Korea
my friend’s group of django players was quite good. the rhythms were simple but enthusiastically played. all of the students were frowning in concentration and only took quick glances up to see their friends in the audience. to introduce the group, my friend got up in front of everyone and did the intro in korean and english. she is a loud girl, extremely funny and confident and snarky. but when she speaks korean, her voice gets really soft and modulated and stays that way for a while after even when she starts speaking english again. so even with the microphone, you could barely hear her introduction. this makes me laugh every time i hear her speak korean because normally she’s louder than a foghorn but the korean starts and the volume goes to mr. bean levels.
the next group was the gayegeum players. they’d been playing for the same amount of time as the django players, but playing a stringed instrument in line with everyone else and keeping time and remembering where the fingers go is a bit more difficult at the beginning. so their progression through the song was slow and you could feel the tension rising off the students. their mouths moved as they counted the beats and this one girl in the back kept hitting what were apparenlty the wrong strings because she would mouth swear words every few bars. not as exciting as the django group and it didn’t sound as nice, but it was far more adorable because of the effort they put into it, and the joy they all had when they had to strum the gayegeum at the same time and everyone did it perfectly. i wanted to run up and give them all a big hug.
the rest of the groups were quite entertaining. my favorite though was this japanese guy who had learned dance. he was standing in the middle of the stage and seriously looked like he was about to vomit all over himself and the first row. i mention this to my friend jen (django player) and she informs me that he had taken lessons with and was to be performing with two friends, who for whatever reason didn’t show up that morning. so, the pukey look was understandable. he got through his dance admirably and only ran a little bit to get off stage at the end.
after the recital, we all decided to go stuff ourselves with pancakes and coffee. as we’re walking back to the subway after the feast, we pause by a theater that is playing NANTA! which is a percussion show done with kitchen tools. my friend sommer is saying that she has been wanting to see this when a woman walks up to us and asks if we have reservations. we say no and she asks if we want three tickets. three of us grab the tickets and head into the theater while the two slow turtles of the group head towards the subway.
the show was amazingly fun. none of it was spoken, except for some charlie brown noises. what they were able to do was amazing amazing. all with knives and whisks and tubs. they had audience participation as well and watching them try to communicate with the audience and get them to do things without talking…well i realized what my students see during my classes and i have a better understanding of how they feel.
the week at school was good, too. for a christmas treat (and because we’re done with the lessons and i’m exhausted) we’ve been watching the movie elf in my classes. i’d forgotten about the scene with the girl singing in the shower. you don’t see anything but her head and shoulders, but you KNOW. my boy students all freak out at this point and turn their heads away or shield their eyes from the sight of her naked shoulders. you’d think they were seeing porn. the girls all handle it quite well.
one of my girl students asked my coteacher how to ask for a hug, then came up to me and said, hug me teacher! so i did. super cute. the next time i had her class, she tried teaching one of the boys how to say it,but he couldn’t get it. so she was all, like this, then came up to me, said it, and i hugged her. he’s all hanging back, looking at me but not daring to say it so i hold out my arms and say, do you want a hug? at this he nods and comes forward for his hug. i’m kind of wondering what kind of hugging line i’m going to see on tuesday.
today i went to the aquarium. the first thing i saw was the shark feeding in the big tank. there were loads of big turtles and sharks and rays and everything in the tank. once the first bits of dead fish hit the water, it was ON. the baby loggerhead turtle, being smaller and more wieldy than the two adults, was darting (relative to the other turtles) around and snatching up many tasty morsels of dead fish and octopus. the adult loggerheads were trying, but the sharks and fish were much quicker. one of the adults finally got an octopus and was trying to chomp it down when the baby loggerhead whipped up (again, relatively speaking) and tried to grab it from the adult. so the adult starts using its front leg to push the baby off of the food and finally smacks the baby but good and gets him off. the baby is only momentarily stunned and then makes for the food again before the adult can get another octopus leg in its mouth. again with the front flipper against the baby’s head. finally they snap the octopus in half and the baby swims away with a few tenatcles popping out of its mouth. i was happy the adult finally got some food and even happier when i saw that it got a big dead fish. then of course, one of the sharks comes over and rips that big dead fish out of the adult loggerhead’s mouth. poor turtle. it was not having a good day.
