Konglish

I feel like I have been gone for about three months, but it hasn't even been two weeks yet! The 13+ hour days are certainly getting to me! But it is still such a great experience and I am so in love with the kids here. They are amazing. This age (14) always terrifies me in the US. And it is still a bit tricky here, but the kids are for the most part pretty well-behaved.

They love my height. I mean, American kids are fascinated by it too. But these kids just can't get enough of it! Every time they see me they say something. And they ask how tall I am. And they try to stand on their tippy tip toes to see how close they can get. I think I told a handful of them how tall I am (184ish centimeters), but now every single one of them knows and says it when anyone says something. I get up on stage with Darren, the coordinator here, who is much shorter than I am, and they just get a kick out of it.

"I love you" is another thing we hear a lot here. The students will just come up to us and say "I love you teacher!" Or shout it from across the room. Again, not something you would hear often from an American student. Much less a 14 year old American student. They are exhausted after 13 hours of learning every day, and I'm pretty sure any American student who was forced to spend their summer in a "camp" basically studying 13 hours a day would hate their teachers. Korean students live for studying. Not by choice, but the culture demands it of them. They study all day every day of the year to get good grades. Bad grades are not an option. Dropping out is not an option. For this reason, suicide is sadly all too common among Korean students because its just too much for them. But these kids are working their butts off, still managing to have some fun, and still showing all kinds of love to their crazy American teachers (and the Korean co-teachers as well!). It makes me really respect these kids! Speaking of the kids...

There is a "Ben," (whose chosen American name reminds me of my Ben and makes me miss him and home even more) and about 5 "Amys." There are "Annies" and "Alices" and "Johns." But then there is also a "Lady Gaga." And an "Alkatraz" (misspelled, even!). And let's not leave out the "hot" group. "Hot Dog" started it all. Then his buddies, "Hot Summer" (a popular Korean song), "Hot Chocolate" and "Hot Bar" (what??) decided to join him. See, the first day of camp, the students all chose their "camp names" or English names. The homeroom class teachers either assigned names, gave the students options, or let the students come up with things on their own. Some students already had English names and chose to use those. But many of them came up with some creative ones, as you can see.

I have also noticed alot of other things that are quite different from things in the US.

• First of all, they eat kimchi for breakfast. Not just kimchi, but squid and soup and super spicy things. I don't eat the kimchi. For any meal. And for breakfast, I skip a lot of things. But I am still finding plenty to eat and having dried anchovies, rice and coleslaw for breakfast isn't nearly as weird as it may sound.
  
• The remove-your-shoes thing is pretty different too. On the plane on the way here they gave us slippers. At the restaurant we ate at our first morning at camp, we had to remove our shoes and sit down on the ground barefoot for breakfast. You always have to remove your shoes before entering your room.
  
• You don't yell at the head teacher in front of everyone about giving the foreign teachers cereal every morning (this wasn't me, but the coordinator-he learned a hard lesson that we were all humiliated to watch).
  
• Koreans don't sweat. The rest of us, on the other hand......
• Koreans eat more sweets than anyone I know (counting myself in there). The kids are constantly being given snacks of cookies or sweet crackers (same thing? probably). Every time I go in the Korean staff room (that's right, we're segregated-Korean Staff Room and Foreign Teacher's Room), the Korean staff are eating candy or cookies or sweet drinks or chips....and offering them to me.
• The power difference/age relations in this culture are difficult. An adult can say "annyong" to a child as a greeting. But the child must say "annyong haseyo" in response and bow. You can't tell someone older than you or in a higher position what to do. I am constantly having to ask the head teacher (Mrs. Na) for things for our classes and I want to cry a little every time because its intimidating. She's super friendly, just kind of scary too...
• You bow when you greet others. You can't hand someone something with one hand-your other hand has to be touching your wrist or arm somewhere. Boys hold hands and it doesn't mean anything. You beckon with your palm down. You wave with an open hand (often with both hands). They love their drinking games.
• I haven't brushed my hair since coming here two weeks ago. Straightening it is pointless because of all the humidity. So i just wash it and scrunch it up and let it dry. Into a frizzy wavy-ish mess. Hence no photos of me....
• Koreans are very concerned with image (bad news for me, see above). This is obvious by the mirrors in every building on every wall. Go into a school hallway? There are mirrors. Into a convenience store? Mirrors. Every Korean girl has an ornate handheld mirror. So when you walk around with frizzy hair and no makeup and are always all sweaty and tired......this is kind of unpleasant!
  

• I really, really, really want to learn Korean. I've got about 6 words down and some of the letters. Halfway there, right...?

Happy campers

Camp has begun! It started a couple days ago actually. Yesterday? I don't know, I'm always confused about the date/time here.

