a week of confusion

I'm about to start my second week of teaching english classes to children who so far as I can tell are between the ages of 7 and 12. Even with a full week of classes being only thirty 45-minute sessions, it felt like an incalculably long time. Every day I came home too overwhelmed even to sit and use my computer. This was a combination of the fact that I've never been a teacher of any sort before and that my boss speaks very little english but still shifts and changes things so that I never know what to expect. I took over five classes from a Filipino teacher named Evelyn who I did not speak to or even meet. I was told which books to use and to check the children's books to find out where they were at in the class. The books that I'm teaching from are also often part of a larger cirriculum set that the school hasn't purchased, leaving me to figure out for myself how I'm going to supplement or ignore sections that rely on audio resources, etc. To make things more interesting, my boss left to manage their boarding school in the Philippines for a couple weeks. She left me with the rough advice that I was to 'finish up the books' for a few of my classes and ease them into another. I am left to fill in the blanks with details like how to test a class, what to do when there are students of vastly different language skill, how to assign work when half the class is finished their books and the other don't have any, etc..

I have found that as I am finding ways to teach, it is rehashing a lot of old feelings that I have about the education system. I tutor a 12 year old boy on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-10pm. He goes to school from 8am-4pm and from after-school academy from 4pm-8:30pm. Then, he drives half an hour to be tutored by me in english. He is a very smart kid, but from what I can tell his schedule is fairly common. I teach the same classes comprised of the same kids every day of the week. This means that all the kids (except the youngest) that I teach go to some type of school at least 12 hours every weekday. I don't think that this is fair and it still bewildurs me how the kids manage to stay childlike or even to have a childhood. This makes it extra difficult for me to accept when I feel like what I am trying to teach them is too repetetive or boring -- especially when they look frustrated and bored. There are more kids than I would expect that seem eager to learn new english and hone their grammar and such, but there are also plenty of those that aren't. They cheat on tests and they only ever mimic other students' answers or wait until another student answers for them. They draw and write notes to each other in Korean. I am supposed to make them pay attention, and I try, but how can I get angry and punish them for this? It's my job to try to make them pay attention, but I can't make them be interested. A teacher who can communicate with their students always has the opportunity to try to connect with them or relate with them... but I cannot communicate with my students in any meaningful way. I can't answer any of their casual questions and all but the most persistent students have given up trying to ask a question that a text book hasn't taught them to ask. (Do you like strawberries? How many apples are there?) I don't see how they even have a chance to become interested when faced with a teacher who is clumsily trying to convey the meaning of some simple phrase. Most of the time 'teaching' boils down to me yelling a phrase and the class yelling it back at me. Even the more advanced learning only involves getting them to yell back the proper response. It's easy for me to sort of break down and slip into delusion where I imagine that I am a revolutionary stirring up the masses for their final stand against tyranny. The kids don't know what they're saying and so I find myself hoping that the emotion behind my firm declarations of A! B! C! is instilling something in them more valuable than basic english speaking skills.

In this past week I've had a number of opportunities to go out to eat. Thankfully, most restaurants either have some pictures on their menus or up on their walls. This allows me to point if I see something that I might like. Still, this almost never works out for me. It's almost always a random grab bag of what will be brought to me, even if ten minutes is spent 'clarifying'. I went out for lunch once with my boss's husband, the pastor of the church that our school is a part of, and tried to explain that I wanted these deep-fried pork stick things. After involving two waitresses in our search for the correct menu item, I received seafood fried rice wrapped in an omelette and some cole slaw. Leta and I went to a "Chinese restaurant" and the waitress there seemed to speak some english, but she ended up getting noodles in mushroom sauce (she hates mushrooms) and I got some fried rice with little pieces of shrimp, squid, little crunchy minnows and what I think we decided were sea slugs... with a side of shredded cabbage covered in ketchup. We've even gone to a fried chicken place and gotten deep-fried chicken neck by accident. This is the sort of thing that I fully expected when coming here, so I find it more amusing than frustrating. Still, there are times when I push my plate away and try ordering a second time.

At some point last week, our boss took us into Gwangju to get the immigration paperwork submitted for our alien registration. This was boring, but on the way home we stopped at this huge mall-type complex called Kumhoworld. It was something like 8 floors filled with stalls and booths of people selling any kind of electronics or electronics components imaginable. Most stores were just a desk or display case in front and a shelf in back, with one of each item displayed and a bunch of cardboard boxes full of extras on the ground next to the salespeople. Nothing had prices on it, which indicated that the suggested prices were only the initial offer and that they were open to negotiate for your business. Now some electronics, like cameras, are apparently more expensive here... but computer components, especially anything including memory components, are dirt cheap here. I don't normally like to shop, but I found myself entranced with the place as I tried to organize all the ideas I was having into some kind of plan. I managed to pull myself together enough to buy some blank CDs and a keyboard to replace the one that I ruined by spilling juice on, but decided that I was going to have to do a lot of pricing and at least learn how to say my Korean numbers before I did any serious business there. I don't really have the money to do anything impressive yet anyways.

