It's Daejeon! The return (Day 2) [repost/edit]

Get ready for picture heavy post...

[fixed errors--Feb 2017]

Breakfast at hotel

The hotel had a decent continental breakfast spread of scrambled eggs, cocktail weenies, bread, lettuce, and tomatoes. For drinks, it had (weak) coffee, OJ, and milk. I'm more of an oatmeal man than a scrambled egg man, but the eggs tasted okay and they helped power me through Tuesday's activities. Here's what happened in the morning rains and the afternoon heat:

EXPO Science Park

At long last, I made it. Getting there proved easier than last year. And yes indeed, doing stuff on weekday mornings is enjoyable: I was one of less than 10 non-employees on the grounds. It was almost as though the place was closed, but the lady in the ticket booth waved me in. I found out that the park's more of a pay-as-you go place. It's expansive and clearly designed to accommodate large crowds, so the place felt ghostly with no one occupying the space.

I went to two of the attractions: the giant IMAX dome theater and the LG Technopia Turbo Theater. The dome's screen is massive and immersive. It was too bad that the film being shown, "Journey to the Planets" had dated animation of kiddie-style space aliens riding around in a space ship looking at our universe. The actual pictures of the planets were great, but the 70s-esque animations made the film hard to take seriously. At least there was some footage of astronauts working on the International Spae Station. Still, for 2,500won and being the only one there, it could've been worse.

The Turbo Theater? Impressive setup, meh film. I liked the huge dark corridors. Very mysterious. The roller coaster-esque seats you strap yourself into we're cool though. I saw "Journey to the Center of the Earth," one of Brendan Fraser's lesser films. Again, I was the only one there. Both the Theater and the IMAX had two college age women at the front counter. I wondered if perhaps the place was overstuffed for the time of day.

I figured two things were enough, so I went back into the drizzle and humidity and crossed the street to go to the...

National Science Museum/Lunch

...and didn't stay long. There lots of kids and school groups by now (noon). The campus looked like it was geared toward kids; i wasn't feeling like a 10-year old, so i ended up buying a ticket to a snow I didn't see because it started in the afternoon. Oh well. I only went because it was there. The gift shop had Dokdo t shirts for 20,000won. I walked out and caught the first bus I saw and ended up in the Yuseong Station area. By now the sun was up and the energy levels were flagging, so lunch came in the form of bibimbap (the go-to Korean meal) at Kimbap Nara. While there, I remembered that the Currency Museum close to the Science Museum and EXPO Park, so back on the road I went. 

Sometimes little mishaps bring pleasant surprises, for while waiting at the bus stop, I met a Tanzanian fellow named Albert who's studying in Daejeon. We got to talking and took a quick rise together. He talked of his studies and how he had to reach level three on the TOPIK exam to graduate. He also mentioned that until he'd met a girl from Lousiana, he thought that all Americans had seen snow. Evidently, that's what Africans learn in school. Interesting stuff, especially when yours truly has never gone a year without seeing snow. 

The bus ride took us back to the EXPO area, so we said farewell and I got back on the street. Around 20 minutes and a bus ride later, I was following the signs to the Currency Museum--Not the easiest place to find! It's set back in what must be an office park, but I soon found out why: It's next door to one of Korea's money printing agencies.

The Currency Museum

Cool place! I mean that literally and figuratively: the air conditioning felt great and I enjoyed seeing coins and bills from Korea' history as well as paper money from around the world. Korea's money used to be called 환 before the name got changed to 원 in 1962. The change happened as a part of currency revaluation project.* Learning about that was interesting, but what's perhaps more insightful is this: The biggest Korean bill in '62 was 500 won. Now? 50,000 won. Those two facts illustrate how much the country's economy has grown since the 6.25 War ended 60 years ago. What's more, the 50,000 won bill was only recently introduced in 2009. It's strange to think about new bills being introduced because America has been using the 100 dollar bill for ages now. We've had bigger bills, to be sure, but they were only for official purposes and not for general use.

Korea's money and how it's changed over time.

The Currency Museum also had a room dedicated to paper money from around the world. Gazing at these bills was one of the day's highlights:

Uganda's colorful and eye-catching money makes the US's look drab by comparison. After looking at all of the bills on display, I noticed that America's paper money is all the same size and virtually every other country's money isn't. Also: sorry R, but there was any Jamaican money on display. 

