Just came back from a walk to bask in the full moon. I thought Professor Lupin was my favorite Harry Potter character because he's smart, sweet, and competent, the irresistible trifecta, but it may just be that I'm a complete lunophile, so who better to attach to than the werewolf? It's been a wet, blustery week in Seoul...glad things cleared just in time.
A couple of thoughts from my meanderings:
Korea has way too many cute cat things, and I have more money than willpower. Just bought my second pencil case. I've resisted this one before, but it wore me down. I did manage to leave the adorable journal & pen behind. This time.
If you need a surgical mask or a 20-lb bag of rice at 10pm, you've got choices. Bread? Good luck.
Saw a couple holding hands, walking across the KHU campus. He was wearing a business suit, she was in high heels & pajamas.
One of our frequent trainers here signs all his correspondence and has as the motto of his website the quote, "When one teaches, two learn". I think he's got the numbers exactly right.
Jon Stewart was ON FIRE tonight interviewing Ken Blackwell. Wish I could assemble thoughts at a moment's notice like that!
This is midterm week (Korean kids have a midterm and a final for each semester), which is hell on the kids, but heaven for me. I get to sit by myself in the office, planning (or not--though that's coming back to bite me and I have homework now), and leave at noon. I checked out Seoul National Cemetery today...not listed in any guidebook, but I saw it on a map. It's a fantastic place for a walk. I saw it from the subway a couple weeks ago when the cherry blossoms were out and it was breathtaking, but the plain ol' green I saw today was not half bad. The cemetery itself is amazing--it's huge and the graves and decorations are all uniform, so you can stand in a pathway and see the same image repeating endlessly to infinity in all directions. it's like being in an Escher sketch.
I saw the graves of a couple of presidents. One had a Winnebago covered with flowers and fitted with a picture window to drive him around the country after he died. Once his farewell tour was finished ("pinishee"), they parked it in the cemetery and walled it in with glass, and there he lies to this day. Another president and his wife are up on top of a hill (everything on Korea is on top of a hill) with the usual acoutrements--stone lanterns, a big totem, and massive grass mounds. There was also a golden carved incense burner with an urn in front, and people would grab a handful of something from the urn and toss it in the burner. One couple brought flowers, and a college kid in a booth came out to make forbidding gestures at them. They didnt' take the flowers back, though, and he didn't do anything either, although he continued to lurk rather than going back to his tiny glass office, and I didn't stick around long enough to see it resolved.
All in all, it was nearly as nice to walk as Mt. Hope. Nowhere near as interesting--uniform military graves don't tell their stories--but hilly and green and peaceful (if you ignore the construction equipment). A couple random bits: Korean birds look as bedraggled as Korean cats. What's with that? There was a bell that was dedicated by the Korean Veterans' Association. The sign says it's rung on June 25 (the Korean 9/11) and for the "staff's monthly bowing ceremony". I noticed in the tributes, they refer to Korean soldiers & patriots dying for the "Fatherland". Wonder what that says about cultural differences.
Tomorrow, we have a district workshop. I'm rather looking forward to it. It's some kind of culture education thing (the teacher responsible for me couldn't work up the courage to tell me about it, but Terrie, my old wrangler, was asked to help out with it, so she filled me in)--I think we're going to learn to bow, make kimchi (as long as they don't make us eat it...), and try on hanbok, the Korean traditional dress (glad I didn't pay to do that at the various tourist spots I've visited). It'll be nice to be on the receiving end of a class.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
I've been reading old posts of my favorite blogger, and one of his entries begs sincere flattery. I'm as fond of lists as he is, and I thought this was neat: simple delights, from the world of culture/human expression. All year, I've been keeping lists of seasonal pleasures as an outlet for homesickness--getting into a sun-warmed car on a crisp autumn day, sitting in a room lit only by Christmas tree lights, the first 'no-jacket' day of the year, walking home from Netsin's on a balmy night... This list, however, draws from media: movie moments, passages in books, tidbits from a song...little dumb things that make your soul giggle or soar.
I figured it would be a while before I blogged this list--there are hundreds of things that belong on it, all requiring a very specific messenger to extract them from memory--but it's a rainy afternoon and I don't have any lessons that are due tomorrow, so here's the infant rundown. Right now, it's mostly comprised of category favorites; the sort of stuff that comes to mind immediately in response to "what book/movie/band do I love?", but I hope to add to it as inspiration occurs. So far:
Maria & the Captain dancing the Laendler in the Sound of Music. He has a few great looks, too, though I'd have to watch it again to remember where.
The scene at the end of A Christmas Story where the parents are sitting on the couch, Silent Night is playing on the radio, fat bulbs are glowing on the Christmas tree, and fat snowflakes are falling past the window.
Dumbledore's repartee with the Dursleys in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. McGonagall's answers to Umbridge during Harry's career counseling session in Order of the Phoenix are equally delicious.
Pretty much any lick The Edge has ever played. Any time I shift my focus to the guitar in a U2 song, I am blown away by the exquisite perfection of it....the timbre, the rhythm, the restraint....*blow kiss off fingertips*
In Great Big Sea's Love Me Tonight video, there are shots of Murray & Bob each cracking a smile, and they never fail to elicit the same response from me.
The fillers & lyric changes that have been canonized on GBS' live CDs, like Sean's gleeful, "and Bob broke out his fiddle and danced naked around the floor!" in Scolding Wife.
Maybe this is stretching it, but I've watched Bert & Ernie spliced to gangsta rap a couple dozen times and laughed every single one.
...and so much more.
While I try to think of other memorable minutiae, I'm curious what's on YOUR list. I'd like to invite everyone--especially if you've never commented before--to post your own favorites, even if it's just one thing. Remember, it's little things--I've even gone a bit macro in my items, but you get the idea. I'm looking forward to reading them!
I figured it would be a while before I blogged this list--there are hundreds of things that belong on it, all requiring a very specific messenger to extract them from memory--but it's a rainy afternoon and I don't have any lessons that are due tomorrow, so here's the infant rundown. Right now, it's mostly comprised of category favorites; the sort of stuff that comes to mind immediately in response to "what book/movie/band do I love?", but I hope to add to it as inspiration occurs. So far:
Maria & the Captain dancing the Laendler in the Sound of Music. He has a few great looks, too, though I'd have to watch it again to remember where.
The scene at the end of A Christmas Story where the parents are sitting on the couch, Silent Night is playing on the radio, fat bulbs are glowing on the Christmas tree, and fat snowflakes are falling past the window.
Dumbledore's repartee with the Dursleys in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. McGonagall's answers to Umbridge during Harry's career counseling session in Order of the Phoenix are equally delicious.
Pretty much any lick The Edge has ever played. Any time I shift my focus to the guitar in a U2 song, I am blown away by the exquisite perfection of it....the timbre, the rhythm, the restraint...
