My host younger brother is so cool (멋있어요!). Right now, he's practicing the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean on the piano. He's been at it for a few weeks now, and I can tell it's getting better and better.
He can also play the flute and is taking classical guitar lessons at school. I love that his parents are allowing him to explore music while he still can. He is a first-year in middle school, so there's not much time left before he inevitably turns into another Korean 24-7 studying machine (also known as a high school student).
(In Korea, middle school is three years -- equivalent to American 7th-9th grades -- and high school is three years -- 10th-12th. All of junior high is spent preparing for high school; all of high school is spent preparing for college.)
Since arriving in Changwon, I have spent more time with him than I have spent with anyone else. One of the first things he did to break the ice was to show me his massive Rubik's cube collection; he has nine different cubes, including a 2x2, a 4x4, a star-patterned one, and lots of specialty designs. We play chess together; I've beaten him without mercy every time in Western chess, but he sweeps the floor with me in Korean chess (장기, janggi).
And if you're curious how we communicate, I use English and Korean only when necessary. His electronic dictionary and my phone's dictionary app do come in handy. Today, for example, my dictionary and I asked him if he'd sell his soul in order to stay young forever. (I just finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, so yeah.)
His English is halting, but intelligible. Sometimes, because of the dictionary, he'll throw out a word that just baffles me. Picture this: last night, he came by my room while the door was open, squirmed on the ground a bit, and then said, "Myalgia."
Me: What?
Host bro: My-al-gi-a.
Me: ... What is that?
Host bro: I don't know. *points to his back*
Me: Um... *looks up the definition of myalgia*
Me: OH. In English, we say, "I'm sore."
Host bro: I'm sore.
Okay, we're going to go play chess now! Host bro is getting a lot better lately; he's gotten as far as putting me in a nasty stalemate. I'm really looking forward to the day when he beats me.
P.S. Myalgia is 근육통, keunyuktong.
P.P.S. Another gem: when I asked why Tory, one of the dogs, wasn't allowed to eat tomatoes, he pointed to her and said, "He eat this... his ddong... bad smell."
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
On when you can't say what you want to say because you don't know how.
My host mother loves everything organic. 유기농 (yuginong, organic) is probably the most common word in the 냉장고 (refrigerator): organic milk, organic grape soda, organic eggs, organic fruits and vegetables (and thus organic pickled vegetables and kimchi). The organic popsicles are... not great, but the cups of organic yogurt are the best I've ever had, which is surprising given that I am in Korea. We eat organic white rice (1), and there are some boxes of organic breakfast cereal for the resident American.
I also prefer to have chemical-free food, so I'm glad that my host parents think this family's healthful diet is worth the extra cost and effort. (Most of her shopping is done online at the website of an organic grocery store that delivers everything to your door.) I've never been able to convince my parents to think more carefully about where our food comes from before we buy it, but here I don't have to worry about that at all.
The minor problem, I guess, is that my host parents do worry about it. The obsession with organic food, for both of them, stems from a major mistrust of anything even remotely unnatural that goes in food. Because my host parents are both busy, busy teachers, we eat out fairly often -- at least twice a week -- and once a week, we will order take-out. Yet for as much as they consume restaurant food, they seem to severely condemn it for the high amounts of MSG, and that is what I want to discuss here.
Tonight, my host father ordered fried rice from the local Chinese restaurant. It was delicious, especially when mixed with 짜장, that magical black bean sauce that makes jjajangmyeon so irresistible. He asked me, "맛 어때요?" (How's it taste?) My unhesitant reply, "맛있어요!" (Delicious!)
My host mother smiled, but with that smile came a warning. "Dining out (외식) food is good," she said in Korean, "but it has a lot of MSG". The translation for MSG that they came up with was "glutamine natrium" ... which makes sense, in a way, but I reassured them that I know what MSG is. "Too much MSG is bad for your health," she continued.
I sighed inside. Here we go again. I ventured a different opinion: "But... MSG is the same as salt." Of course, this isn't technically true, but it's the most that I could say in my limited Korean. The response was enthusiastic -- No, it's not at all the same! Salt is natural, but MSG is a chemical, made in a factory, so it's bad. You shouldn't eat too much, you might get MSG syndrome. Your host father gets MSG syndrome; it makes him sleepy. Do you eat out often? No? Yeah, so, point proven. Et cetera.
You know, soon after arriving at my homestay I decided that I would never argue with my homestay parents. It's not the same as when I was in France, because I can hold my own in a debate in French. But here, I just don't have the words to present my real point of view. And when I try, I end up sounding stupid. So in response to my host parents, I just said that in the U.S., most scientists say that MSG syndrome is not true, and that while my own father says he has it, I never have (2). And I left it at that.
A 2005 article in The Guardian that I found online provides some really important and interesting perspective on the MSG debate, which is huge in the United States, especially in response to the American obesity problem. My simple take on it is this: MSG is harmful only inasmuch as salt is harmful. Glutamic acid occurs in foods naturally, is produced by your body naturally, can be manufactured industrially but is chemically the same amino acid, and poses a health hazard only if you ingest loads of it. Like, Super Size Me-style fast food binges. And even then, I'm more likely to believe that it's the trans fats and dozens of other chemicals at work to make you fat, depressed, sick, and crazy. That, and the lack of exercise. Americans.
