Finally Some Positivity

My friends and family know that I had been struggling for awhile there.  My students were the most out of control and disrespectful that they had ever been,  my coteacher informed me of everything I would have to do for Summer Camp (which was a lot more than for Winter Camp), and I was just generally irritated with my lack of ability to control many of the situations I was put in.  I did a lot of complaining and even started to annoy myself.  I was a bit sad when the last week of school came and everyone was posting on facebook all the sweet things their students were giving them as goodbye presents.  My coteacher didn't tell me that I wouldn't have most of my students the last week of school and so I didn't get to say goodbye to the majority of my classes.  I did tell my 3rd and 4th graders that I would be leaving.  Most of the 4th graders said thank you and some of my favorite girls gave me hugs and told me they would miss me.  When my 3rd/4th grade coteacher told the third graders I was leaving a few of the little devil boys actually cheered and went to the 2nd floor window and proceeded to throw their English papers out the window.  You can probably imagine that this made me feel like the last 11 months have been so meaningful.  Out of my 200 or so students i did get two gifts.  The first, a Bulgogi Burger from the Korean wannabe McDonalds, Lotteria, which is probably one of the nastiest hamburgers I've ever eaten, if you can even call it a hamburger.  The second gift was a really sweet hand-made book from one of my 6th grade girls who took my special class.  I did get a little teary eyed when I read it and at least felt happy that one student appreciated me.

So I'm up to the last day of school and I was informed a whole week in advance (!) that we would be going on a staff "field trip" the last day of school.  We would rent a bus and head out to a town called Yeongdeok where we would spend the afternoon and be back around 7pm.  I wasn't really looking forward to it because my coteacher that speaks the best English and is good about translating for me wasn't going to be there.  We head out to Yeongdeok around 12pm and it takes around 2 hours to get there.  When we arrive the scenery reminds me a lot of the Oregon Coast.  It's cloudy and a bit misty.  On my right side is the ocean and on my left are green, forested hills.  I suddenly got really excited.

We arrived at this restaurant that was right on the beach where we ate sashimi (raw fish) and drank a lot of soju.  I think the women decided that since it was the last day of school they would go all out and actually drink.  Usually they just take shots of "cider" (sprite like drink) instead of soju, but today they were going to town.  In what seemed like 5 minutes (it actually could have been) they were all wasted.  Finally they opened up a bit and were trying to talk with me.  I felt like I made a connection with a lot of people that I really hadn't before this trip.  I was reaffirmed of our principal's affection towards me when he wanted to take a shot with me.  It wasn't just any ol' shot a principal takes with someone lower than him hierarchically.  Take a look:

Needless to say, everyone thought this was hilarious.  Here are pictures of the sashimi and fish soup, which was really spicy, we ate afterwards.

The view from the restaurant:

Me, my coteacher and two coworkers:

The ladies taking shots: 

It was good to get reassurance from my principal that he still thought I was amazing despite my not re-signing to stay another year.  He told me that he had told the office of education that I get an A+++++++++.  I don't know how many pluses he used but it was a lot.  I needed someone to tell me I was doing a good job after all the negativity I was feeling about my job.

We left the restaurant and visited a wind power plant and then got back on the bus and headed home.  The bus ride home was probably my favorite part of the trip.  I would say that most foreign English teachers here would tell you about hilarious bus rides they have had with their schools.  Many of these rented buses come equipped to double as a norae bang.  To refresh your memory, a norae bang is a karaoke room.  The bus we were on had a big screen TV up front and a karaoke machine.  The aisle was lined with colored lights and the speakers big enough to pump up the volume on the music and microphone which is always set to echo.  The aisle functions as a very narrow, moving dance floor.  I will tell you that when people drink a lot of soju and whisky and try dancing in an aisle of a moving bus, it can be a bit dangerous.  I think the principal almost fell on top of a few women he was trying to dance with, including me and invented a new dance move called "Shake the champagne bottle".  The only way I could do this justice was by taking a video of it:

The trip was a blast.  Definitely the best time I've had on a school outing.  I got to talk with coworkers I had never talked to before and give a little goodbye speech.  I am now in my first week of camp which is more than half way over.  I am teaching at a different elementary school because they needed help with camp.  Next week I will teach the parents of my students again, like I did during Winter Camp.  I only have one class each day for five days.  The week after is camp at my own school.  I will have three classes a day for five days.  I am officially finished with my year of teaching on August 12th, then I have two weeks of "vacation" to get ready for my SE Asia trip!  I think it will be smooth sailing from here on out.

Taking Photos: Koreans' #1 Pastime

Koreans love taking photos.  It's as simple as that.  Almost anywhere you go you will see Koreans toting around their pricey, new, digital cameras with their multiple lenses.  Being in one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world, Koreans generally love their gadgets.  Galaxy Tabs, ipads, and smart phones of all sorts are everywhere.  Expensive cameras are no exception.  If you didn't know better you might think that this country has more professional photographers per capita than all other countries, but then you realize they just all look like professional photographers.  I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the only countries in which the natives take more pictures than the tourists.

Not only do Koreans like to take pictures, but they like to take pictures of themselves.  Tourist destinations are set up with photo opps so that people can take as many pictures as they want in various locations, with various objects.  One of my first excursions outside of Daegu took me to Gayasan mountain (which I wrote about in a previous post).  On the short hike up to Heinsa Temple there was a designated area, complete with a sign telling the photographer and model that this was a good spot to take a picture.  The sign was posted right at the entrance of a small foot bridge that was obviously built to take photographs on, as it was next to the pedestrian route and completely unnecessary (besides for taking pics).  As we stood by the bridge examining the mountain map a few couples and families posed for pictures on the bridge.

I snapped the above picture at a small theme park in Daegu called Herb Hillz.  It's a really wacky park built on hills, as the name suggests.  I guess the point of the park is to learn about nature, specifically different herbs.  There's also a small petting zoo and the main attraction for foreigners, zip lining courses.  While we were waiting for our zip-lining time to arrive we walked around the park to see what it was all about.  Basically the entire park is for people to take photos.  The above photo shows that I was at 'photo point 8' when I took the shot.  I swear the park designer must have been smoking some type of herb when building the park.  Here's a photo taken of me at one of the designated photo areas:

Here is one of my favorite examples showing the extent to which Koreans will go to snap the most perfect picture:

As you can see, the boyfriend (i'm assuming) has got his small digital point and shoot camera on a big ass tripod.  Like I mentioned before, Koreans love to take pictures of themselves so often times they haul around tripods so couples and families can have pictures together without someone being left out or having to ask a random person to take the photo.  I guess if you don't mind carrying a tripod around it's a good idea.  This photo shows the extent to which one will go to get a good photo of their significant other.  The guy is holding the camera, still on the tripod, trying to get the best shot of his girlfriend at the photo zone.

