First Day of School

Today was my first day of school and things went fairly well. Normally, I am supposed to teach three classes on Monday, but because of some scheduling confusion, I taught a total of fifteen minutes today. Most of my day was spent getting to know the other teachers. Some were certainly more interested in the Korean-looking foreigner than others. It was definitely a learning experience for me in many ways except teaching.
I must stress to Americans teaching in Korea that smiling and looking friendly is extremely important. Being approachable is paramount to establishing good relations here. Most questions I asked other teachers were completely useless because they did not understand the question nor did they know how to reply. When they ask me questions, then I can respond to their English limitations. We do not get a lot accomplished in those terribly awkward moments, but at least it starts a dialogue.
Making friends will make this experience much more fun and valuable. However, I must admit that it can be a bit exhausting. Apparently, I will play baseball, ping pong, soccer, basketball, volleyball, and go mountain climbing with various other teachers "soon." Something tells me that Koreans are not as quick to absent-mindedly make plans with other people. They might actually mean what they say, in which case I will be dead "soon."
It is also a little tiring being the only native English speaker. Many people want to practice their English and ask me if their "words are correct." It also has occured to me why this experience can and will be difficult. As the only native English speaker, I am always on. Many conversations among friends can be like hiccups (kind of an unintentional reaction). Here, a person has to really think about what they are saying with the hopes that they are understood.
Regardless of the trials and tribulations that are inevitably going to surface for me as a teacher in Korea, there is no better way to learn a language and culture than having it slammed into your head. Moderation be damned.

FYI

The village I live in is called Song Sa. It is lodged at the base of Jirisan Mountain. It is becoming a very good situation as there is a lot of beautiful scenery in the area (I would highly recommend a scooter to any future ETA's in rural settings). Things have already gotten a little better as I now understand the power of a deck of cards. My sisters could not care less about games (rummy, go fish, etc) but they love seeing me shuffle a deck. I think Han Seul spent two hours trying to mimic my shuffling techniques. Like any good Korean, she practiced extremely hard and is now better than me.

A New Home

I have now moved into my new homestay and met most of my school's faculty. To say the least, it has been a whirlwind of activity. I should start off by saying that my new family, which consists of a father, a grandmother and three daughters (I haven't seen the mother as of yet) are very kind. The daughters names are Harin (15 years old), Han Seul (8 years old) and Eun Woo (7 years old). It should be interesting to see how this plays out.
There is a massive language barrier as I don't speak Korean and they don't speak English. Communication has been low and the meals awkward. Occasionally, the father asks me a question to which I can only respond "nay?" which means "yes?" It is a strange situation for everyone. I am not extremely thrilled with the fact that it will take me months just to communicate simple ideas with the people I will spend a majority of my time. The daughters don't look particularly pleased to have a strange man move into what used to be their room. It might take a while for them to warm up, as would be expected. The grandmother tells me I am handsome, which I believe is a polite way of saying that she thinks I am an idiot.
I do not actually live in Gurye but rather a small village next to Gurye. I will give the name of the village later (when I know for sure how to pronounce it). I get the feeling that they do not run into Asian Americans very often around here. Every time I open my mouth people look at me like I just punched a kitten. As soon as I tell them "Mi Guk Saram e ae oh (I am an American)," they interpret that as "speak faster!" I never had such difficulty buying a bottle of water. The elderly are particularly incredulous to my situation. As far as they are concerned, I am a Korean man who does not speak the language. I would say that I can not speak the language, but maybe I am just splitting hairs.
The other teachers, especially the principal have been very kind to me. In fact, most Americans would say that they are being a little too kind. They have made it their objective to make me feel as comfortable as possible. The intensity of their kindness has sometimes been a little overwhelming at times. For example, when I mentioned that I was going to look into the price of a scooter, they took that as "let's buy the foreigner a scooter!" Since I was told that it would be a bad idea to turn down their generous offer, I just left it as that and learned that next time I should be a little more cautious about voicing hypotheticals. It was a very kind idea, but it was a little more than I deserved, being that I have not even taught a class yet. They have quickly accepted me into the "teacher family" and I can be nothing less than grateful for that. I have never been in a situation where a group was so welcoming on the first day. My co-teacher and I get along great (she would prefer to be called Mrs. Lee). The other English teachers are also pleased to have another ETA at their school and only now do I lament my decision to only take one grammar course in college.
Overall, my school is a good place with good people and my homestay family is warm and inviting (though grandma won't let me help with dishes because I am so... handsome).

