just 말해요

I'm volunteering my apartment for a Halloween pregame. I'll see how much I regret this, though it appears that maybe only 10 people will come. Much better than the 20 that showed up to someone else's place when we got our first paychecks. Monday the students should be coming back to school. I somehow managed to not get ahead in most of my work. I should've been planning for the high school classes I run. I do have a surplus of some teacher training chapters done (my opinion is that the work book SUCKS, but I finally smartened up and am trying to create games that use concepts), and I'm about halfway done with typing example essays for an English writing contest for a blind student. Thank you FML, the Frisky, and eonline for helping me be useless this week! 


And wow, do I want to burn that book. One topic is asking if students think there should be more male teachers in schools than there are and why. The general consensus is that yes, there should be more men because they can teach subjects that women can't. Like discipline. Man oh man, do I have a lot of problems with this, but I'm trying to exercise patience and understand that these are ESL students from another culture- another world sometimes- and that their real meaning in some places may be getting lost in translation. 


I still want to pull out my hair. Or theirs. First- discipline is not the best approach as it is, even if beating students is still legal here. Pleasepleaseplease ask yourself how you can manage students' behavior. Yes, this is a glorified way of saying behavior manipulation- the less you have to threat a student the better for all parties, I think. And the obvious point that gender doesn't automatically make you better at something doesn't even need to be elaborated on. 


OK, I can't get over it. I can barely type these damn essays, they just piss me off so much. 
Though this following statement, I didn't know if I felt like laughing or screaming:
"Moreover, if students are able to experience only with female students (really means teachers I think), there is a good chance for boys to get too girly."
So, with overexposure to women, boys run the risk of turning gay/effeminate. gotcha. well in that case, bring in the men! But then won't the girls turn butch?


I miss stupid places like Wal-mart and Target. I reaaaaally miss Martin's/ Giant food stores. I'm dying for a Banana Republic, and after reading an fml about someone in Old Navy- a trip there would be fab, too. Oh the places I would go. 


Last note- I've been curious about Paranormal Activity, with it's reviews of being the scariest movie in a long time. I've seen the trailer once with the sound muted. I also spoiled it for myself and read a synopsis. That said, I've scared myself awake 3 times because I started thinking about the ending in my sleep. (photo from /film)

thanks, H1N1

My school is closed through October 31st because of the flu. From what I understood, whoever made the decision was concerned about students with physical disabilities (cerebral palsy was named specifically). So the students who live in the school got shipped home, and the teachers are doomed to sit in the office for the rest of the week. ugh. I can at least take my goddamn sweet time with my workload!


I got a block of ddeok yesterday, and I left it on my desk by accident. Fortunately, it's still good! So says my co-teacher. There was a hot air balloon in Daejeon this weekend, and I went on Saturday to see the "light show". I was expecting flashyness! fireworks! lasers! Instead it was about 8 hot air balloons lighting up in the dark to the beat of a 3 minute song. Oh, and maybe 5 minutes of fireworks. I can't say I thought it was worth the 30 minute walk from the nearest subway stop, but I did get to see the Expo bridge and its water show- and THAT was worth the trip. So some highlights:

The water jets, filling a balloon, the bridge in all my camera's blurry glory. 

I must say, I can't get over that you have to shoot fire up a turtle's butt hole.

so last week

Okay! Last week was kind of not so crazy... it felt so in the moment. Monday was a birthday outing for a teacher, out  bowling, eating, drinking until midnight. Tuesday was John's birthday- he randomly picked a cool place that served a super spicy pork thing and bibimbap. Thursday out until midnight with my co-teacher and another teacher. We saw District 9 (I got an awful headache from the camera style and being too close to the screen...), ate dinner, and then rented a room where you can play Wii, watch TV, sing karaoke, or surf the internet. And the rooms are decorated CUTE. 


Friday I went to Daegu to visit a teacher who had been in a car accident. Though he and his wife were fine, they had to stay in the hospital. From what my co-teacher explained, it's policy for people to stay there until the situation is sorted out by insurance. Or something like that. 7 of us I think went down in a school van. Before leaving Daejeon, my co-teacher and another loaded up on beer, coffee, and food. Half of the ride down we played a hot-potato style game. There was a bee hive with slits in the side, and a bear that could be ejected out of the top. Okay, so this is more Russian Roulette. You take turns sticking bees into the slits, and one slit will eject the bear. You lose. We played for money, and later they collected the amount we lost, but I have no idea where the total pot went. After visiting our fellow staff member in the hospital, we took the him and his wife out to dinner... Ok, so I was told that this place served pork. The restaurant workers brought white squares of something jiggly, definitely NOT pork. It had the consistency of fat, a dirty aftertaste, and only after I ate it were the teachers willing to tell me where exactly it came from. Pig stomach. Nice. No, no. That's not meat. That's an organ. That's a pig part. That's something that isn't commonly eaten in America. Maybe it's just my opinion/assumption, but that's something seen as dirty. You digest food with stomachs. You make poo with intestines. I don't want to be eating pig poo pipes. No thank you. I'm done. Daegu traditional dish or not, the Daegu-ins could've picked a better meal. 