After satisfying the thirst for monetary history, I moved on and wound up getting a ride back downtown thanks to a generous mom who'd visited the museum with her two children. Once again, I couldn't believe the good fortune. Koreans are some amazingly kind people. She'd pulled up as I was leaving the parking lot and said what sounded like , "Where are you going? Get in," in rapid Korean. I'd picked up the gist of what she said** and got in. She asked again, and I said "시내가세요" which means "I'm going downtown." She asked where exactly and I saw Daejeon station because it was the first one that came to mind and because the Education Museum stood nearby.

She ended up dropping me off at Seodaejeon Station, but that a trifling matter compared to the fun Korean/English conversation the four of us enjoyed together. Her elder son was practicing his English, and the mom, while she didn't speak much English, understood everything I said. The son was eager to know what I thought of Korea and I said accordingly, "우리 나라 사랑해요," or "I love our country."*** It's hard not to love The Land of the Morning Calm when the people are friendly and the food is good! When strangers go out of their way to help you find your way back downtown and act as though you've made their day because they can belp you, it's an amazing thing. 

Once at Seodaejeon Station, I got my bearings and caught another bus, got off, and walked to...

The Hanbat Museum of Education

I was gambling on getting there before closing time and while yes, that happened, it wasn't quite enough time to see the place, so told the woman at the front desk that I'd return the next day. The Daejeon trip would not pass without a trip to a museum about school and schooling. There was no rush to leave early anyway.

I'll add the next day's return trip here for purposes of brevity. The Musuem of Education had exhibits stretching from the '90s all the way back to the old Joseon dynasty days. Inside the class cases of its wood paneled rooms laid all number of textbooks and artifacts from school days past. The first exhibit is a replica of a classroom from the 1960s:

Roughly, "Daily school life from 1960-1970."

Note the heater in the middle of the room and the piano in the foreground. Some of the desks were double and some were single. Apart from those things, not much separates this classroom from its modern counterpart.

Middle school English textbooks from the '90s.

School life during the Korean War.

The lottery wheel used for determining which middle school students would advance to high school in lieu of written exams.

For my mother, who maintains that penmanship among US elementary school kids is lacking these days: the Koreans were there decades ago!

Photos from the Japanese occupation. Note the use of child labor in service of the State. Also note that group work or "pod" seating is nothing new.

More child labor for the imperialist State.

Hyundai world map, circa 1920s. I included this picture because it has Korea as being part of Japan thanks to the Occupation.

The caption speaks for itself. The Japanese were evidently equal-opportunity when it came to making their subjects ready to fight for them.

Old time desks and writing tables. In the background: a scholar holds court.

And finally...wearing the black and white robe of a Joseon-era university teacher. It was comfy. Maybe I should procure one of these and start wearing it to school? It would make a good Halloween costume, eh? Special thanks to Mrs. Choi the Musuem representative for giving me this unique opportunity! She guided me around the place and commented on the exhibits. Despite her self-criticism, her English sounded perfectly fine. Wandering the Education Museum provided the perfect end to the trip.

I'll have another post about reflecting on the trip up soon.

Miscellaneous pictures from Day 2:

The Gab Stream [갑천]

For Dick in WI: I figured you'd appreciate a place like this. The Currency Museum was nearby.

--Written in the hotel room and the Daejeon train station as well as the train to Seoul.

*Time to study more Korean history!

*** In Korean culture, "our" takes precedence over "your." Instead of saying "my country," "my house," or "my father," Koreans will say "our country," "our house," and "our father." 

우리 means "our" or "us," depending on context.

Belated post about Record Store Day 2014

Record Store Day 2015 has come and gone again. I missed it this year, but I did go to a few shops last year and didn't realize I did it on Record Store Day until later. Being abroad can do that sometimes. I meant to post something, but forgot about it. Being abroad does that, too.

What I meant to say last year at this time:

19 April: Record Store Day in the US and UK. And another Saturday for me. R and I had fled the country and gone into Seoul for one of our day trips. As I recall, we spent most of the day in the shopping maelstrom of Myeongdong. We might have seen a movie. At one point we split up so she could see a few cosmetics stores. I went into the Kpop emporium that is Music Korea. Kai in Korea wrote about going there:

I didn’t want to take any photos inside the store, I didn’t know if that was allowed, but it was so amazing…walking into a store and seeing Kpop CDs was really weird, but really great. All the MBLAQ things they had I already owned, so I bought Two-X’s debut mini album and TaeTiSo’s Twinkle album for myself and picked up Beast’s new album “Midnight Sun” for Kirtie and Ukiss’ “Neverland” album for Ali! I hope you guys like them! 

