13 Sept. 2007

Ok, I haven't been here in a while. Humblest apologies.

A lot has happened while I was MIA. Hmm...let's start with Mt. Nam, or Namsan. SoYoon is the girl who went to live with my parents and attend school, and while she was here her parents invited me to join them for an outing. We started out in Jamsil to watch the Lion King musical at the Charlotte Theater. That was an awesome experience. I haven't seen the movie since I was maybe 12, and I didn't understand most of the dialogue because of my lack of Korean, but the music, color and choreography was just amazing.

After the play they took me to Namsan. We parked at the base and took a bus nearly to the top, and walked the remainder of the mountain. Now understand, it wasn't a rough hike by any means, but 3 of 5 of us were in heels. That does complicate things a bit (going back down was much more exciting - and dangerous!).

Seoul Tower sits at the top of Namsan, and we went up to the observationd deck. The view was AMAZING. I had always taken the bus or subway through Seoul, and I had never fully understood just how big the city is. It's HUGE! Even with binoculars everything was so tiny. I took a moment to check out the Blue House and was kinda surprised at the lack of guards - I'm used to the White House where snipers openly patrol the rooftops. But the city literally stretched beyond eyesight, and it was a relatively smogless day. And we haven't even accounted for the suburbs yet!

For dinner we headed to 이태원 (Itaewon). We actually parked right next to the mosque. Now I'm used to Muslim-Americans, so this was totally foreign to me. The people I saw were not Korean Muslims, but Arab Muslims. Now I know that many Muslims are Arab and that last sentence sounds ridiculous, but what I mean is that they weren't men in suits and western attire who worshiped at a mosque - they were actually men in the white robe things. I kid you not - it was like driving up a Korean hill in Itaewon, and reaching the top and wondering how you ended up in Marakesh. It was a bit concerting to see police standing outside the gates in riot gear, but then I remembered the hostage situation and it made sense.

We ate at a Turkish restaurant just outside the mosque gate. I'll admit, I'm not as fond of Turkish food as I am other Mediterranean food. But it might be worth a second try just so I can see what a hookah is all about. I'd also like to try Turkish coffee.

Fast-forward a week to next Saturday (during this week we're resuming the school year). Suknam and I headed out to Cheongyesan, a mountain in the southern tip of Seoul. (Cheongyesan translates roughly into Clear Water Mountain.) This was a 3-hour trek. About 8 million steps, give or take a few. No, but seriously, it was a rough hike. But totally worth every step. When we got to the top we enjoyed the elation of accomplishing a difficult hike, the summit's cooler temperatures, a lovely breeze, and a spectacular view on a sunny day. Add to that the calming music of another hiker's radio (Koreans love classical!) and the peaceful blaance fo the mokttang (a wooden drum) that the Buddhist monk was beating somewhere on the mountainside.

After that, a shower, a long phone conversation with mom (which replaced my nap), and off to see the Simpsons. It wasn't as funny as I had expected it to be, but it was still good (probably due in part tothe fact that I was desperate to watch a movie in English! Hey, I even watch the stupid French movies on EBS just in an effort to watch something I can understand!)

Fast-forward a few weeks to last Wednesday. I met up with Rosa in Gangnam. We went out ot a shabu shabu restaurant. It was ok. The tasty part was a microbrewery we went to afterward. This place had an excellent stout. I tried their Belgian white & it tasted like orange juice with bubblegum. Not so fond of that, but the stout was good.

After that, snacky time at the street cart. Ddukboggi & soondae is a wonderful way to end the night.

I went to bed late that night...1:30, late for a school night. Never thought I'd actually say "school night" - I feel so fifth grade. Thursday morning I woke up feeling drained, and by that afternoon it had transformed into a full-blown sore throat. I was miserable Thursday and Friday - the worst part is knowing that I have to get extra sleep but not being able to sleep long enough because of the pain.

By Saturday I was feeling much better. Frequent napping helped. I met with Mark at 용산 (Yongsan) to buy a DVD player. While there I also got an mp3 player charger, so I don't have to hook up to my computer (yes!). By this time I was heartily sick of soup, so we had donkatsu followed by ice cream.

We headed to 인사동 (Insadong) to check out some of the shops. This was my third trip to Insadong, but my first trip during the day. So it was nice to actually go into the shops and look around - they're nice! Lots of interesting things going on in those. Expensive, but I'm willing to shell out extra cash in exchange for mass-produced culture.

After Insadong we hit up 명동 for shopping and pizza. Tried the kimchi and bulgogi pizza (my suggestion) and it just tasted like pizza sauce. I couldn't taste the kimchi or bulgogi unless I actually picked off a piece and ate it. Mark, Becky & Trey left on the subway, but I wanted to take the bus. So I had my own little adventure downtown looking for abus stop that would deliver the right bus. It was a wonderful experience. I didn't go far - only 3 blocks or so - but it was far enough to take me out of the busy tourist district into the city's business district. Sometimes it's just nice to wander around and explore new areas. And I picked up a free map AND I discovered an underground shopping area. Best of all, I remember where they are. :)

Sunday I woke up feeling like crap again, so I just stayed home and cat-napped and worked on lesson plans. Back to the soup diet!!

Mondays are rough for me. It takes me a couple of classes to get my lesson plans down pat, so Mondays are my experiment days. I feel sorry for my Monday classes. They get Monica teacher in full-blown rookie form. This Monday was worse because I was losing my voice and started getting severe congestion. After work I headed to a pharmacy to get some medicine (DayQuil wasn't cuttin it for me). I practiced my broken Korean (nose=구 & ear=귀) and the pharmacist looked at me like I had OD'd on meds, then asked, "Congestion?" Thank God for English-speaking pharmacists! She even told me, "Two pills, 3 times a day." Wow.

