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...?