So I know it has been a little while since my last entry but to be honest, I've settled into such a routine here that not much has changed. Last week we had an (extra) long weekend- Monday AND Tuesday off, so the last 3 days of work were pretty uneventful. I have now officially remembered all of my students names (it took longer than expected) but living in a homogeneous society, it's not like I can differentiate between hair color, eye color or even skin tone!! Plus the first month of working, all my students were wearing those SARS masks so literally all I could see were straight black bangs, and their eyes. haha.. that made things MUCH more difficult! Especially since my little ones haven't gone through puberty yet, I even had trouble deciding which student was male or female! Anyways, that time has come and gone and now I'll only have a slip up once in a while... between names that is!
All my students still can't fathom the idea that I was actually born with naturally curly hair! You should see their faces when I tell them I DO NOT HAVE A PERM! Not only that, but when I tell them my hair is naturally brown (not black like theirs) they can't believe I didn't dye it. You should see the look they give my co worker Leigh (who has blond hair). She has had students ask her to rip out pieces of her hair so they can go home with "gold". It's quite hilarious actually. My grade 6 students asked me if they could touch my hair to see what "real" curly hair feels like and they patted my head as if I were a small, delicate puppy!
On another note, I recently found out something that when thinking back, makes A LOT of sense. When I first arrived to teach at my school, I thought "Gillian" might be too difficult for my students to pronounce so I wrote "Gill" on the board instead. 9 out of 10 times I did this, my classes would crack up, and I figured it was because they had never heard that name before. Well I was badly mistaken. I was just told that in Korean "Gill" (pronounced "Geel") means "female genitals"- to put it politely. So I am basically calling myself...well... you get the point!
Today I had the most terrifying class experience EVER!! If you know me at all, you would know that I am deathly afraid of bugs, more specifically spiders or cockroaches! eeeeeeek! Well, as I was in the middle of teaching my grade 3 class, I looked down by my feet and noticed a HUUUUUGE disgusting half cockroach, half tarantula, half DRAGON looking bug! I was absolutely HORRIFIED as I watched all its 6 legs crawl quickly across the floor, under the desks and over my students shoes. I immediately gasped and ran to the back of the classroom! I didn't know what to do?! I knew that if I told my students there was a huge bug crawling around the classroom they would start jumping and screaming and I really didn't need the headache! I also wasn't about to kill it either- not for humanitarian reasons or anything, there was just no way in hell I was coming in contact with that dragon looking thing! My students were silent and looked at me like I was crazy! "Teacha, why are you running around classroom?" They all just sat there staring at me, waiting for some sort of justification for my ridiculous and random outburst... but I couldn't tell them the truth, in fear of creating chaos. So I thought fast and told them that we are going to play a game which I had to somehow develop around me standing on a chair in the back of the classroom! One thing I learned about myself being here is that I am a fast thinker... when I need to be. I told the students to collectively think of a word and they had to try and get me to say the word by using similar words (ie: if the word they were trying to get me to say was "King", they could say words like, "Palace", "Queen", "Crown", etc). Only when I figured out which word they originally chose, then I was allowed to come off of the chair. It worked perfectly. Muahaha! The bell rang and I was a goner!
Anyways, I know in some past entries I have innocently joked about the fact that dog is considered a delicacy here, ("That dog was delicious")... but just in the past week I have had 3 close calls to actually eating it myself!! There are many restaurants in the area where I live and I've only been going to the same 2! Ryan (my co worker) and I thought we should be adventurous and try something different just for the heck of it. Well that was quickly shot down when we walked into 3 different restaurants with no pictures on the menu. It would be like pointing to gibberish on a piece of paper saying, "I want THAT". So the forth restaurant we checked out did have pictures on the menu... it was brown meat that looked like beef or pork. I was a little more hesitant than Ryan, but rightly so, since the waitress came up to us with a smile saying "Not many foreigners enjoy dog". My stomach literally turned and I was out of there faster than you can say DOG! The next 2 restaurants were the same situation, however we asked the the waiters before hand what kind of meat they served. When we finally arrived at the last restaurant the woman behind the counter told us they serve Duck and Ryan was ecstatic about that. I was too, however, I kept thinking, what if she actually said "dog" and we just heard wrong. I was really uneasy about it... but nonetheless, had a delicious Korean meal.... duck or dog, it went down well!
