So, I'm back in the States. I've been home since Saturday afternoon. Wow. Uh. Everything.
Right now it's 6:53am [aka almost 8pm in Korea/me time.]
Yesterday, I went to sleep around midnight and was dead to the world until 3:30 in the afternoon. Last night I think I slept about 2 or 3 hours? Tops? And it doesn't look like I'm going to be going back to sleep anytime soon, so I thought I would check in. I only really plan to continue with this blog until school starts/hopefully the shock wears off. Until then, here we are...
Coming back here was intense. I thought going to Korea was crazy. I was wrong. My flight schedule went like this: 10:30am departure from Seoul/Incheon, landed in ATL Georgia I think... 11:30am local time? Something like that? Then we had a small layover until we came to Detroit. Crazy. It was crazy. I was SO OUT OF IT already by the time we got into the Atlanta airport. Everything felt surreal from the moment I stepped off the airplane. I remember really clearly everything I was thinking... It was insane. When we left Seoul it was morning -- then on the plane, we went through "night" when it got very dark, then on to the next day... Except when we landed, it was yesterday morning again... And no matter how much I kept telling myself that I understood the time difference and there was nothing odd about it, there was... Definitely a lot odd about it...
My first impressions at the ATL airport...
1. Everything looks less nice here. And it did. And it still does, in every public place I've been. It's just the bottom line. I kind of went back in time in the airplane; that's what every one likes to say. Except when I was in the airport, it felt like I had for real. ATL looked like the 90s. The 80s. It looked ancient. Dirty. Doors didn't open by pressing a button. Everything wasn't shiny and clean. I was like :O this is unreasonable. The USA has to catch up a little in more ways than just getting awesome-er phones.
2. English overload. I guess I got used to tuning things out because I knew I wouldn't understand them, or having to take time to read signs/figure out packaging. My first hour or so in the States was incredibly disorienting because suddenly everything made sense to me. I could understand passing conversations, read t-shirts, comprehend lyrics in songs. I knew what the news announcers were saying on the three televisions in my vicinity. All at once. It was too much. I felt like I was dreaming. I still have that feeling a little bit in the couple of times I've gone out in public. It's crizazy
3. Cleavage. Women show off their cleavage here. I took one look at some of them and I was like woah, I can't believe they're wearing that in front of people. Oh... Wait. Oh yeah, that's totally fine here.
4. I felt small. In Korea, I am average size. I can fit into clothing fine (except for shoes; none ever fit me) and nobody thought I was fat or anything. (I would know if they had; Koreans I knew had no qualms about telling anyone they were, regardless of situation.) In Korea, I'm slightly taller than a lot of the women, though, and eye to eye with a lot of the men. Some guys were taller than me, sure, but never more than an inch or two. The majority I was at a comfortable level with. In the airport, I was really like... Surprised?... By how large everyone looked to me. And still looks. Men are tall here. Like... Tall tall. I have to look up at them kind of tall. Also, a lot of people are... You know... Big.
5. I can't stop nodding/mini-bowing to say thank you. I do it without thinking about it. I felt like an idiot yesterday with the cashiers. I'm already starting to miss people yelling hello and goodbye whenever I leave a store. :C
In general, a lot of things the past couple of days have really felt totally unreal. It feels a little like I just dreamt that I went to Korea and it didn't actually ever happen. Before I came back, I did have a dream where I got back to the USA, but then everyone was telling me that I'd been back for a year already and kept asking why I didn't remember anything. It's like that, except not as horrible. (: So yeah. Hopefully my sleep schedule will even itself out soon. I do feel tired, but I just can't put myself down. It's so dumb.
You know what's not dumb? Real showers that aren't just attached to the wall above your sink. I can't get over it. Also, real cheese.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
41 / Post-Reflection
I guess I've only got two days left.
I kept putting off writing this the last week or so, thinking that there was still a chance I'd come up with something new to say -- but honestly, I think I could've written this last month & it would still be just like this. I think that a part of me always kind of knew what I learned in Korea; I just didn't really know I knew.
Where to start, where to start. Man, I don't know. I was talking with Jenny the other day & of course the topic of leaving came up. We were saying how in a lot of ways, being here is like being in some kind of weird coma fever dream -- and now we're waking up and going home and it's going to be like we were just asleep for a while, while life kept going on without us. I guess that's the most accurate way to describe how it feels. I keep looking at everything around me here, and it's so strange; I have to say goodbye to all of it and might not come back, so it's almost like in my Korean life I'm in the process of dying... but really I'm going somewhere I belong, and belonged to before. It's very odd. In a lot of ways, I'm extremely relieved to get back to the States. I don't think it's been a secret to anyone that not everything has been easy for me here. There were a lot of days that I wished I could just pack up and go. A lot of days I wanted to cry, or not show up at school, etc. (Though there were just as many times I was unbelievably happy, unbelievably proud.) Anyway: as glad as I am to get back to college, my regularly scheduled life, etc -- a part of me keeps looking back and seeing not only what I did, but what I didn't do.
I don't think anyone ever feels that they've done absolutely everything they could to the fullest. But I always had this idea before coming here that I would somehow manage to this time. I pictured myself somehow miraculously turning out to be an awesome teacher regardless of the fact that I didn't know anything about teaching -- which is how it would have gone if this were a movie -- seamlessly melding with the Korean lifestyle, coming back fluent and forever changed, a myriad of impossible images. I don't know that in my heart I really thought it would be that way, don't worry. I always kind of knew I wouldn't come back wanting to do this my whole life. But that's just how it is: at Orientation we were given so many ideas about what this would really be like... And absolutely everyone approached things differently, but I think at heart anyone who comes here does so with some measure of ridiculous hope. Whether you come here knowing you want to be a teacher or would like to find out, or if you're here because it's an easy way to travel/make a little bit of money -- nobody thought it would be hard exactly. We all had those ideas. It's difficult to really put your finger on reality sometimes; maybe it's arrogance, or some layer of your mind trying to make up for the parts of you that have a better handle on things. I was warned about culture shock, and I thought: "That would never happen to me." I was shown classroom strategies and tips, and I thought: "I'll come up with my own way to do things that everyone will want to emulate after and commend me on forever. That's totally realistic." I was warned about troubles I might have, and I thought: "Sure. That's manageable." And it was in the end, but not by the means I thought. Then there were all those troubles nobody mentioned would come up, and all those absurdly fantastic things I never even thought to imagine.
