callmedancho

I went to see Avatar on Friday. It was... impressive. We ended up seeing the 3-D version. I was unhappy at first, because when I think of 3D, I think of the red-blue 80s glasses, but this was awesome! A little hard to focus at first, but it was fine after a bit. (One of my kids told me that a friend of theirs had been sick after watching Avatar in 3D, so I guess some people can't handle it.) The only problem was that the alien speech was subtitled in Korean, so I had to ask Elle what they were saying. Sometimes it was easy to figure out, but sometimes it was harder.

Elle was slow to show up to the movie, so while I was waiting, I saw a guy making fried egg sandwiches. (fried dough - cooked egg - fried dough) At first, I didn't like it, but it's something that tastes better the more you eat. On the subject of food: when we went into the theater, we got a thank you present/here's a free sample thing. It was instant cold-noodles. It was kind of weird, even though everyone's got to eat, I suppose.

The theater was in a shopping area, so I ended up buying a dress for the Casino at Zara's. It's not the best quality, in that a few of the seams had pulled, but it's easy enough to fix, and the dress is really nice.

On Saturday, I went to a casino with a bunch of people from work. It was a lot of fun, even though I did spend roughly a hundred dollars on the night. I pulled an all-nighter, which was good, since apparently it was hard to sleep in the hotel room. It was nice though, and the casino was fun. Also, the food and drinks were free, so I took advantage of that. Good times. It was a little weird though, since Koreans can't go in the casino to gamble, but all of the staff was Korean. It felt a little "Imperialist" although I'm sure the casino would welcome korean business if it wasn't against the law.

Tuesday I had parent-teacher meetings. I'd like to say it wasn't epic, and it wasn't, for the most part. The first mom was really sweet and nice, just like her daughter (who is a fantastic student), and the last mom totally knew all about her son's bad habits like "talking tough" and unfocused attitude. It was a relief to be honest about that, even though I tried to down-play it so it wouldn't seem like I couldn't control him, even though it can be a bit rough at times. The second mom was fine, totally normal, until she asked me to do something. It went something like this:

*Mom and translator talk for a while*
Translator: L is in middle school.
Me: Yes.
T: So she's at That age...
M: yeeeees?
T: so she was wondering if you could talk to her about That stuff....
M: Ok?

I had to try so hard not to laugh for the rest of the time. I clarified later and yes, her mom did want me to give her kid a sex talk. Totally out of my pay-grade. Of course, now I can't look her kid in the eye, since all I can think about it her mom's request. I mean, what do you say? Besides, it's not like this comes up in conversation or anything. Though if it did, I guess I wouldn't flinch as long as the class happened to be single sex at the time. Oh well...

Speaking of that class: we did a "what word do you think about when you think about ____?" The word was "follow" and one of my boys said "Stalker!" I laughed so hard. That kid cracks me up. He's also the one who made the shit joke from the last post. He's got a great sense of humor and enough guts to go for it.

He's friends with this other boy in class and they always sit together. During class the funny boy reached over, took the other boys hand, and started to play with it (twisting the wrist a little, moving it, etc). So I commented on it when there was a break in the reading, and the other boy was like "AH! You're gay?!" and moved over to sit on the edge of his seat away from his friend. Instead of freaking out and denying it, the funny kid said "No, I'm not gay" but while he said that, he moved over to share the chair with his friend and threw his arm over his friends shoulder. I truly like that kid, even if his habit of speaking non-English languages in class does drive me up the wall.

I've mostly given up trying to get that class to focus, since we seem to have a good time and they never get too out of control. This is one of those classes that started out quiet and hard to enjoy, but the more time we spend together, the more comfortable we get with each other and the more fun we have together.

On the subject: I'm still nervous about the negative feedback, but I'm doing my best and trying to fix stuff they comment on. Still, it drives me NUTS! when my HI pulls me out of class to talk to me. I'd way prefer it if he could grab me before/after class. (Although I'd prefer it even more if he never had to talk to me about work. It really colors my relationship with him, since he's a cool guy, but now whenever I see him or he speaks with me all I feel is dread. It's nothing personal, just a gut reaction. This is probably why the other HI always let him deal with this sort of stuff.)

So, things are getting back into the normal routine. Korean classes started back up, and those seem to be going well so far. (I think I've been spelling my name wrong in Korea, but I doubt these things are standardized, so I'll probably just stick to the new spelling and nah! to anyone who says anything. It's like spelling Ann with an e.)

So, I thought my classes were going pretty well, but apparently guess again. I've been dreading this. The "you-know-that-thing-you've-been-doing-for-six-months?-well-you've-got-to-cut-it-out" moment. I just don't know. Eli, my HI, said to be more energetic and enthusiastic, which apparently translated into be louder. So I was louder and I was encouraged. I mean, seriously; I got positive feed-back. Now I've been told that I'm yelling too much or too loud or something. (I didn't really understand, even when I asked for clarification.) The only thing I can figure is that I need to stop yelling as a punishment and work in other methods, like writing lines, standing, etc.

Ugh. This is so stupid, and I've got a knot in my stomach because of it. It's just I thought I was doing well, and while I don't need to be number one, I'd like to be decent at things that I do. And I really don't want any of my kids to feel uncomfortable. This is the problem with teaching; it can be hard to fix problems. If I write a report wrong, people can point to specific bits and tell me how to fix it. If I give a speech that's too long or I shift too much or I don't have enough information, I can get immediate feedback and be told how to change it. Somethings are easy to fix, but this is so nebulous. It's like a dance concert or singing a song, a performance. You don't know what's wrong with it; it's just not as great as it could have been.

Also, I'm a bit worried, since parent-teacher conferences are coming up and I know some kids are turning in "My mom's coming" slips to the front desk. I'm wondering if these moms are coming to complain to my face, or if they're coming for some other reason. Is it a good things that these moms are coming? Does it show active interest in their children's classes or does it show that they have a bone to pick? (Also, is it bad form to cry in front of a parent?)

... I can feel my self-confidence ebbing away as I type this. I will soon be a wilting flower, under the harsh rays of reality. Alas, woo is me. (*falls to the floor dramatically*)

Anyway, tomorrow I'm going to see an early morning show of Avatar. (and I mean, 9.50 early.) After that, I'll probably spend some time with Elle. She's working on some papers, etc. for grad school applications, so we might work on that.

Also, this Saturday, a bunch of us are going out to a casino/hotel to celebrate Cormick, my co-worker's, birthday. That should be fun, if a bit of an expensive weekend. I've got a dress, which is good, since we're going to dress up, but I feel a bit self-conscious in the dress, since it's a bit low-cut, especially for Korea. I might look into buying a new one when I go out with Elle. Danielle said that Ehwa is good for that kind of shopping, but I'll be in Myeong-dong with Elle, so I might go there, if it isn't too expensive. I don't want to pawn my kidneys to buy a new dress. hmmm....

To end on a lighter note: a funny story. We were reading a story about a girl with one leg learning how to ski. In the story, she falls down and wants to quit. My questions was:
What did Angela say after she crashed and bruised her hip? The correct answer was, "I can't do it, Angela said". A student's answer: shit! Oh, I love these guys sometimes.

(I also love their inability to differentiate between zoo and jew. There's something so wrong and horribly funny about hearing kids say, "the problem with the zoo (read: jew) is...". One of my kids also tried to use the word tormentor for zoo keeper. I think he was secretly against zoos and just trying to infiltrate the pro-zoo ranks.)

Oh the weather outside is frightful,
but the fire is so delightful
And since there's no place to go
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

No work today. No fire either, but the hot tea is nice. Got a few errands done, but mostly sitting around the apartment looking over report cards. (Still, have to make up classes on Saturday. Boo! :( )

P.S. Korea- I'd like to introduce to you the idea of a snow plow. Making people shovel the streets is just not on.

Happy New Year! Aside from partying for the new year, this week has been pretty boring. Even my friday class, who totally didn't want to be there, was fairly boring. This is especially true after Eli threatened two of my students with RMAs after he caught them repeatedly speaking Korean. It was fairly BAMF of him.

Other than that I've been fairly busy with report cards, which I'm mostly done. I just have to double-check them and make sure they're significantly different. This is mostly an update of strange things that have happened in my classes.

My younger level 6 class got a new student, who's really young/tiny. (I looked it up. She's in 2nd grade.) Anyway, her mom walked her in and got her set up her first day and the mom brought drinks/snacks to share with the whole class. It was fun to have a small party during break and the kids were pretty good about cleaning up, not eating in class, and being fair about handing the stuff out. It was self regulated and the girls were worried when some people wouldn't get their second snack, but it all worked out evenly, with even teacher getting something. (And I didn't have to steal from any of my kids. :)) Anyway, this was a very clever way for the mom to curry favor with the other students and have them be nice to her kid. Clever, mom; very clever.

