One Mystery Revealed!

Two days ago, a large closet showed up in my classroom. I couldn't figure out what it was for - was I getting new materials? Did the teachers here think I was too messy and needed more storage space? Was it being held in my room temporarily? I finally found out today that with all the things being taken from my classroom, I needed somewhere I could lock my stuff up during the day. Mystery solved, and I'm kinda thankful for the thoughtful gift too.

Mysteries

There's a lot of every day it seems that I spend doing nothing. I usually have a 10 or 20 minute gap between classes at school, which is a nice chance to get ready for the next class, check email, or just waste a few minutes surfing the internet. It usually ends up being a small waste of time, but there's never that much time to begin with, so I don't really mind. What kills me is the times when that 10 or 20 minutes stretches out to half an hour or more, and suddenly I've wasted 30 or 40 minutes doing nothing, all because I never knew if anyone was going to show up to my class or not. It happened this morning with a class not coming, and it's happening right now - my after school class, with 24 kids signed up, has 2 kids in the room. I'm trying to take advantage of the 30 minutes of nothing to do, but most of the time it's pretty tough and I find I waste as much as an hour or more a day with these small breaks of time that I could do so much more with (like write in my blog). Well, I'm doing well writing in the blog now, so good for me.

The other day I was coming home from school, and two Korean men were riding their bicycles on the road in front of me. They were side by side, and taking up a good portion of the street, and every car that drove by was honking at them as they had to swerve into the other lane around them. It got me wondering what these two guys were thinking, and I realized that with a huge degree of regularity I have no idea what is going on in people's minds here in Korea. I don't understand why these guys wouldn't even consider shuffling just a little more off the road, if they even noticed the car horns honking at them, and if they felt their actions were right and that the cars should just slow down and let them do their own thing. And it's like that everywhere. While I've been at school here long enough to know some of what's going on, I often have no clue whether teachers here are pleased with my work, think I'm doing poorly, or if they have any expectations of me other than what I'm doing. A few shots of soju will usually help clarify things, but I don't think alcohol necessarily brings out honesty, just an excess of drunken banter and emotion.

I had a great chance for a bonding experience with my teachers the other weekend, as we had an overnight teachers' trip planned. Unfortunately the weather got pretty nasty and we just did a one day event, but it was still a good time with them. Of course, if I don't think I could handle taking another of these trips for at least 6 months, but I'm glad I did it. Here's a breakdown on how Koreans like to travel:

Get an early start. Our trip began at 7am on Saturday morning.

Bring heaps of food. We had a massive cooler, stopped for food regularly and everyone got a little snack pack for the trip.

Stop repeatedly. Every hour we stopped for something - a tourist sight, a food break, a bathroom break, whatever.

Drink. While no one drank heavily, they started drinking at 8am and didn't stop till around 10 that night. Just little drinks or wine, beer, etc. And always with food.

Sing We had a noraebang (karaoke) on the bus. While it was only running for 2 or 3 hours, it was a tough thing for me to deal with.

The trip was filled with plenty of odd behaviour and moments that befuddled me and were typical to the rest of the staff. We went to a herb garden that had a giant rock that looked like a penis (or a dinosaur depending on where you were standing), for snacks everyone was given a whole octopus and squid, and somehow during the trip a softcore pornography movie ended up playing on the bus. I think the bus driver put it on by accident, since it only lasted 5 minutes, though it seemed to shock even some of the Koreans when it happened.

This would have been a perfect blog to put up some pictures of my teachers' trip, but unfortunately, I can't right now. Shannon and I are moving, something I didn't really expect to be doing in Korea, and the camera stuff is packed. Our landlord sold the apartment, so we've packed up and will be moving this week. It's not as bad as it could have been, though it was rather sudden and the moving date is something we're arguing with our schools about. They want us to move Saturday, we want to enjoy the Canada Day weekend and move Friday. Maybe we're being a little pushy, but this whole moving thing was pushed on us and we'd like to get some say in how things go. Anyway, next time I blog, I'll have a new home. Thanks for reading.