Well I really don't have much more to blog on about. I leave for Vietnam in 3 days and can't wait to get there already! I'm really happy about bringing summer clothes and lying on a beach! The weather here though has warmed up quite a bit as jackets are no longer needed. Tonight actually felt like a cool Florida evening! When I get back from my trip I am going to start visiting a Korean Orphanage downtown that I have heard is in need of English speaking volunteers. A friend of mine went down there last weekend and had a great time interacting with the children, playing games and reading them books. I'm going to try and go once or twice a month... I mean it's something different to do on the weekends other than drinking! I'll also feel like I'm doing something valuable and productive with my time.
That's all for now. I'm sure I will have many more stories from Vietnam upon my return.
Miss you all!
Signing off,
Gillian xx
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
What Would Jesus Do?
The end of the week is quickly approaching and I am looking soo forward to just relaxing in my apartment not having to be around children!! For some strange reason, almost all my classes decided to be super annoying this week and act like little brats! "Hi kids, how are you today?" "Good until I saw you!"... seriously? The thing is, they wouldn't dare speak like that to a Korean teacher! I'm thinking maybe I should start carrying a stick around in my pocket (just for the effect of course) and see what happens...
Actually, today I witnessed a whole other form of discipline that I never thought existed. So far I have seen pinching of the ear and between the eyes, pulling of the hair and slapping on the wrists and behind the calves... but today i literally witnessed a Korean teacher try and BITE a students fist. The student was laughing though, so I don't think she was in any pain, but it was the most bizarre thing i have seen yet!
This weekend is the Chinese new year so our school has given us Monday and Tuesday off!! I feel like I should take advantage of having this (extra) long weekend, but I leave for Vietnam in 3 weeks, so I really want to save my money. My friend Laura and I are thinking of going Skiing Sunday to Monday (if there is enough snow that is... the weather has been so mild and beautiful the past 2 weeks). If not, then our other option is going to the bus terminal Sunday night and getting on the first bus going...WHEREVER?! It's always fun to go on a trip, and not having any plans makes it that much more exciting!
This past Tuesday our Principal/Director of my school decided to take the foreign teachers out for lunch. Apparently this is the first time he has done anything like this! He picked us all up from our apartments and took us to a delicious all you can eat Korean/Japanese restaurant called Alaska. Never really thought I would be the only Caucasian person in Alaska......... haha.
The lunch was great and I was stuffed!! My boss kept encouraging us to eat as he (more than once) noted that the restaurant was very expensive. After lunch Mr. Ryu invited us to his HOUSE for dinner this Saturday night. It was an extremely nice gesture and I am definitely considering it! That should be interesting... I'll let you know how it goes!
Speaking of good food, last night I went to a seafood restaurant (in a tent) but you really can't judge a book by its cover. All you can eat FRESH oysters for 6,000 won!!! Now when I say "fresh" I literally mean... the restaurant owner removed these huge oyster shells from a tank, put them on a plate and we grilled them on the table ourselves. Each of us were given a thick white glove to wear (so when you remove the oyster from the burner you don't burn yourself), and waited until the oyster shells popped open-- that's how you know they're ready to be devoured! The only thing that creeped me out a little were all the little sea creatures attached to the outside of the shells... we pretty much had every character from the little mermaid being grilled along with our oysters. I might have also eaten a worm or 2 AND the bathrooms of this restaurant are outhouses, but hey, you are eating shell fish in a tent, what can you really expect? I would recommend it to anyone!!
While we are still on the topic of food, I should tell you that I tried to explain to one of my classes today what a bagel is. They do have bagels in Korea, they just do them very wrong. I ordered a bagel and cream cheese the other day and was given a bagel cut into 4 pieces with a side of cream cheese and no utensil to spread it. I guess they use cream cheese here like a dip? Still not sure how I was supposed to eat it, and I have never seen a Korean eat a bagel so I had nothing to base it on. Anyways, my kids did not understand what a bagel was for the life of me! I even tried to draw it on the board but all I got was "Teacha buy us donuts"!