In other funny news, I was hanging out in my room with my level 5 when I heard one of my girls say, and I quote, "Do not eat me. I am not delicious. Eat Alice!" I laughed so hard. This girl is SO cute. If she was a doll, I could market millions of her. This "Don't eat me!" thing came up later. Apparently another girl keeps saying she'll eat the really cute girl. Anyway, I came buy and the cute girl said the other girl wanted to eat everyone in the class (which the other girl denied, of course), so we decided to sacrifice up the teacher next door. Awkwardly (read: hilariously) the third girl in the group was a temp kid from that teacher's class. Student loyalty is an interesting thing. ("Teacher! Troy-Teacher is MY teacher!")

Of course the best story is when I had some kids writing about their favorite scary movie and some kids picked Chucky. I have never seen this movie, but I knew enough about it to fact check it a little. So when I was going over their writing, I noticed that they said "Chucky is a doll that kills people with pork". And yes, I couldn't figure out how the doll killed people with a pig (Best mental image ever!), until I realized they meant a "fork", not "pork". The inability of Korean children to differentiate between F and P has never been so hilarious.

On Monday, my family went to Beijing for the week, so I had some time off from my second career as a tour guide. The week was pretty boring. My family was back for Christmas, so after I got off work (at 4, since we went in early for Christmas), we went off to Itaewon and had a nice Italian meal. After that, I went to a Christmas party held by some co workers with my parents. It was nice to say hi, but the party had mostly dissolved into drinking by the time we showed up. (Quote of the night: Mother: Oh, little doggy, I don't think you should be peeing on that...)

On Saturday, we went off to the DMZ, which was really interesting. I didn't know much about it, but there's a lot to learn. Our guide for the militarized section (a sargent) was informative and entertaining. I didn't know about the mandated villages near the zone or a lot of the history. The tunnel was also incredible (and incredibly steep. Ugh.)

After the DMZ, my family and I went to a traditional music performance, which was excellent. I'll probably go again when the shows start up again next year. It was certainly worth the money (that I didn't pay. >.>) After that we went back to my place and drank the incredibly strong (16%) North Korean wine. It did get better the more you drank though. It was a little tough going down at first though.

On Sunday, Anna went back to the US and I went with my parents to Yongsan in our third attempt to find the Electronics market. This time, armed with cryptic directions, we were successful. The selection was incredible. If I need anything (including bootlegged DVDS) I'm definitely going back there. No lie. I also got a pair of smaller ear phones for my ipod. After Yongsan, we went to Namdaemun and had lunch. After that we slogged through the snow, which had started to fall, and made it to the Hilton, which had a large train display (and a super-special-awesome display of Santa Clauses from different countries around the world). I might be morally opposed to the Hilton (in principle) but they know how to set up a display; I will give them that. We then trekked though the labyrinth that is Namdaemun open market and looked at all the stuff and watched the merchants deal with the large amount of snow that had started to accumulate. After we were too cold/tired to manage much more, we went back to my area and hung out in my parents hotel for a bit (having a beer) and then we went to the 24 hour dumpling place across from my apartment. We killed 4 plates of the large dumplings between the 3 of us (almost 7 a person); take that skeptical waitress.

My parents left for home today and I had classes. I've started my report cards, which are due next Wednesday. They're such a pain, but they have to get done, so I'm hoping to knock them out as soon as possible, instead of doing them all this weekend. Fortunately, I've been planning ahead and taking notes on m students during class.

On a funnier note, my level 5 had to do a project on where/when they'd go if they had a time machine and one group decided they come/go to our classroom in the year 2012 so they could see "Teacher"/CDI in the future. That was rather cool/touching, but the best part was when they got to the "would you even go back there?" question, they answered "NO! Because teacher is old then." Apparently I'm destined to be geriatric in 2 years. Such a bright future.

My family's here for the holidays. This means that I've been running all over Seoul with them, but it also means that I've gotten out of some classes and a meeting. :)

They arrived on Monday, so on Tuesday we went to a Palace (Chungdeokgung) and then we got lunch near the Express Bus Terminal, where I left them to do shopping, while I went off to teach my Tuesday classes.

Wednesday I had managed to get the day off, and Anna went off with her friend, so I took my Mom and Dad to Yongsan to look at I'Park shopping complex, where I got my mom a thumb drive that you can hang on your cellphone. Then we took the train out to Incheon (not the airport), and we tried to find this trendy eating/hang out area, but we never really found it and it was SO cold, so we ended up giving up. We also explored the China Town out there. The China Town is built on a huge hill (what a climb) and was basically full of restaurants and tourist-y stores. We then meet Anna in Insa-dong and went to a Vegetarian restaurant. It was interesting because the meal was a plate of fish or vegetable pancakes and a LOT of side dishes.

Thursday, my family went off to Busan and I had classes to teach. Then, on Friday my family and I went to Andong, which is a traditional area on the other side of Korea. The train was a long trip (almost 4 and a half hours), but we got to see a lot of Korea and the countryside. It was beautiful, even if it was a bit barren since it's winter.

We stayed at a traditional artist village, which was cool (or cold rather). The village is a bunch of old buildings in a large compound and it's a fair distance outside of the main area. But everything in Andong seems to be spread out. We stayed in two traditional rooms (paper walls and heated floors). It was unbelievably cold. I had to wear three layers to go outside. I had to go to the bathroom during the night and the toilet water had frozen over. (There is something to be said for modern amenities, like heating.) I felt bad for my dad, who just huddled in bed after dinner and didn't get up until it was time for breakfast.

For dinner we had some traditional food and some home-made rice wine. For breakfast, we had a bunch of side dishes and chicken stew. The man who owned the village then took us to the hanji factory, where they make traditional Korean paper. He even got a man to take us around the factory and explain how the paper was made. It was really cool and I got some presents for the desk teachers who had helped set things up for my family. I also bought a painting on traditional paper and a box/holder made of paper. It's all so pretty. Anna bought a HUGE jewelry box and my parents also bought a bunch of stuff.

(Edit: As an interesting side note: When our guide at the paper factory found out that I was an English teacher at a Hogwon, he told me how much he hated having to pay for Hogwons and he sort of wanted to get rid of it all. It was interesting to hear a parents point of view, as well as refreshing to hear a new side of the story.)

We then took the train back from Andong and had a late-ish dinner in Sinchon/Ehwa. (I went and got griddle cakes after that, which cost 700W. Apparently the cost has gone up from the usual 500W, since Elle didn't seem surprised when I told her about the price increase.)

On Sunday, we went to an English speaking church on the Yonsei campus. We then went out to Insadong for lunch (porridge) and to look around. We went into a bunch of the stores and saw the men making the traditional honey candy. We also saw the men dressed in traditional police uniforms walking up and down the street. They had almost passed up, so my dad and I took off running to get some photos of them. I mean, full on, running down the street to get ahead of them. We were successful! (I find having a "mission" [i.e. getting a certain photo or finding a certain object] makes the trip more interesting, etc.) We also meet Elle and went for tea at a tea house (Elle had a cereal tea, I had 5-taste tea and my mom had a medicinal tea that's supposed to be good for colds, while my dad had coffee.) We then meet up with Alice and walked up the Cheonggye stream, which I love. We then killed some time in the kyobo bookstore while waiting for it to get dark enough for the lights to be done up. (Both the stream and gwanghwamun plaza are lit up for the winter.) We then went to Myeong-dong, which isn't far, and had a huge galbi dinner before we went to see Nanta. It was hilarious! I really enjoyed it. Funny and exciting; I'd go see it again anytime.

Classes have started up again. My classes are all 5, 6 and 7. So far, the classes I've meet are good. Weirdly, I teach two level 6's, which is a little confusing sometimes. I try not to mix up the classes.

I actually really like my 2nd level 6. They're a lot of fun; outgoing and chatty. I can joke around with them and have a really good conversation. I even try to teach them slang and casual talking. I'm starting to agree with the belief that younger students are better.

My 5s is cute, and they're kinda fun, even though I have to go slow. They're entering a new system, so they have to learn the new methods, etc. Sadly/fortunately, I haven't meet my level 7 yet. They're all out for middle school testing. Since I don't have any students, I get these classes off. This is awesome, as I don't have to teach, but I'm not getting paid, so that sucks.

