It has been a struggle in deciding exactly how to write this week's blog entry.
The past 5 or 6 days have been, without a doubt, the most difficult of my days spent in Korea thus far, as myself and my loved ones at home have had to deal with a great loss in the family.
And though this event has definitely left me in a state of both shock and sadness ... I don't feel as if my blog site is the appropriate forum in which to openly speak about this loss.
I chose not to inform my host family of anything ... not out of belief that they wouldn't be sympathetic or understanding ... but solely for the fact that I believed it would too difficult to share ... especially in a language where I can't fully express my feelings.
However, I have been able to chat, e-mail, and Skype with my family and many of my close friends ... and for that I am extremely grateful. Without a strong support group of truly amazing people at home I don't know where I would be.
Thank you all.
It has been extremely difficult going through the grieving process here in Korea, while being away from family and friends, and living in a place where I am so far removed from anything familiar or comforting. It is the first time that I have truly questioned my motives for being here, honestly debating if this experience is worth missing out on what is so central to my life at home.
What I have found most difficult to accept is the fact that even though I am in Korea, life and the people in mine are changing, living, and dying, regardless if I am present. However, this is something that I am learning to come to terms with ... and as arduous of a learning experience this is, I am positive that when I step away from Korea I will be stepping away a more learned and experienced individual ... for the better.
So to take quite a large step away from the seriousness that was the previous couple paragraphs, I thought I would share something that absolutely always makes me smile ... the ridiculous things that come out of the mouths of my students.
Last week I did a PostSecret-ish lesson with my classes ... featuring the PostSecret website and the always popular conjunction "because". After showing many examples of secrets that appear on the PostSecret website, I had my students each write their own secret postcard ... which I then collected and shared with the class.
It was (mostly) anonymous ... chill out Frank Warren.
I received many, many, many hilarious / disturbing / completely nonsensical secrets, and I have chosen those which I consider to be among the best, to share with you all.
Enjoy.
"I am man because I have a beard."
(written by a girl student)
"I want to eat dog because it is delicious."
(to be fair, this was right before lunchtime)
"I am sexy because I love nude. I am gay because I love the man. I feel good because I'm gay."
(English class, quite the setting in which to come out of the closet)
"I feel happy because of armhole fur"
(who doesn't?)
"I will kill Song Bin Kim because he doesn't give me coke."
(I'm guessing a-cola)
"My father's friend is Osama Bin Laden."
(I'm going to hope this one isn't true)
"I hate babies because I think they look like a EVIL."
(he was adamant about this ... please note the all-caps)
"I hate Lee Myeoubg Bak because he is unfair."
(get that free speech)
"I feel hate because of you."
(pretty sure this one was directed towards me)
"I feel happy because I'm in my wife class. I am lucky guy because I meet Lauren."
(from the student who refers to me solely as "wife")
"I am angry because my girlfriend is very pretty."
(all the ugly ones were taken?)
"I will kill you because I hate you. Sorry ..."
(also directed towards me ... but did include an apology note)
"I am sad because I have short fingers."
(this girl seriously has her friends pull on her fingers during class so as to "stretch-y them out")
"I still sleep with my mother because in night I'm scared."
(baby)
"I'm a firefighter because I usually extinguish fires with my feet."
(the most logical part of the body to use)
"I feel terrible because I excremented in my pants."
(I would want to keep that a secret too)
"I feel terrible because I hear someone likes poop smell."
(probably the guy sitting next to him who just "excremented" in his pants ...)
"I feel angry because of puberty."
(this could have been written by one of the millions of boy students who have only 7 creepy hairs on their upper lips)
"I feel complex because my head is full with think."
(not English thinks, apparently)
"I hate Lauren because she is so beautiful."
(understandable)
These are the types of things that I encounter just about everyday at school. Thought I would share ... laughter is truly the best medicine.
(But please don't stop taking yours ... I'm not really a doctor.)
**I'd like to dedicate this blog post and the corresponding title song to Papaw Wendling. The strongest and most determined man I have ever known.**
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
This blog is made in Korea and hey, we know those Koreans make good stuff.
Just call me Billy Mayes (no, it's not too soon) ... because in this blog not only do you get all the exciting information about my Halloween weekend, but I'm also throwing in everything that happened this past weekend too! It's an extreme blowout sale where everything must go (or be documented in my blog, you know, for posterity and stuff).
Well actually I've found myself somehow behind a weekend in blogging ... so this latest installment features two weekends for the price of one.
Just think of it like you ordered a vat of OxiClean, and received some Orange Glo as my free gift to you.
This was the first Halloween I have celebrated in Korea, and it was, pretty memorable. The evening was filled with costumes, candy, coffee shops, and various other things that start with the letter "c". Myself and about 20 other Fulbright ETAs gathered in Gwangju to affirm our status as foreigners in Korea, and celebrate a holiday that is unheard of over here in Asia. However, this small fact did not tone down our celebration, as we all dressed in costumes (many, quite elaborate) and paraded around the streets of Gwangju ... which made us the recipients of countless stares, awkward glances, and overall pure amazement from many Koreans.
I believe at many points in the night I received a couple "Wows".
I dressed up as an ajumma ... a title given to the oldest of Korean ladies ... something into which all Korean women will eventually evolve. I believe once they hit 65, all Korean women begin to turn into what can only be described as Yoda-like. The costume consisted of gloriously mis-matched articles of clothing (which are an absolute standard in ajumma fashion), a wide brimmed hat (to preserve their wrinkly skin while sitting on the sidewalk all day selling an assortment of vegetables), and an E-Mart (similar to Wal-Mart) bag in which to carry all their priceless possessions (mainly vegetables). I must admit that I think I had a pretty stellar costume, and it was by far the most comfortable Halloween costume I have ever worn.
(Check out my picture website to confirm.)
So in our costumes all us ETAs invaded a coffee shop - one which another ETA's principal's son owns (hope that is clear enough for you) and had a lovely celebration drinking various beverages and listening to the "Once" soundtrack - ballad after ballad of sappy love songs blared amongst the Halloween festivities. Seriously. Koreans love anything to do with that movie.
As that weekend was spent celebrating one of the greatest pagan holidays, this past weekend was atoning for those sins at my host-family's church, being treated to a lovely vegetarian buffet lunch by some of my new church friends, and visiting the Hampyeong flower festival in Hampyeong (duh).
The festival was full of flowers, flower sculptures, your routine swine-flu emergency center, and the saddest carnival in the history of humankind. I took the bus to Hampyeong (it was much to far to walk) and met up with one of my ETA friends to enjoy a day of looking at flowers and nearly getting killed by the most terrifying carnival ride ever.
