Colder Horizons

November 18, 2009 at 12:29 am (Uncategorized)
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Today, on my walk to work it was 32 degrees, but with the wind chill factor, it was 24. This is warmer than yesterday. Yesterday when I was walking home, my feet were so cold I thought they might freeze to the ground. No bueno. No bueno at all. At this moment I’m wearing nylon stockings, knee high socks, regular socks and shoes and a tank top, two sweaters and when I was outside I had on a winter coat, a scarf and gloves. With these new measures in place, I did not feel as though I was going to die from hypothermia on my way to work.

It’s not just that the walk is cold, but that the school itself is cold. My office is warm, but the windows stay opened in the hallways, or at least they were the last I checked. I asked why and my co-teacher told me “for the fresh air.” I’d rather be warm and stuffy, personally. I had to leave my office for a few minutes in the afternoon on Monday (when I dumbly was just wearing pants and a long sleeved shirt) and I had to run back to my office to grab my coat; it was just too cold.

Fortunately, the heat and hot water in my apartment, and in Korea in general, is amazing. I have heated floors and my apartment stays warm. I don’t have to wait very long for my shower water to get hot, either. I’ve heard that the AC here is equally good during the summer time, I’m excited for this.

I remember when I left Brazil it was technically “winter.” Winter in Florianopolis means that you can’t wear flip flops or go to the beach for a few months and maybe you’ll have to wear a sweater. I tried to explain to the Brazilians that you can’t call it winter until you’re scraping ice and 6 inches of snow off of your car. Here in Korea however, winter is undoubtedly winter.

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String-Free Existence

November 11, 2009 at 10:37 pm (Uncategorized)
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So this week, finally, I’m back to teaching. It had been a week and a half since I had taught the 5th graders and about 2 weeks since I had seen the 6th graders. Many of the students are still wearing SARS masks and yesterday with the 4th graders, I saw several of these masks on the floor. The students will take them off, play with them, drop them on the floor and then forget about them. Once the students remember, they’ll put the mask back on their face. This seems rather counter productive to the purpose of the mask. The day before when I was with the 5th graders, one of my students,who is the poster child for ADHD,took his mask off, wrapped his pen in it and then proceeded to “play” stab another student with it. I felt that I had to remove the mask-clab pen from his hand and the only word that can describe my feelings about holding this germ-infested mask in my hand is “icky.” ADHD kid then proceeded to take the mask and pen back after I put them on the side table and put the mask back on. I really feel that the masks are unnecessary and are probably only helping to spread disease more than preventing disease among the fourth and fifth graders. Also, when I’m teaching English I need the students to speak and it’s hard to hear them, or to tell who’s speaking or who is not, when they’re all wearing those stupid masks.

So far this week my classes have been going really well and I’ve been really enjoying them. While the 6th graders are far less likely to participate and have just entered that “too cool” mode, I think they’re my favorite grade. The behavioral problems that I have with the younger grades, such as fighting in the classroom, running around the classroom, etc, are nonexistant in the 6th grade. I had one 6th grade class today and I’ll have 5 tomorrow.

The hardest part about this grade is working on the lessons. My co-teacher for the 4th & 5th grades, Sophy, has great English and we can communicate really easily and quickly. My co-teacher for the 6th grade does not have good English (this person is an English teacher) and communicating is very difficult. Also, I’ve mimicked my teaching methods after Sophy, and they are very very different from the 6th grade teacher’s. Sophy is younger and uses more interactive methods to teach, making the class slightly more student-centered. The 6th grade teacher’s classes are more teacher-centered; this teacher talks more than the students and the students adopt a more passive role. Also, I feel as though this teacher can be too strict: maintaining order in a classroom is undoubtedly important, but punishing students over something petty or stupid is a waste of everyone’s time and just makes the kids less willing to learn.

Despite this, I feel as though I’m becoming a better teacher and developing my own teaching style. I’m getting more confident and comfortable with the students and with my lessons.

Outside of school things are going well, too. I spent most of last weekend in my own neighborhood for once. On Friday night I was still feeling sick and I met my friend for dinner and went back home around 5. The next night, I met up with a few other girls from my neighborhood for dinner, made a lot of new friends, and then went out for drinks. Or, more correctly, I watched them drink because at that point I was still on medication. That night we made plans to meet up the next day and go shopping in Seoul. We met at 1pm and took the subway into Seoul, to Myeong Dong. There are several Western stores there (Forever 21) and lots of vendors. I picked up some clothing, jackets and a purse. After that, we went to see The Time Traveler’s Wife. I was happy when I heard all three of the girls I went with sobbing towards the end, because my face was pretty tear stained and I would’ve been embarassed if we got out of the movie theaters and I was the only one with red, puffy eyes. It’s a good movie, but they drag out the sad scenes.

