Reflections of teaching and living in Korea- scheduling

Ah, my first day back at ‘work’. At my high school anyway. My dear old high school. It’s been almost a month away, and… what a glorious break that has been.

I’ve been doing my best (well, maybe not always my BEST) to focus on the things I’ll miss about Korea when I leave, while I’m still here. But it hit me this morning, as I watched my co-workers and officemates run around like crazy hyper little children, that I’ve been neglecting one aspect. Despite their best headless chicken impersonations, I’ll miss the laid-back attitude they have, culturally, when it comes to scheduling. I will really miss that. America doesn’t do too well with that attitude, I learned long ago.

When I first came and sat down in this fateful chair, I presumed that, of course there was a schedule, they just weren’t telling me. (Not on purpose, but, they’re busy, it’s translating work, I and my classes aren’t really important, so it’s a low priority.) But as I greeted my lovely co-teacher upon her arrival this morning, and 20 minutes later asked if the schedule would be ‘normal’, she replied ‘I don’t know.’ And it finally clicked that there really might not be a schedule yet. Even day of. Four minutes before my first class, if it was to exist, I got a mostly-comprehensive message summarizing the day’s schedule (it’s not the same).

And I realized- you know what? 4 minutes is PLENTY of time. Professionally speaking, I should already be prepared for whatever classes I suspected to have, and an additional ‘in-case’ class. Now, we won’t discuss if I had actually achieved that already (it’s debatable), but it hit me that I’m completely ok with that. Not only that, I often wished American schedules could be more similar. So what if schedules change in the last (literal) minute? Roll with it. I mean, if you’re performing a choreographed fight scene with edged weapons (first of all- why??), and someone changes that timing by mistake or a ‘why not?’ motive, and you lose an arm, ok, be upset. Those sort of plans should be more, well, planned. and adhered to. you know, ideally.

It’s another thing I liked about my last two jobs. I’d get 30 minutes notice (which, after Korea, feels like an eternity) that I was leaving early or had to come in unscheduled. Last 3 jobs, actually… Anyway.

The last mention I’d like to make of this, and the reason why I call it a part of Korean culture, and not just a habit of the academic workplace, is that this idea(l) is wholly applied to public transportation. And that realization hit me a couple months ago when I was going out to the boonies for a festival with a friend, and was asked a series of (very legitimate) questions- what time should we be at the bus terminal? what time will the bus leave? will we spend the night? if we do, where will we sleep? how will we get to where we will sleep? how long is the bus ride? what time will we leave to come back? etc. etc. My immediate and honest answer to all of those questions was a potently unperturbed, “dunno”. (followed shortly though, with a “we’ll find out when we get there.”)

And I gotta say, I love that about Korea.

Not gonna cry, not gonna cry!

As horrible as my 1-2 high school class is, some of my students are that awesome. In particular my 1-1 middle school class. That means (for the westerners) about 7th grade age. Still young enough to be super cute, but old enough to be real people (almost). The scroogiest scrooge would melt at these kids’ “ TEACHA!! Annyeeeooonnnggg!!! ^^ oh! =O haseyo! ^^’ “

Last week, my co-teacher informed me that the 1-1 would need to be given a speaking test before the end of the year, to be administered Tuesday, two days ago. However, I only see this homeroom once a week, and since Christmas is on a Tuesday this year, this week’s class was going to be my last ever with them. On the pretense of insisting a cultural Christmas class was of dire importance to their English comprehension (and giving back their speaking test scores), I requested an extra class. That request was granted, and I handed back their scores and we made Christmas cards.

If only it had been so simple. I walked in, and they went nuts and cheered- which would be more ego-stroking until one remembers that me there means no loon co-teacher. Then they started asking me if I would be here next year or move to a new school, and I told them I was going home. If not for the kid who asked me then, among all the wae’s and why’s, if I was from South Africa, that might have been when the first tear would have formed.