I had another class today that I was teaching about different towers around the world. Naturally, I began explaining my history at the CN Tower and they were dying to see a picture of it. Each classroom I teach in has a huge flat screen monitor attached to a computer, so we can go on Google and YouTube if we want to further a discussion, etc. Anyways, I went on google and typed in "CN Tower" images, only to reveal a picture of a blond woman with HUGE breasts! Obviously my grade 6 students started laughing and one of them yells out "Gillian teachas sista"! haha... yeah right. Whenever they see a picture of a Caucasian person (no matter the breast size) I am apparently related to them. Moral of the story...stay away from google when around small children.
My last classroom experience this week still makes me laugh just thinking about it. I guess it would have more of an effect if you were in the class and could hear these children speak, but nevertheless, I was teaching them about different animals in the Zoo and asked them what they thought about Zoo's or if they have ever been to one before. Now for some reason, Koreans have a very hard time pronouncing the letters "R" and "Z". "R" usually ends up sounding like an "L" and a "Z" ends up sounding almost exactly like a "J". So... this is what I was hearing all class:
"I hate Joos". "Joos smell bad". "I want to see a Joo". "Joo's are mean to animals". "I never want to see a Joo". "Lots of Joos have smelly animals, I don't like Joos". "I am allergic to Joos".....lol.. I'm sure you could only imagine my facial reactions in class. Cracked me up a couple times.
Anyways, I felt reallllly stupid this week because I just found out (2.5 months in) that I have my own personal mailbox. I know you might think that is common sense, but firstly, I never noticed a mailbox around my apartment complex and secondly, when I asked my Korean co worker where I should have my family send mail/packages, she gave me the address to the school. So I never really thought about it?! Well for the past 2 weeks I have had someone knock on my door at exactly 8am every morning without fail! Assuming that it was the Mormons trying to convert me (I will get more into this later), I simply ignored the invitation and fell back asleep. I have heard that the Mormons here who hope to convert you are pretty aggressive, but I did think it was a little strange how insistent they were, knocking on my door every single morning. When I asked my co worker (who lives in the same apartment complex as me) if he was receiving consistent thumps on his door as well, he shook his head and laughed at me. I told him my theory about the persistent Mormons, and he didn't dismiss it either. It was then, that Ryan pointed out all the junk mail he has received from religious groups in his "mailbox" and needs to go through it all to make sure there are no unpaid bills. So apparently the "Mormons" were really my bill collectors and my utilities bill is waaayyyy overdue. Shit.
Now I don't mean to generalize, but thus far, I have observed 3 types of people in Korea...
1. Koreans who stay true to their Korean culture and speak absolutely not a word of English,
2. Koreans who see foreigners on the street and try hard to use their minimal English skills to try and get a free English lesson out of us, and
3. Koreans who fearlessly approach us foreigners speaking close to perfect English. These are the ones we are told to be wary of as they are 94% of the time striking a conversation only to hook you in unknowingly, turning it into a speech about whether or not you will be fortunate enough to pass through the white gates of heaven and be with Jesus.
Personally, I wouldn't even bother getting into the whole Jewish thing, so I politely smile and say "Bonjour"--French REALLY throws them off! Haha..
Well before I finish this entry, I thought I would leave you with a picture contrast of my first few hours in my new home, to what it has become.
Just settling in...arrived 5 hours earlier
Picture taken Feb. 11th 2010
Side note: the 3 piece leather chair/sofa you see was picked up in a garbage dump down the street from my apartment! I thought it was a pretty good steal...!
Well that's the update for this week! Miss you all and will be updating you again soon!
Actually, today I witnessed a whole other form of discipline that I never thought existed. So far I have seen pinching of the ear and between the eyes, pulling of the hair and slapping on the wrists and behind the calves... but today i literally witnessed a Korean teacher try and BITE a students fist. The student was laughing though, so I don't think she was in any pain, but it was the most bizarre thing i have seen yet!
This weekend is the Chinese new year so our school has given us Monday and Tuesday off!! I feel like I should take advantage of having this (extra) long weekend, but I leave for Vietnam in 3 weeks, so I really want to save my money. My friend Laura and I are thinking of going Skiing Sunday to Monday (if there is enough snow that is... the weather has been so mild and beautiful the past 2 weeks). If not, then our other option is going to the bus terminal Sunday night and getting on the first bus going...WHEREVER?! It's always fun to go on a trip, and not having any plans makes it that much more exciting!