MSG: Is it everywhere? Yes. Is it poisoning Americans, Koreans, or anyone else on the planet? Um... no.
So anyway, I don't believe that eating Chinese take-out in Korea will smite me with MSG overload. More importantly, I will remember not to broach the subject again or try to argue my point of view with my host parents, because it's not worth the effort. Some things are just culturally ingrained. It's like fan death, which continues to be a sillylittle big controversy in Korea today. This morning, even, I asked my students how many of them believed that fan death was real, and the class split almost evenly in two. (It was a lesson partially based in testing the validity of urban legends.) For proponents of both opinions, the only evidence given was anecdotal. But, for them in English, like for me in Korean, perhaps the more scientific or academic understanding we do have is obstructed by the language barrier.
Every part of me, especially the Swattie part, wants to engage in a stimulating debate about things like this, but honestly, there are more important things that require my attention than proving someone else wrong. Cultural ambassadorship, and all that. And at any cost, I must avoid Korea Derangement Syndrome, otherwise known as Blind American Superiority Complex, or Being A Douchebag.
I fully expect these small cultural... differences to begin to add up over time. So, I'm reminding myself now not to make much of them. Listen, learn, and then brush everything off that is unimportant. Just keep swimming. To teach Understanding is one of my goals as a teacher, and in order to do that I must model it myself.
- - -
(1) Hm... really? I was under the impression that white rice was bleached and artificially enhanced to account for its very whiteness. Wouldn't the most natural and organic rice be brown? Maybe it's just organic because the rice fields themselves were chemical-free.
(2) Once, I ate at a Chinese banquet-style restaurant in Boston, and I did feel a headache and weird numbness afterward. I attribute it to some random mild food allergy, because I have eaten tons of Chinese food in my life and have never felt those symptoms at any other time.
I also prefer to have chemical-free food, so I'm glad that my host parents think this family's healthful diet is worth the extra cost and effort. (Most of her shopping is done online at the website of an organic grocery store that delivers everything to your door.) I've never been able to convince my parents to think more carefully about where our food comes from before we buy it, but here I don't have to worry about that at all.
 |
| 유기농 프레쉬 요거트: Organic fresh yogurt! It's even better than Chobani! |
Tonight, my host father ordered fried rice from the local Chinese restaurant. It was delicious, especially when mixed with 짜장, that magical black bean sauce that makes jjajangmyeon so irresistible. He asked me, "맛 어때요?" (How's it taste?) My unhesitant reply, "맛있어요!" (Delicious!)
My host mother smiled, but with that smile came a warning. "Dining out (외식) food is good," she said in Korean, "but it has a lot of MSG". The translation for MSG that they came up with was "glutamine natrium" ... which makes sense, in a way, but I reassured them that I know what MSG is. "Too much MSG is bad for your health," she continued.
I sighed inside. Here we go again. I ventured a different opinion: "But... MSG is the same as salt." Of course, this isn't technically true, but it's the most that I could say in my limited Korean. The response was enthusiastic -- No, it's not at all the same! Salt is natural, but MSG is a chemical, made in a factory, so it's bad. You shouldn't eat too much, you might get MSG syndrome. Your host father gets MSG syndrome; it makes him sleepy. Do you eat out often? No? Yeah, so, point proven. Et cetera.
You know, soon after arriving at my homestay I decided that I would never argue with my homestay parents. It's not the same as when I was in France, because I can hold my own in a debate in French. But here, I just don't have the words to present my real point of view. And when I try, I end up sounding stupid. So in response to my host parents, I just said that in the U.S., most scientists say that MSG syndrome is not true, and that while my own father says he has it, I never have (2). And I left it at that.
A 2005 article in The Guardian that I found online provides some really important and interesting perspective on the MSG debate, which is huge in the United States, especially in response to the American obesity problem. My simple take on it is this: MSG is harmful only inasmuch as salt is harmful. Glutamic acid occurs in foods naturally, is produced by your body naturally, can be manufactured industrially but is chemically the same amino acid, and poses a health hazard only if you ingest loads of it. Like, Super Size Me-style fast food binges. And even then, I'm more likely to believe that it's the trans fats and dozens of other chemicals at work to make you fat, depressed, sick, and crazy. That, and the lack of exercise. Americans.
MSG: Is it everywhere? Yes. Is it poisoning Americans, Koreans, or anyone else on the planet? Um... no.
So anyway, I don't believe that eating Chinese take-out in Korea will smite me with MSG overload. More importantly, I will remember not to broach the subject again or try to argue my point of view with my host parents, because it's not worth the effort. Some things are just culturally ingrained. It's like fan death, which continues to be a silly
Every part of me, especially the Swattie part, wants to engage in a stimulating debate about things like this, but honestly, there are more important things that require my attention than proving someone else wrong. Cultural ambassadorship, and all that. And at any cost, I must avoid Korea Derangement Syndrome, otherwise known as Blind American Superiority Complex, or Being A Douchebag.
I fully expect these small cultural... differences to begin to add up over time. So, I'm reminding myself now not to make much of them. Listen, learn, and then brush everything off that is unimportant. Just keep swimming. To teach Understanding is one of my goals as a teacher, and in order to do that I must model it myself.
- - -
(1) Hm... really? I was under the impression that white rice was bleached and artificially enhanced to account for its very whiteness. Wouldn't the most natural and organic rice be brown? Maybe it's just organic because the rice fields themselves were chemical-free.
