korea
Yesterday we went to the Haven Baptist Church, a small church started in the late 1960's to minister to the Gunsan Air Base personnel (currently numbering around 5000, though the number has shrunk continuously since the war); somewhere along the line English Teachers found out about the church, and the congregation seems to be dominated by them now.
The church has no website, but they've got "hit men," so they don't really need one: one day while Marisa was standing at her bus stop waiting for the bus home a Korean man stepped up and gave her a business card for the Church. We called the number, spoke to pastor Stewart (who has been in Korea for over 30 years), and bam! on Sunday a van came by and picked us up.
The church seemed surprisingly small considering the size of the base (somewhere around 50 people I would estimate), but a nice size considering that everyone was quite friendly. We met the air base chief, as well as a number of English teachers around our age (most of them teaching at private hagwans, rather than public schools), and were invited to an English teacher Christmas party this Friday.
One of the best things about our visit was the food: aparently the congregation eats together every Sunday, and they eat stuff besides Kimchi! Don't get me wrong: I like Korean food quite a bit, but considering that it's all we eat at school, and all we can make at home due to what's available at the supermarkets, a little change is nice. This Sunday we ate "left overs" from their Thanksgiving diner; I'm not sure how much food they had originally at the diner, but if they hadn't told us we were eating left overs I never would have guessed: turkey, ham, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes with brown sugar... the works. After a month of kimchi, it was a bit like heaven.
Yesterday, Jordan and I had the pleasure of being invited by my co-teacher Ms Park to her home in Jeonju. We met her and her carpool at my school around 12:30 (since all the Korean have school on Saturday for some reason, apparently they just have clubs on Saturday). Jeonju is about an hour drive from Gunsan and there are three teachers, including Ms Park, who share the commute everyday. We got dropped off at Ms Park's new apartment (very large) and then left with her daughter for lunch. Her daughter is currently in the midst of applying to Seoul National University (the Harvard of Korea) and if she gets in, Ms Park is going to have a big party. I have it on good authority that the daughter (her name was never disclosed) is very smart, always at the top of her class, so I guess she has a good shot.
We went to lunch in the downtown at a Vietnamese restaurant. At first we thought she was taking us to a "vitamin house," but eventually figured out that she meant Vietnamese. I guess foreigners like Vietnamese food (we like it quite a lot) so she took us there. Jeonju is about twice the size of Gunsan, and so has luxuries like Vietnamese food. We had some very tasty noodles and dim sum (although dim sum is Chinese....) and then took a little walk around the downtown. We have become very curious since visiting Matthew and now Jeonju to find our downtown because everywhere we have visited has had very nice pedestrian only shopping districts with lots of exciting things. So one of these days we must venture out and see if we can find the Gunsan downtown.
The day was completely freezing despite having started out as a warm day, so we hustled through our next tour of the traditional village in Jeonju. It was a very cute place with lots of traditional houses filled with shops, restaurants and museums, as well as some really old buildings that were once the spiritual capital of the Joseon dynasty. The first king of this dynasty came from Jeonju, so it has a bit of fame. It was really cold though, so we hurried back after a little tour to Ms Park's house.
She had just moved apartments about a week ago, but her home looked remarkably organized, and she gave us a pleased tour of her very large apartment. It makes our apartment look like tiny place. I also saw the kimchi fridge, where the family keeps their year's supply of kimchi. Apparently all Koreans have a kimchi fridge, I don't know where ours is, and since it's kimchi making time, they are all full to bursting. At dinner we were able to taste both fresh kimchi and fermented kimchi made by Ms Park's mother, which was much better than the stuff we're served at school. Apparently over 20 seasonings go into the kimchi when it's being prepared, so there's a big range in taste. Since Jordan liked the kimchi so much, we were sent home with a large quantity of our own to put in our normal fridge, since we don't have a kimchi fridge. The phenomena of kimchi is quite amazing. Who would think that there would be a whole race of people completely addicted to eating at every single meal spicy, fermented cabbage. If you told me I had to eat spicy, fermented cabbage at every meal for the rest of my life I would think it was a severe punishment. But to the Koreans, a day without kimchi is like a day without air, unthinkable.