In Great Big Sea's Love Me Tonight video, there are shots of Murray & Bob each cracking a smile, and they never fail to elicit the same response from me.
The fillers & lyric changes that have been canonized on GBS' live CDs, like Sean's gleeful, "and Bob broke out his fiddle and danced naked around the floor!" in Scolding Wife.
Maybe this is stretching it, but I've watched Bert & Ernie spliced to gangsta rap a couple dozen times and laughed every single one.
...and so much more.
While I try to think of other memorable minutiae, I'm curious what's on YOUR list. I'd like to invite everyone--especially if you've never commented before--to post your own favorites, even if it's just one thing. Remember, it's little things--I've even gone a bit macro in my items, but you get the idea. I'm looking forward to reading them!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
I'm Not Alone!!!
So I was blog-stalking my new friend Meaghan, and came across this passage:
"There are lots of things about Korea that drive me crazy, for sure. I swear to god, the spitting is liable to make me hurt someone. The other day I almost threw up on the train, like literally gagged and had to turn away, when a woman seated on a bench (and sandwiched in by two people, mind you) took a ziploc baggie out of her purse, proceeded to clear her entire nose and throat and hock phlegm into the baggie before sticking it back in her purse. I was aghast. On the way to work I dodge, without exaggeration, at least 30 piles of phlegm on the streets, steps, sidewalks, etc. Yesterday I got really angry as a middle school aged asshole cut me off as I exited the train just so that he could purposely hock a giant loogie onto the BENCH in the subway station. I mean that is just disgusting. I am so sick of the hacking and gagging as people spit. I'm also sick of the lack of personal space. I am only half joking when I say that the next old person who pushes me on the train for NO REASON is getting slapped in the face. So sick of it. Hate the spitting, hate the pushing. "
I feel less like a Bitch of Unusual Proportions for being at the end of my rope with this stuff. After watching my friend Sarah slip on a loogie and almost fall flat on the pavement in Itaewon, I decided that if Wile E. Coyote were Korean, he'd skip the banana peels and just hock an oyster in RoadRunner's path.
PS: Meaghan, you forgot to mention the puke
"There are lots of things about Korea that drive me crazy, for sure. I swear to god, the spitting is liable to make me hurt someone. The other day I almost threw up on the train, like literally gagged and had to turn away, when a woman seated on a bench (and sandwiched in by two people, mind you) took a ziploc baggie out of her purse, proceeded to clear her entire nose and throat and hock phlegm into the baggie before sticking it back in her purse. I was aghast. On the way to work I dodge, without exaggeration, at least 30 piles of phlegm on the streets, steps, sidewalks, etc. Yesterday I got really angry as a middle school aged asshole cut me off as I exited the train just so that he could purposely hock a giant loogie onto the BENCH in the subway station. I mean that is just disgusting. I am so sick of the hacking and gagging as people spit. I'm also sick of the lack of personal space. I am only half joking when I say that the next old person who pushes me on the train for NO REASON is getting slapped in the face. So sick of it. Hate the spitting, hate the pushing. "
I feel less like a Bitch of Unusual Proportions for being at the end of my rope with this stuff. After watching my friend Sarah slip on a loogie and almost fall flat on the pavement in Itaewon, I decided that if Wile E. Coyote were Korean, he'd skip the banana peels and just hock an oyster in RoadRunner's path.
PS: Meaghan, you forgot to mention the puke
Miss Nelson Redux
In my high-level classes, we've been reading the classic "Miss Nelson is Missing". After reading and going over vocabulary for the last 2 weeks, this week I gave the kids a piece of paper with 6 panels and tasked them with retelling the story, with pictures and words. Giving the kids creative work is always my favorite thing, and I got a lot of great work (great for reasons ranging from painstaking effort to comical deliciousness), but this one is my favorite so far (reproduced verbatim, errors and all):
[Picture of a teacher with no face, only an 'N', and children throwing paper planes and what looks like a human-sized screw]
Here is Room 207 and Miss Nelson is there. They didn't listen Nelson's voice.
[ At the teacher's desk is only a dotted outline. The kids are saying "Horray" and "She's gone~"]
Next morning, Miss Nelson is missing. Then, children was realy act up when they know the Nelson is missing.
[A woman comes through the door saying, "I'm your new teacher Viola Swamp". Kid: "Oh my, she is wich...we are dead" Another kid is writing on the board: 'Go away~', and, in progress, 'Fuc']
And Miss Swamp is appeared. Everyday, they must spend terrible time.
[Kids stand outside a house. An arrow-shaped sign says, "Miss Nelson". A spider dangles from a web on the sign]
Some of Nelson's children went to Nelson's house, but She was not at home.
[The teacher with an N-face is back:"Hi everyone. Are you missed me?" Kid:"Wow~realy are you Nelson?" Board: "Turn back Miss Nelson!"]
Next day, Nelson is come back. Children cried, and Nelson had a secret. 'She was Swamp.'
[Teacher: "Let's have read time" Kids:"Yes. Miss Nelson"]
And they have read time. But no more act up.
Just when I'm ready to strangle them all, they get all cute on me!
[Picture of a teacher with no face, only an 'N', and children throwing paper planes and what looks like a human-sized screw]
Here is Room 207 and Miss Nelson is there. They didn't listen Nelson's voice.
[ At the teacher's desk is only a dotted outline. The kids are saying "Horray" and "She's gone~"]
Next morning, Miss Nelson is missing. Then, children was realy act up when they know the Nelson is missing.
[A woman comes through the door saying, "I'm your new teacher Viola Swamp". Kid: "Oh my, she is wich...we are dead" Another kid is writing on the board: 'Go away~', and, in progress, 'Fuc']
And Miss Swamp is appeared. Everyday, they must spend terrible time.
[Kids stand outside a house. An arrow-shaped sign says, "Miss Nelson". A spider dangles from a web on the sign]
Some of Nelson's children went to Nelson's house, but She was not at home.
[The teacher with an N-face is back:"Hi everyone. Are you missed me?" Kid:"Wow~realy are you Nelson?" Board: "Turn back Miss Nelson!"]
Next day, Nelson is come back. Children cried, and Nelson had a secret. 'She was Swamp.'
[Teacher: "Let's have read time" Kids:"Yes. Miss Nelson"]
And they have read time. But no more act up.
Just when I'm ready to strangle them all, they get all cute on me!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Off to the Races!
I have a new hobby! Gambling!
