October 31, 2014

So this week was sooooo much better than last. 

Church was fun. A lot of members were missing so it was half foreigners (me and the missionaries) and half Koreans. The bishop told everyone he wished he spoke more English so he could just do sacrament meeting in English. Our relief society President is really determined to learn more English so she can talk to me more. She's really sweet, she's started bringing printouts of her lessons in English just for me and even highlights the sections we'll be going over. I was really touched that she went through that much effort for me. The Young Womens leader has decided she really likes me because I ate two helpings of the soup she made for the ward. I hadn't realized she was watching me the whole time I was eating to see if I liked it :/ 

My Korean class was also missing a lot of people. There were only two of us but it meant more one on one with the teacher so we got a lot of extra vocabulary and she was able to challenge us more. She seemed really surprised when we asked for more homework. I've become a pretty fast reader but my pronunciation is terrible. She was trying to teach me to say "That phone is cool" and it kept coming out "That phone is tasty". Korean is hard. I can empathize with my kids now.

A lot of my classes were cancelled this week because of field trips and school festivals so it was kind of nice. The special ed teacher, Ms. Hwang, who is about my age shanghai'd me on Wednesday since we both had our classes cancelled. I spent most of the morning hanging out in her classroom and drinking herbal tea. She speaks a little English so we communicate in a lot of Konglish and gestures but our conversations are always fun and animated. We played with a little globe on her desk and I told her all about America. She had it in her head that America is full of people slinging guns, wild bears, and explosions (guns are basically nonexistent in Korea). She also thought that Native Americans walk around wearing headdresses all the time and living in caves in the Grand Canyon. She said she wants to go to America someday but she thinks it's very dangerous there. Compared to Korea, she's probably right :/ I don't even feel the need to lock up my bike here. She told me to come hang out in her room anytime I'm bored, which does happen a lot so I probably will. She has two students who come to my class for English and I really like them both. One boy is autistic and is my highest student in the 6th grade class and the little girl is in 3rd grade and doesn't talk at all. She just draws circles in her textbook and pretends to follow along, she's really cute. She likes to sit next to me at lunch and is probably the happiest child I've ever seen. Anyway, I was glad Ms. Hwang wants to be friends because lately I've felt a little alienated from the other teachers. Mostly because none of them really speak 
English but I also haven't really felt involved in things at all. I know they avoid me because we can't communicate but it still makes me a little insecure. So it was perfect timing when Ms. Hwang dragged me off to her classroom. Now I have at least one ally. 

Yesterday, my Thursday school had their school festival. It was hard to teach classes with all the buzz going around about the event. The kids had been preparing for weeks, maybe months. They prepared special talents, class dances, and skits to perform for their parents and family. And the costumes were adorable. I decided to bring some fun games so that English wasn't too much of a drag in the midst of all the hype. The kids got a real kick out of throwing things at me for the basketball game. I jokingly told a kid that if he hit me in the face, I would subtract points from his team so the other team started chanting "hit her face" over and over. That was unnerving. The deaf boy in my 5th grade class took it upon himself to make sure I had my hands and feet in the right position to be the basketball hoop. He would run over and re-position my arms after every round to make sure I wasn't cheating.   

The festival was really fun. I'd seen bits of the kids practice sessions so it was amazing to see it all coming together. The kids were crazy talented. 3rd grade played ocarinas, 2nd grade played a song with bells, and several other grades played traditional drums and did dances. The kindergartners and 1st graders just about killed me with their dances. The kindergarten costumes made them look like little colorful marshmallows and they stood up there wiggling their bums and throwing their hands in the air. Then the 1st graders came up wearing traditional hanboks with super rosie cheeks and did a funny little dance where they pretended to be a married couple (from what I gathered). They would dance around each other and then pretend to fight. At one point the girls sat on the ground and the boys started dragging them across the stage while they flailed around and kicked their legs. No idea what that dance was all about but it was hysterical. The 6th grade boy who gets bullied got up at one point and sang "Let it Be" by the Beatles.  His bullies joined him for the chorus. At least they can pretend to get along for that. An hour or so before, I'd caught them trying to block him from using the stairs :/ Poor kid. But he gave a great performance and even did a skit with his class - he's a good little actor and had a very dramatic death scene. The deaf student did a magic show and actually had some pretty impressive tricks, complete with a pyrotechnics display at the end. I was impressed. I think the parents sitting by me were a little annoyed at my enthusiasm through all the performances. Gettin' real tired of sticking out like a sore thumb :/