(2) Once, I ate at a Chinese banquet-style restaurant in Boston, and I did feel a headache and weird numbness afterward. I attribute it to some random mild food allergy, because I have eaten tons of Chinese food in my life and have never felt those symptoms at any other time.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Thanksgiving
When I wrote today's date on the board before class this afternoon, I paused for a minute.
Tuesday, September 11th.
The terrorist attacks in New York City that took place in 2001 also fell on a Tuesday. I remember fairly clearly where I was that morning. Getting ready for school, eating breakfast. In California, due to the time zone difference, by the time I had woken up, images of the burning Twin Towers were already all over the news. My parents were downstairs in the den, standing in front of the TV and watching silently. I didn't think much of it. I went to school. Before the morning was over, though, an announcement was made over the PA system, informing everyone of the national emergency. We watched the news again in my classroom. After that, I don't remember much else. I was in sixth grade.
Back in my classroom, today, I couldn't write the year at the end of the date, because all of a sudden, "2012" just seemed preposterous. How could the 9/11 attacks have taken place eleven years ago? It was unfathomable. I wondered if my students, equivalent in age to American high school sophomores and juniors, had any idea of the significance of today's date. I really doubted it. (I mean, would I expect American high school students to be able to name even one Korean holiday, for example? Much less the commemorative dates of any national tragedies. I don't know any myself...)
But I thought I'd ask, anyway. Just to the one class I was teaching this afternoon.
"Today is September 11th. Does anyone know why today is important to Americans?"
Blank looks for a couple seconds. And then a student in the back said, "Thanksgiving?"
I have to admit that his response made me laugh. A couple of the quicker ones made the connection soon after and suddenly everyone was throwing out the routine one-word answers: "Terror!", "Newyork!", "Airplane!", "Twin Building!", "And... Boom."
My students were apparently amused at their own inability to formulate a coherent sentence explaining what happened on September 11th, and when they resorted to miming, everyone was laughing. Again, I'll admit that it was funny! But perhaps it was actually more preposterous than funny, and maybe my own laughter was born of discomfort more than anything else. Sans context, any American might have been horrified had they walked into my classroom at that moment.
I didn't expect my students to know about today's significance, really, but their efforts to communicate an idea they probably do not really grasp -- terrorism -- and the consequent humor showed me, in a way, how time is washing so much away. An event that permanently altered the American mindset and colored every back-to-school season of my teenage years means little to nothing to my Korean students eleven years later. And why should it? When it comes down to it, how much does 9/11 mean to me, eleven years later? I don't really know or want to answer that question.
I allowed myself to be slightly unsettled, and then moved on to today's lesson on pipe dreams.
It has dawned on me that I'm very, very far from America right now.
P.S. When you think about it, "Thanksgiving" isn't a completely arbitrary response. Korean Thanksgiving, called Chuseok, is coming up at the end of this month. Korean students are aware that Korean and American Thanksgivings take place around the same time -- in the same season, at least.
Tuesday, September 11th.
The terrorist attacks in New York City that took place in 2001 also fell on a Tuesday. I remember fairly clearly where I was that morning. Getting ready for school, eating breakfast. In California, due to the time zone difference, by the time I had woken up, images of the burning Twin Towers were already all over the news. My parents were downstairs in the den, standing in front of the TV and watching silently. I didn't think much of it. I went to school. Before the morning was over, though, an announcement was made over the PA system, informing everyone of the national emergency. We watched the news again in my classroom. After that, I don't remember much else. I was in sixth grade.
Back in my classroom, today, I couldn't write the year at the end of the date, because all of a sudden, "2012" just seemed preposterous. How could the 9/11 attacks have taken place eleven years ago? It was unfathomable. I wondered if my students, equivalent in age to American high school sophomores and juniors, had any idea of the significance of today's date. I really doubted it. (I mean, would I expect American high school students to be able to name even one Korean holiday, for example? Much less the commemorative dates of any national tragedies. I don't know any myself...)
But I thought I'd ask, anyway. Just to the one class I was teaching this afternoon.
"Today is September 11th. Does anyone know why today is important to Americans?"
Blank looks for a couple seconds. And then a student in the back said, "Thanksgiving?"
I have to admit that his response made me laugh. A couple of the quicker ones made the connection soon after and suddenly everyone was throwing out the routine one-word answers: "Terror!", "Newyork!", "Airplane!", "Twin Building!", "And... Boom."
My students were apparently amused at their own inability to formulate a coherent sentence explaining what happened on September 11th, and when they resorted to miming, everyone was laughing. Again, I'll admit that it was funny! But perhaps it was actually more preposterous than funny, and maybe my own laughter was born of discomfort more than anything else. Sans context, any American might have been horrified had they walked into my classroom at that moment.
I didn't expect my students to know about today's significance, really, but their efforts to communicate an idea they probably do not really grasp -- terrorism -- and the consequent humor showed me, in a way, how time is washing so much away. An event that permanently altered the American mindset and colored every back-to-school season of my teenage years means little to nothing to my Korean students eleven years later. And why should it? When it comes down to it, how much does 9/11 mean to me, eleven years later? I don't really know or want to answer that question.
I allowed myself to be slightly unsettled, and then moved on to today's lesson on pipe dreams.
It has dawned on me that I'm very, very far from America right now.