This past Tuesday our Principal/Director of my school decided to take the foreign teachers out for lunch. Apparently this is the first time he has done anything like this! He picked us all up from our apartments and took us to a delicious all you can eat Korean/Japanese restaurant called Alaska. Never really thought I would be the only Caucasian person in Alaska......... haha.
The lunch was great and I was stuffed!! My boss kept encouraging us to eat as he (more than once) noted that the restaurant was very expensive. After lunch Mr. Ryu invited us to his HOUSE for dinner this Saturday night. It was an extremely nice gesture and I am definitely considering it! That should be interesting... I'll let you know how it goes!
Speaking of good food, last night I went to a seafood restaurant (in a tent) but you really can't judge a book by its cover. All you can eat FRESH oysters for 6,000 won!!! Now when I say "fresh" I literally mean... the restaurant owner removed these huge oyster shells from a tank, put them on a plate and we grilled them on the table ourselves. Each of us were given a thick white glove to wear (so when you remove the oyster from the burner you don't burn yourself), and waited until the oyster shells popped open-- that's how you know they're ready to be devoured! The only thing that creeped me out a little were all the little sea creatures attached to the outside of the shells... we pretty much had every character from the little mermaid being grilled along with our oysters. I might have also eaten a worm or 2 AND the bathrooms of this restaurant are outhouses, but hey, you are eating shell fish in a tent, what can you really expect? I would recommend it to anyone!!
While we are still on the topic of food, I should tell you that I tried to explain to one of my classes today what a bagel is. They do have bagels in Korea, they just do them very wrong. I ordered a bagel and cream cheese the other day and was given a bagel cut into 4 pieces with a side of cream cheese and no utensil to spread it. I guess they use cream cheese here like a dip? Still not sure how I was supposed to eat it, and I have never seen a Korean eat a bagel so I had nothing to base it on. Anyways, my kids did not understand what a bagel was for the life of me! I even tried to draw it on the board but all I got was "Teacha buy us donuts"!
I had another class today that I was teaching about different towers around the world. Naturally, I began explaining my history at the CN Tower and they were dying to see a picture of it. Each classroom I teach in has a huge flat screen monitor attached to a computer, so we can go on Google and YouTube if we want to further a discussion, etc. Anyways, I went on google and typed in "CN Tower" images, only to reveal a picture of a blond woman with HUGE breasts! Obviously my grade 6 students started laughing and one of them yells out "Gillian teachas sista"! haha... yeah right. Whenever they see a picture of a Caucasian person (no matter the breast size) I am apparently related to them. Moral of the story...stay away from google when around small children.
My last classroom experience this week still makes me laugh just thinking about it. I guess it would have more of an effect if you were in the class and could hear these children speak, but nevertheless, I was teaching them about different animals in the Zoo and asked them what they thought about Zoo's or if they have ever been to one before. Now for some reason, Koreans have a very hard time pronouncing the letters "R" and "Z". "R" usually ends up sounding like an "L" and a "Z" ends up sounding almost exactly like a "J". So... this is what I was hearing all class:
"I hate Joos". "Joos smell bad". "I want to see a Joo". "Joo's are mean to animals". "I never want to see a Joo". "Lots of Joos have smelly animals, I don't like Joos". "I am allergic to Joos".....lol.. I'm sure you could only imagine my facial reactions in class. Cracked me up a couple times.
Anyways, I felt reallllly stupid this week because I just found out (2.5 months in) that I have my own personal mailbox. I know you might think that is common sense, but firstly, I never noticed a mailbox around my apartment complex and secondly, when I asked my Korean co worker where I should have my family send mail/packages, she gave me the address to the school. So I never really thought about it?! Well for the past 2 weeks I have had someone knock on my door at exactly 8am every morning without fail! Assuming that it was the Mormons trying to convert me (I will get more into this later), I simply ignored the invitation and fell back asleep. I have heard that the Mormons here who hope to convert you are pretty aggressive, but I did think it was a little strange how insistent they were, knocking on my door every single morning. When I asked my co worker (who lives in the same apartment complex as me) if he was receiving consistent thumps on his door as well, he shook his head and laughed at me. I told him my theory about the persistent Mormons, and he didn't dismiss it either. It was then, that Ryan pointed out all the junk mail he has received from religious groups in his "mailbox" and needs to go through it all to make sure there are no unpaid bills. So apparently the "Mormons" were really my bill collectors and my utilities bill is waaayyyy overdue. Shit.
