Teaching is going pretty well. Sometimes I panic at the beginning of the week, but then I remember I only I only need to plan for the next day or two and I calm down.
At the middle school, I've been coaching a small group of 3 students for a dialogue contest.
I started Korean classes! ASAH!
I had the day off of school on Thursday, November 12th, because the high school seniors had to take their version of the SATs. According to one of my co-teachers, most the students at Gwangnam (the name of the school) had already taken and passed their test previously. I was a bit confused and tried to clarify this point later, but it didn't really get anywhere. My neighbor (for 2 more days...then she goes home for a month and comes back to Korea to move to Yeosu), Annie, told me that ALL of the students take the test at the same time, but maybe it's twice a year.
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I started typing this entry about 3 weeks ago. Life feels different now. Maybe that's why I should update more often (or at least be more productive in general while I'm not updating....grumble, grumble). Then maybe I'll have accurate clips of my experience to look at later/ to share with people from home. And just seeing one of those mega-entries makes me wanna take a nap...and it's about ME, clearly a favourite subject. Well, it is what it is, eh? ^_^
I do want to finish talking about the dialogue contest, though. The kids were cute and it was fun to spend time with a small group. For three weeks, I spent two hours every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday coaching the kids on how to pronounce "represents the river" (very tricky for Koreans who have trouble with R vs. L, P vs. F, and the short "i" sound) and tried to teach them what the hell they were on about. I was asked to write the script, which had to include so many facts about the town of Naju AND not be boring. Apparently, (I learned after the fact) the kids are supposed to write it. And although it would have been a very laborious task for them, I think it would have been better. They would have made it sillier AND understood what they were saying, which helps a lot. Mrs. Cha is very experienced in these contests, so I'm not sure why she did it that way.
One of my favourite moments of practice was with Hansil, a SUPER cute 14-year-old girl who likes to make monkey noises and is generally excitable. She was feeling frustrated with some of her pronunciation ("religious service," I think) and just put her head on the table and said "Oh, shat" (again, trouble with the short "i" sound). I wanted to hug her, but I think I just went "awwwwww!" Those poor pups, they worked so hard. I found out the day before that I couldn't go see them compete--I had to teach while The Cha took them. AND THEN we all found out Mrs. Cha wanted us to practice ALL DAY. Mrs. Cha went off to teach for the day in her homeroom classroom and let us go. And at several points throughout that VERY long day, one of the four of us would look at the clock and say "ALL. DAY." Beautiful. The the students got 4th place (Mrs. Cha had been rooting for third) and I was very surprised that it was announced by mail days later! Oh, Korea.
Winter's just started and it's pretty cold these days. It's been between 30 and 50 degrees lately (it'll get down to about 10-15 degrees) and the Korean way of temperature control has been quite an adjustment. In my schools, the hallways and cafeteria aren't heated. The classrooms and teachers' offices are. And periodically, in the heated rooms, the Koreans throw open the windows. They like their fresh air and it's so difficult not to yell "what the HELL are you doing?!" Well, I kind of did do that the first time I saw it. I went up to the English classroom after normal classes were over to work with the dialogue students and the windows were all wide open (I think it was about 35 degrees that day, too). I walked in the room and actually let out a yell of surprise (which made the students who were tidying up in there all jump). Then I kind of yelled? "WHY ARE THE WINDOWS OPEN?!" Mrs. Cha just looked at me and said "To circulate the air."
Mrs. Cha recently pointed me toward/explained this hot citric drink that's kept in the office. You mix hot water with this orange jelly stuff called yujacha. Yujacha is made from thinly sliced, bitter oranges (peels included) that are mixed with sugar and honey, then left to sit for a few months. Anywho, it's good, it's a HOT DRINK, and it protects me from getting sick. ASAH.
Random note: I'm listening to music on YouTube while I write, and I found this artist a few months ago named Kate Miller-Heidke. Her vocal style is really neat and I dig her writing. Anywho, I put on this song called "Caught in the Crowd" and it made me tear up. Maybe it's PMS (no, really...I could NOT figure out why I've been so damn hungry this week! I always forget I'm subject to hormones because I'm not very girly. Like "Hey! Have you met me?! I'm not supposed to want chocolate! Look at my new boots...these boots don't want chocolate!")
Anywho, it probably has more to do with missing my siblings and worrying about their transitions in school/life. I'm sad I can't be there for them. I mean, I only went home once a month anyway, but it's different when almost every single person you love is on the other side of the planet*. Noah's jumping around merrily in elementary school for a few more years, but next year, Ally is going to college and Tyler is going to High School. Holy shit. That's certainly not allowed.
* My bff, Lacey, is just a few hours away, thank G-d. And if you haven't seen it, check out her blog. There's a link below my fishies on the right.
And I also worry about being a kind, encouraging teacher....I don't want to accidentally crush some kid's spirit. I mean, I can't go nuts about it or I'll be paralyzed, but it's still there.
And that's why I teared up at work. THE END.
So, I've been feeling a bit rundown at school. But I'm working through it and break is soon. And figuring out the plans for that are a bit stressful, too. I might go to Germany, but I guess my Oma moved recently and my student loans are a bit steeper than I anticipated. We'll see. It'll work out.
So, after classes The Cha sometimes waxes philosophical, vents about life, or tells me stories (and plots of her favourite sitcoms). And recently she told me about how a colleague showed off her $1000 Louis Vutton purse and encouraged her to buy one. And apparently, it's important for her status to do so, although she prefers a different brand. She said that she likes a purse for durability and desgin, but that maybe she'll consider it. And she told a similar story about fur coats. It was interesting to actually hear more about more collectivist elements of Korean society first hand.
I also recently encouraged Mr. Kim, my high school co-teacher, to tell me about old and new Korean beauty ideals (he practices his English with me daily). And we're buying new textbooks tomorrow--Hurrah! Having my own office there is still a wonderful experience. And now a boy named Hansuk is dropping by every day.
Today, during communal teacher snack time (SO CUTE KOREA), we had pork, kimchi, and raw fish. The health teacher explained that the fish was raw, which took a minute to understand (R vs. L) and i said "Oh, sashimi!" She scowled and said "oh, Japanese name" so I asked for the Korean name, which is hway. It's very new to me to see true animosity between nations firsthand, too. Well, I'm sure that some Americans express it about some countries, but it was still new to me.
Oh, I and here's the first K-pop video I've fallen in love with. May there be many more to come.
And here I'll end it, I think. It was my goal to update the ol' blog today and it's about time for bed.
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