Purple with Rage

Friday meant the end of my second term. 6 months of teaching, done. I really can't believe I have been here that long. So Monday means new kids, new schedule, new classes. I'm looking forward to the next term because I will be teaching more upper-level classes. I am told these are a lot more fun and of course, have a little bit more mental stimulation. It will be nice to use my brain in class and stop reacting only to misbehaving children. Anyway, the end of the term also meant receiving student evaluations. The kids were surveyed, asked a series of standard questions. Most of the questions I ranked about average or a little above, compared with the rest of the staff. Then comes the Student Opinions. In this section, the students have the option to write our merits and demerits. Some examples:

Merits:
-You're kind and funny. And your voice is loud.
-You teach class so carefully and make us understand well.
-You say to me exactly so I can know the correct meaning.
-You're kind and nice so I like you. You're bright and laugh readily.
-When Critical Thinking Project finish, you give us some clap.

Overall, the merits focused on how I teach meticulously to help the kids truly understand what they were learning. I patted myself on the back...this is what I am here for, is it not? Turn the page, demerits...

Demerits:
-When I sit some seat in front of the classroom, my ears have pain sometimes.
-You nag a lot.
-You're cold-hearted.
-You act irritated everyday and say "F" continuously...I'm annoyed (this is a quote, the kid actually said, I'm annoyed)
-Other students say some Korean but you point out only me.
-When you shout, your face turns purple with rage. Please don't shout.
-You make me that I never say anything during class. Your class is so boring everyday. You get angry too much over trifles.

This last one was the one that got me the most. Clearly I am a raging bitch, but boring?! No, but really, the idea that my particular class caused a kid to stop participating really hit me at my core. My reactions to the reports were mixed. Anyone that knows me well is aware of how poorly I take criticism. I can dish it out, but I definitely cannot take it. So yes, my feelings were hurt and I felt very defensive in my head. I also knew exactly who was writing what. I have one class that continuously gives me trouble. They are a low level middle school class. Not only are they lazy, and understand maybe 5% of my words, but they are punks. They have no respect and constantly mock me and disrupt class. I have gone off on them so many times, and yes, I am sure that my face turned purple with rage. See? I'm even getting defensive on this blog right now. After a little while, I realized I have to do exactly what the reports were meant to do: take them in and adjust accordingly. Apparently I am TOO loud, that shouldn't be that hard to fix. But the irritability thing is going to be a tough one. I cannot help it; the kids drive me absolutely crazy. And the whole disrespect aspect is a whole other issue. There is nothing that will infuriate me more than an outright disrespectful student. I guess I just have to pop a chill pill before I go to work.

The other complaints were things like "bring us pizza and snacks," "you make me come back from break too early" (CORRECTION, sir, I always give you at least 1-2 extra minutes, so shut your trap). "Class goes until the end" "you take too much time on the activities." These comments I just disregarded, obviously. You think you're getting pizza after that? hell no!

My co-workers received similar criticisms, and some were more hilarious than others. One of my co-worker's demerits was "your height is small and you can't kill the mosquito," whereas one of his merits was "your height is short and that makes me feel good because I don't have to look up when I talk to you."

Lovely Lisa

In Korea, they celebrate teachers' day. So, many of the students will give their teachers cards or gifts. One of my students gave me this note, addressed, To: My good teacher; From: Lovely Lisa.




Here is what the letter says:

To: My teacher
Hello? I'm Lisa. In Korea May 15th is teacher's day. So I writted a letter for you. You helped me in a thousand ways but I paid your kindness in test fail. Oh! No!!! I'm Sorry. When I did homework, sometimes is very easy, and sometimes is very hard to do it. I can't give you present. Sorry I don't have money. But I can write letter. I want you happy to see letter. Um...I don't know this word. I read book 3 days ago. Book says when we study very well, we can success. I want trust that book. I want to success. Teacher, please study hard with me. Thank you I like you and I thank you. I want you healthy. Goodbye. Teacher~

2010 years May 15th

From Lisa that like and thank for teacher

(Then there is a big thank you and what seems to be a self-portrait at the bottom)

The best part of this is where she says, "You helped me in a thousand ways..." Quick explanation: we are reading Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In it, Mr. Hyde writes a letter to Dr. Jekyll (this is obviously before we find out they are one in the same) saying you have helped me in a thousand ways and I have repaid your kindness with nothing but trouble. First of all, I am proud that she remembered this line, and second, how hilarious is that? Second favorite part: "Um...I don't know this word."

