Retail therapy

I went on quite the shopping spree today. In addition to hiking, shopping is a national pastime in Korea. So I was participating in a typical Korean Sunday and indulging in wonderful Korean culture. In truth, I think the retail therapy was well deserved. I taught that Saturday conversation class full of boys for the last time this week and needed to reward myself for having survived the whole 1 and 1/2 month ordeal.

There were no fights this week, but there was no learning either. Determined to prove my worth as a teacher and get through to the boys, I spent all my free time this past week planning a lesson that would hold their interest. There is nothing they could relate to more personally than video games. If you aren't aware, Korea has one of the largest gaming markets in the world and there is a PC gaming cafe on every corner here. If this doesn't catch them, nothing will.

Well, apparently nothing will. At least not with me in charge.

In order to fight my buyer's remorse, I'm now determined to work on developing a tougher teaching side. While I pray I never have to face a class that unmotivated and undisciplined again, I'm going to be prepared for next time.

On another note, I am still not fully recovered from my illness earlier this month. On Friday, after a cough attack at my desk, my co-teacher turned to me and said, "Did you catch a cold?"

Ummm, yeah. You know, the one that's going around? You went to the hospital for it. Ring a bell? Well, she's perfectly healthy now. No liquid lung, scratchy throat, or cracking voice in the middle of class. Whatever they gave her at the hospital worked. Perhaps the joke was on me when I scoffed at her for going to the hospital for a cold.

Sunday stroll

I recently read somewhere that Korea has a national obsession with hiking. It isn't too surprising being that 90% of Korea is forested mountains, but other than the countless hiking gear shops around town, I hadn't yet witnessed the pastime in action. I'd been meaning to check out some local trails and I finally got out there this morning with a few friends. It was the perfect day for hiking- cool and a bit overcast, but no wind. And all the cherry blossoms are in bloom now so there is a veil of pale pink throughout the hillsides.

I quickly realized that hiking is more than obsession here. It's an art. We were put to shame in the first 10 minutes of our climb up Mt. Bomunsan by the 60+ Korean man in his track suit who glided past us while we stood hunched over and huffing on the side of the trail. The morning progressed (slowly and with frequent rests) but pleasantly. We were continually amazed at the old ladies bouncing by us with ease and charmed by the pairs of older folk sharing thermoses of macoli atop a flat rock or a fallen log. Though we didn't make it to any of the destinations we had originally pinpointed on the map, (partly because we couldn't read the trail signs, and partly because we vastly overestimated our hiking abilities) we did sip from a freshwater spring and get some great views of the city. And, the forest spit us out right at my main school.

We emerged sweaty, and one of us with split pants, but still in good spirits. We vowed to go hiking as frequently as possible and get in shape by the end of the year. Then we went and split 2 large pizzas and mozerella sticks between the four of us.

Sick

For the past three days I've been sick with the flu. I'd be worried it's the swine except I got the shot before I came.

On Saturday I woke up with a fever, but I had to teach a class that morning so I couldn't stay in bed. Yes, the same class that my vice principal said I shouldn't do and that I said I wasn't continuing under any circumstances. Well, being the responsible and kind person that I am, I agreed to finish out this month since I felt bad for initially accepting and then backing out on the job.

Of course the class was torture. At one point one of the heftier students had another smaller kid pinned up against the wall and was nearly strangling him. My attempts to split them apart were useless. As were my hoarse yells for them to sit down. Luckily, just as they were taking it into the hall, another Native-English teacher was walking by the room and he tackled the big kid and held him down while I retrieved the Korean teacher. She came down with her stick and led the two troublemakers upstairs and I tried to carry on with class. Five minutes later both boys walked back into the room and sat down. What? That's it? He nearly killed his classmate and he's back in class five minutes later? I was beginning to seriously doubt my qualifications for being in that room. It's one thing to fail to get anything productive done in class, but to fail to ensure everyone's safety is another. It was later clarified that the littler kid had apparently called the bigger one "gay" and set him off.