Ms Park had determined that she would teach me how to cook like a Korean, so I helped her with dinner. Although many of the things seemed to have been premade by her mother and we just dumped them into a pot. So, I guess I have to convince my mom to come over and start making things so that I can cook like a Korean. We made a tasty chicken stew, and some beef bulgogi (which I think is a mushroom sauce). I also made a salad and we roasted some hot dogs (which I think were just there for me and Jordan, but there was so much food we could hardly eat it). The highlights of the dinner were probably either when I started flinging food around with my chopsticks (despite my normal ability to eat like a normal person with them) or when Jordan thought the teapot full of Soju (watered down vodka) was water. Jordan also proved his manliness to everyone at the table by eating the hot peppers that Mr Park was eating (we call him Mr Park because he was never introduced to us beyond being Ms Park's husband, and I don't actually think women change their name upon marriage here, but for want of something to call him we call him Mr Park). After eating the first spicy pepper, Ms Park had to find the even hotter peppers in the freezer, to give Jordan the ultimate test. Luckily for me, I think being a girl keeps me from having to partake in such manly contests, as no one but Jordan thought I should taste the pepper. And since Jordan puts on such a good show with his pepper eating, I didn't want to ruin it by having a panic when I ate one.
Ms Park had invited over her English teacher friend as well, so we passed a very pleasant evening discussing many different things, from Michael Jackson and Obama, to the phrase "who cut the cheese" (which apparently Jordan has never heard, please tell him this is weird). All the English teachers here like talking to us because we are very easy to understand (thanks to our Midwest upbringing I always tell them) unlike the newscasters on CNN whom they can't understand. It was a very nice, relaxing evening, aside from my flying food, and Ms Park has determined that next time we come we will spend the night in her extra bedroom and we will teach her to make pizza.
This is a secret video that Jordan took of the cooking excitement while loafing on the couch.
To see more picture from the trip, visit the album at flickr.
So you all know that Marisa goes to school and works hard and has lots of fun with her crazy students. But what do I do during that time? Do I really go to school at all? Or do I secretly head off to the singing rooms and karaoke all day? All shall be revealed in this thrilling new blog entry!
Let's see... I get up at 6:40am the same as Marisa (I originally tried sleeping a bit longer, but found that this didn't really work out so well), make toast (I am the official toast maker of our family, and make no mistake about the ease of making toast in a Korean mini-oven: it is difficult--but I am skilled, and swift with a timer and oven mit), we eat, I do a bit of reading, yada yada...
I get to Jayang (previously "Chayan," but Jayang is the preffered romanization) about 8:30, and currently teach two classes a day there Monday through Wednesday; there's some other stuff on my schedule which I think will kick into effect once the new year starts in March (the first schoolastic semester fall in the Spring, rather than the Fall in Korea), but for the moment I have it quite light. In the last couple of weeks all three of my classes at Jayang (grades 1, 2 and 3 as they say, which are equivalent to the 7th, 8th, and 9th grades in America) have completed their textbooks, so we now play games every day (which is nice, because the textbooks were pretty boring, despite my attempts to link in relevant videos, music, historical and cultural information, StarCraft, etc.).
There are some great TESL forums out there (specifically Dave's ESL Cafe) where I've found all kinds of ideas for games and such. Some popular choices so far have been Team Hangman, Constantinople, and various variations on 20 Questions, Charades, bracket tournaments and Bingo that place an emphasis on language aquisition. I decided to bring some candy for prizes one day but as I was going in to class I had second thoughts... the candies were pretty small, and how much of an incentive could a small piece of candy really be for a 14-year-old?
The answer is: Korean middle schoolers will grovel at your feet for a piece of candy. They will hop up and down and spin in circles while pocking themselves in the eyes for a piece of candy. They will abandon their families and crawl on their hands and knees up Mt. Everest for a piece of candy, content to freeze to death at the top as long as they can suck on a sweet ball of sugar. They will even be almost quiet for a piece of candy!
And so it is as master Lao-Tzu once said: at all times look as though you may have candies in your pocket, and your students will respect you; for such is the way of wisdom.
At Napo middle school I have a similarly rough schedule of two playtimes a day. The students at Napo are generally much better behaved, however, and with the exceptionally small class sizes things are more pleasant all around (I have less of the "I'm standing in a zoo and I think I'm the odd one out" sort of feeling). We've made name cards and I'm starting to get everyone down... especially "Monkey," "Chicken," and "Adidas" (nick names are really big in Korea -- everyone has a name that their friends call them, and some people, like Monkey and Chicken, go by their nicknames all the time. When I told my principal that I don't really have a nickname he looked shocked and horiffied, but then regained composure and said, "No worry no worry! I call you... Tall Joe!" Me: "Tall Joe?" Him: "Okay." Koreans use "okay" to mean many things, including "yes.").