It's fun to see my students who visit. So far I've only seen 5 of my former students, mostly kids who are on my floor already. Oh, well. It's nice to see them. Funnily, I saw one student who came to see me and when I asked about her new teacher and she said "He's a man...." which sounded like she thought this was a bad thing. I told her teachers he should work on that.

My Korean classes are wrapping up. I have a speaking test tomorrow. I hope I do well.

I've started watching a lot of TV shows. My state of mind has certainly changed. In the States, "second season? Too much work!". In Korea, it's "season 5? Excellent." I just keep clicking the next episode.

I've also been busy buying tickets and setting things up for the family's visit in a few weeks. (Time passes so fast. I think I have time to get things done, but the next thing I know it's that time.) I've started sending off cards and Christmas stuff. Busy, busy, busy.

EDIT: My time away from Japan has made me weak. I took a rush-hour train to Itaewon and when I reached my stop, I had to push through the train to get to an exit. People started pushing on before everyone's finished getting off, including me. There's nothing worse than pushing to get out when people are pushing to get on. I ended up cursing in English. I hate rush-hour trains. Le sigh.

This week was very boring. Not much to report, really. It was the last week of classes. Not only were the students disinterested in class, but there was a lot of surprise tasks to complete. Oh well, it's all sorted and over.

I bought pizza for my classes on the last day. I didn't mind so much, even though a part of me didn't think my Mega kids deserved it. The parties were fine, especially for me classes that I made do their work while they ate pizza. Funnily, I stole some extra pizza from the break room to give to my level four kids and one of my kids told me I was an angel. Who'd have thought giving someone pizza would be that awesome?

I'm a little worried about next semester. I'm teaching level 5-7, which are sort of grouped together. Level 5 was my worst class this semester, and what if ALL my classes next semester are the same? I'll die. I just can't do it. Also, the classes are a little different this time, so I might have to run through a class before I try to teach it. Bleh.

With the new term come new teachers. We have three newbies: Cole, James and David. I haven't meet David yet, but the other two seem like nice guys. Danielle's right though; we ladies are becoming horribly out numbered. (5 v. 9) There are also a bunch of new teachers for SLP (the other Hogwon that houses teachers in our block). They also seem nice.

I bought tickets for Nanta and one of the desk teachers helped me. I'm glad, because I doubt I could have figured it out on my own. We couldn't buy tickets in English, so we went to the Korean version of the site and then she helped me enter in all the information. I brought tons of papers and information, just in case we'd need it, but it turns out what I really needed was a thumb drive. A thumb drive?! I'd never heard of such a thing and I still don't understand how it works. I think you enter your information and the drive stores the stuff, so you can just plug in the drive and the computer automatically picks up the information. Seems sketchy if you ask me, but whatever. Talk about weird. Ji-Hye, the desk teacher, also found directions and other stuff for me, which was really sweet. She's so nice. Haha.

On Friday, we went out to Hongdae again. I had a good time until another girl splashed her drink in my face and down my front, which was more humiliating than anything else, even though my eyes stung a little from the alcohol. I was so self-conscious about my soaking wet top that I didn't have much fun for the rest of the evening. I also got pretty blitzed and ended up throwing up on the drive home. Thank God I was traveling with Euna (my HI who speaks Korean) because the cabbie was pissed and wanted extra money for the trip. He even threatened to call the cops if we didn't pay up, which I did. It was awful, since I knew the cops would side with the driver over a drunk foreigner. Also, Euna was pissed off at me too, I was humiliated, and I know I wasn't a good (or even ok) representative of foreigners.

(I think I hate that part the most, since I always get upset when I hear stereotypes of foreigners in Korea as drunk/high deviants. I hate that I became a stereotype, even if it was only in front for one person. Embarrassing situations in Korea are so much more troubling that the exact same situation in the US. :( )

For Thanksgiving, our group did a big gathering and pot luck on Saturday. We got two huge turkeys from Itaewon (the foreign district) and everyone brought something extra. (I brought soda, since I'm lame and un-talented like that.) It was a lot of fun and a great change of pace from our usual weekend booze ups. A lovely rest for my liver and my stomach. I liked it and I think the others did too. Cormick even suggested that we do it again once a month, which might be fun; just having a large potluck gathering. Well, we'll see.

The Saga Continues....

On Wednesday, I decided to let the desk teachers handle the situation, but I would make the two troublesome girls sit apart. When the first one came in, she bowed really low. I mean, bend parallel to the floor low. I'm pretty sure they got a talking to by someone and it shook them up. Is it sad that I'm not at all bothered that it might have been their mom, who probably hit them too? Probably. Anyway, that seems to have solved the problem. The desk teacher even got them out of class so they could apologize to me, thought I really got the feeling that it was more of a "we're sorry that we got caught and you're pissed."

Which is legit. On Wednesday, I was crossing the street and, most of the time, I jay-walk when I cross over to my apartment. This time, when I crossed over, there was a cop standing there and he yelled at me. "Danger!" he told me. Three things come to mind at this point. One) like my students, I was like "Sorry! (that I got caught... and I'm totally going to do it again...)" and Two) doesn't that just show how safe Korea is that crossing at a non-cross walk is considered dangerous? (And yes, I know that was probably the only English he knew.)

The third thing is how AWESOME! it is that I can play the stupid foreigner and get out of a chew out. In the states, I'd have to listen to the cop yell at me and I'd be expected to stick around. In Korea, I can go "oops!" and be allowed to walk away with a sorry, because, let's face it, it's not like I'd know what he was saying anyway.

The results for the level up tests are out, and I think most of my kids leveled up, and with a few exceptions, I'm not surprised at all by who leveled up and who didn't. I think my most annoying kid jumped a level, which is probably for the best, as he and the other boy should probably be split up. I asked my kids who leveled up, which was a fairly bad move, since it was awkward if one of my kids didn't level up. Like in my level one, where most of them leveled up, except for one girl. Aaaawkward. >.>

Some of my kids are getting too relaxed since the results are out now, so I ended up bitching out my level 5. (Bitching out being the only appropriate phrase for it.) I was so pissed, I almost cursed at them. For the record, the sheer shock of it gave me order for the rest of class. Apparently, I was so loud the class next door could hear it all and were listening in on my tirade about how my kids thought they were awesome because the leveled up, but they really weren't all that, so no-one was allowed to talk from then on unless they were called on.

That class was a mess though. Later on in class, I was taught a silly "how compatible are two people as a couple" thing with names. It was kind of fun and me and two girls did it with the names of some of my kids in class. It was fun, especially since the new girl thought that this one boy had a crush on this girl in class, which I thought too.
I also ended up calling one of my boys a girl. (I said "Boys!" and he said "I'm not boys!". So I said, "You're a girl?!" I know... I'm so mature.)

In my level 4, I taught my kids the word lame, as in the opposite of cool. One of my girls looked up the word and found the literal meaning, so she asked about it, complete with foot-dragging limp to demonstrate, which was awesome. She also asked about the word "suicide". After giving she gave the example of hanging yourself to another student, I went on to mention jumping in front of a train. And it all went downhill from there. One kid mentioned slitting your wrists, but she made the "across the street" motion, so I told them that it was "down the road", after which I realized I was discussing this with a bunch of twelve year-olds. I'm such a terrible person.

On Saturday/today, I went to a museum which strangely displayed a hodge-podge of history and art stuff. It was interesting enough, though I can't say I really liked it, since it was an awkward blend of history and art. It wasn't exactly a history museum or a art museum; I couldn't appreciate the art because of the history focus, but there wasn't enough history to appreciate it that way. Still, I'm glad I went, since it was free. I, cleverly as it happens, got a audio guide, which helped a lot since there weren't many English translations of signs. However, the sensor was a little off and I would sometimes get information on something I wasn't looking at, which was confusing until I figured it out. Still, nice stuff, lots of objects and good displays/organization.

So, things have come to a bit of a head in my level 3. I have two girls in my class who a two-faced suck-ups. I've been aware of this for a while, but their previous "sweetness" has carried a lot of weight up until this point.

On Monday, I started to crack down on them, mostly because they've been speaking Korean a lot and one of the girls has been carving in the desk, so I came down on them like a ton of bricks, for writing on the desk, speaking Korean and then leaving the room without permission. I noticed that they were writing a note in the back of class, so I went to take it and there was basically a scuffle for the paper. In the process I noticed that my name was on it. It was huge--not very subtle at all--and written in red pen. (In Korean, you only write someone's name in red if they're dead. I'm not sure if this was the intended point, but whatever.)

