Video game English is to Korean kids what Kpop song Korean is to me. That is, I know random assorted words courtesy of Kpop songs. Big Bang has taught me how to say liar, day, and frozen while 2ne1 has taught me how to say I am the best, clap your hands, everyone, and like this. Likewise, my students use video game English to assist them. Notably, when they want to say they're finished or something has ended, frequently I'l hear "game over!" or "the end." A few days ago this conversation happened:
Me: Are you finished?
Girl student: Uhm.... mission accomplished!
I was informed today I have an orientation/training for five days at the end of April. I sure hope that like the last orientation I had (three months into my first contract), they teach me how to make a good first impression... seven months too late. I'm also glad for the networking opportunity... seven months late. Sigh.
Kevin has left Korea as of last Thursday. He's going to Vietnam to do his CELTA course (an ESL teaching thing) and will be coming back in May or June, thankfully. I already miss him - I didn't know who to call with the crucial question of what pastry to buy for a Korean teacher. How will I receive my cutting edge Kpop updates?
My friend Robin also left. Replacing him on our trivia team is going to be difficult. He handled sports and geography like a champ. We're going to get beat by this one team of mostly middle-aged people because they are highly literate and know geography plus they listen to all the (crap) music that's always involved in our audio challenges. No, I don't mean oldies, I mean like Radiohead and Led Zeppelin and stuff that I would literally never be able to recognize.
My friends Margo and Sunelle have left as well. I went to their going away party on Saturday. It was rainbow themed, so I wore a pink wig and my Korean fashion glasses. I thought this was a costume; people thought I was a hipster. Some people actually thought it was my real hair.
One of my girls had a Big Bang folder and had doodled the names of all the members in her notebook. I asked her who her favorite was and she said Daesung. What?! Since when is Daesung ANYONE'S favorite? Props for nonconformity, but the correct answers for members of Big Bang in order of attractiveness is:
1. Top
2. Taeyang
3. Seungri
G-Dragon and Daesung don't even make my list. However, Koreans go nuts for G-Dragon, plus he is super swag and cool so I would have accepted him as an answer. But Daesung? Get some better taste, girl!
I berated a group of A level students today for having awful manners and not focusing. I've never raised my voice to a class like that before, but my Monday classes were the worst and I was sick of the students acting like brats. The first graders need a serious attitude check, and I will keep them ten minutes late to lunch. Should have circled the answers when I told you to. I was also amused by the whining when they had to clean the classroom... I warned you to bring your books or else.
I had my Korean class tonight. I feel like I'm making a lot of progress because I'm kind of reviewing, but I feel like it's really sticking this time. This class came on the heels of my rough Monday, so I wasn't in the best mood. The class was very crowded, but I got there early so I got a good seat (crowded = like 30 people). In case I haven't mentioned this before, this is a free class taught by a volunteer organization who just wants to help foreigners learn about Korea, Korean, and Korean culture. Therefore, everyone who works there is a volunteer. They teach the classes all in Korean, not to mention not everyone there is a native English speaker (or an English speaker at all). There are a lot of international students in my class. Basically, I find roughly 40% of the people in the class to be annoying and four people in particular to be atrocious to the point where I want to say something to them. Let me explain.
Today was the first day of my second beginner class, so naturally the teacher (who does a good job, incidentally) had us all introduce ourselves. Hi, I'm Theresa. I'm from America. I'm an English teacher. Nice to meet you. Four sentences, and if you don't understand them you really shouldn't be in this class, let's get real. Immediately this girl in front of me (who was in my previous class and was extraordinarily irritating there as well), said in this loud, nasally voice, "What's a jikeob?" It's a job. If you don't know what it means, there's always the quiet, unobtrustive option of asking the person next to you, or hey I don't know, raising your hand and asking the teacher in Korean, "Jikeob muohaeyo?" (What is "jikeob?") I'm sure the teacher could list some jobs and you could get it. Pretty much people in my class are annoying because they are always asking our teachers (we have a main teacher and several helpers) long, complicated questions in English. Uh, our teachers are Korean. This is a Korean class. If you don't understand, maybe you should ask in Korean. We're not exactly learning complex grammar here, and I consider it unforgivably rude to demand English answers from these volunteers who are supposed to be teaching in all Korean. Engage your brain, use your smartphone to translate, do something reasonably intelligent and logical to deduce the answer.
So we were introducing ourselves, and these two girls near me were chatting and giggling. Oh, I'm sorry, are our self-introductions interrupting girl time? I didn't leave my middle school to hang out with more adolescents. I was under the impression that this was an adult class, so if you don't know what it means to be a respectful adult for two hours in a class taught by volunteers, maybe you should get out before I verbally throw you out. I was honestly THIS CLOSE to saying something, but I didn't want to cause more of a disturbance. Then during class we could hear the class next door laughing, and those girls said, "It sounds like they're having a party next door. This class is so boring." I was really seeing red at this point because they were also complaining about how they didn't understand stuff, and I was like MAYBE BECAUSE YOU'RE MORONS WHO AREN'T PAYING ATTENTION. I mean, how rude. How disrespectful. I didn't realize our teacher was giving up her free time to entertain us. I forgot "make class fun" was probably in her job description. You know, the job she's not getting paid for.
Next, a girl behind me was asking a question (in English, fabulous) to one of the assistant teachers. The teacher answered, and the girl got it, but then I guess the teacher kept explaining and the girl got a bit snotty and was like, Okay it's okay, I get it. I understand. No problem. Then the assistant teacher left to help someone else, and that girl started whining to the person next to her, "I don't know why she kept trying to explain. I mean, obviously I got it. I just had that one question and then I understood." You're so right, obnoxious girl behind me. How dare that lady try and help you understand. How offensive and irritating that she give you extra one-on-one time because she thought you had a question. Good thing she doesn't speak English very well so you can feel free to make dismissive remarks.
I tell you, much more of these idiots and I'm going to get myself kicked out of class when I lay into them. Keep you posted.
On the upside, I got two hugs today and about 12 "I love you's" from various students. One "I love you so much" as well.
Also, it's been 14 days since I twisted my hair.
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