The bottom line is that I learned more about myself than I did about Korea. As absolutely cliched as that sounds. I cringed writing it. I cringe every time I have to say it, but since it's what really happened, I can't avoid it. Sometimes cliches are grounded in truth, right? I don't really have more to say about it than that.
On a different front altogether, I have finally realised the boxes I put myself in by studying anthropology. There were many times in Korea that I clearly saw myself unable to break out of various theories and ideas I've learned instead of forming my own. I've decided that this is all right, since I do come up with my own about different things, and have yet to be convinced out of them.
So... I don't know how to continue this, or even end it appropriately. I feel like I always have a lot to say about things, but I don't know how to articulate them in a way that will seem cohesive to someone who isn't me. Too much happened here.
I guess: I'm grateful to 8-months-ago-Kat for making the decision to fill out an application and send it in, even though it didn't seem like it could happen. I'll never regret my time here, ever. I'll never forget Seosu Elementary, or Gunsan, or all those people I met and got to know even for a few short months. I'll wonder about my students and their lives until I'm old, even if they forget me. I'll always have a soft spot for Korea: good and bad. I'll probably have random cravings for kimchi and kogi mandu and squid and banana uyu and sugary soju cocktails the rest of my life.
파이팅 forever.
파이팅 forever.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
40 / What I would say to anyone coming to take my place.
1. If you feel sick and don't know why, it might be stress, but on the other hand it might be because your apartment is full of mold.
2. Look for the items that are taped together at the grocery store.
3. Don't walk under trees at night. In fact, it seems like not walking under trees during the summer is generally the better idea.
4. Sarcasm is one of those things that doesn't translate well, and probably never will.
5. Learn to read. For someone who isn't fluent in Korean, I think that reading will help you more than memorising a handful of phrases ever could -- at least if you had to pick one over the other, I dunno. LOTS of words you see on a daily basis on the street/food packaging etc are just Koreanized English. But you wouldn't know that if you can't read, so just do it. It took me about three days to learn the alphabet.
6. Go to a jimjilbang, even if you're 100% sure you won't like it.
7. Do what you're told, but be aware that what you were told is subject to change without you knowing it.
8. Knowing the "vague location" of a place you're trying to get to is not good enough.
9. If you're a lightweight, don't underestimate the power of soju to prove that you are.
10. Eat it first, think about it later.
11. "Uh huh" and "mm-hmm" aren't as straightforward as you think.
12. "Maybe" means yes.
13. Be prepared to do almost everything important for and by yourself. This makes sense for life in general, but if youre in TaLK you need to keep it in mind no matter what they say about how the program is supposed to work.
14. Contrary to what we're led to think, not everyone loves foreigners. Some people really, really, really, really do not love you.
15. Also contrary to what we're led to think, not everyone will think it's cute or be impressed that you learned some phrases in Korean. Some of them will think so. Some of them will flip out over it. But some people? It's probably better not to try to speak Korean to them. And you'll know who they are.
16. No matter how much you wish they could be, those yellow cubes they give you with panchan sometimes are not pineapple.
17. Accept corn into your life. It's in all things it should not be. Also, if it looks like mac and cheese, it's probably corn.
18. Dont drink the wine in the green bottle.
19. There's going to be a point where you realise your English has deteriorated. That's not your imagination.
20. Kids have ridiculously short memories for some things, and other things -- which you'd like them to forget -- they will never forget, ever. Ever.
21. Just assume there are bugs everywhere around you at all times. That makes it easier to handle when it turns out to be true.
22. Old ladies run the show. Never cross an ajumma. She can do everything you only wish you could in a public area and no one will stop her. As far as I'm concerned, I dont look them in the eye unless I'm spoken to, and even then I dunno. It's a jungle out there.
23. On the other hand, some of the most ridiculously sweet, welcoming and generous people I've ever met have been old Korean husbands and wives.
24. When you're standing in line, look like you mean it.
25. Always be ready to have nothing to do. Sometimes your class will mysteriously vanish. Bring a book.
26. Always take it with a grain of salt if someone tells you Korea invented something.
27. No matter what they say, not everything Korean is good for your health.
28. Everyone will have a different opinion about what's best while you're here. Stay true to yours.
29. Don't buy fruit anywhere that has four walls.
30. Don't get angry until you have to. Then bring the wrath.
31. This is true everywhere, but smiling works. Smile. Smile a lot.
2. Look for the items that are taped together at the grocery store.
3. Don't walk under trees at night. In fact, it seems like not walking under trees during the summer is generally the better idea.
4. Sarcasm is one of those things that doesn't translate well, and probably never will.
5. Learn to read. For someone who isn't fluent in Korean, I think that reading will help you more than memorising a handful of phrases ever could -- at least if you had to pick one over the other, I dunno. LOTS of words you see on a daily basis on the street/food packaging etc are just Koreanized English. But you wouldn't know that if you can't read, so just do it. It took me about three days to learn the alphabet.
6. Go to a jimjilbang, even if you're 100% sure you won't like it.
7. Do what you're told, but be aware that what you were told is subject to change without you knowing it.
8. Knowing the "vague location" of a place you're trying to get to is not good enough.
9. If you're a lightweight, don't underestimate the power of soju to prove that you are.
10. Eat it first, think about it later.
11. "Uh huh" and "mm-hmm" aren't as straightforward as you think.
12. "Maybe" means yes.
13. Be prepared to do almost everything important for and by yourself. This makes sense for life in general, but if youre in TaLK you need to keep it in mind no matter what they say about how the program is supposed to work.
14. Contrary to what we're led to think, not everyone loves foreigners. Some people really, really, really, really do not love you.
15. Also contrary to what we're led to think, not everyone will think it's cute or be impressed that you learned some phrases in Korean. Some of them will think so. Some of them will flip out over it. But some people? It's probably better not to try to speak Korean to them. And you'll know who they are.
16. No matter how much you wish they could be, those yellow cubes they give you with panchan sometimes are not pineapple.
17. Accept corn into your life. It's in all things it should not be. Also, if it looks like mac and cheese, it's probably corn.