Yesterday I taught about Thanksgiving; some of the students knew "turkey!" (or at least "chicken!") but not much else. I showed some video clips, and was surprised to find that everyone really liked the NFL highlights clip--wow, it's 3:55 and I have to head for the bus. Anyway, hopefully that gives you a bit of a taste of (and for) the craziness.
My students this week were excited and thrilled to study "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson. This made for much amusement all around, whether from the enthusiastic whoops from the pop singer (imitated by the more daring in the class) or for me when I asked "who is the man in the mirror?" and received answers such as, "Michael Jackson!" or "poor people!" ("when you look in the mirror, do you see poor people?") When I was planning this lesson I didn't stop and spend much time on the choice of song, not fully realizing at the time that I would have to listen to the song about 300 times this week. The decision came mostly from a song that related to "how to change the world" and since everyone here knows Michael Jackson, I figured this was a good bonus (I don't think here in Korea they know much about his crazy side). Luckily for me, I have actually grown more fond of the song as I've listened to it. I hope to be so lucky next time I pick a song, as fill in the blank lyrics seems to be a big hit with the students. Even when the computer is broken and I must recite the lyrics, the class is still mesmerized into silence (in fact they are quieter when I read than when we listen). Perhaps I have a voice like my Intro to Bible prof, who no matter what he was talking about always put me to sleep instantly. I'm convinced it was the tone and cadence of his speaking, and the fact that is was at 8 in the morning. In any case, I felt a bit like the musician who tamed the wild beast when I read aloud, as the previously rowdy, obnoxious class became so quiet you could hear a pin drop (aside from my recitation).
The only other excitement of my week has been deciding that Gunsan must be the aberration of Korea because I believe we only have nice old people here. We have heard from various sources that the old women in Korea are something to be feared and avoided. Apparently they have no thought for the people around them and are quite ruthless when it comes to standing in line, walking on the street, or doing just about anything else. This being said, I have not experienced any of this mean old lady business. In fact I have only experienced very nice old ladies on the bus. One I met was quite worried that I get a seat on the bus and kept tugging on my shirt until I obliged and sat in a recently opened seat. And yesterday as I was standing at the bus stop in a little drizzle with only my raincoat, an old lady came up and shared her umbrella with me as we waited for the bus. There was also an old man on the bus who was determined to give me his seat, despite my deferrence (the buses in Korea are quite wild and it's all I can do to keep my balance as the bus jerks around, and I didn't want to be responsible for an old man falling over), he prevailed (and I think was more steady on his feet than I am) and proceeded to have a conversation with me in English. I'm not sure if a conversation is a good trade for a seat on the bus, but we both seemed pleased at the arrangement, so I guess in this case everyone was a winner. So I sit in wait of meeting my first mean old lady, but strongly believe that Gunsan is the land of nice old people.
This last weekend we decided to go visit Matthew Fisher in Chungju, instead of cleaning our apartment, or buying bookshelves for our apartment... or setting up picture frames in our apartment. Or crafting floral arrangements for our apartment. The trip started out a bit, well, painfully, as the stomach issues which I had been dealing with the night before (I'm not sure my system agrees with any amount of Soju, as both times I've had it I've felt ill the next day) cropped up as soon as we got on the bus, but all things ended well.
As you can see on the map we traveled northeast, traversing about half of the width of Korea, and roughly a third of the length. The bus trip took about 5 hours total, which included many stops and a short layover; a straight shot by car would probably be under two hours if you didn't hit traffic in the cities. We returned by train in about 4 hours, with two layovers. Both trips were about 18,000 Won a person, which, with the currency doing so poorly at the moment, translates into $12.50 USD.
Photos from our trip can be seen in the slide show below, or by visiting our flickr album.
We got in Saturday afternoon and spent the night at Matthew's, on our camping mats. Chungju is beautiful (nestled by mountains on all sides), so we had a nice walk around the place. One of the highlights of the trip was getting to play board games and drink gingerale with a couple of Matthew's expatriot friends (one of whom is of course named Matt); I had been on boardgame withdrawal for several weeks.
Anyway, here's a little video from our walk. The free exercise equipment appears to be a standard Korea lakeside feature.