I don't know what's weird about seeing all of the Kpop, because that's the kind of store it is. Music Korea caters to Kpoppers. I was glad to be there because Korea doesn't have too many record stores. Most people download the stuff or watch the videos on Youtube. But as I may or may not have mentioned, I like to have the real thing.

But despite Music Korea's predilection toward the new and shiny, the shop does sell plenty of other music by Korean artists. (I recall an aisle of classical music as well.) I happened to be looking for Kim Kwang-seok, a famous singer-songwriter because coteacher had recommended him. She's less about the rock and more about warm melodies. That, and evidently Kim's short career made its mark on Korean music. I found Kim's 2-CD Best Of  and bought it.

And yep, it's mellow. Good change of pace.

김광석 - 서른즈음에: Here's Kim doing a famous song of his about getting close to age 30.

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Record Store Day never entered my mind until I saw an email from ATO Records in the inbox later that weekend.

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Also...

Lanie in Korea writes about Kpop Mall in Seoul - Another Kpop shop. It's smaller  than Music Korea, but perhaps just as good.

'Round three weeks ago

I left Korea three weeks ago and went on the road. I didn't properly close the blog down, but then maybe it can't really be closed down. There are still a few more stories to be told on here. Not only that, but at present I've no plans to delete anything here since it might help anyone in Korea or thinking of going to Korea.

Living and teaching in Korea was a wonderful time. It may not have been so apparent from the last few posts on here, but I did enjoy being part of EPIK. The problem was that it came time to move on from EPIK. It happens. I still enjoy teaching, be it language arts or EFL. 

For those who have read and commented here, thank you. I had no idea this blog would be read as often as it is.

My new blog called http://ramblingbadger.wordpress.com.

More posts to come whenever I get around to them...

K-pop and K-rock timeline / A brief look at 3.5 years of Korean music

I bought plenty of music while living in Korea - something like 100 albums of Korean rock and pop. All of which has been shipped back by now. Packing the big Kpop albums into the EMS boxes brought forth memory after memory. I never danced to Kpop in any clubs, but the sounds blasted out of the stereo and the headphones often enough in the early days here. Those incessant beats and hooks still grab me. The Wasu apartment had posters from the Wonder Girls, KARA, and Secret on the walls. A friend once (correctly) called it a "teenybopper's room." And though I felt a twinge of embarrassment at being called a 26 year old teenybopper, the posters evoked the same sense of home that I had in the US when posters of The Ramones and The Who graced the walls.

Kpop gave way to Krock in the end because A) I've always liked rock more and B) Kpop's candied sounds get annoying after 40 minutes. The rock allowed me to indulge my inner historian and go on a journey through Korea's past. I did find plenty of pop in there, but it was pop of a different sort, for it had real people playing real instruments and only one vocalist at a time. The rock and pop mingled together in the late 60s and early 70s anyway. Shin Joong-hyun played on many of those records and he always threw in some tasteful solos. Sometimes the two genres merged in format: Sanulrim who started out playing '60s garage pop at '70s song lengths in 1978. See some more stuff about the group and their debut LP here.

It's end of the working day here. Apologies for cutting it short.

The timeline of music posts here:

16 February 2015 - Sanulrim's 1st LP.
4 June 2014 - Guitar Fridays [Sanulrim's "Reflection"]

• Mostly about playing guitar with the students. Included for Sanulrim's song.

8 Jan 2014 - Classic Korean Pop Music Archive: Deulgukhwa / Deulgukhwa 1st Album (1985)

• A reblog from Classic Korean Pop Music Archive that has a short biography and review of the group and their 1st album. Special thanks to a friend of R's for recommending Deulgukhwa.

11 August 2013 - Review of Crying Nut's Flaming Nuts

8 July 2013 - Catch up on Kpop?

19 April 2013 - Kpop playlist #2 [Investing in Polyurethane Discs]
21 February 2013 - Krock 4: Jang Ki-ha and the Faces
20 February 2013 - Krock: Shin Joong-hyun and Yup Juns - Volume 2
20 February 2013 - Krock: Shin Joong-hyun and the Yup Juns - Volume 1
25 Jan 2013 - Classic rocker Shin Joong-hyun
25 December 2012 - A semi-white Christmas in Wasu

• Featuring music from J-Rabbit. Their Christmas album's soothing. It also has a cover of "All You Need is Love."