Our daily schedule starts with breakfast at 7:40 (with morning exercises at 7:10 for those who want to join/watch the kids sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up, windmill windmill windmill) and we are constantly going until 9pm. My main role is to organize and MC the evening activities with the head teacher, Darren. He has been teaching in Korea for four years now so he knows a little more about teaching/organizing/Korean education. So I spend the day running around trying to figure out where we are going to do the activities, making sure we have all the materials required, setting things up, making sure all the teachers have what they need, doing whatever the Korean head teacher and principal tell me to (often contradictory things), etc.

Yesterday we welcomed the kids to the camp. They are all about 14 years old and some are super shy and some are trouble makers (what else would you expect from 14 year olds?). Each teacher has a homeroom class of about 12 students, and the homeroom classes rotate through all 12 classrooms learning those specific lessons-cooking, fashion, directions, nature, etc. Then Darren and I take care of the big whole-group activities. Yesterday we had a little assembly where each team got on stage to introduce their team name, a cheer they had come up with and a poster they made. Because we had to fill up two hours with this, and none of the students wanted to talk, we had to come up with some other ways to pass the time. This included things like trivia questions (thought up on the spot), team rock-paper-scissors, Simon says, cheering competitions, etc. We somehow timed things perfectly so we were done right on time. The kids had some fun and got more comfortable with us and with each other, so I think it was quite successful!

Today's activity was a bit more structured. It was a trivia game called KaBoom! The kids pick a square, we find out how many points its worth (or if they lose their points), then they have to answer a question. The university that we are at does not have a gym, so this makes large group activities quite difficult. We decided to split the teams in half, so 7 teams were in the auditorium with me and the other 5 teams were in a classroom with Darren. So I would call a student on stage, they would pick the square then answer a question. We keep hearing how Korean students looove competition. So true! They had a blast, especially when they had a chance to steal another team's points. Again, this somehow worked out perfectly and we got done right in time for dinner. Every evening the kids have to journal about their day. And some of the teachers told us that their students had journaled enthusiastically about KaBoom! (especially the winning team!). That made me pretty happy knowing that they had enjoyed it!

We have lots more activities to come (ones that will be even more difficult without a gym) including relay races, etc. These ones will require even more planning! The principal (Mr. Chang, or "Simon") is really friendly although kind of intimidating (even though he is tiny and old) and the Korean head teacher (Mrs. Na) is very organized and demanding, always wanting me to tell her whats going on and create charts and schedules for her.

So far, this has been a really good experience! I really like South Korea, the people are wonderful, the food is good....mostly (although I thanked Jesus that they had bread and peanut butter for us for breakfast this morning....in addition to the whole fish, spicy pork, kimchi, anchovies, salad, etc. that is the usual), and I am learning a lot and pushing myself, which I always like to do! I of course miss everyone back home, but I know I will be back in four weeks, which will go by in no time!

Tomorrow we have been invited by the principal to go on a walk. "Invited" means, you really need to be there. Its at 6:20 am. Soooo another long day tomorrow! Which is why I'm going to bed right now :) I promise I will put up some photos soon, as soon as I have a second! One of my Korean roommates has an iphone and she can somehow share her wireless internet. She's not even here right now, but apparently its turned on so I am stealing her internet. Iphones are great!

Annyong haseyo!

Our first day here in Korea was an interesting one. We arrived at the Woman Plaza (I'm still not quite sure what it is....part dormitory, part hotel, part conference area...) in a town near Mokp'o at about 2am and quickly found our rooms. I got the internet to work and then fell asleep the instant my head hit the pillow. But then we had to get up for breakfast at 7:30. So after maybe 4 hours of sleep, it was time to get up. Fortunately, after breakfast there wasn't much planned. It was mostly a free day for us to get situated. Jonathan, who I know from Spanish classes at PSU, and a girl from UofO, Alice, and I decided to wander around a bit after breakfast. We just walked around the Woman Plaza property and found the main road. We then headed back inside to get ready for our welcome lunch with the governor of Jeollanamdo province.

We were told to bring some "dressy" clothes for this meal as we wanted to impress and show our respect for the governor. So we all got a little dressed up and headed to lunch. We heard a nice speech from the governor and ate a delicious lunch. The program that we are involved in was started in 2007 by the governor. This province is one of the most rural and poorest of all South Korea. The children don't have access to great education and just don't have the opportunities that children in other provinces do. The Korean government sends funds to this province in order for them to improve their education. So the governor wanted to bring in English teachers so that the children of this area would have greater opportunity to learn for free and would therefore have greater opportunities for a brighter future. Its really a beautiful program and you can tell that the governor really is passionate about helping his community and improving the future of the young people. While we did later find out that the children involved in this program are chosen specifically for their high marks in English (which means their parents most likely have money to send them to private schools for education), it is still a nice program and I am proud to be involved.

