Experiences teaching for a year in South Korea. Traveling the country and taking pictures everywhere.
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Coupling
One of the many benefits of having British co-workers is the wonderful collection of 'BritCom' DVDs they have, such as The Office and Coupling. I've seen a few Coupling episodes back home, but now that I'm watching it from the beginning, it's becoming addictive, like coffee.... I see that NBC re-made The Office, using the exact same script. I've seen it done with other programs like Coupling and One Foot in the Grave. Why, why re-make something that is already perfect? It's just not the same - the accent is half the fun.
In one of my elementary classes, I have a boy named Jeff. Lets just say Jeff's not very swift. I make him sit next to me in class, so that I at least get some work out of him. He often likes to touch and play with my pens, books, binders on the table, because he's fidgety. Anyway, I've recently developed a runny nose and I've been carrying a few tissues around to class. So today, in Jeff's class, I left my dirty kleenex on the table while I turned around to write something on the board. When I turned back around, Jeff was actually playing with the dirty kleenex. So I sat down next to him and smiled as I watched him play with it for the next minute. I then said, "Jeff, do you know what I use that for?" as I pointed to my nose. His face turned to green as he quickly put the kleenex back on the table. It was the perfect, non-planned, punishment for him always touching my stuff. And even better, he stays far away from anything that's mine now.
Now Tim Hortons was never really a huge part of my daily life in Canada. When Craig's parents sent us Tim Hortons coffee for Xmas, we never really thought of making it; we didn't have a coffee maker, and it's probably not good for me to start drinking coffee again. But yesterday we bought the coffee maker to make use of the grinds. We made it this morning - and again this afternoon - sadly, we are hooked. I'm sad to say that 7 months into being here, I've unfortunately caved and now added Tim Hortons to the mental list of things I miss about Canada. (Although, Dad, your coffee is just as good as Tim Hortons', so I could just add "Dad's coffee" to the list, thus not admitting to being the stereotypical small town Canadian who's addicted to her Timmy's coffee and her "Rrrrrroll Up the Rrrrrim" cups)
Easter's just around the corner. We've been getting ready for our Easter Egg Hunt with the kindergartens on Friday. Got a Easter package from mom, just in time for Easter - filled with stickers and erasers for the kids. Along with it came the "Basket Hopper Game". Craig and I ripped it open on our break today and started playing (well, it said "A Fun Game for Children and Adults"). Maybe disciplining 6 year olds all morning can turn one into an actual 6 year old. Although I blame my giddiness on this great weather we're having..... Is it a rabbit? Is it a frog?
Yesterday morning, Craig and I were reading on the couch, when we briefly felt the couch shake. We each thought the other was shaking it, but when we realized that neither of us did anything, we started wondering what it was. We both thought, maybe an earthquake? - and didn't think about it again - until we found out today that there was an earthquake in Japan yesterday morning. Here's the article.
And I'm never going back. I wanted to find a place to get my hair chopped since my last cut was the day we left Thailand (3 months ago) and my head was starting to hurt from the weight of my hair. So I ventured out across the nearby bridge where I spotted a barber pole. I worked my way through the maze of Korean shops down to a woman behind some glass (seemed high security for a barber). I made a scissor motion and she nodded and told me "e-chon-o-beck-won"- 2500W ($2.50). "Ok", I thought, that's a cheap haircut. She motioned to a door and I went in.
The place was empty besides a kid and two guys. It was actually a sauna-like-mens-club, not just a barber shop. I made my scissor mime again and they shuffled me over to a locker area where one guy mimed an instruction for me to remove my shirt. "What!? Why? I'm getting a hair cut and all but is this necessary? Perhaps they wanted to trim my chest hair..." I would've left, but I had already paid, so I removed my shirt. I think they were a little taken aback by my hair (most Korean men have hairless bodies). The kindy kids will rub my arm hair till the cows come home if I don't stop them - they call me a monkey.
The barber took me over to the haircutting area and sat me down. Thankfully, he wrapped a towel around me. The other man in the place had come over as well and freely felt the stubble on my face (a little awkward) and made some comment to the barber. Koreans don't have very thick facial hair so maybe he was jealous.
So the haircut began....the barber had awful B.O...and he had no inhibitions about farting loudly next to me. I couldn't explain what I wanted so I just let him at it. Miraculously he spared my side burns which most Korean barbers will mercilessly chop off. After the cut, he spread some shaving cream around my neck, ears, and the bottom of my sideburns. He used a straight edge and dragged it down my face, OUCH! I think it needed sharpening. He offered to shave my face as well, but I declined since I didn't want to lose a few layers of skin.
Afterwards, they wanted me to take a shower but I didn't come with that intention so I said no. They gave me a strange look but I just wanted out of there. The barber charged me another W8000 ($8) which was fine, but I thought I already paid. I guess I paid just to get in.