We did a quick eye-spy, a super-short review of Christmassy vocab, and then we made pop-up Christmas cards together. I made them do it step- by-step as a group until the coloring stage, and I was struck by just how awesome this homeroom is, especially when compared with so many of my other homerooms. The couple random kids skipping ahead, assuming the next steps, being caught, and giving me that sheepish look (and no sarcastic ‘ok ok, stupid teacher…’), the majority of them holding up their papers in front of them, trying to make sure they’re following my instructions as well as possible, completely invested in the moment.

The beginning the class was definitely the hardest, when they gave their outcry that I wouldn’t be coming back, but when the bell rang for lunch… and none of them moved an inch. Of course, I found out 10 minutes later into the lunch period, when a girl asked me to redeem her stamps for a prize, that none of them were particularly hungry since they’d pigged out on popcorn in science class which they’d had just before mine. But, you know, at the time, before I knew that, I almost cried.

I also got one of the Christmas cards from a girl who runs up to me every day, gives me a huge hug (well, huge for what a small person she still is), and says ‘I love you!’ and talks to me until she’s blue in the face about anything- her parents, her studying, how her grades are never good enough, how she always must study harder, how hagwon makes her tired.

The only reason I made it through class today, I know, is that my CT just surprised me with 3 days of winter class, two of which will be with this 1-1 homeroom. I am entirely ok with this, and plan to have super awesome fun with them.

The end of another period in life; I’m glad it’s coming to an end overall, for sure. But darn I will miss some of these kids.

Things I love about living in Korea

I’ve recently been feeling a bit down, in the sense of ‘oh my goodness get me OUT OF HERE NOW!’ kind of way. I’ve got two months to go, but I’m (very) tired of my high school students’ rude, obnoxious attitudes. I’ve also been fighting a cold for about two weeks on top of REM-deprivation. Thus, I decided it was time to sit down and write out a list of all the things that I really like or love about living in Korea. For the next 2-4 months, this is what I will be focusing on. During my flight home though? aaaalll the things that I can’t stand about being here!

Here we go:

• cute little things from students like what I found on my desk this morning

• futsal- I love playing futsal with the futsal gang. I’ve missed it the last 3 weeks due to said cold and a ‘business trip’, but futsal is great fun. also one of the few ways I can bribe myself into doing any running.
• cafes- hot chocolates, mint hot chocolates, sweet potato lattes, pumpkin lattes, green tea lattes, the whole cafe vibe…. oh yes
• the sunshine- it’s a lot sunnier here on average than back in New England, especially in the winter.
• public transportation/not needing a car- no subways in my city, but the buses are frequent, and although packed quite often, generally cleaner than the buses I experienced in New York. It’s also believed to be a lot safer. I never had problems back home, but… well, it’s said to be safer. Also, cheaper. And, on time- here’s looking at YOU, Amtrak.
• paycheck to expenses ratio- great, beautiful ratio
• the internet- 5 gigs of movies in 20 minutes? yes please.
• mandu- dumplings: tasty, easy, cheap, common.
• sweet red bean paste- doughnuts, ‘fish’ bread (just in shape!), or the little waffle-iron bread, or the steamed buns… yummy
• peppero, soon to be known as pocky again, and for 3x the price
• mart chocolate (ghana bars! I will miss you!)
• ondol- LOVELY floor heating. when it’s really cold in winter, just turn the ondol on, grab a thin blanket and snuggle up on the floor
• goguma everything- sweet potato lattes (as stated), various forms of sweet potato chips, and even sweet potato pizza. I actually came into the office today and there was a bag of purple crisps. I was hesitant, wondering ‘just how far can you take the goguma’, but they are DELICIOUS (and ps ube ice cream (purple sweet potato) is also amazing, but that I’ve found only in the philippines)
• the market- farmers’ market meets community tag sale meets steroids meets crack. plus ajummas. but I love it anyway, and they have great produce.
• Korea is tiny- so tiny, that if you NEED to get from one almost-corner of the country (say, my city) to the other corner of the country (say, Seoul), and it’s an emergency you can KTX it in ~2.5 hours, bus it in 4 (although I think it’s technically supposed to take 5-6), or take the normal train, but why would you bother when even the KTX is still under US$50?
• close to the ocean- no matter where you are, because Korea is tiny. and even though it’s cold most of the year, and still barely warm enough to properly swim in in the summer, it’s always nice to be near the ocean
• walking home, alone, through crooked dark alleyways at 3am and….. not really caring.
• the stupid foreigner card- oh, you’re soliciting? sorry, I don’t speak Korean, obvs!
• the random festivals just because- like the apple festival that I’m going to this weekend. I love apples. Why SHOULDN’T I be allowed to celebrate them with a festival?
• the friendly older people that want to buy you coffee or give you a discount just because you’re white. (I’d say foreign, but the non-white people I’ve met don’t seem to have as many stories of it.)
• cheap(er) holidays to southeast asia- beautiful ocean, beaches, tropical weather and cheap shopping? For a 4-hour flight ranging from US$300-US$800 instead of a 14-hour flight that costs a grand and a half? I can deal with that.
• triangle kimbap! tuna-kimchi is the best, but the bbq chicken (resembling nothing of bbq chicken) is also great
• Korean-Chinese food- black bean sauce/jjajang/짜장 over fried rice is the bomb