Before shopping we got Vietnamese food at a restaurant there and it was absolutely delicious. When I come back to the US it will be weird eating non-Asian food and not having chopsticks readily available. While I couldn’t use chopsticks at all when I got off of the plane a month and a half ago, I’m now pretty awesome at them and prefer to use them. I eat a lot less when I’m using chopsticks and slower. When I get back, I’ll have to get a few pairs and only make chopstick-friendly food.

Today after work I’m meeting my friend Jin for dinner. Afterwards, Casey, my friend in Seoul, is visiting me! She has been in Seoul studying abroad since July and I saw her my second weekend in Korea. She’s always a good time, so I’m excited to see her.

It’s about 11:20 here, and I don’t have any more classes. Yesterday I prepared most of my lessons for next week, so until I find out which 6th grade lesson I have to prepare for, I have nothing I have to do, but I have to stay at my job until 4:40. I don’t have anything I have to (or really can) do. That’s weird. For the past four years I was in college. I usually took challenging courses and I did well in all of them, so I was always working hard. For four years I always had a paper over my head or something I had to get done before the end of the semester. Now, I don’t have anything I have to do after I leave work. I’m working full-time (40 hours a week) but I spent more time every week in classes or doing school work throughout most of college. Comparatively speaking, this is so easy. I’m challenged when I’m in my classes or preparing lessons, but then after I finish that, I have guilt-free free time. It’s very weird and I’m just beginning to comprehend that and enjoy that. And for that reason, I recommend that any of my friends who have their bachelor’s degrees and no strong commitments do what I’m doing for a year. I’m having such a great time and I get to actually fully enjoy it, without being bogged down with a ridiculous amount of work. And the things I do have to do, I can do at a more relaxed pace and the finished product is usually better than it would be if I were overburdened or over-busy. I really like my lesson plans and I really like the person I am when I’m teaching.

I don’t have any strings attaching me to anything. I will one day, but at the moment I’m revelling in my string-free existence.

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Late Nights, Caffeine and Sickness

November 6, 2009 at 1:57 am (Uncategorized)

The last time I updated was when I found out that my school was being closed for H1N1 and it’s really been quite an interesting week since then.

I was originally going to go on a trip to Jiri Sans National Park last weekend. Jiri Sans is a mountain in the South of South Korea and is considered one of the most sacred places in South Korea; there are several Buddhist temples and shrines throughout the mountain. The trip there was being organized by the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS). RAS has several branches throughout Europe and Asia for people interested in Asian culture and studies. It began in England in the 19th century and it no doubt went hand in hand with the then-present  colonization and subjugation of parts of Asia. Anyways, today the society organizes tours and lectures and they have a branch in Korea based out of Seoul. So, last Saturday morning I was supposed to meet up with them at 8am in Seoul and go on a 1 night, 2 day tour of Jiri Sans. Two days before the trip, however, I received a phone call saying that it would be canceled and that I would get my money back. My co-teachers speculated that it was canceled because this weekend was too cold to go hiking. It’s too bad, but the RAS has several trips throughout the year and a lot of them involve hiking, so I’m sure I’ll go with them somewhere in the near future.

The night I found out that it was canceled, I had plans to meet up with a Korean girl, Jin, for dinner. We met through facebook, had e-mailed back and forth and made plans for dinner. Jin lives in Incheon now, but she used to live in Seoul and prefers going out there. We met at a subway station in Incheon and then together took the train to Seoul (it’s less than 1 hour away.) On the way there, we chatted and got to know each other. She’s an English major, so her English is extremely good, and she’s just generally a pleasant and smart person to talk with. We arrived at Seoul and got Padjeon (Korean pancake) for dinner. Aftewards, we walked around Seoul for awhile and stopped at a small, underground bar for a little while before returning home. While we were out, she told me that her and her friends (both Koreans and Westerners) were planning to go out on Halloween, Saturday, and asked if I would like to come. My trip to Jiri Sans got canceled, so I told her that I would.

The next day at school I once again did nothing productive, as there was nothing productive to do. I read a little bit, went on facebook, etc. That night I met up with a bunch of Western and Korean teachers to carve pumpkins. I didn’t bring a pumpkin as I a) wasn’t sure where to get one and b) haven’t carved a pumpkin in years. I arrived at the apartment, among the first to get there, and enjoyed some Korean food that one of the guests brought. Later on as more pumpkin-bearing people came, we carved a few pumpkins. I shared a pumpkin with a Korean teacher. She had never carved a pumpkin before and I don’t think even knew exactly what pumpkin carving entailed before Friday night, however her half came out significantly better than mine.