Oh, Those Wacky Kids!

Today a student discussed with me playing jump-rope using his intestines. I'm still surprised at his knowledge of human anatomy, though perhaps video games have helped him fill in the gaps on what might be found under his skin.

Kids are always saying and doing the darn-dest things around me. Right now three girls are attacking my board with magnets and grabbing the computer mouse. Yesterday the same girls were trying different ways to use the word "puck". Of course "puck" isn't what they meant to say, but Koreans way of speaking doesn't really allow them to pronounce an "f" sound. So for now, if I ever get them really upset, I'll just have to deal with the occasional "puck" you.

A Change of Season

It's getting disgustingly hot here in Korea - the last few days at school have seen me set personal records for heat discomfort and sweating. Shannon and I have started bringing deodorant to class now to try and prevent our Korean counterparts from thinking we Westerners lack all sense of personal hygiene, but it's a tough battle the way the weather is going. What's worse is my school recently put in air conditioning into all the classrooms, except mine of course. I instead was given a small fan to put by my desk

At home it's not so bad, as my principal was nice enough to have air conditioning put into our apartment. Unfortunately, that doesn't stop the sewage systems from being heated up, which in turn sends the nastiest stinkiest smells into our bathrooms. Today the smell had already started coming in by 8:30 this morning, which means it's going to be one stinker of a day when I get back home this afternoon. Our dog, Miso, doesn't seem to mind it so much - he's part Chihuahua, and I think the heat does him just fine. I'm pretty sure we'll have to get him a full-body winter suit if he's ever going to survive the Canadian winter though, as what little hair he has on his body will do little to insulate him against anything worse than a chilly autumn day.

With the changing season comes the changing of clothes. Koreans decide the seasons on weather and temperature rather than on a specific day, so what season it is depends on who you talk to and how they're feeling. But when it does change, it changes en masse. Middle and High School students wear uniforms here, and they just recently brought out their summer uniforms. So, all of a sudden the hundreds of kids you see everyday in gray slacks and white shirts are now all dressed like navy blue sailors. My teachers at school have suddenly stopped wearing suits and are all in short sleeve shirts (some so bright and loud you'd think they were on vacation in Hawaii). I have yet to experience it, but beach season also is a very seasonal thing. When it's time to go to the beach, everyone goes to the beach. As soon as beach season is over, the whole place shuts down and there's hardly a soul around. In two weeks we're doing a big beach-camping trip, and I'm curious to see if beach season has begun yet or not.

Teacher, My Crazy!

Living in a poorer area of town gives me a chance to see some of the more colourful people here in Korea. Now, maybe I don't really mean colourful, so much as just drunk, but either way people watching in the neighbourhood is very entertaining. A little disgusting too.

Our building is the only one for blocks around with a parking lot. Most people who pass by will respect this, but at night all the drunk Korean men use it as a urinal. The old men across the street, who are usually drinking every night, will regularly come and pee in our lot. Sometimes it's passerby's who use it. The other day, I ran into one of the men who live in our building peeing in the plants in the parking lot. Eugh.

Sometimes the drunk men on the street are more funny than disgusting, such as when they come up with the ingenious ideas of bringing their scooters into their homes. Okay, so really it was just this once that it happened, though I'm sure it happens more than I'm aware. This poor, tiny, fall-down-drunk man had just ridden his scooter home and was now trying to get it in the front door. His wife was standing there yelling something at him, but he didn't seem to notice. The scooter was still running, there were plants and pots everywhere in the guys way, and he was unable to get it over the little step to the door no matter how hard he tried. I walked past without pausing too long, and when I looked back the both the man and the scooter were now lying on the ground in all the plants, the wife still yelling something at him. Oh, the poor little drunk man.