Things I wish to do my last week in Korealand

1. Steal a Korean flag from one of the street poles for a souvenir
2. Buy a couple large packs of peppero and hand them out to my favorite students, telling them how awesome they are
3. Have a bus surfing contest from I-dong to Yukgeori with a friend, seeing who can last the longest without falling down or grabbing a pole.
4. Walk up behind one of my students while preening him/herself in the mirror, and totally ruffle up / mess up their hair. Laugh.
5. “I heard Koreans don’t like spicy food. Is that true?”
6. Ask for a coffee… WITH MILK! (even though I don’t drink coffee)
7. “Did you know that the Japanese actually invented kimchi? True story!”
8. “So, how old do you [Korean women] have to be before your hair starts getting curly?”
9. Inform my co-workers and students that no, Kpop, Kdrama, ‘Kfood’ and Kwhateverelse aren’t suffocatingly popular OR famous everywhere (anywhere?) else in the world. just Special K, and that’s not the same K.
10. Finally learn the Da-bee-chi jingle and sing it whenever I take a bus downtown.
11. “Hey, ajusshi, have you ever been to Takeshima?” / “What’s a ‘dok-doh’?”
    

 

Another batch of ‘Students say the Darndest Things’

officially the new ‘most awkward moment’. Third grade middle school, same age as US high school freshmen. Each class, I pick one student to ‘introduce’ the lesson. They come to the front, read the date, what period it is, and the plan for the day, and sit back down. I have their roster, and I just work my way down the list, nothing special. All students in Korea have numbers; a lot of teachers will use that instead of their names.

“Hellooo everyone. Ok, who do we have today… 22! Who is 22?”

Half of the classroom bursts out laughing- the half with boys. I get a chaotic outburst of the following types of ‘sentences’, with LOTS of hand signs, just in case I didn’t understand:
‘teacha, between leg!!!!!’ (this was the one usually accompanied by the hand symbols)
‘sex boy!!’
‘boy, no class!! sit!’

preeetty sure my face turned red.

~

one of my first grade female HS students:
Student: oh teacher, very beautiful today
Me: oh, thank you -_-
Student: I like smell!
Me: um…
S’s friend: bye bye teacher!!

~

a 2nd grade HS girl, Minyoung, who always comes in and says hi:
Teacha, your birthday…. 6-wohl [month, ie June], ee-ship [20]….
me: 5
MY: oh, 5!
me: why do you know that?…