I didn’t know all of the Western teachers who were there, including one of the hosts, Mary. After talking with Mary and her friend, Jamie, they invited me to go with them and three of there friends to China for winter break. As long as my vacation schedule meshes up with theirs, I’m going to China! I’m definitely excited about this.

After pumpkin carving I went out with a friend of mine to a bar in the area and met a few people. Generally the Westerners in Incheon are friendly. This is at least partially because we’re such a minority that if you don’t like everyone, at the very least you should get along with everyone else. So I met a few people and got home pretty late.

I spent Saturday sleeping in because I knew I would be out really late that night. Jin and I had plans to go to Seoul and the trains from Seoul to Incheon stop at around midnight and don’t start up again until after 6am. In order to save on cab fair, our plan was to just wait it out until 6am. I met up with her at a station in Seoul and even though I had 3 transfers, I only got slightly lost once, but I was quickly able to correct my mistake. We met up, got dinner from a street vendor – tapokee , a type of rice cake cooked in red pepper sauce, and deep friend sweet potatoes – and then went to the club that her friends were at. On the walk there, I ran into 2 of my friends from Incheon who later that night wound up being at the same club. The club had Korean bands who were covering Western rock music and often dressed like the bands they were imitating; this was particularly amusing in the case of the Queen cover band. The club was packed with Westerners and Koreans dressed up in some pretty inventive Halloween costumes. There was a recently murdered Cinderella, a Michael Meyers on stilts and someone who was going for the Korean pop star look, but really looked like Robert Smith. At the club I ran into a few of my foreign friends and the next day on facebook I saw that a few others had posted pictures from that same club.

After we got tired, Jin and I went to a nearby coffee shop. It was a really cozy place where each booth was in its own room pretty much, like rooms on a train. It was private, cozy, lavishly decorated and charged way too much for crappy coffee. But I suppose what you’re really paying for is the atmosphere. We left the coffee place at about 5:30 and went to the train station. Jin and I only had to wait 15 or 20 minutes for our train and the ride back to Incheon was maybe 40 minutes. We parted ways at that station and got on our separate subways to our different areas in Incheon. On mine, I almost fell asleep. I was tempted to set the alarm on my phone so I could fall asleep, even though the subway ride was only 20 minutes and at that point I’d been on it for over 10. I got off of the subway and got out of the train station just in time to catch the bus to my neighborhood, avoiding a 20 minute walk in the cold. I got back to my apartment at 7:30am and fell asleep immediately after changing and lying down.

I woke up at around 2pm and met a friend for dinner that night. I got home at around 11 or so and went to bed a little after. The next day I was able to wake up for work, but by the end of work I was dragging a lot. I’d spent the last week staying out late, running on caffeine. Whenever my body felt tired, instead of stopping or resting, I just got an espresso. Apparently, this is not good for your immune system. By Monday afternoon I was starting to feel sick and Tuesday I went in to work, but after being forced to see the nurse and getting my temperature checked, I was sent home. I had a sore throat, a cough and a mild fever. These are some of the symptoms of the swine flu. The next day I called out sick and then I found out that because I’m a teacher, I had to get tested for the swine flu because I had these symptoms.

My friend Casey was sick when she first got to Korea and had to get tested for it, so I knew what the test involved and did not want it. I’m fine with needles. I’m not fine with an extra long cotton swab being put so far up my nose it touches my brain. The nurse at the hospital did this to both of my nostrils and told me that the results for the simple test would be in within two hours. My co-teacher Sophie had brought me there with her two children, both of which had been previously sick with swine flu, and while waiting for the results we ate lunch at her house. Sophie has 3 children; 2 daughters and 1 son. The son was staying at his grandparents house because both of his sisters had swine flu. The girls are about 13 and 5 and the five-year-old is possibly one of the cutest children I’ve ever seen. She’s energetic, bold, wonderfully narcissistic and knows how to play up the cuteness. Part of me wants to steal this child.

After lunch we went back to the hospital to find out that no, I don’t have the swine flu, just a chest and head cold. The doctor prescribed some medicine for me as well as a decongestant which was ridiculously cheap at the pharmacy. I paid less than $3.00 for it and the swine flu test was $20.00. I really hate to think about what it is in America.

Sophy then dropped me off at home and I changed back into pajamas and crashed. I was told by Sophy that I probably shouldn’t go to work until Monday and at this point it was Wednesday. Thursday I spent the day going in and out of consciousness, taking several extended naps, and today I slept in pretty late. The medicine is helping along with the rest and I should be better soon. Yesterday I made some garlic, honey and lemon tea which helps to relieve congestion.