21 November 2012 - Ga-in's "Bloom" vs. Miss A's "I Don't Need a Man"

• Comparison piece between two Kpop songs.

21 August 2012 -  Krock 3: Busker Busker and more from Lowdown 30
21 August 2012 - Krock 2: The Black Skirts
31 July 2012 - 11 months in music...Kpop edition
31 July 2012 - 2NE1 and to everyone who loves to grooving Kpop

• R and I attended their concert in Seoul in summer of 2012. Quality show.

K-rock review: Sanulrim Vol. 1

Sanulrim's 1st LP (1978)

Sanulrim should've been written about sooner because I've played them more than any other Korean rock group as of late. Their swirling organs and fuzz guitar make an excellent combo. And what's above is true: Play track 1 side 1 of their 1st album, "Ah! Already?" below and hear for yourself:

The groove and melody attack immediately, eh? To me, the groups genius lies in how they took what would have been two-and-a-half minute singles and stretched them into longer '70s-style jams. What sounds like senseless indulgence and repetition isn't: The songs breathe. Maybe the band felt the same way because all of the songs on their debut run past the three minute mark. The tempos vary between ballad and uptempo, but the organs prevail.

Anyone who likes older pop and rock would enjoy these guys. Their first three albums got reissued as a combo package of CDs and SACDs recently, but I think it's gone out of print because it was a limited edition. Youtube has many of their songs though.

Despite the 1978 recording date, the production veers closer to 1966 due to the limitations of Korea's recording studios at the time. It sounds out of time because of

My Korean isn't good enough to understand everything in the lyrics, but most songs deal with pop topic mainstays like summer romances and unrequited love.

The blog Ghost Capital wrote about the group here.
A biography and review of their albums here.

Scheduling fun / Scrabble, revisited

Not so fun Friday: Out sick again thanks to knots in the stomach and a pain in the neck. 

School's "begun" in the sense of teachers and students returning to the school for classes, but I can't ascertain what, if anything, we're supposed to be doing these days. I wish I was making this up. The scheme so far has been that the students go to classes for a half a day and the teachers stay the whole day. I've overheard teachers talking about the students calling one movie shown in class "not interesting." None of my teachers have said anything about what to do in classes. Some don't even know if we have classes together. I find this strange: How is this possible that teachers don't know if there will be classes?

Or this one: One coteacher was out on a business trip and didn't tell me until an hour before we had class. This was Tuesday. I was at school all day on Monday and could have been informed in advance, but, like a lot of things over here, it didn't happen for whatever reason. Things like this have happened so often that I'm numb to the annoyance. Maybe this coteacher didn't know she had to teach? It's entirely possible.

What's been going on in the absence of lesson advice: I've been carrying on with bringing in sets of Scrabble and showing the students how to play it. So far so good!

For prospective EPIK teachers--I can't stress this enough: Get used to living with uncertainty.

Dispatch from an empty office in Cheorberia

3:55pm: 35 minutes until I can leave. It's my eighth and final day of desk warming in the vacated office upstairs at the middle school. Maybe four or five other people are at school or have been at school. The principal's been here at times because I've seen the light on in his office. He's held some meetings. My excitement because when the teacher of Korean that I talk to about novels came by to pick up a package.

Otherwise, it's been a solitary, lonely, and downright cold time here. I tracked the temperature changes over time today: The thermostat said 3.6C when I arrived at 8:30am. The overhead heater's efforts brought the temperature to 19.5C, which is hospitable, but it's only been above 15C since noon today. I've survived the cold by layering, but it's still difficult to type with gloves on. Going to the bathroom means putting on the overcoat and walking downstairs to the staff bathroom. It's not exactly convenient.  That's how it goes for those who desk warm. I've passed the time by reading novels, writing emails, and planning my exit trip.

On another note: I've often been asked about how Cheorwon or Korea's weather compares to my home state of Wisconsin. The answer usually goes something like this: "Wisconsin gets more snow and lower temperatures, so Cheorwon isn't so bad." What I leave unsaid--and this is something I didn't fully comprehend until this winter--is how the cold in Korea pervades everything. The temperatures may not dip as low as Wisconsin, but the place certainly feels colder more of the time thanks to the lack of central heat, the bad/nonexistent insulation, and the drafts in buildings in Korea. Even now, it's 19C but it feels chillier thanks to draft currents. Oh well. It's nearly time to leave. And not just leave for today--I've less than four weeks to go before this job concludes. 