So last night, Leta and I went with the other three english teachers into Gwangju because it was one of their birthdays. We went to the same Italian place as before, except this time I had much more of an appetite and so enjoyed in that much more. After that, we decided to go to what I thought was a karaoke bar... but it turned out to be a place where you go and play board games and pay by the time you spend in the place. We played five rounds of Clue. Everyone else in the place was playing this game that involved smashing each other with these plastic accordian hammers that squeaked whenever they hit anything. They never seemed to get tired of how funny it was smashing each other on the heads with it. In the end, the five of us paid just as much as it would have cost to buy a Clue game for ourselves, but the oddity of the experience made it well worth it. Sadly, after that we went and had dunken donuts and a baskin robins ice cream cake. It wasn't sad at the time, but both Leta and I are feeling pretty sick this morning and I hold dairy responsible.

That's all for now.

no rest for the sleepless

Jetlag continues... but as much as I can't sleep at night, my days seem to fill themselves up. Yesterday we went into Gwangju, the nearest big city of about 1.3 million people, with the other english teachers from our school. Nobody knew what we were going to be doing, besides that we were going to get a chance to wear traditional Korean clothing. I did not expect what the next 12 hours would bring.

We took a bus and then the subway into the city and got off at a stop called the 'Provincial Office'. There was a stage set up there and people were rehearsing for a festival that would gear up later. We made our way into a building and up to a room where a few other english teachers had come for whatever it is that we would be doing. Once ready, we followed someone down to the street and into a van, where we were told that we were to visit a famous graveyard. After a long drive into the country, we finally came to a huge memorial site that we would come to know as the National May 18 Cemetery for the Gwangju Democratic Uprising of 1980.

I did not expect the impact that this place was to have on me. This monument was built over a decade after the massacre of hundreds of people, mostly university and high school students, that gathered to demand the democratization of Korea's government after the assassination of it's dictator in 1980. The place they had made their last stand was the 'Provincial Office' where I had gotten off the subway. The people's struggle against the authoritarian regime that ruled over them finally succeeded in establishing a democratic government a decade later. In 1994, the government started working to recover the bodies of the victims from desecrated and unmarked grave sites in the surrounding areas. After the protesters had been dispersed, imprisoned or killed by the military, the government worked for years to erase the event from history through misinformation and suppression of free speech. When this regime finally fell, its leaders were put on trial and convicted for life, but were quietly released months later and those responsible for the massacre were never disclosed. The day of May 18 was chosen as a national holiday to remember this event and what it stands for.

There was something heinously real about this whole experience that struck me more deeply than any commemorated occasion from my own history. It was not a bitter or depressing experience, but a hopeful one. May 18 was not the day that the new government took power from the old, or the day that the forces of good triumphed over those of evil. It was a movement led by people with a conviction that their government should protect them, not hinder or suppress them. It was a movement that was quelled and its participants disgraced. But as the movement died, its purpose gestated in the hearts and minds of Koreans until almost a decade later when its purpose was finally achieved. Throughout the country, the people demanded that those who fought in the days around May 18, 1980 be honored for their role in establishing a government that would truly represent the South Korean people.

Anyways. We were told that there was going to be a concert at this site, and so sat down with several hundred other people to watch a Korean boy-band and a magic show. It was then that we were asked if we would be willing to go on stage and say a little bit about ourselves and our experience in Korea. I still had not slept much at this point, but I felt that I should participate in an experience that had otherwise been without any cost. Leta didn't want to, but I went up with a few other english and japanese speaking people to say "Hello, my name is Adam Smith. I am from America. I just arrived in Korea two days ago. It is an honor to stand at such an important site for the Korean peoples struggle for freedom. I look forward to enjoying more of your beautiful country." Then, they set up microphone stands for all of us and we were told to sing along with a song that none of us had heard before. So I stood there looking like a dufus and before long we left the stage. After us was another band (with more musical talent than the boy-band) that included an electric violinist. I'd never seen one of those before.

So, it was at this point that were finally invited to try on some traditional Korean clothing. Mine was pink. We had our picture taken in this clothing in front of the big monument and put it into a guestbook. Then, we were driven back into the city and dropped off at the Provincial Hall. At this point, the "6th Bienniele Gwangju Festival 2006" was in full swing, and there was a dance-off between two teams of five breakdancers on the main stage. We all decided to go eat dinner and so we plunged into the masses of people that filled the downtown streets to the brim. We ate at an Italian (themed) restaurant that had some pretty fantastic pizza and pasta and stuff, where I ate my first Korean-style communal meal. They threw a bunch of different pizzas, pastas, salads, cakes, etc in front of us until we were stuffed.. and in the end it cost as much as a value meal from A&W.

After we were finished, we plunged back into the crowds. We stopped for awhile at a soju bar and for the other teachers to shop for make-up and engrish clothes. The streets only got more and more crowded as the night went on and of the million-odd people I saw that night, I was the tallest. Normally, I hate shopping malls full of people milling around... but walking through the packed streets with cars pushing through the crowds at a snails pace was invigorating. It's hard not to understate how exhilirating the whole experience was, as I tried to piece together the day that had been so full of unique experiences. The trip home seemed long, and once there Leta was relieved to find that she HAD actually locked our apartment door and that all the worry had been for nothing. Then I fell asleep.