Actually, I only bet on one horse, in one race, and he came in dead last, but it was still great fun to sit outdoors and talk with friends, and every 30 minutes, the Koreans would stand up and yell and a crowd of horses would dash by. Saratoga, here I come! (which reminds me, I haven't been to the speedway since the last century...need to fix that ASAP)
Fortunately, I was meeting 4 friends, because otherwise I probably would have skipped the racetrack and just gone to a park or something. I'd made up my mind to go some months ago, and had lately been wondering what the attraction was. Still, it's a new experience, I figured. But it was fun!!
I had no idea what to expect. We were greeted off the subway by the unmistakable, rotten-egg smell of bundaegi, always a sign of festivity. Horse statues were everywhere. We followed the crowd to a gate where, after paying our 80 cents admission, we were welcomed by women wearing the sort of dresses one associates with mint juleps or porch geese. There were tulips, a fake waterfall, a hole in the ground with bleachers and stables.
Inside, it was just like a European airport. Even the rows of chairs must come from the same distributor. People queued, people dashed about, people sat along every wall and median, papers spread in front of them, meals arrayed around. Instead of flight times, tv screens showed odds and videos of the horses, while crowds squatted in the concourse below, taking notes and filling in bet cards.
Lonely Planet promised a lounge area just for foreigners on the fourth floor, so, with difficulty, we found the place, and a desk where the attendants spoke a smattering of English. They gave us a printout of the competitors and a brochure detailing how to fill in a bet card. Finding no seats, we sat on the floor and made arbitrary choices (mine was, anyway...some of my companions chose horses with cool names). We'd arrived just in time for the one race of the day with waygook horses...I bet on an American. Looking around the "foreigner" lounge, it seemed like many of the people were Korean...maybe just Chinese, I figured. Then I went back to the info desk to see how to place a bet and also happened to see the sign that announced "The foreigner lounge will remain open, but as of April 17, 2010, will allow both foreigners and domestics."
We placed our bets, a 2-step process, then decided to go outside and see if we could find seats out there. Good choice! There were dozens to choose from, all with ashes staticked onto the plastic. We moved a couple of times trying to escape cigarettes before realizing how utterly fruitless an endeavor that was. (Next time, bring a mask...in Korea, no one will even glance twice) It was like being downwind of Krakatoa. Ashes rained on us steadily the entire time. The sound of loogies being enthusiastically prepared was continuous and in stereo surround. Nonetheless, the track is away from the urban jungle, ringed by mountains, and made all the more attractive for the cherry blossoms that filled the center.
We watched with interest not only the occasional run-by, but also the infrastructure; the placement of the starting gates, the camera towers and video replays, the families frolicking in the center. Tractor zambonis would come out to groom the dust after the horses had done their exhibition prancing, and I noticed they were the very John Deere models I saw manufactured in Iowa last year.
We stayed for three races, and I hope I have a chance to go back. Much more fun than the lessons I now have to write.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
"My assistant is going to polish your crown"
Yes, this is my fourth post today. I had an entire day without obligations; I'm actually starting to get bored, a feeling I'm not well acquainted with. Of course, I did consider going to the cat cafe tonight and opted not to (despite feeling like it's been WAY too long since I've been, and wanting to see the cats very much); I also have shopping I could do, but I've just completely had it with being around Koreans. I took a walk this afternoon and discovered some wild space very close to my apartment--I will be visiting there many more times, despite its having some annoying Korean features, the most egregious of which being a glaring green fence that diligently prohibits people from getting from my side of it to the summit. I understand neither the need for it, nor the unusually assertive precaution of lacing the top with razor wire. I was in a public park; the people on the other side didn't LOOK like criminals. I don't get it. Nevertheless, I'm pleased to discover some measure of retreat at a distance I can easily cover.
A few random observations:
Kids are always looking over my shoulder when I'm sitting at my desk. I don't have to worry too much about them reading (ie understanding) anything they shouldn't, but they do occasionally ask me why it's not in Korean. I don't think they've gotten their heads around the idea that I speak English all the time.
My system of crimes & punishments in the classroom dictates that if you're breaking a rule and have been warned once, on the second offence, you have to write your name on the board and stay after class. Students staying after class must push in chairs and pick up trash from the floor (I used to have them erase the board, too, until I realized this was a treat). One of my co-teachers, Mr. Lim, really backs me up on this. There have been times I've forgotten to detain the offenders, only to discover him using his wooden stick to point out bits of flotsam under desks. He even insists that they get the trash out of the desks...probably fortunate since there is always a bunch. One crew turned up two pairs of pantyhose. The next student to really rankle me should probably be required to clean all the profanity and pornography off the desks. Writing on desks is something of a national pasttime in Korea, and after 6 weeks of classes, most of the desks make for extensive reading material, not to mention a recap of the syllabus to date.
Why is it that if you ask a Korean the equivalent of, "So let me get this straight, 'park' means leaving your car and also a green recreation space?" they will invariably insist that no, those are two different words. If you really press the issue, they will concede that the words are spelled and pronounced the same, but are still different words.
Dogs here are almost universally minuscule and airheaded, but one thing I much appreciate is that they virtually never charge or make as if to eat you when you pass them on the street. On the short list of things I'll miss when I get home, this is one. The other is having a doorbell on your table at restaurants so you can summon the server whenever needed. (This actually only exists at a small fraction of Korean restaurants, but when I mentioned to my co-teachers that I thought it was a great idea, they couldn't imagine how we get service at American restaurants)
I had my tooth finished yesterday with very little ado. They put me in a private room, which I didn't think boded well, and then said they were going to remove the temporary crown without any anaesthetic, but told me repeatedly to let them know if the pain got too excruciating. I tensed and gripped the chair arm, she reached into my mouth with the overgrown tweezers...and the thing came out in a split second as if it had been waiting perched on my tongue. I didn't feel it at all. The crown fitting was almost as easy, although they left me to think about it for 20 minutes (during which time I realized I should have asked someone who has crowns what the process entails). She said I was very lucky; a perfect fit on the first try is extremely rare. Fortunately, the cement they use to secure it is tasteless, a far cry from the industrial glue that holds in the temp. Once it was in, she gave me a string of instructions in heavily accented English, from behind a face mask, then said that because porcelain is delicate, I should eat soft food. "You mean like tonight, or forever?" I asked. "Well, forever would be good, but..." Yeah, but. Now that I'm stuck with it, you're telling me porcelain's not up for the job?
All the instruments in the office have plastic bags on the handles and film on the screens and touch pads. Koreans NEVER take that stuff off of anything.
I've decided that my objectives for the next 5 years of my life are: to become financially stable (and hopefully buy my house), travel as much as possible, and lay the foundation--with specific actions--for starting the experiential after-school program that is my life's work. To that end, if anyone knows of a job I could do in the Rochester area that pays a workable salary, please let me know. I'd especially like to work for a university, especially especially with foreign students, but that's just my first choice.