P.S. When you think about it, "Thanksgiving" isn't a completely arbitrary response. Korean Thanksgiving, called Chuseok, is coming up at the end of this month. Korean students are aware that Korean and American Thanksgivings take place around the same time -- in the same season, at least.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Afrikaans and DVD방s
It was raining when I woke up this morning. It was also already 11:00am when I woke up, meaning that I was late to church! But I'm glad I decided to go anyway, one hour late as I'd be, because Elani had mentioned that her birthday is today and she wanted to go out to lunch with friends from church.
Due to the rain and its associated problems (I couldn't find my 우산 (umbrella), there was a lot of 교통 (traffic), the bus driver was, as usual, insane and pulled into the wrong lane to make a left turn rather than wait for the light, etc.), I arrived at church at around noon. I was just in time to catch the last fifteen minutes of the strangest sermon I've ever heard. But anyway...
After church, Elani and the cohort of South African expats that I've been hanging out with went to her favorite eatery in Changwon, which was a burger joint! It's called Sangnam Burger, in 상남동 (the Sangnam-dong neighborhood). I was hesitant at first, because I don't know if I want to get into "fast food" at all while in Korea. But I couldn't have under-estimated the quality of these burgers more. My burger was small, but made with love, and had some magical sweet sauce on it that made every bite absolutely amazing. With the meal set came crispy fries and a soda that I decided not to drink. All of it was less than $4.50; a good deal in my book. Service was slow; there's only one guy working there, but he makes each burger, as I said, with love. It shows! Super-맛있어요! I'll be back soon to try their potato burger, tonkatsu burger, and more.
During lunch, I realized that I was the only American sitting at a table with five South Africans. I decided that it might do me good to learn a bit of Afrikaans! Though most all South Africans can speak English fluently, the portion of the population with Dutch ancestry speaks Afrikaans, as well. It could be loosely described as a mix of Dutch and English. "Hallo, hoe gaan dit met jou? Ek is goed, baie dankie!" It was fun; looks like I might be dabbling in more than just Korean while I'm here!
Due to the rain and its associated problems (I couldn't find my 우산 (umbrella), there was a lot of 교통 (traffic), the bus driver was, as usual, insane and pulled into the wrong lane to make a left turn rather than wait for the light, etc.), I arrived at church at around noon. I was just in time to catch the last fifteen minutes of the strangest sermon I've ever heard. But anyway...
After church, Elani and the cohort of South African expats that I've been hanging out with went to her favorite eatery in Changwon, which was a burger joint! It's called Sangnam Burger, in 상남동 (the Sangnam-dong neighborhood). I was hesitant at first, because I don't know if I want to get into "fast food" at all while in Korea. But I couldn't have under-estimated the quality of these burgers more. My burger was small, but made with love, and had some magical sweet sauce on it that made every bite absolutely amazing. With the meal set came crispy fries and a soda that I decided not to drink. All of it was less than $4.50; a good deal in my book. Service was slow; there's only one guy working there, but he makes each burger, as I said, with love. It shows! Super-맛있어요! I'll be back soon to try their potato burger, tonkatsu burger, and more.
 |
| Sangnam Burger! Though small, it was the best burger I've had in a long time, which includes the two years during which I didn't eat any meat at all. |
Then, the group joined up with some Americans and we went to a DVD방 together. A "DVD room" seems to be a Korea-specific or Asia-specific thing. Similar to the 노래방 ("singing rooms") that are plentiful all over the country, a DVD방 is like a mini-cinema with hundreds of DVDs, where you can hang out with friends in a comfortable private room to watch any movie you choose on a huge screen! The selection was vast, with lots of recent American titles as well as Korean and other Asian movies. For our group of eight, the price came out to 4,000 Won each. 와우! That was cheaper than my lunch!
 |
| Church friends having a movie afternoon! I admit the photo's of pretty poor quality, but I took it on my phone (and I've only just figured out how to transfer photos from phone to computer via Google+). |
We decided to watch a movie that Elani really likes, called We Bought A Zoo (2011), starring Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson. I'd never even heard of it before, but it was a good movie! The cinematography in particular was just beautiful, and the soundtrack (composed by Jónsi!) was fantastic.
I'm pleased that I've found two great new things in Changwon: burgers and DVD방s! As they say in Korean: 짱! And as they say in Afrikaans: Lekker!
Friday, September 7, 2012
Science Fair on Steroids
I am proud to announce that I finally left Changwon! I spent a grand total of seven hours away from home, five of which I passed on a bus. It takes two and a half hours by highway to go to Daejeon (대전), home to such institutions as KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) and the National Science Museum of Korea that would, fittingly, attract a contingent of first-years and science teachers for a field trip.
As my current schedule has me teaching only first years on Fridays, and the field trip meant that I would otherwise have nothing to do all day, I was invited to tag along. A little surprised but grateful for the opportunity to connect with some students outside of the classroom, I said yes.
Everyone slept on the way to Daejeon. So much for interaction outside of the classroom.
Our destination was the National Science Museum (국립중앙과학관), but we weren't actually there to see any of its exhibits. Rather, in a separate large exhibition hall, some sort of nation-wide science fair had taken place, and there were hundreds of posters on display -- the prize-winning experiments performed by students and teachers from all over Korea. Apparently, my students were supposed to examine all of them, take photos and notes, and get inspiration for their own research projects, on which they have been working assiduously this entire year.