Anyway, it's Halloween today here so I wore my little witches hat to school and did a little Halloween party for my afterschool class. I let the kids draw Jack O' Lantern and Ghost faces on orange and white balloons while I taught them Halloween words. We watched bits of Nightmare Before Christmas. And I gave them candy for holding up vocabulary words when they saw them in the clip. The end of "This is Halloween" ended up being a torrent of the kids yelling "zombiewitchskeletonfirejacko'lanternclownvampire!" It was pretty funny. Then we played a "Trick or Treat" game where the kids had to guess who had the candy. They were pretty sugar-high by the end of class. I hope their parents don't mind :/ I'd been explaining Halloween to my 6th graders earlier today and they were really curious about how much money we spend on costumes and candy. They asked if we usually go to school and I tried to explain the Halloween parade. Trying to explain Halloween traditions to Korean kids made me realize we have some pretty odd practices.... When they asked me how much candy we eat on Halloween, I kind of laughed and said "Sometimes a whole bag" and I'm pretty sure Mr. Song told them "That's why Americans are so fat" in Korean. He kept saying "Satan" while he was talking to them about Halloween and at first I thought he was telling them we worship the devil on Halloween but then I realized that's their word for candy. I should not jump to conclusions. Anyway, the kids have really liked the Halloween theme - except for poor Seungri who keeps hiding under her desk. She's my sassy little 3rd grader who reminds me of Hazel.  

I found out today that my 6th graders are huge fans of Pentatonix so we watched a bunch of their music videos during break. Out of nowhere one of my little girls pointed to one of the guys in the video (the one with the high voice) and asked "He is gay?" I was a little startled and told her yes, two of them are I think. She seemed pretty freaked out by it. I didn't realize kids her age here even knew what gay was. It made me a little uncomfortable to talk about. I know my friend, Travis, doesn't even mention being gay to his colleagues or students here because it's so taboo. Then she pointed out the black guy and said he looked scary. Ah man, I have a lot to go over with these kids. They love making fun of black people - I think because they never see any. Makes me wonder how some of my friends from orientation are doing and if they get weird comments from their kids about their appearance :/ 

I'm going to Seoul for the first time tomorrow! I'm really excited :) November is National Novel Writing Month so I'm going to take a crack at writing again. We're meeting up with some other foreigners for a write-in and then we're going to Dinner and a Musical. Should be fun and I'm excited to finally see some of Seoul. We'll be in Itaewon, which is the foreigners hub of Seoul - lots of expats live there. 

Anyway, that's what I've been up to. It's been a good week. Even my 1-2 grade class wasn't too bad. Some kind of meeting with the parents was going on in the English room so I had to use the Science room and it's a way better setup than my room. Plus there were enough seats if two of the kids sat at my desk. I made little personal white boards out of paper and transparent sleeves and had the kids "Draw me 'A'" or "Draw a cat" for points. They loved getting to draw, that's all they ever want to do. I also started the class by asking them to look at me and anyone who did got a sticker. That got their attention real fast. I'm hoping something like that will work next time. I think the after-school coordinator is working on the desk situation in the English room. But in the meantime, the school has lent me some extra folding chairs. 

What's everyone up to for Halloween? Are you wearing costumes to school and such? I wanna see pictures if you do!

-Whit

 

Oh I forgot to mention about cute little seungri. At the end of the halloween lesson I told the kids they could each take 3 pieces of candy from a bucket. She grabbed her 3 and then handed me one and insisted I take it because I didnt get any during the games. Man, I love these sweet kids!