Hey, it's been a while!
So things have been really good lately. I think I've really settled into Korean life and teaching. I've stopped relying on downloads from other teachers and started coming up with my own games and activities and the students seem to really like them (especially since they're more personalized now to match the kids' interests).
My Korean's coming along. I'm expert at the alphabet but still really weak on verbal skills. The kids have been helping me with my writing by having me write their names on the board. I always practice speaking with the Ajumas in the shops around my apartment. The shops are always run by really sweet older ladies. One of them will randomly tell me things like "Oh, it's Friday. So discount." when I'm buying something and knock down the price and I'm pretty sure she's lying. I've had more than one Ajuma at a bus stop just randomly give me candy after a brief conversation. It's like positive reinforcement for speaking toddler Korean. I feel like everyone here treats me like a pet. Even the students sometimes.
We had Canadian Thanksgiving a couple weeks ago. Most of the other foreigners around me are Canadian so one of the girls threw a Thanksgiving party at her apartment (I think their thanksgiving is in October). It was pretty interesting having a meal that everyone had thrown together with microwaves and toaster ovens (Real ovens don't really exist in Korea). It came out pretty nice. We had mashed sweet potatoes, chicken, stuffing, and apple pie - I don't know how she pulled off the apple pie in a toaster oven but it was pretty good.
The after-school coordinator at Cheonjeon has become a pretty good friend. She's been giving me rides home the past few months so she can practice her English with me. She's a really sweet lady, she has an 8 year-old daughter and her husband's in the military so she only sees him occasionally on the weekends. I guess he's stationed a bit far away. She seems really lonely being somewhat of a single mom. Anyway, she'd been telling me about a Janggu class she takes (Janggu are the traditional Korean drums). Her daughter tags along to class and she's been taking it for about a year. She came into my office last week - which she does from time to time to chat. She told me that she wouldn't be able to give me a ride on Friday because she had a Janggu performance and then shyly asked me if I'd like to come. I told her I'd love to and she got really excited and drew a map for me with the time and place and told me to invite my friends. I had to awkwardly tell her I don't really have friends to invite - they all work at Hagwons til after 9 or live far away. I was a little hesitant about going since I'd planned to catch a bus to Seoul that night and wasn't sure I'd make it if I sat through the whole concert.
The next day, I came down with the Korean Mega-Cold. It's like a regular cold but I'm pretty sure it's a thousand times worse. Plus, taking sick days is frowned upon so I had to work through it all. By Friday I was still feeling really crappy and was debating cancelling the trip to Seoul and everything else. But I really felt like I should go to Sunyoung's Janggu thing so I dragged myself out of my apartment at 7:00 and caught a cab to the theater. I always have these existential moments where I forget I'm in Korea and am a foreigner until I get stared at. I sometimes see packs of Koreans when I go out and think "Ah, tourists" and then remember that I'M a tourist. When I walked into the theater lobby, it was full of expectant Korean families and older people. All the seats were taken so I was left standing alone in the middle of the room with a bunch of eyes on me. It got real uncomfortable. I saw a few performers come out in their traditional garb to say hello to their friends and family but I didn't see Sunyoung and was getting nervous. Finally, they started letting people in so I started following the crowd when a small hand grabbed my shoulder. I turned around and found Sunyoung wearing glittery makeup and a colorful costume. She looked stunned that I'd actually come and excitedly told me to wait for her after and she'd drive me home.
The performance was unbelievable. I'd expected to see a bunch of beginners awkwardly banging on drums but these people were professionals. Sunyoung's class went first and their song was intense, they played sitting down and chanting from time to time. Afterward, the performances got more and more energetic. Some ajumas came out in their hanboks and sang a sort of wailing old-style song that sounded very sad, they swayed and spun slowly while they sang. A few women came out with janggu drums tied to their hips and danced around while playing - I can't even imagine that level of multi-tasking but they were amazing. Another group of women came out with giant red fans and the lights and fog were setup so that the stage actually looked like the sea at sunset. It illuminated their fans while they danced around a light that was directed at the audience to resemble the sun. One guy came out and did this crazy traditional dance that involved a lot of leaping and kicking while beating on a small drum. He would occasionally make these comedic falls flat on his rear and act like he was out of breath and then get right back into it. The whole thing was like a snapshot of old-time Korea. I found myself clapping and swaying along with the rest of the audience. It was a truly beautiful experience.