Also, I plan to go to Hong Kong and Shanghai (for the World's Fair!) sometime between July 21 and August 21. I would really, really prefer not to go alone, so if anyone out there wants to come, please let me know about that, too.
Fighting!! (I'm told the Koreans say this, but I have yet to hear it or figure out what it means)
A few random observations:
Kids are always looking over my shoulder when I'm sitting at my desk. I don't have to worry too much about them reading (ie understanding) anything they shouldn't, but they do occasionally ask me why it's not in Korean. I don't think they've gotten their heads around the idea that I speak English all the time.
My system of crimes & punishments in the classroom dictates that if you're breaking a rule and have been warned once, on the second offence, you have to write your name on the board and stay after class. Students staying after class must push in chairs and pick up trash from the floor (I used to have them erase the board, too, until I realized this was a treat). One of my co-teachers, Mr. Lim, really backs me up on this. There have been times I've forgotten to detain the offenders, only to discover him using his wooden stick to point out bits of flotsam under desks. He even insists that they get the trash out of the desks...probably fortunate since there is always a bunch. One crew turned up two pairs of pantyhose. The next student to really rankle me should probably be required to clean all the profanity and pornography off the desks. Writing on desks is something of a national pasttime in Korea, and after 6 weeks of classes, most of the desks make for extensive reading material, not to mention a recap of the syllabus to date.
Why is it that if you ask a Korean the equivalent of, "So let me get this straight, 'park' means leaving your car and also a green recreation space?" they will invariably insist that no, those are two different words. If you really press the issue, they will concede that the words are spelled and pronounced the same, but are still different words.
Dogs here are almost universally minuscule and airheaded, but one thing I much appreciate is that they virtually never charge or make as if to eat you when you pass them on the street. On the short list of things I'll miss when I get home, this is one. The other is having a doorbell on your table at restaurants so you can summon the server whenever needed. (This actually only exists at a small fraction of Korean restaurants, but when I mentioned to my co-teachers that I thought it was a great idea, they couldn't imagine how we get service at American restaurants)
I had my tooth finished yesterday with very little ado. They put me in a private room, which I didn't think boded well, and then said they were going to remove the temporary crown without any anaesthetic, but told me repeatedly to let them know if the pain got too excruciating. I tensed and gripped the chair arm, she reached into my mouth with the overgrown tweezers...and the thing came out in a split second as if it had been waiting perched on my tongue. I didn't feel it at all. The crown fitting was almost as easy, although they left me to think about it for 20 minutes (during which time I realized I should have asked someone who has crowns what the process entails). She said I was very lucky; a perfect fit on the first try is extremely rare. Fortunately, the cement they use to secure it is tasteless, a far cry from the industrial glue that holds in the temp. Once it was in, she gave me a string of instructions in heavily accented English, from behind a face mask, then said that because porcelain is delicate, I should eat soft food. "You mean like tonight, or forever?" I asked. "Well, forever would be good, but..." Yeah, but. Now that I'm stuck with it, you're telling me porcelain's not up for the job?
All the instruments in the office have plastic bags on the handles and film on the screens and touch pads. Koreans NEVER take that stuff off of anything.
I've decided that my objectives for the next 5 years of my life are: to become financially stable (and hopefully buy my house), travel as much as possible, and lay the foundation--with specific actions--for starting the experiential after-school program that is my life's work. To that end, if anyone knows of a job I could do in the Rochester area that pays a workable salary, please let me know. I'd especially like to work for a university, especially especially with foreign students, but that's just my first choice.
Also, I plan to go to Hong Kong and Shanghai (for the World's Fair!) sometime between July 21 and August 21. I would really, really prefer not to go alone, so if anyone out there wants to come, please let me know about that, too.
Fighting!! (I'm told the Koreans say this, but I have yet to hear it or figure out what it means)
Friday, April 16, 2010
Better
The previous entry was written in utter pique (yes, really), but, peevish as it is, it's part of the experience, so I feel a certain obligation to post it. I could have written Korea over and over, Shining-style, it felt so good to stop trying to be tolerant. Korea's like a bad date; it's very nice and has many things to recommend it, but there's no chemistry between us, and the longer we spend together, the more exasperated I get. I'm sure someone else will be very happy with it, but I'll be very happy to delete it from my address book. I wish it every success in the future.
Another issue I had yesterday was that I was hungry. Like "it's been days since I had a good meal and my body won't put up with this crap for another instant" hungry. Being hungry and hating Korea are so interconnected that when I find myself inwardly ranting at everyone, my first thought is "what have I had to eat today?". It was to be a long time til dinner--there was an overlong dentist visit, an unsuccessful attempt to reach my next stop via an alternate and more convenient subway line, and the increasingly-frustrated walk around that station that ultimately ended with me getting back on the train and going the 'right' way--but when I finally arrived at Yeouido, met a patient Diana, and emerged onto the street rather desperate, instead of the usual wasteland that greets such a situation, there, across the street, was....Kraze Burger!!! I've been wanting to try one of those! They're American-style, which means expensive, tax extra, and vegetarian option(s). I had a tomato and fresh mozzarella sandwich and, most gloriously, french fries! I've been craving fries for a while...while they're available frozen at Costco, the necessary stovetop preparation doesn't scratch the itch. Anyway, Kraze Burger was a moment of grace at the end of an extremely trying day. I thoroughly appreciated it, and we even capped the evening with mint chip at Baskin Robbins. :D
In between courses, we walked around the perimeter of the island (a small chunk of land at the edge of the Han River) and enjoyed the cherry blossoms, now in full flower. It was really, really nice. Yeouido is much more recently developed, and with infinitely more attention to aesthetics than the rest of Seoul. It's also a very wealthy district. The apartment high-rises have design elements, the streets are lined with trees, and there's space between things. It was one of those rare pockets in Korea that allows my soul to breathe. Walking under a canopy of flowers is a rare treat, and we even discovered a lilac bush just beginning to bloom. I could feel the quizzical stares of Koreans as Diana and I took turns burying our faces in the one flower that was open enough to smell. And smell it did--heavenly is too tame a word to describe it. Great salve for a very weary soul.
I had a nice respite last weekend, too. Decided to take a day trip to Incheon, inspiring a lot of puzzlement from anyone I told. Incheon's a port city, replete with cranes, smokestacks, and an industrial aura that make it potentially off-putting at first glance. Second glance, too--after checking out its impressive but not lovable Chinatown, and mingling with the masses at Jayu Park (home of the General MacArthur statue commemorating the American's liberation of Seoul--the first time--during the Korean War), I was in a veni-vidi-vaminos frame of mind. But I felt obligated to check off the areas mentioned in Lonely Planet so, too cheap to get a cab, I followed the traffic signs on foot out to Wolmido, a recreation-oriented peninsula that's the uvula in the throat of the port.