After lunch with the governor (and awkward handshakes from him where he tried to like pull us in for a hug or something), Alice, Jonathan and I decided to do some more exploring. It was a pretty hot day, but we figured we could handle it. And we would have been able to, had we known at all where we were going. We just kind of started walking and then by the time we realized there was nothing at all in this town, we were kind of lost. We knew the general direction to head in, so we started that way. We walked by buildings thinking they were ones we had seen before, only to realize later that it was just a different location of the coffee shop, or a similar looking construction site, but not the same one. We were hot. It was a million degrees out. Actually it was probably only like 90, but when you are tired and lost it seems much hotter. We eventually found the right road and saw our building in the distance, although it looked like a million miles away. We arrived back to the Woman Plaza after wandering around for about two hours, and then it was time for dinner.

The town we are in is a developing town. There is construction everywhere and tons of brand new apartment buildings that appear pretty empty. You don't see many people around. There are convenience stores and coffee shops and banks, but that's about it. For that reason, I keep having to remind myself that I'm in Asia, for crying out loud, how cool is that?!?!! It kind of just seems like any other moderately sized city (minus the people......I think they must be vampires and only come out at night?).

We did make our way to Mokp'o the next night, which is more Korean-seeming, in my mind. There are brightly lit signs on the crowded and narrow streets, more people wandering about (though still not a ton of people-we're not in Seoul, which contains about a quarter of the population of the entire country), etc. The first night we went to Mokp'o, we caught a cab (which was about $5, split between 5 people) and just wandered around where they dropped us off. We found a Baskin Robbins which sounded good so we went in for some ice cream. I have heard that Asian people don't que in lines, but never really imagined what that would mean. Well, I'll tell you: it means standing around for forever while Korean people jump in front of you and order. I eventually did push my way through and order some ice cream (and gave them way too much money on accident-good thing the girl was nice!). While I was standing by the counter, this little girl (maybe 12 years old or so) kept staring at me. She finally said, in English, "You are very tall!" hahahah I smiled and said, "Yes I am!" Then I sat down at the table with the others and they notified me that some ladies at a neighboring table had been sneaking photos of me with their cell phones. HAHAHAHAH Seeing white people is exciting enough, but when the white girl is head and shoulders taller than anyone you've ever seen, its necessary to catch that on film. Apparently. I can't wait to see the kid's reactions when they meet all 6'1" of me!

The last couple of days have been filled with training about how to teach, what the curriculum will be like, what Korean students are like, etc. I feel pretty prepared for the most part. Although I did volunteer to be the "Activites Coordinator" for the first camp. Which means I won't actually be teaching but will be making sure all the teachers have what they need, subbing when someone needs a break, being the MC for the evening activities (being up on stage giving instructions for all the activities, etc.).....should be interesting! I'm kind of nervous and am not sure exactly what I got myself in to, but it will be a great experience for me!

Today we are going to meet our Korean co-teachers (well, except for me since I won't have a co-teacher at first!) and learn a little more about what we'll be doing. Gonna be a busy day!


P.s. Thanks to my friend Alice, I can now say "hello," "thank you," and "don't touch me, pervert" in Korean. That's really all you need to know, right?? I'm working on learning the alphabet, so then I will be able to read Korean. I won't know what it means, but I will be able to pronounce it!



Photos to come...

The Koren eagle has landed.

I made it here! After a great weekend of seeing family, hanging out with Ben and packing..., I left bright and early on Monday morning. I hitched a ride to the airport with Kevin who was leaving for AZ for a few days for work. After spending a few hours in the airport, we boarded our first flight to Seattle. I was already tired at this point since I'd only slept for like an hour or two the previous night. But we had two hours to wait in Seattle before boarding our flight to Seoul. I don't really like flying. Its uncomfortable and boring and I can never sleep. Although I love Asiana airlines and would never fly on any other airline if I had a choice, it was still miserable. I slept for like 15 minute periods throughout the flight, but just couldn't get comfortable and sleep. So I ate everything they brought me (the most attentive and adorable flight crew ever!), which was a lot. And I watched some movies (not a very good selection). And wished I was sleeping the whole time.

