Mid-Class Post

At the moment, I'm proctoring a test for my iBT students, which would be great, if not for the fact that I've been sitting here for 2 hours already with nothing to do except surf Wikipedia and check up on current events and comic news.

My classes tend to run the gammot, from 6-8 year olds up to middle schoolers. With the younger kids, we do a little of everything: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. I like the little kids; they're young and energetic and it's easy to get caught up in their enthusiasm and to play off of it. I'm used to dealing with little kids, also, since that's where a lot of my teaching experience is, so the whole discipline thing has never been a problem. The kids here, most people say, tend to be more respectful and attentive to their teachers. I'm not sure I agree; I see the same issues as any of the kids I've dealt with in the states. Sure, they're not inner city tough or anything, but they definitely have that little kid selfishness that you need to keep in check, and some tend to show their privileged status from time to time in that they mouth off or initially refuse something. Also, when you're tired, it's holy murder to keep up with them, because after an elementary age class, you just feel drained. It's not easy work.

My later classes are all middle school age, and they tend to be as different as vodka and gin martinis: same name, but some are just clearly superior. They are broken down by skill level, with the lower level kids still being pushed further than is probably beneficial due to their age. And they know they're low level, so stack that on their burdgeoning self-consciousness and the embaressment of performing in front of their peers and you've got some classes where you're lucky if you can get one kid to answer in a 10 minute period. It's frustrating, more than any other class it is, but in a weird way it's also very invigorating. I walk out of those classes sometimes feeling more pumped up than I did starting the day. And the small victories that you accomplish feel much greater than the other classes. Yeah, I sound like an after school special, but fuck off, it's true!

The upper level kids are fun too, but they present their own challenges. They're much brighter and more advanced in their English than the other classes, so they tend to be able to speak more and about things that are more interesting and advanced. But the classes they're in are terrible, and I mean bamboo under the nails with lemon juice awful. They're all TOEFL focused, which means we're just drilling them on the test, but on top of that, the program structure is just so half-assed and convoluted sometimes that I want to scream. And the kids themselves tend to have a bit more personality, but that also means that a lot of them tend to be cocky. They've studied and lived abroad, they're hot stuff in the English teaching community, and more than enough of them know it. But I do tend to enjoy these classes the most out of any of them, so don't let me make it sound that bad.

That's the low down! Time's up! Later, taters

The Eternal Debate, and More!

In one corner you've got the deceptively quiet country of maple syrup and hockey, and in the other you've got the six-shooting place that everyone loves to hate. They meet on a battlefield of soju and free maekju one week here in Korea. That's right, last week was Canada Day (July 1) and the American Independence Day (July 4th). How did the combatants measure up?

Canada Day:
Tuesday Night
Free Beer at the Rock n Roll Bar
Pretty good showing
Flip Cup (pro or con? you decide)
Super Enthusiastic Dude in a Canadian Flag
Free Fake Tattoos (ooo, so bad in Korea! That's like spitting in your parents' faces and then yelling "Psych!")
Lots of good ol American rock n roll (?)

Independence Day:
Friday Night
Free Beer that I didn't get to drink :(
A couple of huge house parties
The cops
Inflatable slides and Fireworks on the Beach
Free Breakfast at the Casino
Lots of dudes covered in magic marker w/ flags and "America, Fuck Yeah!" (that's just the cheap ass way of pissing off your parents, which would probably get you slapped)

I'll let you decide the winners there. If only I could've gotten to a KFC for a famous bowl...

So the rest of the weekend went swimmingly! On Saturday, I went to a Korean baseball game: the Lotte (big department store/hotel) Giants vs. the LG (cell phone company) Twins. I'd been hearing big things about games out here: how much the crowd gets into it and chants and whatnot. I've never been a big fan of baseball in the States, so I guess I probably didn't give it the greatest of chances, but I was a bit underwhelmed. The others said that it was a pretty tame game, so that may have been it, and I'm willing to give it another chance. I did start catching on to the cheers, especially for one of Lotte's players, Garcia, which went "Gah-Roo-Shee-Ah!" Also, apparently baseball equates to chicken in Korea, because that's basically all they had around there, chicken and beer. I kept thinking how many chickens must be harvested for each game. Need to get a piece of that sweet murderous action...

Yesterday, I got a call from one of our Korean staff, Mac, who mentioned going for a mountain hike. We got a nice little group together and made our way to Geumjeong Mountain. Man, that was a helluva hike; the weather was a sunny, balmy 81 degrees all the way up, which was UP since a Korean hike apparently means none of this silly switchback shit. It's amazing how fit some Koreans are, because it seems like for all the huffing and puffing I do going up (not to mention being drenched in sweat by the end,mmm), these older folks just go bounding up and down with no hesitation. But we made it up to the top (3 times, since Mac kept telling us we were there, even though we weren't, which was why his friend that came with called him the Lying Man for the rest of the day. I thought he was calling him the Flying Man, which I think would've been a much more interesting story), and we got a pretty rewarding view as a result. Wish I'd brought my camera, but if I can steal a pic or two off of the others, I'll post em. And on the way back down, we got serenaded by some older guy who was feeling pretty good and felt the need to express it. I'd hire him for my bar mitzvah.

After that, in true Korean style, we tucked in for an afternoon of soju and makgeolli. We also learned a couple of Korean drinking games, which mainly involve making up silly rules for people to break. The first one was a version of roshambo that used spoons to keep track of when the winners drink, and every round one of the winners got to make up a rule that everyone followed. The other one involved saying these Korean phrases, but where you were supposed to say "do", you had to clap instead. And then you got to make up rules. I don't know, it was fun, but I enjoy a simple game of Half Cup/Full Cup. Call me old fashioned. Afterwards, of course, we went to norebong and sang what was left of our hearts out.

All in all, I'm gonna have to say I'm liking the experience. The people, both foreign and Korean, seem to be the biggest adjustment, because people just live differently out here. I've met a lot of really cool people, but it's still a big city and can be very intimidating at times. Just getting out and meeting people is key, but I can't help but want to find a nice cozy bar and just chill there or to just go to someone's place and watch a movie or something. For all the fun that going out offers, it's just very stressful for me, and (I know, it's sappy, just skip it if you'd like) I really miss having my close friends around that I can just relax with and not have to worry about how I act around. I guess I'm a little homesick is all. Anyways, work approaches far too quickly, so until next time, keep a weather eye on the horizon!