I can't believe I haven't posted anything in over a month! I guess I have been relatively busy (and not at the same time). I have two trips to talk about, but I will save those for separate posts. This one will be relegated to random updates.
My students continue to make me laugh and smile. My favorite "Korean-students-say-the-damndest-things" moment was during a lesson about the seasons and weather. We got on the topic of building snowmen. One of my students pointed out to me that in Korea, they build their snowmen in two sections. I then jokingly adopted an exaggerated and condescending sort of smugness to my tone and facial expression to tell them that, "In the US, we build our snowmen in three sections!" At this comment, one of my students grabbed his head with both his hands and agonizingly exclaimed, "Agghh!!! CULTURE SHOCK!!!"
I also want to share an anecdote from one of my friends. A couple weeks ago, his classes were having speaking tests. When he walked into one of the classes that week, he boldly proclaimed, "Alright! Speaking tests!" Unsurprisingly, the class remained completely silent...except for student in the back who yelled, "WHAT THE FUCK?!?!" My friend apparently collapsed to the floor in a fit of laughter.
A few weeks ago, there was an International Food & Wine Festival in my city. A group of us went together and met up here and there with other teachers with whom we are friends. We came there thinking that we might be dropping some serious cash to pay for glasses of wine (from France, Italy, Spain, etc.) But, lo and behold, all it cost was a measly 3,000 won, which is equivalent to about $3. Considering that, I really had to consciously pace myself and take some breaks lest I end up passed out in some gutter (juuuuust kiddin'!)
We had a splendid time! There were absolutely toooons of vendors (not to mention people). The funniest moment was when a very drunk middle-aged Korean woman came up to our group. She looked at us and she asked, in a very thick and drunk accent, "Where are you frooooom?" We said our respective countries and then she looked at me. "Americaaaaaa? Beaaaaard!" It was at this time that my friend pointed out my chest hair protruding from my shirt's collar (as per usual) and the woman decided to tug on it a bit. She then pointed at me and exclaimed, "Mr. Monkey! Mr. Monkey!" That was about the extent of our interaction. When she was leaving I called after her, "Please marry me! Be my Mrs. Monkey!" but she didn't seem to hear (or care).
Work has been really easy for me lately. Two weeks ago, I gave my students study time for the entire week in preparation for mid-terms. This was at the suggestion of my head co-teacher. Last week we had mid-terms, and now this week the juniors are taking speaking tests while the sophomores are gone on a trip (for Monday and Tuesday). The teachers had various extracuricular activities planned for mid-terms week. On Monday evening, I went out with my head co-teacher and the other sophomore teachers to dinner and drinks. On Tuesday, we took a field trip to some mountains 45 minutes outside of Daejeon. We hiked, ate, drank, and then went to noraebang (what we call karaoke). It was pretty hilarious to see my drunk co-teachers (some of them over 50 years old) singing Korean songs. English teacher meetings (as they call them) have somewhat of a flow to them. Everyone eats and drinks over small talk (although the focus is definitely on eating at this point). Then after most people are done eating and everyone has a pretty good buzz going, the oldest teacher and/or the head of the department will say something to everyone. Usually this involves just thanking everyone for coming and how wonderful it is to spend time together outside of school. Then after a little bit the real fun begins. The boozed up teachers start giving oratories topically centered on school affairs such as how to improve students' abilities (like listening comprehension), the culture of the department/school and why it needs to improve or change, etc. Disagreements and compromises abound!
I am now taking Korean classes. Unfortunately, they are only once a week, but I'm taking them with about 20 other teachers from my orientation. I'm getting better at reading Korean phonetically, but I don't usually understand what the sounds coming from my mouth actually mean. However, the fact that the alphabet is so logical and the sounds rarely change makes it a lot easier than what I would imagine learning English would be like.
I'm definitely getting more settled into life here. Besides taking Korean lessons, I'm also exercising at a gym 4 or 5 days a week. I am hiking a lot on the weekends, whether with co-teachers or friends. Meeting with friends for drinks and meals. Hopefully, I will get a bike before it starts getting too cold. There are bike paths for miles and miles along the rivers that go through my city. In fact, you can take a bike path all the way to Seoul. Other than that, after a long creative dry spell, I'm riding a creative high and writing a bunch of music on guitar.
Lastly, I named this post after a song called "Gangnam Style" by a Korean pop (affectionately shortened to K-Pop) singer named Psy. This song is a worldwide hit and has over 500,000,000 views on YouTube. This song plays everywhere all of the time in Korea. To be honest, I'm getting quite sick of it. I think that Koreans believe this song will spread interest in Korean culture, but unfortunately my impression is that many people in the West treat Psy and his song as a joke. Nonetheless, it is a catchy song! Psy is kind of an anomaly in the K-Pop world. He is not nearly as manufactured by the music industry as the other K-Pop artists. He doesn't have the good looks that the others have. Also, he doesn't have the typical squeaky clean image (he was arrested on drug charges about 10 years ago). Finally, the subject matter in his songs are quite a bit different. "Gangnam Style" is a satire of the materialistic lifestyles of the affluent in Korea. More specifically, Gangnam is the name of a very rich neighborhood in Seoul. Enjoy!
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