i also saw the cutest sting ray in the entire world. it was a small red one in a tank with a bunch of other different types of sting rays of many sizes and colors. this one had clearly been fed by visitors before because it would see someone come close to the glass, then glide up to the glass and pop its head out above the water, as though it were standing up. then it would flip its wings and dance around in a circle. THEN it would flip onto its back and backstroke a ways across the tank, flip back over and swim back to the glass. it did this several times and it was charming every single time. once it got rewarded with yogurt from a fellow visitor. yes, yogurt.
they also had an exhibit called ‘marine touch’. it was a large shallow tank filled with starfish that i believe may have the most miserable existence in the world. here is their existence told from their perspective:
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm…. i like lying here motionless. this makes me happy…..
hmmmmmm…… i like lying here motionless… this makes me happy……… hmmmmmmmmm…. i wonder if bob is still over there lying motionless…. hmmmmmmmmm…. probably…. mmmmmmm…. i’m happy…….hmmmmm….. i like OH DEAR GOD!!! THE HAND IS BACK THE HAND IS BACK!!! OH NOOOO!!! LEAVE ME IN THE WATER!!!! PLEASE LEAVE ME IN THE WATER!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! (Splash!). whoa. that was close. hhhhmmmmmmmm…. i like lying here motionless. this makes me happy….. hmmmmm…. i like lying here OH NO!!! NOT AGAIN!!! THE HAND THE HAND!!! ANOTHER HAND ANOTHER HAND!!! I’M BEING THROWN!!!! OH NO!!!! OH DEATH OOOOOOH DEATH! WON’T YOU SPARE ME OVER TIL ANOTHER YEAR???? phew. hmmmmm. i like lying here motionless…. it makes me happy….
yeah. marine touch apparently means, hey you! child! pry the starfish off the sides of the tank and hurl them back into the tank. repeatedly.
i really do love aquariums an inordinate amount though.
then i have three weeks of sleepaway winter english camp. i have to teach four lessons two times each. i’m having 1) mongolian culture day 2) colors and clothes day 3) american songs and games day and 4) casino day. i’m not sure what i’m going to DO for casino day, but i do know that all the children will either be wearing a boa or a bowtie. and we’ll have a blackjack tournament. and maybe a craps tournament. and for clothing day, i’m going to have them create a dress out of toilet paper. cause that’s the best way to learn english. through toilet paper creations. and gambling.
11/27/2006
had my birthday on friday. my first class was 5-1 (fifth grade, 1st group) and i’m friends with their teacher. i’m chatting with na-young my coteacher, when i notice that the overhead lights go out and two lines of children are marching in, singing happy birthday, and holding a mini choco cake with lit birthday candles. they finish the whole song and i blow out the candles, almost crying because it is so cute and sweet. as they are finishing up, a group of sixth grade girls comes to the classroom door and are holding flowers and a present. i accept the offerings and then freak them all out by giving them hugs. throughout the day various groups of differing sizes come with birthday greetings. i had two standout favorites.
one was a bag from the third grade teachers. they are all concerned about my eating habits (i’m trying to be veggie again because i like to vascilate) and so have all chipped in to buy me a box of cereal, two small boxes of crackers, and two boxes of ‘calorie bars’, which, upon eating one, i’ve decided are variously flavored bars of shortbread. the box they got me was cheese flavored. but i’m to keep it at school in case i forget to make my lunch again.
the other was from two girls from my 6-4 class. this is the class that i threw out a month ago, that clearly hate english and refuse to participate regardless of the activity. games and classes that have the other classes actively involved and having fun leave this class completely cold. i don’t know how to teach them to get them active, and most of the other teachers in the school have this problem. so i get two small birthday cards from these girls. the cards were made from notebook paper and very sweet. they each said, with different words, you’re so beautiful and nice and we like you. we know you dont like our class. our class is very kind. please like our class.