Overall being sick hasn’t been all that bad, largely because of all the help my Korean co-teachers have given me. I did have to reschedule my trip to Busan, a city in the South of Korea that I was going to go to this weekend, but I’ll get there eventually.

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H1N1 Has Taken Jong Ang

October 28, 2009 at 12:15 am (Uncategorized)
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My school, Jong Ang Elementary School is closed for the next week because 7 students have swine flu. My co-teacher said that the flu is becoming a disaster and that the school has never closed for a reason not holiday-related before.

I still have to come into school, as do all of the other teachers, but the students won’t be here. So it will be a week of sitting at my desk on facebook, messenger or reading a book, or at my co-teacher’s desk watching American movies with Korean subtitles. Last week, we watched the Princess Diaries 1 & 2. I think that this week it’ll be Star Wars and the 1980s version of Fame. I’ll also be spending countless hours helping my fellow teachers with their English. I had my other co-teacher tell the teachers at lunch that if anyone wants to practice English, my services are available. I might as well make an effort to be sociable if I’m locked in my office with the other English teachers all week.

There is the possibility that because of this outbreak I won’t be able to leave the country over winter break. If I can leave however, I definitely am. I have 2 weeks of vacation during this break, and I plan to spend it abroad if possible. I’m thinking I might go to The Philippines or somewhere in Central Asia. I’m going to start looking for a traveling buddy soon and I’ll figure plans out from there. Wish me luck!

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Lessons in Konglish

October 27, 2009 at 1:50 am (Uncategorized)
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I am sitting at my desk and behind me is the assistant English teacher who is teaching 4th and 5th graders to say, “Dis is a libbing room.” I could act as though I have some integrity and kindly ask to join her and subtly correct her, but honestly I just don’t feel like it; I’m tired and I dealt with 5th graders all morning. Also, I like what is often affectionately referred to as “Konglish.” I like hearing about libbing rooms, how much the kids like watching TB prwograms, and that I can sign up for a language exchange at Shity Hall.

One of my co-teachers, who has very good English, has two verbal commands to keep the little 4th and 5th graders in line. Often, she’ll say “Please be…” and the kids will all reply by saying, “quiet,” in unison. My favorite listen and speak command is when she says, “Listen.” I then get to hear a room full of 4th graders respond in unison: “carefurry.” My amusement causes me to have a limited desire to fix this.

My 6th graders have added an R to the word cold. This isn’t nearly as entertaining as 4th graders saying carefurry. 4th graders are obnoxious, loud, and disrespectful, but at the very least they possess a cuteness that their 6th grade counterparts have lost over the past 2 years. To the best of my ability I try correcting them, and by the end of the class the word “colrd” has left their vocabulary and has been replaced with “cold.” They only have English class once a week, so next week when I’m reviewing the vocabulary and acting out the various illnesses we went over, when I act out sneezing and coughing, they will tell me I have a colrd.

I make these comments knowing full well I will likely never be able to pronounce Korean remotely correctly. So far the hardest sound is the one that’s a cross between an English R and L, and it at times sounds like there’s a D in there as well. Sometimes when I’m with my students, I start thinking in Portuguese and want to answer them in Portuguese. That’s what I did when I was in a different country last time and now I react that way out of habit. My Portuguese never got to a level that I would consider “good,” but it got passable. And whenever I pronounced something incorrectly and a Brazilian made fun of me, I would find solace in looking at him or her straight in the eye and responding with, “Say the world ‘thirtieth.” There is no “th” sound in Portuguese, so this word was very difficult for most Brazilians to pronounce.

I correct my students (and teachers) usually whenever I can, and they gleefully correct my very bad Korean in turn. Last week I had to read over a script that the 5th graders were doing, and while the words were in English, the stage directions were in Korean. I asked her what a few things were. While she obliged and helped me out immensely, she followed up by saying that I should really learn Korean. She said it as though I could go to a two hour class in the afternoon and come back fluent to the point where I can read Korean stage directions, and as though I should have already done this. I’d been in the country for about 3 weeks at that point.

I’ve started meeting a Korean teacher who’s a little older than I am weekly and we’re going to help each other out with Korean and English. Her English, however, is much better than my Korean. I’ll start learning soon, and pronounce more words incorrectly than the 4th grade students. After embarassing myself repeatedly with the language, I will probably find refuge from my humiliation whenever a student asks me: “Rwat is dis?”