The bus ride was surprisingly pleasant, a nice change in that most bus rides passengers don't ever / aren't really supposed to speak (especially in English). But the bus was packed and I found myself sitting by the only other English speaker on the bus ... a Korean guy who lives in Dubai, is a flight attendant and world traveler, and speaks fluent Korean, English, Portuguese, and Japanese. We decided to hold our convo in English (my Japanese skills are a little rusty / nonexistent). He told me all about his world travels and how his favorite two cities in that he has visited thus far have been Paris and Dallas (probably because of his love for berets, guns, and cowboy boots), and I shared my experiences as an American English teacher in Korea. It was really great to have a legitimate conversation with another individual ... they are definitely few and far between. And he did inform me that the overwhelming opinion of Koreans is that American English teachers are by far the best foreign teachers in Korea (because of our small, beautiful faces) and that next come the Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, and then lastly those who come from the Philippines. Apparently they have the largest faces ... and the worst accents.
The flower festival was something ... it smelled really good (like flowers), boasted some of the most interesting flower arrangements I've ever seen, and also was home to the most depressing carnival this side of the Mississippi. Well, I guess both sides of the Mississippi.
The day was spent walking around the grounds and observing the different flower sculptures. But we first had to pass through swine-flu central, which basically meant we had to douse our hands with sanitizer (the current swine-flu vaccine over here in Korea), walk through what to appeared to be a car wash of more sanitizer ... we were literally had to be sprayed down with the stuff in order to enter the festival).
Throughout the day I was able to see flower sculptures of all kinds: the Eiffel Tower greeted us as we walked in (for a moment I was confused as to exactly what continent I was living), penguins, bulls, Indian temples, penises, and giraffes.
All there. All made out of flowers.
After observing the lovely flowers we headed over to an adjacent impromptu carnival. I guess you could call it a carnival ... it had a ferris wheel, which is my definition of carnival. But this was, as I stated before, the most depressing little carnival ever. We were 2 of probably 5 people there total ... not counting the 3 guys it took to man the rides, concession stands, ticket booths, and souvenir shop. Actually, I don't even think there was a souvenir shop ... seeing that the only thing they would probably sell would be shirts boasting:
"I went to the Hampyeong carnival and all I got was depressed."
So after taking our chances and being the only people to ride the ferris wheel ... which was pretty risky in that its max speed was .25 miles per hour and made solely out of rust, we were invited to ride another ride for free ... one that I now know to be called "Taga Disco".
I figured that we should do it, and make sure we got our monies worth (we paid about 3 dollars to ride the ferris wheel ... which I would estimate to be about 25 cents worth of fun). So we hopped on this "Taga Disco" ... basically a padded, round ride with no seat belts and barely any places to hold onto. I thought we and the three other Korean girls who were at the festival would spin around a couple times and call it a day. But silly me, I didn't know this was the ride from hell.
The ride was operated by some douche-tastic man who controlled both the speed and actions of the padded doughnut thing we were sitting in. He would spin us around and then make the ride pop up and down until we were literally nauseous. This acted like some type of torture device ... he genuinely took pleasure out of our "I think I'm going to throw up all over your stupid ride" faces.
I later learned that this type of ride is one that the operator basically tries to make you sick. They ask you various questions and you are thrown about depending on if they like your answers. As all the questions were in Korean, (still in Korea) I understood only two: "Do you have a boyfriend?" and "How old are you?". When I answered (or really, motioned with one hand ... as the other was desperately clinging to a handrail so as not to die ... that I am 23, he laughed, popped me up and down a few hundred times, then told me "You have old face."
Nice.
This is one of the worst things that can be said about any Korean's appearance ... the ultimate Korean burn. However, I didn't really take much offense to it, only because all Koreans look like they are about 12 (except for the ajummas who, again, look like Yoda). But he thought this was hilarious and continue to try to make me vomit all over his stupid, Korean ride.
All in all, the flower festival was enjoyable, save the 15 or so minutes of torture I received thanks to "Taga Disco" ... or more like "Taga Lame-o.
This past Sunday I once again attended my host family's church in Gwangju, and helped to lead a childrens' English worship service ... another hour informing Korean children how stellar my singing voice is, and having them recite new English words such as "javelin" and "spear" ... two words I'm hoping they at least try to bust out on the playground this week.
After the church service I went out to eat with some of the other church members who help to put on the childrens' service ... and was treated to a delicious vegetarian buffet. Lunch was great in that the majority of everyone I dined with spoke a good amount of English and we were able to have some legit conversations about Korea, the United States, international politics, and religion. They were very eager to hear how I feel about Korea after living here for over 4 months. I was able to share many of my experiences, thoughts, and opinions ... and was also able to hear how they felt about said topics.
However, I get the sneaky feeling that they are still desperately trying to convert me to a holy roller ... only because throughout lunch I was constantly reminded that God had big plans for me in Korea, and that I will absolutely find God before I leave next July.
Definitely the longest game of hide-and-seek I have ever played.
In unrelated news, last week at school I was sitting at my desk ... diligently making lesson plans (aka watching the Daily Show and creeping around on Facebook) ... and I was approached by Moon, a fellow teacher at Hwasun High School. He began to explain that in his quest to learn more English (his is probably the cutest quest ever) he has started to use this "cool, new Internet website". So he came to show me this "cool, new Internet website" ... but first told me he wanted to know what a "dickory" is.
Dumbfounded, I asked him to show me the website ... secretly hoping that it wouldn't entail anything that would bring horrible, awful viruses in and around my computer.
So he eventually found his way into this "cool, new Internet website" and proudly presented to me a childrens' nursery rhyme website that boasts an awkward lady reading the most popular American nursery rhymes ... the hottest one at the moment: "Hickory Dickory Dock". Completely proud of himself, Moon then logs into the site with the screen-name "lover". No joke.
I'm just surprised he didn't choose the name "littlekidlover" ... just so people will know exactly where his priorities are.
Clarification: Office reference - he is not a creeper.
It's that time of year. That Korean time of year ... when 3rd grade middle school students are preparing to enter high school and either commit to an intense three years of academic study, or three years of rigorous training at a trade school. In Korea the students are placed in either category based upon their middle school test scores - they don't really have a say in the matter. However, from what I can understand most students are placed on the academic track, though it is up to them to chose which high school to attend. Not every high school is a viable option. The ridiculously good ones (the ones with fancy computers and stuff) are much more difficult to get into ... just think of it as if they were applying to college (but that's a whole different ball of worms).
Anyways, Hwasun High School is in recruiting mode. There are technically two schools in Hwasun (although the one where I teach is legit in Hwasun ... the other one is a 20 minute car ride outside of town - how it is still defined as "in Hwasun" I have no idea) and each are in fear that the other will get all the smart students, while they will be left with all the boring, not-so-smart ones. So a couple teachers at Hwasun High School are currently making a promotional video of the school - getting some pretty sweet panoramic shots of the lunchroom - in hopes to recruit all the good students. I have actually had a couple of my classes videotaped by said teachers, if only to emphasize, "Hey! Look! We have a foreign teacher! She has brown hair! Come check it out!"
