August 27, 2010
It was my first day at school, and it was a long day. The jet lag makes me extremely tired around 7-8pm, but it makes me wake up at about 4am. I managed to sleep until 6:30am. I was so relieved that someone from Seokyang was going to pick me up… originally, Suri showed me the bus stop to get on and said it would come at 8:10 and I should take it to the school. I was kind of freaking out because Suri “thought” it was the blue bus but wasn’t sure, I didn’t know how to make it stop, I didn’t know where to buy a ticket (though I assumed I could just pay the driver), I didn’t know how to identify my stop, and assuming I could get off at the right stop, I didn’t know how to walk to the school! I told Dhyana about this dilemma, and she said her co-teacher picked her up the first day and I should ask Suri if mine would. So I asked, and Suri told me someone would pick me up at the apartment main office at 8:30am.
So I woke up at 6:30am and realized I had no food. I ate dinner with Suri and the other guy the day before, but all I had was a little thing of peanuts left over from the 7-11 excursion in Incheon. So I ate the peanuts, took a cold shower because the hot water wasn’t working, got dressed, and packed up my things for school. I left my apartment around 7:30am thinking I would look for a grocery store. I found a little market mom-and-pop type store very close to where I was going to be picked up. I found what looked like Honey Bunches of Oats and a big bottle of water and decided to bring them back to my apartment because I still had about 45 minutes. After breakfast (dry cereal with water), I went back to the main office area. At 8:40am a van pulled up and it was some guy I didn’t recognize, but he knew my name so I got in the van and we drove to Seokyang. He directed me to the principal’s office, and the Black Shirt guy was there (later I figured out he must be the vice-principal). So I’m sitting there and these two are chatting in Korean. Before sitting down, I managed to bow and say Annyeoung haseyo? to the principal, and so he asked me, “Do you speak Korean?” and I was like, “No.”
So here’s where it gets interesting. This is the second question the principal, using his very limited English asks me, “Do you like volleyball?” Yes, volleyball. Nothing about teaching, my own education, how is Korea, etc. etc., but volleyball. So I said, yes, I like volleyball. Well, that’s good because the principal informed me each Wednesday I must play teachers’ volleyball with the rest of the faculty. Well, all right then.
So the next step was for me, Mr. Kim, and the principal to drive to Seokseung, the other school where I’ll be teaching. I like the principal there because he attempted to actually greet me and introduce himself. We all sat down in his office and were actually served some delicious iced coffee. My co-teacher at Seokseung is a young guy who is also named Mr. Kim. This is a recurring theme as there are only about five last names in Korea… Kim, Park, Lee, etc. Young Mr. Kim has very good English. He asked what to call me, and the best the Koreans can do with my name is “Ter-ay-za Krech” so I said Theresa was fine, and he told me I can call him Joo. His full name is Kim Cheong-joo, think. Something like that. It was really good to have Joo around because I had written down a list of questions to ask Mr. Kim, such as, “How do I turn on the hot water? How do I work the gas stove? How will I pay my utilities? Can I drink the tap water? What’s my address? How does the bus work?” etc. I would ask Joo, who would translate for Mr. Kim.
The rest of the day I spent at Seokyang. Mr. Kim is also the music teacher, and Mon-Wed is English lessons and Thurs-Fri is music. The room Mr. Kim and I share is really, really nice. I take back my cow poop comment from the other day… the rooms are very nice and cool and don’t smell. They all have sliding doors to keep out humidity and smells. We work in the “Seokyang English Zone” area and all the signs, instructions, etc are in English. I have my own desk and computer on one side of the classroom, and Mr. Kim has the other. I had some instruction manuals for native English teachers that I read while Mr. Kim conducted his music class. I was kind of surprised at the way he ran his classroom. It’s been a while since I’ve been in an elementary school, but I thought they were pretty disruptive… talking to each other, coloring, just not paying attention in general. However, it was mostly a singing class so there wasn’t a lot of attention that needed to be paid, I guess. It got really, really loud. I forgot how little kids think shouting is singing. Mr. Kim seems like a very calm, patient teacher. He never yelled at the kids.
The kids definitely stare at me. When I visited on Thursday as I was leaving, a whole crowd of them hovered at the top of the stairs watching me. I know they’ve seen white people before (there’s pictures of white people in the English Zone), but I have to wonder if I’m one of the first white people they’ve seen in person. Certainly they all love to say hi or hello to me. A group of them crowded my desk before their music lesson started. They might have been fifth grade or so. They wanted to know if I was their new teacher and where I was from. Luckily there was a world map right by my desk, so I stood up and pointed out Chicago on the map. Immediately a chorus of “Chicago! Chicago!” rang out excitedly, and the girl who asked me where I was from said, “Teacher! I want to go to Chicago!” Another girl said something in Korean and the other girl replied, “Yes, she’s tall!”