A source of constant entertainment, there's more than just strange urinations going on in the parking lot. Adjacent to the lot live a few middle aged Korean women. One of them is half crazy, the other is a full-blown lunatic. When she's outside, she's usually talking to herself, yelling at something that isn't really there, or trying to call Miso over to her, which is really funny since the dog absolutely HATES her. She's gotten into the habit of staring at us over the concrete fence when we take Miso out to pee, and will click, cackle and call at him until we finally leave, since he won't pee when she's around. Lately it's gotten even stranger, since she's taken a liking to mimicking our English. While getting Miso to pee, Shannon or I usually say "Go pee! Go pee!" Now, from across the fence we can hear the crazy lady yell back at us "Go pee! Go pee!" Sometimes she's not even at the fence, but off doing some other chore around the house and will just yell when she hears us out there.

Oh, and how could I forget this - she tried to kick the dog too! She came into the parking lot the other day while I was out with Miso, and started coming toward us. I didn't want her near the dog, so we walked past her to the street, but she came too and went in front of us. Miso started growling at her, she bent down to say hi, then *Whoosh!* she let loose this big sweeping leg kick towards the dog. She was a good 5 or 6 feet away, so no harm done at all, but I was still a little surprised and upset at the poor loony lady. I haven't seen her in a few days now, but I can hear her rummaging around her place most times when I'm in the parking lot with Miso.

Damn Kids!

Once again a kid has stolen something from me at school, and again it only took a few days and a lot of asking about it to have it returned. Last time it was my wallet, this time it was my MP3 player, and both times the kid who took it has been the one to find it.

I'm not sure if I went into much detail on it before, but a month or two back, a student in grade 3 came into my classroom while I was away playing volleyball and nabbed my wallet. Within 2 days, I had the whole school looking for my wallet, and soon this kid, whom I was so nice to and would play with all the time, took me to where my wallet was. He had stashed it in a drawer outside his classroom, and the only thing missing was the $40 in it (credit and bank cards were fine).

Of course, everyone knew it was the kid that found it who took it - he was a little underprivileged and struggled in school, and when I asked what would happen to him, I was told nothing would be done. "He needs lots of love" was what I was told.

Now my MP3 player was stolen, and this time I was pretty sure who took it right from the start. Same kind of situation, only this student is not so underprivileged but just a little insane. I caught him hiding my MP3 player on me once before, so it didn't surprise me that when I told his class my MP3 player was missing, he said he had seen my headphones only the day before. Five minutes later, he's running up to me with my MP3 player in his hands, having found it stashed in a desk.

I'm not quite so hurt this time after having my things stolen from me. Maybe I've grown a little thicker skin after having my wallet taken, or maybe I just understand what the kids are thinking a little more. There's no money to be had in my MP3 player (maybe it could be sold at a pawn shop) so this time I'm pretty sure it was something that the kid himself couldn't quite explain. He saw something that looked cool, expensive, and probably a lot of fun to have. He knew I wanted it, he like playing with it, so he just kinda took it. Not to keep, not to steal, but just to have for a little while. Putting it in the desk meant maybe I would forget about it, and maybe he could "find" it in a while and it would be his. I think I'm trying to read too much into this, but since these aren't bad kids taking my things, I still wonder a bit about why they take my things. Some people have mentioned maybe these kids think I (and other teachers) are so well off, they don't need all this money and fancy things, so why shouldn't they have some. Well, other than the $40 I've gotten everything back, so other than having to lock my classroom all the time, it's nothing to worry about anymore.

Hygiene

Every Monday morning we have staff meetings at school. My attendance is never really necessary since the whole thing is in Korean, but for some reason I'm kind of expected to be there so I go. This morning, the guy next to me spent a good five minutes chewing on his nails. If you're going to have a bad habit, I suppose that' snot a bad one to have, what really threw me for a loop though was that he would spit it all out onto the desk in front of him. No one seemed to mind at all, and he continued doing it until he was satisfied with his now freshly chewed nails.

