant she had ALREADY cut these flowers and made this paste out of them. Koreans put the paste on their nails, cover them with cellophane and tie the bundles, then leave them on their fingers for anywhere from 4-8 hours. Then you take them off and your fingertips/nails are dyed orange. So she started doing my nails and I was like, Okay - there is absolutely no tactful way to politely say I don't want orange fingertips for months (because did I mention it doesn't come off until your nails grow out?!). So she did my ring and pinky fingers and gave me the rest to take home and do myself. This is how I ended up spending my Wednesday night trying to tie little dye bundles on my fingers. I'll take a picture and post it... I only wore them for like an hour and a half (in the hopes of minimizing the damage), so they're just this pumpkin color.
2. Sickness
So I caught a cough over Chuseok, and all the teachers seem kind of concerned, which is nice. I'm getting much better, and I don't even feel sick, it's just the cough. Mrs. Chung gave me a mason jar of plum juice that says it's good for your health. I guess she made it herself, which was really nice. My Seokseong vice-principal (henceforth referred to merely as VP) gave me a small container of ginseng candy, which he says will make me strong. ("Yes, strong! Next week, volleyball, *pretends to spike a ball*.")
Joo, on the other hand, seems awfully sick. He said there's something wrong with his stomach, and I gave him a bunch of my cough drops because he keeps coughing. If I had Mrs. Chung's plum juice with me I might have given it to him because he looks like he needs it.
3. Swimming
I went swimming with Kevin at the Buyeo girls' middle school on Monday. It's a really nice facility, but I'm not crazy about swimming in 50 meter pools. The highlight of the outing was when I had to get my picture taken because it was my first time at the pool. You have to crouch down to get on eye level with the webcam that takes your picture, and Kevin thought it would be hilarious to jump in with me, so now every time I go swimming a picture of me laughing with my eyes closed and Kevin grinning with the Korean peace signs will pop up. Every. Single. Time. I really wish I had a copy because this picture is hysterical.
4. Native teachers dinner
Tuesday I had the special principal's volleyball like I said. It turned out to just be a team of Seokyang teachers vs. the principals. I was hitting the ball around with some principals and of course the first question was, "How old are you? Husband? Husband?"
As I've said before, because I am tall the Koreans think I am really good at spiking/blocking, which is sadly not true. I can't jump. The whole game all I hear is, "Theresa, more jump-ee! More spike! Block-uh! Spike-uh!" Every time someone on the other team would go to spike my principal would yell, "Block-uh!" So I'd attempt to block. I blocked one, maybe two. The thing is, if I'm going to spike the ball, I need a running start (because of the whole bad at jumping thing), so it's hard to play the net and block and simultaneously be ready to spike.
That evening there was a Buyeo native English teachers dinner, which was good. A Korean buffet.
5. Soccer
Wednesday I had regular volleyball then native teachers' soccer. Kevin is really good so he was coaching us on some drills, and I can actually get the ball off the ground! I still remember being little and hating how every ball I kicked was a grounder. I still have zero ball-handling skills, but the kicking part is looking better. Kevin told me I had a "demon shot" when we were practicing goal kicks.
6. Fashionista, kids' names
I have learned a few more things in Korean, and they're mostly classroom-related. For example, "Eyes up here! Empty hands!" My sixth graders were impressed ("Teacher, very good!")
One of my sixth grade boys walked up to my desk wearing his sweater around his head and proudly told me, "Fashionista!" This particular boy, Elliott, is good friends with Jake, one of my more advanced students. I actually asked Jake how to say "empty hands" in Korean (bin song), and he was like, "Hands - song, empty - bin." So I tapped Elliott's head and asked, "Bin? Bin?" and they didn't get it at first. Then they thought it was hilarious. I went back to my desk and Elliott and Jake conferred, then Elliott came up and said, "Teacher, I am a genius!" So you are.
I'm working hard on learning the kids' names. I know some, but certainly not all. Some I know their English and Korean names (i.e. Elliott is Lim Byeongchan) but some I only know their English names (i.e. Jake). Some I barely recognize as my students! Mr. Kim says I am learning them fast, but it's not fast enough to suit me because it's hard enough to get their attention when I'm actually saying their names.
7. So instead of dealing with the Thursday bus, I met my friend Piro at the taxi stand this morning. He works at Seokseong Middle and takes a cab there, so I thought I'd split it with him as Seokseong Middle and Elementary are reasonably close. So we dropped him off, then the cab driver proceeds to go 100 feet in the distance to Seokyang! I was like, Why don't cab drivers take me to Seokseong!!!!! He kept pointing to Seokyang and saying, Chodunghakgyo (elementary school) and I kept saying, "Aniyo, aniyo (no, no) Seokyang! Seokseong chodunghakgyo, SEOKSEONG." Finally he rolled down the window and asked this guy, then was like oh sorry and took me to Seokseong. He didn't charge me the full amount because of the mix-up, and so I was happy about that. My VP saw us pull up and was curious why I'd taken a taxi since I usually take the bus, so he quizzed the cabbie. Then he turns to me and says, "Ah, Seokseong Middle school teacher, couple?" I was like, "No no, friend, friend!" So now that Piro and I shared a cab, we are a couple I guess. Oh Korea.