Couples here loooooove to take photos together.  Awhile back I was in Seoul at a park by the river where a big festival was going on.  There were lots of people gathered for the festival, sunbathing on the grass by the river.  I was walking around trying to figure out where I was going when I see a couple laying on an incline on top of a blanket, with their camera sitting on a tripod about 3 feet in front of them, pointed at them.  They weren't doing anything but cuddling.  I don't know if they were filming themselves laying on a blanket at a festival or if they had previously taken pictures of themselves laying on a blanket at a festival.  Either way it's pretty wacky.  I wonder if they will go home and look through their photos of themselves laying on a blanket at a festival and show their friends and say, "Oh, and this one's of us laying on a blanket at a festival."

Another funny photo-related anecdote takes place at my school about two weeks after an open class.  One afternoon my coteacher tells me, "we go to meet with other teachers to talk about open class and take picture."  As always, I obey like a trained dog and follow her to a nearby classroom where two other teachers await us.  I really have no idea what we are doing.  All I know is that we are talking about our open class we had a few weeks before and "taking picture".  I sit down with the two other teachers and my coteacher makes a phone call then sits down.  The teachers pass out blank pieces of paper and pens, then start talking in Korean.  About 3 minutes later a coworker comes in with a camera.  The three other teachers pick up their papers and hold them out in front of them so it looks like they are reading something.  They keep discussing whatever they're discussing and I follow suit, picking up my paper and acting like I have some sort of idea what's going on.  After about one minute of photo taking the lady with the camera leaves and my coteacher stands up (I follow like a good dog) and she says goodbye, we bow and walk out.  I am so confused by this point and beg for an explanation.  My coteacher tells me, "we have meeting with other teachers to discuss open class."  I'm confused because no teachers even watched our open class.  She tells me that they watched the video tape.  Alright, that makes sense.  Then I ask why the lady came in with the camera to take pictures. She says, "For proof that we had conference about open class."  Wow.  So we had to have a fake 5 minute long "conference" so that pictures could be taken to prove that we had a real conference about open class.

After experiencing and pondering all these situations in which photos are so important I wonder, why?  Could it merely be the fact that Korea is so hyper techno obsessed that they want to incorporate technology into their lives in as many ways as possible?  Is it because they want to flaunt their latest and most expensive gadgets?

Maybe Koreans just like looking at photos of themselves.  Any foreigner and Korean will tell you how obsessed Korean culture is with appearance.  Plastic surgery and cosmetics are huge markets here.  People are constantly looking at their reflections in windows and their mirrors they carry around in their purses, always touching up their hair or makeup.  Do they just like to see how good they look in photos, act like models for a little while?  I honestly don't know how they have the time to go back and look at all the photos they take.  I kinda wonder if they even do it.

As in the story above, are pictures merely a way to prove that someone did something, went somewhere with someone?  Obviously it's a way to prove to the principal that we had a mandatory conference that we really didn't have.  Is it a way for couples to prove their love for each other to others?  To themselves?

Maybe it's as simple as preserving memories.

I'll probably never know.

Korean School Lunch in Photos #1

I'm running out of blog post ideas since everything is becoming so normal in Korea.  In the beginning it was super easy to come up with ideas for blog posts since everything was so new and exciting.  Now it's definitely harder to notice the subtleties in Korean culture that once popped out like the first pimple on an adolescent boy's face.  Since I first got here though, Korean food has been a subject that has popped up time and again from people back home.  I, just as friends and family back in the U.S., am really interested in Korean food and it helps that I actually enjoy it quite a bit.  I love it's spiciness, which often comes from the use of chili in many Korean dishes.  I also love the taste of fermented soybeans, seaweed, and kimchi which are staples of the Korean diet.

Although I am definitely not a chef nor do I pretend to even have any talent when it comes to cooking, I have become increasingly interested in the art of food since I have been in Korea.  This stems first from my abundance of free time at and after work when I am able to indulge in the beautiful media vomit that is Reality Television.  Since it has been on the air I have been a fan of Top Chef but the current season I am especially fond of.  Second, there is a grave lack of satisfactory foreign cuisine in Daegu and, I would argue, most of Korea in general.  In the past few months I have been scouring my city for good Mexican, Italian, Indian and Thai restaurants because I know that they could possibly, maybe, potentially exist.  I could never seriously think I am going to find that Cajun catfish po' boy that I've been craving or the Ecuadorian food I salivate for. I couldn't bare the let down after having even a glint of hope and finding out that there would be no one even thinking of this idea for the next 20 years.  The few foreign restaurants that I have found and gave the chance though have made me look more critically at food than I ever have before.  But don't expect too much from this.

Now that I've taken care of that I will get to the point.

Since the first lunch I ate and Namduck Elementary School in Daegu, Republic of Korea I have looked differently at school lunch.  I remember being in elementary school and dreading the days they would serve "ribeque" sandwiches.  I swear I would gag as I tried to choke down that unidentifiable "meat" that they put down our throats.  But I lived for the days when a big square of processed cheese and pepperoni pizza was slapped on our trays.  I think this was served at least once a week!  I definitely don't remember school lunch being healthy by any means.  They did have a salad bar but when you have the choice between pizza or the salad bar what do you think an American child is going to pick?  If I did ever eat salad I'm sure I drenched it in ranch dressing anyways to cancel out all of the nutrients I would have gotten from the veggies.  Now I look forward to school lunch, each morning I wonder what surprises I will be chop-sticking into my mouth at 12:10.  Usually lunch is awesome.  Sometimes dishes are served that I'm a little wary about but I try and end up loving.  Every so often there is something that I know to take very little of because I might throw up a little bit in my mouth (it's easier to take a little of something and then not eat any of it than to not take something.  Every coworker at your table will question you).  But these instances are few and far between.  The tasty treats definitely outweigh the dried minnows in syrup.