Last Week in Chuncheon

As the ETA orientation comes to a close, it has been beginning to hit all of us that we're actually going to have to teach. It has been reiterated to us that we are to teach conversational English, but it's times like this that I am starting to wish that I took my grammar courses a little more seriously.
Last week I met a Korean elementary English teacher and I agreed to record "a few" pages of stories for a listening exercise. First of all, there might have been a cultural misunderstanding as to the meaning of "a few" pages as I found myself reading the equivalent of a novel into a microphone for several hours. I also found myself giving a few English lessons regarding the article system, the three major tenses, and the proper use of conjunctions. Secondly, I would like to point out that it may not always be a good idea to go to random people's houses on ambiguous grounds. My mindset was, "hey, what could possibly go wrong?" Fortunately for me, the teacher (who I will just call "Manny") was a tremendously kind person with a nice family.
My payment for my help was a ton of bugolki (Korean beef and vegetables) and later on, a shirt and a hand fan. I intended to help simply for the experience of working with a Korean teacher so the food was a pleasant surprise. It should be noted that it was one of the most awkward meals I have ever had. I learned that my Korean food etiquette is at the equivalent level of a barbarian. Here are a few heads ups. Don't focus on any single part of the meal. The mother got a little concerned that I ate too much rice and not enough meat. Rotate your intake, especially since there is a larger variety than to what we Americans are generally accustomed. The meal consisted of soup, kimchi, cucumber kimchi, meat, rice, pickled radish, small egg pancakes, eggplant, and salad. I didn't quite know where to start, which brings up another point, be prepared to eat a lot. I think I might have offended the family because I only ate enough for two people. I also couldn't really finish my rice, but the look on the mother's face told me that that rice was going to be eaten, regardless of my stomach's situation. One final point to make is that sharing food is just good manners. I noticed that none of us got our own plates, which meant that we just picked what we wanted with our chop sticks. I was warned about that, but it seems more foreign in practice than in theory. After watching me cautiously fumbling around the table with my chopsticks for a few minutes, my host gave me a separate plate with a "thanks for trying anyway" look.
After I finished my meal and English lesson, I was presented with a shirt that Manny's daughters bought for me while I was working. It was very touching, especially as a stranger with horrible table manners. One thing to note is the gift giving aspect of Korean culture. If someone invites you to their home, buy a gift, if you are meeting someone important (like one's principal), buy a gift, if someone does something nice for you, buy a gift.
It's still too early for me to come up with any major generalizations of Korean culture, but I can tell that preserving a positive kibun (an ambiguous term that includes but is not limited to general feelings, atmosphere, and collective happiness) is always a priority for people. In short, if someone is not happy, it affects everyone. This has its advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, the community feels a responsibility for the well-being of others. Happiness is a collective good to be maintained rather than an individual pursuit. Yet, such a concept seems to have a crushing effect on individuality. Since non-conformists disrupt a community's kibun, they are often looked down upon. Some of the more colorful personalities I have encountered have usually been the out casted people who are merely tolerated.
Nevertheless, as I leave Chuncheon, I can say that it has been a very memorable experience. The Korean students I have met, as well as other ETA's, have made me think that this is going to be a great year. There are always ups and downs, but I have never met such welcoming and warm people. The Korean students I have met are very down to earth and love learning about the differences between American and Korean culture. I only hope that I can inspire a few students to want to learn more about the US and bridge some of the gap between Americans and Koreans.
On an unrelated note, I saw the new Batman movie. All I can say is that if I had seen the moon landing, I could say with impunity that it was better than seeing the moon landing. I hope everyone is doing well back in the States.