Daegu is 2 hours from Daejeon, I came back at 9:30 and was told to go to Timeworld- shopping/bar area in Daejeon that's about 30 minutes metro from me... and out until 2am. And the catch was that all week I wanted a nap. Never got it. Saturday out with a massive group after Indian food, didn't get it, settled for samgyupsal- the restaurant caught on fire or something, we evacuated, still had to pay in the smoke, and later ended up at 2 different bars. Apparently I'm making up for the college partying that I never did. 


Earlier this week one of my high school classes asked for my phone number. I complied, maybe 4 of them took it. Last night, one student called about 10 times, hanging up whenever I answered. When I texted him calling him out for being to scared to talk to me, I got a reply confirming this. Then I got another call from another student who explained that he had to write the text for the chicken student. okok. After saying goodbye to that crew, another student started texting me... haha the pains of being popular! 


And this morning I went on a field trip where students learned traditional Korean etiquette. They made me make and pour tea, and there was some serious invasive assistance going on. Also, my male co-teacher got dressed in a han-bok. The scary thing was that it was a good look for him. Some girl students who previously didn't really talk to me are starting to be more outgoing now, and I appreciate that. I've got to get some planning done for the high schoolers. I seriously feel like I'm pulling out my own teeth, it's so painful sometimes. The situation is bizarre and I'm trying to accommodate everyone, but I'm struggling with reaching each student in a fair way.


My nephew's first birthday is in a few weeks, and I've been on a desperate search for something "cute and Korean looking." Fail so far. There's a toy store I'm hoping to visit today where I hope to be more fortunate. I could also use more sweaters... it's chilly these days!

the beef

Most everyone else I think has already experienced this phenomenon or has been dealing with it on a regular basis: today my co-teacher didn't show up for any classes. 


Dear Korean Teacher,
Things come up. I get that. Okay, I can deal. I improvised with NO materials to work with for the elementary students. I let the middle schoolers who weren't participating in National Exams talk, sleep, and eventually I made paper airplanes with the one student who could see. My last class figured out what was on their exam and we figured out a way to re-review everything. 


I think I did pretty well. Fairly well at least. And while I can accept the dynamic-ness that is about 98% of Korean culture (it seems), I am having trouble accepting what is to me unprofessional behavior. 


If you're not going to be in class, please tell me. I just want to know that something came up that will prevent you from coming. 


If you find out you won't be coming to any classes all day, but you can still come to the teacher's room at random moments- why not stop by and let me know? It would take like. 2 seconds. Seriously. 


Also, if possible, please give me access to the materials. I understand that it may not be possible, but I would appreciate any effort. 


Sincerely, 
Your momentarily frustrated, slightly furious but mostly bummedthatiwasprobablyuselesstothestudents, co-teacher.

nudge from home

nyanya no more Seoul, I basically said it all. 

An example of the dynamic-ness that is Korea's essence, I was invited by John's co-teacher to go hiking on Saturday. Somehow, the fact that we are surrounded by mountains and that typically, hikers like to hike to their summits eluded me when I said yes. I don't know what I was thinking... actually I do. I pictured a park. Like an American park with a gravel "trail" and me walking leisurely while enjoying some nice pre-autumn weather. I was absolutely dumb. 

We met John's co-teacher and husband at 10. We were on the trail by 10:30. We finished at 4. 

I hiked Old Rag in July, and that was the longest trail I'd ever done. About 9 miles, 1.5 dedicated to rock scrambling, about 4 to knee breaking downhill trekking. That was hard. 


Saturday brought back images of Old Rag. I have no idea how long the trail was. They pointed to one summit, and I thought that was endgame, and we'd head down. I believe they even said that we'd go that far, and that they showed us something further and said it was TOO far. But, um. No. 20-30 minutes after leaving the summit, we reached another lookout area, and the husband pointed to something much higher than we were and said we were going there. 