18. Dont drink the wine in the green bottle.
19. There's going to be a point where you realise your English has deteriorated. That's not your imagination.
20. Kids have ridiculously short memories for some things, and other things -- which you'd like them to forget -- they will never forget, ever. Ever.
21. Just assume there are bugs everywhere around you at all times. That makes it easier to handle when it turns out to be true.
22. Old ladies run the show. Never cross an ajumma. She can do everything you only wish you could in a public area and no one will stop her. As far as I'm concerned, I dont look them in the eye unless I'm spoken to, and even then I dunno. It's a jungle out there.
23. On the other hand, some of the most ridiculously sweet, welcoming and generous people I've ever met have been old Korean husbands and wives.
24. When you're standing in line, look like you mean it.
25. Always be ready to have nothing to do. Sometimes your class will mysteriously vanish. Bring a book.
26. Always take it with a grain of salt if someone tells you Korea invented something.
27. No matter what they say, not everything Korean is good for your health.
28. Everyone will have a different opinion about what's best while you're here. Stay true to yours.
29. Don't buy fruit anywhere that has four walls.
30. Don't get angry until you have to. Then bring the wrath.
31. This is true everywhere, but smiling works. Smile. Smile a lot.
Monday, July 18, 2011
39 / DIRTTTT
This last weekend I went to the Mud Festival in Boryeong (: It was awesome. Just like a big gross party for foreigners. There were Koreans there but we far outnumbered them, and a decent amount of Koreans looked like they were just there to watch a bunch of white people running around in mud. It was really surreal to be around that many foreigners at one time, though. And kind of exhausting, to tell the truth. I got home around 4:30 I think today and I ended up taking a five hour nap.
ANYWAY It was fun and awesome and really kind of disgusting :p I got painted with blue/lavender mud that made me look like an asphyxiation victim all day long, played games, etc. There was mud wrestling and slides. The best part was probably the beach, but I got sand scrapes all on my knees. :x
Here's some pictures.
ANYWAY It was fun and awesome and really kind of disgusting :p I got painted with blue/lavender mud that made me look like an asphyxiation victim all day long, played games, etc. There was mud wrestling and slides. The best part was probably the beach, but I got sand scrapes all on my knees. :x
Here's some pictures.
Shortly after being painted. LOL I just noticed Becky in the background
Sexy sand mermaid.
Lol at the variety of expressions here
I can't stop throwing up peace signs in pictures, someone please help me
Annnnnnnd here's a picture from dinner with Dr. Koh (:
I can't believe we're all almost finished.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
38 / Spider City
There are spiders and bugs everywhere. EVERYWHERE. E V E R Y W H E R E. Except in my apartment, wooo. But everywhere else? Yup.
My last day of teaching is Tuesday next week. I have to write something post-reflective about it to put towards the class I'm getting credit for by being here, so I'll probably put that up then. I don't know what I'm going to say. I never regret coming here, but I feel differently about certain aspects of the experience all the time. Thankfully, there are some I'm always happy about; it's just that they have nothing to do with school or the TaLK Program.
Two weeks and two days, two weeks and two days....
Dr. Koh came from EMU yesterday to look at my school and take everyone from EMU out for dinner. She's here for three days to tour all of our placements and talk to our coworkers & mentor teachers, etc. It was a little surreal to see her here. I'm not going to lie, I was also nervous to be watched in class. Thankfully my kids were somewhat intimidated by having someone new there, so they were decently behaved and quiet. It was a pretty good day. I hope my school was able to say some all right things about me. I never really achieved a close relationship with them, so I don't know what kind of feedback they gave; I also was never really kept an eye on while teaching, so I don't know what they'd have to say about that either. Oh well.
EDIT: Soo... I've been under the impression that my last day teaching is Tuesday. Apparently it isn't. I'm supposed to go in Monday and Tuesday during the day and deskwarm, but I don't teach. So... Effectively, today was my last day of regular teaching. They're asking me to come in week after next to do "camp". But yeah. Whatt
Monday, July 11, 2011
37 / Sharks and Ice Cream
So, I think I want to be a scuba diver. I had my shark dive yesterday & it was awesome. One of the best things I've done in Korea for sure. Wow. I don't even really know where to start with it, except that I completely recommend it to anyone here. There were some scary moments for sure, but most of those had to do with convincing my body it was okay to take in breaths underwater. :O Scuba gear is pretty straightforward to use, but it feels like such a leap of faith.
Only bad thing was that the rental underwater cameras were all broken. :c We did rent underwater video though, so I should get a copy of that sometime. Should be cool. The tank was SO BIG and there were so many sharks/weird fishes... There were these huge grouper fish that were like six feet long and a thousand pounds. Their eyes were like the size of my face. And the sharks were just beautiful. I forget what kinds exactly there were in the tank, but even though they were big they weren't frightening at all. You could tell they didn't really care who or what was in the water with them the majority of the time. But they're so much more impressive than they look from behind glass. I'm so happy I decided to try the dive. I'm already thinking about trying to take lessons or get certified when I get home. If I decide to focus on archaeology in grad school it could be really useful to learn about wreck diving, etc.
What else... I've got two weeks & five days left until I come home.
What's up with these videos being all creepy at the beginning :*c
Only bad thing was that the rental underwater cameras were all broken. :c We did rent underwater video though, so I should get a copy of that sometime. Should be cool. The tank was SO BIG and there were so many sharks/weird fishes... There were these huge grouper fish that were like six feet long and a thousand pounds. Their eyes were like the size of my face. And the sharks were just beautiful. I forget what kinds exactly there were in the tank, but even though they were big they weren't frightening at all. You could tell they didn't really care who or what was in the water with them the majority of the time. But they're so much more impressive than they look from behind glass. I'm so happy I decided to try the dive. I'm already thinking about trying to take lessons or get certified when I get home. If I decide to focus on archaeology in grad school it could be really useful to learn about wreck diving, etc.
What else... I've got two weeks & five days left until I come home.
What's up with these videos being all creepy at the beginning :*c
Friday, July 8, 2011
36 / Breakfastish Lunchish Dinnerish
After five attempts at uploading, here we are. c:
Please excuse the fact that I look like a demon for the first ten seconds. I dunno what's up with that & I refuse to reupload again.