~

one of my faaaaavorite high school students (granted, there are so few), Yerimy:
Y: oh, teacher! hi! I find- found my name card! [I give students a 'name card' that they can get hold punches in; 7 and they come get a 'prize' from my desk in the office]
Me: um, why is this part *points* wet? :/
Y: oh, uh *mimes brushing teeth*
Me: ah, ok… so, do you want this name card or this one?
Y: oh, new one. 5 stamp please! ^^
Me: but your old one is so pretty! [she has her name all curly-written, a baseball, and an orange kitten face drawn on there]
Y: no teacher, new one, blank.
Me: ok then *stamps her new paper* Hey, you had a listening test today, right?
Y: oh yes………
Me: So how was it?
Y: very bad teacher, oh no… >_>
Me: uh oh. well, -
Y: difficult hear, teacher!! English!
Me: well, yes. it’s English class.
Y: oh teacher, what is here? *points* o_o
Me: ‘napping’? ah, sleep- daytime sleep. Night sleep, sleep. Day sleep, napping.
Y: and, this word- conperenseh….
Me: ‘conference’. meeting.
Y: oh no! >_<’
Me: mmhm, meeting. well, meeting with business people.
Y: oh no, I give wrong answer! @_@
Me: hehe, oops. that’s ok.
Y: oh, noooo, wrong answer! So difficult!
Me: heh, yep, your listening tests are difficult.
Y: so much English!
Me: well, yea, English class, remember?
Y: oh no, but I am Korean.
Me: haha yes, I see that-
Y: I’m not English native! +_+
Me: But you are English *student*
Y: I am Korean native!! XD
Me: haha
Y: sooo muuuch Englishhhhh…
Me: see you tomorrow

Typhoon Days

Where I live there’s really not enough ‘winter’ to have enough snow to have a Snow Day. That is, there’s no snow. As a consolation prize, Korea gets typhoons once in awhile. Which sounds all fancy from an American perspective, but really it’s just ‘Tropical Storm’, maybe with a bit of extra kick.

A few weeks ago there was this big hype about a typhoon hitting Korea. The problem was, there was a big hype in my province, when the typhoon was only due to hit Jeju Island and the west coast. Afterwards, everyone here (ie my province) was all, ‘oh haha silly people, we only got 5 minutes of drizzle! “typhoon”- HA!’ What a lot of people were forgetting though is that, the areas where it was due to hit, were, well, hit. And hit pretty badly. Jeju got slammed, and the west coast didn’t fare so well either.

But now we have another typhoon. This one, though, has been scheduled to come straight through Kland, and where I am has been expected to get hit. Now, normally, in sane countries, things like classes are cancelled due to extreme and potentially hazardous weather. This is such in Korea. However. While the students have been instructed to remain at home, because it is too dangerous to come in, all the teachers are still expected to come in. Why? ‘To protect the school’ of course! This is all what I heard tell of the last time around anyway.

This typhoon, this morning, I woke to crazy wind outside, but not a lot of rain. I also woke late, since said crazy wind had knocked out the power at some point and my alarm hadn’t gone off. A bit frantic, I threw my things together (which was much more of an ordeal than it is normally, due to a very busy weekend and a very wet frisbee match) and marched off to the bus stop. Very quickly, I notice  that NONE of my students haven gotten on the bus at their normal stops. After half an hour (halfway along the route), I text my co-teacher, “good morning! none of the students are on the bus; is school cancelled because of the typhoon?” In reply, she called me to say “Yes, classes are cancelled and no students will come. See you at school!”

What? I know I heard stories the last time of NETs being told to still come in to work, but… darn, I figured those were the worse end of things. But no, according to the vortex of insanity that passes for logic here (right right, it’s just a ‘cultural difference’), I was expected to take an hour’s bus ride over an open highway because ‘it’s teacher responsibility to come in on work days.’ But hey, at least I’m allowed to leave early? Like 12:00 early, that’s fair, right? A good compromise? Only one problem- noon is when my area was supposed to get really hit. Between noon and 3PM- that was supposed to be the worst. So they want me to start my hour’s journey home right when the wind is really picking up?

facepalm.

In the end I made puppy eyes at my co-teacher, who called the Principal and I was allowed to leave around 11:30 or so. My co-teacher even drove me to the bus stop, so I wouldn’t have to walk there. I texted her when I got safely to Pohang (per her request) and she informed me that the big P expected the rest of the teachers to remain at work until 4PM. Meanwhile, the streets of Pohang proper were, for all practical purposes, flooding, with traffic lights going out like they were on sale.