There was an enormous variety of projects at the fair, and I was blown away by the ingenuity and subject matter. It was all in Korean, of course, so I barely understood the exact research questions of most, but the poster displays themselves were also incredible. Some seemed professionally done. I saw experiments done on the physics of bowling pins, LCD screens, seahorse physiology, dinosaur footprints from a fossil dig in Daegu, water filtration, robots, bacteria, skin allergies, and something about photographing Jupiter's moons. The experiment that appeared to have won the Grand Prize was one done on a cryptic sculpture of Buddha that was said to change its smile depending on the angle of the sun. The question was whether or not the physics of light and shadow actually made this possible. There were, in particular, lots of biology experiments done on animals, and I saw taxidermied birds, small sharks in glass jars, water snails, silkworms, and what looked like a tank full of dead penis fishes.
Seriously, the breadth and depth of science at this fair was overwhelming.
On the way home, I did get to chat with some students eager to practice their English with me. Even as we talked, I got the impression (or more like the reinforcement of a disclaimer I'd already been given) that these students don't have much personal interest or investment in English. They want to know just enough to pass the English language section of the Korean SAT, and maybe enough to chat with a foreigner for a bit.
In fact, the student with whom I talked the most straight up told me that nobody liked English grammar class, but that my conversation class seemed to be more fun and that it was good that I wouldn't give any exams. I joked that maybe I would give an exam, and she replied, "Oh, then I won't like it." I quickly changed the proposal to making it a sing-your-favorite-American-pop-song exam, and she smiled again, noting that the boys probably would not like that kind of test.
I'm hoping that by the end of this semester, they will be even half as excited about English as they are about the science that takes up their entire lives.
As my current schedule has me teaching only first years on Fridays, and the field trip meant that I would otherwise have nothing to do all day, I was invited to tag along. A little surprised but grateful for the opportunity to connect with some students outside of the classroom, I said yes.
Everyone slept on the way to Daejeon. So much for interaction outside of the classroom.
Our destination was the National Science Museum (국립중앙과학관), but we weren't actually there to see any of its exhibits. Rather, in a separate large exhibition hall, some sort of nation-wide science fair had taken place, and there were hundreds of posters on display -- the prize-winning experiments performed by students and teachers from all over Korea. Apparently, my students were supposed to examine all of them, take photos and notes, and get inspiration for their own research projects, on which they have been working assiduously this entire year.
 |
| CSHS students browse long rows of successful science experiments, taking notes and photos. (By the way, my elusive host sister is the girl in the yellow shirt. I have seen her a total of... maybe six times, now? since arriving in Changwon over two weeks ago.) |
Seriously, the breadth and depth of science at this fair was overwhelming.
 |
| This elaborate poster and display includes a dead hawk, a fossil of Archaeopteryx, model planes, and a Simpsons book. I guess it has something to do with... flight? It won a gold medal, anyhow. |
In fact, the student with whom I talked the most straight up told me that nobody liked English grammar class, but that my conversation class seemed to be more fun and that it was good that I wouldn't give any exams. I joked that maybe I would give an exam, and she replied, "Oh, then I won't like it." I quickly changed the proposal to making it a sing-your-favorite-American-pop-song exam, and she smiled again, noting that the boys probably would not like that kind of test.
I'm hoping that by the end of this semester, they will be even half as excited about English as they are about the science that takes up their entire lives.
Thursday, September 6, 2012
California
"What do you know about California?"
I asked this to all my classes after introducing myself and mentioning my home state. So here we have a few hundred Korean high school students who have likely never been outside of Asia. All they know about the United States is what they see in the media or whatever other cultural exports make it across the Pacific. If you're as curious, as I was, to know what they associate with the Golden State, here's a Top 10 list I've compiled of their answers, ranked by frequency:
1. Oranges
2. Sunny
3. Beaches
4. CalTech
5. San Francisco
6. LA (a lot of my students seem to think LA is a State)
7. California roll
8. Juice
9. Katy Perry ("California Girls")
10. Arnold Schwarzenegger
I also tell them that I went to college in Pennsylvania, but I'm sorry to report that they know absolutely nothing about the Keystone State. Haha!
P.S.
Me: "What was Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream?"
Student: "To destroy... the human race!"
He meant "to destroy racism."
I asked this to all my classes after introducing myself and mentioning my home state. So here we have a few hundred Korean high school students who have likely never been outside of Asia. All they know about the United States is what they see in the media or whatever other cultural exports make it across the Pacific. If you're as curious, as I was, to know what they associate with the Golden State, here's a Top 10 list I've compiled of their answers, ranked by frequency:
1. Oranges
2. Sunny
3. Beaches
4. CalTech
5. San Francisco
6. LA (a lot of my students seem to think LA is a State)
7. California roll
8. Juice
9. Katy Perry ("California Girls")
10. Arnold Schwarzenegger
I also tell them that I went to college in Pennsylvania, but I'm sorry to report that they know absolutely nothing about the Keystone State. Haha!
P.S.
Me: "What was Martin Luther King, Jr.'s dream?"
Student: "To destroy... the human race!"
He meant "to destroy racism."
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
강아지! - Puppies!