Because of all these factors I have decided to do a series of posts on the school lunches that I am served and kindly accept for a meager paycheck deduction of around $35 a month.  Less than $2 a meal!  Pretty awesome if you ask me.  And I can eat as much as I want.  Okay, here it goes.  "Korean School Lunch in Photos #1" starts now!

Top left: Cabbage kimchi.  There are many different types of kimchi, the most common being the cabbage kimchi.  "Kimchi" actually just refers to fermented vegetables in Korean cuisine.  The kimchi that is seen here is definitely my favorite.  Some of the ingredients in the sauce are red pepper powder, ginger, garlic, fish sauce and green onions.  You will always find some sort of kimchi served at school lunch and almost every Korean meal that you eat.

Bottom left: "Bap." This is obviously rice.  Rice is served with every school lunch too and like kimchi, is a staple of Korean cuisine.  I am often questioned why I take so little rice at lunch time.  I even take more rice than I know I'm going to eat sometimes just so that I am not pestered by the school chef.

Top middle: "Sook-joo-na-mool"(?)  These are bean sprouts mixed with imitation crab and 'minari' which is Japanese parsley.  Apparently minari is a seasonal herb that is consumed mostly in the spring.  I think my coteacher was trying to point out that spring time is coming and that is why this herb was put into the dish as the dish is most often served without it.  Honestly the dish did not have much flavor at all.  With the main ingredient being bean sprouts you can probably imagine.  I liked that it was healthy but it definitely could have used something to make it more flavorful.

Top right: "Jang-jo-rim"  The school has served this dish a few times since I have been here and I absolutely love it.  It is boiled quail eggs and chunks of pork in soy sauce.  The quail eggs are so much creamier on the inside than chicken eggs.  Plus, the yolk to white ratio is much more even, which I thoroughly enjoy.  The bite-size eggs fit perfectly in your mouth and the pork is tender.  The soy sauce is watered down which is good because it would be much too salty if it wasn't.

Bottom right:  "Soo-je-bi-gook" School lunch is also always served with a soup.  I generally really enjoy Korean soups.  They are usually spicy and brothy and I prefer brothy soups over chunky ones.  The noodles you see in the picture are made from flour and cut in a rectangular shape.  Accompanying the noodles are potatoes, zucchini and green onions.  I was pretty disappointed by this soup.  It had absolutely no flavor.  There was very little seasoning, if any besides salt, added.  The noodles tasted like squares of flavorless dough and the cooked zucchini and potatoes weren't much better.

Overall this was a very average meal.  If it wasn't for the egg and pork dish I wouldn't have been very fond of it as two of the three main dishes were lacking in flavor.  It wasn't an extremely healthy dish compared to others that are served, but it beats by a long shot what I imagine kids are eating in schools and at home back in the U.S.

More to come!
Peace

Speech Contest Humor

Don't be alarmed.  Yes, I changed my profile design.  It still sucks but I think it's easier to read.

Ready, Go.

The principal at my school informed my co-teacher that we would be having an English speech contest just days before he expected it to happen.  This put a lot of stress on my co-teacher as she is extra busy this time of year.  Since she is a temporary teacher and not used to everything here it is extra stressful for her.  Our school is very small compared to most elementary schools and this means that the teachers have even more work because it is split between fewer teachers.  It is not uncommon for my co-teachers to fall asleep at their desks in the middle of the afternoon.  There are also beds in the nurse's office with heated pads where teachers can go to take a nap.  My co-teacher gave me the go ahead one day and I spent about an hour cuddled up and warm, staring at my eyelids.  I don't think you've assimilated enough into Korean teacher culture until you've fallen asleep at your desk.  Yesterday I woke up when a co-worker walked into the English room to give the English teachers an invitation to her wedding.  I was a little embarrassed that I had to wipe the drool from my mouth as she was looking at me with a grin on her face.

Well this post has started to go in a totally different direction than intended.

So last week my teacher started working on the logistics of the speech competition.  The 3rd-6th graders that wanted to compete had to write a speech on various topics and recite it the next week.  They had the weekend to write and memorize their speeches and my co-teacher had that time to work everything out.  She was already stressed because she has been working on figuring out winter camps too.  Winter camps are week-long or more English camps that the native English teachers have to teach during winter break.  Last Friday my co-teacher was so stressed out and looked like she was about to cry.  I asked her, "Are you okay?"  She said yes but you know when people ask you if you are okay and you say yes but you really aren't and it makes you break down in tears?  Well that's what happened.  I felt so bad because I knew that she was really stressed out and I wanted to help but there is not much I can do without being able to speak Korean.  I always ask her to give me work and sometimes she gives me little task but usually just mundane details, nothing big.  My other co-teacher and I left for the day hoping that the weekend would calm her down a little. 

The next Monday the 3rd and 4th graders were scheduled to give their speeches.  Before the contest I volunteered to read the speeches and pick out the better ones which would be awarded more points for 'content.'  As I was reading I began cracking up hysterically at my desk at the hilarious, insightful, brilliant things that some of these students were writing.  The 5th and 6th graders gave their speeches on Wednesday and my reaction was the same while reading theirs.  Throughout the contest I just sat in the back of the room, score sheet in hand, with a huge grin on my face and seriously almost getting teary-eyed.  I had never heard my students, especially my 3rd graders, express themselves before.  In class they have to spontaneously answer questions but with this assignment they were able to take time to think, write down and practice what they wanted to say.  It was a really awesome event as it allowed me to understand the students' personalities a little bit more which is hard to experience with the language barrier.  I felt a little bit bad for scoring little elementary school kids on their English language ability but I guess that's what Korea is all about: competition.  Because some of the students' quotes were so intriguing I had to copy them down and share them with someone.  My co-teacher just didn't appreciate them the same as I did because English isn't her first language, but I hope you get as much of a kick out of them as I did and still do.  Here are a few of the quotes that I wrote down, with added commentary on some, separated by grade level:


3rd grade:

"I am so happy when I have dilicious food with my family.  Especially, I like deonjangjigae, cheonggukjang, kimchijigae.  They smell a little but they are really good."
         -The smellier the better.
        