Anyway, I figured they weren't saying nice things about me, so I took them out in the hall for a chat, which I don't think fixed much. Anyway, after class, I asked Euna, my HI, about the note and she said the part I had grabbed--it was ripped in the scuffle--was REALLY rude and used curse words. Greaaaaat.

I was so much happier when I didn't know what the note said, since then I didn't care what a pair of 12 year olds thought about me.

Anyway, I asked a desk teacher about it, since Euna recommended that I do something. The desk teacher thought it was really bad and was going to talk to my class, until I told her that it was the first class and I now had my later class. I think she's going to talk with them on Wednesday.

A part of me feels like I may have made the wrong move. I mean, this feels a bit like I'm a kid going to the teacher to settle a fight. Shouldn't I be able to handle this? Should I do anything at all? I mean, it's only two more weeks; maybe I should just take it like an adult and forget about it? Should I passive-aggressive style target the girls/give them a hard time? UUUUUGGGGHHH!!!!!

That "section of class" is interesting though. (I can split the class into three sections. Girls I, Girls II, Boys.) Girls II always sit in the same spots, in the back of the class. They consist of R, LK, C and S. LK and C are the trouble kids and R is friends with them. R is a new student, so she teamed up with LK and C, who are very outspoken and fun, to have some friends. A wise move at the time. However, since I came down on LK/C, R has distanced her friendship with the girls.

On the other hand, S isn't terribly popular and she sits by herself, bordering the guy section; partially in self-imposed exile, but partial since the other girls tolerate her at best, and are mean at worst. Anyway, I think she sucks up to C in an attempt to have someone who likes her in class.

Ahhhh, it's all so political. I'm sure I could draw country metaphors if I thought about it.

Now that testing is over classes are a bit more wild. You have to be way more strict, which is hard because sometimes the kids just don't care. I even had one kid tell me it was because the testing was over. Although cracking down on behavior is hard, I'm also beginning to crack down on on-line homework, but I think it's too late for that at this point. The kids are really acting up though. I had two girls try to play with my hair during lesson. As in, reach across their desk and start braiding my hair. Didn't even ask. I told them they can play with my hair the last day if they're good, so that might be a good incentive. I just hope they don't cut it, like they asked if they could. I also had an almost fight between two of my kids in my lowest level. That was a horrifying new experience.

My mega class is the worst since I never had much control over them in the first place. I ended up having to take one kid outside to chat. Sadly, a victory in that class is if the boys are quiet. Such a different standard from my other classes, where victory is everyone getting their work done. I feel bad for a fellow teacher, the one who has had a lot of trouble with discipline. Apparently, he's having a lot of trouble and the boss is really getting on his case. Poor guy.

In other news, one of my level 1 kids is an awesome drawer. I found out recently that he draws on the back of his tests, so I think I'm going to start copying them. The pictures are really good, in a cartoon-ish sort of way, but sometimes they're kind of boarder-line messed up too. Some of his pictures are just good and detailed (i.e. a drawing of a city, complete with electric church crosses [churches here have light up crosses on top of them so you can see them from a distance]), but some are a bit disturbing (i.e. someone cutting off their fingers... yes, I know). Still, I hope he goes into art in his future. It would be such a waste if he became a lawyer or something.

On Friday, I went to a museum tour. I didn't learn much about history or the objects in the museum, but it was more of an art/design lecture. I learned a lot about Korean iconography, such as the meaning of cranes, flowers, turtles, and so forth. The museum seemed pretty cool though, so I might go back. We also got to make a folding screen with the symbols that we had learned about. I did one with a flower design and some Chinese characters for good fortune.

On Saturday, I read about the lantern festival in Seoul, so I decided to head down. It was FREEZING! but it was a lot of fun. I spent a long time looking at the lanterns, which weren't small things. They were formed into shapes, like cranes, Big Ben, traditional Korean clothing, musical instruments, and so forth. I went alone, so I only have two pictures of myself there, which is probably for the best because I looked a bit like a babushka, with my scarf over my head. However, in my defense, I didn't have a hat/hood and it was COLD! and when I had the scarf over my head I was fine. Babushka's clearly know what's up with the cold thing. I might look to other people for fashion, but I'm going to the babushka for keeping warm tips. (Babushka fashion: 1; Seoul winter: 0)

There was a Japanese group there, with their lantern of a famous Kabuki character. I got a photo with them/the lantern. In hindsight, I should have stuck around and practiced my Japanese with them. (I didn't even ask for a photo the right way. ; _ ;) but I didn't listen to them talk a bit and that was good practice. Anyway, it was a lot of fun. I'll post my photos eventually.

Halloween was fun. I went out with my co-workers and I dressed up at Pippi Longstockings, which is a costume I probably should have worn years ago, but I just never got around to. Weird, really. There was/is some intense drama among the other teacher and, "for reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture", many people ended up irritated with each other at the end of the night. Oh, the drama. Fortunately, I get to watch and not get involved if I so choose, which I do because I have a braincell. It's kinda though, when I figure out what's going on without knowing the whole story, and then learn that I'm pretty close. Like a detective story.

This week we had level-up testing, so there's was nothing to teach and "classes" were all pretty easy. I had to grade some papers (writing and speaking), which was interesting, since there was plenty of personal discretion. It was kind of fun to grade. Well, the writing was boring, since I never got anything very "good" (i.e. funny). But speaking was interesting, since they had to answer a question like "what pet do you want?" or "TV at home or movies at a theater?" Most of my kids did well, even though my best kid in 4 froze and had to re-do hers.

Most of my kids were pretty good. (Professional test takers, as one of my co-workers called them.) Even my problematic class (and student) were good. I only had trouble with my level four when we had a long break and my level one during a speaking section. My level four got a bit rowdy and another teacher came in and yelled at them twice. I felt bad for the kid who was the loud one, since he's a really nice/shy kid, but he kept knocking on the wall, so what can you do? I felt really embarrassed about it. I guess it's like when you're a parent and your kid misbehaves. It seems to reflect back on you. Whenever one of my difficult kids goes to another teacher for a class, I always end up asking how they were, hoping they were good.

My top three L1 kids got into a shouting match during one students speaking test, when they were supposed to be SILENT!, so I really screamed at them when she was done her section. I'm pretty sure they have no idea what I said (it pretty much consisted of "HOW DARE YOU?!"), but I figure the face and loud voice showed my displeasure.

Anyway, it's over now, so it's back to the grind. Apparently, the last three weeks are hard, since they kids have taken the test and they're hard to control. Goody....

My voice isn't what you'd call MIA.  It's really just taking a vacation and a man's voice has taken over for the time being.  Seriously, I sound horrible.  Fortunately my kids have settled for just a quick mocking before getting over it and moving on.  Since I can't yell at them, I must smile and nod.  Truly, teaching children will do one of two things to your self-esteem: atomize it or make it impervious to a nuclear holocaust.  Thankfully, I'm the latter.  (I'd just like to say to all parents and teachers, I have never respected you so much.  Kids can really suck.)

Apparently something has gone down, because we got chewed out (very nicely... and in Korean) at a meeting by our boss.  We're not totally sure what happened for two reasons.  One of which was that our translators were either unwilling or unable to translate everything being said to us.  (Probably a mixture of the two, since our boss would talk for twenty minutes before letting them translate.)  Another one, I think, was that our boss wasn't terribly specific.  All I got out of it was "Be more professional" and "don't lose students".  No hows or whys.  Possibly the whys are need-to-know, which I don't really, but I'd love a How.  I mean "be professional" could mean anything.  I'm basically assuming she doesn't mean me until I hear something different.  We shall see; we shall see.

Next week, we have testing at school.  I have no idea what's going on, but at least I'll have five practice runs before I actually have to know what I'm doing.  (Five practices are 4 practice test slots and one for real test with a group that's done it before.)  I hope this goes well, because if it doesn't I'll screw myself and 30-odd kids.

My level 1 kids play Korean jaxs (Komki, I think).  They play with 5 small weighted plastic objects, instead of the metal items.  They're really good; I suck.  They're so quick.  They can also do something where they out the jaxs on the back of their hand, flip the jacks and grab them out of the air.  It's incredible, so I like to just watch.  I think, perhaps, this is a case of old dogs and new tricks.