Going to Gurye

A couple days ago all the ETA's were assigned their schools. In two weeks I will be teaching in a small town called Gurye in the South Western province of Jeollanam (Chonnam for short). It's actually pretty difficult to find any information (in English) on the town so I had to resort to more desperate measures. According to wikipedia, it is about 33,000 people and very isolated due to the rough terrain that surrounds the town.
Gurye do tung hakyo (구 레 고등 학교) is the name of the high school (학교-hakyo means school in Korean). It is a pretty small school with a little less than four hundred students. If anyone is interested in learning more about the school, and can actually read Korean, then go to http://gurye.hs.kr for more information. I'll just have to wait until I get there for information. It will be interesting to see what life will be like in a rural area. At the very least it will be a good learning experience for everyone involved.

Camp Fulbright

During orientation ETA's spend two weeks being involved in Camp Fulbright. It is an English immersion camp for Korean kids (anywhere from 8 to 17 years old) that has two purposes: to teach English to Korean children and teach ETA's how to teach. For those of us who have never taught before, the value of the camp is immeasurable.
A particularly challenging aspect is figuring out how to teach Korean students who have grown up with a different style of learning. Korean classes tend to be focused on memorization and repetition, which means that students can probably read and write fairly well but have a great deal of difficulty in speaking and hearing English. Since I am also taking Korean language courses, I can completely relate with the students. If I have to sum up the language learning experience, I have four words: it is very hard!
I got to teach my first and second class last week and here are a few tips I picked up. Foreign language teachers must be prepared to repeat directions over and over and over. For my first class, what was intended to be a lesson on establishing clear and concise rules (they were supposed to invent a game and make rules so everyone could understand) regressed to me flailing my arms in front of class while fruitlessly explaining the rules of the activity. Oh the irony.
Another lesson I learned is SP-EA-K S-L-OW-LY. Many ETA's vastly underestimated how much we had to slow down our speech. The problem was, Korean students were generally way too polite to point out that they had no idea what we were saying, so they just nodded their heads every time we asked if they understood. I was told that if a teacher can get half the class to repeat instructions, then you are having a good day.
Keep students busy and provide them with structure. The students I encountered felt very uncomfortable when they had to use their own judgment for the assignment. Most eventually started playing with their Korean-English dictionaries. Basically, one teaching generalization I have come up with is if it worked for me in college, don't use it here. That is by no means an exhaustive list and over time I'm sure I'll develop more rules in retrospect.
We are told that the purpose of ETA's is to provide Korean students the opportunity to actually communicate in English rather than to study the grammar and syntax of the language. Basically, I see it as find ways to keep students motivated and interested in learning English for their own fulfillment. I recognize now that that will be incredibly difficult because Korean students, especially high school students, work so hard for their college entrance exams. During the last year of high school, students take an incredibly rigorous and important exam that practically determines their futures. During testing day, all airplanes are grounded for a few hours to prevent distractions during the test. The goal is to get a high enough score to get into one of the SKY schools (Seoul University, Korea University, Yeongsei University). High school students will often times start class at 8 AM and go home at 10 PM (with a couple of breaks somewhere in there). On the plus side, college is apparently far less intense than high school.