As promised, photos of my host family's two dogs, Roomy and Tory! (That was a complete bastardization of their names. I'm not sure how to spell them in Korean, but my best guess would be 름이 and 토리, because Roomy was named after a cloud -- 그름, geleum -- and Tory was named after an acorn -- 도토리, dotori.) They are shih-tzu mixed with something else, I'm not sure, and each is about the size of a newborn baby.
P.S. I just came from a very pleasant and encouraging Google hangout chat with Sam Morrow, who is another Fulbright ETA at an advanced high school. I've only just realized that she is the first Fulbrighter that I've seen in two weeks. Being all alone in Changwon... has actually been less lonely than I'd initially thought! But I really ought to swing by Busan and Daegu when I get the chance -- can't be a hermit forever!
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| Roomy, who is actually Tory's mother. |
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| Tory, who has very large eyes. |
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| Roomy, while on a walk. |
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| Tory is the one that I can't look at without laughing. |
Tuesday, September 4, 2012
무료 - Free!
무료 (muryo) means "free". I've found free weekly Korean classes in downtown Changwon, and the prospects are encouraging.
Personally, I require structure and a schedule to learn best. If you just gave me a book and told me to self-study, I'd end up leaving the book on a dusty shelf somewhere and forgetting about it. (Facebook Scrabble is just so much more fun!) But I also prefer to spend as little of my salary as possible. So, when Elani from church told me about a free Korean class offered at the community center, I jumped at the opportunity.
Braving the Changwon buses once more to go to the Jungang district (중앙동) this evening, I gave myself time to explore that area more. I did check out the local cheap clothes store, called Auckland, which I might describe as the closest thing to a hipster fashion joint in Changwon. It's been surprisingly difficult to find clothes in my size here (I thought Koreans were generally... small... like me), but this place had lots of clothes that fit and that caught the eye -- in multiple ways. Polka-dot jeans? Check. Paisley ascots? Check. Engrish tees? Check. I even found a sweater with mustache styles on it, as well as a shelf full of bowties! (And yes, I bought one, for just 5,000 won (<$5) !)
After resolving to come back in the near future, I made my way to the Jungang 주민센터 (community center), where the Korean classes are held. The class has been run by a Korean named Sunny since 1998, and as far as I'm aware it's always been free of charge, just his way of contributing to the community. Isn't that awesome? The class has maybe half a dozen foreigners in it, and just as many native Korean speakers. The format of the class is a one-on-one pairing, somewhat like a language exchange. On the downside, it's also geared for beginners, so I breezed through the level evaluation given by Sunny.
In the end, I just chatted in a mix of Korean and English with him and another Korean, Eva, and decided that I could come back weekly, if not for actual grammar lessons, then at least for solid conversational practice and 정-building. (My host parents are good, but there's much more Konglish involved in our communication than I'd like.)
Everyone was very pleasant and enthusiastic! They invited me to hang out at a coffee shop after class (it began at 7:30pm, ended at 9pm) and we stayed until 10pm. I met folks from Russia, England, Canada, and South Africa (South Africans are everywhere, what?); the international crowd is really awesome! I'm pleased that I found this place and I'm looking forward to my new Tuesday evening engagement.
Personally, I require structure and a schedule to learn best. If you just gave me a book and told me to self-study, I'd end up leaving the book on a dusty shelf somewhere and forgetting about it. (Facebook Scrabble is just so much more fun!) But I also prefer to spend as little of my salary as possible. So, when Elani from church told me about a free Korean class offered at the community center, I jumped at the opportunity.
Braving the Changwon buses once more to go to the Jungang district (중앙동) this evening, I gave myself time to explore that area more. I did check out the local cheap clothes store, called Auckland, which I might describe as the closest thing to a hipster fashion joint in Changwon. It's been surprisingly difficult to find clothes in my size here (I thought Koreans were generally... small... like me), but this place had lots of clothes that fit and that caught the eye -- in multiple ways. Polka-dot jeans? Check. Paisley ascots? Check. Engrish tees? Check. I even found a sweater with mustache styles on it, as well as a shelf full of bowties! (And yes, I bought one, for just 5,000 won (<$5) !)
After resolving to come back in the near future, I made my way to the Jungang 주민센터 (community center), where the Korean classes are held. The class has been run by a Korean named Sunny since 1998, and as far as I'm aware it's always been free of charge, just his way of contributing to the community. Isn't that awesome? The class has maybe half a dozen foreigners in it, and just as many native Korean speakers. The format of the class is a one-on-one pairing, somewhat like a language exchange. On the downside, it's also geared for beginners, so I breezed through the level evaluation given by Sunny.
In the end, I just chatted in a mix of Korean and English with him and another Korean, Eva, and decided that I could come back weekly, if not for actual grammar lessons, then at least for solid conversational practice and 정-building. (My host parents are good, but there's much more Konglish involved in our communication than I'd like.)
Everyone was very pleasant and enthusiastic! They invited me to hang out at a coffee shop after class (it began at 7:30pm, ended at 9pm) and we stayed until 10pm. I met folks from Russia, England, Canada, and South Africa (South Africans are everywhere, what?); the international crowd is really awesome! I'm pleased that I found this place and I'm looking forward to my new Tuesday evening engagement.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Bread with Ice Cream
Let it be duly noted: Changwon bus drivers have insane road rage.
So, my good college friend Sung Min came to visit! He is originally from Daegu, and went to high school and college in the States. Since he only has a few days left in Korea before going back to the US to study, he hopped on a southbound train and came to Changwon!