The next day…
The streets are harboring surprisingly little water, but traffic lights are still out all over the place. So far the only real damage I’ve seen (besides small branches and signs getting knocked down) has been a pair of doors at our main HomePlus ripped off or, well, I don’t know how they were separated from their frames, but the doors were NOT where they were meant to be. My apartment building’s stairwell is totally flooded, which makes walking up and down the smooth stone steps an adventure in itself. I only lost power once, and remembered to close my windows all the way, so I fared pretty well.

To all those of you who didn’t get slammed with this typhoon either, please remember, just because YOU didn’t get hit doesn’t mean the storm was exaggerated. As far as I know this typhoon didn’t earn itself a death toll like the last one (and I sincerely hope that’s the truth, although more likely I’m just uninformed), but there was enough damage to declare it a proper storm.

The Magic of Mosquito Netting

Last November I wrote a post about the 3 types of mosquitoes in Korea. I mentioned I was considering buying mosquito netting the next time summer/spring rolled around. Well, as fate would have it, when I moved apartments in the spring, I had quite a few things I need to purchase. I’d seen one mosquito so I figured, why not, get the darn netting, it’ll be well worth it after that TORTURE that was last summer/fall/early winter.

The first week I had the netting, I saw three mosquitoes. Two on the third night- one on the wall, and I laughed. Oh I laughed: ‘haha you stupid piece of insect crap, you can’t get me in here anymore!!’ But I said there were two mosquitoes. Yep, the second was inside the netting. Wow, 1 for 2 there, netting. That’s a fail in my book. A couple days later there was on in my living room, and I was just ‘well… I suppose I can’t expect the netting to protect the living room as well, but darn that’s annoying!’

But since then- all through summer- nothing. No buzzing, humming, whrzzing, or mosquito insanity. I thought maybe there simply weren’t any mosquitoes in the area, or at least that they weren’t getting into my new flat. Was even a bit annoyed with having purchased the netting.

Last week, the cooler weather started noticeably settling in, so that weekend I thought, hey, I’m sick of this stuff getting caught on the suitcase at the foot of my bed, I’m taking it down. Saturday evening, what do I see on the wall as I’m getting ready for bed? mozzie. Flipping, stupid, blasted, @!*(#* mozzie. Netting came straight back out and I cursed Murphey for his law but thanked my lucky stars that I spotted it before sleepy time. Also, I killed it.

Two nights ago was really cold here, having just come from summer. I figured for sure that singled the end of the mosquito season. (How could I have forgotten the nightmare had lasted well into the ends of November??) So I got home, finished up some laundry from the weekend, took down the netting again, made dinner, did my dishes, and went to bed.

Agh… why does my waist suddenly itch? grrr annoying… just wanna slee- OUCH! WTH? was that… no way. No. It’s been so long. It’s so COLD now! (a stunning 20C/68F degrees at night) No, there’s no way… *fumbles for book light* ugh that’s freaking bright, ok, focus eyes… stop being blurry… ok, check the wall near my head, you still know the drill, that’s where they’ll be first… what the… no… NOOOOOO WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY BEDROOM AGAIN?!???!?!?!?

*slam* ew… white wallpaper, not good for mosquito-infested areas. geez korea, good thinking there, no sarcasm… *grumble grumble* ach cold water, come on… ok, no more mozzie goo on me, grffff, ugh, back to bed, o- WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alright, semi-inner monologue retelling complete. But that’s how my night went.  After I chased the second one around a bit (I think I killed it, but I never found the body, so who knows?) I put the netting up and went back to sleep. I’ve now sworn not to take down my mosquito netting until I see frost on the ground. Or perhaps just until I pack up to leave Korea for good. Please note that last night, I spotted NO mosquitoes at all. I don’t expect to see any this night either (edit: I didn’t). I haven’t even seen many outside in the evenings, so long as the netting is up. I’m pretty sure it’s some kind of magical netting of mozzie defense. You know, a +5 Repel netting. They simply don’t exist when it’s hung up, or at least don’t exist near my apartment.

That, of course, or I just don’t notice them because, hey, the netting keeps them out. But I like to think of it as magic.