There was almost nobody around, and I had shipyards on one side and their administrative buildings on the other. And it felt great. I realized that what I've been needing for weeks is peace. I have a bit of a thing for shipping and its environs anyway, but the really great part was the physical & psychic open space. It was fantastic. When I reached Wolmido proper, Lonely Planet's information was too vague to be of assistance, so I had some blind decisions to make. They mentioned a promenade, and I had velleities toward walking it, but followed instinct instead and wound up in a bastion on top of a hill, nearly alone and with a view over the ships, bridges, and sea. I'd found my happy place.
I could have stayed up there a long while, longer even than I actually did. I wished it was close enough to return to repeatedly, but the journey may be justified by the awesomeness of the place. It probably is less enchanting at the height of summer crowds, but to enjoy the peace and beauty of that spot for $3 in subway fare and 3 hours of reading on the train is, I believe, a fair exchange, and a perfectly good use of a free day.
The Whole Truth
Things that are irritating me right now:
1. Korea
2. Korea
3. Korea
4. Korea
5. Korean food
6. Someone stole something that belonged to me out of my classroom.
7. This probably happened during cleaning time, which is useless because if they're cleaning it at all, it's in a most perfunctory way.
8. Being reprimanded, twice, by a co-teacher because kids complain I don't call on them when they want to answer (amazing the difference giving stamps makes!). There were 10 questions on the worksheet and 33 students in the class. You do the math.
9. For the second week in a row, the copy room has printed my worksheets one-sided, despite my requesting double on the form. That's about 1000 sheets of paper used needlessly. It's also a bitch to hand out.
10. Another co-teacher who emailed me the group charts 1 1/2 weeks late and changed the groups without telling me (since we give stamps to groups for participation, this wreaked havoc with the reward system). When the kids complained, she told them I did it.
11. Constant hunger & its various manifestations.
12. Kids mocking me openly in class has gone from almost non-existant to rampant in the space of about 2 weeks.
13. The teacher who's in charge of me now is afraid to speak to me, so I only find out about stuff if someone else thinks to let me know.
14. It takes an hour to go anywhere, even if it's 5 miles away.
15. How hard is walking in a straight line, really?
16. Constant noise & people.
17. Kids' behavior in general has taken a distinct dive of late. It's not just me; other teachers are noticing as well.
18. Co-teachers who show up late or not at all and/or chat with the kids while I'm trying to teach.
19. One co-teacher who keeps remarking, over and over, how few responsibilities I have compared to everyone else.
I don't need any encouraging comments, and I hope this will pass in time (like 4 months! :) ), but I'm taking a savage pleasure at venting my spleen at Korea, and how convenient that I have a forum to do it publicly!
1. Korea
2. Korea
3. Korea
4. Korea
5. Korean food
6. Someone stole something that belonged to me out of my classroom.
7. This probably happened during cleaning time, which is useless because if they're cleaning it at all, it's in a most perfunctory way.
8. Being reprimanded, twice, by a co-teacher because kids complain I don't call on them when they want to answer (amazing the difference giving stamps makes!). There were 10 questions on the worksheet and 33 students in the class. You do the math.
9. For the second week in a row, the copy room has printed my worksheets one-sided, despite my requesting double on the form. That's about 1000 sheets of paper used needlessly. It's also a bitch to hand out.
10. Another co-teacher who emailed me the group charts 1 1/2 weeks late and changed the groups without telling me (since we give stamps to groups for participation, this wreaked havoc with the reward system). When the kids complained, she told them I did it.
11. Constant hunger & its various manifestations.
12. Kids mocking me openly in class has gone from almost non-existant to rampant in the space of about 2 weeks.
13. The teacher who's in charge of me now is afraid to speak to me, so I only find out about stuff if someone else thinks to let me know.
14. It takes an hour to go anywhere, even if it's 5 miles away.
15. How hard is walking in a straight line, really?
16. Constant noise & people.
17. Kids' behavior in general has taken a distinct dive of late. It's not just me; other teachers are noticing as well.
18. Co-teachers who show up late or not at all and/or chat with the kids while I'm trying to teach.
19. One co-teacher who keeps remarking, over and over, how few responsibilities I have compared to everyone else.
I don't need any encouraging comments, and I hope this will pass in time (like 4 months! :) ), but I'm taking a savage pleasure at venting my spleen at Korea, and how convenient that I have a forum to do it publicly!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
That's What It's All About!
I finally, FINALLY made it to noraebang last weekend! Noraebang is a quintessential Korea experience, and great fun, but usually done when drunk in Hongdae, and since I don't often find myself drunk in Hongdae, it has eluded me lo these many months. Now that I know what all the fuss is about, I hope to get a few more noraebang nights in before fleeing the country.
What is noraebang? Karaoke (we use the Japanese term). "Norae" means "song", and "bang" (say it with an "ah", not like "big bang") means "room". Bangs are popular in Korea...you have PC Bang, DVD Bang (really just a place to make out when you live with your parents), and any number of other types. And that's the beauty of Korean karaoke (I could probably get deported for sticking with the Japanese moniker)--rather than waiting hours to sing in front of strangers in a bar, you pay for an hour in your own room, with just your friends at witnesses. No waiting, minimal humiliation, and nothing to hold you back from taking advantage of every opportunity Koreans can dream up. Where else are you going to wear a fox suit and bang on a light-up tambourine?
Not kidding about that. Korea and camp go together like peas and carrots, and like so much else here, noraebangs are a sort of psychedelic rococo. The fixtures at this place were county-fair-does-Versailles, and the floors were plexiglass with...displays, I guess you would call them, underneath. There was a desert section, birds and blooms, bugs... As Obi put it, you felt like Godzilla walking over it all. The 'bang' itself had one giant mirrored wall, framed by an LED arch with strobe lights. A large flat-screen tv showed dreamlike (as in that ad with Abe Lincoln and a beaver playing chess in the attic) Korean videos for each song. If the fox suit was too hot (it was), there were also wigs and goofy props to abet the silliness.
Besides the free (well, included) ice cream and caramel corn, the guy offered us the foreign song book. Not sure where he thought we were from--that one had 4 different languages in it, all of them Southeast Asian. The English songs were in the teeming binder along with the Korean ones, and offered hundreds of choices. Time ran out for John Denver or Cyndi Lauper, and my friends were unacquainted with Starship (too bad!), but we did belt out some Journey, butchered U2, did a laudable rendition of Twist & Shout, and closed the night bouncing to Chumbawamba. Decided against doing any "Pill Collins".
