I've Just Met A Girl Named Korea

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All the beautiful sounds of the world in a single word: Korea, Korea, Korea, Korea!

Pictures:



It’s official. I am in love. It’s only been two and a half weeks, and I don’t want to rush into anything... but I am smitten. I can just feel it in my heart. I am in love with South Korea.

The people are amazing. The food is incredible. The streets are lit up and the excitement of it all is refreshing. I have adapted very well to life here. I think the month I spent in China last summer took the brunt of my Asian culture shock. South Korea is kind of like a little America, but all the people are Asian, and I am illiterate.

Last weekend I went to an SK Wyverns professional baseball game (SK is a cell phone company, Wyverns is a type of dragon). It was kind of like a high school football game on crack. There were drummers in the audience, cheerleaders, and a man who danced, sang, and blew his whistle to Korean pop songs on top of the dugout … But the best part by far was the ball dog. As opposed to a ball boy, they had a dog bring the ump a basket of baseballs when he needed one. Everything about it, especially the strange mascot, was cute. I also had the opportunity to explain baseball to a foreigner, a gay guy from London who had never seen a baseball game before except for in a few movies. Explaining baseball to a foreigner is the best way to realize that everyone and everything is weird, and that the world really is a huge place (despite the fact that I’ve already met four people from Wisconsin... and I can’t even count the number of Americans I’ve met, let alone English, Irish, Australian, South African…)

Work is still very hard. I go in at 9 AM everyday and teach kindergarteners who aren’t really even kindergarteners. I recently discovered that one of the girls in my class is three. The theory is to get them into a situation where they have to communicate in English, and the earlier the exposure, the better. The theory makes sense, and it must work based on the fact that my older kids are very good at English. But it’s definitely not easy for me to control these kids. I think the problem comes with the age confusion. My english immersion school gets many of their books from America. The books state that they are for children ages 5, 6, and 7. But here, when a child is 5 Korean age, they are actually 3 in America (think of the "16 year old" Chinese Olympic gymnasts). I have had to get used to telling the Koreans I meet that I am 25, which sucks. So anyways, the school basically has 3 year olds doing work fit for 5,6, and 7, year olds. The kids do not pay attention, do not listen, lay on the floor and stomp their feet, run out of the classroom, push each other, fight, scream, cry…. You get the picture. There are rare moments when I do actually have their undivided attention. I have taken to singing almost everything I say, and dancing around the room… they seem to like that.

But the Korean teachers are so mean to the students, that in comparison, they are just not scared of me at all. I have literally seen a Korean teacher (a woman) shove two kids into a wall very hard, and another pull out a chair from underneath a sitting child, which caused the kid to hit the floor with a lot of force. This kid is very naughty, but still, in America that would never happen. And since they've already figured out that American teachers don't hurt children, they are simply not concerned with anything I have to say or do.

The older kids are still good, but I feel bad because by the time I get to them in the afternoon I am exhausted with a short fuse. There are times in class, though, when I laugh so hard I can’t control it. But there are also times when I get so frustrated I could scream!

All in all, after two and a half weeks, I am glad to be here. I wish work were easier, but I'm guessing most people in the world do. The roaches are still partying it up in my kitchen (I saw four alive baby roaches today, a VERY bad sign). But they gave me new wallpaper and I got rid of the moldy old chair so the place at least looks liveable.

Have another 3-day weekend comin up. These Koreans love them their 3-day weekends. I am supposedly going to a beautiful warm island off the southern coast called Jeju Island (sp?). I'll let you know how that goes.

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Comments

[Genaro]

Not snake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel You live four floors above the restaurant that serves barbecued freshwater eels. Unlike the Chinese, the Koreans don't eat snakes, you know. p.s. Try eels sometime. They are very tasty and nutritious as hell.

[Dave]

Why Republicans think the way they do about foreign policy . . .
"And since they've already figured out that American teachers don't hurt children, they are simply not concerned with anything I have to say or do."