Also please excuse the hair. It's too long/thick to keep down in the humidity, and it pretty much never looks neat anymore cos it's always halfheartedly trying to curl.
35 / Till Tomorrow
Wait, the last time I wrote was seriously Sunday?
Where is time going? :/ I have three and a half weeks left in Gunsan.
This week at school was pretty much like the last couple. Nothing of note really happened. It's still raining/cloudy regularly -- that or blazing hot. About an hour ago there was this crazy storm, and before that some guy was beating at the doors downstairs for like half an hour yelling and making noises.
I don't have school tomorrow, so I'm going to film something about whatever I get for lunch. (: Then over the weekend on Sunday I'll be going shark-diving and plan to have lots of pictures taken. You can rent an underwater camera at the aquarium. I just hope I remember to actually use it. I've never been very good about taking pictures, even in places or situations I'd like to have them of. I think that's mainly because it makes me feel very outside of what's happening, but maybe in a shark tank that'll be good for me? Who knows.
Where is time going? :/ I have three and a half weeks left in Gunsan.
This week at school was pretty much like the last couple. Nothing of note really happened. It's still raining/cloudy regularly -- that or blazing hot. About an hour ago there was this crazy storm, and before that some guy was beating at the doors downstairs for like half an hour yelling and making noises.
I don't have school tomorrow, so I'm going to film something about whatever I get for lunch. (: Then over the weekend on Sunday I'll be going shark-diving and plan to have lots of pictures taken. You can rent an underwater camera at the aquarium. I just hope I remember to actually use it. I've never been very good about taking pictures, even in places or situations I'd like to have them of. I think that's mainly because it makes me feel very outside of what's happening, but maybe in a shark tank that'll be good for me? Who knows.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
34 / Not Really About Anything
I woke up Saturday with the idea that I would "video blog". This extremely vague piece of inspiration led me to wander outside with my flip camera. In my mind, this was a really great idea and would no doubt give you better insight into my life, Korea, etc. Unfortunately, two things:
It was so hot outside. For real. Why I thought I could make intelligent commentary about my surroundings in that heat I do not know.
Turns out, walking around and appearing to talk to yourself in public and/or discreetly film people and things as if you're a waygook spy is seriously a rollercoaster. One minute I was like hey, I don't care who sees me with this camera! I'll film whatever I want and blame my awkwardness on being foreign like I do everytime! and then I'd be ducking away from people like omgomg im not filming you i'm sorryomg. So in essence, I came away with a small clip about nothing in particular. I think I withdraw money from an ATM, show where I buy some groceries occasionally, drink a lemon smoothie, buy water, and go get lunch (kimchi bokkeumbop, which was delicious and had an egg on it.)
I think that this particular video will remain as something I show people once I get home, so I don't know why I'm telling you about it really, BUT the point is that I will be putting more videos and photos on this blog. Right.
Apparently tomorrow is July 4th. I guess I should do a lesson about that. So we'll be doing Independence Day straight into Halloween y'all. Why did I decide this week was Halloween? I don't know. Teaching makes me crazy. I also love Halloween, and I'm still homesick so I think a lot about going back to school, and... School also happens to be in fall. So there you have it.
Friday, July 1, 2011
33 /
Apparently I only updated this three times last month? I didn't think I had much to say, but I didn't realise I said that little. So I'll do my best to keep things current this month. It should help me pass the next couple of weeks, I think.
Today wasn't my best day at school. I say that pretty often lately.
But next week is honorary Halloween, so that should be fun. (:
I think tomorrow I'll blog about food.
Today wasn't my best day at school. I say that pretty often lately.
But next week is honorary Halloween, so that should be fun. (:
I think tomorrow I'll blog about food.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
32 /
The most I utilise years of voice lessons lately is in being able to belt over ten children screaming at the top of their lungs. (A secret power I only call on in times of great need.) My youngest class is all about songs. This is our latest jam:
Also, what is it about children and dangerous things? Today a light fell down from the ceiling in the middle of class and shattered everywhere. EVERYBODY started screaming like someone had just spontaneously combusted. I immediately ran to the back of the classroom because you know those kids are going to start poking around the glass no matter how freaked out they are. And they were SO freaked out. They were scared out of their minds. And you know something: they couldn't keep away from the glass anyway. It was like a horror movie. I was like SIT DOWN GUYS SIT DOWN PLEASE so they did, and then I tried to motion to them to stay in their seats while I left the room for a second to go ask the teacher next door for help. As soon as I left they started screaming again at the top of their lungs. REAL FEAR. AND THEN they got up to go look at the glass some more! I literally had to place myself between this little horde of terror and the broken light. LITTLE KIDS DON'T MAKE ANY SENSE.
I should really update more, but I find that I usually want to talk about the same things over and over again. Time has been slowing down around here in my last few weeks. It's also rainy season, which I'm not enjoying. I can say that the humidity doesn't get to me that much, but I don't like rain. It makes everything smell weird.
Creepy middle-aged woman encounters have also risen. To be honest, I have creepy/questionable encounters on the daily (or at least encounters that would be creepy back home) over here, but for some reason lately it's been mostly with older mom-types? I don't know why. When I first moved into my apartment, within the first couple of weeks this woman came up to me when I was trying to get inside, said a few words to me and patted my butt. I haven't seen her since. In the past two or three weeks though, I've had at least three other similar encounters.
1. Scary old lady stalking around my apartment building. When she saw me walking down the street, she slowed to walk behind me. I heard her footsteps quickening as if she were starting to run, and when I turned to see what she was doing, she stopped and laughed at me all crazily. I left to go grocery shopping for a pretty long time, and when I came back she was still there? It looked like she'd been just circling the block. She noticed me again, stopped, and just started at me. WTF
2. My ride on the bus is generally not my favorite part of the day to begin with. My bus driver is crazy. He whips around corners, accelerates to go over bumps in the road, cuts other cars off at dangerous speeds, plays chicken with motorcycle drivers and pedestrians, swerves down the highway, etc. Generally it's hard to make the experience more stressful for me, but yeah -- the other day this woman got on the bus, turned around in her seat, and stared at me for twenty minutes. Every bump in the road. Flying up five feet in the air going over speed bumps. Eyes left me maybe twice. Am I secretly a mythical creature or something
3. This morning while waiting for the aforementioned demon wagon, a lady came up from behind and started firmly patting my hips. I turned around like HELLO????????? totally startled (thought I had some kind of horrible bug on me) and she motioned to my shirt, then reached over to pat me some more and look at the pattern. Lol I love it here sometimes. Sometimes the only thing you can do is smile and nod. I know a lot of fellow TaLK program people have had experiences with random women coming up to them and launching into some sort of tangent in Korean. I think most of us are getting pretty used to it by now. Honestly though, I think I could be here for years and never, ever get used to some of the things that happen here. I've always been able to accept them as just... What goes on... But I'm still surprised at times that these things go on.