*Anyone considering teaching in Korea should bring long underwear and thick socks.

Getting sick in the winter

Christmas isn't the time to get sick, but it happened.

I went home early today because of a cough and a cold I just can't shake. There weren't any classes, so I felt better about not being there. I told my coteacher, who in turn told the vice principal, and he said I could go home. "Thanks, I will go to the pharmacy," I said to him in broken Korean. He smiled and wished me well. The cough medicine I picked up on the way home is working.

I've only gone out sick one other time: Last Friday I woke up with a lot of stomach pain. Otherwise, I've never taken any sick days in over three years here. A combination of heretofore decent health, dare-I-say good eating habits, and a work culture that doesn't exactly function like the USA's accounted for why I'd lasted so long:

One of the most difficult cultural differences for many Westerners to accept in Korea is how sickness is dealt with in the professional environment.

At home, if you’re sick, you’re usually encouraged by your boss to go home, stop spreading your germs around the work environment, and rest up. You’ll be more productive with a day or two’s rest than you would be if you spent those days half passed out at your desk.

Not so in Korea. While Koreans will go to the doctor as soon as they catch a sniffle, they take the prescribed fistful of medicine (and usually a shot to the “hip”) and suffer through their time at work. It’s considered bad form to call in sick, especially to a school, where it means your co-workers have to scramble to cover your classes. While it’s standard to give 3 days a year sick-leave in a contract, you are encouraged not to make use of them. Some schools will only give you sick time if you are actually in a hospital bed.

 -- From Ulsan Online's " Feeling sick? Too bad! Get to work, lazy!"

 Anyone considering living and teaching in Korea should consider the above. It's not that people can't take sick days, it's that they're frowned upon. Heavily. I would still advise anyone to note that the EPIK contract does allow for sick days and many schools will be fine with a teacher calling in. I called in on Friday because the class load was light and they could easily be made up. Ditto today.

Stay warm and stay healthy, everyone.
Happy holidays!

Link: Dom and Hyo on winter hats

I was going to write a post about the exact same thing when this couple already did it. Their site has an excellent cartoon that can explain this better than words can, but basically, many Koreans don't wear hats in the winter. Many eschew them altogether or some just use their jacket's hood. Either way, the reasons center on not wanting to mess up their hair.

At the same time, winter hats are available everywhere.

And on that note, it's gotten cold here. This is the coldest of the four Decembers I've lived through.

Pop song ELT: MAGIC!'s "Rude"

One of the best lessons of 2014. Originally written in early July 2014.

In my experience with teaching in Korea, virtually anything related to English can be brought into the classroom. As it's the end of the semester and exams have concluded, the students have been in dire need of some refreshing lessons. This particular one has worked well.

The lesson began when a boys middle school CT suggested that we do a pop song in class. I happily agreed to do so, but questions came to mind: Which one? And for what purpose? Things must have a purpose in the classroom. They must have some kind of practical application. As much as I love music, I cannot simply bring in any song without a purpose for using it. And just what pop songs were out there? Despite my affinity for older kinds of music, the students like newer stuff, so I consulted the Billboard Hot 100 and started at the top. If I was going to bring something into class, it might as well be popular in the USA. I knew I had something with #3, MAGIC!'s song "Rude," for it had simple lyrics, a catchy melody, an expository, humorous video. Moreover, it had an interesting topic: A boy wants to marry his sweetheart, but her father says no.

I sent a link to the song to my coteachers, who watched the video and approved it for class. Next, I typed the first verse of the song into a PowerPoint file. The song, the PPT, and the handout below are what I made for class.

Why only the first verse? I'd read in Teaching Unplugged about showing a block of text for one minute, having students copy it, and comparing their versions with the "correct" text on screen. The one minute time would make copying a kind of race, which my boy students enjoy. It would also save me from printing the song's lyrics for everyone. Once the students had the lyrics down, they then had a text to work with.

How the class worked

We walked in, said hello, loaded the PPT, and began. I said we were going to do a class about a pop song. "We'll ask questions, make predictions, and learn some new phrases. We'll also talk about what you would do..." and got to work. I showed the first verse, had the students copy it, and checked their writing against the original.