"My dream is to be a soccer player in the future.  I'm a girl but I like to play soccer very much.  I want to inform my country in the world like woman soccer player Yeo-Min-Ji."
         -A 9 year old future feminist <3

"My mother takes care of me.  She is a math teacher.  So she helps me a lot with my math homework.  I think she loves my brother more than me.  But she also loves me...My brother is seven years old.  He is very cute.  His name is Toby, and he likes drawing pictures.  I like his hairstyle.  Sometimes, I tease him, and he yells a lot."
         -Can't empathize with ya there, brother.  My mom loves me the best.

"Flavorite food is seaweed."
         -Can you imagine the typical American child's face when he heard his 9 year old   Korean peer say that his favorite food was seaweed?

"My father is tall.  He is very busy and works until late at night.  He is a stern father but he loves me."
         -Multiple students wrote about their fathers being stern.  I thought it was culturally significant.

"My favorite color is blue, Becaus blue color makes me clam."
          -Clam or calm, it's awesome either way.


5th grade:

"Our English teacher is a native speaker and she is from America.  She is kind and pretty."
          -Had to throw that in there.

"Lastly we have to improve our a little bad things: loudly noise and playing tag, cutting in line school lunch, pushing eachother when washing hands.  If our these points change, I think our class will be more orderly and great class."
          -Future Kailey teacher.

"My classmates have a lot of nicknames.  These are so funny and interesting.  Kim-yoon-kyung is 'lazy' because she behaves like a bear moving very slowly.  Lee-eun-bi is a primitive woman, and the nickname of Park-mi-jun is a martian...I also have particular nicknames; vampire and koala.  Do you think I really look like these characters?...Anyway you can imagine how exciting and unique my classmates are by their nicknames."
          -Girl, you don't even wanna know my nicknames.

"Our class has 27 friends.  Their favorite subject is P.E. Because when they do P.E. they feel good and do their best in P.E.  But I think they do not good at math.  Because They don't answer when teacher gives a question in math class every day.  Our teacher is very scared if she is angry.  But sometimes she is funny."
           -It's bad if she even scares herself when she is angry!  I do it sometimes too.

"An English class with native speaker teacher is really exciting."
           -Oh, stop it.


6th grade:

"Drum skills of the star is so much better now cocked."
          -Your guess is as good as mine.  

"All the people's plan the daily schedule is almost same
First is wake up
That's war"
           -I couldn't have said it better myself.



And now an ode to the Korean educational system:

The test

I had midterm test a few weeks ago.

I wanted to do well on my test.

I was very busy preparing for the test.

Before the exam I reviewed what we learned.

The test give me a lot of stress.

I was very nervous before the test.

My heart was pounding.

I did my best,

finally the test were over.

After the test I felt free.

The test results came out.

I did well in English and Korean.

but I messed up in the science

I rank in the middle of my class.

I didn't want to show my report card to my parents.

I need to improve my grades.

Ill study hard from now on.

I just thought this was brilliant.  This puts into English words the stress that many Korean students feel.  This begins at the elementary school level and continues up until the university entrance exams and beyond.  So much pressure is put on children and adolescents to succeed in school, otherwise it is thought that one will have no future.  This speech, which I see as a poem, was written by one of my best 6th grade students.  I love the rhyme and repitition and feel that she needs recognition for this.

Have a good Thanksgiving everyone!  I wish I could be at home with you, family!

Koreans Say the Darndest Things---About My Hairstyles Pt.1

Any female teacher in Korea can tell you about Koreans' amazement with foreigners changing their hairstyles.  I have long hair and can do a few different things with it, so I quite often am amused by the comments I receive from students and other teachers about my change-ed hair.  I also have a particularly large collection of bows, headbands and hats that give everyone that much more joy when they see me at school in the morning.  Because most Koreans naturally have straight, dark hair, my long, curly hair makes me an anomaly.  Apparently Koreans rarely change their hairstyle, so when someone does everyone notices and it is a huge deal.  "Teacher!  Your hair change-ed!!  So beautiful!!"  I hear multiple times a day.  My students love to touch and play with my hair.  I'll be sitting in my desk on Facebook having an inappropriate-while-at-work conversation with someone when I feel something tugging on my long locks.  I'll turn my head around 180 degrees and look down to find a little twerp squatting in that oh so familiar stance, looking up at me grinning with her hand caught in the unintentionally grown dreads in the back of my hair.  I'll oblige her and allow her to continue for a while longer until i feel my hair/head being threatened, then I'll start pulling her hair so she sees how it feels.  She usually thinks it's funny and keeps going.

Anyways, this series of posts is going to be a documentation of the funny/awkward comments I receive by various people on my hairstyles.  They will feature a photo of the hairstyle and a list of the comments with a little explanation, or whatever I want to do.  I don't want to hear your negative comments about my hairstyles, so keep your mouths shut.

My neighbor and the first person I saw this morning: "Your hair looks different today!  It looks like you just got out of bed and put your hair up!"
        Me: "Thanks." Unamused.

My coteacher as she walks in the classroom and sees me: "Wow!  Your hair is sooo beautiful!  Your headband is so big and beautiful!"

A 5th grade student before class:  "Teacher!  Your head looks like pineapple!"

A 4th grade student in the lunch line:  Leans over to my coteacher and says something in Korean.  Coteacher laughs and says, "She says your hair makes you look like Princess Cinderella!"
          
Later that day the same student:  "You are Princess Cinderella!"

Today my coteachers and I left school early to go to the salon so I could get my haircut.  I had initially considered perming my hair but then kind of freaked out when I thought about putting chemicals in my hair and the fact that many Korean stylists have probably never worked with my hair type before.  Because of this I decided I would just get a cut.  This caused a problem because apparently my coteacher had already told the principal that I was going to get a perm and that we needed to leave really early since perms take a long time.  While in the teachers' room today I was 'talking' with the head teacher and principal and they were really excited to see my 'even more beautiful' hair after it was permed.  Since I had decided I just wanted a cut, and my coteachers still wanted to leave really early from school, we have to make up some elaborate story about why my hair isn't as beautiful as they had expected.  I told them I could crazy curl it on Monday before school so they would think I got a perm but they said this wasn't necessary, as the principal is old and probably would forget or not notice anyways.