The most redeeming thing about teaching for me has been the fact that in a classroom full of little kids, it's okay to laugh at stuff like this:
This is as highbrow as it gets for first and second graders. Corny maybe, but I love it when they laugh. We have SUCH a good time sometimes.
... Sometimes.
The most redeeming thing about teaching for me has been the fact that in a classroom full of little kids, it's okay to laugh at stuff like this:
This is as highbrow as it gets for first and second graders. Corny maybe, but I love it when they laugh. We have SUCH a good time sometimes.
... Sometimes.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
31 / Good Day
Today was actually a great day at school. :)
It didn't start out that way, but at the end of the day some of my boy students came in with a HUGE VACUUM and started cleaning up my room without being asked. :O !! I didn't even know what to say. Usually these kids are throwing stuff around and making things messier. Wow.
We had a good lesson too. Instead of vocabulary, we worked on pronunciation today. Always hilarious. I definitely feel for these kids when we do something like this, because I'm hopeless at different consonant sounds in Korean. These were the exercises we did. They'd repeat after me, then I would say a word and they'd have to tell me which of the options I meant.
coffee vs. copy
rice vs. lice
feel vs. fear
vote vs. boat
zoo vs. jew vs. chew
ship vs. sheep
tail vs. tell
pass vs. path
bees vs. peas
lips vs. ribs
It's about 50/50 for them hearing the differences when I say these words, but they can't often replicate them themselves. "Bees and peas!" becomes "Bees and bees!" lol
The best is "I feel fear." That comes out like I don't even know what.
Also, the place where I cut my finger really badly is totally healed now, except that it's also totally numb. You win some you lose some.
It didn't start out that way, but at the end of the day some of my boy students came in with a HUGE VACUUM and started cleaning up my room without being asked. :O !! I didn't even know what to say. Usually these kids are throwing stuff around and making things messier. Wow.
We had a good lesson too. Instead of vocabulary, we worked on pronunciation today. Always hilarious. I definitely feel for these kids when we do something like this, because I'm hopeless at different consonant sounds in Korean. These were the exercises we did. They'd repeat after me, then I would say a word and they'd have to tell me which of the options I meant.
coffee vs. copy
rice vs. lice
feel vs. fear
vote vs. boat
zoo vs. jew vs. chew
ship vs. sheep
tail vs. tell
pass vs. path
bees vs. peas
lips vs. ribs
It's about 50/50 for them hearing the differences when I say these words, but they can't often replicate them themselves. "Bees and peas!" becomes "Bees and bees!" lol
The best is "I feel fear." That comes out like I don't even know what.
Also, the place where I cut my finger really badly is totally healed now, except that it's also totally numb. You win some you lose some.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
30 / Couple Weeks Recap
Good Things at school:
1. Kids' immediate and in-your-face joy when I use Korean words.
2. Moment of brilliance in 5/6th grade where they managed to brainstorm 30+ occupation vocabulary words I hadn't taught them.
3. Watching Tom & Jerry with my youngest students.
4. Going home at the end of the day.
5. It's really cute hearing what everyone wants to be when they grow up. (: Animal doctors, teachers, etc.
Bad Things at school: (that sound ridiculous when they're written down, but are so infuriating when they happen)
1. Flies the size of bees. Bees/wasps that I swear are the size of small birds and give me a fight/flight reaction.
2. Humidity is starting to kick in. It's more humid inside my school than outside of it.
3. This morning a couple kids told me and my coteach they would rather "have a punishment" than "learn English". :C why does this affect my mood
4. Kid threw a huge handful of flashcards in the air to avoid doing work.
5. Kids have learned from him and now pretend they have "something to clean up" in order to avoid doing work. (Meaning they knock over stuff in the back of the classroom and then take fifteen minutes picking it up in slow motion while ignoring me.)
6. Had to ask my 3/4th grade to put their heads down for five minutes after awful lesson. They understand this English perfectly, but start playing dumb when I tell them not to play games under the table or to be quiet. Patience tested.
7. Kid brought a tough wire to class and started trying to stab another kid. I try to intervene and he starts kicking him instead. End up having to leave my class, now all going wild, to go and get help. Come back and some get thrown out. :c
8.
So pretty much this has been a rough couple of weeks.
There's going to be a lot going on before I go home, and I'm looking forward to all of it... I have plans to go shark diving at the end of the month, and then I'm heading to a mud festival with friends in July. It may be a symptom of my enduring culture shock, but the smallest things from life back home (that I may or may not have actually enjoyed while at home) seem REALLY AWESOME right now.
1. Kids' immediate and in-your-face joy when I use Korean words.
2. Moment of brilliance in 5/6th grade where they managed to brainstorm 30+ occupation vocabulary words I hadn't taught them.
3. Watching Tom & Jerry with my youngest students.
4. Going home at the end of the day.
5. It's really cute hearing what everyone wants to be when they grow up. (: Animal doctors, teachers, etc.
Bad Things at school: (that sound ridiculous when they're written down, but are so infuriating when they happen)
1. Flies the size of bees. Bees/wasps that I swear are the size of small birds and give me a fight/flight reaction.
2. Humidity is starting to kick in. It's more humid inside my school than outside of it.
3. This morning a couple kids told me and my coteach they would rather "have a punishment" than "learn English". :C why does this affect my mood
4. Kid threw a huge handful of flashcards in the air to avoid doing work.
5. Kids have learned from him and now pretend they have "something to clean up" in order to avoid doing work. (Meaning they knock over stuff in the back of the classroom and then take fifteen minutes picking it up in slow motion while ignoring me.)