I and my coteacher then asked checked the students' comprehension of the lyrics, phrase by phrase. Since the verse includes a simile, a line about a suit, and the pronoun you, we had plenty to talk about. What does raced like a jet mean? Who's the you in the song? Who is the narrator? We asked these questions and got the following answers:

• Raced like a jet = Drove fast
• The narrator's a man because he wears a suit. When I pointed out that women can wear suits, the students held fast to their answer/
• You is either the man's wife, mother, company boss, or friend.

Having answered the questions and pondered the verse, the students were now ready to see what happens in the song and whether it matches their predictions. I played the song and cranked it up.

The song:

After the song concluded, we went back and went through the lyrics, line by line, so everyone knew exactly what MAGIC! was singing about. We briefly discussed the idea of the father giving his blessing before setting up the group discussion. We asked the students, "What if you were the man in the song? What would you do? And what if you were the girl?" and handed out the table below. The students got into groups and discussed the problems.

Facimile of handout

Questions: Imagine you are the boy in the song. What would you do? Write four ideas: 1. 2. 3. 4. Best idea? Why?

Imagine you are the girl in the song. What would you do? 1. 2. 3. 4. Best idea? Why? What if you are not so serious about your boyfriend?

We gave the students around 10 minutes to discuss and prepare their answers. Each group presented their papers, often to laughs from everyone. We circulated around the room and helped whenever needed, but overall, the students did a good job of figuring out the writing themselves.

We thought things went well. The students enjoyed the music and many felt good at having figured out a foreign pop song by themselves without any translation. All of us had fun discussing the best and worst courses of action for the narrator.

My CT and I placed no rules on grammar or the kinds of sentences the students should write. The groups were mixed ability, so some wrote more or more in depth than others. Some groups wrote entirely in Korea, which I took as a chance to help them with translating. My Korean's good enough to recognize some words and phrases, so I worked with the lower-level groups and helped them rewrite their notes into English. In doing so, I learned some Korean slang that's since proved fruitful for jokes in class.

As a side note, I also got to do this lesson at the girls middle school with the 3rd graders. Doing so allowed me to compare to boys' answers with the girls', which showed some stark differences. The boys overwhelming favored "Killing the father" if they were the boy. The girls, by contrast, thought "Pleading with the father would be best." It seemed as though the boys and the girls wanted to play up the drama.



Reference:
Scott Thornbury - Teaching Unplugged

Belated Thanksgiving 2014 / Sunday morning reflections

This week's been up and down. Most of it comes from feeling homesick because it's Thanksgiving today. As I explained to the students this week, Thanksgiving is quite like the Korean Chuseok holiday: It's a time for families to gather and enjoy spending time together. It also focuses on being thankful for what you have. And what you have isn't so much what you possess as it is about intangible things like family, love, and friendship.

I got to see Dave Sperling of Dave's ESL Cafe speak in Daejeon yesterday. He said, "You're living the lives you want.  You're in Korea, after all." A wave of happiness went through me when he said that, for it's something that, obvious though it is, I sometimes forget that coming to Korea was about more than taking a job. Coming here meant learning a new culture and leaving home. It meant getting--and using--a passport for the first time. And it meant having to keep an open mind about things.

Sometimes one needs to hear the obvious. Living and teaching here is what I want to do. What other explanation exists for having signed a fourth contract? At another point, Dave said, "If I'd known [doing Dave's ESL Cafe] would be so hard, I wouldn't have done it." Not me. If I had known in August 2011 that the next three years would mean traveling all around this peninsula and Asia, meeting countless wonderful people, feeling better and worse than ever, and becoming a better teacher, then yes, I would've done it. Korea continues to be a wonderful time. Some days go better than others. Living as an expatriate is a full time job. But even so, it's the best I've ever had.

I'd like to give thanks to

• Family. Words fail to express the importance of family. I miss all of you very much.
• Friends. I've met friends from around the world here and that probably wouldn't have happened--not to this extent, anyway--if I hadn't gotten on that plane. You know who you are. Thanks for being here and for all the things you've mentioned about your home countries. 
• The students. The Korean school system pushes them to the limit, but they keep coming back for more. The longer I stay here, the more I feel for them. I often wonder how I feel in their shoes.
• Coteachers. Thanks for all of your help with understanding the school system and teaching our classes.
• Planes, planes, and automobiles. Korea has an excellent transportation system. One can go anywhere at nearly any time.
• Anyone who comes here and reads this blog.

This will be my final Thanksgiving in Korea. It's getting to be time for me to move on, for some educational and work opportunities have come up in the USA. The final Dispatches from Gangwon will come in August of 2015.