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Teaching Trouble

October 26, 2009 at 12:43 am (Uncategorized)
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Last week was an amazing week at work. The students were overall good, things flowed smoothly between my co-teachers and I, everything came together perfectly. Today, however, was my hardest day teaching.

Today I was working with one 4th grade class and three 5th grade classes. Whenever I work with these classes, I work with Sophie. In public schools, native English teachers have a Korean co-teacher assigned for every class. This helps to deal with cultural and language barriers that exist between the native English speaker and the Korean students. It also helps the native English teacher teach, because more often than not he or she has little to no teaching experience before coming to Korea. Today, Sophie was out because her son is sick, so I taught alone.

Initially I was told that I wouldn’t have classes today. Then my assistant teacher, Sunny, was informed otherwise, that I would be teaching my classes. Sophie normally prepares the 4th grade classes, so I at first had no idea what to do. Then, I decided to review colors and body parts with them. This went well and I aws able to stretch this review out for most of the class. Afterwards, they played the “Jean Quiz,” where I asked them questions about me and they had to guess the answer. This class went well, and I assumed this trend would continue as I had prepared the 5th grade classes. I was sadly proven wrong.

I decided to do the classes in the students’ homeroom classes. Normally, the classes are in the English Room, however I don’t know the password to that computer and all of the lessons I have to do are generally based around a CD ROM and I was under the impression that all of the classrooms have the English software installed into the computers. I was sadly mistaken.

I get to my first class and the computer is password locked. I decide to have the students do the activity I had planned first, and I passed out paper with pictures of the rooms in a house, scissors and glue and had them go at it. This class wouldn’t listen, at all. It didn’t help that I didn’t have enough sheets and had to go back to my office and get more. The homeroom teacher came in 20 minutes into the class and I asked her for the computer’s password and she gave it to me. It didn’t matter, I couldn’t get the class to settle down before the period was over.

After that, I went to my next class. The computer was not locked, but the software that I needed was also not installed. I then realized that I was only given the CD ROM for the 1st semester of English classes, and right now we’re in the 2nd semester. I couldn’t figure it out, and had the kids just do the cutting activity, but they were much better behaved. Nonetheless, I was still frustrated.

Next I went to my last class. This class’s homeroom teacher remained in the classroom and had the software installed. He translated for me when necessary and helped me keep the kids under control. It was awesome and this class went so much better than the others. However, it was not my best and usually the quality of teaching I was able to do in that class is normally my worst for the week.

Looking back, I allowed myself to get frustrated by the problems that were largely caused by language barriers. If the kids can’t understand me, then they probably won’t listen and they get frustrated if I can’t understand them. Also, it’s not until after the first time I do a lesson that I realize how long things take. The cutting activity takes at least 20 minutes and I know this for next time.

Hopefully, Sophie will be back tomorrow. If not, I know how to change things and I’ll definitely work to have more patience. Tomorrow will go better.

In other news, a kid in my school apparently has swine flu and there’s the chance my school will get shut down for a few days. Other schools in my area have been shut down for the flu. After today, I wouldn’t mind a mini-vacation.

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Thinking and Knowing

October 21, 2009 at 12:38 am (Uncategorized)
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I think that it’s possible to get a better understanding of a language or culture by listening to its native speakers speak English. Even the best English as a second language speakers often directly translate their own language’s expressions. My co-teachers’ use of the phrases “I think,” “maybe,” and “probably” have most confused me. If a native English speaker says “I think that we should go to lunch now,” they are reflecting a degree of uncertainty. The underlying meaning is normally: “Do we go to lunch now? I think we do, but I’m not sure.” This is how I was interpreting statements beginning with “I think”  (as well as “maybe” and “probably) the first week I was in school.  Though, every time one of my co-teachers would say “I think we should go to the class now,” they would immediately start walking towards the class. The usage of the phrase “I think” was particularly frustrating when my co-teachers would say things like: “I think the bus stop is over there,” or “Maybe you can get the subway on this street.” While I would never say anything, at times I wanted to ask, “Do you think it’s over there or do you know it’s over there?” I realized relatively quickly that the phrase “I think” is a polite way of giving a command or a direct statement.

English is a speakers’ language: it is the speaker’s responsibility to communicate the message. Korean is a listeners’ language: it is the listener’s responsibility to infer the message. This creates two very different thought processes. Where speakers’ languages require directness, listeners’ languages place a stronger premium on subtlety. Phrases such as ”I think” are so frequently put in front of otherwise direct statements for the purpose of obscuring its directness.