The stylist took a few inches off and layered it.  We'll see what the students and principal (if he remembers) say on Monday.

Open Class Illusions

This post is for all the teachers in my family back home.

In Korean public school systems exists a phenomenon called 'open class.'  It is well known to all native Korean teachers and foreign teachers alike, as everyone must participate throughout the school year.  Open class is basically when people are invited to come observe a teacher 'teach' a class.  Sometimes the visitors are the vice principal, principal and coworkers from the teacher's own school.  Other times they are parents of the students in the class or teachers from other schools.  But on occasion the people that come to watch the class are people in high-up positions at the Office of Education.

Open class is basically a Korean teacher's worst fear.  The nerves that build up over weeks of preparation are enough to break a person down.  When a Korean teacher finds out the date and time of her open class she will spend weeks planning and preparing.  Unlike in the U.S. this is not a time when the principal comes in, sits in the corner unnoticed by students and takes a few quick notes on what the teacher is doing.  It is far from that.  Instead, the teacher creates an extremely elaborate illusion of what their class would look like in a perfect world where the teacher has an infinite number of hours to plan and prepare for their classes.  And this is what it is expected to be.  It is no secret.

Let me give you an example.  Three days ago one of my fourth grade classes was cancelled due to the fact that our head teacher, who is a P.E. teacher, was going to have an open class the next day.  The head teacher and his class needed to 'practice' the lesson the day before so they would be prepared for when the important people from the Office of Education would come the next day to observe.  Yes, they actually practiced the exact class that they would be having the next day and held their students out of my class to do it.  The next day I walk up to school having completely forgot about the head teacher's open class, but am quickly reminded of it the second I step foot on school grounds.  Groups of students are scurrying around with little brooms and dustpans sweeping up all the fallen leaves and dirt off the driveway.  The dirt field in front of the school, which is used for P.E. classes and sports, is completely covered in sports equipment.  Let me just tell you that I have NEVER seen anything on this field besides the two permanent soccer nets that it houses and elementary schoolers playing various sports.  On this day the students would have the greatest P.E. class of their lives.  They would get to participate in an cornucopia of sports ranging from badminton to bowling to balance beaming.  On the field were various types and sizes of nets, mats, stools, big, wood things that looked like a bean bag toss without a hole in the middle and special equipment at each station.  Someone had even gotten out chalk they use on baseball fields to designate each area. I too had to sacrifice for this class.  My coteacher and I were asked to haul our oversized dry-erase board down three flights of stairs out to the field.  Who uses a dry-erase board in the middle of a dirt field?  When the decorating was finished all I could really do was laugh at the ridiculousness of the whole affair.  But I was the only one laughing.

To make matters even more extreme, the school apparently bought over 20 two-foot potted flowers.  As we were lugging the dry-erase board outside the vice principal would stop every 10-feet to indicate where the students should place each pot.  It was someone's genius idea to place these directly in the middle of the hallway, as if it was totally natural to have barriers in the middle of the hallway of an elementary school where students are constantly running, jumping, sliding, hitting, kicking and participating in outrageous activities I've never even seen before.  There is no way that on a normal day these flowers would have lasted 10 minutes without getting knocked over and destroyed.  At the end of the line of flowers there was a table set up with various books, binders and student creations all on the subject of P.E.  The Office of Educationites could explore the wealth of knowledge belonging to our beautiful, perfect school, students and staff.

And the next day the beautiful illusion ceased to exist.  (How'd you like that one sentence paragraph, Jay?)

 The school's field on a normal day. 

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on open class day but you can imagine.

Now I'll briefly tell you about my own open class, which I have yet to do.  Well, originally I was supposed to do it on the 6th of October.  Then it changed to the 13th, then the 12th of November and now it is scheduled for November 19th.  Since it was originally supposed to be the 6th of October my coteacher and I will naturally be teaching the lesson that we would have taught would it have been that day, 4th grade Chapter 11 Part 2.  Instead, when we actually teach our class, our students will be on Chapter 14 Part 1.  Oh, and did I mention that November 19th is a Friday and I don't even teach 4th graders on Friday?  Yes, we will be having a class that day that doesn't actually exist.  We will be teaching a lesson that the students learned a month and a half before and that we already practiced with them.  I'm sure we will practice it for a second time the day before.  For this class my coteacher spent hours creating the lesson and laminating and cutting out paper and I pretty much did nothing.  This is not because I am lazy or don't care.  It is because Korean teachers take this so damn seriously and get so stressed out over it that they won't let their coteachers do anything because they could screw it up.  If they screwed it up then what would happen?  Probably nothing.

I just have to mention again the fact that EVERYBODY knows that this happens and it is expected.  If a teacher's open class lesson didn't look so overtly outrageous the people at the Office of Education, and everyone else, would have a fit.  I'm sure the whole school would learn about it as soon as it happened (or before) and everyone would be talking about it.  Maybe my criticism is too harsh because I come from a different culture and am used to things a different way, but I really have thought long and hard about this trying to think of the reasoning and I just don't believe it is the best way to evaluate a teacher's ability and success as an educator.  It also causes so much stress on the teacher and takes time away from the students' learning, as they have to practice the same lesson multiple times in an unnatural fashion.

On the plus-side, students will be so well behaved there will be no corporal punishment in the classroom the entire period.

The next day the flowers (this is only half) had been moved to a more practical location.

Maybe I'll get to take one home with me.

My first month

So I've already been in Korea for over a month now.  Every year it seems like time flies by a little faster than the previous.  Why can't time slow down when you're having fun and speed up when you're not?  In the past few weeks I have been settling down and getting accustomed to my daily life.  It has been good to start getting comfortable with my apartment and the area in which I live.  I have been going on short hikes to get in a little work out on the mountain that I live by.  There are so many mosquitoes on this mountain so I have to walk fast or run so I don't get bit.  I think it helps my work out in the end!