Sometimes, I'm worried that I'm being sexist.  I'm concerned that I'm favoring my female students over my male students.  Sometimes I notice that I call on my girls more often than I call on my boys and I can't tell if this is because my girls raise their hands more, if there's just more girls than boys, if I'm ignoring the boys, or if I'm just imagining it.  I try to be fair, but I'm not totally sure I'm succeeding.  (Perhaps I should call on an even number no matter who raises their hands to prevent the boys from slacking.  Oh course, I can't call on them if they don't know the answer, but then I forget to call on them for something like readings, and if they're not very good at readings it can be painful, but I don't call on them and they never get better and it's a vicious cycle!  ARGH!)  I wish I knew what to think.

Halloween is Saturday and I still don't have a full costume (no time and I've been sick).  I also haven't decided if I'll be going out with the other teachers or if I should see Brown-Eyed Girls.  I'd really like to Brown Eyed Girls, but I figure I should hang out with the other teachers so I can stay in the "call them, there's a party on" loop.  I skipped last weekend, but if I skip another weekend, I'll probably fall out of the loop again.  Tricky....

This regular blogging thing is starting to become a habit.  An ugly, ugly habit.

Anyway, I thought I'd post this story since it's a bit of an interesting foreigner living in Korea "character" study.  I'm starting to lose my voice, which isn't surprising since I talk practically non-stop at least 3 hours a day.  The only shock is that it's taken this long to actually happen.  (Thankfully this is Thursday, so as long as I can get through Friday, I can pass out for the weekend.  No harm, no foul.)  Anyway, in a hope to self-medicate and fight off any potential colds, I decided to by a bit of hard alcohol to clear anything nasty out.  Basically, I decided to spike my punch.  So, on my way home from work, I dropped by the grocery store/target combo near my place and went to the liquor section.  By passing the soju (with it's ~20% Alcohol content) I went straight to the KGB.  KGB is Korea's shout out to Cade (Shout out!!) and her cranberry juice-vodka mixes; it's vodka mixed with lemon, grapefruit or lime. 

I ended up buying myself a 4 pack of Lemon KGB since it was cheaper.  Instead of putting it in my bag, I just lazily tucked it under my arm and walked the 100 meters/yards home.  And all the way home I thought, never in America.  Anyway, I thought it was interesting to think about the relaxed laws on liquor sales here in Korea, or to hear about how close I got to being arrested in Korea.  Either/or.

Sadly, this is a bit of a turning point for me.  Before coming over here, I read an article and the writer claimed that "all English teachers" in Japan become a bit of an alcoholic.  Determined to buck this "trend", assuming that it is fairly accurate, I decided I wouldn't buy alcohol to keep in my fridge.  This followed the logic that if I had it, I'd drink it, but if I didn't have it on hand, this would cut down on my alcohol consumption considerable.  Sadly, this rule didn't last long, as I've now got a 4-pack of KGB in my fridge.  While this is a positive turning point for my wallet, my psyche is probably crying like a little girl.  Oh well, bring it on.

My classes are starting to get a bit unruly.  Even my kids who are normally very good are getting bored and lazy in class.  They've started arguing with me about certain activities, but mostly they fall back into line once I don't move on the issue.  I think some other teacher said it had something to do with the kids being more comfortable with you so they push the issue more.  Still, I have two girls who won't stop chatting, and then get super mad when I move one of them. 

I also had a girl who cried in my class today.  I'd just like to clarify and say that I wasn't the one who made her cry.  Some other girl was mean to her and shut her out of a group thing... I think.  I'm not totally sure what happened, since the girls wouldn't tell me exactly what was happening.  I'm just not sure what happened, but apparently I'm not supposed to put her in a group with this other girl.  It was awful, and I felt awful afterwards.  Blah.  I've come to see teaching as performance art; except it's worse in the sense that you have to perform for the same audience more than once, so if you hate them or it goes badly, you have to do it again.  This can be good, in that you get a re-do, or truly horrible.  Not to mention, if they don't like your performance, they can leave, and you'll know they didn't like it.  (Like a waitress if you don't leave a tip.)

[One former teacher said that whatever you decide--if you're going to stay or go after your year is up--early on will change by the time it gets closer to the actual event.  So, let's see if that's true.  I don't think I can do this for a full year, let alone two, so I'll probably be out as soon as this is up.  Let's see what happens.]

I also had a student say "fuck you" in class; not to me, but he said it in a hypothetical situation sort of way.  I was so shocked, my jaw dropped and I just stared at him for a bit.  It was really hard to tell him never to say that word ever again, without flipping out on him.  There is also way too much "bird-flipping" among my students.  Obviously they know it's a bad thing, but I hope they realize how bad it is.  Sadly, they probably just see it in movies and miss the truly offensive nature of the gesture.

In other news, I've started taking some classes.  I started taking a Korean language class, which is good.  It's free and classes are an hour and a half twice a week.  It seems to be working out pretty well, but we're still on pretty basic stuff, like what's your name and I'm from America.  The class is awesomly diverse, even though all of class is taught in Korean and English.  My teacher reminds me a lot of my Japanese teachers in Japan.  Creepily so at times.

I also took a class on how to make Kim Chi.  It was a very interesting experience, and I'm glad I went to the class.  I now know a lot about kim chi, but I also know I'll never be making it ever again.  It's so complicated!  (It takes over a week!  No lie!)  I might make the turnip form again though, since that wasn't too bad.  We'll see how my batches turned out.  I hope they're good; I'd feel bad about wasting the food if my stuff is awful.  It also turns out that I am the messiest cook every to step foot in a kitchen.  I had kim chi stuff up to my elbows and I had sauce stains/splodges from my wrist to my elbow, not to mention on my shirt, and I was wearing gloves.  Clearly, I needed those dish washing gloves that go up your arm.  Tragic.  I don't get it either; since I had stuff everywhere and this other lady managed to do the whole thing without an apron.  It's just not fair.  Still, the lady I was cooking next to took pity on me and helped me with the washing up and stuff.  She was from Japan, so I got to practice some of my Japanese too.

I haven't been out clubbing lately, but I hung out with the others on Friday.  I didn't go out since I was meeting up with my Korean friend Elle the next morning, but I went out on Saturday night, which was a nice change of pace.  I actually had fun too, which isn't always that case, so I stayed out until 3.30, but most people agreed that it was about time to go home at that point, so I managed to cab it with others.  We stopped at McDonald's on the way back, which was... interesting.  Not only did one of the guys I was with decided that it was an awesome idea to pee in the store (If foreigners are banned from the McD's in Sincheon from now on, that's what happened), but two boys also got into a fight with food trays.  One of them got whacked in the eye and was actually bleeding.  It seemed to be getting better when I saw him later, but his eye was bloodshot, there was a cut near his eye and he was going to have some bruising.  So we spent a while coming up with his cover stories; one for his boss (he works at a different school) and one for his kids.  The kid's story was easy (anything with secret agents, ninjas or pirates), but the one for his boss was trickier because it had to be plausible, not that the truth was actually all that plausible really.  I think he decided on a basketball injury (accidentally got hit in the face while being guarded, or something).

Parent meetings were Monday for me.  No one came, and I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  Either way, I wasted an hour, but whatever.

My MM is still a handful and not in a sort-of-ok way.  More in a "festers in my soul" sort of way.  I was really mad after my friday class and this didn't really go away over the weekend.  I'm just full of negative something.  Ugh.  Anyway, they weren't as bad on Monday, mostly because all the girls came but only one of the guys showed up.  I've come to the conclusion that half the class doesn't really care about it, which is frustrating because I want to teach them!  I WANT them to level up, and not because I secretly hope that means I won't have to deal with them again.  I WANT them to do well but they don't want to.  Frankly, this bothers me.  A lot.  Still, I'm a bit at a loss over what to do. 

Anyway, on a funnier note, although it wasn't funny at all when it happened, here's a story.  On Tuesday, I go out to pick some stuff up and come back to see there's a note pasted on the elevator.  It's all in Korean, but it's about the 4th and 6th floor (I live on the 4th).  Still, I follow the "If it's in Korean, it doesn't apply to you" rule, which works 9 times out of 10, and even when it doesn't work, it's usually something like "I missed the free concert?!  Bummer!"  (I'm sure you can see where this is going.)

Come 3 o'clock, I grabbed my stuff and opened my door to head out, when suddenly a woman, who was standing in the stairwell, was like "NOOOO!!!  You can't leave your apartment!"  It turns out that they were waxing the hall floor, so she wasn't going to let me out until it had dried.  I was trapped! and I needed to be at school in a half-hour.  (It's a 20 minute walk, but I've done it in 15.)  I thought about going for the fire-exit, which was apparently a no-no.  In addition, when you live on the 4th floor, you look at your windows as an escape route.  I legitimately looked at my window and thought about climbing out that way.  Sad, I know.