In addition to recording me teaching some classes, I was recently asked to do some voice-over work (that makes it sound so professional ... definitely going on my resume) for the video. My co-teacher asked me to write a couple sentences in English (I don't know what else she should expect - Latin?) that talk up Hwasun High School and "sound really fancy in English". And I do believe that was a direct quote.
So I wrote up some fancy sentences, making sure to include words like "diversity" and "endeavors", so as to make it sound important. However my co-teacher then decided that they were too fancy and the middle school students wold have absolutely no idea what I was talking about, which, I assume would be completely true. She then asked me just to read two sentences in English as they were directly translated from from the promotional video.
I obliged and then spent about 30 solid minutes perfecting my pitch, speed, and overall ability to speak, at the request of the video's directors.
The two sentences (phrases, really) that ended up in the video:
"The everlasting beautiful challenge" - which I'm told is in reference to the three years spent at Hwasun High School - it's a challenge, but a beautiful one.
and
"No extra students at Hwasun, everyone works!" - also appropriate for Russia, circa early 20th century.
If this doesn't attract the middle school students, I don't know what will.
It worked on me.
Well actually I've found myself somehow behind a weekend in blogging ... so this latest installment features two weekends for the price of one.
Just think of it like you ordered a vat of OxiClean, and received some Orange Glo as my free gift to you.
This was the first Halloween I have celebrated in Korea, and it was, pretty memorable. The evening was filled with costumes, candy, coffee shops, and various other things that start with the letter "c". Myself and about 20 other Fulbright ETAs gathered in Gwangju to affirm our status as foreigners in Korea, and celebrate a holiday that is unheard of over here in Asia. However, this small fact did not tone down our celebration, as we all dressed in costumes (many, quite elaborate) and paraded around the streets of Gwangju ... which made us the recipients of countless stares, awkward glances, and overall pure amazement from many Koreans.
I believe at many points in the night I received a couple "Wows".
I dressed up as an ajumma ... a title given to the oldest of Korean ladies ... something into which all Korean women will eventually evolve. I believe once they hit 65, all Korean women begin to turn into what can only be described as Yoda-like. The costume consisted of gloriously mis-matched articles of clothing (which are an absolute standard in ajumma fashion), a wide brimmed hat (to preserve their wrinkly skin while sitting on the sidewalk all day selling an assortment of vegetables), and an E-Mart (similar to Wal-Mart) bag in which to carry all their priceless possessions (mainly vegetables). I must admit that I think I had a pretty stellar costume, and it was by far the most comfortable Halloween costume I have ever worn.
(Check out my picture website to confirm.)
So in our costumes all us ETAs invaded a coffee shop - one which another ETA's principal's son owns (hope that is clear enough for you) and had a lovely celebration drinking various beverages and listening to the "Once" soundtrack - ballad after ballad of sappy love songs blared amongst the Halloween festivities. Seriously. Koreans love anything to do with that movie.
As that weekend was spent celebrating one of the greatest pagan holidays, this past weekend was atoning for those sins at my host-family's church, being treated to a lovely vegetarian buffet lunch by some of my new church friends, and visiting the Hampyeong flower festival in Hampyeong (duh).
The festival was full of flowers, flower sculptures, your routine swine-flu emergency center, and the saddest carnival in the history of humankind. I took the bus to Hampyeong (it was much to far to walk) and met up with one of my ETA friends to enjoy a day of looking at flowers and nearly getting killed by the most terrifying carnival ride ever.
The bus ride was surprisingly pleasant, a nice change in that most bus rides passengers don't ever / aren't really supposed to speak (especially in English). But the bus was packed and I found myself sitting by the only other English speaker on the bus ... a Korean guy who lives in Dubai, is a flight attendant and world traveler, and speaks fluent Korean, English, Portuguese, and Japanese. We decided to hold our convo in English (my Japanese skills are a little rusty / nonexistent). He told me all about his world travels and how his favorite two cities in that he has visited thus far have been Paris and Dallas (probably because of his love for berets, guns, and cowboy boots), and I shared my experiences as an American English teacher in Korea. It was really great to have a legitimate conversation with another individual ... they are definitely few and far between. And he did inform me that the overwhelming opinion of Koreans is that American English teachers are by far the best foreign teachers in Korea (because of our small, beautiful faces) and that next come the Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, and then lastly those who come from the Philippines. Apparently they have the largest faces ... and the worst accents.
The flower festival was something ... it smelled really good (like flowers), boasted some of the most interesting flower arrangements I've ever seen, and also was home to the most depressing carnival this side of the Mississippi. Well, I guess both sides of the Mississippi.
The day was spent walking around the grounds and observing the different flower sculptures. But we first had to pass through swine-flu central, which basically meant we had to douse our hands with sanitizer (the current swine-flu vaccine over here in Korea), walk through what to appeared to be a car wash of more sanitizer ... we were literally had to be sprayed down with the stuff in order to enter the festival).
Throughout the day I was able to see flower sculptures of all kinds: the Eiffel Tower greeted us as we walked in (for a moment I was confused as to exactly what continent I was living), penguins, bulls, Indian temples, penises, and giraffes.
All there. All made out of flowers.
After observing the lovely flowers we headed over to an adjacent impromptu carnival. I guess you could call it a carnival ... it had a ferris wheel, which is my definition of carnival. But this was, as I stated before, the most depressing little carnival ever. We were 2 of probably 5 people there total ... not counting the 3 guys it took to man the rides, concession stands, ticket booths, and souvenir shop. Actually, I don't even think there was a souvenir shop ... seeing that the only thing they would probably sell would be shirts boasting:
"I went to the Hampyeong carnival and all I got was depressed."
So after taking our chances and being the only people to ride the ferris wheel ... which was pretty risky in that its max speed was .25 miles per hour and made solely out of rust, we were invited to ride another ride for free ... one that I now know to be called "Taga Disco".
I figured that we should do it, and make sure we got our monies worth (we paid about 3 dollars to ride the ferris wheel ... which I would estimate to be about 25 cents worth of fun). So we hopped on this "Taga Disco" ... basically a padded, round ride with no seat belts and barely any places to hold onto. I thought we and the three other Korean girls who were at the festival would spin around a couple times and call it a day. But silly me, I didn't know this was the ride from hell.
The ride was operated by some douche-tastic man who controlled both the speed and actions of the padded doughnut thing we were sitting in. He would spin us around and then make the ride pop up and down until we were literally nauseous. This acted like some type of torture device ... he genuinely took pleasure out of our "I think I'm going to throw up all over your stupid ride" faces.