Lisa is quite young (3rd or 4th grade I think) and is extremely smart. I obviously laughed at the letter, but it's really quite impressive, to be honest. I wish all my students wrote me letters, but I am often told that I am mean...

By the way she chose her name from her love of Lisa Simpson, which really makes her that much cooler.

All-You-Can-Eat

I recently went to Namdaemun market, a street market in Seoul. It is similar to Dongdaemun, a place which I have previously written about. Similarly, it had a lot of crap, but also had lots of goodies like jewelry and shoes.




It wouldn't be a true Korean experience without sporting some fake glasses. Although these particular ones were sitting out for so long they were filthy. I could barely see out of them and they left a dust stain on my nose...lovely.



We came across a toothpaste holder whose sample toothpaste had piled up for what looked like years.



As we walked, we heard someone yelling something over a loudspeaker. We soon found out it was just a recording, as the loudspeaker was actually strapped on to the giant poster contraption that this man wore. I didn't get a good picture because despite the extra weight on his back, he was moving quite fast. And also some idiots kept walking in front of him (probably to protect his message). If you cannot read what the back says, It's "Lord Jesus Heaven; No Jesus Hell." There is NO grey areas for this dude.




We were about to head out to eat when we saw a long line. Curious, we investigated and soon found out the line was for dumplings. We looked at the menu; 10 for 4,000 won. Yeah, thats a no-brainer. So I get in some make-shift line and wait what seemed like would be quite a while. However, one of the workers took my order in a backhanded way before I even got to the front of the line. Why? No idea. She was probably thinking, "alright I gotta get these foreigners out of our hair as soon as possible." I asked for ten, and accidentally got 20. I peaked into the factory-like shop where they were made. The uniforms, along with the speed with which they cranked these dumplings out reminded me of the "I Love Lucy" which Lucy and Ethel get a job working at the chocolate factory.



It had just started to rain, so, in true homeless fashion, we crouched under a bridge to eat the 20 doughy, delicious dumplings we had just gotten. Wow. There were two kinds: kimchi, and just regular pork. The box weighed about 5 pounds, so these little snacks probably filled my caloric intake for the day. There was only four of us, and we ate all but 2 out of the 20 that we had bought. I am upset that this picture does no where near the justice these dumplings deserve.



Later, we moved on to an all-you-can-eat beef barbeque. Yes, all-you-can-eat: some of the deadliest words to have ever been put together. They continuously bring out plates of different cuts of beef. I don't think they anticipated foreigners when the place was created. We can really put a serious dent in their food supply. Anyway I obviously ate my life away and had garlic and onion breath for the next 3 days....there is not much more to say about that.

Strangism

Long time no post, I know. I have gotten lazy about writing and in all honesty, there is not much to report. I've been gathering pictures of some odd/funny art (this is a very broad term) and decor that I have come across while being here. Here are just a few that I actually had my camera on hand for:




Starbucks decked out with a 3-D deer whose antlers are garnished with some lovely flowers.




A pimply teen, not yet grown into his ears. Talk about the awkward years.



Yoshi, Mario's dinosaur companion



Crash-test dummy, grieving the loss of a fellow CTD.




These seal-human hybrids really freaked me out...gave me the chills a little bit.



I'm so mature.

Plant Man

In one of my classes the current storybook is called "Medical Miracles." The title speaks for itself, but this particular lesson told the story of a college football player who injured his spinal cord in a game. He should have been paralyzed, but the doctors performed a "miraculous" surgery which allowed him to walk and fully function again. Anyway, we were discussing the word paralyzed, what it means, the implications of being paralyzed, and so on. One of my students volunteered his own story that he had seen on TV. He began to describe a man who had broken his neck and then became a "plant man."
"Plant man? what?" I asked, and continued to repeat the phrase, making sure the student and I were saying the same words. All of the rest of his classmates joined in, agreeing with this term, plant man, as if it were an English phrase that I was just unaware of. "I'm sorry, I just don't know what you're saying, or talking about," an expression I use often. They were persistent about this one, though, arguing that a plant man is someone who breaks their neck or has some sort of severe injury and then cannot move, speak, eat, or really do anything on their own. It finally came to me: a vegetable.