Thinking I was merely going to dinner, I didn't have my camera with me, but as soon as my skiving friends post pictures on Facebook, I'll steal them and share.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Variations on a Theme
It occurs to me the folly of titling these posts, as at this point, they're all aimless meanderings in a feeble attempt to summarize increasingly ridiculous amounts of time. As usual, I've got several topics to pontificate on, and as usual, they'll be hitting on the same themes:
The trivial: Out of nowhere (ok, because of reading my blog crush's old posts), I decided to watch Jon Stewart online tonight, and was treated not only to videos of gamboling kittens--he actually managed to make the church sex scandal funny--but a 7-year-old video clip of Steve Carell making kimchi ("It's a delicious treat, for outdoor dining or a well-ventilated area")
The existential: I'm in the process of getting my first dental crown. The idea of this being an existential issue is probably laughable to many of you, but it's really messed with my head. After years of dire predictions that always ended in relatively harmless fillings, I've finally hit a body part that's beaten beyond repair. As I white-knuckled the chair arms and mentally sang "Beautiful Day" for all I was worth, while one of my teeth was ground to a stump by a Korean lady with way too much makeup who repeatedly promised that this spin of the drill was "the finishing touch", I felt surprisingly vulnerable and mortal. This stuff isn't just for other people any more. When the doctor says you have to undergo freakish, unpleasant procedures, you suck it up and let it happen. With a phantom Bono as a stand-in for your mommy. My mom has often mentioned how she had to go a few rounds with the doctor about the necessity of my Blankie when I split my head open at age 2. I wouldn't have minded if she'd done the same now.
The what-the-f*ck's-wrong-with-Koreans: so many choices here, but today's rant will be on littering. I've been noticing for a while the ubiquity with which Korean teens mindlessly drop the wrapper from whatever they're eating, wherever they are. I've had the urge to go up and shake them and say, "This is YOUR country. Why are you befouling it?" I see littering in the US, too, but here it just seem so universal. Leaving your mess for others to clean up is apparently the modus operandi. (though so is leaving others to clean up their mess--it always amazes me that if you drop something on the street, no one will help you, even if you're an old lady with a cart full of groceries, or even if it was someone else's carelessness that caused the spill) I've been 'castigated' for erasing the board after my classes...though maybe the other teachers have fairies I don't, 'cause I'd then just have to erase the board in the next classroom I went to (I'm spared this now, teaching in the same room every time). I could go on & on, but the real kicker was the guy I saw today spreading leaflets. And I mean that literally. I've seen flyers floating around on the streets before, and figured they'd escaped from somewhere, but this guy was walking with a stack and just tossing one on the ground every few feet. My cultural sensitivity is strained perilously close to the breaking point.
The literary: I'm on to Wuthering Heights. I read it in high school, and remember precious little beyond one of my classmates summarizing the dramas/emotions so insightfully it blew my mind. I don't recall being plussed by the book, but I'm getting pretty into it now. Maybe not quite so thoroughly (ie obsessively) as Harry Potter or John Rebus, but I've done a bit of one-more-chaptering. I know a bunch of them are going to die, but otherwise, I remember nothing. It says in the foreword, and I agree, that Emily Bronte's understanding of human emotions is quite impressive for someone who never interacted with any.
Those crazy Koreans: I'm still deciding if being crowned here is fortunate or not. I've been to the dentist's office twice now--once for the initial procedure, and a second time to re-glue my wayward temporary crown, which came off in a mouthful of gimbap the first time I let myself chew on that side. The waiting area--the size of my vestibule in Rochester--is furnished with attractive upholstered chairs & couch, and I have my choice of English magazines, several of which claim that Patrick Swayze is back at work (they must have made a single pilgrimage to What the Book and cleaned out their magazine rack, to rot the minds of waiting Westerners forevermore). When called, I was directed to a chair in a lineup...no individual exam rooms here. The technician took my purse for me, but jackets being fashionable indoor wear here, I was examined in mine. They have nifty self-filling rinse cups that top themselves off when replaced, and little video cameras with giant monitors so you can look closely at your fillings and caries (and those of the patient before.....did someone say privacy? I didn't think so), and the sinks are artistically streaked with the blood of the previous patient. The drill sprays water that you can gag on while they work, and when I expressed my concern that swallowing might nudge the drill, Dr. Park assured me that swallowing is ok because the water is sterilized. They did make the concession of getting more aggressive with the spit-sucker, so I have several tongue hickeys to distract me from the discomfort of the wannabe crown. I could go on, but I'll save it for next week, when I go back for the real thing.
The students: seem to have gone crazy. The honeymoon's over. Besides the ones who behave like caged animals (which, I suppose, they are), there's the class that doesn't speak--a real rarity here, and not as thoroughly great as it sounds (though they did titter when I taught them the expression "cat's got your tongue")--and the gay boy who's in love with me. The first time or two he said he loved me, it was cute, but we're quickly progressing to freaky. He lavishes me with compliments, announces his undying love at every opportunity to absolutely everyone, and even asked me to be his Show & Tell object in speaking class last night. I don't want to crush him, but I can't exactly encourage him, either. I hope he gets over it soon. Having a Talk with an American student would be hard enough; shouting it across the language barrier is a pretty hairy proposition.
The weekend: plans to go to Jeonju and hike and see a traditional craftsmen village have succumbed to total apathy. I'm going for a day trip to Incheon, to--likely--walk in the rain. Looking forward to it, though. Checking out the islands and beaches sounds cool, too, but that may have to wait ('cause no matter how much time goes by here, there's always more).
The blog I didn't write: yeah, the Temple Stay. I'll get to it.
The trivial: Out of nowhere (ok, because of reading my blog crush's old posts), I decided to watch Jon Stewart online tonight, and was treated not only to videos of gamboling kittens--he actually managed to make the church sex scandal funny--but a 7-year-old video clip of Steve Carell making kimchi ("It's a delicious treat, for outdoor dining or a well-ventilated area")
The existential: I'm in the process of getting my first dental crown. The idea of this being an existential issue is probably laughable to many of you, but it's really messed with my head. After years of dire predictions that always ended in relatively harmless fillings, I've finally hit a body part that's beaten beyond repair. As I white-knuckled the chair arms and mentally sang "Beautiful Day" for all I was worth, while one of my teeth was ground to a stump by a Korean lady with way too much makeup who repeatedly promised that this spin of the drill was "the finishing touch", I felt surprisingly vulnerable and mortal. This stuff isn't just for other people any more. When the doctor says you have to undergo freakish, unpleasant procedures, you suck it up and let it happen. With a phantom Bono as a stand-in for your mommy. My mom has often mentioned how she had to go a few rounds with the doctor about the necessity of my Blankie when I split my head open at age 2. I wouldn't have minded if she'd done the same now.