When we finally landed in Seoul, we were greeted by a representative from the program who ushered us onto a bus. A disco bus. This thing was crazy. I'm pretty sure it was nicer than the plane we had just flown on. By this point I think I had already been up for 24 hours (more like 48 since I hadn't slept much the night before), so I was pretty grumpy and tired. But we had yet another form of transportation to take to our destination. Anyway, the bus had like color-changing lights, disco-type ceiling, fringe and beads on the curtains......pretty amazing. I was kind of delirious though and so didn't take any photos. I had heard that the bus ride would take anywhere from 4 to 7 hours, depending on who I asked, so didn't really know what to expect (something I think I am going to have to get used to on this trip). After about two hours we stopped and we exited the bus. They never said anything to us, we just got off the bus and headed into the building where we stopped. Which turned out to be like a rest-stop type area with a cafeteria and restrooms. Nice restrooms. And weird food. But they ordered food for us (after I got yelled at for not deciding quick enough if I wanted "fish cutlet" or "pork cutlet." Uhhhh...neither?) and we sat down to eat. Port cutlet. Served with kimchee, rice, cole slaw and french fries. So Korean, clearly. Now, at this point, it was about 11pm if my memor serves correctly. We had already been driving for a few hours and I was soooooo ready to be in my bed. And they just were giving us no clue as to how much longer it would be. So I just kept curling up in a ball on my seat and sleeping. I actually did get a good (ish) amount of sleep on that bus. We later pulled over once more, and after being sorely disappointed since I thought we had arrived at our destination, we had yet another potty break. Then one more hour and we finally arrived. We all found our rooms, chose our beds, and I tried to get the internet to work. I was exhausted. And emotional. And had to try realllllly hard to not cry when I could not get the effing internet to connect. Each room has an ethernet cable in it, and you have to type in the ISP address, etc. Anyway, after asking numerous people to help me, which none of them did, it magically started working. So I told my parents I was still alive, sent a message to Ben, and was finally able to sleep peacefully. My roommates and I (there are four of us in this room) have all been sharing my computer since its already connected. Although it isn't the best connection, its good enough and I've been able to keep in touch so far!

There will be many more posts to come, fear not! We had an interesting first day here, and tomorrow starts our training before we head to our camps in a few days. So I will update soon on all that!

Airplane food. "Bibimbap." So good!

I'm leaving, on a jet plane

Okay now I'm starting to freak out a little. Five days. How is it already July 13th??? I still have things to buy, things to pack, things to figure out, before I leave on Monday morning. I feel like I am abandoning numerous people by going and it makes me feel like a horrible friend. It would be so much easier to just stay here and not have to deal with leaving. But isn't life just like that? Sometimes you have to do things that are difficult. Or that once seemed like a great idea but now just seem like a pain. Sometimes you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone and create new experiences for yourself. And it is always good to have these experiences. As difficult as it may be, as uncomfortable as it may feel, you can always learn something about the world, about people, about life, about yourself, that will help you become a better person when you step outside of your own little world and thus expand it.

Kayla will have her beautiful, healthy, happy baby even if I'm not there for that. Sierra won't even remember that I wasn't there for her second birthday. I will be able to keep in semi-regular contact with everyone else while I am away and won't miss out on too much in five weeks. I can wish that the timing would be better, but the timing will never be good to just leave for a month. I can wish that I could take people with me, but it wouldn't be a growing experience if I didn't have to do this on my own. I can try to figure everything out and plan every little detail of my time away, but there are always unexpected things that come up and throw a wrench in the works.

I can't wait to see Korea and experience the culture meet amazing people and fall in love with my students and learn more about myself and the world. Leaving is just going to be really hard this time around.





On a side note, just in case you want to know what Korean fashion is like (because I myself was curious), check out this site. Kind of makes me wish I was Korean.

The voices in my head.

I'm in a melancholy-ish mood right now (also, I had to look up how to spell melancholy). I don't even know why. Well, I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I'm leaving for Korea in 11 days. A fact which I am getting quite good at ignoring. I should probably start packing. And figuring out what I need to get before I leave. But I'm just gonna go ahead and put that off a little longer.

I am excited for this trip. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I will learn and experience so much from. Its going to be a lot of work and will be exhausting, but so worth it. In our meetings (all two of them) for this trip, they made sure to tell us how hard and uncomfortable things will be most of the time. So that has my normal "I'm-about-to-go-on-an-amazing-adventure" -ness kind of lower than normal. That, and the fact that I'll be missing my best friend having her baby, my niece's second birthday, my boyfriend (who knew one of those was going to come along when I applied for this program?), my family, a few paychecks at work, and a large part of summer in Oregon (which has FINALLY arrived. I think.).

I'll be back after five weeks and it will be like I was never gone. Then I can go on to planning my next adventure. Which may be either a while from now or something a little closer to home since I doubt any more free trips are going to come my way. The older you get, the more difficult it becomes to take trips like this, for all the reasons named above. Leaving for Spain last year was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. Praise the Lord everyone is healthy and happy this time around, but there are more things going on and more ties to people and things that make it difficult all the same. I think that's why it is hard for me to get excited about this trip. I know I will get excited when I get there and will have the time of my life, but I'm just kind of ambivalent about it at this point.

Anyway, 11 days to go! I better get to learning Korean.......maybe that will get me psyched up for the trip! Also, here's the ten-day weather forecast for the area I'll be in in Korea. Hmmm, looks like fun!