I didn't know what to do/say and I don't know how long I have to wait, so I call my HI, who thought this was all hilarious and told me to make a run for it.  But I can't since the old lady is guarding the exit!  Anyway, he told me to just go for it and keep telling her sorry/I need to go in Korean.  So when I hung up I told her I needed to leave now! and she felt out some dry areas for me to walk on.  So I ended up scraping along the side wall to go to work and then running down the stairwell to freedom!  (I was on-time too!  I did the whole walk in 10 minutes, which is AWESOME! and about the same time a cab would have taken.  I really do have to learn the Korean words for directing a cab.)  Anyway, all's well that ends well, so it's hilarious now.

On Sunday, the day after Chuseok, I went to Everland with Wendy and Fed.  It was interesting.  It took me a while to meet up with them, so I grabbed some lunch and checked out the monkey exhibit.  (For the record, I almost died when I realized one of the information signs actually used the word ass.  I was also interested to see that the signs for "STAFF ONLY" call the staff cast.  Hmmmm....)  We watched a "Halloween parade", which was really interesting/fun.  They import foreigners to work as performers at Everland; so noted in case this teaching thing doesn't work out.  I did note the interesting differences between halloween in America and Halloween in Korea (or, at least, in Everland).  In America, the focus tends to be on the goth and demonic, while the Everland take was much more "festive" and happy-smile-dance time.  A bit like in Japan where "Nightmare Before Christmas" is seen as cute and Disney, instead of gothic and Hot Topic.  Yet another example of events and ideas being changed when they are taken from one culture to another.  (HA!  Take that Lampman!  I'm not crazy!)

We also went on a "Safari", for which we had to wait an hour.  It wasn't really worth it, and I'm not just saying that because I saw lions, etc. in the wilds of Africa, and caged animals, no matter how close up they are, will never compare.  It really just wasn't all that awesome, and it was far too short.  We also rode the "T Express" which was a super-special-awesome rollercoaster.  It was actually really exciting!  Aside from all the drops and turns, it did this thing where there'd be these two sharp/medium drops in quick succession.  That was brilliant!

When we were looking at the photos from the ride, a guy tried to make conversation with me.  I didn't really realize it at the time, but I did brush him off fairly rudely.  Part of it was I didn't realize he was actually trying to strike up a conversation (I am an idiot, yes; why do you ask?) and then I though Wendy and Fed were leaving, so I wanted to keep up with them.  Wendy sort of told me off for this, criticizing my networking skills.  She's right of course.  So, I'm resolved to improve them.

We also stuck around Everland until 9, when there was a fireworks display.  At least, we thought it was a fireworks display.  It turned out to be an incredible fireworks/laser/lights/GIANT FLAMES/MORE FIREWORKS extravaganza.  No joke.  We were stunned.  The flames were so hot, we could feel it on our faces, and we weren't even close to them.  I'm also never seen so make fireworks in one go; not even on 4th of July.  And then there were more fireworks; they were not fooling around.  In short, that show alone was worth the 25 dollars entrance fee for Everland.

Of course, I had classes again.  Report cards are done, but parent conferences are on Monday for me.  Well, best to get it over with, I suppose.  The week was fairly normal, leaning towards stressful.  I'm worried that some of my kids aren't going to level up.  I'm not too concerned about my 1s or 3s, they seem pretty bright and even if they don't make it this time, I'm sure they will next time.  It's my 4s and 5s that worry me.  They don't strike me as really understanding the materials, and I can't figure if I'm not teaching them right or if they're not working right.  I keep meaning to ask for advice, but I can't figure out who/how to ask.  On teacher suggested that I get them to do more independent work to see who's just tagging along, but I'm not sure how to help those kids.

In addition, I might actually hate my 5s.  Ok, so hate's a pretty strong word, but they can be so lazy sometimes, not to mention, they just will not focus!  The guys especially.  Even chewing them out doesn't work.  I wouldn't even mind so much if they didn't work, but shut their mouths.  But they keep talking and driving me crazy.  I also found out that one of the boys was calling a girl a cockroach.  (I thought he was just screwing up how you say her name, but what do you know.  It's entirely possible that this girl is going to hit him... and a part of me really hopes she does.)  I think he was also writing a Korean curse word on his desk.  I swear, I've had it with this kid; I don't know what I'm going to do with him, but if he tried to jerk my chain next class, I'm going to freak out on him.  I can only hope I don't curse at him.

Sadly, the light in all of this, aside from the fact that I actually like my 1s & 3s (and generally my 4s), is that the books are so stark-raving crazy.  While, this is probably because I'm reading too much into them, I like to think it keeps me sane.  I've already mentioned how my EC3 read a book about a motorcycle race across the Amazon Jungle, which is a stupid idea on soooo many practical levels, but that's not even mentioning the fact that the police go to protect Indians from Miners who are killing the Indians for their land.  I decided not to tell my students how unlikely it was that this would actually occur, considering the marginalized status of Indians in Brazil, as well as Brazil's focus on industrialization.  You know, anything to keep those kids innocent, even though I did try to get them to overcome their stereotype as darker skinned people as dirty.  It wasn't as successfully as I'd have liked, but you know.   

Another example: My level 1 is reading a book about two British immigrants to America in the 1800s.  They work on a farm without rights, of course, since we don't have human rights or socialism/labor unions yet.  Finally, due to some bravery on the part of the daughter, who wears pants sometimes (clearly, a dangerous social element). they are awarded land by a nearby Indian chief.  Aside from the whole pants issue, the fact that the Indian chief would even have land to give the family is doubtful.  In addition, I doubt he would give the land over for agriculture, assuming he would have that sort of power.  Also, I'd like to note that one of the problems faced by the family is a lack of money, so even if they got the land, they'd still need to buy seed, farm equipment, farm animals, and other necessities, as well as build a house/shelters.

Friday, I went to an art exhibition of early 20th century French Photography.  I really liked it.  I especially liked a photo that was taken through a broken window and a bunch of shots that were taken from above a subject.  It was really interesting, especially since the photos played around with things like perspective.  That was a lot of fun and then I went to another exhibit on modern Korean painting, which was really good.  Some of it was a little too abstract, but for the most part I liked it.  In addition, now I know where the Seoul Art Center is.  It's a bit stupid though, since there's a bus that takes you there, but I can't figure out where the bus is that takes you back.  Fortunately, it isn't that far a walk, so I just hiked back.  I can see that being a pain if I go to a night concert though.  (I've picked up the October Schedule and some stuff looks really good.)

I didn't do anything Saturday, but Sunday I went to a large Charity flee market.  It wasn't that far away, so I took the subway.  Outside the station, there was a group of break-dancers, so I watched that for a while, and they're really good.  Korea really has a thing for break-dancing, but that's cool, since there are plenty of performances, generally at unexpected times/places.

At the market, I found that all those years of picking through charity shops in England have deserted me.  I just don't have the patience for it anymore.  I mostly just scanned over booths.  I wasn't looking for anything in particular, but after a while I started keeping my eyes open for a nice dress and shoes, as well as some jeans, and some sweaters/coats.  I ended up doing pretty well.  I figured out my pants size over here.  (There's something depressing about going from an 8 to a 32...)  I didn't get any pants, but I did pick up a light sweater, a belt, and two heavy coats for about 16 dollars.  Yes.  Y-E-S, Yes.  I also wanted an awesome dress from Zara, but it wouldn't zip.  Stupid ribcage!  Who needs you anyway.  So that was a bit depressing.

However, when I wandering through the subway system, I decided to check out one of the stores there.  A lady was selling some nice jeans for about $10, so I looked at them.  (Creepily she guessed my size exactly... >.>)  But then she said I could try the pants on before buying.  Let me explain: there are no dressing rooms here.  Wendy told me about how, to try things on, girls just strip down and pull it on in the middle of the store.  And that, ladies and gentleman, is basically what I did.  My Korean moment of the day included the lady pulling some racks around and I just tried on the pants.  (I've decided not to think about how many people walked by while this went on.)  Still, the pants are nice and the price was right.  ($10 and some humiliation.)  All this is much better than Japan, though, where buying clothing just wasn't going to happen.

It's been a fairly quiet week.  This Saturday is Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), and report cards were due the same day, so things have been a bit hectic, but not too bad.  I finished my cards early, so I didn't really have to worry about it, like some other teachers did.  Other than that, it's all been pretty unexciting.

On Tuesday, I went to a National Health Insurance office with one of the desk teachers and got health insurance.  I decided to go now, since I have to pay for all of the months I've been here, so no matter when I get it, I'll always have to pay the same amount in the end.  The whole thing took about an hour, which worked out pretty well.