a beautiful birthday sentiment with a gooey guilt center. rock.
it made me laugh and also think, well, if your class weren’t made of a bunch of apathetic asses, maybe i would like your class! but you can’t really say that to 12 year olds can you? well, if you want to keep your job anyway.
we had cake for lunch in the teachers’ room. one of the things i find strange about korea is the persistent presence of cherry tomatoes on sweet things. the cake was topped with fruit and cherry tomatoes. which i know are technically fruit, but i don’t think of them as such.
for birthday dinner, my friend josh and i had a joint party. we went to a pancake house where
sunday i went to insadong which is a traditional street with loads of art galleries and crafthouses on it. while there i bought a delicious hatog, which is a fried pancake with syrup inside. im’ trying to eat it as i walk, but it was a little too fresh and so the molten sugar syrup exploded all over my hands,. coat, and face leaving traces of sugar and raw red spots on my skin. but i’m a trooper and so i kept eating it. they are soooo good. unfortunately, we have a hatog stand between the subway and my school AND between the subway and my apartment. AND they are only 500W, which is like 50 cents which means i eat a lot of sugar each and every day.
i’ll be at a winter camp for three weeks in january. i have to come up with a club activity. i’m thinking paper mache. that’ll teach ‘em to try and have ME come up with ways to occupy the children’s time.
10/31/2006
today i had the brilliant idea to play trick or treat with my sixth graders and bobbing for apples with my fifth graders. the sixth graders had to wear a mask and learn to say ‘trick or treat’ in order to get the CANDY.
first thing i see when i get to my classroom today? two sixth grade boys running towards me in witch hats letting out a piercing high pitched wail that i imagine is what they think is witch talk for “Give me candy, foreign wench!”. a few minutes later, a student in an oddly familiar green shirt wearing the mask from scream came up to me and said trick or treat. yes, one of the witch boys didn’t realize i would be clever enough to lift the mask (or remember what shirt he was wearing) and would just hand out the candy to any small korean child. fools.
but there were some very creative masks that the kids made. of course, others ripped out a page from their notebooks, scribbled a mouth on it and used their pencil to punch out eyeholes. then said, trip or treep? i’m afraid to leave the office now for fear i will be accosted by grubby hands screaming CANDY TEACHER CANDY I WANT CANDY GIVE ME.
the fifth graders were better than i had ever dreamed with the bobbing for apples! they’d never done it before and so while not repulsed by the idea of placing their mouth into the same water as their compatriots, were hesitant to get their faces wet. one boy just licked his apple repeatedly in an attempt to grip it with his tongue. a girl went all out and stuck her head into the water and STILL didn’t get the apple. so i gave her a handful of candy. i figured six kids in each class would get one, but only about 2-3 kids in each class got one.
at lunch i let whoever wanted to come into the class and try and these two boys (fortunately they are friends) dove in at the same time and cracked their heads so loud i heard it from the other side of the room. no matter, they continued. one little sneak used his hand to shove his apple in his mouth. during lunch i was doing paperwork and so wasn’t watching, but they all made sure that i saw when they got the apple, clenched tightly between their teeth with drool running out the sides of their mouths because they are simultaneously attempting to scream “TEACHER LOOK!!! APPLE!!!!” yes, drooly boy, i see you have an apple. it was awesome. best day ever.
10/29/2006
i stand up and say, i would like to throw up now. so we change tables because i feel dirty. i contemplate burning out my retinas with my cigarette, but then realize that this image isn’t going anywhere. especially with jen laughing that i got flashed. so then i look at her and say, yeah if you had turned around, he would have … all over your cheek. that shut her up but GOOD. for the next little while i’m a bit jittery every time a man in a business suit walks by. one comes a little too close to our personal bubble and i shoot up out of my chair and grab my purse. jen’s all, what are you going to do? and i say, the next guy that gets too close or flashes me is getting smacked with my purse (which is full of change and my digital camera, and so would deliver a bruise).
yuck-o
10/11/2006
It is when people go to their hometowns and hang out with their families and take care of their ancestors’ graves and such. The women cook loads of food and the men and children eat the food and enjoy the heck out of the holiday. It seemed to just stress out my fellow teachers.