The what-the-f*ck's-wrong-with-Koreans: so many choices here, but today's rant will be on littering. I've been noticing for a while the ubiquity with which Korean teens mindlessly drop the wrapper from whatever they're eating, wherever they are. I've had the urge to go up and shake them and say, "This is YOUR country. Why are you befouling it?" I see littering in the US, too, but here it just seem so universal. Leaving your mess for others to clean up is apparently the modus operandi. (though so is leaving others to clean up their mess--it always amazes me that if you drop something on the street, no one will help you, even if you're an old lady with a cart full of groceries, or even if it was someone else's carelessness that caused the spill) I've been 'castigated' for erasing the board after my classes...though maybe the other teachers have fairies I don't, 'cause I'd then just have to erase the board in the next classroom I went to (I'm spared this now, teaching in the same room every time). I could go on & on, but the real kicker was the guy I saw today spreading leaflets. And I mean that literally. I've seen flyers floating around on the streets before, and figured they'd escaped from somewhere, but this guy was walking with a stack and just tossing one on the ground every few feet. My cultural sensitivity is strained perilously close to the breaking point.
The literary: I'm on to Wuthering Heights. I read it in high school, and remember precious little beyond one of my classmates summarizing the dramas/emotions so insightfully it blew my mind. I don't recall being plussed by the book, but I'm getting pretty into it now. Maybe not quite so thoroughly (ie obsessively) as Harry Potter or John Rebus, but I've done a bit of one-more-chaptering. I know a bunch of them are going to die, but otherwise, I remember nothing. It says in the foreword, and I agree, that Emily Bronte's understanding of human emotions is quite impressive for someone who never interacted with any.
Those crazy Koreans: I'm still deciding if being crowned here is fortunate or not. I've been to the dentist's office twice now--once for the initial procedure, and a second time to re-glue my wayward temporary crown, which came off in a mouthful of gimbap the first time I let myself chew on that side. The waiting area--the size of my vestibule in Rochester--is furnished with attractive upholstered chairs & couch, and I have my choice of English magazines, several of which claim that Patrick Swayze is back at work (they must have made a single pilgrimage to What the Book and cleaned out their magazine rack, to rot the minds of waiting Westerners forevermore). When called, I was directed to a chair in a lineup...no individual exam rooms here. The technician took my purse for me, but jackets being fashionable indoor wear here, I was examined in mine. They have nifty self-filling rinse cups that top themselves off when replaced, and little video cameras with giant monitors so you can look closely at your fillings and caries (and those of the patient before.....did someone say privacy? I didn't think so), and the sinks are artistically streaked with the blood of the previous patient. The drill sprays water that you can gag on while they work, and when I expressed my concern that swallowing might nudge the drill, Dr. Park assured me that swallowing is ok because the water is sterilized. They did make the concession of getting more aggressive with the spit-sucker, so I have several tongue hickeys to distract me from the discomfort of the wannabe crown. I could go on, but I'll save it for next week, when I go back for the real thing.
The students: seem to have gone crazy. The honeymoon's over. Besides the ones who behave like caged animals (which, I suppose, they are), there's the class that doesn't speak--a real rarity here, and not as thoroughly great as it sounds (though they did titter when I taught them the expression "cat's got your tongue")--and the gay boy who's in love with me. The first time or two he said he loved me, it was cute, but we're quickly progressing to freaky. He lavishes me with compliments, announces his undying love at every opportunity to absolutely everyone, and even asked me to be his Show & Tell object in speaking class last night. I don't want to crush him, but I can't exactly encourage him, either. I hope he gets over it soon. Having a Talk with an American student would be hard enough; shouting it across the language barrier is a pretty hairy proposition.
The weekend: plans to go to Jeonju and hike and see a traditional craftsmen village have succumbed to total apathy. I'm going for a day trip to Incheon, to--likely--walk in the rain. Looking forward to it, though. Checking out the islands and beaches sounds cool, too, but that may have to wait ('cause no matter how much time goes by here, there's always more).
The blog I didn't write: yeah, the Temple Stay. I'll get to it.
Friday, April 2, 2010
20 weeks!
As usual, there is much to talk about. Funny how that happens when I let almost 2 weeks go by between posts.
Today's musing is, what's with the word "story" for Koreans? I noticed a shop called Pizza Story on the way home today. One of the major rice cake makers (and rice cakes are BIG business) is Story of Rice Cake. There's Hair Story, Storyway, and at least a dozen others I can't call to mind at the moment. Methinks maybe there's some misinterpretation going on. I might have to ask someone. Another question: why, when you ride to the last stop on a subway, do they always tell you to be sure you have all your belongings? Is leaving something on the train ok when it's on its way elsewhere?
"June", one of my new co-teachers, is very good about explaining things to me. Good thing, since my 'caretaker' is on maternity leave, and her substitute hasn't plucked up the courage to talk to me yet. I continue to learn about English as well, from answering my colleagues' questions. Issues I've fielded this week: "sure" and "no problem" are indeed acceptable responses when someone says "thank you", while "don't mention it" makes you sound like Cary Grant; "I like that you enjoyed your vacation" is awkward, but "I like that he took a leadership role" isn't, for reasons I haven't yet unraveled.
I'm nearly through Bill Bryson's "The Mother Tongue: English & How it Got That Way". Lots of interesting bits...why does the US Postal Service deliver the mail, while the Royal Mail delivers the post?...myriad reasons why English is so inconsistent: we're a mix of Anglo-Saxon vocabulary and Latin rules, when adopting foreign words, we tend to preserve the spelling but not necessarily the pronunciation, etc, etc. Though he has little to say about Korea, his frequent mention of Japanese difficulties with English are all too familiar. Another place he fails to mention is Newfoundland, which I would think would be a gold mine for a linguist, as it seems to be a bit of a time capsule--at several points, Bryson details archaic pronunciations and obsolete rhymes that I've actually heard spoken on The Rock.
My lesson this week was about Easter. Korean kids know about eggs, but that's it. The Easter Bunny was a new concept even for the teachers, while the kids got a big kick out of children "dyeing" eggs. They also were very impressed that Peeps are made from marshmallow (I don't know why), and were mostly convinced that the coconut-covered bunny cake I showed them was made of rice. Thinking about it now, I should have made "jellybean" a vocabulary word, but too late. The lesson was fun, but after 20 repetitions, I'm glad to be done with it. This coming week, I start differentiating lessons, so I've got 3 separate plans in the works, in addition to 2 for tomorrow's EEP classes (yes, my first stressful Saturday). I even started working on them early in the week, but my head is still spinning trying to keep track of it all.
Speaking of head spinning--or perhaps swimming--I may have mentioned this before, but WHAT is with Koreans and onions at Costco?? Last time I was there with friends, we resolved not to sit near the onions in the dining area, but I realized this time that proximity to the dispenser is largely irrelevant. EVERYONE gets themselves a giant plate of diced onions, stirs them up with ketchup and mustard, and then--this is the amazing part--EATS it. But not before the stink gets all over my jacket. I guess it's the Korean garbage plate (though that term could be applied to so many things here), but the name is so apt, it loses the wry element.