6. Had to ask my 3/4th grade to put their heads down for five minutes after awful lesson. They understand this English perfectly, but start playing dumb when I tell them not to play games under the table or to be quiet. Patience tested.
7. Kid brought a tough wire to class and started trying to stab another kid. I try to intervene and he starts kicking him instead. End up having to leave my class, now all going wild, to go and get help. Come back and some get thrown out. :c
8.
So pretty much this has been a rough couple of weeks.
There's going to be a lot going on before I go home, and I'm looking forward to all of it... I have plans to go shark diving at the end of the month, and then I'm heading to a mud festival with friends in July. It may be a symptom of my enduring culture shock, but the smallest things from life back home (that I may or may not have actually enjoyed while at home) seem REALLY AWESOME right now.
Friday, May 27, 2011
29 / Because I Have To
It always really blows my mind sometimes how much time passes between updates when I remember I should be updating. I feel like we saw and wrote about the tanuki like two days ago? Apparently not.
Harrison went home yesterday & things have gone back to normal, or as normal as they can be. My apartment is back to feeling very empty. When my students saw me today, the first thing they asked about was him. I wonder if they'll miss me half as much :p
Then I went home with a stomachache. I got my stitches out today and didn't feel well on the bus*, so I was walking around all nauseous. I feel like for a person already prone to that kind of thing, Korea really brings out the random in me. Lolllll
*death machine above the law
---
So my... third? month of teaching is nearing an end. It doesn't feel like three months. I don't know quite what it feels like, but I can say that the thought of two more months is somewhat daunting at this point. I don't dislike being here. I like my school, the other teachers, my students. I greatly appreciate what has been given to me and what I feel I'm taking and contributing, even for all the obvious difficulties. I guess it's just that the difficulties are so hugely obvious it's sometimes hard not to be a little blindsided by them. In many situations I feel like I am personally the largest, most obvious difficulty of them all.
I still really have no idea what I'm doing, though I've been here long enough that I begin to make very educated guesses. My reading is quite fast now -- not to say my comprehension is any better -- and I understand simple conversations in Korean though I cannot replicate them. I am still for all intents and purposes like a baby, so that's not really news. :p I did come here really hoping to get a different insight into language acquisition than I had before, though, and I can say that I very much am. I don't know that I am applying this insight to actually teaching language however. I still often feel that no matter how much I plan, the actual activities matter so little. Something works one day, and then if I modify it to include new vocabulary it totally falls apart. Sometimes I think I've made a breakthrough with my kids and finally understand how to get through to them, and then as we progress it's clearly just a lot of optimism on my part. At least I can say that I empathize with them: people shout foreign words in my face all the time too, and no matter how many times it doesn't seem to stick. :p
Here's some pictures & stuff.
--
These things are delicious. Like... little steamed things with walnut stuff inside? I don't know what they're called, but I love them. It's l-o-v-e
We had shabu shabu the night before Harrison left. Mmm. It's like... boiling broth, and you cook your stuff in there. I don't know if it's Korean in origin. I think that you can get it all over Asia under different names. Like a big hot pot of goodness.
In a noraebang (singing room)... I perform only the classics, like I'm On A Boat and Hot In Herre.
Harrison went home yesterday & things have gone back to normal, or as normal as they can be. My apartment is back to feeling very empty. When my students saw me today, the first thing they asked about was him. I wonder if they'll miss me half as much :p
Then I went home with a stomachache. I got my stitches out today and didn't feel well on the bus*, so I was walking around all nauseous. I feel like for a person already prone to that kind of thing, Korea really brings out the random in me. Lolllll
*death machine above the law
---
So my... third? month of teaching is nearing an end. It doesn't feel like three months. I don't know quite what it feels like, but I can say that the thought of two more months is somewhat daunting at this point. I don't dislike being here. I like my school, the other teachers, my students. I greatly appreciate what has been given to me and what I feel I'm taking and contributing, even for all the obvious difficulties. I guess it's just that the difficulties are so hugely obvious it's sometimes hard not to be a little blindsided by them. In many situations I feel like I am personally the largest, most obvious difficulty of them all.
I still really have no idea what I'm doing, though I've been here long enough that I begin to make very educated guesses. My reading is quite fast now -- not to say my comprehension is any better -- and I understand simple conversations in Korean though I cannot replicate them. I am still for all intents and purposes like a baby, so that's not really news. :p I did come here really hoping to get a different insight into language acquisition than I had before, though, and I can say that I very much am. I don't know that I am applying this insight to actually teaching language however. I still often feel that no matter how much I plan, the actual activities matter so little. Something works one day, and then if I modify it to include new vocabulary it totally falls apart. Sometimes I think I've made a breakthrough with my kids and finally understand how to get through to them, and then as we progress it's clearly just a lot of optimism on my part. At least I can say that I empathize with them: people shout foreign words in my face all the time too, and no matter how many times it doesn't seem to stick. :p
Here's some pictures & stuff.
--
These things are delicious. Like... little steamed things with walnut stuff inside? I don't know what they're called, but I love them. It's l-o-v-e
We had shabu shabu the night before Harrison left. Mmm. It's like... boiling broth, and you cook your stuff in there. I don't know if it's Korean in origin. I think that you can get it all over Asia under different names. Like a big hot pot of goodness.
In a noraebang (singing room)... I perform only the classics, like I'm On A Boat and Hot In Herre.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
28 / Tanuki!
Dear everyone,
We saw a real life tanuki last night in the park.
Unfortunately we did not get a picture because it was waddling away rather quickly and was only crossing the path for a moment. However, here is a picture we found online of what it looked like:
Our Korean friend doesn't think it was actually a tanuki, but there's no way it was a dog or a Eurasian red squirrel, like he thinks. It was as big as a small pig.
I want to believe.
ps. two people trying to write one small blog post is complicated. also, index fingers are more useful for typing/life than you realize before you can't use them.
We saw a real life tanuki last night in the park.
Unfortunately we did not get a picture because it was waddling away rather quickly and was only crossing the path for a moment. However, here is a picture we found online of what it looked like:
 |
| Also known as a raccoon dog. But that wouldn't have sounded nearly as cool for Super Mario Brothers. |
I want to believe.
ps. two people trying to write one small blog post is complicated. also, index fingers are more useful for typing/life than you realize before you can't use them.