On the other hand, blowing your nose is a big faux pas in public, and only recently has having your mouth open at all been accepted. I have many students who will cover their mouths when they laugh. and when I make them pronounce words that mean opening their mouths wide they giggle and look away from me. Coughing and sneezing though aren't seen as being so bad, and covering your mouth isn't necessary unless you're going to be coughing right on someone's face. Of course nothing has been stranger so far than Shannon's trip to China.

Shannon went to China back in February and was so incredibly grossed out by some of the things she saw, she nearly puked in the street. There was the bum walking around the street with no pants on, the men who would blow their noses right onto the street with no tissue, and the families who would let their kids pee wherever they were at the time by just pulling down their pants. While walking past a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, not only had someone vomited all over the front walkway of the restaurant, but there was a lady vomiting into the store's garbage can. So, whatever bad things I may think of Korean hygiene standards, relatively they're pretty good.

Well, that's all for this week. Thanks for reading.

A Drive Through The Countryside

Occasionally I find that the toughest thing to see in a country when you're visiting it is the country itself. It's easy to get lost in the cities, wind up at tourist attractions or stay somewhere nice and relaxing like your room/hotel/the beach. Last weekend 7 of us got together, rented a van, and went on what was originally planned as a photography roadtrip - a chance to see some great scenery and get some really nice pictures. Shannon and I, being a little challenged in the photography know-how department, came along for the chance to see parts of Korea we'd never otherwise see.

We started by heading up to Gwangju to meet everyone. Shannon and I (along with Miso, who's now become a rather permanent part of our family here in Korea) caught the early bus up on Saturday morning, and after a slow breakfast and getting packed up, we hit the road. If you look on the map I've added here, you can see the path we took. From Mokpo, we went to Gwangju, then traveled east halfway to Suncheon. From there we went south-east until reaching Suncheon,then down to the water where we spent the night. The next day we went south to Wando and puttered about some of the islands down there before heading back to Gwangju, then returning to Mokpo.


The first shot here is a little weir we stopped at along the road. You can probably make out some to the old ladies (or "ajumas" as we call them) fishing in the background. Prior to this we went to an old steam-locomotive museum where you can actually ride the train. Unfortunately it wasn't running for a few more hours, so we had to settle for riding around in one of the push-pedal carts.

I'm not sure what time of the season it was in terms of harvest, but the rice workers were out in full force working the fields. Some of them were starting to burn the crops from the year, so I think they had just completed the harvest not too long ago. Old men and women were all over the place though, hunched over doing some kind of work in the mud.

One of the most memorable sights we saw was a Korean motorcycle gang on the side of the road. The called themselves "Club Shadow" and they even had business cards to hand out to people (not sure what for, maybe just cause it made them seem a little more elite). You may be able to make out a few of the unusual getups they're wearing, though my favourite was definitely the fake tattoos some of them had. I've been told that in Korea, not only are tattoos fairly taboo, but they may also be illegal. Seems a little odd, but one of the guys here actually had sort of an upper-body nylon on that was meant to look like tattoos all down his arms. And despite the fact it was us who approached them to say hi and take pictures, they quickly took over and tried to get as many pictures of us as they could as well, even making sure Miso was in the photo too.

We stopped at one of Korea's largest (or most famous maybe, I'm not sure which) tea plantation. This one was up the side of the hill, and as you can see here as I smuggle Miso in, dogs weren't allowed to come. But he made it through the gate, and we got some great photos of the tea fields.




After, we traveled by boat to some of the small islands around the area, and stopped at the beach for a swim. The dog and I were the only ones who managed to get right in and swim in the water, though poor Miso was not the least bit excited about swimming and only did so after being set down 15 feet off the shore. He did great though.

After that, we stopped for lunch and went back home. Hopefully you've enjoyed a more photographic blog entry this week, and my apologies to any regular readers who've noticed a slight lapse in my ability to get a new blog out every week. School's been a little crazy the past few weeks, but I should be back to some form of normality now. Thanks for reading!