An email we got today from Matthew:
Forgot to say this before... I guess that this is mostly for Marisa, since I couldn't dissuade Jordan, but here goes anyway:
Don't eat jellyfish.
(In my case, I had no idea what it was---it was whitish, translucent, stringy, and sort of viscous-looking, but that description applied to half of the things on the table, and I assumed that like the others it was some kind of plant starch or obscure vegetable or fruit or even ginseng with something funny done to it. But it was actually jellyfish.)
Um. In Korea it's only considered good if it still stings.
It STINGS.
So don't eat it.
(Intentionally burning yourself with spicy foods is odd enough to me, but intentionally stinging yourself with jellyfish poison? No matter how mild the poison is, this seems weird.)
---Matthew
PS: The Koreans told me that it was a Japanese dish. That's true, but I have never ever heard of the Japanese leaving bits of the tentacles in so that it stings you... they just spice it with miso and stuff.
I'm not kidding here. In Korea, don't eat jellyfish.
It's back over 50 degrees and sunny: not an ounce of snow to be seen anywhere. You'd think those pictures we took were a joke. In Gunsan, on the sea, this is apparently how it goes: cold air will blow through, followed by warm air, etc., and though it snows a lot here (apparently more than anywhere else in Korea), the locals say it usually melts within a day.
So Domino's is an international chain, right? Well, courtesy of Matthew Fisher you can see what they call "pizza" on his side of Korea (don't forget to look up Coq au vin, if you don't know what it is); of course, perhaps that's what one should expect from a website that's titled "Creative Domino's Pizza" (www.dominos.co.kr). The image is the motto and mission statement of Jeonju National University, which we see on buses all the time; personally, I think Bethel should maybe steal both the motto and mission statement outright.
When living in Korea (or really anywhere, if we're going to be honest) one comes across many absurdities in day to day life. Here are the ones I experienced today.
So we're not going to dwell too much on this because I'm in the middle of dealing with it (so is Jordan) and it's best not to think too hard about it. But the province we are in has created a contest for all the foreign English teachers. We are supposed to create a star lesson plan, video it, and send it in to a panel who might award us about $500 (although it's not clear if we get the money, or the school, I'm guessing it's not likely to be us). So, my co-teacher Ms Park says my Halloween lesson was a good one, why don't I do that. I type it up, making it look much fancier than it is and then this morning we video it in class (keep in mind the class has already had this class, back when it was actually Halloween). So we watch all the same video clips, do the same crossword puzzle and then, to top it all off, I give them fake homework (because the directions are that I assign homework, but in actuality I do not assign homework). I did draw a nice princess on the board, though. We finished a bit early (I wonder why, could it be that everyone is bored out of their minds and knows the answers?) so I improvised, quite well I might add, about Thanksgiving (since it's next week, unlike Halloween which was a month ago).
So we finish the class, the bell rings, and I think Hallelujah! no more of that nonsense (unless by some strange act of God my lesson enters the semifinals and then we have to do it again in front of judges), but then Ms Park comes and says, "I think we will have to do it again, the camera wasn't working." I smile, everyone knows I am very diplomatic, and say, "sure, no problem, I love this lesson, let's do it everyday forever." I was somewhat prepared for this eventuality because the same thing happened to Jordan, but I think to myself, at least we'll be taping again with a different class so it's not so boring that the students will likely jump out the window. But later I discover, for reasons unknown to me, we are filming with the same class on the same day during last period (to happen in about an hour). And then I begin to suspect that the camera was working fine, Ms Park just didn't like my ad lib about Thanksgiving (the only part during which the students acknowledged my presence) because she came down and gave me some pointers. "Talk slowly, make it go longer until the bell rings." Sure, right after I jump out the window with the students.
In the midst of this drama I've also been trying to discover the dates for my winter break. I knew the school was on vacation from December 25 until February 2, but sometime in there I am supposed to have vacation school. When exactly no one seems to know, although we're trying to make plans so I go and ask Ms Park if she can please find out so I can buy a ferry ticket to Japan. In the course of this discussion I discover that when we come back to school on February 2 we only have school for one week and then we have "spring vacation" which is the rest of February. At this knew piece of knowledge I stare at Ms Park like she has three heads and try and contemplate what good one week in the middle of a two month vacation could possibly do. I still don't know, it boggles the mind.
