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Published: March 15th 2011
Gymnastics
Laura showing off her skills afoot a sacred and important monument for the people of Boeun.Dear Blog Readers,
The beginning of a new week and the dawning of my first actual full week of teaching (last week’s three days doesn't really count). I arrived at my school raring to go and scare the quivering new first grade student’s fresh from a pummelling from the third graders who have brought them back down to Earth. They are no longer the boss of the Elementary School and their position in the middle school hierarchy needs to be established early doors. My eagerness to teach was suddenly and swiftly thwarted upon opening my ‘usual’ slipper box in the main entrance. Where the bloody hell have my slippers gone!?
I say my ‘usual’ in the loosest sense of the word. I actually just choose box 4 for two reasons. Firstly, it is in the corner and out of the way so as to deter attracting unwanted attention. Secondly, it is on the top row and due to my height, I felt I was doing the honourable thing by lifting my shoes to a waistline height rather than an out-of-reach stretching to the limits height for the average Korean. I was now staring at a pair of beautiful glistening
Not interested
Leonard clearly not feeling the love. pair of high heels which had replaced my scrubby oversized slippers. I considered wearing the high heels to make a point but decided to just wear a pair of the ‘visitor’ slippers that littered the area. I spent the rest of the day staring at people’s feet to catch the culprit!
The first graders were unsurprisingly sheepish and attentive. I liken this to an active volcano. I can see them itching to get into the same rhythm of immaturity and bubbling under the surface but nobody wants to make the first move. It could be social suicide. However, I was pleasantly surprised at the standard of English from the first graders and I can only attribute that to the phenomenal teaching expertise of our elementary native English teachers here in Boeun. Well done and thank you.
In the evening, I was asked by Mr Pak, the home management teacher, if Laura and I would like to go for dinner with his girlfriend. On the way home, he confessed that his girlfriend would not be able to make it, but instead, stopped the librarian and asked her if she wanted to come instead. Smooth. Off we went for samgyeopsal
Restaurant
Samgyeopsal with Mr Pak and Kim Min Gyeong, the librarian. (my Korean version of Word automatically changes "doesn't" into Korean but will happily leave samgyeopsal in English – well done Microsoft) at a restaurant in Wonnam. It was really good to get to know them better and it highlighted just how hospitable they are.
Tuesday was Diagnostic Test Day. Less than 5 days into the new semester and the children are already being punished by the Korean Educational System. It meant that my lessons were cancelled but it wasn’t just me who was bored. A maths teacher from the Information High School had turned up and she was without classes too. I felt sorry for her since she had nothing else to do except do the maths problems in the exercise book. Gutted.
Wednesday was the cringiest day of the week. Eun-bi has been laughing at the prospect of me teaching at the Girl’s High School since it was decided a few weeks ago. Leonard gave me a lift to the school because he works in the Middle School which is adjacent to the High School. A group of girls outside the main entrance were already screaming, “You are so handsome!!!” as we walked inside. Leonard replied, “Ah,
Samnyeong Samsong
The Three Year Fortress. I'm surprised they didn't call it Samnyeong Samsung and tell us that Samsung invented it. thank you so much. You are very kind.” They snapped back, “Not you! Him!” Leonard vowed to stop teaching them. I was then led to the High School and had to do my few lines of Korean dialogue which went down well in front of all the staff before starting my lessons. Each lesson was started with a chorus of screaming girls before any attempt to settle them down. Lunchtime was particularly cringe when the third graders all started screaming. It was for this show of sheer cringeworthy attention that I was awarded the Bringles Award. The foreign teachers in Boeun have a group called the Boeun Educational Support Team (BEST) which meet monthly. A new award is an empty Pringles tube filled with something appropriately Korean. It is awarded to somebody who has improved the quality of education in Boeun over the previous month.
I came back to my middle school for a welcome party for the new teachers. In front of me was a plate filled with food that I didn’t really know. A few broken English conversations with the teachers surrounding the desk revealed that I was about to consume liver, heart, kidney, lungs, intestine, and
Canopy
These cool little wooden canopies are everywhere to chill out under. my favourite, trachea. It wasn’t too bad, apart from the trachea feeling like a mouthful of nails sliding down my throat and the liver tasting of blood.
At lunch on Thursday I was sat across from the new science teacher and Mr Oh. They were chatting and looking at each other awkwardly. Mr Oh explained that he taught the science teacher English when he worked at a school in Cheongju. Small world! I also gained new found respect for Mr Oh because he farted really loudly in class and just carried on normally even amongst the squeals of, “Mr Oh. Dirty,” from the students gasping for air.
The weekend was great because our friends from Cheongju, Kim and David, were coming to visit us in Boeun! They were our first visitors so we were prepared to show them the sights and sounds from the best town in the whole of South Korea. Unfortunately, the farmers had been spraying the fields so they sharp smell of fresh cow excrement punctured the nostrils as they stepped off the coach – not the best possible start. However, they said that it reminded them of home so it wasn’t too bad.
Baskin Robbens
At last! It's here! May the calorie counting commence! We then walked up to Samnyeong Samsong which is the Three Year Fortress that overlooks Boeun just behind my Middle School. The weather was great and views were spectacular and we were able to practice our rock climbing capabilities.
We got some fried chicken and experienced the newly opened Baskin Robbins on the mean streets of Boeun. The panic on the look of the workers was amazing and we managed to get a few free scoops because they couldn’t work out what we were saying. I’m worried that come summer when the weather is ridiculously hot, I may be living in Baskin Robbins because I pass it on my way home from school. We met up with Michelle, Betty and Stephanie for some drinks afterwards. Michelle bonded with the South Africans as I awkwardly sat in the middle trying to think of something that I could contribute…”Did you see the World Cup?”
The South African bonding continued into Sunday as we went with Leonard and Michelle to Songni to see the biggest free standing Buddah, and the almost as impressive, “largest rice cauldron in the whole of Korean history” at Beopju-sa temple. The Buddah and surrounding temples were
fantastic and we were once again blessed with great weather.
We went underneath the Buddah into a small room where another Buddah statue is placed. The women outside the prayer room was telling us about it. She asked Dave where he was teaching and her eyes lit up at the mention of Cheongju. Laura and I thought this was probably the only opportunity that we would have where living in Boeun trumps Cheongju because it is so much closer. When she asked us, we responded with, “We live in Boeun!” She looked confused so we repeated with just as much anticipated excitement, “Boeun!” Absolutely nothing. She didn’t have a clue what we were talking about and carried on talking to Dave about Cheongju.
Another reason to visit Boeun…nobody, not even somebody 5km away from it, really knows where it is.
Tink and Laura
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lauren
non-member comment
hii
Hii, lol, I can now understand all your silly teaching comments! We need to meet up one weekend? What's the best weekend in a month or two to come visit or you can come to busan? How do we get to boeun (where)?