"Kamsa-hamnida, I'll never see you again."
So now I'm left with a little Korean boys haircut, which the Korean teachers at school blatently stated. No tact.
After Valentine's Day, most girls wait for White day to receive candy from boys in Korea. This year, White Day is on Monday, March 14, exactly one month after Valentine's Day and is a familiar event for most Asian cultures, especially in Japan as the creator is Japanese.
White day was created by Morinaga, a famous Japanese confectionery company for commercial reasons similar to the custom of giving chocolates on Valentine's Day.
The Morinaga Company created an advertising campaign in 1960 that encouraged girls to give chocolates on Valentine's Day instead of just declaring their love. Yet Valentine's Day was not popular until in 1970, when the girls in Japan became more liberal. Still the company was able to promote their product through their extensive campaign.
After their huge success on their Valentine's Day campaign, they made another advertising campaign to sell their most unpopular item, the marshmallow. The company created Marshmallow Day, so girls could receive a gift from boys as a response to Valentine’s Day. In other words, if a boy was given chocolates from a girl on Valentine's Day and if he is interested in that girl who gave him the chocolates, he should give candy to that girl as a sign that he is in love with her too.
Marshmallow Day changed to White Day because of the color of the marshmallow, and it is still popular event along with Valentine's Day in Korea.
It’s mostly teenagers and those in their early 20s who are obsessed with Valentine’s Day and White Day. The young generation not only gives chocolate and candy but also gives expensive gifts to their boyfriend or girlfriend as if it is an effective way to show their love to them. But most people in their late 20s and 30s don’t really observe these events.
These days, Valentine’s Day and White Day are seen more negatively because they are created by commercial companies and promote over consumption. Despite the criticism, the days are growing bigger each year as streets are filled with brightly colored baskets, boxes and heart-shaped items from February through March.
A lot of Koreans think that this day is celebrated in other countries like Valentines Day. (from www.worknplay.co.kr)
Most of the boys in my classes today gave me little toys, pens, and chocolate to celebrate the day. I started eating the chocolates by 10:30am, felt sick by 11:00, had kids running and screaming from the sugar by 1:00, heard kids throwing up by 4:00 and hated White Day by 7:00.....
....there's a reason why this day wasn't made for 6,7,8 year olds - and why it's not appealing to the 20/30-something year olds who teach them.
It's Porsha's and Jason's birthday this month. It's weird - we have less than 20 kids now. It makes the birthday party a whole lot quieter. Laura's UPenn: Porsha, Demi, Tommy, Angela Brett's Boston: Alice, Daniel, Judy, Jason, Melody, Julie Brandon: my little terror - I spend most of my mornings pulling crayons out of this little guy's mouth, nose and ears - but he's picking up English quickly Craig's Alex (in Princeton)
I now teach an advanced group of 8 year olds in the afternoon (your old everyday UPenn class, Matt). That class now has four different teachers in the afternoon and I've been picked to teach them advanced vocabulary 3 times a month. I've never taught them before, but as soon as I walked into the class, everyone screamed out my name as if I've been teaching them for months. I'm not quite sure how they know me. A couple of them have brothers or sisters in the morning kindergarten classes, but other than that... I don't know.
These kids talk like there's no tomorrow. Constantly vying for my attention; telling me stories about kids at school who have kissed each other, or who likes who in what class. They love that my name is Mary - and how it's like 'marry' or 'marriage'. They all keep asking who I'm going to marry. 'Am I going to marry Craig teacher? - If not Craig teacher, am I going to marry Matthew teacher? - If not Matthew teacher, am I going to marry Dave teacher?.....' I just pretend I don't know what they're talking about. I don't like to give them anymore ammo than they already think they have.
I tried to carry on with the lesson. I had to teach them about 30 new vocabulary words. So I would say the word and ask them to come up with sentences using those words. Imagine turned into "Mary imagines marrying Craig". An example of description was "Mary is wearing a white dress and Craig is wearing a black suit at their wedding". My favourite came from Basil. No kidding, when I asked to explain curious, Basil came up with "I'm curious about Mary's love life". I can't believe an 8 year old even knew what that was - Matt, what did you teach them? Or should I blame this on Dave? Either way - this class is obsessed with love, kissing, and marriage. Was I like this at 8 years old?
To top it all off, I looked at next week's vocabulary list - and, ironically, all the words pertain to marriage.....
Last month, Swaton had a visit from Immigration; seeing if there were any foreign teachers working there illegally (without a working visa). We had to show our visas and were asked a few questions. Didn't really think anything of it. But just recently I found out that Immigration went to a large number of schools that day in Ilsan and caught 60 foreign teachers who were here illegally.