When the Korean English teacher was driving me home she mentioned that she had talked to my vice principal about my teaching at her school and he was now okay with it. "So you can continue teaching here if you want," she said. Then she explained the cause of the fight that went on earlier. Apparently the littler kid had called the bigger one "gay."

Middle school field trip- Part 2

Day two/three

We woke up early and bussed to Mt. Seorak. I was under the impression we would be hiking to the top (about a 4 hour hike), but apparently I misunderstood whoever told me that. No one was to hike to the top. While the students went on a shorter hike, my co-teacher and I accompanied the principal and founder on a gondola ride to the summit. It was a pleasant ride and there was a great view at the top, but I couldn't help feeling lazy.

After we got back, we walked around the nearby temple. I kept seeing tiny spiral seashells in the dirt, which was very puzzling to me since we were up in the mountains. I finally asked my co-teacher what they were and she showed my the pot of water full of the shells at a snack stand. I guess you suck the goo out of them then toss the shells on the ground. Sounds delicious. Almost as delicious as the dried squid I'd tried the night before at the teachers' get together. While not totally disgusting, it was definitely not pleasant. It has the texture of shoe leather and tastes like fishy beef jerky and feet. I gave it a try and passed on seconds. When some of the other teachers went out to stock up on more later in the day, I politely declined. But I ended up with a big bag of it anyway because the school founder bought some for each of the teachers. It's still sitting on my screened porch, waiting to be re-gifted.

That night, the other teachers were concerned about me having to sit through another late night social hour with the principal and company so they insisted I attend the student's rally instead. I got to see my students sing and dance to their favorite pop songs and relax for a couple hours. But, I wasn't completely off the hook. We met for another teacher's gathering after the rally. This time, one of the teachers insisted we go do karaoke and as this is a common Korean pastime, no one objected but me (silently). I was extremely cofused about how we were going to get to a norebahng (karaoke studio), but I should have known. Naturally there was one in the basement of the hotel. I manned the tambourine for a couple songs then tried to make a polite getaway.

If you thought it convenient that there was a karaoke room at the hotel, then you'll be as impressed as I was to find there was also karaoke on the bus. I was just thrilled to learn this the next day on the ride home and so were the students. They sang the entire 3.5 hours back to Daejeon.

Middle school field trip- Part 1

Last night I returned from a 3-day school field trip. I was the first foreign teacher to be invited by my school on the traditional field trip and, though I got lost in the 9 bus loads of of middle school girls, I also felt like the center of attention for a good part of the trip. Three days touring everything from a phonograph museum to a house belonging to Kim il Sung, two nights of formalities and shocking informalities of bonding with Korean co-workers, and one giant bag of dried squid later, I was too exausted to write when I got home. So, I will try to recap the most memorable of events now. Which is a difficult task, as every moment held something new for me.

Day one

We loaded the buses and hit the road for Gangwon Province (the northeast area of South Korea). It is customary throughout the country for middle school students to make this trip to the famous Mt. Seorak and surrounding areas with their school. About 3 1/2 hours later, we arrived at our first stop, Woljeong Temple. It was my first Buddhist Temple and it was every bit as peaceful and colorful as I imagined. With the Joseon dynasty, confusianism replaced Buddhism as the country's ordinated belief system so surviving Bhuddist temples are hidden in mountain retreats and draw heavily from their natural surroundings. In fact, aside from the vibrant colors and intricate painting designs, Buddhist temples appear quite simplistic compared to the cathedrals and basilicas I'm used to touring. Fortunately for Buddhism, Korea is nearly all mountain and although I saw 3 temples in the past 3 days, there are many more I look forward to exploring while I'm here.