I'm sorry I haven't written in a while but I've been really busy and so much has happened since then!  I'll start with Busan.  Busan is the second most populated city in Korea and it is on the south eastern coast.  On the high speed train from Daegu it takes only about 45 minutes to get there.  They say that on a clear day you can see Japan from Busan!  I went to Busan with 5 other friends to visit our friend Kevin who we became good friends with in orientation.  We boarded the train on Friday night and thought we would start off a good weekend with some beer and a few bottles of soju.  We had heard that it's totally legit to drink on the train.  Apparently it wasn't.  We were asked to quiet down multiple times and I'm pretty sure everyone on the train hated us.  I later learned that people take the KTX because it's supposed to be quiet and people want to sleep.  Sorry, people!  We lost a few more friends when we arrived to Busan and hopped on the subway with beers in hand.  Apparently just because it's legal doesn't mean that it's kosher to drink on the subway.  One Korean lady was particularly angry and yelled at us for a while in Korean.  It's actually a lot funnier when you have no idea what the person is saying.  Now we had upwards of negative 40 friends in Busan.  The plan was that we would all stay at Kevin's apartment on his floor but that meant that there would be 8 people in a studio apartment because Kevin's girlfriend, Ruth, was visiting from Seoul.  We decided it would probably be a good idea to get a 'love motel' instead.  Because Korean children usually live with their parents until they get married 'love motels' are really popular.  They are small motel rooms that you can rent by the hour or the night and usually cost around $40 a night.  Don't ask me what they cost by the hour haha.  I've heard that many love motels are actually pretty nice for the price but some can also be pretty bad.  I think it's kind of a hit-or-miss type of deal.  Well, I think that we missed on ours.  The first thing we noticed when we walked in was the bright yellow cement floor and the cockroach on the ceiling.  The wallpaper was stained with who-knows-what and apparently smelled really bad.  We ended up having to sneak the boys in because we told the hotel lady that there were only three of us when in actuality there were six.  Do you remember what Korean showers are like from my previous blog?  Well the water drains into the floor.  When six people are showering and using one bathroom it gets pretty disgusting after about ten seconds.  Whatever.  We didn't care that much.  We were in Busan on the beach!  It was probably around 80 degrees and we were really excited to see Kevin and the other friends that we had made in orientation who were living in Busan.  We spent the weekend partying, eating and lounging on the beach.  I don't think I've laughed so much in 2 days than I did on that trip.  On the Sunday that we had to leave we decided to go to the most famous beach in Busan called Hyundae (like the car).  We were all taking a nice nap in the heat when I hear a man trying to talk to my friend Lara.  I suddenly sit up to see what's going on and this old Korean man is squatting in front of Lara with a small paper cup and two toothpics in his hands.  He is trying to give Lara something and she is shaking her head in protest.  I finally figure out that the man has a cup of boiled bug larvae and is offering her some.  He notices that I sit up and he begins to walk over to me.  My instinctual reaction is to open my mouth.  Please don't ask me why.  Apparently opening of the mouth universally means "feed me."  Needless to say he pops a few boiled bug larvae in my mouth and I begin chewing.  Before this I like to think that I can at least tolerate everything that I have eaten in my life.  Not anymore.  Everytime I even smell the cooking of these larvae I begin to gag and have to run away.  I really hope that no one tries to feed me these ever again.  Besides this one event Busan was really incredible and we've already made plans to visit again within the next few weeks.  Apparently Busan has the biggest fireworks show in the world (?) and it takes place in October so we will hopefully be going for that.

 We hung out in a giant bowl on the beach

 Our dinner one night which consisted of lots of squid! Yummm

 The crew (minus Shaun who is taking the pic) in front of the 'love motel'.


Two weekends ago was one of my coteacher's last day as she is going on maternity leave until after winter vacation.  My two coteachers and I decided to go out to dinner since we wouldn't see her for a while and just to hang out.  Emily and I had been talking about going out for makchang for a while.  Makchang is pig intestines that the restaurant gives you raw and you grill it up yourself.  Each table has its own little grill in the center, and like much Korean food, the servers bring it to you and you cook it.  I had eaten tripe in Ecuador and really liked the flavor but I always had trouble swallowing it because it is so chewy and I could never break it down enough to swallow it.  I would chew it for a while to get the flavor and then spit it out.  I hoped that the makchang would be easier to swallow because I didn't think it would be as appropriate to spit it out in front of my coteachers at a sit-down restaurant (in Ecuador we ate it off the street).  We ordered spicy and regular intestines and, like normal, we got tons of different Korean side dishes.  This is one of the greatest things about Korean food.  You get the meal and included in the meal are many side dishes with various types of food.  Always included is kimchi, which I love.  with the inestines came tree leaves that you were supposed to make a little wrap out of with the different side dishes and sauces.  Apparently the leaf is very high in iron.  Lots of barbequed meat is served with these leaves.  The intestines and all the side dishes turned out to be delicious and I was even able to swallow it with a little extra chewing.  I think these were of higher quality than the ones I often ate in Ecuador and this is why I was able to successfully complete the eating process.

 My coteachers, Emily and Ju Young.

 Cutting the makchang

 Leaf wrap

After we ate dinner we walked next door to the norae bang.  Norae bangs are the karaoke rooms that Koreans are so very obsessed with.  You can seriously find a norae bang on every street corner.  I was a little bit nervous because I have rarely sang karaoke in front of other people completely sober.  If I sing back home it is after having a few drinks and the entire group I'm with takes the mic and we perform a hilariously ridiculous ballad and it is completely a joke.  In Korea karaoke is not a joke.  My two coteachers and I paid for an hour in the norae bang and we opened up the song book and started choosing songs.  I was pretty relieved to find out that my coteachers were no Celine Dions like I imagined all Koreans to be.  My intimidation flew out the non-existant norae bang windows and I let loose.  My coteachers and I ended up having a really fun time dancing and singing.  I closed the hour with an epic performance of "Ode to my Family" by the Cranberries.