Monday, May 16, 2011
27 / Seoul and Incheon
On Saturday (May 7th) we took a bus from Gunsan to Seoul. The Seoul bus station is on the lowest floor of a gigantic department store (~10 stories). The department stores in Korea are a little different than the ones in the US. While both countries tend to organize at least somewhat by brand, in Korea this is a definitive feature. By this I mean that on each floor there are more than a dozen little branded divisions that all have their own sales clerks and are kind of only working for that brand. It is somewhat of a cross between a mall and a department store. We decided to eat at a restaurant on the top floor, where I had a dish with delicious little octopi in it.
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| The seafood here is awesome |
Next we hopped on the subway to attempt to find a hostel that government of Korea website recommends. The subway system is incredibly nice by comparison with any subways I've ever been on before. The stations were all very clean, well maintained, and 20 years ahead of the US technologically. The cleanliness part was the most surprising to me, and always surprises me here--especially because Korea doesn't seem to believe in trash cans (they're inexplicably hard to find). Subway tickets in Korea are cards with RFID chips in them, so you only need to wave them by the machine (not swipe them). The price of your subway ticket here is dictated by what your destination is. Getting into the area with the trains feels futuristic because there are no turnstiles, but if you fail to wave your card when you walk through a gate will pop out and stop you. There are giant touchscreens where you can plan your journey and it will tell you the best way to get there. The train cars themselves are also clean and modern. LCD screens play soundless ads while at the bottom it tells you the next stop in multiple languages. The stop name is also played over the sound system with crisp clarity in Korean, English, and sometimes Chinese or Japanese.
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| The subways are also different from the US in that they're chalk full of Koreans |
Finding the Hostel we set out for was a mess. The instructions were clear, but the landmarks they used were well hidden. We ended up wandering around in pretty much every direction from our stop before we happened upon an information area where they clarified how to get to the hostel. Turned out we basically had to go down a hidden ally, so that made kat and I feel better. The information people also made us aware that even though the Korean government website told us to find the Seoul Backpackers Hostel, it was actually called Banana Backpackers. Yet when we got there, the sign said it was called something COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. This seems to be a common trend--that the government website is outdated, or just flat out incorrect. Anyway, we ended up staying somewhere different because it was full and as expensive as a regular hotel.
We ened up going out to explore the town that night. It was especially lively because a festival for Buddha's Birthday was going on. There were colored lanterns and lotus flowers, traditional korean outfits and parades. It was fun.
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| Cool owl lanterns |
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| One of the parades |
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| Awesome dragon made of paper in a parade |
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| There were a million of these all over the place |
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| It's a little hard to tell from this picture, but there are several of these Buddhas and they are ENORMOUS. Probably around 4-5 meters tall for the Buddha itself. |
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| Big paper lanterns of kings and elephants and other things |
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| The city that night |
The next day my friend BC met us at our hotel and took us around his homeland that is South Korea. We explored the daytime version of the festival, walked up and down Insadong (a street to buy things and get streetfood), and went to a palace from the 15th (I think) century.
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| All of us in front of "some place where the king chilled" as BC put it |
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| The inside of that place. I think the lightbulbs are an addition since the King's time. |
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| Another place where the king chilled. "I guess the king needed a lot of places to chill," BC said. |
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| A tree that was struck by lightning many years ago. Half of it is now petrified. |
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| BC mounting a horse, theoretically |
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| Festivities during the daytime. Their hats are crazy. |
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| Me catching some mad air, as I participate in what I believe is some kind of traditional jump roping? |
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| There were tents describing all the different types of Buddhism |
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| The ancient buddhist game of ridiculously large Jenga |
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| BC said that all they eat is bark |
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| One of the many types of streetfood we tried. It's what the guy is making in this video. It's thin strands of honey and cornstarch wrapped around your choice of either almond, peanut, or chocolate paste. Very good frozen. |
Later in the day, we took the subway with him back to Incheon where he's from. I'll post about that another time.
-Harrison
Thursday, May 12, 2011
26/ Gunsan and Engrish
Ok, so I didn't get around to posting as soon I wanted. But that's ok, the engrish should make up for it.
On Friday we walked around the Gunsan shopping area, and kat just kind of showed me the city in general. I should post this more after the fact so I can remember more details...
First we went to the big department store in the area.
A couple notable things are:
On the top floor there was a food area where we ate. There was a huge display case where you could look at plastic versions of the food and decide what you wanted. When you paid you got a number that would show up on an screen when your food was ready (shown below). The cups, trays, and everything were all reusable. You grabbed a metal cup from a UV sterilizing machine, and put it below the machine when you were done. Korean living seems to be very sustainable like that. It isn't too common to find things that are disposable.
Coffee shops and little food places in Korea take a lot longer to get your food/drink than in the States. If you get a coffee or pressed sandwich it can take up to 10 minutes. If that happened back home, I'm sure 9/10 people would be enraged.
Next we took a cab to the main shopping area. Cabs are a very reasonably priced in korea. Kat and I could go pretty much anywhere in the metropolitan area of Gunsan for under $5 for a cab ride, and usually the distance we use it for is closer to $2.50-$3, which makes it very cost effective compared to the bus ($1.10). There is no subway in this city. A lot of cabbies have a screen to watch TV in their cab. Safety advocates would go nuts if anyone tried to do this in the US.
Ok, onto the engrish. We happened upon a small dollar-store type establishment, which is where we found most of this.
Hopefully we will go visit a PC Bang soon (I'm told bang is the korean word for room), where people go to play computer games. Here's a picture of the Starcraft 2 box from Korea:
And that's all the interesting stuff from that day. Coming soon: Reuniting with my friend BC in Seoul.
-Harrison
On Friday we walked around the Gunsan shopping area, and kat just kind of showed me the city in general. I should post this more after the fact so I can remember more details...
