"That dog was delicious!"

My official Alien card

Celebrating New Years eve with "Ryan teacher" and Jiho

Lee, myself and Jiho at a bar on New Years (my first two Korean friends)... Jiho is joining the army next week as it is mandatory for all men aged 20 to join for a minimum of 2 years.

So this is my first official entry of 2010 which means it would only be proper to begin with a Happy New year!! I don't know about you but I decided to opt out of making any new years resolutions this year, mainly because I always seem to disappoint myself. I figured this year, being in a new environment with new people and new surroundings, I just need to have an open mind and not take anything too seriously. Just enjoying life right now.. or at least trying too.. but this snowfall we got last night is starting to feel like I'm back home in the cold and I DO NOT like it one bit! I remember a couple months ago before I really knew anything about Korea, I thought it was a tropical place with an all around warm climate.. and when I "googled" images I saw people skiing and was in absolute shock! It's still not as bad as home.. but I am not very happy about it. Apparently Seoul got the most snow its had in 70 years!!! Since Gwangju is more South, we just got the tail end of the storm but just to put things into perspective for you the "snowstorm" in Seoul would not even come close to a school at home closing its doors for the day! Our principal actually let us leave an hour earlier yesterday because he heard the snow storm was coming and (like I said before) Korean driver are EXTRA cautious on the roads, he knew it would be a while for those teachers driving home.

It's pretty amusing to me how Koreans deal with winter here. I guess, like everything else, they have their own ways of going about things, such as sitting on the floor of restaurants to eat your meal or eating literally everything with chopsticks, but their winter coping methods are somewhat unique. When it snows, almost every person walking outside is holding an umbrella! Not only that, but I have seen people wearing ski goggles too! On my break yesterday I wanted to leave the building and grab some sushi at the 7/11, so my Korean co teacher told me to take her umbrella. Without even thinking, I just assumed it was raining outside and when I realized that it was BARELY even snowing I felt REALLY STUPID holding an umbrella to guard me from.... little white snowflakes!? I started to second guess myself and thought that maybe people at home do use umbrellas when it snows?! Do they??? I think I'm losing it...

Another comical image I witnessed was a man "shoveling" his driveway...with a broom!! You know those old school wooden brooms that would fit perfectly with a child's Halloween witch costume? Well it was one of those... and it was quite a funny sight to see! I wish I had my camera on me for that one!

Okay, so you are probably curious about the title of my blog. Let's just get one thing straight... I DID NOT eat dog! haha. Basically, I was teaching my grade 3 class today and the story was about owning pets. Like usual, I asked them each to make a sentence with a different animal I had chosen. When I asked one student to make a sentence with the word "dog" for example, "that dog is cute", he sat there for a moment and responded with, "that dog was delicious"! Now back at home, that would probably be a funny (or sick) joke... however there was not one laugh in the class and I knew he was being serious. I mean, grammatically yes, that is a proper sentence.. but morally that is just WRONG. I was pretty disturbed after that one..

Another story I did with them had to do with multiculturalism and how everyone is a unique individual. I had to come up with an activity for this story and asked the class to partner up, and write down 3 differences between one another. Okay, I will admit, that might not have been the best activity to do with all Korean children considering how homogeneous this country is, but I thought asking for 3 differences was cutting them some slack. After about 2 minutes of complete silence, a student raised his hand and said, "Teacha teacha, we all look the same!!?!" haha! I laughed so hard I couldn't contain myself. The activity quickly turned into the students each finding 3 differences between them and I!

Something I learned from my students is that rings (you wear on your fingers) are a very rare commodity here. They just don't sell them... other than wedding rings of course. So those of you who know me well, know that I always have 3 rings on my fingers (my initial ring and 2 of Joannes). Almost every one of my classes I get a student who asks me if I am married! I just thought they asked me that because.. well why not?! Remember, they also asked how much I weigh and why my hair is strange.. so asking me if I was married was an upgrade. Today, when I was speaking to my Korean co teacher, she also made a comment about my rings and then informed me that in Korea, the only ring a woman should wear (and does only wear) is her wedding ring. I thought that was kind of interesting.

Another interesting/frightening part of my day was watching one of my students get punished by a Korean teacher. He was being so disruptive in class so I sent him outside and made him stand facing the corner. The students really do not like being sent out of the classroom because if a Korean teacher happens to be walking by and notices them in the hall, they get in big trouble (typically resulting in discomfort for the child). Since the students learned fast that the foreign teachers would never lay a hand on them, the Korean teachers tend to take charge of the harsher punishments. Anyways, as you probably already guessed, a Korean teacher saw the boy standing in the hall and from the classroom, I watched the teacher pinch the students ear and twist it.. holding it low to the ground for a good 2 minutes. Ouch! I still find it so surprising by the way in which students in Korea are reprimanded for their actions. It's something I do not think I will ever get used to.

On a brighter note, I am now an official member of Korean society! I have an Alien card (similar to a drivers license or piece of photo i.d) and a Korean bank account! Everyday I feel more and more at home here and I still look forward for what's to come!

P.s- Got another new student... he's in grade 1 and barely understands a word of English! He is also extremely hyper and tends to jump up every time he wants to say something. I find myself yelling "SIT!" or "BE QUIET" way too often!! Decided it would be most appropriate to name him after my dog Tai.

Write more soon.

Signing off,

Gillian