Brett and Laura don't have their working visas yet. They still have to go to Osaka to get it; Mrs Jang just has to arrange the flight first. But immigration showed up again today, when we were at home on our breaks. Mrs Jang called Brett and Laura telling them to not come into school until she says. But she hasn't called and they've gone the whole afternoon without teaching. I'm guessing that immigration must be suspicious about something - or Mrs Jang wouldn't have called supply Korean teachers to cover Brett and Laura's classes so quickly. *Update* They've been told to stay home Tuesday as well. They'll probably have to make Osaka visa runs right away - so Mrs Jang is free of immigration worries.
Maybe Immigration has just caught on that there are more illegal teachers working here than first thought. Or maybe they've always known, and now they just go from school to school cause they have nothing better to do. :)
Ran my first 1/2 marathon today. Took it slow, but ran the whole way. But, ya, that's a long run.
There were 10,000 people running in either the marathon (42k), 1/2 marathon (21k), 10k, or 5k. There were 500 foreigners (Japanese, American...) running as well. The marathon was along the Han River, which divides Seoul in half. It was at the park that's right below the 63 Building. Having been in other triathlons & duathlons, I found this race to be so well organized (I guess you have to be with 10,000 people) - Craig and I just loved walking around before the race and watching all the different people prepare. That alone was worth waking up at 7am on a Sunday for.
Today was our new schedule for the afternoon elementary students. Mrs Jang rearranged every class (since there are new students for the new year as well as the new classes made for the kindergarten graduates - who graduated on Friday). New classes - new teachers/students for each class. All day was (and all next week will be) spent reorganizing our lesson plans. Overwhelming.
But poor Brett and Laura. They've been here 3 days and now they've been picked to teach the fresh out of kindergarten kids for 85min each. The thought of having Kenny, Beckham, and John in the same class for 85 minutes makes me cringe. I'm lucky enough not to teach these new kindergarten graduate classes. Laura told me that a lot of the old kindergartens want their English names changed. Barbie changed it to Julie. Matt now wants to be called Denzel. And Ken now wants to be called Cobra Blade. Laura refused, and Ken cried - so they compromised with Blade (- the student formerly known as Ken). I had to pick English names for some my new kids. One boy wanted to be called Finger - that didn't happen. The same boy wanted me to call another no-name girl Sit Down, so that I would have to say "Sit down, Sit Down!" And I have another boy named Stinger.
It's been a bit of a struggle for Brett and Laura. They moved into Gabe and Dave's old place. Before they came, Gabe took one final cleaning of the apartment. And even though Gabe hasn't lived there since December (he's with his girlfriend), he took everything. The dishes, the cups, the sheets - and most of this stuff wasn't his to begin with. He went as far as taking the cutting board, the net that held the recycling and those little plastic cups that hold cutlery after you wash them. Laura & Brett came to a completely empty apartment. It's hard to explain to them who Gabe was, but with him clearing out the apartment and leaving Brett & Laura with nothing, it's a good example of what he was like over the past 5 months.
Found a picture Craig took awhile ago, when we were on the opposite side of the road from Swaton. Here's a shot of work - our 4 floor school, no grass in sight - with a bakery and a kid's store underneath. The apartment you see in the background is 407; we're to the right - 408.
These 5 year olds are my new kindergarten homeroom class. By day two, I have learned how to get them out from under the table in less than 5 minutes. Small steps....very small steps.
Independence Movement Day (March 1) This day commemorates the Declaration of Independence proclaimed on March 1, 1919, while under Japanese colonization. A reading of the declaration takes place in a special ceremony at Tapgol Park in Seoul, where the document was first read to the public.
So, we get the day off today.
The new teachers came on Sunday night. Laura and Brett. She's from Glasgow and he's from the Cambridge area in England. They met each other while teaching in Korea their first year here, and have travelled and taught in Korea together since. This is their 3 year teaching in Korea, which is why I think Mrs Jang hired them; they have experience and have stayed for the entire length of a contract before.
Each new kindergarten class will be no bigger than 6 kids. My homeroom is the youngest group (5 years old). They don't know any English at all, so I'm assuming this will be a challenge for the first few weeks, but there's only 4 of them....we will see.
Our new elementary schedule begins on Friday and all the classes we've taught up until then will be changed. Along with Brett and Laura, Mrs Jang has hired another Korean teacher, Peter, to teach in the afternoons. With all the new teachers, she's re-vamping the afternoon schedule. I could use the change.
And - we've officially completed 6 months now. Never thought I'd make it this far, but now that I'm here, the last 6 months should be easy, as we get closer and closer to going home. The warmer weather's coming and with planning for the Trans-Siberian - I'm excited.
Goodbye Dave and Gabe - it's been fun (& interesting) working with you. If you're ever oot and aboot in Canada sometime, give us a call; we'll give you a ride on our dog sled and take you out to Harvey's.
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