Now I don't mean to generalize, but thus far, I have observed 3 types of people in Korea...
1. Koreans who stay true to their Korean culture and speak absolutely not a word of English,
2. Koreans who see foreigners on the street and try hard to use their minimal English skills to try and get a free English lesson out of us, and
3. Koreans who fearlessly approach us foreigners speaking close to perfect English. These are the ones we are told to be wary of as they are 94% of the time striking a conversation only to hook you in unknowingly, turning it into a speech about whether or not you will be fortunate enough to pass through the white gates of heaven and be with Jesus.
Personally, I wouldn't even bother getting into the whole Jewish thing, so I politely smile and say "Bonjour"--French REALLY throws them off! Haha..
Well before I finish this entry, I thought I would leave you with a picture contrast of my first few hours in my new home, to what it has become.
Just settling in...arrived 5 hours earlier
Picture taken Feb. 11th 2010
Side note: the 3 piece leather chair/sofa you see was picked up in a garbage dump down the street from my apartment! I thought it was a pretty good steal...!
Well that's the update for this week! Miss you all and will be updating you again soon!
Signing off,
Gillian xxThursday, February 4, 2010
R.I.P Troll
So it's about 3:00am here on Wednesday and I cant sleep so I thought I would update you all with what has been going on the past week or so. Not too much has happened but of course, I have some interesting stories that I know you all will appreciate!
Well I guess I should start with my dear student Troll. Don't you worry, he is still kicking around, however after much thought and deliberation, I have decided to officially change his name. My reasoning being this; let's say one day little Troll decides he wants to leave Korea and go on an extended trip around North America (or pretty much any other English speaking Country). Since he was not born with an English name, he would be travelling around meeting lots of new people and probably have a difficult time introducing himself since other travellers might not be able to understand or even pronounce his Korea name. Then he might think to himself, hmmm.. when I was younger, I had a Canadian teacher who assigned me an English name (which is all he knows) and decide that that would be the name he would use while travelling and perhaps even call his own! Well I couldn't live with the thought of poor little Troll being ridiculed or tormented in the future and decided it would be best to give him an average Joe name. His new name is Joe. lol.
While we are on the topic of 'names' I received a new shipment in (I speak of these children as if they are products..haha) and again, had to quickly come up with new names. Thankfully some of them already had English names which was easy, but one student in particular asked me (no joke) if his new name for the remainder of the year could be "Donkey". Okay, even I thought that was pushing it... I mean.......DONKEY?! SERIOUSLY?! He then proceeded to inform me that Shrek was his favorite movie ever but I still wasn't okay with calling someones home and asking to speak to their child named "Donkey". So that wasn't a go and even though I am now "mean teacha" I know he will thank me in the future!
On another note, my first week back carrying on with my normal afternoon hours has been incredible!! I don't feel bad going to sleep late since I wake up at noon and still have 2 hours to spare! I even had time to go furniture shopping before work yesterday. I didn't buy anything since... well... I couldn't understand A WORD the store clerks were saying to me...so I'm planning to go back next week with a pen and paper in hopes of them physically writing out the prices for me to see. Otherwise it's pretty much a lost cause. My principal made an interesting point today that Korea is very different from any other Asian country (China, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, etc) in that it is the only country where English is not spoken ANYWHERE other than in a private English academy. Once the students are back at home they only speak Korean and the majority of Koreans don't speak ANY English. Even in China you will find that many locals are able to converse with foreigners in English, but it is difficult to find anyone here, other than a foreigner who speaks the language. I guess that makes it a little easier for us native teachers to pick up the language (I can now officially communicate with a cab driver; left, right, straight, stop) but it definatly makes things more challenging.