 Norae bang

This past week beginning on Tuesday was a mini-vacation for Chuseok.  Chuseok can be compared to Thanksgiving in the states.  People travel to be with their families and they cook and eat and do different things.  Because of this I didn't have to be at school from Tuesday through Friday.  All the EPIK teachers traveled to different places and I decided to go to Seoul and hiking with a group of five other people.  We signed up for a pre-planned trip through a travel company called Adventure Korea that caters to foreigners.  They plan trips all over Korea and lots of people really like the company.  This past Friday, Saturday and Sunday was a hiking trip to the Seoraksan mountains.  Seoraksan is the biggest mountain range in Korea and apparently is pretty well-known.  When i told my coworkers that I was going there they said, "Wow!  Seoraksan!  Good!" hah.  So we headed to Seoul on Wednesday morning where we would stay for two nights before the hiking trip.  Full of "Seoul" puns, the trip turned out to be a blast.  I couldn't believe how huge it is.  Seoul is one of the biggest cities in the world with over 12 million people and the 3rd largest subway system in the world which we dominated.  When I say 'we' I mean the other people in the group.  We took a trip to a palace which is located in the city at the base of a mountain built in the year 600 something!  The king of the dynasty during this period lived here and it was destructed when Japan took over but rebuilt later.  We also visited Seoul Tower which is on top of a mountain and overlooks the entire city.  We were not the only ones who had this same idea.  In fact I believe that about 98% of Seoul had the exact same idea.  My allotted 15 seconds of viewing time was pretty incredible as the sun was setting right when we were there.  Earlier that day we walked down the Han River and took a little rest in a park and that night we wandered around the city.  Seoul has amazing shopping and food and I would definitely like to spend about a week there.  I don't think I could live there though.  Everywhere you walked there were about a bazillion other people.  There would definitely be something to do all the time though.  While I was there I met a friend from Willamette, Brett, who has been living in Seoul as a teacher for the past month.  Before we graduated we both talked about meeting up.  It was really nice to see someone from home!

 Juxtaposition of the thousand and a half year old palace and the city.

 The girls

 Girls in traditional dress

 A clothing store called "Teenie Weenie".  The sign says "Fly to your dreams" and "All that bear."  Don't ask me...

 "Soft and deep tastes of flesh chicken."

 Once again cooking our meal.

 Seoul Tower

On Friday morning with an hour and a half of sleep we had to get up to go on the hike.  I was pretty much dying of exhaustion but thank God for the 3-hour bus ride.  I was able to take a little nap before we hiked the mountain.  We get to the mountain with our group of 75 (way too many people) but then i realize that the Korean idea of hiking is pretty different from my own.  Hiking this mountain, which means you literally climb the entire mountain, are thousands of other people doing the same thing.  From babies to 80 year olds, the mountain was drowning in people.  It got really really frustrating having to wait behind a long line of slow people or waiting for the people going the opposite direction to go past.  The hike to the top of the mountain proved to be pretty treacherous as it was super steep and there were so many people.  I was astonished at the way the really old people and young kids could climb this mountain.  Before the recent waves of Christian missionaries Koreans have been predominantly Buddhist because of the history of Chinese domination.  Now Korea is one of the most Christian countries in the world which is kind of sad to me.  Many younger people reject their Buddhist heritage for Christianity but the older people tend to stick to their traditions.  I would guess this is why there are so many older people that religiously hike the mountains.  I've noticed that when I go hiking on my mountain that the majority of the people hiking are probably around 50 or 60 years old.  Mountains are sacred in Buddhism and temples are usually built on or at the base of mountains. One of the most interesting things is that on so many mountains, and in public spaces in general, there is "work out equipment."  Apparently the government places workout equipment in the middle of a mountain where old men in suits can go to "work out."  Right when the get off work they must climb the mountain to work out without changing their clothes.  It's really strange but hilarious because we would view these machines as pretty ridiculous.  To me they seem like playgrounds for grown ups.  The machines don't really work you out to say the least and you will have a good laugh watching someone so seriously 'working out' on these machines in their professional dress.  Anyways hiking wasn't exactly as I imagined it but it was an experience.  On Saturday we went to the beach instead of doing the 11 hour hike and we lounged in the sun and rode mini electric motorcycles.  My favorite part of the 'hiking trip' was ironically the spa.  But this ain't just any ol' spa.  Spas in Korea are very popular and everyone is very naked.  First you go into the 'shower' where you undress and hang out naked in your choice of about 8-10 different tubs.  These tubs are more like mini pools and each is a different temperature.  They have cool and hot pools, saunas and an outdoor hot tub like pool.  The water they use is apparently mineral water that i believe is from a hot spring.  People also go to the shower to, you guessed it, take a shower!  They bring all of their bath stuff and sit in front of mirrors with shower heads and bathe each other.  Yes, they rub each other down from head to tow.  My friends and I were pretty comfortable after a few minutes but we never reached this level so we decided to bathe ourselves.  When you are done in the 'shower' you put on these really stylish shorts/tshirt uniforms and go to the 'spa' area that is integrated with the men.  Here there are about 10 different saunas at different temperatures and even a cold room that is totally iced over.  You can also hang out in the center and lay on the ground to watch TV.  We decided to pay an extra 1,000 won (85 cents) to do the massage chairs.  This was the most intense 10 minutes of massage that I've ever endured.  All in all the 'hiking trip' was fun although we did have a few complaints with Adventure Korea.  We may not be booking another trip through them.

 There are lots of stairs involved in Korean hiking

 The climb was worth the view from the top

 Biggest Buddha i've ever seen

Complaint #1:  No beds in the hotel room.

OK I really must go.  I've started to get sick and I really need to go to bed.  I'll leave you with a few pictures that I took in my 4th grade special class.  I taught a lesson on clothing and took pieces of my own clothes in.  We played a game where they had to put on my clothes.  It was pretty funny.

Stay tuned.  Hugs and Kisses <3

안녕하세요 Ahn-young-ha-seh-oh from Korea!

Hello from Korea!
So I have been in Korea now for exactly a week and It would probably take me a few hours or more to describe all of the interesting/different/crazy/weird/hilarious things that I have experienced so far!  To save you and myself from this I am only going to pick a few details and experiences to share.

First I will just give an overall description of EPIK (English Program in Korea) and some of the things we have done while we have been here.  When I arrived in Korea I quickly realized that there were probably over 100 other EPIK teachers that were on the same flight.  Everyone was really outgoing and eager to meet people and exchange knowledge.  The program directors were waiting at the airport for us to load us on the bus and take us to Jeonju University, where we are now for orientation.  This year there are three EPIK orientations and at ours alone there are over 400 teachers.  I heard that about 150 will be going to Daegu, the city I will be at.  This is the highest number of teachers going anywhere besides Seoul.  I have been incredibly surprised by the organization that EPIK has put into this orientation.  They have treated us so well from the moment we stepped off the bus.  We are given three hearty meals a day and between every class there are Korean snacks and drinks waiting for us outside the classroom.  For the past few days we have had about 6 hours a day of lectures to prepare us for teaching and differences in Korean culture.  Overall the lecturers have been AMAZING and I've learned a lot.  In a few hours I will meet my MOE (Metropolitan Office of Education) supervisor and find out in which school I will be placed and what level, so that's pretty exciting but nerve-racking!  Thursday (your Wednesday) will be our last day here in Jeonju.  We will be taken by bus to our cities where we will immediately meet our co-teachers and see our apartments.

