I found out today at around 12:30 that due to the snow, classes that night would be cancelled. According to my boss, this was the first snow day in the history of our branch, possibly even in the history of CDI. My initial reaction was utter relief and excitement, just as I would have felt growing up, after incessantly calling the emergency weather hotline and finding out I would not have to attend school that day. After the initial elation, I realized I had absolutely nothing to do all day; no plans, no errands I needed to run, and no one to hang out with...oh yeah, and no TV. Hence, I am writing my second blog post of the day.
A lot of my family members have asked me questions directed more specifically about my job. So here is a basic breakdown of my week. I have 5 different sets of classes, at 4 different levels. My biggest class has 16 kids and my smallest has 6. Because the classes are by level, I have a wide range of ages within the classes. My lowest level class is definitely my easiest because they are more than willing to talk, and they are actually very competent speakers and thinkers. That particular class is also the most fun, I laugh and joke with the kids all the time.
Each day, I have two classes; 4:30-7:30 and 7:40-10:40. The three hours goes by quite quickly with a small break in between each hour. Every teacher at every branch follows a specific curriculum and structure for each class. This makes my own workload quite light; I have maybe about 30 minutes of prep work per day. It also allows for only a week of training to be sufficient to start solo in the classroom the following week. We do various activities ranging from speaking, listening, reading stories, answering comprehension questions, and critical thinking projects. It’s not much different than a grammar school foreign language class in the states. The only difference is that the teacher, myself, does not speak the students’ first language.
The policy of “no Korean in the classroom” is hard on the kids because many times they get extremely frustrated when they are trying to get a point across, but are unable to find the vocabulary to do so. However, they are extremely compliant about following this policy. I was shocked to see how willing the kids are to speak solely in English, even on their breaks. One of my students wrote a love note to a student in another class and used another teacher as the messenger. He showed the letter to me (which is a whole other story) and the entire thing was in English. They will even refer to each other by their English names. Overall, the kids have really amazing attitudes considering that they are in a 3-hour “extracurricular class.” The last 3-hour lecture that I had to sit through in college I watched dvds on my laptop throughout each class and it was STILL boring and tedious. In other words, I keep that in mind, and therefore very rarely get frustrated with the kids that aren’t completely enthusiastic to see me. I can empathize. Although I really hope they don’t think of me the way I thought of Professor Trach...yikes.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
A Whole New Meaning to Variety
This weekend I went to Dongdaemun market which is right outside the East Gate of Seoul.
From what I had read of the market, it was supposedly bigger than what I saw, so we may have only hit the outskirts of it. Being a tourist is very much a trial-and-error experience. We followed these people with the giant garbage bags full of stuff, assuming they had gathered items from the market.
We came across all sorts of things: clothes, electronics, shoes, artwork, basically anything under the sun.
A lot of it consisted of piles of junk on a blanket or towel that were up for sale: old cell phones, cameras, key boards, nintendo remotes, etc.
The market even had a "pet" strip. I seriously considered buying one of these little bunnies...
From what I had read of the market, it was supposedly bigger than what I saw, so we may have only hit the outskirts of it. Being a tourist is very much a trial-and-error experience. We followed these people with the giant garbage bags full of stuff, assuming they had gathered items from the market.
We came across all sorts of things: clothes, electronics, shoes, artwork, basically anything under the sun.
A lot of it consisted of piles of junk on a blanket or towel that were up for sale: old cell phones, cameras, key boards, nintendo remotes, etc.
The market even had a "pet" strip. I seriously considered buying one of these little bunnies...
Saturday, December 26, 2009
FLAIR
On Christmas Eve, some of my co-workers and I went out to dinner and then to a local bar called “Flair Bar.” No, the flair does not refer to obnoxious buttons on the waitstaff’s uniforms, but I suppose more so the literal meaning of style of the bar. I soon found out this entails shows put on by the bar staff, otherwise known as choreographed dances as well as Tom Cruise style cocktail shows.
The girls, unfortunately were not as into it. Note the girl in the hat...these are basically stuffed animals that you wear on your head and are extremely common in Korea.
If you are unfamiliar with the phenomenon that is K-Pop, that was just a small taste of it. Here are pictures of some of the favorites, the Wonder Girls and 2pm
If the pictures do not explain it all, K-Pop is a genre of contrived pop bands that can best be compared to The Spice Girls or N'Sync...on speed. Every Korean loves K-Pop and it is absolutely everywhere. The music crosses gender, age, and class. It unifies the nation that is South Korea; no one can resist these sassy pop groups.