Although perhaps the most absurd part of the day was when I asked Jordan if absurd started with a 'U' or an 'O.' Why anyone thinks we should all learn English is beyond me.
Yesterday afternoon everyone was really excited about the few snow flakes that fell from the sky. But this morning we were shocked to wake up to about 6 inches of snow. And it kept snowing all day. Apparently the snow only lasts for a few days, so we'll see what happens. click here to see more photos
So I thought I might run you all through a typical day in my life. Despite today being my slacker day, as well as juice day, I think it bears enough resemblance to regular life to warrant the title "a day in the life."
Generally I wake up at 6:40 am. I'm supposed to be at school at 8:10. Why I'm supposed to be there at this time is a mystery to me. School doesn't start until 8:50 and I don't really have a whole lot to do before school. Every other English teacher I know (including all the teachers at Jordan's two schools) don't have to be at school until 8:30. And even when I come "late" at 8:20 or so, most of the teachers aren't here. I'm starting to suspect that Ms Park comes at 8:10 and for some reason thinks I should to. I have plans to casually come later and later every day.
After breakfast of cinnamon toast and PG tips (the only tea I like, carried to Korea all the way from England in a giant box), I get on the bus at 7:37. I then sit on the bus for about 40 minutes. I take this bus, not because it' fast (there are much faster ones) but because it takes me right from my door to the school door (although it took me several weeks to realize that the bus went down the school street and I used to walk a few blocks). And it's the bus they told me take and gets me to school late; I figure it's nicer to sit on the bus then sit at my desk (on the bus I can iPod it up).
I get to school at the aforementioned time of 8:20 and then sit around for a while, checking me email, doing some stalking on facebook, maybe updating my status so that everyone can know what I'm up to that morning. I generally always have class first period (although it's true that at least twice a week my classes happen at different times than it says on my schedule, unfortunately they aren't often canceled they just happen at later times. I think this might be because the teachers are going on outings and need to rearrange their classes so all the free time is in a chunk.) In class I often work right out of the (extremley dull) textbook. Mostly we are doing listen and repeat excercises so that all the students can learn to talk like me. Generally these are so dull that I fall asleep and start randomly changing the words, much to everyone's confusion (like when I called Jane a he, or read 'student' instead of 'earthquake'). I always claim that I am testing them (apparently people really do this, so I guess I'm okay). Sometimes I try and make the lesson more exciting by saying 'shampoo' as ridiculously as possible, or trying to get the students to say "I can't believe it" like they really mean it. Sometimes if I can make a connection I show a movie from youtube or do a crossword puzzle.
On Monday's and Tuesday's I work with Miss Doo and the first years. This week Miss Doo wanted to play a game, so we played "My Hopes and Dreams" Bingo. Everyone was very excited about it, so much so that they didn't want class to end. I gave out candy prizes, which I think is what the big excitment was all about. I think my students are some of the best behaved middle schoolers in the country. They don't seem particularily well behaved, but from the stories I've heard from others, I think they must be impressive. Although I was a bit annoyed with one boy who thought copying words off a list was too difficult and tried to copy his neighbor's sheet. He was then annoyed with me when I told him he had to copy off the other sheet, not his neighbor's.
This afternoon's class was topped off by the arrival of a small snow flurry, which I think out manuvered bingo for most-exciting-thing-to-be-happening-at-that-moment. While I'm sitting here we are still enjoying a small falling of snow.
When I'm not in class, I'm generally sitting at my desk "working" on things. Sometimes I do actually work making plans for next class. I generally do most of my school planning on Tuesday (today) because I have about a four hour break in the middle of the day. I have to plan about 3.75 activities. Some of the classes are in somewhat the same place, so I do something of the same thing. For one of my classes I still haven't found where my co-teacher's office is, so I just wing that one (meaning I show up and ask the kids what page in the book they're on, then we play some hangman).
I also have cafeteria lunch everyday, and I get to sit at the special teacher's table. We even have our own place to get food. I prefer to go before the actual lunch hour since it's seriously loud when the students are there, but none of the teachers really talk during lunch anyway (although I have a few fans who get excited when I come in for lunch and ask me lots of questions and try and get me to hold my chopsticks the right way). Today, however, I didn't eat lunch as I'm just drinking my juice in an effort to let my digestive system rest. However, in the afternoon we are often given tasty treats and today is no different. I have sitting next to me a tasty rice cake, the best kind of rice cake Miss Doo says, and I'm determining if it counts as juice. I fear that I will have to take it home for Jordan.