I want to mention a few more things that have struck me as strange about Korea. First, Koreans count their age different than what I thought was the standard way of doing so. Their age includes time spent in the womb, so once they are born they are almost a year old. Also, everyones age changes on the lunar new year. This way, I suppose, it is easier for people to be friends only with people their own age as is customary here. Second, in Korea there are often dozens of buildings in clusters that are identical. My apartment is one of 16+ identical dozen-story buildings in the same complex. On our trip down from the airport, I saw what seemed to be hundreds of identical buildings in such complexes. You can tell these buildings apart only from the gigantic numbers inscripted on the sides. The reason for this is that construction, like other industries in Korea, is a very corporate business. Companies like LG and Samsung are producers of all types (yes, all) of goods and when they implement a building project, they do so in mass. Third, there are multiple channels on television here devoted entirely to 'gaming'. At any time of day, you can watch people compete in any number of games... the most popular of which is Starcraft (which has got to be at least a decade old by now). Players sit in front of big bulky monitors on two sides of a stage in front of a live audience, and as the players rush each other with their armies, there are often smoke and light effects that crowd the stage. There are also announcers that get really excited when one player manages to kill a strategically important unit. I don't need to understand what anyone is saying to be thoroughly amused by these channels.

Now I've got to prepare for my lessons.

arrived alive

I don't even know whether I want to keep a blog, but it seems like a good enough way to share my ideas as I try to figure out why I'm here. So here goes, i guess.

The trip was very long. Three flights, one from Ottawa to Chicago, then Chicago to San Fransisco, then San Fransisco to Seoul. After that we pretty much drove the length of the country by bus and were picked up by our employers at the southern most large city in Korea to drive even further south to Naju City. All in all, the trip took something like 32 hours of travel time, which didn't even include any long layovers. Our layover in San Fran was so short that we barely made the plane and they were calling our names on the loudspeakers and such. That's never happened to me before. I also ended up leaving my suit in the coat check of our first flight, and still no idea if I'll get that back. I'm not getting my hopes up, as I've never heard anything good about United Air and the agent at the counter laughed when I asked if she thought they'd find it. Sucks, since that suit is the nicest thing that I own.

We brought our cat on this trip, which seemed like it was gonna be a nightmare. She was good and even pretty quiet, except when she wanted to use her litter box. Leta was taking her in her bag to the bathroom and setting up a makeshift litter box out of a collapsable shoebox and some litter in a ziplock baggy. When we finally got to our apartment, the cat ran around sliding on the linoleum crashing into things. The first chance she got once we left her to her own devices, she searched through our suitcases and found an unopened bag of her treats. Somehow she managed to tear the entire bottom open and eat until I can only guess that she was full. Several hours later when some of the other english teachers here came by, she got all excited and threw up. That was a first for her.

We got to our apartment at around 1AM local time and the next morning we sat through a full day of classes at the academy. We met the other teachers, including some who are going to stop teaching once we start on Monday. Jetlag was kicking my butt, tho, and the whole experience was one delirious blur. It was overwhelming at first, but by the end I realized that it won't be all that difficult once I relearn what a 'past participal' and the other verb tenses mean. The work will be intense, but with only six 45 minute classes a day (max) and our apartment only a couple minutes away, at least it won't eat up all of our time.

We arrived on the weekend of a festival. I'm still not sure how often they have these festivals, or what this means besides that a bunch of people open food stands and apparently give out free stuff. Our employer told us, though, that the food from those vendors is dirty and will probably make us sick... so we didn't do much besides walk through thick crowds of people and say hi to every tenth person or so who managed to notice how tall I am. The festival goes on all weekend, tho, so hopefully tomorrow we'll find something more exciting to do there. Tomorrow, Leta and I and a few other english teachers are going up to the nearest big city, Gwangju, to some 'international center' where foreigners congregate from surrounding cities and there are activites of some kind planned. The 45 minute bus into the city will only cost something like 90 cents, so might as well.

I haven't encountered anything too strange yet since I've been here. The first morning I woke up and went out on the balcony and saw some dad slap his crying toddler across the face in broad daylight surrounded by people... the kind of thing that would have the childrens aid society knocking at your door in the middle of the night in N America.

Okay, just remembered two things that were surprisingly strange to me. First, people here have a 'Korean age' and an 'international age'. In Korean age, when people are born they are 1 years old. Then, at the lunar new year some time early on our calendar year, everyone gets one year older... so somebody born in December could by two years old within a couple months. Second, we were told that people here believe in 'fan death'. Fan death is apparently a danger that comes from being in a room with no open windows or doors, usually while sleeping, with a fan on. Some think that it destroys the air particles in the room eventually asphyxiating you. Others think that the fan doesn't spit out as much air as it sucks in with the same effect. Either way, one of those superstitions that doesnt seem to be phased by a complete lack of scientific evidence to support it.

I'm gonna give it another go at sleeping despite my jetlag, so that's all for now.