I met Sunyoung and her daughter when it was over and we headed for the car. A guy handed each of us a giant lump of rice cake on our way out. I don't usually like the rice cakes people give out since they're usually dense, bland, and full of dried fruit and weird nuts. But this one was plain and really warm. Sunyoung insisted I eat it so I tried it and it was heavenly. It was like chewy cake, kind of fluffy and sweet. She told me it's called "White Snow Cake" and in the old days was fed to infants on their 100th day of life. This was a means of celebrating since many babies would die before their 100th day.
On the way home, Sunyoung admitted that I was the only person she'd told about the performance. I realized then that I hadn't seen any other friends or family there for her and was suddenly really touched that she'd invited me. It seems many of the teachers in Chuncheon are kind of lonely. It's hard to be single in Korea since everything's very group or couple-centered. Sunyoung took me out for dinner tonight with her daughter and we had the most delicious soup. It was kind of creamy with potato dumplings, clams, and veggies. Her daughter is really funny, she kept asking her mom to translate the most random things like "What color is your hair?" "Tell me about Obama" "look at my eyes" and other things. It was sweet, I think we might do it more often.
The relief society president in my ward came to visit last week as well. Luckily, it was the one day when my apartment was clean. She came with the sister missionaries, Sister McClusky and Sister Seo. I was a little embarrassed because my apartment's so small so there weren't a lot of places to sit. I had a big bag of oranges that a teacher had given me so I basically force-fed the three of them. I guess the RS president and 1st councilor's wife are my visiting teachers but Sister Kim couldn't make it so she brought the Sisters instead. I don't know how visiting teaching works with only 5 or so adult women in the ward. She was very sweet though and complimented my tidiness. Visiting teaching's going to be interesting with the language gap. I found out at church the other day that Sister Seo might be getting transferred and I'm really bummed because she's my favorite. She speaks just a little English but she's very funny and animated and always inviting me to things. I've already seen 3 missionaries leave the ward and it's always super sad for me. I don't like change :/ I've never been on the receiving end of missionary work so I've never experienced the attachment you get with missionaries. They've sort of been my English-speaking lifeline. And Sister Seo has been saying she'll teach me how to cook Korean food so she's not allowed to leave. They've taken on an investigator from Africa who speaks French and a little English so they've been teaching her in English and want me to come along. My schedules so packed though I don't know when that will happen but it'll be fun to join them.
Anyway, Seoul was an adventure last weekend. We were supposed to go to Daegu but the girl I went with hadn't really done her research on the buses and subway and I'd assumed she knew what she was doing since she's been here a while. So things fell apart fast and we ended up stranded in Seoul. The girl, Sarah, is nice but she doesn't seem to have a head on her shoulders. We ended up taking a cab to get to a hostel at 1 or 2 AM but Sarah kept shoving an English map at the taxi driver and confusing him. I tried to find directions in Korean but I guess this hostel had closed down. Sarah started freaking out at the cab driver like it was his fault we were lost and telling him his driving was making her sick (all in English) and the cab driver started pulling out his hair. Then she insisted he take us back to the bus terminal which was far away and would add another 15-20 dollars to our cab fare. The cab driver and I were both confused about why she would want to do that but she was completely hysterical and just kept screaming at him to take us to the bus terminal. I finally spotted a motel down the street and told him to drop us there. Sarah got out of the car and I apologized profusely to the driver. I'm pretty sure we ruined his night. The motel we stayed at ended up being a love motel.... it's where people go to ...um.. have togetherness. Discreetly. Sometimes with really nice ladies. The room smelled like cigarettes. Was overheated. And had really dim awkwardly placed neon lights. It was kind of the worst. But there were free water bottles in the fridge! The love motels always have these weird drapes over their parking lots so people can't see who's parked there. I've nearly been run-over multiple times riding past them on my bike since the cars can't see til they're out of the garage. I did not love the love motel.
Since we were in Seoul, we decided to cruise around. We went to a giant bookstore, strolled through the Kimchi Festival, hung out most of the day at the Palace, and saw the lanterns later that night with some other teachers. It turned out pretty fortuitous and gave me a much better impression of Seoul than our last trip to Ittaewon. The kimchi festival was also combined with a world festival so we went to booths from all over the world. When we got to the South American booths, a Venezuelan guy asked if I spoke Spanish. We had a nice conversation in Spanish and I was surprised how much Spanish I could remember. I'd thought all the Korean classes had beat it out of me. He told me I spoke really well and let me sample some of his homemade sweets. The center of the festival grounds was setup like a classroom with rows of empty desks with little yellow figurines on them. We were confused at first until we saw pictures of the ferry accident from last summer that killed many high school students. Empty desks could be seen throughout the festival, representing the students who never made it back to school. A woman at a booth told us that the families of the victims were all there in the square petitioning the government to investigate the cause of the accident. They've already arrested the ferry captain for not evacuating the students and telling them all to go back to their rooms when the accident occurred but apparently there have been no answers as to what caused the ferry to sink. Sarah and I signed the petition - the woman told us they're collecting signatures from all over the world so they wanted to get more foreigners involved. We ran into another man who was giving out information on the protests in China against their government. It seems there were a lot of causes going on amongst all the festivities.