The girls, unfortunately were not as into it. Note the girl in the hat...these are basically stuffed animals that you wear on your head and are extremely common in Korea.
If you are unfamiliar with the phenomenon that is K-Pop, that was just a small taste of it. Here are pictures of some of the favorites, the Wonder Girls and 2pm
If the pictures do not explain it all, K-Pop is a genre of contrived pop bands that can best be compared to The Spice Girls or N'Sync...on speed. Every Korean loves K-Pop and it is absolutely everywhere. The music crosses gender, age, and class. It unifies the nation that is South Korea; no one can resist these sassy pop groups.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Kids Say the Darndest Things
What better way to start off the week than receiving a random present from one of my students? He just walked up to me and handed me a calendar, saying, “here teacher, a calendar,” and wandered back to his seat. This act was not that surprising to me considering that during break time, a handful of kids always come straight to my desk to offer me food. I mean, it would be rude to decline, right? One of the guidelines for eating here in Korea is sharing with everyone, which works out really well for people like myself and Beth Rahn, constantly asking “can I try that?”
Besides sharing food with me, there are a number of other quirks that my students have such as the obsession with creating love matches between people within the academy. For example, my one co-worker and I have shared a lot of the same students because we teach similar levels. Because he is male, automatically he is my boyfriend, according to them. Moreover, him and I get off work early on Fridays. I usually will wait for him at his door so we can walk out together (keep in mind this is before most of the students have left). Some of our mutual students saw me waiting and literally went nuts...in their minds he had pretty much given me a promise ring.
This week, they have apparently gotten sick of saying that I love my co-worker and moved onto someone else. My student, Cleo, said in class today, “Jamie teacher loves (mumble mumble).” I finally deciphered the words to be Carl Flint, who is an evil American character who hit a dolphin with his boat in the story that we’re currently reading (implications about Americans? not so sure). I laughed out loud and thought that it was so completely clever that every time we discussed the character during our reading comprehension section, I referred to him as my husband. This was one joke that they laughed at. Most other jokes fall on deaf ears. Joking toward the class is simply a way to entertain myself...in other words....I crack myself up quite often.
Besides sharing food with me, there are a number of other quirks that my students have such as the obsession with creating love matches between people within the academy. For example, my one co-worker and I have shared a lot of the same students because we teach similar levels. Because he is male, automatically he is my boyfriend, according to them. Moreover, him and I get off work early on Fridays. I usually will wait for him at his door so we can walk out together (keep in mind this is before most of the students have left). Some of our mutual students saw me waiting and literally went nuts...in their minds he had pretty much given me a promise ring.
This week, they have apparently gotten sick of saying that I love my co-worker and moved onto someone else. My student, Cleo, said in class today, “Jamie teacher loves (mumble mumble).” I finally deciphered the words to be Carl Flint, who is an evil American character who hit a dolphin with his boat in the story that we’re currently reading (implications about Americans? not so sure). I laughed out loud and thought that it was so completely clever that every time we discussed the character during our reading comprehension section, I referred to him as my husband. This was one joke that they laughed at. Most other jokes fall on deaf ears. Joking toward the class is simply a way to entertain myself...in other words....I crack myself up quite often.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Sardines
The public transportation system is pretty nice here; clean, easy and relatively efficient. I hadn't experienced the subway during peak rush hour until this weekend. It is pure insanity. As the train approached, we were essentially herded into the car, bouncing off everyone around us. I was able to get my arm up to take a picture:
This does not even capture how packed it was. I could not stop laughing the entire time we were on the train because it was the strangest feeling being so close to all these people. At one point my feet were not on the ground, I was suspended, wedged in between two people. All of us joked about not having to walk to work, but instead just floating there with the crowd. It doesn't really leave you with much choice as to where you're going. I would imagine people many times are forced to get off the train simply because the 20 people surrounding them carried them out.
This does not even capture how packed it was. I could not stop laughing the entire time we were on the train because it was the strangest feeling being so close to all these people. At one point my feet were not on the ground, I was suspended, wedged in between two people. All of us joked about not having to walk to work, but instead just floating there with the crowd. It doesn't really leave you with much choice as to where you're going. I would imagine people many times are forced to get off the train simply because the 20 people surrounding them carried them out.