I leave school at exactly 4:30 everyday, if it's getting close to 4:30 (like 4:27) and I haven't left yet, Miss Kim who sits next to me tells me I should go. Today I'll probably sneak out a few minutes early so I can catch an earlier bus home.
Once home I generally make juice and have dinner, we go out frequently because there are lots of tasty and cheap restaurants around. Tonight though I will just have juice. At that point any kind of entertainment might proceed, knitting, movies, Harry Potter, the Sims...And then around 9:30 it's time for bed.
So as you can see, I really do lead a thrilling life.
Last night our landlords took us out to eat; a very nice family with two boys aged five and seven. They took us to Mr. Pizza in the new downtown area of Gunsan. The food was delicious: we had Kimchi and Seafood spaghetti, all-you-can-eat salad bar (which included crab), and a deluxe seafood pizza with crab and other goodies overflowing the crust.. All the waiters at Mr. Pizza wore headbands with crabs bouncing around on little springs, and the place's motto was interestingly "Love For Women"... we never figured out why. After the dinner we took a walk down Gunsan's beautifully-lit pedestrian bridge (crosses over the lake that is near our house). Check out the pictures of the bridge in our photo album.
PS: One of the interesting things in Korea is that you are expected to share, even at restaurants, which means that they've got no problem with two people sharing one all-you-can-eat salad bar dish, or a free-refills glass of Cola (they'll bring you two straws!). I'm sure my dad would think this was great; if he were here I could see him ordering one dish and one glass of Coke for our family of six to share.
So I was teaching about modes of transportation in class today at Napo, and we had all kinds of fun. At the end of the class I decided to have a showdown between all the types of transport we'd discussed; we lined all of the modes up in brackets, and for each bracket the students had to vote on their preferred way to get around. It was a basic bracket style tournament, where you'd have, say, walking vs. train, and if trains wins, then it goes on to meet the winner of car vs. rowboat.
Now what you have to realize here is that we had brainstormed up basically every kind of transportation imaginable, from jet ski to hot air balloon to hand glider--so there were a lot of choices, and a number of rounds. Well, needless to say the tournament was tense to the very end, with emotions soaring in all directions, some wild thrashing, a couple of students who had to be physically restrained, and no end of close and unexpected upsets. The long and the short of it is that Canoe--yes, you read that right, Canoe--emerged victorious, soundly defeating the previously unbeatable Jet. I tried for the life of me to understand why Canoe was so popular, but all I really got in the end was that it had something to do with "human power." I'm sure there's a valuable bit of insight into the Korean middle school psyche here, but I'm not sure what it is. Cast your own vote via the poll in the sidebar.
So we had a half day at school yesterday. I was pretty excited to go home and do nothing for a while, but around second period Ms Park told me that the teachers were going to climb a mountain that afternoon and I was invited to go along. Invited meaning I was going along. I was a little annoyed at the short notice, since I was dressed for school in tights, a skirt and inappropriate footwear, while all the other teachers who were going were dressed in jeans and sneakers. I guess they were given more than a few hours notice of the trip.
So at one o'clock I found myself on bus with about 30 teachers (there are about 50 at the school, so a little over half). We pulled out promptly (or at least I assume it was promptly because we left at 1, although perhaps we were supposed to leave at 12:30, I don't know, no one tells me anything). Soon after we pull out people start passing around the snacks: a bottle of water, some tangerines, dried squid and beer. Dried squid is in fact one of my least favorite things on the planet, but I tried to it be sociable. And I drank my dixie cup full of beer. After about a half hour ride we pull off the highway and Miss Kim (I think maybe no one told me about the trip because Ms Park couldn't go, and I think she was worried about me going without her) informs me that we are stopping at a high school. Although Miss Kim is an English teacher, she speaks practically no English, although I believe she can understand a decent amount (at least she is always translating what I say in class), so what we're doing at the high school (and where the mountain is) remain a mystery. We meet the principal at this high school, and so there are some speeches amongst the two principals. Then we walk to this big building which turns out to be a large auto-mechanics classroom, with lots of engines and cars and stuff. So, I guess we were there to tour this pretty fancy technical high school. We also clapped for the auto-mechanic teachers. Then it was back on the bus and on to the mountain.