I later learned that this type of ride is one that the operator basically tries to make you sick. They ask you various questions and you are thrown about depending on if they like your answers. As all the questions were in Korean, (still in Korea) I understood only two: "Do you have a boyfriend?" and "How old are you?". When I answered (or really, motioned with one hand ... as the other was desperately clinging to a handrail so as not to die ... that I am 23, he laughed, popped me up and down a few hundred times, then told me "You have old face."
Nice.
This is one of the worst things that can be said about any Korean's appearance ... the ultimate Korean burn. However, I didn't really take much offense to it, only because all Koreans look like they are about 12 (except for the ajummas who, again, look like Yoda). But he thought this was hilarious and continue to try to make me vomit all over his stupid, Korean ride.
All in all, the flower festival was enjoyable, save the 15 or so minutes of torture I received thanks to "Taga Disco" ... or more like "Taga Lame-o.
This past Sunday I once again attended my host family's church in Gwangju, and helped to lead a childrens' English worship service ... another hour informing Korean children how stellar my singing voice is, and having them recite new English words such as "javelin" and "spear" ... two words I'm hoping they at least try to bust out on the playground this week.
After the church service I went out to eat with some of the other church members who help to put on the childrens' service ... and was treated to a delicious vegetarian buffet. Lunch was great in that the majority of everyone I dined with spoke a good amount of English and we were able to have some legit conversations about Korea, the United States, international politics, and religion. They were very eager to hear how I feel about Korea after living here for over 4 months. I was able to share many of my experiences, thoughts, and opinions ... and was also able to hear how they felt about said topics.
However, I get the sneaky feeling that they are still desperately trying to convert me to a holy roller ... only because throughout lunch I was constantly reminded that God had big plans for me in Korea, and that I will absolutely find God before I leave next July.
Definitely the longest game of hide-and-seek I have ever played.
In unrelated news, last week at school I was sitting at my desk ... diligently making lesson plans (aka watching the Daily Show and creeping around on Facebook) ... and I was approached by Moon, a fellow teacher at Hwasun High School. He began to explain that in his quest to learn more English (his is probably the cutest quest ever) he has started to use this "cool, new Internet website". So he came to show me this "cool, new Internet website" ... but first told me he wanted to know what a "dickory" is.
Dumbfounded, I asked him to show me the website ... secretly hoping that it wouldn't entail anything that would bring horrible, awful viruses in and around my computer.
So he eventually found his way into this "cool, new Internet website" and proudly presented to me a childrens' nursery rhyme website that boasts an awkward lady reading the most popular American nursery rhymes ... the hottest one at the moment: "Hickory Dickory Dock". Completely proud of himself, Moon then logs into the site with the screen-name "lover". No joke.
I'm just surprised he didn't choose the name "littlekidlover" ... just so people will know exactly where his priorities are.
Clarification: Office reference - he is not a creeper.
It's that time of year. That Korean time of year ... when 3rd grade middle school students are preparing to enter high school and either commit to an intense three years of academic study, or three years of rigorous training at a trade school. In Korea the students are placed in either category based upon their middle school test scores - they don't really have a say in the matter. However, from what I can understand most students are placed on the academic track, though it is up to them to chose which high school to attend. Not every high school is a viable option. The ridiculously good ones (the ones with fancy computers and stuff) are much more difficult to get into ... just think of it as if they were applying to college (but that's a whole different ball of worms).
Anyways, Hwasun High School is in recruiting mode. There are technically two schools in Hwasun (although the one where I teach is legit in Hwasun ... the other one is a 20 minute car ride outside of town - how it is still defined as "in Hwasun" I have no idea) and each are in fear that the other will get all the smart students, while they will be left with all the boring, not-so-smart ones. So a couple teachers at Hwasun High School are currently making a promotional video of the school - getting some pretty sweet panoramic shots of the lunchroom - in hopes to recruit all the good students. I have actually had a couple of my classes videotaped by said teachers, if only to emphasize, "Hey! Look! We have a foreign teacher! She has brown hair! Come check it out!"
In addition to recording me teaching some classes, I was recently asked to do some voice-over work (that makes it sound so professional ... definitely going on my resume) for the video. My co-teacher asked me to write a couple sentences in English (I don't know what else she should expect - Latin?) that talk up Hwasun High School and "sound really fancy in English". And I do believe that was a direct quote.
So I wrote up some fancy sentences, making sure to include words like "diversity" and "endeavors", so as to make it sound important. However my co-teacher then decided that they were too fancy and the middle school students wold have absolutely no idea what I was talking about, which, I assume would be completely true. She then asked me just to read two sentences in English as they were directly translated from from the promotional video.
I obliged and then spent about 30 solid minutes perfecting my pitch, speed, and overall ability to speak, at the request of the video's directors.
The two sentences (phrases, really) that ended up in the video:
"The everlasting beautiful challenge" - which I'm told is in reference to the three years spent at Hwasun High School - it's a challenge, but a beautiful one.
and
"No extra students at Hwasun, everyone works!" - also appropriate for Russia, circa early 20th century.
If this doesn't attract the middle school students, I don't know what will.
It worked on me.
Monday, November 2, 2009
When I arrived home from school today there was a nun sleeping on the living room floor.
Lately I've been having this strange feeling that something is missing in my life.
300+ Korean children? Check.
Awkward encounters with just about everyone I meet? Check.
An annoying head cold? Check, unfortunately.
Extreme amounts of disgusting kimchi? No check!
So last weekend, in an attempt to pacify my need for tons (literally, tons) of kimchi, I headed to the Gwangju Kimchi Festival to soak up some culture and get a little nauseous. Both of which I accomplished.
I met up with a couple of friends and we ventured over to the annual Kimchi History and Culture Exhibition held in Gwangju's World-uh Cup-uh Stadium(no uh). To be completely honest, the festival was a little disappointing. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting/hoping for, in that I've never been to a kimchi festival in my 23 years of life.
Upon arriving at the Kimchi Festival and being greeted with the intoxicating smell that is fermented cabbage, we wandered around and "observed" the many different dishes of kimchi that were on display.
"Oooh this one is red!"
"Oooh this one is redder!"
"Oooh this one is the reddest of all!"
We also got to see many pieces of what was called "kimchi art". To my disappointment it was not sculptures or things crafted from actual pieces of kimchi, however pictures depicting the social, environmental, and even political impact of kimchi on Korea. Seriously.
We also were able to get a free little mini tour around one of the art buildings by this fabulous little old man who spoke fairly good English. This tour consisted mostly of him making us follow him around the room as he pointed to things and said "Look. This is a (fill in name of the object). Look. Here is another (same object)."