Finding Nemo
On Saturday I went to Noryangjin fish market in Seoul which is basically 66,000 square meters of fresh seafood, mostly live. As we walked on the overpass, I knew we were close as the smell became more and more potent. The odor was no where near as bad as I had expected, though. We obviously left smelling like seafood, but since it was so cold outside, and inside the market for that matter, I was not overwhelmed with fishiness. I have no idea how you would choose between the vendors; each row had about 15 different stands, all selling the same type of sea creature. This is the view from above:
Anything that lives underwater, right at your fingertips.
Picking a live fish to have killed in front of you really takes shopping for food to a whole new level. The vendors will basically just throw the flailing fish onto a scale and whack it with a stick that has a hook on the end. Kind of savage, but interesting to watch. I couldn't help but scream "Oh my god!" each time that I watched this. The vendors would then mock me by saying "oh my goddd" in a squeaky annoying voice. I tried to contain my ditz comments, but it just came out, like tourettes.
Some of the fish were already dead, like this monkfish whose entire internal organs are exposed. Apparently you are supposed to eat the whole fish including the guts?
The most jarring image was this shark head. The seller flipped it over to show us the teeth, probably because he read from my face that I was totally stunned. It literally gave me chills up my spine.
I sampled some raw squid before we headed out; salty, chewy, and slimy...interesting.
Anything that lives underwater, right at your fingertips.
Picking a live fish to have killed in front of you really takes shopping for food to a whole new level. The vendors will basically just throw the flailing fish onto a scale and whack it with a stick that has a hook on the end. Kind of savage, but interesting to watch. I couldn't help but scream "Oh my god!" each time that I watched this. The vendors would then mock me by saying "oh my goddd" in a squeaky annoying voice. I tried to contain my ditz comments, but it just came out, like tourettes.
Some of the fish were already dead, like this monkfish whose entire internal organs are exposed. Apparently you are supposed to eat the whole fish including the guts?
The most jarring image was this shark head. The seller flipped it over to show us the teeth, probably because he read from my face that I was totally stunned. It literally gave me chills up my spine.
I sampled some raw squid before we headed out; salty, chewy, and slimy...interesting.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
This weekend I went to Daehongo in Seoul with some friends. The area has all sorts of theaters and art galleries throughout. We decided to go to a show described as a "romantic comedy" in a little theater we stumbled across. Judging from some of the Korean media I have been exposed to, I knew the show was going to be entertaining. Did it live up to my expectations? Indeed. The plot revolved around a woman who was unhappy with her seemingly abusive husband so she and her pigtailed maid devise a plan to kill the husband by poisoning him. The maid presents a man to pretend to be the husband as a cover for their crime (it was obviously the same actor just with nerdy glasses on). Long, complicated story short, they kill the husband along with his flamboyantly gay friend--not really sure what the flamboyance added to the plot but it provided for a good laugh. And what's a "romantic comedy" without a twist at the end? Turns out the maid, husband, and gay friend were all in cahoots to take the main character for everything she had. And wait...another twist! Jokes on the 3 criminals because the main character was an undercover police officer. All in Korean, I was able to make up corny dialogue in my head. The acting was so over the top though that I was able to decipher the story line. The best part was the special effects. Whenever there would be any kind of fight scene, the lights would flicker and house music would come through the speakers. I never thought I'd see a play where the producer found a way to include Prodigy's "Smack My Bitch Up" as part of the score. At one point, they used a strobe light and basically just busted out a party. I think the term romantic comedy got lost in translation. Love, lust, greed, and murder all in the confines of this living room set.
The seats were quite uncomfortable and we were sort of caged in to this box seating area. No one over 5'9" allowed.
This image does not really capture the space but I literally could not move my arm back enough to take a better picture.
One of the main theaters is going to be showing "Grease." I can't even begin to imagine how amazing that will be. I will be purchasing my tickets very soon.
The seats were quite uncomfortable and we were sort of caged in to this box seating area. No one over 5'9" allowed.
This image does not really capture the space but I literally could not move my arm back enough to take a better picture.
One of the main theaters is going to be showing "Grease." I can't even begin to imagine how amazing that will be. I will be purchasing my tickets very soon.
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