As it is a bit far for me to get to my hometown, I stayed in Seoul.
Monday I had school. Some of my friends had the day off. Not me. So I showed my sixth graders a video of their choosing and had them make Happy Chuseok cards. I told them to give the cards to their parents. (Yesterday I found out that instead of giving them to their parents, they finished them at home and brought them back to school for a homework grade. Apparently, sometimes they say they understand when they really don’t. Who knew?)
Tuesday a group of us went to Insadong which is the oldest area/street in Seoul. We ran around there for a while and then headed off to a nearby palace to check it out. Trying to get a group of expats together to go exploring is like herding cats. Initially we were going to meet up at something like 12, but not everyone got together in one place until almost 4pm.
Wednesday a small group went to a Korean Folk Village. Due to a misunderstanding at work, I ended up going to Namdaemun, an outdoor market that has been in the same location for hundreds of years, with a woman and her son. The substitute at work had asked me if I had any Korean friends. I said no, because I don’t have any Korean friends. What she had been asking though was, do I have any friends in Korea? A very different sort of question. So now everyone at work thinks I don’t have any friends. So in order for me not to be lonely and sad in my apartment all Chuseok, my sub arranged for a friend of hers to take me out in Seoul. We went to Namdaemun. Her son, who lived in New Zealand for 14 years, came as well. It felt a bit surreal to hear someone say “Dude” and “mates” in the same sentence. As in, dude, i have to call my mates. um, what?!?
Thursday a group of us went to Lotte World, an indoor amusement park in Seoul. They were having a special deal for foreigners, only 21000W instead of 30000W. We stayed from about 1130am to 11pm. As I kept saying, We did the HELL out of Lotte World. There were roller coasters and log flumes and raft rides and the lamest haunted house in the entire world. The absolute BEST was the mechanical bull. My friend Sommer and I didn’t want to go on the Gyro Swing, so we were playing games at the arcade. We found the mechanical bull hiding in the back. No one was riding it, so we begged two rides each out of the guy for the price of one. My best time was 17 seconds and Sommer’s best time was 44 seconds. I was wearing very soft khakis and she was wearing rough jeans, so that is why she won. I firmly believe this and do not wish for anyone to disabuse me of this notion. Thanks.
Friday I went to some Joseon queens burial mounds.
Saturday my friend Josh and I went to the zoo. The zoo is built on a hill, so we took two sky trams up the hill and then walked down. The day was extremely hot and all of the animals looked quite depressed when they weren’t being fed pretzels by the zoo-goers. So we ended up walking through the zoo fairly quickly. Then we headed to Hongdae to meet some friends to watch a punk show. There were a variety of bands from Korea playing different variants of punk music. The club was pretty small and I may have lost hearing in one ear. However it was so much fun! A ska band played and there was this guy who was dancing and it was the embodiment of joy. The last band we saw before we decided to save our ears was a brother sister band that completely rocked. They kept trying to encourage people dance by saying things like, make your legs not be still! do not be grounded!
Then we went to a bar called Bricxx that appeared to specialize in dirty names for drinks and hookahs. I didn’t partake in the hookah but did get a shot with a long pervy name. However, it didn’t say what was in the drink. I’m still not sure what was in it, but my lips burned like the essence of tabasco had passed over them.
The subways close early so we all crashed at one girl’s house. We ended up staying up watching a hiphop dance competition on tv. It was amazing. I’m going to start taking classes after I get back from America. Very exciting.