I'm going to a Passover Seder tomorrow. I'm excited--I've never been to one before. It's a potluck, which is a real bear...potlucks in general are a trial here, since I don't have the ingredients/equipment to make my usuals, but add the Passover food rules, and I'm totally lost (this is the holiday where I once had a parent, when I was babysitting for a full day, tell me "it's probably best if you don't eat anything 'cause you might mess up the plates"). I floated a few ideas past the host, who either shot them down or suggested expensive, needle-in-a-haystack ingredients as substitutes, and finally got the brilliant idea to just make applesauce. I hope there's nothing wrong with cinnamon.
I scratched a major itch this week by walking around Deokso. Back in the fall, I was making a point to go exploring every week, and one strategy was to pick random subway stops and see what's there. I'd chosen Deokso early in March, and penciled it in at least 3 times, but was always thwarted. This week, I finally set out. It seems to be located on some kind of lake, which was neat-looking from the subway, but Koreans like to put major roads along water, so you can't just walk up to it. I did find a drainage ditch to walk along, which was nicer than it sounds. The full moon was coming up, in rather sinister color, and there were cranes (I think) fishing in the water. Hardly a nature preserve, but much more satisfying than my neighborhood. I didn't bring my camera, and it was dark anyway, but I wish I had a picture of the airplane church. Someone's taken an old 747, raised it up on stilts so it's about its own height off the ground, and turned it into a place of worship. I'm half tempted to go to a service. The plane was oddly eerie, jutting out of a hillside. I've heard that the essence of scary is putting ordinary things where you don't expect them to be...worked in this case.
Also in the "where's my camera?" department: FAG company (no idea what they make), and a bus from BS Tours.
Someday (theoretically), I'll post about my Temple Stay last weekend. Pretty touristy, but pretty cool.
Today's musing is, what's with the word "story" for Koreans? I noticed a shop called Pizza Story on the way home today. One of the major rice cake makers (and rice cakes are BIG business) is Story of Rice Cake. There's Hair Story, Storyway, and at least a dozen others I can't call to mind at the moment. Methinks maybe there's some misinterpretation going on. I might have to ask someone. Another question: why, when you ride to the last stop on a subway, do they always tell you to be sure you have all your belongings? Is leaving something on the train ok when it's on its way elsewhere?
"June", one of my new co-teachers, is very good about explaining things to me. Good thing, since my 'caretaker' is on maternity leave, and her substitute hasn't plucked up the courage to talk to me yet. I continue to learn about English as well, from answering my colleagues' questions. Issues I've fielded this week: "sure" and "no problem" are indeed acceptable responses when someone says "thank you", while "don't mention it" makes you sound like Cary Grant; "I like that you enjoyed your vacation" is awkward, but "I like that he took a leadership role" isn't, for reasons I haven't yet unraveled.
I'm nearly through Bill Bryson's "The Mother Tongue: English & How it Got That Way". Lots of interesting bits...why does the US Postal Service deliver the mail, while the Royal Mail delivers the post?...myriad reasons why English is so inconsistent: we're a mix of Anglo-Saxon vocabulary and Latin rules, when adopting foreign words, we tend to preserve the spelling but not necessarily the pronunciation, etc, etc. Though he has little to say about Korea, his frequent mention of Japanese difficulties with English are all too familiar. Another place he fails to mention is Newfoundland, which I would think would be a gold mine for a linguist, as it seems to be a bit of a time capsule--at several points, Bryson details archaic pronunciations and obsolete rhymes that I've actually heard spoken on The Rock.
My lesson this week was about Easter. Korean kids know about eggs, but that's it. The Easter Bunny was a new concept even for the teachers, while the kids got a big kick out of children "dyeing" eggs. They also were very impressed that Peeps are made from marshmallow (I don't know why), and were mostly convinced that the coconut-covered bunny cake I showed them was made of rice. Thinking about it now, I should have made "jellybean" a vocabulary word, but too late. The lesson was fun, but after 20 repetitions, I'm glad to be done with it. This coming week, I start differentiating lessons, so I've got 3 separate plans in the works, in addition to 2 for tomorrow's EEP classes (yes, my first stressful Saturday). I even started working on them early in the week, but my head is still spinning trying to keep track of it all.
Speaking of head spinning--or perhaps swimming--I may have mentioned this before, but WHAT is with Koreans and onions at Costco?? Last time I was there with friends, we resolved not to sit near the onions in the dining area, but I realized this time that proximity to the dispenser is largely irrelevant. EVERYONE gets themselves a giant plate of diced onions, stirs them up with ketchup and mustard, and then--this is the amazing part--EATS it. But not before the stink gets all over my jacket. I guess it's the Korean garbage plate (though that term could be applied to so many things here), but the name is so apt, it loses the wry element.
I'm going to a Passover Seder tomorrow. I'm excited--I've never been to one before. It's a potluck, which is a real bear...potlucks in general are a trial here, since I don't have the ingredients/equipment to make my usuals, but add the Passover food rules, and I'm totally lost (this is the holiday where I once had a parent, when I was babysitting for a full day, tell me "it's probably best if you don't eat anything 'cause you might mess up the plates"). I floated a few ideas past the host, who either shot them down or suggested expensive, needle-in-a-haystack ingredients as substitutes, and finally got the brilliant idea to just make applesauce. I hope there's nothing wrong with cinnamon.
I scratched a major itch this week by walking around Deokso. Back in the fall, I was making a point to go exploring every week, and one strategy was to pick random subway stops and see what's there. I'd chosen Deokso early in March, and penciled it in at least 3 times, but was always thwarted. This week, I finally set out. It seems to be located on some kind of lake, which was neat-looking from the subway, but Koreans like to put major roads along water, so you can't just walk up to it. I did find a drainage ditch to walk along, which was nicer than it sounds. The full moon was coming up, in rather sinister color, and there were cranes (I think) fishing in the water. Hardly a nature preserve, but much more satisfying than my neighborhood. I didn't bring my camera, and it was dark anyway, but I wish I had a picture of the airplane church. Someone's taken an old 747, raised it up on stilts so it's about its own height off the ground, and turned it into a place of worship. I'm half tempted to go to a service. The plane was oddly eerie, jutting out of a hillside. I've heard that the essence of scary is putting ordinary things where you don't expect them to be...worked in this case.
Also in the "where's my camera?" department: FAG company (no idea what they make), and a bus from BS Tours.
Someday (theoretically), I'll post about my Temple Stay last weekend. Pretty touristy, but pretty cool.
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