Speaking of cabs, I have decided (after 2 months of living here) that I am going to steer away from taxis and am going to utilize public transportation. They have a great bus system in Gwangju however since the cabs here are sooo cheap its hard to justify taking a bus. Last Sunday I finally built up enough courage to find a bus stop and mission home from downtown by myself. The Hangul (Korean writing) made it somewhat more difficult to figure out when I needed to get off, but since I live 2 minutes away from the World Cup stadium it was just another landmark to assist me with my departure.
Since then, I have also bussed to another area in Gwangju, not too far from where I live, to meet a friend for Sushi. I was a little hesitant seeing as my last sushi experience here was pretty cheesy (no pun intended)... however this new Japanese restaurant was delicious!! I was VERY impressed and will definatly be back there soon. After that appetizing meal, my friend and I decided to walk around the area and just scope out the scene. This particular neighbourhood wasn't exactly a "classy" one; lots of homeless people and garbage flooding the streets, however I think what really made me realize its tastelessness was accidentally stumbling upon Korea's very own "red light district". The only difference was that the women in the glass windows were all Asian and over the age of 40!
Just as I have mentioned before, Koreans are largely interested in style and ones personal image. For example, my older students (12/13 year olds) who have pimples, will wear small flesh colored band aids over them so they are not exposed. I really wish someone would tell them that it makes them look 1000 times WORSE than it does anything else! I had a student walk into class yesterday covered in these face bandages... it was horrible. Felt kind of bad for the kid. My co worker told me a sad (but hilarious) story the other day of one of his students who wears these "false teeth" over her natural ones because she hasn't gotten braces yet and I guess, feels that her teeth are insufficient to be shown to the public eye. Long story short, the student was running into class late, tripped over the leg of her chair and her false teeth went flying out her mouth, landing on my co teachers SHOE!! Probably beats anyone elses "most embarrassing story". haha. Poor girl...
My last story of the day happened 2 days ago when I was teaching my grade 2's. These students are very young and can BARELY understand a word I say... it gets pretty frustrating but I make due. Anyways, it is mandatory for the students to bring their workbooks to school since we do activities in them every class, so if a student happens to forget his book at home, they are supposed to go to a different classroom and work with a Korean teacher. Well one of my grade 2 students did not have a book so I tried to explain to him that he had to go to the 4th floor and work with his homeroom teacher. I had a slight inkling that he might not have understood my directions when he grabbed his jacket, so again, I told him to leave his jacket here and to find his Korean teacher. Once he left the room, I began my class and about 3o minutes later, my little grade 2 student comes running back in to the classroom with red cheeks, gasping for air and his book in hand. The poor kid had run all the way to his house, picked up his book and ran back to my class (without a jacket)!!!!!!!!! I felt sooo bad. Definitely a miscommunication! OOps.
Alright well I should be heading off to bed now! I am going to bring my camera to school sometime soon and take some pictures of my students so you can put a face to their (ridiculous) names. Troll.. uhhh.. I mean Joe, will be my first target!!
Miss you all,
Write more soon!
Signing off,
Gillian xx
Well I guess I should start with my dear student Troll. Don't you worry, he is still kicking around, however after much thought and deliberation, I have decided to officially change his name. My reasoning being this; let's say one day little Troll decides he wants to leave Korea and go on an extended trip around North America (or pretty much any other English speaking Country). Since he was not born with an English name, he would be travelling around meeting lots of new people and probably have a difficult time introducing himself since other travellers might not be able to understand or even pronounce his Korea name. Then he might think to himself, hmmm.. when I was younger, I had a Canadian teacher who assigned me an English name (which is all he knows) and decide that that would be the name he would use while travelling and perhaps even call his own! Well I couldn't live with the thought of poor little Troll being ridiculed or tormented in the future and decided it would be best to give him an average Joe name. His new name is Joe. lol.
While we are on the topic of 'names' I received a new shipment in (I speak of these children as if they are products..haha) and again, had to quickly come up with new names. Thankfully some of them already had English names which was easy, but one student in particular asked me (no joke) if his new name for the remainder of the year could be "Donkey". Okay, even I thought that was pushing it... I mean.......DONKEY?! SERIOUSLY?! He then proceeded to inform me that Shrek was his favorite movie ever but I still wasn't okay with calling someones home and asking to speak to their child named "Donkey". So that wasn't a go and even though I am now "mean teacha" I know he will thank me in the future!