Sunday I slept all day.
so i’ve been settling in to my routine as an elementary school teacher. my vice-principal informed me today that the most important thing a teacher can have is a “smile personality”. then the second thing is good methodology. she pointed at me and said i have a big smile personality, so i am a good teacher. today my sixth graders pushed my smile personality to the limit. so in two classes, rather than explode big ole bombs of english anger all over their misbehavin’ little faces, i made them do TPR (total physical response). when they got out of control, i’d say in a strong voice (one MIGHT say a shout, were one inclined to shout at children, which clearly i am not…) Stand UP, sit down, hands up, hands down. over and over and over until they stopped talking. then we went back to the lesson. for one of the classes, this still didn’t work so the korean teacher yelled at them in korean. i have no idea what she said, but her voice changed octaves several times, so i’m sure it was impressive. miraculously enough, most of the kids still really like me. or at least they seem to. before they leave for the day they have to answer the target question. some of my worst behaving kids of course have the best english and were quick to smile and say the correct thing to be able to leave for the day… when i have a full day of sixth graders i think, hunh how much longer can i last before i run back to america??? luckily we have some holidays and field trips coming up, so i don’t have to see the little bastards too much this month. my co-teacher will be in canada this month so i will be teaching with a substitute. and children are ALWAYS so well-behaved for substitutes. excellent.
i’m blaming puberty for the behavior of the sixth graders. and every day, i silently apologize to all of the teachers i had in school. for the teachers whose classes i fell asleep in, thinking they couldnt’ see that i was asleep. they knew. for passing notes and thinking i was so slick they didn’t see. oh they saw. dear god, teachers see EVERYTHING! how did i not know this??? i feel as though i’ve acquired multiple new sets of eyes and ears since starting this job. i have my hand out to intercept the note before it is even written. i am bent down avidly listening to the lame conversation while it is still a thought in their twisted little minds. i know! i want to send an apology note to all of my teachers.
my afterschool life is still going well. another english teacher had her 22nd birthday this past friday (yes, 22. gah, i feel old). we went to a bar, then to noraebang, then i stayed over at a friends house with some other peopel because the subways stop running at midnight. it was fun, and she had a good birthday, but the whole dinner/bar/karaoke room thing… i feel as though i keep reliving a night from the year 2000… so i’ve decided to stop having this sort of evening. it is fun and all, but im’ a bit over it.
next day was saturday. i went to lotte world and the coex mall to check them out. lotte world is an amusement park, a mall, a bowling alley, an ice rink, and a museum all in one grotesque monument to consumerism. it is a little amazing. it was at lotte world that i saw the marching band dressed in scottish regalia. why were they dressed like that??? i have no idea. i didn’t buy a ticket to go to the amusement portion. i thought i’d save that for another day. then i went to coex mall to watch a movie and go to bandi and luni’s, a bookstore that clearly sounds as though it is out of a harry potter novel. i saw the sentinel, which was okay though i’m getting a bit sick of having to watch michael douglas engage in sexual behavior. his face lifts are starting to freak me out.
sunday i went to the local sports park in my area then went with some friends to watch the changing of the guard at the palace. i’m sure that whole scene isnt’ set up for tourists at all… my friend josh and i got our pictures taken as palace guards. in one of the photos, i am killing him. we look quite fierce. we wandered around the palace and museum for a while, then went back to dongdaemun area for dinner. as neither of us can speak or read korean, we pointed at a menu item and waited. i suspect that we ordered appetizers or somethin, which were quite good but perhaps not exactly what is ordered for dinner. the waiters kept circling us and pointing to the menus and thent o us. we did get fed however, so taht was good. all in all, korea is continuing to be amusing.
further tales of concrete and cream
i had no classes on Friday, because the 4,5,6th graders were on a field trip. so i made decorations for the english classroom all day. i contemplated making lesson plans, but that didn’t happen. much to my monday self’s dismay, as i should be working on them now.