Jinju

Last Saturday I took a bus down to a southern city called Jinju. It's a smaller city, of about 200-300,000 people. It was definitely a nice change from the 10+million Seoul. It was a beautiful day on Saturday, and even better on Sunday. Finally! Oh yeah, and then I get back to Incheon and it's raining and 40 degrees. I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. But that's a different story...

Here are some pictures of Jinju and some parks we walked around in





We walked through a bamboo forest as well:




The actual purpose of our trip was a friend's production of The Vagina Monologues in Jinju.I jumped at the opportunity because I had never seen the show, and as I said, it is always nice to venture into a new city. Not to mention transportation is dirt cheap in this country. Anyway, overall, the show was great; a nice combination of light-hearted comedy as well as some tragedy with an underlying empowering message. The highlight was the 50-year-old co-teacher of one of the actresses. The costume theme was black with red accessories, so many people wore red belts, shoes, scarves, etc. This older woman (referred to as an "Ajama" in Korean) decked herself out in full red gear, including a fire engine red wig.



She was one of the only Koreans, so I have to give her serious props for doing this. First of all, she had to memorize an entire monologue in a foreign language. Second, the content of her speech and the whole production would be quite taboo in many realms of Korean society. Her speech was called "The Flood," so, use your imagination.

Before we left on Sunday we went to eat Shabu Shabu, which I had not yet eaten in Korea. It is kind of a 3-course meal: You begin with a spicy soup, a plate of raw meat and vegetables, a bowl of noodles, and a bowl of rice with some herbs and a raw egg.




As the soup begins to boil, you start to add the vegetables. Then when the soup is hot enough, you dip the raw meat into the soup and allow it to cook the meat. The strips of beef are so thin that they actually cook in about 5 seconds. After you enjoy the meat and vegetables, the second step is adding the noodles, which kind of remind me of fettucini. I had never seen that type of noodle in Korea before, usually only ramen or udong. Once you have finished the last of the noodles and broth, the server comes to make you the fried rice. This fried rice was especially delicious because the pan allows it to be nice and crispy. Yummy. I should have taken more pictures, but I was too busy eating.

A Day in the Life

I think the title pretty much speaks for itself; this is what I deal with day to day. However, whenever I try to get my kids on video, they stop saying and doing hilarious things. It must be the presence of a camera that makes them get all shy and weird. This particular class is my Memory Giga class, which is kind of a mid-level English class. I have 6 boys, and they're all quite smart. They're intelligence doesn't stand out as much as their energy--to put it nicely. They're crazy. And they love to participate. They are my only class that I have to force to raise their hands because they are competing to respond. In every other class, I am practically begging them to say one word. With these boys, though, I ask a question and 6 hands shoot up immediately (sometimes before I even ask) and all I hear is the sound of many "Ooohh Oooh"s, as if the monkey call will lead me to choose them to receive the great honor of answering a question. I taped them during break. It captures some of their energy level, but not the true ridiculousness of their personalities. When I stopped taping I asked where one of the students, Martin, was, and my student Steve said "he's on the toilet poo-pooing something giant" (where he got 'poo-pooing' I do not know) and my other student, Kevin, said "he went to the hospital and died and now is in heaven." I kicked myself for turning the camera off prematurely



Steve 1 (I have two of them) is the one that's dancing and what not in the video. He got a little camera-happy I think. Steve 2, on the other hand, is covering his face the entire time. The hiding in sweatshirt hoodies occurs almost every time I try to take a picture of my kids.

A quick explanation: they called me Pikachu in the middle of it, in case if you picked up on that. My face gets red quite often for those of you who know me...sometimes because I'm embarrassed, nervous, mad, hot, sick, and many times for no reason at all. So when this occurs, my students call me Pikachu (the Pokemon character with the pink cheeks). This reference is used across the board with all my students. Face red....TEACHER, PIKACHU! without fail. This particular day I actually think I was just wearing blush, so they called me out on that.

This video made me realize just how much I say "alright" and "okay." I'm like a broken record.