In addition to the thrilling tour of the kimchi art/museum/building with random things thrown in it, I got to meet the ever popular Kimchi Festival mascot ... none other than a walking cartoon piece of cabbage. This actually makes sense in that cabbage is the main ingredient to most kimchi dishes, and it's not as bizarre as you might think it seems. However, this was the first time I think I have ever seen young children flock to a vegetable - especially a gross one like cabbage. But in their flocking the children seemed to turn into some type of angry child mob and began attacking the giant cabbage with their tiny little fists and poking his big cartoon eyes with their little pointy fingers. Poor guy couldn't catch a break. First you have to humiliate yourself by actually wearing a giant head of cabbage, then you get punched all day by vicious Korean children. So just to make sure cabbage guy's day wasn't completely awful, I let him take a picture with me. For posterity.
Though the cabbage head was a pretty great addition to my day of kimchi, I have to say the highlight of the festival was actually being able to make some kimchi myself. For the small price of only 5,000 wons I was able to smush red pepper paste in and around all the cabbage I wanted. Actually we were first given a tutorial about how to properly make kimchi ... which basically went, "Here is the cabbage. Here is a lot of other spicy things (pepper, fish(?) onions, more pepper, red gunk). Put them together. Finished! You are now Korean."
After diligent note taking so as to make sure I didn't forget any of the 2 steps, I was able to make my own kimchi and managed to successfully mush everything together in an acceptable manner ... which seriously took about 3 minutes. After I put to shame all the Koreans by way outshining them in the act of kimchi-making I threw my kimchi in a jar and headed home to present it to my host-family. I felt like a little kid who won a prize goldfish at the county fair. And I definitely was the recipient of more than a few weird looks as I was toting home a giant jar of kimchi on the bus that night.
I think my host-family seemed to like the kimchi I made. I never ate it(because they actually made us put fish in it - thus giving me a great reason why I didn't have to eat the stuff) but I think it went over well. I actually never saw my host-family eat it, but my host-mom assured me that it was delicious and that I am the best kimchi maker ever, as if I didn't already know that.
Side note: I received about 20 million free brochures at the festival ... if there's one thing Koreans like more than kimchi it's definitely brochures about kimchi. In one of the many brochures detailing the wonderful events of the festival I found this little jewel ... a short paragraph detailing one of the many "themed performances" the festival boasted ... this one affectionately titled "The Flight of Kimchi". Thought I would share to reiterate how absurdly serious Koreans are about their kimchi, and how it permeates every aspect of their lives, even their fantasies:
"The Flight of Kimchi"
"A story of a meeting between kimchi, a central icon of the Korean consciousness, and a goblin (naturally, a goblin). An exciting performance in three scenes: kimchi that had protected Koreans' health turning into a goblin: goblin turning into kimchi; and goblin defeating the modern epidemic H1N1 Virus (good, I'm glad someone is taking it seriously) that poses a threat to Korean lives and soaring into the skies."
What I would have given to see that ...
I have recently been able to meet with my English Club at school more often ... which is something I thoroughly enjoy. The club consists of about 5-10 students who are some of the best English students at school, and who actually come to my club out of their desire to learn more English and hang out with me. So naturally, I like them the best. In the past couple weeks I have let them come up with a general topic to discuss and then I try to create an activity for us all to do.
So far the topics of discussion have ranged from novels (where I got to talk about one of my favorite authors, Barbra Kingsolver her wonderful DePauw education), Halloween (which included me making my boy students dress up as princesses and mermaids using only newspaper), to Asian animation (where I basically sat there completely dumbfounded at their insane amount of computer/animation knowledge), and American and Korean television programs (where I got to share all that is great about "The Office".
During our two hours spent each week discussing movies, politics, novels, and eating finger sandwiches (not really, this isn't the "Finer Things Club") I have learned a lot about Korean culture and have been able to impart that oh-so-valuable-American culture to the minds of the little Asian ones, who truly seem to enjoy it.
Last week the topic of our discussion was "hopes and dreams and things that make you feel warm inside". I had each of my students write down their dreams ... anything they wanted ... and I did so too.
As most of my dreams were fairly simple, "I want to be happy when I grow up." ... and I believe one was, "I want to have a pet cat someday." ... one of my club students in particular completely out-shined (shone? I don't know, ask an English teacher) me and told of his plans to save the world and humankind (the Asian Will Smith, if you will). Here is the exact paragraph he wrote explaining his hopes and dreams ... I thought I'd post this, just so those of you who read this now don't have to keep worrying about the fate of humanity. Kim Hong Min has it under control.
Note: He is by far my most advanced student and is the only student in the school who speaks and writes (in English) at this level. And he is thus one of my new best Asian friends:
"I will bring Science Fiction movies into reality. You will be able to go to Mars, Mercury, etc. with your car. As we can bring any resources we need from other planets, we will never have to worry about the lack of resources. The same goes to the space. As we can go any planet we want, we have infinite space in space. :) To do this, I will need enough capital. And technology. It sounds like a dream, but pretty much everything we're using now can not have even been imagined by older people. As this comes true, pretty much every problem we're having right now will be solved. Someone will do that, and I'll be the one."
-- Kim Hong Min
In addition to saving the world and finding new resources on other planets via a flying car, my students last week learned about Halloween - at least I hope they learned ... who knows what they are actually thinking when I stand at the front of the class and speak what seems like Wingdings to them.
My lesson this past week was on Halloween (duh) and after I was done flipping through a slide show of jack-o-lanterns, candy, and dogs in costumes (which actually prompted one of my students to exclaim, "delicious!") I let them draw their own Halloween monsters together. This activity consisted of having one student draw a monster head, then giving their paper to another student to draw a body, then yet another student to draw the legs. While I thought this would be a nice thing for my students ... let them express their creative side with markers and stuff, I soon found that this only gave many of them an excuse to draw horribly inappropriate monsters, with an assortment of heads, bodies, legs, and genitalia. Funny, but I don't think I ever suggested they add that certain aspect to their monsters, yet it was a favorite accessory to most all of the monsters my boy students got their hands on.
Upon discovering the glorious creations, I hurriedly confiscated all the Hallo(wieners) ... fearing that if I didn't they would float around the school and somehow make their way into the hands of my fellow teachers.
Try explaining that in limited English.
So I now have a drawer full of Hallo(wiener) monsters. Just one of the many perks of teaching.
On a completely different and unrelated note, I recently attended my host-family's church yet again ... I mean, I think it's pretty much decided that when I have a free Sunday morning it will be spent in the pews of Gangwon Presbyterian church. However, this particular Sunday I was not baptized, but instead held my first ever English Sunday school / sing-along / let's allow these Korean kids stare at the funny American hour. All of which happened, all of which were awkward.
A couple weeks ago I met the church's pastor - and by met I mean fumbled my way through a Korean bow and I believe there was some mumbling involved ... something along the lines of "Hello. Nice to meet you. Thanks for the baptism."