Friday night I went to the Rocky Mountain Tavern –a Canadian bar in Itaewon, near the military base. The Korean Women’s Hotline, which I volunteer for, was having a fundraising event for a Mongolian Women’s Shelter run by NCAV. I was assisting by being at the bar to sell raffle tickets, talk about the Mongolian situation, etc. We were selling one raffle ticket for 2000W, three for 5000, or six for 10,000. The prizes were 50/50, a steak dinner, and two bags of face shop products. Unfortunately, the event had been scheduled for the same night as Itaewon’s Global Village Fair, and so most people were outside enjoying the free concerts and varied foreign cuisines rather than heading into the bar. However, we were able to guilt friends into coming down and were able to raise over 260,000W, plus get clothing donations. Some people went outside on the street to pass out flyers. I made sure to go up to each person who came into our section of the bar and ask how many raffle tickets they wanted to buy. It was payday on Friday and so I was able to get quite a few people to buy 10,000W worth. One man even bought 20,000W worth. All in all, it could have been more successful, but we’ve learned for next time.
The next afternoon I met my friend Andrew for a bike ride at Han River Park on Yeouido island. You can rent bikes for 3000W an hour. We tooled up and down the paths, turning around when we hit the section that basically just ran underneath the express way. but for quite a distance, we were flanked on both sides by beautiful flowers and grasses. The day was quite lovely and sunny (actual blue skies, which is rare in Seoul) with a soft breeze blowing. The bikes were slightly too small, so our knees poked out at uncomfortable angles. After riding for an hour and trying to have conversations with one person in front or behind, we decided to go and eat lunch and chat.
after walking around and finding several unsuitable places, we ended up at a cafe called freshberry. we were crossing the street and i happened to look up at the second floor of the building we were walking towards. I saw heads swaying back and forth and thick sturdy ropes descending from the ceiling. Perhaps that was a cafe with swings. we headed up to check it out.
lining the wall with windows were hanging benches that swung back and forth. the other seats in the cafe were all sliding rockers. the benches were all thickly padded and covered with white material that had flowers and berries printed on it. Large stuffed animals were tucked in beside the patrons, who were mainly young children with an occasional mom thrown in for volume control. the menu was written and illustrated with photos. the entire menu was ice cream and frozen yoghurt, with various toppings. when you go to the olive garden, you get unlimited free breadsticks. when you go to freshberry, you get unlimited free toast and whipped cream. because buttered toast just needs whipped cream to make it truly delicious. of course we decided to eat there.
we saw mammoth bowls of ice cream and cereal being gobbled down by hyperactive children. i really wanted some real food, so i went to see if there was any possibility of sugar free cuisine. bagel sandwich! excellent. or, the bagel sandwich is a cinnamon raisin bagel with velveeta cheese melted on top. and it comes with a side of toast and whipped cream and frozen yoghurt. i eat my bagel and pass on the toast and cream, which andrew starts eating. then he eats the lunch he so cleverly brought for himself. then we try to decide on what ice cream to get. i want chocolate ice cream with chocolate cereal. he goes up to order.
as we are waiting for our mountainous sundaes to be ready, we start snapping up large stuffed animals to hug and sit next to on our swinging bench, in order to have the cutest photos possible. i also scoop up a curly rainbow clown wig and andrew wears it. ding! our order is ready. andrew comes back with our ice cream, chocolate for me and green tea for him.
so perhaps the pictures were a TAD misleading. it is a small scoop of ice cream, surrounded by chocolate cereal, all resting on a bed of shaved ice. while disappointing, it solved the mystery of why no one was scooping up the melted ice cream from their dishes. because it was ice. melted colored mildly flavored ice. as i tuck in to mine, i discover unwarranted bits of pineapple and melon.
andrew’s green tea ice cream is covered with sweet red beans (normal), and topped with kiwi, chewy rice cake, cherry tomatoes (!), and watermelon. i refused any sort of taste of that.
as we plow through our ice cream, we start to feel the crash from the sugar. after we finish, we both just sit on the benches, gently swinging back and forth, and cuddle our gigantic stuffed animals, resting our cheeks on their furry heads. it becomes hypnotic. swinging and swaying and petting the stuffed animals. we nearly fall asleep. then these little girls decide that they would enjoy free english lessons. they exchange stuffed animals with us several times. the last time i can tell andrew is getting irritated because the little girl says, oh this one is too heavy! and he says almost under his breath, as heavy as you? which is bad but incredibly funny. they ask us if we are a couple and i say no, because he is a bad man. they keep harassing us until the store owner makes them stay away. perhaps she can see that they keep interrupting our sugar coma.