This is likely related to other differences between Western thought and Eastern thought. Most, if not all, Western languages are speakers’ languages while most, if not all, Eastern languages are listeners’ languages. The West has traditionally placed a premium on communication and speaking and held a belief that not speaking reflects a form of stupidity. In most Eastern philosophy, silence is valued and those considered wise by Eastern standards speak only when necessary. To be smart in the West one must speak and react, to be wise in the East, one must listen and observe.

At this point, Korea is a fairly Westernized society so these historic cultural differences are less pronounced than what I imagine they were 100 years ago. My co-workers make an effort to converse with me, asking me questions about how I’m liking the food and the country, if I’m homesick, what I did during the weekend, etc. However,  “I thinks” and “maybes” are still  sprinkled throughout the conversation.

These “I thinks” and “maybes” seemed to be used more by women. I want to put a disclaimer on this: I only know a few Korean people and they’re generally a generation older than I am. It is possible that social interactions between people in my own generation are very different. But as for the people I know, women say “I think” significantly more than men do. Both female and male teachers use subtleties and expect the listener to infer more than the average Western speaker would, but this is more pronounced with females and more uncertainty is reflected. While the women teachers I’ve worked with are all very talented teachers, they reflect more uncertainty and are often not as quick to address discipline issues than male teachers. The other day, I was working with one of my female co-teachers on a play with 10 students. She was speaking with one of the students when another, male student started screaming in her ear to get her attention about something; she ignored it. That was it.

Females in Korea seem to be socialized to be more deferrent, uncertain and indirect than men. This uncertainty, however, absolutely does not reflect any  lack of intelligence, the women I work with are clearly extremely intelligent. In my 4th grade classes, the female students are always the first to volunteer and more female students volunteer than male students. By the 6th grade, this has completely shifted. In my 6th grade classes I get fewer volunteers, but they usually are male. The few times when I do get a female volunteer, it is usually the “smart girl,” who knows she will get the answer right. Male students will sometimes answer a question when they are wrong, but willing to take a chance. Female students will only answer when they know they are correct, and even then, most won’t volunteer.

This is also about the time when the students start picking up different fashions and cultural attitudes. It is when they are noticing the culture and values around them that they begin to adopt the gender roles that are modeled for them.

A similar phenomena happens in the United States, however despite that I refuse to believe that this is “natural;” that at ages 12 and 13 females naturally speak significantly less in class than they were a year ago. It is clearly a taught behavior that at the same age that these students are noticing other cultural values, like dress style, they are noticing gender roles.

I’m curious about how the teachers in my school understand me. Even past ages 12 and 13, I didn’t adopt this cultural behavior and become quieter in class or in any part of my life. (I also never adopted any cultural concepts of fashion either.) I’m direct with my students and I usually won’t ignore bad behavior or plea for their attention; I don’t negotiate with terrorists (4th graders.)

I am, however, negotiating my understanding of “I think,” “probably,” and “maybe.” At this point whenever my co-teacher says, “I think we should go to class now,” I get up and follow her to the class and don’t answer her as though she has asked me a question. I’m starting to listen for the meaning of phrases and expressions and to me. I’m listening for subtleties, nuances and trying to infer the real meaning. “I think you are chilly,” means: “Don’t wear shirts that ride up and show any of your back when you bend over.” ”I think that you should probably do this activity for the lesson,” means: “You will teach the lesson this way.” “Maybe we should go now,” means: “Why aren’t you ready to go yet?”

English has become a listeners’ language.

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On The Ride

October 18, 2009 at 5:54 am (Uncategorized)
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Today I went out to see a movie and dinner with my assistant teacher Sunny (referred to earlier as “Son-ee” before I knew how the Anglicization of her name was spelt) and her two daughters, whose names I won’t even try to spell. They are about 14 and 16 or so. We saw Fame, Sunny probably picked it because it was one of the few English movies playing. I don’t know if it was the fact that I haven’t been to a movie in awhile or the fact that it was nice getting out, but I liked that movie, I don’t care what that 14-year-old says. (In her words, it was “disappointing.”)

Afterwards we went out to dinner, to Pizza Hut. It was actually really good. It was only slightly different than American pizza. We sat for awhile and ate and talked. The 14-year-old speaks very good English and is very charismatic and smart. Sunny’s 16-year-old daughter is also very nice, though her English isn’t as good so I didn’t get to talk with her as much. Also, Sunny explained that she is very shy. I liked them both and it was refreshing to be out with a family, especially one that seems so close and to get along so well. It seems as though it’s more socially acceptable for a 16-year-old to go to the movies and dinner with her mom than it felt when I was 16 in America.