School's been really great lately, I've really clicked with my students to the point where we can joke around for part of the lesson and then they'll go along with whatever I want them to do. They love bringing up vocabulary that they've learned from TV and sometimes it's funny and other times it's super offensive. I've heard "F**** you" far too often the past few weeks from the most innocent-looking little kids. Mr. Song's 6th graders are probably my favorite. I don't mind the detours in our classes anymore because it gets the kids curious and Mr. Song encourages them to ask whatever random question it is in English so they get practice with new vocabulary. Today was awkward because I put a picture up of a couple and the students suddenly wanted to know all about my love life. They asked if Elementary school students in the states ever date and I told them not really and taught them all about "cooties" it was a very important lesson. Apparently one of the students has a girlfriend so I think he was a little embarrassed. I told him it's cute that he has a girlfriend and told them about my 1st grade boyfriend and how freakin' adorable that was.
I finally implemented stations into my horrible terrible 1-2 grade class. It worked out pretty well. It was still utter chaos and the kids were literally climbing up the walls (the walls are surprisingly easy to climb in the English room) but it was much easier to keep them more or less on task. I'd talked to the Vice Principal about getting help with the class by having another adult present and she offered to come herself, which made me nervous. I did really need help though so I accepted. But I think she forgot because no one showed up :( But the kids seemed to be in a better mood today. They came in way too early as usual but we had fun playing rock, paper, scissors. And then they started playing with these English letter magnets, putting them in random orders and having me read them. They thought it was hilarious and their words were usually something like "kbim" or "atkl" or some other nonsense. Once I got them all listening (so rare, but it happened for a second) I explained the stations, their groups, and how to rotate. I set a timer for ten minutes and herded them off to the stations. It would have been a lot easier if another person were there but somehow I managed. I would jump to Station 1, queue the short video on the TV in the corner, Jump to Station 3, teach them to play duck duck goose, then check on Station 2 to see if they were doing their worksheets. I'd wanted to get the computers on the stage working so they could do some phonics activities but I think Mr. Song forgot to talk to the engineer. I'd texted him during lunch about it and 15 minutes into the lesson, a woman came in telling me she was going to check my computers for viruses. But then she just messed with the computer at my desk. I tried to tell her the computers on the stage weren't working but she insisted it was my desk computer. It was really terrible timing because she kept interrupting me to ask questions or have me type in a password all while I was running back and forth and pulling students down from the tops of cupboards. She didn't even seem to notice that I was a little busy, I was more than a little annoyed. I think she heard me shouting at the kids in Korean and assumed I was fluent so she kept rattling off at me, it was really overwhelming. I got in a funny little shouting match with a student who refused to stay at her station and kept saying "it's not fun!" in Korean while I shouted back "it's so fun!" in Korean. She finally agreed to do her worksheet if I did it with her so that also tied me up. I REALLY need to find another teacher to help me out. The class would be fine if I weren't so outnumbered and stretched thin. And the kids trashed the place as usual so I spent an hour afterward cleaning it up. They know what "clean up" means because I've drilled it into them but they pretend they don't understand and run out of the room as soon as I tell them to clean. Ugggh. But this system is so much better and keeps them moving so I just need to polish the station activities.
Oh and lunch is always wonderful but today they put Sundae (that bloody pig intestine) in the soup and ruined it :( The third grade teacher sat with me and was showing me how to mix the sauce into the soup when I pulled out a chunk of intestine and stared at it. She smiled and said "Sundae!" and I started dry-heaving. She thought it was hysterical. It was the first time I didn't eat my entire lunch, aside from the time a whole crab was floating in my soup and I didn't know how to eat it. Sundae is very very very not good.
Anyway, that's what I've been up to. It's been pretty crazy but I'm definitely adapting. Even my English is adapting. I find myself speaking slow broken English even when I'm around other foreigners, it's really annoying. I'm getting so used to thinking about everything I say and speaking carefully.
So, what is everyone up to at home? Are you guys really doing Chuck-o-rama for Thanksgiving? That sounds so weird.
-Whitney
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