The pastor took an immediate liking to me (I mean, how could you not ... but I do believe I was wearing the dress my host-mom made for me ... and when I wear that thing there's not an Asian in Korea that can't stop looking at me) and he thus asked my host-mom to schedule a meeting with me to discuss "church-y matters". So I recently met with him ... his English is actually quite good, though he does seem to add a "y" sound to absolutely every word in the English language. Cute-y at first extremely annoying-y about 2 minutes into a conversation with him. But Pastor man (I still can't remember his Korean name so this nickname will have to suffice) asked me if I was interested in leading an English Sunday school class every morning before church-y service, to which my host-mom enthusiastically answered that I would love to. Glad she took care of that for me. I hate it when I forget how to speak.
So I agreed to help teach English Sunday School classes on any Sunday that I have available and feel like waking up early. And apparently Pastor man believes that is now every Sunday.
Teaching English Sunday school now necessitates that I arrive to church-y before the church-y service starts, and since I don't have a Korean kar I did the next best thing, hopped in the backseat of some Audi with a crazy Korean lady who promised she would deliver me to God.
(The ride was actually arranged ... but it sounds cooler and more adventure-y if I say it like that).
But in reality the Korean kar was driven by a krazy Korean lady, and she did, eventually, promise to deliver me to Jesus. Close enough.
My ride buddy was actually a Korean lady who also attends the same church as my host-family and speaks very good English - she is a teacher at an English academy in Gwangju, so she knows her stuff. Like prepositions and conjunctions.
She was super sweet and really great to talk to ... and did leave me with one of the most interesting conversations I have had in Korea thus far.
I wasn't able to actually record the conversation in that I didn't have a recording device on me at the time (I'm not a spy) ... but here is a brief, paraphrased account of our conversation:
Lauren (L): Hello! Nice to meet you! Thanks for taking me to curch-y!
Krazy Korean Lady (KKL): Hello Roren! It's nice to meet you too! I'm excited you will be helping us with our English service!
L: You're welcome (I'm polite in Korea)
[This was followed by about 15 minutes of the standard "get to know you talk" ... but since most of you all know I'm 23 and from America ... I will spare you]
KKL: Do you love God?
L: Uh. [silence] I studied God in the university?
KKL: Oh. Ok. I love God. But I used to be a Buddhist.
[L's interest is peaked]
L: Really? Why the sudden change to Christianity? Buddha just not cutting it for you?
KKL: No. I still like Buddha, but God is better for me. About 10 years ago I became really ill [this is when she actually started telling me about her bladder problems ... just imagine urine everywhere] and Buddha didn't help me. So one of my friends made me go to church with her and so I started talking to God. And after 7 years of talking and praying to God to fix my illness he finally did. And now I thank him for it and am a Christian.
L: Fair enough. Get that Christianity (or something to that effect).
KKL: Yes. Jesus is great. Why did you come to Korea?
L: I came to teach English.
KKL: No. I'm sure you came for Jesus. You will find Jesus in Korea. I will help you.
(and so on, and so on)
So after meeting Krazy Korean lady (Hannah, actually) and getting a ride to church I met the other people I would be working with ... all of whom (including Hannah) are extremely sweet and even offered me squid chips!
English Sunday school was not exactly what I expected it to be (but then again, few things in Korea are) ... I actually ended up not teaching, but co-teaching or singing songs and pronouncing English words into a microphone for about an hour.
The pastor man's son led the lesson after the children got to hear me sing English church hymns for about 15 minutes (if that didn't deter them from learning English, I don't know what will) then pastor man's son told the children (who were around the ages of 5-9) the story of the Exodus from Egypt ... a thrilling tale. I then retold it in English and repeated the difficult words, and the children repeated them back to me.
Why the phrase "like a pillar of salt" would ever arise in the conversation of a 6 year old Korean boy, I have no idea. But I assume it would go something like this:
"Man. Lot's wife really caught the short end of the stick. Looking back and all ... then (bam!) like pillar of salt."
But all in all the children seemed to enjoy it, I think. At least they got to marvel at the brown hair and giant eyeball-ness of a Westerner. And that's always a good time.
After church I was pleasantly surprised by finding out that my entire host-family (even host-father!) went out to Sunday brunch. We ate at a delicious Japanese sushi restaurant ... which basically turned into a delicious Japanese rice, soup, and tofu balls restaurant for me ... but it was great to sit down with the family and take in some good host-family time.
It has been a while since my entire host-family and I had been together - as the dad is always working and the children are always busy with work or school - so I thoroughly enjoyed the company of everyone.
Some highlights of the lunching:
My host father actually cracking quite a few jokes (in Korean, of course) which caused everyone to laugh (including myself ... I figure if everyone else is, it's got to be decently funny)
My host brother (who is 21) refused to drink his soda out of the many available glasses, and instead opted to drink only from bowls. This caused my host-mother to exclaim that he is "crazy man boy" ... and my host-father explained to me (via Eun Sue's translation) that because he is an artist he is weird and doesn't use the correct side of his brain ... so you have to forgive him for being so awkward. The rest of the day ... and many days following ... all the strange things that my host-brother does (which are starting to accumulate) are now pushed to the side because we now know that he is an "artist" and can thus get away with being crazy.
I'm assuming this is also how they justify the weird things I do (use a water bottle, wear pants) "it's ok ... she's a foreigner ... she doesn't use the correct side of her brain".
My host-mother once again wore a skull cap to a "fancy" lunch. Biggie's got nothing on her.
My host-family apologizing to me every time the waitress brought out a meat dish, and shoving the giant plate of salad even closer to my plate.
My host-mother yelling at my oldest host-sister for using a toothpick, because she says it would make her teeth ugly and then she would never be able to get married. Apparently personal hygiene falls to the wayside when you are an unmarried 20-something female in Korea. Good to know.
It snowed today in Hwasun.
For the first time. (since I've been here, not ever)
Snowed.
Granted it was only for about 2 minutes ... but it was 2 of the 5 minutes it takes me to walk from the bus stop home.
Tomorrow I'm going to demand to make Frosty.
300+ Korean children? Check.
Awkward encounters with just about everyone I meet? Check.
An annoying head cold? Check, unfortunately.
Extreme amounts of disgusting kimchi? No check!
So last weekend, in an attempt to pacify my need for tons (literally, tons) of kimchi, I headed to the Gwangju Kimchi Festival to soak up some culture and get a little nauseous. Both of which I accomplished.
I met up with a couple of friends and we ventured over to the annual Kimchi History and Culture Exhibition held in Gwangju's World-uh Cup-uh Stadium(no uh). To be completely honest, the festival was a little disappointing. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting/hoping for, in that I've never been to a kimchi festival in my 23 years of life.
Upon arriving at the Kimchi Festival and being greeted with the intoxicating smell that is fermented cabbage, we wandered around and "observed" the many different dishes of kimchi that were on display.