When friends walk, especially female friends, it’s very common to hold hands or to have their arms linked. Sunny often had her arms linked with one of her daughters or was holding one of their hands when we walked from my apartment to the theater, the theater to Pizza Hut than Pizza Hut to the grocery store. At times when walking since I’ve been in Korea, Sunny will reach for my hand or arm and I still feel uncomfortable. It’s not that I am uncomfortable because I feel as though she is being rude, I’m just not used to it; it’s a cultural difference. Likewise, I feel at odds when I’m with Koreans and something happens where it would normally be customary in America to hug. For example, when I was leaving Sunny and her daughters, I feel as though in America we would have hugged goodbye (and in Brazil there would have been a double-cheek kiss.) However in Korea, it’s customary to wave goodbye and not hug. It’s interesting how the different cultures have negotiated when physical contact is appropriate and when it is not: when people hold hands and when they don’t, when they hug and when they don’t and when they kiss and when they don’t. I’m sure I’ll get used to the difference, just like I got used to hugging and kissing everyone in Brazil whenever I entered or left a room full of friends or acquaintances.

During dinner Sunny told me that one of my co-teachers, Mr. Woo, said that I was a very good teacher and better than the last native English speaker. From what I’ve been able to gather, the old teacher before me was probably around my age and had majored in teaching in college. I out-taught an actual teacher. My ego is slightly inflated at the moment. Despite that, I have no idea if I want to keep on doing this teaching business. I enjoy it and while I do my best, I don’t know how passionate I am about it. My motivations for wanting the kids to do well, to learn and to behave are strictly selfish; I don’t want to get fired and I do really want to limit the number of 4th grade fist fights I break  up. It’s fun for now, but I don’t know how I would feel about teaching if I had to do it with the knowledge that I will be doing this forever. I would feel suffocated. Right now I’m going to enjoy the ride and see where it takes me.

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Skinny Jeans

October 15, 2009 at 3:35 am (Uncategorized)
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In my last entry, I mentioned that I got sick this past weekend and threw up… a lot. In other entries I’m sure I’ve mentioned the intense valuation that many Korean women place on being absolutely, extraordinarily skinny. This is where the two ideas, stomach sickness and skinniness, coalesce. Today the teacher who bought me the stomach medicine commented on how I’ve lost weight since I’ve been in Korea. Her exact words were, “Jean, I think you’ve lost your weight,” to which I replied, “I think I threw it all up.”

Ever since I’ve arrived in Korea, multiple female teachers in their 30s and 40s have commented to me on how healthy Korean food is. It turns out that healthy is a synonym for food that has low or no calories. I wasn’t sure today at lunch which another teacher meant when she said that the (surprisingly good) seaweed soup I was eating was so healthy, and that most Korean women eat it regularly a month after giving birth. After giving birth, women’s bodies tend to lose a lot of nutrients and the healthy glow of pregnany is replaced by the pale face of new motherhood. Easily, the teacher could’ve meant that the soup is rich in nutrients, so women who just gave birth eat a lot of it. However at the same time, women gain weight during their pregnancies and it usually takes at least a few months to lose that weight. This teacher could’ve also been referring to the fact that the soup is low in calories.

All of this went through my mind during the conversation because I’ve become so accustomed to hearing and seeing the value of skinniness. When I was with Alischa two weeks ago, we passed a pizza place that advertised itself as being “pizza for women.” This doesn’t mean it’s high in calcium like I had initially thought, but rather that it’s low in calories. When I was with Hannah, we walked passed and wound up stopping in a fruit smoothy place that advertised itself as “curing fatness.”

This week on facebook I received an invitation to “Love Your Body Day” at my college in Connecticut. This is being put on by Women Involved Now, an on campus women’s advocacy group. The point of Love Your Body Day is to encourage people, mostly women, to stop judging themselves by the paradigm and to love their bodies and by extension, themselves. I’ve participated in it, volunteered for it and eaten pizza at it. I think it’s a great event. Despite that, I don’t feel appalled as a feminist about this overt valuation of skinniness in Korean culture. Though probably if I saw an advertisement that said “Pizza for women” in Connecticut, with the same intention as the sign in Incheon, this blog would be of an entirely different nature. This is an entirely different culture and, more importantly, it’s a culture that isn’t mine and that I don’t understand fully yet. I want to learn more about it though. I want to learn if what another teacher told me is true: that anorexia and bulimia is extremely uncommon in South Korea. I’m slightly skeptical about that. And at the same time I need to consider that the average female Korean body type is much more petite than the average Western body type, and that factors into this skinny complex. All in all, I can’t judge this culture through my Westernized eyes and values.