On another note, my first week back carrying on with my normal afternoon hours has been incredible!! I don't feel bad going to sleep late since I wake up at noon and still have 2 hours to spare! I even had time to go furniture shopping before work yesterday. I didn't buy anything since... well... I couldn't understand A WORD the store clerks were saying to me...so I'm planning to go back next week with a pen and paper in hopes of them physically writing out the prices for me to see. Otherwise it's pretty much a lost cause. My principal made an interesting point today that Korea is very different from any other Asian country (China, Japan, Taiwan, Philippines, etc) in that it is the only country where English is not spoken ANYWHERE other than in a private English academy. Once the students are back at home they only speak Korean and the majority of Koreans don't speak ANY English. Even in China you will find that many locals are able to converse with foreigners in English, but it is difficult to find anyone here, other than a foreigner who speaks the language. I guess that makes it a little easier for us native teachers to pick up the language (I can now officially communicate with a cab driver; left, right, straight, stop) but it definatly makes things more challenging.
Speaking of cabs, I have decided (after 2 months of living here) that I am going to steer away from taxis and am going to utilize public transportation. They have a great bus system in Gwangju however since the cabs here are sooo cheap its hard to justify taking a bus. Last Sunday I finally built up enough courage to find a bus stop and mission home from downtown by myself. The Hangul (Korean writing) made it somewhat more difficult to figure out when I needed to get off, but since I live 2 minutes away from the World Cup stadium it was just another landmark to assist me with my departure.
Since then, I have also bussed to another area in Gwangju, not too far from where I live, to meet a friend for Sushi. I was a little hesitant seeing as my last sushi experience here was pretty cheesy (no pun intended)... however this new Japanese restaurant was delicious!! I was VERY impressed and will definatly be back there soon. After that appetizing meal, my friend and I decided to walk around the area and just scope out the scene. This particular neighbourhood wasn't exactly a "classy" one; lots of homeless people and garbage flooding the streets, however I think what really made me realize its tastelessness was accidentally stumbling upon Korea's very own "red light district". The only difference was that the women in the glass windows were all Asian and over the age of 40!
Just as I have mentioned before, Koreans are largely interested in style and ones personal image. For example, my older students (12/13 year olds) who have pimples, will wear small flesh colored band aids over them so they are not exposed. I really wish someone would tell them that it makes them look 1000 times WORSE than it does anything else! I had a student walk into class yesterday covered in these face bandages... it was horrible. Felt kind of bad for the kid. My co worker told me a sad (but hilarious) story the other day of one of his students who wears these "false teeth" over her natural ones because she hasn't gotten braces yet and I guess, feels that her teeth are insufficient to be shown to the public eye. Long story short, the student was running into class late, tripped over the leg of her chair and her false teeth went flying out her mouth, landing on my co teachers SHOE!! Probably beats anyone elses "most embarrassing story". haha. Poor girl...
My last story of the day happened 2 days ago when I was teaching my grade 2's. These students are very young and can BARELY understand a word I say... it gets pretty frustrating but I make due. Anyways, it is mandatory for the students to bring their workbooks to school since we do activities in them every class, so if a student happens to forget his book at home, they are supposed to go to a different classroom and work with a Korean teacher. Well one of my grade 2 students did not have a book so I tried to explain to him that he had to go to the 4th floor and work with his homeroom teacher. I had a slight inkling that he might not have understood my directions when he grabbed his jacket, so again, I told him to leave his jacket here and to find his Korean teacher. Once he left the room, I began my class and about 3o minutes later, my little grade 2 student comes running back in to the classroom with red cheeks, gasping for air and his book in hand. The poor kid had run all the way to his house, picked up his book and ran back to my class (without a jacket)!!!!!!!!! I felt sooo bad. Definitely a miscommunication! OOps.
Alright well I should be heading off to bed now! I am going to bring my camera to school sometime soon and take some pictures of my students so you can put a face to their (ridiculous) names. Troll.. uhhh.. I mean Joe, will be my first target!!
Miss you all,
Write more soon!
Signing off,
Gillian xx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