The mountains weren't too far from the high school and soon we were blissfully wandering amongst the fall colored leaves next to a peaceful brook, while vendors tried to sell us various strange foods. And it became apparent that "hiking the mountain" was really "stroll along at the bottom of the mountain and take lots of pictures and maybe have a snack." Since Ms Park didn't come with, I got to hang out with all the teachers under 30, as they frolicked from pretty tree to pretty tree taking pictures. The group of teachers who came on this outing, as far as I could tell, was comprised of unmarried, young women, older women whose children were gone, and various men.
As we neared the end of the path (paved for our convenience), the teachers I was with spotted the older teachers (including the principal) sitting at a table drinking and having snacks. At this point there seemed to be hesitation and an effort to turn around without being seen by this snacking group, but I fear there was no hope for them since they had me and no one was going to let me miss out on group bonding. I felt a bit bad because I didn't want to repay their kindness in letting me hang out with them by dragging them to the table with the bosses, but what could I do?
We found the principal, vice principal and various other teachers snacking on a salad and a quiche thing, with bowls of rice wine on the side. Of all the things I had to drink on this outing of fun, the rice wine was the best. There was a big discussion about my name, what the last part of it was, how to say it, then it was back on the trail to head back to the bus.
At this point, it's 4:30 and I think, "maybe it's time to go home." So I happily get on the bus and wait. Miss Kim comes and says, "now we go to dinner." Food is generally a good thing in my book, and I know both Jordan and Matthew have had very tasty meals with their teachers, so I was hopeful. The large, obscene statue outside the restaurant, however, should have made me wary. We walk into the restaurant and Miss Kim says, "Eel." "Eel?" I say back, somewhat worried. "Eel, do you like?" Well, I've never had eel, I tell her. Then she informs me that there is a small table where I can have meat instead. Sighing to myself, I say, "no, I will eat the eel." She looks at me dubiously and sits down. I think she was hoping to avoid the eel herself, but the principal was there and I was sure he would have been very disappointed if I didn't eat the eel. So I ate the eel. I suppose I can say that it wasn't terrible, I managed to eat a few pieces without the threat of gagging, so it's ranked above a few foods I've eaten. You know it's bad when the vegetables start looking good.
At dinner we also had blackberry wine. I'm not sure wine is the right word though because it seemed to be quite a bit more potent that wine. We had little glasses, smaller than a shot glass even. I tasted it and decided it would be better if I just ignored it and focused on eating the eel. But then, someone wanted to display their desire to be my friend and shared their glass with me. So, unless I don't want to be their friend, I have to take the glass and drink the wine. Not too tasty, but better than eel in any case. Then a few minutes later, someone else comes to be my friend. So we go on like this. Eventually Miss Kim and the other woman sitting near me intervene on my behalf and make them give me Coke instead. However, my triumphant moment was when, after taking a shot of Cola and listening to a speech about how he hoped I would learn Korean customs because they are "beautiful," as he was making to leave, I offered him my empty glass. "Ho ho!" everyone says, "Return!" And the man gladly takes my cup and I pour him some wine.
After dinner, everyone wanders back to the bus, and I'm ready for a little snoozing on the bus. However, apparently the party was just getting stared because the entire way back we were entertained with what I can only assume were jokes (everyone was laughing) and singing. Various teachers took the microphone and sang songs to make help make the time pass as we drove back to Gunsan.
Finally, we arrive back at 7pm and I bow goodbye to the principal and I'm given four cans of beer ("for your husband!") and I make my way home. Not quite the mountain climbing trip I expected, but then, this is Korea.
A couple of weeks ago we video-taped a little tour of our neighborhood here in Gunsan. It kind of went on the backburner, but here it is in all of its low-resolution glory (I appologize for the video quality: I didn't really know what I was doing with the camera settings at the time). I hope you enjoy the K-Pop.
Part 1:
Part 2:
For any of you who believed all of Matthew's rhetoric about how ugly Gunsan is, here is proof to the contrary: this photo was taken a ten minute walk from our front door. Click on the image to see more pictures.
So I was walking back from lunch with Ms Park and she starts talking about bowing. She says that some of the foreigners she's known have found bowing to be difficult. I told her when I moved to Bolivia we had to kiss everyone hello. Complete shock followed, then nervous laughter (is she serious? could such a place exist?), and agreement that bowing really couldn't be all the bad, could it?
