So This One Day............

I was in Japan. That's right, a grand total of 28 hours in the country with a travel time of 21 hours. The original plan was a three or four day trip during my winter break, but being the procrastinator and timid person that I am, I waited to make a move. I took a 45 minute ride on the subway to the bus station, bought a bus ticket down to Busan (4 and 1/2 hours) with the hopes that I would be able to catch a ferry across the sea. Within moments an older Korean woman came up to me and directed me to the ticket counter, and while there were departing tickets available for that night, it was returning that was going to be a problem. No ferries were cruising from Dec. 31- Jan. 2, and both the Dec. 29 ferries were full, which means I would have to go for one day or have to stay in Japan for an entire week. I realized I was simply not financially prepared to spend a week in Japan (quite expensive), and plus, I need more of a recovery period than half a day. So I thought the whole idea was out the window. One day was not worth it, right? I remounted my backpack, and walked out of the terminal rather upset, for I just spent the entire afternoon getting there. I thought I would just stay in Busan overnight, and see the city over the next day, but then I heard this voice (that sounded a lot like Stephanie Renaud) saying, "Just do it. You came all the way down here, don't get much vacation, and probably won't have the opportunity again. Carpe the Diem!" So I did. That same old Korean woman found me and asked, "You buy ticket? You buy the ticket?" I was asking her about prices, and she told me the special rates for child and student. I asked if there was one for teacher, and she laughted histerically. Then while I was waiting around she made me green tea and asked me how I liked Korea. Then she rushed me to the front of the line to get through security.
Japan is gorgeous. From about 8am until 8am the next day, I wondered the streets of the port town Hakata, exploring shrines and temples and street side shops. The people are ridiculously nice, uncommonly nice; so nice I felt bad for how much trouble they were going through trying to help me with directions and such. I practically had the whole town trying to find my hotel for me. I didn't even turn in for the night, just landed in a PC Bong for a few hours and walked around some more. I wish I had gotten to stay longer, make my way up the coast, and I wish I had had someone to share the experience with. I find some rather lonely times over here........but those moments have provided some needed time for reflection.

That's a Cinch for the Grinch

"It's comin' on Christmas........." I've been thinking that ever since Thanksgiving. No tree, no stockings, no wreath, and no river to skate away on. I had to work on Christmas Eve too, and knew that if I ever had to go to school on Christmas Eve when I was a kid I would have cried. I didn't cry surprisingly; I knew that Christmas at home would be much different this year anyway. There aren't many people who can say that they spent Christmas in a foreign country, but there were enough for me to get together with and have a story to tell. There were only about ten of us, eating tons of food and playing games, and talking a lot about Korea. Most of us have similar experiences, similar frustrations, and similar fascinations with this country. Its nice to know that others feel the same way and have given up things to be over here as well. Everyday is an adventure, and it won't go on forever. We even swapped gifts,though it was kinda nice to not get caught up in the materialistic craze of the season.
I have officially surpassed the 3 month mark. The major holidays are just about over though, and I must admit that I am a little glad about it.
Here is Peter, who did an excellant job as Santa. Didn't miss his cue or complain about wearing that poorly made beardfor over 1/2 an hour.

Laboratory Rats

I have great difficulty yelling at kids. It's not really my nature to make a scene in the first place, but I always feel bad losing my cool with young ones. Most of the time they just have to much energy, or they are too frustrated to express themselves soundly, or they are embarrassed or insecure, or they don't have the ability to weigh out consequences, and the list goes on. I remember being between the ages of 5 and 12 (really, even at this age sometimes) and being so charged with an emotion that I did something to really anger someone, not thinking at all about what I was doing. I think people forget how little you can feel, and how lonely that can be.
I get walked on at times, I'll be the first to admit. It often gets to the point where I have to either really lay down the law or go get someone else to do the dirty work for me (that sometimes is laying down the law). The latter is rather embarrassing because I should win the arm wrestle with a six, seven, or eight year old. It's like, "Dude, we're both going to be embarrassed, so just behave yourself. I don't have that many rules, I don't ask a lot and nothing unfair, so let's be cool." That doesn't always work. Especially with a 5 year old. I have to come up with different things other than just a moral code for us to follow. So there are stickers, there is candy, there is a game day or craft day for good behavior all week. There's no play time, no coloring, no singing and dancing, sitting in time out or marching to the principal's office.
Then, there's the good kid shot............. This is actually a rather creative and helpful ink pen from someone I would personally like to thank, for now I can simply say, "If you're going to be bad, I'm going to give you the shot that makes you good." Too awesome. Is it worse than raising my voice? I don't think so........I don't strain my vocal cords nor does the kid's wrongdoing get amplified for everyone.
But if a kid thinks that it may be what they need to keep from getting in trouble all the time, I'm screwed.

PHILL! NED!