1. Orange nails
So I get along really well with the two Seokyang kindergarten teachers, Mrs. Lim and Mrs. Chung. Sometimes I forget that we don't ever actually have conversations because neither of them speak any English! I sometimes go visit the kindergarten room after lunch because Mrs. Lim is teaching me how to count and write the numbers in Korean, and I am teaching her how to count and write in English. Mrs. Chung always makes me coffee, which is nice. Anyway, so as a part of our bonding, I thought Mrs. Lim asked if I wanted to cut flowers with her (I deduced this because she pointed to her fingers, the nails and tips of which had been dyed a deep orange color, then pointed at a bush and said, "Flower.") Sure, I'll cut some flowers with you. Don't know where or when, but why not? So this is how I accidentally roped myself into getting my fingernails dyed. Turns out that she didn't mean cut flowers, she meant she had ALREADY cut these flowers and made this paste out of them. Koreans put the paste on their nails, cover them with cellophane and tie the bundles, then leave them on their fingers for anywhere from 4-8 hours. Then you take them off and your fingertips/nails are dyed orange. So she started doing my nails and I was like, Okay - there is absolutely no tactful way to politely say I don't want orange fingertips for months (because did I mention it doesn't come off until your nails grow out?!). So she did my ring and pinky fingers and gave me the rest to take home and do myself. This is how I ended up spending my Wednesday night trying to tie little dye bundles on my fingers. I'll take a picture and post it... I only wore them for like an hour and a half (in the hopes of minimizing the damage), so they're just this pumpkin color.
2. Sickness
So I caught a cough over Chuseok, and all the teachers seem kind of concerned, which is nice. I'm getting much better, and I don't even feel sick, it's just the cough. Mrs. Chung gave me a mason jar of plum juice that says it's good for your health. I guess she made it herself, which was really nice. My Seokseong vice-principal (henceforth referred to merely as VP) gave me a small container of ginseng candy, which he says will make me strong. ("Yes, strong! Next week, volleyball, *pretends to spike a ball*.")
Joo, on the other hand, seems awfully sick. He said there's something wrong with his stomach, and I gave him a bunch of my cough drops because he keeps coughing. If I had Mrs. Chung's plum juice with me I might have given it to him because he looks like he needs it.
3. Swimming
I went swimming with Kevin at the Buyeo girls' middle school on Monday. It's a really nice facility, but I'm not crazy about swimming in 50 meter pools. The highlight of the outing was when I had to get my picture taken because it was my first time at the pool. You have to crouch down to get on eye level with the webcam that takes your picture, and Kevin thought it would be hilarious to jump in with me, so now every time I go swimming a picture of me laughing with my eyes closed and Kevin grinning with the Korean peace signs will pop up. Every. Single. Time. I really wish I had a copy because this picture is hysterical.
4. Native teachers dinner
Tuesday I had the special principal's volleyball like I said. It turned out to just be a team of Seokyang teachers vs. the principals. I was hitting the ball around with some principals and of course the first question was, "How old are you? Husband? Husband?"
As I've said before, because I am tall the Koreans think I am really good at spiking/blocking, which is sadly not true. I can't jump. The whole game all I hear is, "Theresa, more jump-ee! More spike! Block-uh! Spike-uh!" Every time someone on the other team would go to spike my principal would yell, "Block-uh!" So I'd attempt to block. I blocked one, maybe two. The thing is, if I'm going to spike the ball, I need a running start (because of the whole bad at jumping thing), so it's hard to play the net and block and simultaneously be ready to spike.
That evening there was a Buyeo native English teachers dinner, which was good. A Korean buffet.
5. Soccer
Wednesday I had regular volleyball then native teachers' soccer. Kevin is really good so he was coaching us on some drills, and I can actually get the ball off the ground! I still remember being little and hating how every ball I kicked was a grounder. I still have zero ball-handling skills, but the kicking part is looking better. Kevin told me I had a "demon shot" when we were practicing goal kicks.
6. Fashionista, kids' names
I have learned a few more things in Korean, and they're mostly classroom-related. For example, "Eyes up here! Empty hands!" My sixth graders were impressed ("Teacher, very good!")
One of my sixth grade boys walked up to my desk wearing his sweater around his head and proudly told me, "Fashionista!" This particular boy, Elliott, is good friends with Jake, one of my more advanced students. I actually asked Jake how to say "empty hands" in Korean (bin song), and he was like, "Hands - song, empty - bin." So I tapped Elliott's head and asked, "Bin? Bin?" and they didn't get it at first. Then they thought it was hilarious. I went back to my desk and Elliott and Jake conferred, then Elliott came up and said, "Teacher, I am a genius!" So you are.
I'm working hard on learning the kids' names. I know some, but certainly not all. Some I know their English and Korean names (i.e. Elliott is Lim Byeongchan) but some I only know their English names (i.e. Jake). Some I barely recognize as my students! Mr. Kim says I am learning them fast, but it's not fast enough to suit me because it's hard enough to get their attention when I'm actually saying their names.
7. So instead of dealing with the Thursday bus, I met my friend Piro at the taxi stand this morning. He works at Seokseong Middle and takes a cab there, so I thought I'd split it with him as Seokseong Middle and Elementary are reasonably close. So we dropped him off, then the cab driver proceeds to go 100 feet in the distance to Seokyang! I was like, Why don't cab drivers take me to Seokseong!!!!! He kept pointing to Seokyang and saying, Chodunghakgyo (elementary school) and I kept saying, "Aniyo, aniyo (no, no) Seokyang! Seokseong chodunghakgyo, SEOKSEONG." Finally he rolled down the window and asked this guy, then was like oh sorry and took me to Seokseong. He didn't charge me the full amount because of the mix-up, and so I was happy about that. My VP saw us pull up and was curious why I'd taken a taxi since I usually take the bus, so he quizzed the cabbie. Then he turns to me and says, "Ah, Seokseong Middle school teacher, couple?" I was like, "No no, friend, friend!" So now that Piro and I shared a cab, we are a couple I guess. Oh Korea.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)