In terms of observing classes, it's been a real learning curve. I am taking over the youngest class, called Kitty class. There are 5 kids in this class - Vivian, Jack, Kevin, Will, and Ella. These kids are awesome. Most of the week had presented a challenge with Kevin being able to do the activities that had been planned for him. I learned that this wasn't the way Kevin usually behaved - it was somewhat abnormal. That's how he was for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. But yesterday a new Kevin came to class. He was actually doing the activities! It was amazing. It incredibly new to me.
I am scared, yet I feel prepared to be with these kids for whatever amount of time I am scheduled to be with them. I think I should clarify the way in which I feel prepared: I feel like I can be with them and teach them, and this is from the providence of spending my last 6 summers working with kids. I should also (especially) mention the fact that the foreign teachers are awesome. They have been an incredible help to me and have given me so much advice. But in terms of the lesson plan, that kind of preparation will take some getting used to. I didn't take the lesson plan books home this weekend - I was encouraged to take the first day teaching to get to know my kids and hang out with them, etc. This Kitty class will probably be the hardest to teach. My guess is that it will either be this class or my Odyssey class.
This past week (Tuesday-Friday) I was assigned classesMornings and early afternoons is kindergarten time. Afternoons, usually from around 2 o'clock on is elementary school time, which consists of 8-11 year olds (I think). Then towards later afternoon/night, there are some middle school classes consisting of students aged 11-15 or so. Apart from Kitty class, I have 5 different classes in those groups as well as a few of my own private classes, which is one-on-one with an adult or student. I think the classes to which I'm forward are the middle school classes, called TEPS A and TEPS B. These classes both speak a lot of English; one class just wants to have conversations the whole time, whereas the other class has been going through a book that involves learning how to debate. Yes - they are learning how to debate in English. Apparently one debate went so far as questioning the nature of man! That is pretty intense. That is something for which I am very excited.
A few nights ago (the night after Radio Star) I went out with Kelsey to a couple of places. We went to this place that specialized in rice wine, i.e., Maekgoli. One is served a large (2L) tea kettle full of Maekgoli. There is a separate small metal kettle with a little thing inside it; one must ring it for more Maekgoli; once the little kettle is rung, a waiter comes, takes the big kettle, and refills it. Rice wine doesn't taste much like rice. To me it tasted a lot just like regular wine, but a different kind of flavour. It's hard to explain, but it was good enough to have 4 bowl-style cups of Maekgoliover a couple hours. The only thing I didn't like was the massive headache in the morning. Man, this stuff really likes to dehydrate the brain. I was out with 4 other girls (three Koreans and Kelsey, a former foreign teacher who was finishing as I was training), and so I was not the only person drinking. Drinking Maekgoliis a communal kind of thing. Also, at this time, every time you order more Maekgoli, you get free side dishes. So, the only thing you pay for is the Maekgolidrink. The waiters automatically bring more food. My taste buds then had a lot of new treats, including Korean potato/vegetable pancake, mussel, clam, Korean-style fried eggs. It was really awesome.
Two nights ago I met some of Kelsey's other friends. I met a teacher from school (Sumi, I don't think I had met her yet), Sang Mok, and Kelsey's good friend Paul. They were really cool and taught me a lot of important and useful normal Korean sayings. After being here for four days, it's been a little bit overwhelming in not being able to see a lot of English. While this is very tough on the brain, it also pushes me to really want to learn Korean. I want to learn the language - spelling, reading, and speaking - as well as the culture itself. The learning curve has been very steep, both because of the newness of this place as well as my appetite to learn. Right now I'm still learning the letters of the alphabet, so reading is coming along.
Learning the meaning/English translation will be a much different story. Even so, I've noticed a nice amount of Konglish, which is basically an English word transliterated into Korean. For example, there is a Thomas the Tank toy on my desk. The translation of the name of the toy is "tomasuh." Another example is Isaac Toast, which is a little fried toast shop down the street from my apartment. There is one order that, when translated into Latin letters, reads as "pija." The sounds, 'ch,' 'j,' and 'z' are all very similar. Therefore, the word read, "pizza." Among the expressions I have learned, the most important are "Hello," "This one, please," "Thank you," and "Goodbye." This has allowed me to confidently order food as long as there are pictures to which I can point. One big step towards learning Korean will be to buy a Korean/English keyboard to use with my laptop. This way I can switch over and start writing in Korean with ease.
As far as requirements for living in Korea go, I still need to get my alien residency card, aka ARC or AR card. I have to get a medical exam. Basically, if they find marijuana in my bloodstream (because it resides in the body much longer than one might think), then I will no longer be able to teach (to my understanding). Don't misunderstand me - this does not mean I have been smoking marijuana. I never have and I don't think I ever will, even to understand the experience behind it. However, traces can be found in the bloodstream even from secondhand smoke. I've smelled marijuana here and there throughout town, and it hasn't been secondhand smoke. I've never been with someone either who has smoked marijuana, producing secondhand smoke. What is my point? I don't really know. I just have to do a medical exam, anyway.
After passing that, then comes the AR card. Once I have that, I'll be able to open up a Korean bank account and as well get a phone. An important note about phones - you might think that WE need our phones with us all the time. You might think that phones are important. But while I think we take phones for granted, there may be another aspect. We are used to electronic communication, but I think our attitude towards electronics has been mostly that electronics are toys. Therefore, our primary use of electronics is for toys rather than as tools.
But here, the primary attitude is not the same. The attitude is that to be Korean, you must communicate with people. Communication is the key to living. We communicate in order to live, we live in order to communicate. I think we've lost our ability to hear God communicate to us because we have become so self-indulgent and have nearly accepted thinking that we're autonomous. But if we listen, he still communicates. It takes a tough ear to hear God speak to us, and yet he also speaks to the individual in the way that the individual was designed. After all, it was God who designed us. For me, learning to hear God came through recognizing how often people tell me to do something when these people do not even know each other nor do they know someone else has told me the same thing. This, as well as prayer, has become the first way I know that God communicates to me.
When the electronic age came, Korean communication had a new opportunity to grow - phones became tools for communication, rather than toys for personal enjoyment. I think this fits with my attitude towards phones: I try to use them as a tool. Having said that, I really can't wait to get a phone, which will allow me to communicate much more with the people I have met. I hope this also means that I'll be able to put all my contacts from my Telus SIM card onto the SIM card of my phone and throw a text your way every once in a while.
That's about all for now. Take care and God bless.