After introducing him to my host family and catching up, we bussed to Changwon's 시내 (shinae, or downtown), although to be honest there isn't much there. It took us maybe twenty minutes to walk around the entirety of the few blocks. The district is called 상남동 (Sangnam-dong), and it along with 중앙동 (Jungang-dong) are what seem to be the nightlife-oriented areas in town.
To that end, there are plenty of bars (술집; suljip) and restaurants, more than a few 노래방, at least one club, and lots of people walking or wandering around. There are also three huge department stores (E-mart, Lotte-mart, and Lotte Department Store) and a movie theater that are open pretty late. Ooh, and apparently there is a dog cafe and a cat cafe! (Confused? Read here.)
Sangnam and Jungang are pretty small, but since this was only my first time visiting, I still have some exploring to do! I want to check out the traditional market (시장, shijang) and the secondhand store (who knows what crazy stuff I might find?).
Sung Min and I ate dinner at a place called 할매 낙지. 할매 (halmae) is roughly equivalent to "Granny" in English, and 낙지 (nakji) is a type of small octopus that, as it turns out, is absolutely delicious if you stew it with 불고기 (bulgogi) and tons of onions. So, Granny's little octopi made for a great meal. Haha, what a weird sentence. No but really, it was 맛있어요 (mashisseoyo)! And only 7,000 won (less than $7) per person.
After dinner, shopping for some workout clothes and also chancing upon an awesome promotional sale being held outside the Lotte 백화점 (baekhwajeom, department store) and picking up some more teaching clothes, we went hunting for dessert. In the department store, there was an Angel-in-us Coffee, which is just one of many, many new coffeeshop chains popping up all over the country. There, we indulged in something called "Maple Ice Cream Bread".
It is literally two slices of white bread (the fluffy Korean kind, though), flavored with maple and served a la mode like a slice of pie or something. It was bizarre. It was also delicious.
It was so great to chat with Sung Min all evening about everything from future plans to Korean stereotypes to the latest news about our mutual friends. And of course, being Swatties, we had to talk about other Swatties. In fact, Sung Min is the seventh Swattie I've met in two months here in Korea! There was also Jeewon and Se Eun, Melinda, and Hae-in and Jung Hyun and one of their friends.
Ah... I've just realized that I never finished my Seoul weekend series. The last two posts were supposed to be about spending Sunday afternoon with Hae-in and Jung Hyun and the KLCC graduation ceremony. Well, I'll do that later. I think what I originally wanted to talk about in this post was about how crazy Changwon bus drivers are, and I got way off topic thanks to maple ice cream bread and the like.
In any case, it's just that I took the city buses four times on Sunday, and each time the drivers seemed to become progressively more reckless. In the morning, on the way to church, I noticed that the bus was taking pretty fast turns; on the way back, careening around the giant roundabout in the middle of the town nearly knocked me off my feet. That evening, when I was riding with Sung Min, we both realized that our driver was going at least 15mph over the speed limit, as if he were racing to get to each stop. At night, this became almost terrifying because our driver would honk at anything in the way and ruthlessly cut in front of other vehicles; at one point we narrowly missed hitting another bus!
I speculated that our driver just really wanted to finish his shift and go home. I couldn't speculate more because I was actually a little dizzy by the time I got off the bus.
Well, it's either get a Nubija pass, buy a bicycle, or embrace the adventure of mad bus drivers for a year... I want to see more of downtown Changwon; I guess I'll just have to risk my life to do so!
So, my good college friend Sung Min came to visit! He is originally from Daegu, and went to high school and college in the States. Since he only has a few days left in Korea before going back to the US to study, he hopped on a southbound train and came to Changwon!
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| "Downtown" Changwon, the Sangnam area. It's fairly lively! Nothing compared to a big city, though. |
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| At 할매 낙지 for dinner! |
To that end, there are plenty of bars (술집; suljip) and restaurants, more than a few 노래방, at least one club, and lots of people walking or wandering around. There are also three huge department stores (E-mart, Lotte-mart, and Lotte Department Store) and a movie theater that are open pretty late. Ooh, and apparently there is a dog cafe and a cat cafe! (Confused? Read here.)
Sangnam and Jungang are pretty small, but since this was only my first time visiting, I still have some exploring to do! I want to check out the traditional market (시장, shijang) and the secondhand store (who knows what crazy stuff I might find?).
Sung Min and I ate dinner at a place called 할매 낙지. 할매 (halmae) is roughly equivalent to "Granny" in English, and 낙지 (nakji) is a type of small octopus that, as it turns out, is absolutely delicious if you stew it with 불고기 (bulgogi) and tons of onions. So, Granny's little octopi made for a great meal. Haha, what a weird sentence. No but really, it was 맛있어요 (mashisseoyo)! And only 7,000 won (less than $7) per person.
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| 불낙 (bulnak), which is bulgogi + nakji. Mmm, look, you can see little suction cups. Haha. |
It is literally two slices of white bread (the fluffy Korean kind, though), flavored with maple and served a la mode like a slice of pie or something. It was bizarre. It was also delicious.