"Oooh this one is red!"
"Oooh this one is redder!"
"Oooh this one is the reddest of all!"
We also got to see many pieces of what was called "kimchi art". To my disappointment it was not sculptures or things crafted from actual pieces of kimchi, however pictures depicting the social, environmental, and even political impact of kimchi on Korea. Seriously.
We also were able to get a free little mini tour around one of the art buildings by this fabulous little old man who spoke fairly good English. This tour consisted mostly of him making us follow him around the room as he pointed to things and said "Look. This is a (fill in name of the object). Look. Here is another (same object)."
In addition to the thrilling tour of the kimchi art/museum/building with random things thrown in it, I got to meet the ever popular Kimchi Festival mascot ... none other than a walking cartoon piece of cabbage. This actually makes sense in that cabbage is the main ingredient to most kimchi dishes, and it's not as bizarre as you might think it seems. However, this was the first time I think I have ever seen young children flock to a vegetable - especially a gross one like cabbage. But in their flocking the children seemed to turn into some type of angry child mob and began attacking the giant cabbage with their tiny little fists and poking his big cartoon eyes with their little pointy fingers. Poor guy couldn't catch a break. First you have to humiliate yourself by actually wearing a giant head of cabbage, then you get punched all day by vicious Korean children. So just to make sure cabbage guy's day wasn't completely awful, I let him take a picture with me. For posterity.
Though the cabbage head was a pretty great addition to my day of kimchi, I have to say the highlight of the festival was actually being able to make some kimchi myself. For the small price of only 5,000 wons I was able to smush red pepper paste in and around all the cabbage I wanted. Actually we were first given a tutorial about how to properly make kimchi ... which basically went, "Here is the cabbage. Here is a lot of other spicy things (pepper, fish(?) onions, more pepper, red gunk). Put them together. Finished! You are now Korean."
After diligent note taking so as to make sure I didn't forget any of the 2 steps, I was able to make my own kimchi and managed to successfully mush everything together in an acceptable manner ... which seriously took about 3 minutes. After I put to shame all the Koreans by way outshining them in the act of kimchi-making I threw my kimchi in a jar and headed home to present it to my host-family. I felt like a little kid who won a prize goldfish at the county fair. And I definitely was the recipient of more than a few weird looks as I was toting home a giant jar of kimchi on the bus that night.
I think my host-family seemed to like the kimchi I made. I never ate it(because they actually made us put fish in it - thus giving me a great reason why I didn't have to eat the stuff) but I think it went over well. I actually never saw my host-family eat it, but my host-mom assured me that it was delicious and that I am the best kimchi maker ever, as if I didn't already know that.
Side note: I received about 20 million free brochures at the festival ... if there's one thing Koreans like more than kimchi it's definitely brochures about kimchi. In one of the many brochures detailing the wonderful events of the festival I found this little jewel ... a short paragraph detailing one of the many "themed performances" the festival boasted ... this one affectionately titled "The Flight of Kimchi". Thought I would share to reiterate how absurdly serious Koreans are about their kimchi, and how it permeates every aspect of their lives, even their fantasies:
"The Flight of Kimchi"
"A story of a meeting between kimchi, a central icon of the Korean consciousness, and a goblin (naturally, a goblin). An exciting performance in three scenes: kimchi that had protected Koreans' health turning into a goblin: goblin turning into kimchi; and goblin defeating the modern epidemic H1N1 Virus (good, I'm glad someone is taking it seriously) that poses a threat to Korean lives and soaring into the skies."
What I would have given to see that ...
I have recently been able to meet with my English Club at school more often ... which is something I thoroughly enjoy. The club consists of about 5-10 students who are some of the best English students at school, and who actually come to my club out of their desire to learn more English and hang out with me. So naturally, I like them the best. In the past couple weeks I have let them come up with a general topic to discuss and then I try to create an activity for us all to do.
So far the topics of discussion have ranged from novels (where I got to talk about one of my favorite authors, Barbra Kingsolver her wonderful DePauw education), Halloween (which included me making my boy students dress up as princesses and mermaids using only newspaper), to Asian animation (where I basically sat there completely dumbfounded at their insane amount of computer/animation knowledge), and American and Korean television programs (where I got to share all that is great about "The Office".
During our two hours spent each week discussing movies, politics, novels, and eating finger sandwiches (not really, this isn't the "Finer Things Club") I have learned a lot about Korean culture and have been able to impart that oh-so-valuable-American culture to the minds of the little Asian ones, who truly seem to enjoy it.
Last week the topic of our discussion was "hopes and dreams and things that make you feel warm inside". I had each of my students write down their dreams ... anything they wanted ... and I did so too.
As most of my dreams were fairly simple, "I want to be happy when I grow up." ... and I believe one was, "I want to have a pet cat someday." ... one of my club students in particular completely out-shined (shone? I don't know, ask an English teacher) me and told of his plans to save the world and humankind (the Asian Will Smith, if you will). Here is the exact paragraph he wrote explaining his hopes and dreams ... I thought I'd post this, just so those of you who read this now don't have to keep worrying about the fate of humanity. Kim Hong Min has it under control.
Note: He is by far my most advanced student and is the only student in the school who speaks and writes (in English) at this level. And he is thus one of my new best Asian friends:
"I will bring Science Fiction movies into reality. You will be able to go to Mars, Mercury, etc. with your car. As we can bring any resources we need from other planets, we will never have to worry about the lack of resources. The same goes to the space. As we can go any planet we want, we have infinite space in space. :) To do this, I will need enough capital. And technology. It sounds like a dream, but pretty much everything we're using now can not have even been imagined by older people. As this comes true, pretty much every problem we're having right now will be solved. Someone will do that, and I'll be the one."
-- Kim Hong Min
In addition to saving the world and finding new resources on other planets via a flying car, my students last week learned about Halloween - at least I hope they learned ... who knows what they are actually thinking when I stand at the front of the class and speak what seems like Wingdings to them.
My lesson this past week was on Halloween (duh) and after I was done flipping through a slide show of jack-o-lanterns, candy, and dogs in costumes (which actually prompted one of my students to exclaim, "delicious!") I let them draw their own Halloween monsters together. This activity consisted of having one student draw a monster head, then giving their paper to another student to draw a body, then yet another student to draw the legs. While I thought this would be a nice thing for my students ... let them express their creative side with markers and stuff, I soon found that this only gave many of them an excuse to draw horribly inappropriate monsters, with an assortment of heads, bodies, legs, and genitalia. Funny, but I don't think I ever suggested they add that certain aspect to their monsters, yet it was a favorite accessory to most all of the monsters my boy students got their hands on.
Upon discovering the glorious creations, I hurriedly confiscated all the Hallo(wieners) ... fearing that if I didn't they would float around the school and somehow make their way into the hands of my fellow teachers.