My classes were a bit dull, in that I've yet to hear anything on the level of the "Mistake: Baby" comment.  I did have a moment when one kid said pillage instead of village, but that's pretty tame.  The most "exciting" thing to happen this week was when one of my kids smashed his face on a desk.  He was rocking forward, over his desk, on his chair and it slipped, so his cheek hit the desk as he fell.  He's going to have a massive bruise.  He was crying, and I don't blame him, so I sent him down to the first floor to pull himself together, get some mothering, and have them make sure he didn't break anything, while I continued to class.  I've started using him as a cautionary tale though, and I tell my other classes that it was horrible, with blood everywhere!  I actually had two boys searching the back area looking for blood stains.  One of the other teachers told me to scribble on the floor with red marker and tell them it's blood, but I've decided there's a difference between telling them a lie and giving them false evidence.

Though apparently Korean kids are a little shaky on the concept of "evidence".  Apparently, most of the kids (and a decent section of the adult population) believe in fan death [the idea that if you sleep with all the windows/doors closed and a fan on, you'll suffocate to death].  This all came up because some students told Euna that if you play basketball, you'll get taller.  She argued this with them, saying that it's because taller people are better at basketball, that players tend to be taller, but they were totally convinced.  One girl even cited a friend who played basketball and got taller; Euna rebuttal was "Because you're young!  That's what you do!"  Eli thought this whole thing was hilarious.

My EC1 class finished Dick Whittington, which ends with Dick getting married.  I'd like to point out that Dick in this story is 12.  Even if there is some time lag between his arrival in London, and his stumbling into wealth, we're still looking at a 14 year old getting married.  And yet, we all just gloss over this.  (Clearly, I'm thinking too much about the stories.)

I've noticed that my "one minute" time limit just means "Whenever I say so".  I time the test taking, but when I tell my kids they have a minute to memorize something, this could mean anything from 45 seconds to 3 minutes.  It's great since none of my kids have called me on it.  I've also discovered that I really HATE some of the voices on the CD readings.  Example: the cat in Dick Wittington sounds creepy (Pedo-creepy) and the King could win a world's deepest voice competition... easily.  Now, my EC3 is listening a story about some fictional motorcycle race through the Amazon Jungle--I'd just like to say that it sounded like the worst idea I'd ever heard in my entire life--and I hate the voice of one of the main guys.  And even one of my kids commented on how the girl in the EC4 reading sounds like she's 3 seconds from falling asleep.  I just hate listening to it...  Where do they get these voices?!

Today, I took the metro to Gwanghwanmun, in hopes of finding a museum, but that fell by the way side and I ended up walking to Insa-dong and the stream.  Insa-dong is a "traditional" street.  I use quotes because it's all very commercialized culture. (*Insert diatribe about the way Westernization forces traditional culture to become touristic and commercialized, followed by a commentary/discussion on whether this is negative or not.)  It's really just a bunch of shops selling touristy items, but I think it's fun and the restaurants/stores/vendors are really nice.  I went to a tea house and had a cup, before wandering down the street.  I didn't get anything, just food, but I did look at some of the nice cards and dolls wearing traditional garb.  I'm thinking about picking up some cards for the holidays, and I might get myself a doll, for the collection.  After that I wandered over to the stream that got re-done recently and walked along that for a bit, before I headed home.

My level 4 and 5 still have smaller class sizes.  Interestingly, the desk ladies automatically mark kids who have testing as absent.  This, however, means that if a kid comes in anyway, I have to send them down to get checked in.  One of my level 5 girls came in on Friday so I sent her down, but when she came back her status hadn't changed to present, so I asked her if she had gone, but she didn't understand.  I tried for five minutes until Jin (the troublesome boy) asked if he could just translate it.  I was shocked!  Jin... being helpful?!  As an additional mystery, one has to wonder where Susan went that first time I sent her down.

On Saturday, I went to an AWC (American Women's Club) dinner with Wendy and Fed (two other teachers).  It was 40,000W (~$40), but it was totally worth it.  It was held in an absolutely beautiful spa and the food was excellent.  I felt a little awkward since I didn't know anyone there (except for Fed and Wendy), and most everyone else was older and knew other people, but it was still nice and everyone I talked to was friendly.  I also liked the fact that they were raising money for charities.  There was a raffle which benefited some groups, so I bought extra tickets.  I didn't win anything though.

I meet a friend of Wendy's there.  She and her husband are renting a dance studio and having a party there in November where we can learn some dances.  I'm super excited and it sounds like a lot of fun.

I also meet another English teacher there.  (Most everyone else was involved in some sort of upper-level executive business thing.)  Now there is someone who deeply unhappy with her life here.  She seems pretty isolated where she is and I don't think she likes teaching English (which makes me wonder why she's still here for a second year).  She seemed to be pretty focused on getting an upper-level/better paying job in business.  I feel bad for her, since she seems to be working a whole bunch of hours, but she seemed to be focused on the negative.  She was upset about how foreigners are treated in Korea, which might be truly an issues, but if you think it's so horrible, go home or do something about it.  Anyway, she seemed nice enough if a bit hung-up.  I invited the other English teacher to hang out on Sunday, but nothing ever came of it.

On Sunday, I went out to the ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) Tourism & Culture fair.   Funnily, when I left my apartment, the elevator took a long time coming.  When the doors finally opened, I was surprised to find that there was a man inside with a whole bunch of household items and a mattress, but I got on anyway.  Then the man started talking in Korean, and a voice behind the mattress answered him!  I hadn't even realized there was a woman back there.  I guess it's moving time again.

I caught the express train, so I arrived a bit early for the performances.  I had alloted extra time, in case it was difficult or if the ESL teacher I had meet earlier decided to come along.  Anyway, I got a chance to quickly look at the tourism booths and pick up some pamphlets.  It was a bit tricky at times, trying to find brochures in English, but the Myanmar actually found me some stuff.  The guy was like "Please, come to Myanmar".  Two questions arise: One, is it really safe to visit a country ruled by an oppressive military dictatorship.  Two, is it legal?  Or is Myanmar "Cuba- Asian style"?  Any thoughts?

After that, I grabbed a seat and waited for the program.  A lady was handing out pamphlets on ASEAN and I got a paper sun-visor, which was totally hideous, but I wore it anyway since I'm sure it was "part of the experience".  The first group to perform was from Vietnam.  It was a group of musicians who played some traditional music, which was really nice.

Then there was a group of dancers from Myanmar.  I know very little about Myanmar culture, so this was really different.  When I think about East-Asian dance and music, I think about Thai or Vietnamese, but this was not like that.  I'm not sure how authentic the music was, but the dance was a bit... athletic.  The dancer bent down and got up again (rapidly) a lot, and she bent at the waist often.  In addition, her dress was very long and trailed behind her, so she did this cool move, where she'd hook her foot around the train and flick it back behind her when she turned so it was behind her again.

Laos was next.  There were several different performances.  The dancers in the beginning did fairly simple dances.  Then there was also a man who played a large woodwind instrument.  He was pretty cool, as half-way through his bit he turned the instrument all the way around without pausing.  I also noticed he wore traditional pants, but he wore a large suit jacket-style top.  An interesting merger.  The last Laos dance was pretty cool too, since it was a bit more of a story (boy meets girl, flirt, etc.) It was really cute, if weird since the boy's prop was a crossbow.  It was cool.

Indonesia was next.  They were a traditional music group, which were really good.  They really got the crowd excited, and it was nice.  They had a lot of presence and the music was catchy.  They even got a woman from Singapore to dance while they played. 

After they were done, there was a break and I wandered around the tents.  I ended up getting a soupy-noodle dish from the Laos tent and I also bought a CD of Indonesian music (now I just need to get it to work on my computer....), and a small part of one of the Indonesian instruments.  It actually makes sound when you shake it, like you would do if it was still part of the instrument.  I also bought a belt that was worn by some of the Singapore dancers.  It's a silver chain belt that's adjustable.  I also got a set of coasters for free; they're really pretty with one sides about modern Singapore & the other being about Singapore tradition.  I was so excited!  I love cheap coasters!