Today is Pepero Day. This means that everyone is Korea gives each other boxes of Chocolate dipped sticks (called Pepero). The origins of the holiday are misty (as are most) although Wikipedia says, "Pepero Day was started in 1994 by students at a girls' middle school in Busan, where they exchanged Pepero sticks as gifts to wish one another to grow "as tall and slender as a Pepero"; but the teacher who sits next to me says it was started by Lotte (the makers of Pepero). It's celebrated today because it's 11/11 (which looks like sticks of Pepero).
Pepero is like Pocky if you know about Pocky, but is made in Korea, not Japan.
Today I received a few boxes of Pepero, a giant Pepero stick, a twix bar, a milk candy and 2 vitamin C tablets. Jordan has received, I believe, nothing. Although we are going to go out for dinner because the holiday is something like Valentine's Day.
All I can say is, "long live Pepero day."
So, now that I've successfully completed all of my conversation classes at least once, I figured I could write a little bit about it. In total I have four conversation classes, one for first year, one for second year, one for teachers who don't teach English, and one for teachers who do. The first one I had, of course, was the one with the first years. Not having any clue what was going to happen, I just went to the class (last period on Monday) prepared for anything (in actuality I was prepared for nothing, but sometimes this is the same thing). There were about 15 students aged 14 (although I believe this means they are actually 13, apparently you are a year older in Korea, which means I am 24 turning 25, a fact I don't find enjoyable). So pretty much that first class consisted of us all looking at each other and the students giggling. I did manage to have some sort of conversation for 30 minutes, that's how I know how old they are. I tried in vain to learn their names. Once I mispronounce them they start laughing and can't stop long enough to teach me the right way. Their favorite subject, it turned out, is English. Who knew? So after a half hour of students either laughing at me or staring at me like I'm from another planet, I was a bit more prepared for the second years who I met on Friday.
The year difference in their ages was apparent, as this bunch was not nearly as wily or giggly as the first years. They even managed to make several sentence answers to my questions. Although, I was much better prepared this time, so in this class we made name cards and I had them draw things they liked as well, to talk about to the group. Some had some very nice artwork. The girls like eating, sleeping and some famous Korean people (some of them like sports too, or guinea pigs). The boys like various movies, have dreams to be doctors, scientists and soccer players, and some like to sing. One of the girls wanted my phone number so she could send me messages. Unfortunately, I haven't memorized my phone number yet.
I repeated this exercise yesterday with the first years, and although several of the boys started drawing random pictures of each other and some of the girls didn't finish, the results were still quite good. One of the boys likes sunflowers, and one likes roses. One of the girls likes Oprah Winfrey, although I think this might be because she (meaning Oprah) is black. Anyway, there was a discussion about black people (African-American we call them, I said, Negroes!, they said) and there's a nice drawing of a black woman on her name tag. I am optimistic for both these classes. After all, these are students specially selected out of 300 to be in my class, so most of them are willing to speak English and able to do so. Next we are going to talk about movies.
The adult classes are quite fun and a good way for me to learn about Korea. There are three women in the non-English teacher class. They apparently have only been speaking English for a year, as the teacher before me started teaching them. Considering this, their English is quite good. Today we had various questions about beauty and I learned that one of the women had plastic surgery on her eyes (very common in Korea, I guess the women want double eyelids, I'm not sure why), but only takes 10 minutes to get ready in the morning. Apparently they don't have eating disorders, but the men (the young men) like to lift weights to get buff. We also discussed mirrors because disconcertingly, there are several giant mirrors in the halls and in the classrooms, yet another indication of how important appearance is in Korea. Although they did say that even though they don't like piercing beyond the ears, they wouldn't leave a shop if someone had a lip piercing, etc.
I only have two English teachers in my last class. Ms Park, my coteacher, and Miss Doo, my favorite. Apparently Ms Park has some sort of book with topics in it for the class, although I haven't seen it yet. It's really easy to find already made lists on the internet though, so I'll probably bring my beauty questions to that class tomorrow, just in case :). From our last class I learned that Ms Park is moving apartments (to a bigger one, of course. I asked and apparently she thought this a silly question, her children are gone from the house though, so it seemed she could have been moving to a smaller one...) and Miss Doo lives with her parents (which is what all the unmarried women do, the teacher in my other class likes this arrangement because she can save money), but is lonely, likes to hike in the mountains and always has enough underwear (her parents own an underwear store).
Due to the personal style of these classes, I've been enjoying them very much and look forward to teaching them.