eventually we regain enough strength in our limbs to make our way towards the subway, each to meet different groups of people. i end up heading to a big group dinner that i decide not to go to. i go home and crash exhausted.
went out of town this weekend which was sooooooo nice. seoul is rather busy and loud so it was good to go to the countryside. my friend andrew came with and we met up with some people i knew in japan and a few of their friends. it was surreal in some ways. we met them at the information center in suanbo and everyone was all, let’s have a bath! so we went to a bath house. within five minutes of meeting 5 strange girls i was all naked and showering and bathing next to them. goodbye personal barriers! hello personal growth! or something. i’m a bit of a modest mouse… i didn’t grow up in a naked house, so this was a bit strange. after a few minutes i didn’t feel weird. but everytime i had to step up into the bath or whatever, i had visions of slipping and falling and having to be carried out to some medical clinic with only a tiny green towel to shield me from the elements.
then we went out to dinner, where we ended up chatting with the hostess and her niece who was the waitress. then they started giving us free beer. then we went to a bar and played word games and rhyming games for a while. then we went to noraebang. by then i was exhausted and felt like a bit of a zombie because i was so tired. i was quite impressed with everyone’s stamina to keep going and singing with energy. i just sat there for a while. then when they ordered 30 more minutes of the singing room, i decided to go back to the hotel. i left the lights on so that i wouldn’t sleep too deeply. i got back to the hotel at about 4am i think. impressive that they were still going. i don’t normally stay out after midnight.
the next day we went to worak-san national park. we caught a taxi up there and were planning to take a bus back to suanbo to then head back to seoul. we walked about half-way up to the great carved rock buddha, then andrew and i decided to head back to get to seoul in time for the 340pm bus. we get to the bus stop and see that we just missed the 258 bus and the next one doesn’t leave until 418. there are no taxis anywhere. this man from one of the cafes comes over to help us and ends up standing in the road with us as we wait for a taxi to come by. i suggest we hitchhike. we ask the man about hitchhiking and he says ok, they watches as cars drive by. he goes inside to call a taxi and a car comes by with only two people in it. andrew flags it down and they agree to give us a ride to suanbo. but of course we get there at 350 and so have to wait for the 440 bus back to seoul. peace corps has served me well because i wasn’t too anxious or anything, but the whole thing was a bit annoying to andrew who needed to get back to plan some classes for today.
we knew we were back in seoul when the bus cruised past a shopping mall with a live hiphop concert taking place on the steps. then i got on the subway, got to my apartment, and crashed.
am now installed in my apartment in seoul. off ttukseom station, down a few little roads. teaching at a tiny elementary of about 550 kids, which is still over twice the size of the one i went to when wee. my apartment is small ish. probably smaller than the one i had in mongolia and definitely smaller than my house in japan or my apartment in grants pass. however, i do have a washing machine that is also magically a dryer, so that makes it awesome. and my fridge in in my wall and look like a closet from the outside, which i find very cool for some reason.
orientation and training were ridiculous. many classes that COULD have had a point, but then really didn’t. one of the days we learned traditional korean dancing. we all had what looked like long white tubular polyester hankies elasticized around our wrists and were waving them while shaking our heads, wiggling our butts, and flipping our arms all over the place. the teacher was excellent, though opted to go the pull unsuspecting students in the middle of the floor to show everyone else how crap they dance. and that is all fun and games until YOU are the one in the middle. and yes, i got pulled in the middle. sigh. even worse than being singled out to DANCE IN FRONT OF PEOPLE WHO I DON’T KNOW AND HAVEN’T YET HAD A CHANCE TO LOVE ME is that the portion of the dance i was doing incorrectly was the one where we were bent from the waist, shaking our heads and holding our arms in the manner of a waiter offering up a bottle of wine, then we had to jump up in the air and switch feet. jesus. nothing i like better than wiggling my ass. however i actually DID it, which is either a giant step forward in my personal growth, or just means that i find it IMPOSSIBLE to disobey direct commands. which perhaps suggests finding a career as a submissive.