I get a huge kick out of them bowing to me, and they get a huge kick out of saying hello to me. A bunch of them sidled past my desk shyly and said, “Hello” or “Hi” and then ran away. They may be the cutest children I have ever seen.
For lunch the teachers and students all eat the same food in the cafeteria. Again, I’m pretty sure Korean food has declared war on me. I made the terrible mistake of biting into what may have been a dried green chili... whatever it was it was super spicy. It seems to me all Korean food is either spicy, hot, or spicy and hot. Rice is the only exception.
Lunchtime is about an hour long, but only half of it is spent eating. The kids here actually clean the school during lunchtime! They have vacuums and mops and brooms and clean the classrooms. They must rotate or something because there were kids playing outside too. They have a big sandy area with a playground and a full-size soccer field.
Classes ended at 3:30 or so, but Mr. Kim worked until five. He showed me around the school, and I met all the other teachers. They’re mostly women except the gym teacher, who turned out to be the guy that had picked me up this morning. The special ed teacher actually speaks some English, which is nice. There’s a woman from Uzbekistan (Alice, I think) who married a Korean man and so she lives here. She just moved to Chungnam and is teaching English at Seokyang too. She helps translate for me sometimes. Everyone asks me about volleyball. The special ed teacher said the principal is obsessed with it. Everyone wants to know what position I play, and I told them I’m not good at serving but can receive the ball, and they all want to know if I can “kill” (spike) it. It’s hard to say exactly, but I think I’m about as tall as all the male teachers.
This whole school is really, really nice, especially the kindergarten room. It even has a ball pit! Mrs. Chung is one of the teachers, and she gave us coffee and told me (through Mr. Kim) that I should come to her if I ever want coffee. I think all these teachers speak more English than they let on because after Mr. Kim translated, she added, “Any time.” The other kindergarten teacher told me I am very beautiful. I don’t know if she really thinks so or if this is some form of Korean politeness.
I’ve exhausted my store of Korean phrases, but the repetitive use makes it easier, and the teachers look really pleased and a little surprised when I greet them with a bow and Annyeoung haseyo? And then Pangapsseumnida (pleased to meet you). Also Kamsahamnida (thank you). I think it encourages them to talk to me. Mrs. Chung directed all her questions at me even though I had to look to Mr. Kim each time because I had no idea what she was saying. She’s worried about me living alone here, which I think is nice.
At five Mr.Kim and I walked to the bus because he was going to come with me to my apartment to show me how to use the hot water, stove, etc. Now I know how to take the express bus, but it drops me off pretty far from home and I don’t know how to use the regular bus. This will take time, I think. Honestly, bless Mr. Kim. He tries so hard and is so helpful. When we got off the bus, he took me to an electronics store to try and buy a converter because mine doesn’t work, and we even stopped by the grocery store so I could get some real groceries. He helped me pick out some good stuff because I had no idea what most of these things were. He would also point out the lowest price.
The word we most commonly use is “okay.” I think Mr. Kim thinks “okay” and “yes” are interchangeable. This makes it hard to tell when he’s saying yes and when he’s just saying okay as in he doesn’t understand. For example:
Me: Thank you so much for taking me grocery shopping, Mr. Kim. I really appreciate it.
Mr. Kim: It is not a problem. I do much shopping because my wife does not. (Laughs)
Me: (Laughs) Do you cook, too?
Mr. Kim: Okay.
See what I mean? Is he saying, yes I cook a lot, or is this his way of saying he doesn’t know how to respond? It’s very tricky. We smile and nod a lot.
So Mr. Kim showed me how to work the microwave, hot water, and stove; went out and bought me a new light bulb and installed it in my room; tried to figure out my TV and phone; warned me leaving the AC on during the day is very expensive; knocked on my neighbor’s door to introduce us and ask her when/where garbage is picked up; and wrote down his phone number and the school’s in case I get lost or something on Monday. I felt pretty bad because he didn’t leave until about 8pm, and he lives in Daejeon, which like I said is about an hour and a half away. Plus he told me he takes the bus because his wife uses the car. She’s a nurse. His son called while he was here, and he told me he has a 19 year old daughter, an 18 year old son, and an 11 year old daughter. However, Alice told me earlier that Mr. Kim told her I was 25, so I’m a bit leery of the information he gives me.
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