First we went to the big department store in the area.
 |
| Lotte Mart |
A couple notable things are:
- Koreans really like orange juice (it's the go-to juice here)
- Cereal is extremely expensive (2-3 times more expensive than in the US)
- Milk here comes in flavors anywhere you go (which is a lot more common in the US where maybe there are two flavors-chocolate and plain). It comes in flavors like banana, chocolate, cereal, strawberry, and different coffee flavors (these are all delicious)
- Cold prepackaged coffee flavored drinks (like the prepackaged starbucks' ones in the US) are popular here (coffee in a shop is also popular just like the US, but its around $5 for a drink which is absurd)
- The escalator things are really cool. They're inclined but smooth (not like steps), and are magnetized to your cart so you can bring it up and down the floors
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| Mmm... baby Einstein milk |
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| Cool escalator thing |
On the top floor there was a food area where we ate. There was a huge display case where you could look at plastic versions of the food and decide what you wanted. When you paid you got a number that would show up on an screen when your food was ready (shown below). The cups, trays, and everything were all reusable. You grabbed a metal cup from a UV sterilizing machine, and put it below the machine when you were done. Korean living seems to be very sustainable like that. It isn't too common to find things that are disposable.
Coffee shops and little food places in Korea take a lot longer to get your food/drink than in the States. If you get a coffee or pressed sandwich it can take up to 10 minutes. If that happened back home, I'm sure 9/10 people would be enraged.
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| Coffee is the best medicine |
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| GPS next to a screen to watch TV. The counter is near his hand. |
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| The shopping area has this strange ridge and recession zigzagging throughout the center of pedestrian mall. This was great for tripping when you weren't looking at your feet. |
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| There was also a knock-off Starbucks |
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| Good question |
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| I trip. I frill. |
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| It's the most comfortable way to move |
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| This is a little extreme |
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| I always forget the capitol of Morth Carolina |
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| That classic NY tycoon |
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| Zebra is deep |
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| I would really like to know what the syringe is supposed to represent |
-Harrison
Friday, May 6, 2011
25/ Guest Bloggin'
Hey, it's Harrison.
I'm in Korea visiting Kat, so I thought that as long as I'm here I'll update with my thoughts on things, and post interesting pictures (unlike kat).
First Impressions: Dang, everything is spick and span. Literally as soon as I got off the plane, I noticed that the airport was shiny clean. Like, no dust anywhere. Anyway, that may or may not be that amazing. The next thing I noticed was pretty startling though. In the bathroom on the hand dryer was the name of the guy responsible for cleaning the bathroom, but that's not all--his PICTURE was on there too. So if the bathroom wasn't clean you could go hunt this man down and pin him for the blame.
Inside the airport (and as I will soon discover, all around the cities) there was a Dunkin' Donuts and 7-Eleven.
The Dunkin' Donuts was different than the US in that you had a tray and grabbed your own donuts, but it was also different in the flavors of donuts that they had.
The 7-Eleven proved to me yet another reason beyond self serve donuts and clean facilities as to why America has some catching up to do with the Koreans.
Ok, so leaving the airport we took a bus to the city where kat lives, which is about 3 hours south of Seoul/Incheon/wherever the hell the airport is (the pilot didn't even really seem to know, so Im guessing it was somewhere between the two cities).
(this just happened: I was like SEE BLOGGING IS HARD HARRISON and he was like YEAH ITS ESPECIALLY HARD WITHOUT A CHAIR. well welcome to my apartment :p) /end kat
Back to the bus ride: it was very pleasant. Lots of leg room, leather seats, and big windows through which you could watch the small mountains (/big hills), sea, and cities roll by.
So on our ride we went through this one city (which I think they mean to connect to Incheon at some point) where they're basically building all skyscrapers right now. And that by itself wouldn't be that weird if not for the fact that its super strange to see giant towers next to vacant dirt lots. Here in the US cities spring up rather naturally, where the city center slowly gets larger and larger buildings, and the population density (along with the building heights) taper out from there. But not in this city. There are completely empty apartment buildings because no one has come into the city yet. It basically seems like they're constructing a strange ghost town. Except the town is a city. And there are no small buildings around it.
When we finally got to Gunsan, we walked to kat's apartment. Motion sensing lights under her building turned on while we were coming up to the door. She waved a card infront of a panel and the door slid open. The inside of her building is as clean as the airport. Her door is opened by typing in numbers on a keypad, but without using a card, which means that if someone is watching you they can break in pretty easily. But the building isn't crowded or anything, and its pretty obvious is someone is around you, which is why they probably dont have a more thorough means of entrance.
Phew. Well, that was my first day here. Today we walked around a bunch of shops, and saw a boatload of engrish. I'll try to post all that by the end of the day tomorrow.
-Harrison
I'm in Korea visiting Kat, so I thought that as long as I'm here I'll update with my thoughts on things, and post interesting pictures (unlike kat).
First Impressions: Dang, everything is spick and span. Literally as soon as I got off the plane, I noticed that the airport was shiny clean. Like, no dust anywhere. Anyway, that may or may not be that amazing. The next thing I noticed was pretty startling though. In the bathroom on the hand dryer was the name of the guy responsible for cleaning the bathroom, but that's not all--his PICTURE was on there too. So if the bathroom wasn't clean you could go hunt this man down and pin him for the blame.
Inside the airport (and as I will soon discover, all around the cities) there was a Dunkin' Donuts and 7-Eleven.
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| Luckily, I have seen no more Kraze Burgers. Their motto says it all. |
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| Such as green tea, and tomato&carrot. |
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| Behold: Pineapple on a stick (I'm neglecting to mention the strange meats on sticks). |
(this just happened: I was like SEE BLOGGING IS HARD HARRISON and he was like YEAH ITS ESPECIALLY HARD WITHOUT A CHAIR. well welcome to my apartment :p) /end kat
Back to the bus ride: it was very pleasant. Lots of leg room, leather seats, and big windows through which you could watch the small mountains (/big hills), sea, and cities roll by.
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| Cue picture with sea, mountain, and city |
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| Here's the city |
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| Dirt... dirt... dirt... HIGHRISE |
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| What's that line running up the 70 story skyscraper? |
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| Oh, that's just a gap where they haven't finished the interior of the building yet |
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| These are the only people living in this city |
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| On one side of the stream, monolithic apartment buildings... |
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| ...on the other side shacks and fields. |
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| And there was a tomato savings bank |
Phew. Well, that was my first day here. Today we walked around a bunch of shops, and saw a boatload of engrish. I'll try to post all that by the end of the day tomorrow.
-Harrison
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