I’m not offended by a teacher complimenting me for losing weight a few days after she had bought me medicine for throwing up. I’m not offended by “pizza for women” or by smoothies that “cure fatness.” I don’t question it when a Korean teacher who’s 37, the mother of three and about 5′3 and maybe 110lbs laments about how she used to be skinny, and when another teacher agrees with her. However, every time I see a curvy Korean woman showing off how not-so-skinny she is in a mini skirt or tight jeans, I smile.

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People, Places and the Repercussions of Kimchi

October 13, 2009 at 1:18 am (Uncategorized)
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This Saturday morning I left my apartment to meet up with my friend Jake. The night before I had gone out with another Incheon friend, Hannah, and took pictures of signs whose meanings were lost when translated to English. “Dr. Fish Bread Coffee,” “Can More is… good for your health and can more makes you beautiful,” and “If you are lack of the vitamin with smoking, kiwi will help to keep the vitamin” were among my favorites.

So the next morning I was leaving to visit Jake. On my walk to the subway I noticed a woman about 5 seconds in front of me wearing uncomfortable looking heels in which she walked awkwardly in. About 2 minutes later, I see her start sprinting to the best of her ability in said heels, looking far more awkward than when she was just running. After a few moments I figured out that the crosswalk 100 yards in front of us was green, would be turning red. She made it to the crosswalk and about halfway across the street, resumed her semi-awkward walk.  By the time I got to said crosswalk, I decided to count how long it would be before the light changed. It was 97 seconds. If this woman was about 5 seconds in front of me, she might have had to wait 102 seconds.

I bring this up because this is relatively common in South Korea. I’ve seen many people run to make the light for the crosswalk they wouldn’t have approached for another 2 to 3 minutes if they had kept walking. The same with running to catch the subway when still at the turnstile & South Korean driving suggests a sense of hurriedness. South Korean drivers don’t like stopping for pedestrians and more often than not, expect the pedestrian to stop for them.

Shortly after witnessing a woman dash 100 yards awkwardly in heels, I got to the station and took the subway to meet up with Jake. Jake’s been living in Incheon for 2 years and he’s my de facto tour guide. On Saturday we went to the MacArthur statue/Jeyu Park. It’s a really beautiful park and the statue is pretty cool. Afterwards we took the train back, he showed me around his area and we met up with a friend of his, Chris, for dinner. We had Pajeon, which is kind of like a Korean pancake cooked with vegetable, meat or seafood in it. Chris is also a vegetarian so we got 3 vegetarian ones and shared them. One of them was made with the really spicy green peppers, so I only had one or two bites of that.

Later on we went over to two different bars and met up with a few of Chris and Jake’s friends. We were out until 4:30 in the morning and I met some really interesting and awesome people. I had a really wonderful night and I didn’t realize how much I needed it. Since arriving in Incheon, the majority of my time has been spent with my co-teachers/assistant teacher. While they’ve been awesome and so helpful, they’re also all married with children, and much older than I am. It was so refreshing to spend a good amount of time with really smart, interesting and funny people my own age, whose native language is English.

The next morning I was once again supposed to meet them for kickball, but I missed Jake at the terminal. So I walked around the neighborhood for about an hour and took the subway back home. I made dinner, walked around the neighborhood and, because I had plans early the next day, I went to bed.

I had plans to meet up with my co-teacher, Mr. Woo, and my assistant teacher, Son-Nee (who actually spells in Sunny) and go for a hike. Monday was the school’s birthday, Foundation Day, and there is no school on that day. However, 3AM on Monday morning I started getting sick. Then, again at 3:30, 5:00 and 6:30. When Mr. Woo knocked on my door at 8:45, I told him I had to cancel. About 15 minutes later Sunny came to check on me. She went to the drug store and bought me some medicine. I took some of it and after she left I got sick for the last time. I then spent the rest of the day in and out of consciousness, having my DVDs of The Kids in the Hall as background noise. At 6PM I went online and looked up what I should eat/drink. Apparently, I should eat nothing and drunk clear drinks that have sugar and diluted with water. I didn’t have any soda in my apartment, so for 2 hours I mixed water and sugar until I felt well enough to go to the convenience store across the street and pick up juice and soda. And that was my Monday.

When I woke up this morning I felt well rested and I planned on going to work, until I got out of bed and felt nauseous and out of it again. I stayed home again today, but I feel much better now. I’ve had lots of liquids, mostly soda or apple juice diluted with water, and maybe tonight I’ll try some toast or pick up some bananas from the convenience store.

I’m not sure what caused this exactly. Someone suggested that it was probably my body acclimatizing itself to the change in diet and everything else, which is probably true. I might have to limit my spicy food/kimchi intake over the next few days.

All in all, I’m feeling better now and despite this temporary sickness, I had a great weekend.

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