The urge to simply knock people out comes upon me quite frequently over here. Not because I'm angry, but I often feel this sense of frustration and weariness that makes me want to tell people to back off; like "don't make things harder for me. Don't push me, don't pressure me, don't upset my zen. " Of course there's the language barrier, then my emotions which make any words come out wrong - so why not just throw a right hook? In the classroom, in the teacher's lounge, on the subway, in the gym, in the grocery store........ I am on the other side of the world from all that I know and should be cut a little slack, right? When it comes to kids and co-workers especially since we're with each other all day, let's just be cool and make things easy for each other.

I let a couple of my classes make Christmas cards this week. I don't think the principal was too happy about it (not in the lesson plan) but a friend sent some stickers and glitter over in a care package so I went for it. The kids thought it was the greatest thing ever.

Loving Guam

I really didn't see this one coming. In my more advanced class we were discussing different places around the world, and I asked my students where they had traveled to outside of Korea. The United States, China, the Philippines, and Guam were a few of the answers that popped up. So then I began asking them what they did and where they went while they visited there (i.e. The Statue of Liberty, the Great Wall, palm trees, etc.) Two of the girls in the class, Monica and Alice, are cousins who happened to go Guam with each other over the summer.

ALICE: How do you say [something in Korean] in English?"
ME: I don't know
MONICA: It was like this [motions downward with her hand flat]
ME: A waterfall?
ALICE: No, no. Us up, and then down.
ME: hmmmm......
MONICA: No water; a boy then a girl.
ME: Oh, did you see other Koreans there?
MONICA: [sigh] I'll show, you look.

She grabs the board marker, and quickly draws a cliff with her and Alice on top and then a boy laying on top of a girl under a tree below.

ALICE: Loving! That's it - they were loving!
ME(quickly shaking my head): No, Alice, I meant what kind of things did you do.
ALICE: oh........
ME: Erase that picture.

I Am an Englishee Teesher.

I think it's about time I write about what I actually do at work and who I do it with. I've been here for over 2 months now and have almost gotten the hang of things. I am not hesitant to say almost though. Things still take me by surprise and I often wonder if they're nuts or I am.........but I will have story after story from this experience.
My school, Wonderland English School, is a private English institute. All of the classes are conducted entirely in English. The kids start as young as 4 years old because A. the younger you are the quicker you learn and B. knowing English is one of your best tickets out of here. So you see these tiny little kids trottin' around with backpacks. All the preschoolers and kindergartners come in the morning. I teach all the math classes, which each class only has once a week. But then I have my own class of 5 year olds. These kids are too much. Every day I either want to pull my hair out or wet my pants from laughter.
There's Jason. He has huge cheeks and a fro of dark, curly hair. Every time I write a word on board he tells me its pizza. He puts his school clothes over his pajamas, and the kid never has his shoes on.
Then there's his partner in crime, Justin. Justin likes to go to the corner of the room and make a fort with chairs and coats in the middle of class....and steal kids' pencils. I yell at him all class and he still wants to sit in my lap and hold my hand.
Peter is the gentleman. If only he were 20 years older...............He shares all of his pencils and erasers and never hits a kid back. He also likes to swing open the door every morning and say to me "Trick or Treat!"
Gloria loves me far more than she should. God bless her. My first couple of weeks she hardly said a word to me. Now I get a hug every time I see her.
Isabell, Isabell - at least two steps behind everyone just because she's in her own little world. La La Land as one of my teachers used to say. She tries so hard though, and is the first one to rat someone else out.
Mary is just a gem. Cuter than a puppy. She's a year younger than all of them too and just gets smarter every day. She wrote me a letter last week telling me how much she loved me. I would take her home in a second.
Ellis is captain of the team - organized and prompt; always knows the answer and wants to tell everyone else what it is. If it weren't for her and Mary...........

Then in the afternoon the elementary kids come, AFTER a full day of regular school. They are there just for English speaking classes. The first class I have every afternoon is full of 8 and 9 year olds. They have been in English classes since preschool and are one of my smartest groups. I had a problem child in this class who, as of today, is no longer attending. I now like this class, because I feel like I'm actually teaching English - verb tenses, adjectives, adverbs, and pronouns. My favorites are David, because he is by far the sweetest boy I have ever met(maybe with exception to Peter or Jacob Minner); Amy because she always has a story to tell me, and Sylvia because she is just a stud. This kid never fights with anyone, ALWAYS pays attention, does her homework, studies for the test, and takes notes.
My second every day class is 10 and 11 year olds. This is my smartest class. They can be rowdy, but I get to actually just talk with them. Today I gave my favorite assignment yet: pick a country to write about, make a flag and a map, and bring in pictures. That's real homework! My favorite is Alice. She wants a high five every time she answers a question........even if she's wrong. Then she curtsies. Oh man.
On Mon, Wed, and Fri I have two more afternoon classes. The first one is 7 and 8 year olds who have just started learning English. This class can be frustrating because they don't understand half of what I'm saying. I play charades a lot. My second class is about 9-11 year olds. It's mostly boys and we've had to warm up to each other, mainly becaue they don't really want to be there. I can actually get them to participate now. Both of these classes have shown me what an impossibly difficult language English can be. If it wasn't my native tongue, I'm pretty sure I couldn't have picked it up later in life. I am also realizing more and more how much I enjoy the language......how much I like to see it on paper.