7/27/08

Orientation has reached its fourth week and it's safe to say that many ETA's and I are still adjusting to our new environment. However, many of us are doing what we can to immerse ourselves in the culture. Several ETA's have been frequenting meetings held by Key club. Key club is like an English club but a little more intense. All members have forty minute discussions in English about a variety of topics. Discussion topics range from opinions on marriage to womens roles in society. It is interesting to take part in those talks because Americans can get a real sense of Korean society from a college student's perspectives. One of the discussion topics was the growing acceptance of the "Gold Miss" concept in which a growing number of Korean women are choosing to part with tradition and work toward financial independence. Although this particular societal phenomenon is not extremely widespread, the "Gold Miss" effect on marriage in Korean society seems to reflect the types of changes in this country.
It is said that Korea becomes a different country every ten years and there is much evidence to support that statement. The juxtaposition of old and modern buildings shows just how quickly Korea is modernizing. Many of the younger people have also embraced western influences. A lot of students love greeting Americans with handshakes rather than the traditional bow. It's kind of fun because Korean youths don't quite have the hang of it yet. Sometimes handshakes linger to the point of holding hands, but it's nice to see them try.
Getting to know Key club members has been a real treat for us. They are all very welcoming and enthusiastic people who are thrilled to practice English with us. Many have become good friends which leads to an exchange of cultural awareness, language lessons, and drinking games. The drinking culture is very different in that it feels like an event every time. Generally, one is not supposed to pour their own drink, you pretty much give cheers (kom-bay) with every sip, and most importantly... the food. Americans are used to peanuts or popcorn at a bar. In Korea we usually end up eating chicken or pork with an assortment of sides (of course kimchi). Almost everything is done in a communal manner.
One thing to note is the prevalence of the mandatory military service in Korea. One of our good friends at Key club, who likes to be called "Anthony" recently received his summons for his mandatory service. It was pretty sad to hear and it makes me think about how much it can alter someone's life. There is not any real concern about an outbreak of war, but two years of service is required and that is pretty significant for young men in their early twenties. I guess my American perspective can't quite fathom the idea, but it doesn't seem to be that tragic for the guys I've talked to. Most just accept it as their duty to Korea and leave it at that.

Arrival

The plan landed in the Seoul/Incheon airport on July 7 at four AM. I have never known jet lag until that morning. All the ETA's (English Teaching Assistants) were herded onto two buses and shipped off to Chuncheon. Chuncheon, in the middle north of the country and surrounded by tall mountains, is considered to be a fairly small town by Korean standards. For a South Dakotan, it's anything but a small town. Pedestrians have to be a little more aggressive, but I would recommend a little patience. The streets are congested at best and anarchic the rest of the time. There is probably an art to it, but I have yet to figure that out.

All 75 ETA's are living in a dormatory while we go through our six week orientation. It is the purpose of the seminars to prevent us from committing any of the cultural sins for which there is ample opportunity for Americans. For example, playing the "got your nose" game with a baby is the equivalent of a middle finger, don't write names in red in (unless they happen to be deceased), always take your shoes off in someone else's home, and so on.

ETA's take Korean language courses and we all spend a significant amount of time trying to become somewhat functional in Korea. Easier said than done. The few sad attempts I have made in speaking Korean has resulted in dumbfounded looks. Simple transactions can be a Sisyphean ordeal as I have often ended up with more than I wanted. Suggestive selling is very easy when the foreign sap (me) has no idea how to say "no thanks." Somehow, I ended up with two boxes of detergent.

The city of Chuncheon is very cramped. There doesn't seem to be a segregation of residential and commercial zones. Apartments share buildings with restaurants and cell phone stores. There is a bar and grill that we occasionally go to that is on the fourth floor, of an apartment complex. You can't look anywhere in the city without flashing neon lights and advertisements. There are a lot of little stores that look like they are bursting with a random assortment of goods that put most flea markets to shame. Until I learn to haggle, or at least defend myself, I just go to E-Mart (pronounced E-Mot-u), which is the Korean equivalent of Wal-Mart.

There seems to always be a frenzy of activity in Korea as everyone seems to be hustling to somewhere. Even kids no older than five have their own cell phone (It's easy to tell because both his parents were on their phone as well). There isn't much time for taking it easy. Most companies in Korea will allow a one week vacation for the whole year. High school students go home as late as 10 PM. In fact, only the college students seem to have any recreational time (although their summer vacation started in July). Korean work ethic is very impressive, but seems a little excessive at times.

Anyway, those are some initial observations of Korea. Hope all is well in the States and if anyone has any questions or wants me to look into something, let me know. Good night.

Intro

Anyeonhaseo (Hello) all from Korea. As some people have expressed interest in hearing about my Korean adventure (as well as trials and tribulations of teaching in a foreign country), I have set up this blog for those who would care to read about it. Although I was born in Korea and have a few childhood memories, I will likely find myself to be a fish out of water for the next year, but that's the fun part of traveling anyway. I hope you enjoy reading this as well as find it informative in terms of Korean culture and education.