The day before Halloween

I woke up early this morning, but in a strange twist of temporal physics, I managed to leave my apartment with only moments to spare. My feet have also mysteriously shrunk in Korea and my speed walking to the corner to meet my co-teacher was hampered by the fact I kept stepping out of my shoes. Finally arriving at the meeting spot (not just for me, but for the local geriatric population all of whom delight in speaking Korean to me and pointing out various loose threads and spots on shirts) I realized that my rushing was for nought as my co-teacher was once again late. Satellite Skin was on repeat, so I didn't much care, thanks Ipod!! Young-suk (oh yeah, my co-teacher has a name) arrived, I jumped in the back of her Kia and went through the morning ritual, "Good morning!" "Good morning, did you eat breakfast?" "Yes, I had cereal." "Oh! So strange!" "Thanks! And how are you?" We arrive at school, open the classroom, and get a good back workout bowing and annyong hasayo-ing everyone. "Chenypur teacher, Chenypur teacher! Hi!Giggle, giggle, giggle." "Hi kids!" Then it is time to get ready for a full day of teaching. Not a problem because I am working with Young-shim, and she is cool... except, "Chyenn, I am so sorry! My son is sick, I must take him to the hospital. I will only be gone for two periods." Breath, ok, the 6th graders are only a little bit taller than me and not that unruly... 4 periods later Young-shim has not returned and I am making the 6th graders clean the classroom before they can go to lunch. I am pretty sure I learned the word for "bitch" in Korean. The 6th graders can suck it though because now they all know how to ask for and offer help. Ha! Lunch comes and unbeknownst to me, a girl date is set up between one of the teacher's daughters and me. I think I ate snails too. After lunch I worked diligently at catching up with facebook while wondering if I was going to come up with a plan for the after school English class with the teachers. "Hehehe, Chenypur teacher, hehehehe!" Oh! The interview! After a few more giggles and popping in of heads five students boldly marched into the classroom with pencils. "Chenypur, are you ready?" "Sure." "Oh! Be waiting, we forgot book." "Ok." 5 more minutes of being stared at. "OK, we have questions. What do you do?" "Here at school?" "Yes." "I teach English." "Not teach English." "No, I do, I taught you yesterday." "No, when not teach English." Oh, well, I play on the computer and devote about 1 or 2 hours a week to lesson planning. "Ummm, I only teach English. It is my passion." "Oh, p-a-s-h?" "Not quite." I should mention that I had several cell phones shove in my face, recording the interview, 2.5 kids asking me questions (one kid lost half a point for never speaking English) one kid who got up and never came back, and one who just played on her phone the whole time. "Chenypur, what was your major?" "English." "Wah! Really? You are an expert!" "Yes, yes I am." "Wah!" "Chenypur, do you like Korea? Which do you like more? Why?" "I like them both for different reasons, I can't compare." "Did you house have 2 floors?" "Yes..." "Did it have stairs?" "No, we used a trampol.. yes, it had stairs." "OH!!!! So fancy! Pictures please!!!" And the rest of the interview dissolved into me showing them photos of my parent's house, my family, and America. It was fairly entertaining. Before I knew it the teacher had arrived and we had a lovely, if interrupted (there was a meeting about swine flu and how the 5th graders were the worst hit), class where I taught them about Halloween, my favorite Disney villain, and said the word loofah for them, which they think is hilarious.
Tomorrow: Ulsan!!

Geyanju and Pohang

Geyanju

Jukdo Market (Pohang, the city in which I live)

Seoul

Dirk, This one's for you!

Busan Fireworks Festival

Tales from the desk

As I sit here at my desk, watching the last 20 minutes of the day slowly drain away, I fantasize about taking a nap... or just escaping. Not South Korea, but this job. I love teaching, but I do not love the desk warming, mind numbing, watching my co-teacher sleep, part of the day. Most of what I have posted here has been positive, so this will be a fun look into the annoying side of working in South Korea.

1. Being forced to sit through meetings even though you don't speak the language.
2. Being forced to sit at your desk and not being allowed to leave campus (I think this might be unique to my school. From what I understand, other people are allowed to leave the campus at will.)
3. Being told I am strange because I like peanut butter and jelly. Or because I don't like seaweed soup for breakfast.
4. Being forced to sit at my desk (which is also number 2, but I want to point out how much it sucks.)
5. Not being able to listen to music whilst sitting at my desk.
6. Not being allowed to help with things like grading of homework, because I should "take a rest." I might have to work for an hour tomorrow.
7. I really, really, hate sitting at my desk.

Ok, I am going to start packing up in an effort to convince my co-teacher we should leave early so we can both "take a rest," for our open class tomorrow.

Conversations across the cultural divide.

Conversation with Co-teacher:"The singer from BoyZone died."
"I don't know who that is."
"A singer, he singers in English. He was a gay."
"I don't think that is what killed him."