Try explaining that in limited English.
So I now have a drawer full of Hallo(wiener) monsters. Just one of the many perks of teaching.
On a completely different and unrelated note, I recently attended my host-family's church yet again ... I mean, I think it's pretty much decided that when I have a free Sunday morning it will be spent in the pews of Gangwon Presbyterian church. However, this particular Sunday I was not baptized, but instead held my first ever English Sunday school / sing-along / let's allow these Korean kids stare at the funny American hour. All of which happened, all of which were awkward.
A couple weeks ago I met the church's pastor - and by met I mean fumbled my way through a Korean bow and I believe there was some mumbling involved ... something along the lines of "Hello. Nice to meet you. Thanks for the baptism."
The pastor took an immediate liking to me (I mean, how could you not ... but I do believe I was wearing the dress my host-mom made for me ... and when I wear that thing there's not an Asian in Korea that can't stop looking at me) and he thus asked my host-mom to schedule a meeting with me to discuss "church-y matters". So I recently met with him ... his English is actually quite good, though he does seem to add a "y" sound to absolutely every word in the English language. Cute-y at first extremely annoying-y about 2 minutes into a conversation with him. But Pastor man (I still can't remember his Korean name so this nickname will have to suffice) asked me if I was interested in leading an English Sunday school class every morning before church-y service, to which my host-mom enthusiastically answered that I would love to. Glad she took care of that for me. I hate it when I forget how to speak.
So I agreed to help teach English Sunday School classes on any Sunday that I have available and feel like waking up early. And apparently Pastor man believes that is now every Sunday.
Teaching English Sunday school now necessitates that I arrive to church-y before the church-y service starts, and since I don't have a Korean kar I did the next best thing, hopped in the backseat of some Audi with a crazy Korean lady who promised she would deliver me to God.
(The ride was actually arranged ... but it sounds cooler and more adventure-y if I say it like that).
But in reality the Korean kar was driven by a krazy Korean lady, and she did, eventually, promise to deliver me to Jesus. Close enough.
My ride buddy was actually a Korean lady who also attends the same church as my host-family and speaks very good English - she is a teacher at an English academy in Gwangju, so she knows her stuff. Like prepositions and conjunctions.
She was super sweet and really great to talk to ... and did leave me with one of the most interesting conversations I have had in Korea thus far.
I wasn't able to actually record the conversation in that I didn't have a recording device on me at the time (I'm not a spy) ... but here is a brief, paraphrased account of our conversation:
Lauren (L): Hello! Nice to meet you! Thanks for taking me to curch-y!
Krazy Korean Lady (KKL): Hello Roren! It's nice to meet you too! I'm excited you will be helping us with our English service!
L: You're welcome (I'm polite in Korea)
[This was followed by about 15 minutes of the standard "get to know you talk" ... but since most of you all know I'm 23 and from America ... I will spare you]
KKL: Do you love God?
L: Uh. [silence] I studied God in the university?
KKL: Oh. Ok. I love God. But I used to be a Buddhist.
[L's interest is peaked]
L: Really? Why the sudden change to Christianity? Buddha just not cutting it for you?
KKL: No. I still like Buddha, but God is better for me. About 10 years ago I became really ill [this is when she actually started telling me about her bladder problems ... just imagine urine everywhere] and Buddha didn't help me. So one of my friends made me go to church with her and so I started talking to God. And after 7 years of talking and praying to God to fix my illness he finally did. And now I thank him for it and am a Christian.
L: Fair enough. Get that Christianity (or something to that effect).
KKL: Yes. Jesus is great. Why did you come to Korea?
L: I came to teach English.
KKL: No. I'm sure you came for Jesus. You will find Jesus in Korea. I will help you.
(and so on, and so on)
So after meeting Krazy Korean lady (Hannah, actually) and getting a ride to church I met the other people I would be working with ... all of whom (including Hannah) are extremely sweet and even offered me squid chips!
English Sunday school was not exactly what I expected it to be (but then again, few things in Korea are) ... I actually ended up not teaching, but co-teaching or singing songs and pronouncing English words into a microphone for about an hour.
The pastor man's son led the lesson after the children got to hear me sing English church hymns for about 15 minutes (if that didn't deter them from learning English, I don't know what will) then pastor man's son told the children (who were around the ages of 5-9) the story of the Exodus from Egypt ... a thrilling tale. I then retold it in English and repeated the difficult words, and the children repeated them back to me.
Why the phrase "like a pillar of salt" would ever arise in the conversation of a 6 year old Korean boy, I have no idea. But I assume it would go something like this:
"Man. Lot's wife really caught the short end of the stick. Looking back and all ... then (bam!) like pillar of salt."
But all in all the children seemed to enjoy it, I think. At least they got to marvel at the brown hair and giant eyeball-ness of a Westerner. And that's always a good time.
After church I was pleasantly surprised by finding out that my entire host-family (even host-father!) went out to Sunday brunch. We ate at a delicious Japanese sushi restaurant ... which basically turned into a delicious Japanese rice, soup, and tofu balls restaurant for me ... but it was great to sit down with the family and take in some good host-family time.
It has been a while since my entire host-family and I had been together - as the dad is always working and the children are always busy with work or school - so I thoroughly enjoyed the company of everyone.
Some highlights of the lunching:
My host father actually cracking quite a few jokes (in Korean, of course) which caused everyone to laugh (including myself ... I figure if everyone else is, it's got to be decently funny)
My host brother (who is 21) refused to drink his soda out of the many available glasses, and instead opted to drink only from bowls. This caused my host-mother to exclaim that he is "crazy man boy" ... and my host-father explained to me (via Eun Sue's translation) that because he is an artist he is weird and doesn't use the correct side of his brain ... so you have to forgive him for being so awkward. The rest of the day ... and many days following ... all the strange things that my host-brother does (which are starting to accumulate) are now pushed to the side because we now know that he is an "artist" and can thus get away with being crazy.
I'm assuming this is also how they justify the weird things I do (use a water bottle, wear pants) "it's ok ... she's a foreigner ... she doesn't use the correct side of her brain".
My host-mother once again wore a skull cap to a "fancy" lunch. Biggie's got nothing on her.
My host-family apologizing to me every time the waitress brought out a meat dish, and shoving the giant plate of salad even closer to my plate.
My host-mother yelling at my oldest host-sister for using a toothpick, because she says it would make her teeth ugly and then she would never be able to get married. Apparently personal hygiene falls to the wayside when you are an unmarried 20-something female in Korea. Good to know.
It snowed today in Hwasun.
For the first time. (since I've been here, not ever)
Snowed.
Granted it was only for about 2 minutes ... but it was 2 of the 5 minutes it takes me to walk from the bus stop home.
Tomorrow I'm going to demand to make Frosty.
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