Photos of the Day--I Still Love Old People

These are some photos from a day off of school (we get our school's birthday off, it's great!). One of the science teachers at my school likes to practice his English with me after lunch, and he invited me to come along with him and his wife to his hometown, a small village outside of an only slightly larger town called Sancheong. We went to his mother's house, and the four of us and his "village uncle" all went out to the mountains to pick some wild herbs. And then, naturally (because it's the Korean way), we picnicked on pork, rice, kimchi and wild herbs.

At the end of the day, upon returning to the science teacher's house completely drained from a day of trying to communicate with somebody who hardly speaks my language, I was re-energized immediately when I walked into the house and saw three old women sitting around piles of wild herbs on the floor. We all sat down with them and snacked on fresh strawberries and pajeon (Korean style pancakes, usually with green onion and octopus--delicious!).

My non-verbal exchanges with these women absolutely made my day and reminded me of why I spent six years studying gerontology!

Photos of the Day

These photos are from a trip to Beomeosa Temple in Busan back in the beginning of April, right when the cherry blossoms were starting to come out. This is one of the more famous urban temples here and sits above the city on the slopes of a mountain side.

The Joys of Working in an All Boys Middle School 4

During one of my classes this morning, I witnessed the following in a student sitting in the front row (all while my co-teacher and I were teaching, mind you):

He borrowed a razor/paper cutter from the student behind him (all the students here have them in their little pencil cases, though I'm not quite sure why).

Then, he took out those tiny little post-it note strips used to mark pages in books from the pencil case of the student sitting next to him, who conveniently had his back turned to him and therefore had no clue what was going on.

Student #1 then started using the razor on the post-it note strips and sliced about two-thirds off the end. He returned the razor and the little post-it note strips (or, the half-inch that was left of them) to their respective owners.

He started poking the owner of the post-it note strips in the back. When he was ignored, he tried to give him the papers he had cut off, but he was still ignored. So then he turned to the kid behind him and started tossing, one by one, the little excess strips of paper on his desk. The student behind him annoyingly brushed off the papers, one by one, obviously irritated. Then student #1 decided to toss all of the remaining papers on the desk at once.

Ahhhh, it's the little things in life that continue to be the most amusing.

This Drum Was Meant to Be

Yesterday I bought a djembe (African drum) from a foreigner who's moving back to the States. It was hand carried to Korea from Africa, and it's beautiful.

I've never played an instrument in my life, save my bright orange recorder that was part of my elementary school curriculum (Hot Cross Buns, anybody?). But, it's on my list of things to do in my life, so I figured this would be a fun instrument to start out with.

After my purchse (which happened on the university campus in Jinju), I met a friend and we sat on the top level of seating at an outdoor stage. The sun was setting and it was a beautiful evening. There also happened to be about 20-30 university students playing various types of drums on the lawn nearby. We were surrounded by them, as they were broken up into a few different groups, their drumming sounds echoing off buildings and coming from every direction.

I smiled to myself thinking "This drum was meant to be."

The Rubik's Cube Craze

In the past few weeks I've noticed a dramatic influx of Rubik's Cubes floating around the hallways of my school, primarily in the hands of first-grade students. Kids will sit through an entire class fiddling with these colorful cubes if you let them. Some of them even spend their lunch hour sitting next to their friends, frantically twisting and turning, twisting and turning. I only wish I could muster up enough focus on one activity...

As I ponder this mysterious increase in cubes around school, I am reminded of a Baduk academy (the game of Go, to us) that I walk past everyday on my way home from school. I oftentimes look through the doorway as I walk by to see the handful of youngsters--most of them appear to be under the age of eight--peering down at the game board, contemplating their next move. I honestly can't imagine too many five or six-year olds in the U.S. with enough patience and discipline to not just toss the board in the air, watching the mini black and white game pieces scattering everywhere. Imagine the joy in that to a six-year old kid...

I suppose this is related on some level or another, or perhaps not, but it's my perception that in Korea, children are strapped into backpacks holding books and pencils and protracters and erasers from the time they can walk. Seriously. I see children here that can't possibily be older than three with Hello Kitty or Piccachu backpacks on ALL THE TIME. I'm positive these kids are only heading to pre-school...

The Joys of Working in an All Boy's Middle School 3

As I walked off school grounds today to head home, I heard the sound of rushed footsteps following after me. Just as I turned around I heard a "Hello" come out of the mouth of a third grade student at my school. I don't teach the third graders (U.S. equivalent of being in 9th grade), so I rarely interact with them except for in the hallways between classes, when they like to say "Hello Ste-fa-nee" and then giggle with their friends after we pass by one another.

But this kid seriously wanted to talk! He asked me where I was going (a standard first question that comes out people's mouths over here). We exchanged a few more pieces of information before he suddenly blurted out to me "My life is not good." I asked him to elaborate, but he couldn't find the words in English. He did say, however, that he was trying to change his life. I also learned that last winter he went to Japan--by himself--and this summer he'll be going to Canada, also by himself. What a brave young man. I told him to come by my desk sometime so we could talk. I hope he does. He really moved me today and I want to know him better.

The Joys of Working in an All Boys Middle School 2

I just finished my sixth and final class of the day (and by far the worse behaved class out of ALL of my classes). One of the students in the front row slept through my entire class. His head was down when I walked in, and he remained in that position for the 45 minutes thereafter. When class was finished and I was gathering my things, I looked up only to see this kid waving to me with a big sleepy smile as he said "Goodbye!" What a goof.

I've learned to pick and choose my battles in the classroom, and truthfully, I usually let the sleeping kids sleep. It's usually only one kid in about every four or five classes, so it's not that terrible. AND, I feel bad for these students. They are in class from 8:30am to 3:30pm (including school on every other Saturday) and then spend countless hours everyday after school--and deep into the dark hours of the night--studying, doing homework and attending academies to further study math, science, English, you name it. I know I average more sleep than these kids, so that's a battle I choose to ignore and instead let their poor brains rest for a short while.

As I previously stated, this particular class is the worst class to teach. They're first graders, and they are craaaaazy (they would laugh hysterically if I told them that, for some odd reason kids here get a kick out of it when you say the word "crazy"). There is one student in particular, who last week I pulled aside after class to tell him that he better shape up (he doesn't stop talking during class and NEVER does his work). Well, today he wasn't much better. HOWEVER, he gave me a good laugh and I tricked him a little into doing some work.

The kids were writing sentences about how they feel. They were to fill in the blanks to "I feel ________ because _____________." This trouble-maker kid was being obnoxious, as he usually is, so I went over to him to help him focus. He was all worked up about something and laughing at his friend who sits in front of him. When I walked over he was trying to explain to me that the kid sitting in front of him had farted. I knew what he was saying (though it was in Korean), so I asked him how it made him feel. A few seconds passed by and I could actually see his wheels turning... "Angry!" "Great!" I replied. So we then came up with the following sentences:

I feel angry because Won Chang farted.
I feel surprised because it smells bad.
I feel scared because Won Chang is sitting in front of me.

Being around boys is still fun, regardless of how much they piss me off ;)

*As per usual, things are happening here at school that I don't understand, and that I wasn't informed about. As I sit at my desk right now, a half hour from going home for the day, there is suddenly an impromptu teacher's meeting in the teacher's office... And I guarantee that nobody will tell me what it was about.