After lunch in the parking lot, complete with a couple shots of makoli (a rice wine that tastes like fermented grass) from the school founder, we all filed up to the temple and got to look around. 30 minutes later we filed back to the parking lot. I was impressed with the promptness of it all. We went, we looked, we took a couple pictures and we left. I can recall a lot of waiting around by the door on my school field trips. You will look at every single one of these pictures hanging on the wall for at least 5 minutes and you will like it. It was a pleasant surprise (though not all that surprising when I think about it) that Koreans acknowledge the fact that teenagers are only so interested in old buildings and statues and museums.

Next stop, the Charmsori Gramophone and Edison Museum. This was a personal favorite of mine as I'm a museum buff and this one was actually in English. The rationale for such a place in the middle of the Korean countryside? My co-teacher explained that Edison is very famous in Korea... like Helen Keller. The museum is a private collection of hundreds of models of gramophones and other inventions by Edison, including the first talking dolls. This time I could have spent another hour or two in the place, but after the students listened to a few demonstrations, we swept through each of the rooms and scooted on to the next site.

The final stop before hitting the hotel was Ojukheon, the birthplace of the famous Korean scholar and politician Yulgok. This site was packed with kids from schools all over Korea with the same agenda. In a sea of students in uniforms and sneakers, I wandered about the temple/ garden and took pictures of the surrounding mountains. I could hear the gasps and giggles from other students when they caught a glimpse of me and took it that their native English teacher wasn't invited on their field trip. Occasionally one would work up the courage to say/shout hello or nice to meet you and I would smile and respond. If one of my students witnessed this exchange they would try to communicate to me as best they could that I am not to speak to them. They are very competitive, my co-teacher told me. I laughed to myself picturing my students yelling, Don't you dare talk to her! She's our white girl.

When we finally made it to the hotel/condo, which was ingeniously called a "condotel," but which was more like a condo/hostel, I was exhausted and looking forward to going to sleep after dinner. We ate a cafeteria style dinner in the basement of the condotel. I wasn't thrilled by the food so I didn't eat much, but that proved to be a some clever foresight on my part because the food just kept on coming as the night wore on. After dinner and a quick walk to the beach, all the teachers gathered in one of the rooms for snacks and drinks. We all sat on the floor around the table while oranges, dried squid, cookies, crackers, and nuts were passed around and sparkling wine was poured into paper cups.

A question was translated for me here and there but for the most part I just listened and relaxed. After about an hour, everyone stood up at once and me and my co-teacher went back to our room. Time for bed? No. The principal and founder were happy to have me on the trip with them and arranged a gathering to celebrate. When we got the call we would have to go down. I was warned then that the principal and founder were heavy drinkers and that most of the teachers dreaded spending time with them, but that we would have to endure for the night.

When we got the hall, a long table of side dishes and shot glasses was spread out. I was seated on a flat pillow next to the principal and across from the founder. I accepted a glass of makoli, which I politely sipped for a while. I had been told that the general rule is, if your glass is empty, it will be refilled by someone. But no one mentioned that if your glass is full, you will be offered another glass. So, there is really no way to avoid a friendly shot. Unless, you do like many Korean woman do and keep a secret cup under the table which you discreetly dump the alcohol into after touching it to your lips. Some who know me may be thinking why I of all people would feel burdened by an ample supply of alcohol and a cheerful environment in which to drink it, but I wasn't exactly at ease at that table, and not just because my legs were cramping up underneath me. After heaps of sushi and pots of boiling stew came and went from the table, and all the female teachers had found ways to escape back to their rooms, my co-teacher and I were still seated at the table. She was doing her best to translate what the founder was saying to me and I was doing my best to give appropriate responses. I pinky-promised him that I would stay in Korea for ten years, I obliged his countless hand shakes, and I assured him repeatedly that I do have a "good impression" of his school.

After nearly a second hour, another English teacher (who up until this trip I'd developed a disliking for) said some words to the principal that excused us and thanked me for staying so long. As we walked back to our room, my co-teacher asked me to please understand that the founder was very drunk. I laughed and told her not to worry. ..