It's just that something this long and intense, I would've appreciated a heads up so I could've dressed more appropriately and also prepared! Stupidstupid me has no hiking pants- I wore jeans and a new shirt- and might I mention that Koreans take hiking seriously! Well, I think it's more that they take their hiking gear seriously. The hats, the pants, shoes, shirts, jackets, the sticks that look like ski poles. Oh, and the backpacks, and the neck towels, too. Everything specially designed for hiking. Seriously. 

It was definitely fun, and the view was worth it- the views are ALWAYS worth it. And I would probably do that trail again, except that it was an hour and a half down and it was kind of a scary trip down... and my knees don't like going down for that long. 


Sunday some friends and I found a place in Daejeon where you can rent different things on wheels- bikes, adult tricycles, mini motorbikes, big wheels, kid car things that I can't remember the name of... and ride around on a giant lot. I mean. FUN. There were so many little kids in those little electric cars, some were remote controlled so their parents would drive them around. Something like that I'd love to take my future kids to. 

John's co-teacher said that teachers can apply to move to a new school after 2 years and then have to move after 5. The basic reason is that the school system wants teachers to rotate, I guess to keep things fresh. When I told my co-teacher that I found this strange, he said that he thinks it's good because otherwise work would become boring. 


This fact has been bothering me since I was told about it, and I don't know why it bothers me so much. It really just makes me kind of sad. I guess maybe I like to make attachments, and if I knew I had to move every so many years, what's the point of letting yourself love some place? And then my school in particular, the teachers with vision impairments can stay forever if they want. I wonder how they feel with teachers moving through... but then I have no idea how long teachers tend to stay in American schools so maybe it isn't all that different. I think the fact that you aren't allowed to stay if you love a school is what gets to me the most. 


A friend from home has recently had something absolutely horrific happen and I'd rather be there with her right now. 

psychedelic s(e)oul... pt 1

Being as this has taken me a week to write... a paragraph here and there... and also that photos seem to make things very complicated. I'll eventually finish talking about Seoul.

This weekend being a Korean holiday that foreigners don't celebrate (obviously), some friends and I thought it would be a good time to visit Seoul. For the most part, it was a good opportunity. In some cases, the closing of certain places (like the Chipotle/Qdoba ripoffs!) not so much. But omg, there's so much to see there! And thanks to our personal slave driver -- just kidding, Sam. Lots of love to you!--  


Our group of 4 arrived Thursday afternoon via the "slow train." Really, just the normal train. KTX will get us to Seoul in less than an hour. The normal train takes about 2. I mean. That's my drive from my hometown in VA to my university. There was a bookstore that had Korean language workbooks, and I should've gotten some that day because it was closed when we came back... I pine for those. 


We searched for an underground game store for my nerdy boyfriend- he found a PS2 slim, and was able to get it modded by the seller. That's so not done in America. So now he can play games from most any country, bypassing region codes. Oh, and he can bypass region codes on DVDs, so I (we) can watch movies on my giant TV, and I can be fully justified in not ever subscribing to cable here. 


Daejeon has some, too but we found Indian restaurants in Seoul and it was EXCITING and DELICIOUS. Aside from Korean-ized fast food and Korean-ized pizza, I hadn't had any food that wasn't Korean or something resembling Korea's style since leaving home. Granted the first Indian place we went to (we ate Indian the second night, too) was owned and run by Koreans, but it was a great change from kimchikimchikimchi. 


Thursday and Friday compiled a long list of fails.  A store called Roundup, fail. Chipotle/Qdoba rip-off, fail. Random temple, fail. We weren't going to get in for free. Malls at D...onsa...dong?- fail.  Our general conclusion about Chuseok: it sucks! j/k really, but it was frustrating that so much was closed for SO LONG (days!) However, Seoul Tower made(saved) Friday. I saw my first sunset, all of Seoul, and the city lights turn on. 

The windows had locations around the world and their distances- so we could see which direction and how far someplace like North Korea was. Or home. Seeing "Washington" printed on a window panel was beautiful. 


Our original plans for Saturday were scrapped when someone heard that Itewan(sp) may not have anything going on afterall (this is the "foreigner" place... like America Town. ATown...) Somewhere else was a temple, a palace, and the "Blue House"- Korea's apparent equivalent to the White House. It has another name that starts with a c... Koreans don't seem to know "Blue House."

Temple was awesome with it's canopy of lanterns. Palace was beautiful, enormous, and still unfinished. While walking, I got the rundown of Asian history around the time of WWII. It's interesting learning a bit about what was going on on the other side of the world while the west had its own serious drama happening. Japan demolished many of the temples and palaces when it invaded Korea, so most historical sites are reconstructed. How amazing would it have been to see the original structures. (Random note, at Seoul Tower there was a COLDSTONE CREAMERY. How absolutely random.