Tuesday my voice was even worse, and I began to wonder what I should do if I totally lost it. My coteachers kept asking me if I was okay, but it wasn't so bad as long as I blasted the mike (somebody made fun of me for abbreviating microphone as mike, but we do the same for Michael, right?). And I learned that just telling the kids that I'm losing my voice and asking for their help (or just calling their numbers and telling them to read) really goes a long way.

Wednesday was a low point in my voice misadventure. In one class I actually started to gurgle. haha One of the boys made fun of me until I glared at him. But really, the noise was pretty funny. Embarrassing at the time, but funny. I met with Rosa again in 강남 (Gangnam) for 닥갈비 & it was GOOD. Man that's one of the best flavors - similar to 데지불고기. After that, off to Iceberry for some dessert. We were both sick with colds but ice cream sounded really good. Rosa warned me that the gelato wasn't creamy, but I got it -- and she was right. It looked all gooey and creamy, but it deceived me. To use next class's SAT vocab word: its appearance was fallacious!

Oh, one funny thing. Rosa is my age, single, pretty and we share similar views on a lot of things. One inside joke we have is about "beady little eyes." She commented once about how creepy Korean businessmen are, and I totally agree with her -- they're middle-aged men who shamelessly eyeball young women like my mom eyeballs a package of ribeye at the butcher's. She referred to "beady little eyes" and that's our new catch phrase. I told the story to Mark and he knows what I'm talking about. Old men stare at him too, because he's darker. And to prove all our theories, on the subway from Yongsan to Insadong, we caught no less than three men just sitting there, staring. I've gotten into the habit of defiantly staring back until ajeoshi ends his power trip and looks away.

So because of these little incidents, I included in my lesson plan (on American/western culture and customs) a little bit about how rude it is to stare at people. Of course I differentiated between making eye contact (good) and staring (bad). So after this important lesson, I catch myself sitting at my desk staring at one of the teachers. He's hot. Not really physically hot (he's cute), but he's got that shy-guy hotness (I can't believe I just stole a character from Super Mario 2 and used it to describe a coworker). But in my defense, I was at least furtive about it and very discreet, and my computer was open in front of me so if he glanced my way I could just look down and pretend like I was working. Or maybe just smile and wink at him, haha.

Which brings me to today. My voice is much better. And I'm learning a very important lesson about teaching school -- there are lots of bads, but you have to focus on the good. It's so easy to get depressed and down after a hard class. These kids tire you out. I ate lunch with SuJeong today and we talked about how tiring the job can be. But it's really the good things that make it worthwhile. It feels so good teaching kids something they don't know and hearing "Oh!" because you know that the light just clicked on. And today, I had three kids -- three middle school students! -- tell me that they hoped I'd start feeling better. That kinda stuff makes one feel better immediately! And today, my 208 class, a class I wanted to strangle last time, participated and behaved. I always like my 213 class, because they're very bright, but they don't act like know-it-alls; they participate and try to learn. And the first-graders are sweet and endearing, as always.

Today was a great day. I know that these days won't last. Some days will be hell like last Thursday and Friday. But the trick is to focus on the good: find some of the good students and talk to them and be their friend, or talk to one of my coworkers, or find a Family Guy clip on YouTube (never fails).

So I've been here for two months today. During these two months I've gotten 3 middle schoolers with crushes, one for each grade. I'm quite proud of my ninth-grader. I don't have any ninth-grade classes, I just happened upon a group of 3rd-level boys in the hallway after class. Korean kids are extremely reticent to speak English -- the three exceptions to this rule are "Hi," "Thank you," and "I love you!" which actually sounds more like "I lobeu you!" This group of guys was no different so I was greeted by a loud chorus of "Hi!" I asked them how they were doing and one replied, "Fine, thank you! How are you?" I said, "I'm well," and he said, "Pleased to meet you!" I shook his hand and he giggled like a little girl. Hilarious.

My second-grade crushee is quite useful. When I need a volunteer a smile will do the trick. Unfortunately his English comprehension is quite low, so it's hard to explain things. But he's #37, the one who covered his face with his hands on my first day, and since he's usually one of the naughty boys, it's nice that he's behaving.

And last, my first-grader. It's fun to go to that class because all of his classmates tease him when they see me. He can't even answer a question in class without getting a chorus of "Aaaaahhh!" Haha

I really appreciate the summer camp and our after school class. This gives me an opportunity to interact with kids outside the classroom. First, I can get to know them better, and they get to know me better. Since they're more comfortable, they participate more during our regular classes. Second, we can do things in small groups that I could never do with 40 kids, so it feels like I'm making a greated impact. My after-school class is made up mostly of 1st graders, but three 2nd graders joined as well. I was worried about having older kids because their levels are higher and I'm afraid the younger kids won't have a chance to learn. But yesterday I had the older kids join the younger kids' goups and I was really impressed with the way my 2nd-graders helped my 1st-graders. These 3 guys are from the 213 class, which I really like.

I also love it when kids come to my desk to talk to me. Boys usually don't do it, but the girls will. Unfortunately, our conversations usually start out with, "Teacher, give me candy!" But I'll make them speak with me in English before I fold and open up the candy drawer. What can I say? I'm willing to buy their love! As I mentioned, they've gotten the "Thank you" down, but we're going to have to work on the "Please" end. My coteacher MyongSoo was making fun of some girls today because they kept saying "I lobeu you!" So MyongSoo would say, "Moneeka teacha, I lobeu you!" She does a really good job with the impersonations.