While I was standing around, I saw a girl wearing a shirt saying "I'm So Fucking Disco".  I thought it was so hilarious I asked if I could take a photo, which she thought was funny.  I also watched the Indonesian band play for a bit, and then went up to another level where there was another section that was showing off ASEAN handicraft and drinks.  (I had tea and coconut milk.)  To get there, I think I took the long way through the mall.  This month is "The Grand Sale", where tons of places in Seoul are having deals/give-aways.  [I have picked up a booklet of coupons and I'm looking through for good ones.] So, I saw in the basement I saw a section where (only) foreigners could pick up a free gift if they're bought something.  I thought it was an interesting way of courting the foreign dollar and keeping a division between foreign and Korean.

Finally, it was time for the second half of the program.  Singapore did a quick version of a traditional wedding.  It was pretty funny, since the narrator had a lot of personality and attitude (though I'm still not sure if it was a man or a woman).  It was cool to see everything explained though and the costumes were very nice.  Then they did a song section.

Cambodia was next, but it was pretty simple, but I wonder if the dancer in green was supposed to be a different part (male-female, etc.).  It was very traditional, so I'd seen most of it before.  The Philippines was next.  They did a whole bunch of different dances.  Some of them seemed straight from Spain, which large hoop dresses and flowing skirts.  They also did some cool trick dances.  One of them was done on a narrow bench with the two dancers switching sides and jumping around.  It seemed tricky, since at one point the female dancer almost fell off the bench.  They also did a dance where the dancers jumped in and out of moving poles.  It was really cool.

Malaysia was next.  They had a four piece musical group and some dancers.  The dance was interesting in that the four dancers didn't seem to pair into male-female pairs.  Instead, it seemed that the men danced in one are with the women on the other section.  It was nice to watch.

Brunei was next.  I know nothing about this country (and it took me a while to find it on a map), but the dance seem to be a bit off.  The dances seemed plausibly tradition, though the costumes were colorful, but the music seemed a bit more like a rock show.

Thailand was the last group.  They were really cool, so it was a nice ending.  The first dance showed how a woman gets dressed.  There was also a court dance and then a pair of men did a dance/choreographed fight.  It was full of acrobatics and jumps and it was a lot of fun to watch.  It was funny too, since the pair pretended to be upset and hide each other's weapons, and at one point one of the guys got a small girl to "fight" with the other guy.  Anyway, the whole day was really nice.

On Monday, I went to Itaewon (the foreigner district) with Wendy and Fed to sign up for free Korean classes.  Unfortunately, we were too late to get the class we wanted so Fed and I are on the waiting list.  It might work out alright, but even if I don't get in the class, I'm planning to study up and I'll try to place into the next highest level, which doesn't fill up as fast, next time.  Still, it was nice to look around Itaewon, for all it's sketchy-ness.

Since it's Monday, it's time to get back to work.  I'm still looking at my report cards.  I'm mostly done, but there's till work to be done.  Classes are still weird since most middle schoolers are out and it's a national holiday on Friday.  It's Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving.  My level 3 was a bit while wild.  There were 16 of them, way more than there was space for.  The desks actually trapped them some kids in, so I had to move desks when it was break time.  I ended up yelling at them, because they were so rowdy.  Ugh!  And it's almost a holiday, so it isn't like I don't see why they're unfocused.  My Mega, on the other hand, was super quiet.  There were only 4 kids today, so it was like pulling teeth to get an answer.  We still ended up finishing earlier, so I tried to get a discussion going, but that was horrible.  Still, you do what you have to I suppose.

Before anything else is said... HEROES used my favorite English word in the premiere of Season 4.  Ummm.... yes.  You just never hear defenestration in casual conversation anymore.  I'll bet spell check won't even know it's a word. (edit: I stand corrected.)

My weekend was really busy.  Friday I went out to Hongdae again, but I didn't stay long.  It wasn't all that interesting.  Our group was about 11, but I only knew half of them.  Then, Cormick (one of the CDI teachers) invited some of his friends along.  When I think "some", I'm thinking 3 or 4.  Cormick means 10, and that's not an exaggeration.  So the number of people I knew was pretty limited, so I left around 2, when Euna and her boyfriend said they were leaving.  (I caught a cab with them.)

Saturday there was a BBQ for Danielle's birthday, and that was really nice.  I was only there for four hours, but it was fun.  We had it on the roof of the apartment building next door to mine.  The view is awesome and there are nice grassy areas up there, so it was an excellent place for an outdoor party.  The weather was really nice too, but that was lucky.  Everyone brought something.  I don't know much about BBQ-ing, so I just went to Home Plus (the Target-grocery store combo of Korea.  It's awesome.) and got 5 different bags of chips.  Something for everyone, and since other food, like salads and meat didn't come out for a while, it was a good thing.  There was also a Baskin Robins ice-cream birthday cake, which really took me back to childhood birthdays.  I never realized how much I missed ice cream cakes.  The ice cream was "Shooting Star", vanilla with pop rocks, and that was pretty good.  I don't know if I'd have it again, but it was decent.

Sunday I ended up going to lunch at Butterfingers, which is a breakfast place.  Most expensive breakfast I've had in a while.  I paid 10000W (~$10), but I just threw in what was needed to pay the rest of the bill; I think my portion was closer 14000W (~$14).  (I only had 10000 bills, so I would have needed change, but it turned out we only needed 10000 by the time I threw in...)  Anyway, I can't remember the last time I had a $10 breakfast.  The portions weren't even all that big.  Not to say that the food wasn't awesome; it just wasn't awesome enough, or just plain enough, to be worth the $10.  Though it was in Gangnam, so what did I expect.

Classes have been going well.  No more surprise meetings, and my kids aren't acting up outrageously.  Cormick was talking about a kid who was climbing over tables.  My kids are just a bit chatty and some have personal space issues.  In addition, some have shown that they don't care about the grades they receive, which is tricky, since that means there's no way I can make them focus if they don't care about their grades.  (Jin makes me want to rip out my hair sometimes...)

Three good stories so far this week, though.

I've got this new girl in my 4.  She's a transfer from another class, so I was asking the previous teacher if she could tell me a bit about the girl.  The teacher starts off, "well, she cheats..." and my stomach shot down to my shoes.  It turns out it was just a joke, and she told me that the girl was just quiet.  This is a bit of a lie though.  She's smart and knows the material, but because of that, she's a bit chatty with the other girls in class, since she knows the answers.  [I've actually started having that class do independent work to make sure everyone's getting the answers, instead of just copying the answers.]

My two other good story comes from my 5 (Mega). 

(5 has been fairly uneventful recently since around this time middle schools are having testing.  Because of that, CDI gives the students excused absences, so they can study for the tests.  I don't have any kids skipping my 1 and 3, but my 4 and Mega are mostly middle-schoolers, so there are plenty of absent kids.  In my 5, my most difficult student (Chris) has been out for a bit, which has meant that things are a bit easier. 

Interestingly, the other boy in the class (Jin), I think, looks up to Chris.  I think this because Jin's adopted Chris's attitude and dislike of another girl in the class.  When he first came, Jin was a good student, but now he's really difficult.  Stupid Chris (who is actually behaving better in class... Why can't he be a positive influence?!)  Jin has actually started picking on another girl as well.  Could we be seeing a bit of classroom romance?  Answer: unlikely.  Jin still thinks girls have cooties.)

Anyway.  After one class we had a bit of time because the group project was so short.  It was about whether or not you should lie to a friend about them being fat (if they ask).  I tried to stretch it out by talking about if it's ok to lie in the beginning and then I split them into groups.  The boy picked telling the truth, while I made one of the girl group pick truth and the other one pick lie, so we'd hear different sides.  After that, I talked about the ideas of fat and skinny.  It was interesting because most of the kids agreed that some Korean girls are way too skinny.  In addition, I also asked them if they thought I was fat, and they all said that I was "normal" or "average", which is a lie, because I'm certainly fat by Korean standards.  But then I asked them if other people would think I am fat and they said they would.  The difference, according to them, is that they see me a lot and for someone else it would be their first time seeing me, so they would think I'm fat.  (As another teacher pointed out, "so at one point, they thought you were fat.)  Good times.  Thankfully my self-esteem has been strengthened by Japan (and years of ignoring my doctor...)

The other story is possibly the best.  In Mega, we do a brainstorming activity where we take 3 vocabulary words and the kids come up with other words they think of when they think of that word.  Last class one of the words was "Mistake".

Teacher: What's one word you think of when you think of "mistake"?
Student: Baby!
Teacher: ... Ok!  Baby!

After my shock, I had to try so hard not to laugh.  That kid is possibly my new favorite student. 

(As a side note: The title quote is from the show Due South, and in the show the speaker means it as "be confident".  This quote comes from an episode that I saw a few years ago as a once off thing.  I never knew anything about the rest of the show, or half of what was going on in the episode... Until now.)