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Week 17, Wednesday
Mom sent me some Christmas candy and Christmas themed bags to pass out to my coworkers. After divvying up the candy and tying the bags, I gave special ones to the subject teachers and put the rest in the teacher’s lounge with a note that said: 안녕하세요! 제 엄마는 크리스마스 과자를 보내셨어요. 맛있게 드세요~ I don’t know if this is correct but I figure mistakes are part of my charm. And look, mom, I referred to you with honorifics! I’m evolving! S came with me to the teacher’s lounge to explain to the office staff what I was doing. They were very touched by my note and they lauded my…
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Week 17, Tuesday
Another plot twist: H is leaving after the end of the semester to take care of her baby for a year. She said “this is why you have to stay for three years! So we can teach together again.” Third grade classes went well today as G’s good influence still hovers over them. It was also easier since I was more involved in class time and grade 3 is the most intrinsically motivated; I’ve never seen so many hands in the air. The girl who gave me an I love you note last week handed me a vitamin today. 4-2 was bananas as usual but they can behave when given…
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Week 17, Monday
H is back. Guitar teacher is back?? Plot twists all around. 5-1 made me question why I ever wanted to teach kids in the first place. Grade 4 and 5-3 reminded me why I did. THANK YOU KIDS. (S teaches 5-1 Korean and also has the same sentiment. VALIDATION!) 4-3 has a new student so I crouched down to her during the pre-class chaos to ask her what her name is. Suyeon, one of my roleplay buddies, actually pointed her out to me. She handled my surprise Korean well although I wonder if our class antics made her bat an eye… (playing with Baby J, draping myself across one girl’s…
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Week 16, Friday
The sound of the devil’s instrument called my attention and I peeked into the 5-3 homeroom to see what was happening at 1:45 on a Friday. It must have been play time— kids were spread out over the room indulging in various activities. Tank Boy must have caught me peaking because as I walked away he bolted out of the classroom to say “hi teacher!” I asked him who could play “my heart will go on” because that’s the only intelligible recorder song I’ve heard ricocheting through the hallways this year. He didn’t know but did tell me he could play Hey Jude on the guitar. Yesterday I saw him…
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Week 16, Thursday
One air filter, thirty six facemasks, one red sweater, one white sweater vest, one hand sewn money pouch, a traditional fan, a loaf of olive bread, one note from a student, one note from a teacher, some good news, a photo for the yearbook, two dinners, a hug from a special student who slung his arm around me and blinked very close to my face then went on his merry way. Today is G’s last week so gifts were exchanged and dinner was had. G: I talked with the principal and vice principal today. I told them about you: you are really nice and we work well together. There is…
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Week 16, Tuesday
G confided in me again that she’s still offended by the poor behavior of other teachers in the school. To my great surprise she added: “I don’t like the way the male music teacher speaks to you. It’s old style. When he talks to you like that I feel uncomfortable.” My first thought was VALIDATION! You know the various run ins that I’ve had with the male music teacher (please note he is a separate and distinct entity from guitar teacher). And you also know that Korean has various politeness levels. The male music teacher has spoken to me with casual language from the very beginning. While technically it follows…
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Week 16, Monday
I never feel the crush of cold cityfolk more than when I’m struggling on public transportation: The tragedy of today began with Christmas gifts and ended with those gifts at the post office so y’all better damn enjoy what you’re getting. Today I felt acutely in several different scenarios the gaps in my language. Most notably was at the post office where the polite but somehow still impatient postal worker in an overly formal tweed jacket immediately whipped out his Google translate when I didn’t understand his light speed Korean and when he didn’t understand my halting elementary Korean. This to me was a sign of defeat. The sign that…
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Week 15, Tuesday, A Foreign Beauty
The day of the week I suspected would be least dramatic. And yet. Something truly akin to a 90s romcom transpired. After exiting the gym, and running into a whole slew of boys from school and encouraging them to do jump tricks on their bike, I wandered around the school side of town to look for Christmas gifts and I happened upon an advertisement for a used bookstore. There was a moment of hesitation but I took the plunge down an LED lit set of stairs to the basement of a building through a set of industrial metal doors and into a large room with stacks upon stacks upon shelves…
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Week 15, Monday
An observation, a mistake, and a development. G: “you always look more tired on Mondays. Your face is smaller.” Part of my exhaustion was staying up late last night attempting to understand Korean credit card online payments and part was due to my terrible miscalculation of eating fire chicken whose ill effects are still plaguing me today. Life ran on, oblivious to my collapsing gastrointestinal system. The first grade 4 class of the day was loud and obnoxious during the game so I made them all sit back down with their heads on their desks (part of the plan anyway to select “zombies”) and told them “Do we speak Korean…
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Nogari Alley
Near Euljiro-3 station there is a tiny hidden alley full of pubs. These pubs all sell fried fish called “Nogari” for about 1000 won each. They also have fried chicken, tofu, fried rice, and octopus. News articles quote the restaurants as saying “it’s like Oktoberfest” but my friend and I were the only non Koreans there. That didn’t stop us from cruising through several dishes. I highly recommend.