one night a bunch of us went to beer hunt, which is as awesome as it sounds, and then on to noraebang (karaoke korean style, which means tambourines instead of maracas). i actually went to noraebang, but my personal growth stopped at singing into the mic. i can’t stand the sound of my own voice, so that wasn’t even an option.
i did feel at home, though, as i saw a dead cat outside of the beer hunt. i wanted to take a photo, but people started calling me morbid. not morbid, just twisted. stupid peace corps.
as i’m in the elementary group, we had two days of elementary teaching methodology. having never really taught elementary in any subject, i was quite curious and eager to have the session. i learned songs. songs. songs. dancing. dancing. songs. i learned to sing pretty much everything i say in class. i can’t even adequately describe without the help of video and audio. there were around 70 elementary school teachers singing “i can. i can. i can i can i can. i’m a can do kid, yes i am.” the hand motions are acting as though you are climbing a ladder rung on each word except for yes i am, which is when you aggressively pull your fists from eye level to waist level in a somewhat disturbing thrustlike motion. we learned some faux-american sign language song. everytime we did well, we got talents (coupons). the talents had bible stores on them in korean. and some of our songs were about father abraham, praising the lord, and becoming fishers of men. it was all a bit surreal, but i figured after the first day, certainly we’d have to learn something of substance the second day.
the second day we learned to partner dance to the song ‘getting to know you’ from the king and i and then perfected our chorusline moves to ‘i just can’t wait to be king’ from the lion king. yes. i’m not kidding. we all danced in unison to i just cant’ wait to be king. we even roared. like three times. apparently, once it gets time to do this in front of the class i won’t feel like a complete tool. magic or something maybe. so, that whole counting on substance the second day thing was incorrect.
i’ve met some super people here, which has been good. loads of professional teachers, which makes me feel a bit out of my element. tons of international folks. and i’m not the oldest old lady here, which is good. i did want to smack a few people around when their complaining got to be too much. don’t they know only I am allowed to complain??? sheesh.
i’ve been desperately searching for bedding. when i got to my apartment, i had a comforter on my bed, but no sheet. just bare mattress. hot. so the search was on for bedding. alas and alack, sheets are in short supply. when i finally found one, i just snapped it up, even though it was $36. ridiculous. i’ve been telling myself it is made of butterfly eyelashes. nimble fingers.
i got the bedding at emart. emart was walmart. it is ridiculous. if you ever think, hmmmm i like humanity far too much today and am filled with a sense of well-being and love toward everyone i see, go to emart. on a saturday evening. i couldn’t even walk down the aisles without accidentally smacking my cart into some small child or family. it was almost like bumper cars, but i don’t know if the other people were playing… it was a bit annoying. but they have everything at emart. i just need to not go at night next time. i’ve heard there are costcos in seoul as well. i cannot wait to see the vats of mayonnaise being manhandled into the cars in the parking lot. for some reason i just picture people struggling with kegs of mayonnaise. and never using more than five tablespoons during their lives.
school is all right. one kid told me he shat for his summer vacation. fabulous.
so i haven’t really had tv for a few years. and anything i do, i do to excess. so i have cable now and have loads of korean and english channels. so i watch tv pretty much all of the time. and only crappy reality tv. i’ve seen the biggest loser, america’s next top model, sex and the city, stripsearch… man. pathetic. and now i have the tyra banks show on. tyra is so freakishly annoying. she’s such a faux-prah.
my co-teacher is a trip. on the one hand she’s super opinionated and awesome, on the other hand we have a lot of miscommunication. and she’ll be gone for a month to canada. great. i’ll be teaching all on my own. lovely. gah.