Ok.  So EPIK took us on a field trip on our day off to a traditional Korean village and a Buddhist temple.  When we first arrived at the village we were taken into a building and made traditional Korean fans.  Here is a picture of my fan:

After we made the fans we were sent out to explore the village on our own.  We were walking aimlessly through the village when a Korean man started talking to us in English.  He told us that we were at the museum and that we should go upstairs and he would guide us through the museum.  At this point we really have no idea who this man is but we decide to follow him anyway.  As he takes us through the museum we are super impressed because he seems to know so much history about Jeonju and Korea.  At the end of the 'tour' he asks us if he can show us around the rest of the village.  Then he tells us that he had studied in the States through his doctorate education.  Thirty years ago he decided to come back to Korea and now he is a professor of national security teaching in Seoul.  We were very lucky to have met this guy because he guided us all around explaining everything and showing us things that we would not have been able to see were we on our own.  When we parted ways he gave us his contact information and told us that if we were ever in Seoul he would love to give us a tour of the city.

After the Hanok Village we were bused to a Buddhist temple.  My friend Lara and I were walking a bit behind the group because we stopped to go to the bathroom and put our feet in the water.  It is ridiculously humid here and it has been really hard getting used to it.  So we are walking up this hill towards the temple trying to catch up with the group when this man comes up to us and says, "Kogi?"  We have no idea what he is saying to us because he is speaking in Korean and we are answering in English but he obviously doesn't speak any English.  We have been told that if someone invites us somewhere, we should always go.  So naturally, we followed him.  He took us over by the river and introduced us to his friends and wife and made us sit down at a picnic table.  On the table is a little grill with a few small pieces of meat.  The man says something to his wife and she frantically starts opening containers of rice and kimchi and puts some raw beef on the grill to cook for us.  We had just eaten about an hour before so we were not hungry at all but I didn't want to be rude and deny the food.  While the lady is preparing our food all the men (seemingly drunk) are speaking to us in Korean and laughing.  The men offer us beer and soju (a Korean sake type drink) but we graciously decline.  Since the only thing we could communicate about was our ages, we talked and joked about each others ages for awhile.  By the end of our little lunch date the woman has loosened up a bit and accepted our presence and we had all laughed a lot about our attempts at communication.

Another funny thing happened to me while I was playing my banjo.  I really wanted to go somewhere outside that was light enough to see my book so I found a balcony on the other side of our dorm building.  So I go outside and start playing.  Apparently this floor was where Korean students live because they kept coming outside to smoke.  I start trying to talk to one of the Korean guys and he sits down by me and tells me his name is Sang.  He is wearing basketball shorts and a tee shirt and looks like he has just been chillen out in the dorms.  I use very simple sentences and vocabulary to ask him about himself and when he understands he tries to respond.  We end up being able to understand each other pretty well, or so I think.  I conclude that he works at a bar that is ten minutes away in taxi and that he has to leave to go to work at 10 o'clock.  It is about 9:30 at this point and he tells me he has to go get ready for work and that he will be back out in 10 minutes and I should wait for him.  By this time we have accumulated quite a crowd of people and a girl named Esther comes out and is very eager to try and talk to me.  Her English is quite a bit better than that of Sang so we are able to communicate more productively.  When Sang comes back out I literally did not recognize him for a few minutes.  He looked completely different.  He had gelled his hair up and was wearing fitted black slacks and a white button-up long-sleeved shirt.  He looked sharp!  Sang sits back down and he and Esther begin to try and ask me something that I can't quite make out.  Finally I realize that Sang is trying to ask me out to lunch through Esther.  I ask them, "Restaurant?  You want to take me to a restaurant?"  And they both go, "No! Not restaurant! Eating house!"  I agree to go out to lunch with Sang the next day even though in my mind I'm thinking, "what have I gotten myself into?  This guy barely speaks any English.  I figure it will be a good chance to practice communicating like I will have to with my students.  Finally it is time for Sang and his friend to go to work so they leave but Esther keeps talking to me.  She invites me into her dorm room and shows me that she has been learning the guitar.  She is very interested in me and excited to tell me about herself and Korea.  She also asks me what the difference is between "restaurant" and "eating house" in English.  I tell her that we don't use the word "eating house," only the word "restaurant."  She laughs and tells me that in Korea "restaurant" is a place to get expensive Western food like spaghetti.  An "eating house" is where you can get Korean food for very cheap.  She then tells me that Sang was embarrassed when i kept asking if we were going to a restaurant because he doesn't have very much money and couldn't afford to go to a restaurant, only an eating house.  That is why he kept saying, "not restaurant!"  I feel really bad and tell Esther that I want to go to an eating house, not restaurant!  We end up talking for about an hour and a half and I have to cut the conversation short because I am exhausted from trying to communicate with someone who speaks little English for such a long time.  The next day I meet Sang for lunch in the lobby.  I am surprised to see both him and his friend.  He says to me, "friend?"  Implying that he expected me to bring a friend to this date for his friend.  I must have missed this part of the conversation the night before.  I think he and his friend are a little bit embarrassed about this but the three of us walk down the road to a little "eating house."  Naturally he orders for me and the server brings over the plates.  For he and I Sang ordered a dish called "kimchi bokkumbak."  It is fried rice with kimchi and sauteed onions with a fried egg on top.  This was definitely my favorite Korean dish so far.

(Sang on left)

The date is not awkward at all but I do end up talking the majority of the time and they laugh (I don't know if it was with me or at me).  We end by exchanging numbers and I tell Sang that if he is ever in Daegu that we should go out and drink Soju together.  He says, "I want to drink soju with you."

Well I'm off to meet the head honcho from the office of education!
Ahn-yeoung-ee-gay-say-oh!  (Goodbye!)