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| Bread with ice cream! For the noms! |
Ah... I've just realized that I never finished my Seoul weekend series. The last two posts were supposed to be about spending Sunday afternoon with Hae-in and Jung Hyun and the KLCC graduation ceremony. Well, I'll do that later. I think what I originally wanted to talk about in this post was about how crazy Changwon bus drivers are, and I got way off topic thanks to maple ice cream bread and the like.
In any case, it's just that I took the city buses four times on Sunday, and each time the drivers seemed to become progressively more reckless. In the morning, on the way to church, I noticed that the bus was taking pretty fast turns; on the way back, careening around the giant roundabout in the middle of the town nearly knocked me off my feet. That evening, when I was riding with Sung Min, we both realized that our driver was going at least 15mph over the speed limit, as if he were racing to get to each stop. At night, this became almost terrifying because our driver would honk at anything in the way and ruthlessly cut in front of other vehicles; at one point we narrowly missed hitting another bus!
I speculated that our driver just really wanted to finish his shift and go home. I couldn't speculate more because I was actually a little dizzy by the time I got off the bus.
Well, it's either get a Nubija pass, buy a bicycle, or embrace the adventure of mad bus drivers for a year... I want to see more of downtown Changwon; I guess I'll just have to risk my life to do so!
Saturday, September 1, 2012
All About 창원과학고 (Changwon Science High)
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| Changwon Science High's logo |
I have just finished my first week of teaching! However, it was really only a half load of classes, because half of my students were on a class field trip to Japan and I didn't see any of them.
However, I think that ti's about time I wrote a little bit about my school, Changwon Science High School.
Of the twenty or so specialized science high schools in Korea, CSHS is the newest. It was built in 2010 and opened just last year. (The Korean school year runs from March to December, so I'm jumping in at the beginning of their second semester. Some students will graduate at the end of 2012, and I'll get new first-years next March.) The only other science high school in our province, Gyeongnam Science High, happens to be one of the oldest and most respected; it's in Jinju about one hour west, and Ryan, a fellow Fulbright ETA, is currently placed there.
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| CSHS' science building. Oh look, an observatory! |
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| A chemistry classroom. (Photo from the CSHS website) |
Due to it having opened so recently, the campus and facilities are basically brand-spankin'-new, and it's obvious. On a tour of the school, I passed science classrooms and labs that were better-equipped than my college biology lab. The school is in possession of a scanning electron microscope and a small observatory for their astronomy classes. Every classroom I've seen so far comes with a smartboard, and the math classrooms have floor-to-ceiling chalkboards.
It's not just the cool gadgets, though; the designers were apparently thinking green with this new school. The main building's atrium and the gymnasium are partially lit by skylights, which saves energy for lighting. There is also a huge thing of solar panels on the roof, and some of the outdoor lights are powered by mini-wind turbines! I love how so much of it was constructed to conserve energy or make use of renewable energy sources. I like to think that these students' environmental science and earth science classes are showing them just how great of an example their school is of today's green architecture.
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| On the left, you can see solar panels on the roof. On the bottom right is the cafeteria, and between them is the student dormitory. |
As for the students themselves, well, like I said, I've only met the second-years so far. Each class year is divided into four homeroom classes of twenty-two to twenty-five students. This makes a total of fewer than one hundred students per class year. And because our school is so new, there are still only two class years. A school of fewer than two hundred students total! And I get to teach them all!
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| Students in uniform (for special occasions) (CSHS website) |
My students have already surprised me with their English level. Don't get me wrong; they're not all fluent. But I was told to expect an unexpectedly low level of speaking ability and comprehension. You see, while these students are top-of-the-line and test really well, the entrance exam they must pass in order to gain admittance to this school is pure math and science, plus an interview in Korean. They simply don't need to know any English to get here. So, I had fairly low expectations. As it turns out, some of them are very good, some of them are average, and some of them have no idea what gibberish is coming out of my mouth in class. It's the students who really get what's going on -- including one student who wanted to ask me about my thoughts on the Korean education system instead of doing the in-class activity -- who have been a pleasant surprise.
Whether my students can converse with me or not, all of them will have to ace the English section of the Korean SAT, so they still have English grammar classes -- which are usually taught in Korean -- and they study reading comprehension like no other. And they study biology, chemistry, computer science, calculus, and physics like no other. My students literally live at school; it's a boarding school that lets them go home twice a month on weekends. Their schedule is: wake up, breakfast, study hall, morning classes, lunch, afternoon classes, "extracurricular" classes (like more calculus and more physics), dinner, and then study hall until midnight. Five days a week, sometimes six, for two years. (Like most other science high schools, students are pushed to apply for university and graduate after two years instead of the normal three; imagine an entire class of American high school juniors being driven to apply for colleges one year early! If they aren't accepted into the top schools, they try again in their third year.) I asked my co-teacher if they're ever allowed off campus. Well, it's kind of a no-brainer: they don't have time to go off campus. Some students play soccer after lunch, but there are no sports teams. There are no drama clubs, no music classes, no school publications,
*There are, in fact, a number of student clubs, including academic clubs, volunteering clubs, a soccer club, and a dance club. I was wrong about this! But apparently all of the clubs can only meet on Sunday afternoons, because that's when the students have free time.
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| The entire campus, as it looked shortly after construction was completed. It's bigger than it looks... Also, where all the brown patches are, many pretty studio apartments are currently being constructed. But there's really nothing else around. (CSHS website) |
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| This is their gymnasium and auditorium building. It looks awesome! |
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