In regards to the recent events involving the two Koreas, there have been no rushes on bottled water and canned good, no bomb drills at school, no civilians walking around with posters telling Kim Jong-il to go to hell. Admittedly, there was a moment following the artillery exchange when I was worried. I had just arrived at my primary school on Tuesday afternoon (day of the attack) to prepare for my after- school conversation class. The TV was on in the teacher's room, but as it was in Korean, I didn't even bother to glance at the screen. Then , my co-teacher tapped my shoulder and said, "It seems North Korea will attack South Korea." Well, that's some news," I thought. Confused, all I could think to say was , "Really?" "Yes, they made a bomb." A quick glance around the room showed all the other teachers sleepily sitting at their desks, working on their computers, or casually chatting with each other. A typical afternoon. No one looked the least bit concerned. I turned to the TV, and saw images of fires rising from the island. Judging that my co teacher's interpretation skills had missed the mark (just a tad, and not for the first time) I did a quick search on Yahoo and found a summary of the afternoon's events. Since then, I've heard no comments from any Koreans on the matter. True, it's possible they don't bother speaking to me about it because of their limited English, and obviously I cannot follow the Korean media on the matter, but what I've seen from my perusals of American news makes the whole thing seem like it's happening somewhere else. Nevertheless, I am registered with US embassy in Seoul.
In other news, I regretted not being home for Thanksgiving, but I celebrated as best I could. I bought 2 giant pumpkin pies and an apple pie at Costco to share with the teachers on Thanksgiving day. Koreans are big on sharing food, and I thought I should pay them back for the shampoo, soap, and toothpaste I got in excess for the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving back in September. The pies were demolished in true Korean style. Short of forks and plates, the apple pie became a free-for-all for hungry fingers. Oh, did I mention that this feasting went on at 8am? I planned on getting the pies out after lunch, but someone got curious and peaked in the box early.
That was the extent of the real Thanksgiving food that I ate that day. Without an oven it would have been impossible to make any of the other favorites. So, for dinner I dined at Outback Steakhouse with my friends (two of which are Australian and swear there are actually no Outback Steakhouses in Australia). We drew Secret Santa names over plates of ribs and baked potatoes and said cheers with our glasses of long island iced teas. Not quite Thanksgiving dinner, but western no less.
Though there is no Black Friday in Korea, Christmas has come commercially here just as at home. Many stores have decorations up and some have Christmas trees. To add to the holiday feel, it snowed for the first time 2 nights ago. Only a dusting on cars and small piles on the street corners were left by morning, now only puddles, but it was pretty exiting to me while it lasted. We'll see how I feel about it in a month or two.
And in 3 months, I'll be going home. Not quite soon enough for me to start getting sentimental, but I've decided to give myself a little blogging goal to motivate me to write more often the rest of my time here. Each time I write, I'm going to include something new that I have learned since being here. I don't know how enjoyable this will be for you, but it'll be nice for me to look back on. So, here goes...
Probably the lesson that has taken me the longest to learn, and one that I frequently still forget, is this: people, especially Koreans, are not necessarily going to knock themselves over to give you praise for your work. I've exhausted my friends' ears with complaints about how my co-teachers never tell me if I did well or not and worries about how I must be a bad teacher since no one ever tells me I'm a good teacher. But, aside from trusting in myself (I know I'm a good teacher, whether or not they tell me so), I've learned to accept praise and signs of gratitude in more subtle ways. After all, Koreans are very indirect. So, when my vice principal expresses regret that I'm not re-signing my contract and says he would like to see me again in a few years, I should feel appreciated. When my co-teacher texts me that she has a business trip and won't see me today, I should feel cared for. When I get showered with 20 excited hello teachers down the hall, I should feel like a good teacher.
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