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Though I'm not Southern, this song's a favorite for what it says about the USA and how we should try to preserve nature.

Lynyrd Skynyrd - All I Can Do Is Write About It

Actually, though it's about the USA, those lines about "the concrete slowly creeping" apply to Korea as well? Other than Shin Joong-hyun's legendary "Beautiful Mountains and Rivers"? 

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Previous posts about Thanksgiving

#3: Thanksgiving 2013

#2: Thanksgiving 2012

#1: Happy Thanksgiving! 2011.

* Ironically, Thanksgiving signals the start of the crazed Christmas shopping season. And Black Friday and its sales are on the next day. Strange.

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Last, but not least, thanks to Cal and J for being here in 2013-2014. Rock on!

Proving that we can eat spicy food

From journal entry since revised:

4 September 2014 – Went down to dinner and ended up going to a new Chinese restaurant in town. I ate jjajangbap and R ordered jjamppong noodles. Both dishes tasted good!

…

R ordered the spicy version of the jjamppong because she didn’t want the owner to think that she, a foreign woman, couldn’t handle spicy food. She wanted to prove herself and to not further the Korean assumption that foreigners can’t/won’t/don’t eat spicy foods. Second, she didn’t want to set a precedent for future visits where she’d always get the less-spicy version of the dish.

This changed prompted a conversation about Korean perceptions of foreigners for a bit before we moved on to talking about how the school day went for each of us. The conversation about spiciness and precedence stayed with me, which is why I’m recording it here. The owner of the restaurant seemed to assume that R wanted the less spicy version and, judging from her brusque manner, wanted us to make up our minds faster than we did. When we actually had to tell her twice that, yes, we wanted the spicy jjamppong because she talked over us when we ordered the first time. We’d ordered and she’d said some rapid-fire Korean back at us. We caught enough words to know that she was telling us the dish was spicy and she’d make the less spicy one for us. But that wasn’t the food we’d come for.

Spicy food is a sticking point for both of us, for while we do eat it, we don’t care to eat it all the time. And for my part, I always wonder about this, because whenever spicy food is on the menu, I feel as though I’d better eat it, lest I get labeled with not being able to handle spicy foods. And possibility of being told, “Oh, but you don’t like spicy things, so we ordered you something else.” Lest any readers think I’m worrying too much or too irrationally, what I just described—the “one and done” assumption—can and does happen here. Many EPIK friends have related similar stories to me.

And I don’t want to sound worrisome or act like Koreans want to paint western foreigners into a corner. Goodness knows that the world has enough stereotypes and misconceptions about Koreans. No, the idea here is whether or not R and I, Western foreign teachers here, have to prove our culinary chops to Korean people, particularly with:

• Using chopsticks
• Eating spicy food
• Eating kimchi (which is spicy, but even so…)

During the time here, I’ve alternated between two views:

• There is no need to prove anything. I like what I like, and that’s that. As I like to tell the students, there are 300 million people in America from all different ethnic groups. There isn’t really a standard “American taste.” Not to digress, but I also hesitate to say, “Americans do…”
• It’s best to go along with things and not make a fuss…especially in this small town. Or, for that matter, anywhere else. Being the noisy customer is not for me.

19 November 2014/extra notes:

I mentioned the “proving” bit above because that’s what we and others have experienced in our time here. Let me emphasize that this mostly small-town­ Korea…areas that haven’t had much contact with foreigners. And the old ideas about foreigners not eating spicy food or Korean food being too spicy tend to persist here because of that lack of contact. We get that.

But then, I can’t worry about whether or not ordering spicy chicken breaks down the idea that foreigners don’t eat spicy chicken. And I can’t worry about turning down a spicy thing…people will think what they want. I won’t be the only foreigner they meet. In sum, for those of you who think about whether or not you should prove yourself worthy of jjamppong, well, just eat it if you want to. 

What these two foods look like:

Jjajangbap [Black bean sauce/stew with rice. Picture: http://www.maangchi.com/tag/jjajangbap] 
Note: Bap means rice. I've had this dish with chopped vegetables in the rice. It's also come with a fried egg on top. Some restaurants do that. Also, jjajangmyeon means jjajang with noodles [myeon] instead of rice. 

Finally, this is the unofficial dish of "Black Day," which is a sort of Singles Day for Korea. Many single people from all over Korea eat jjajang on 14 April every year.

Jjamppong [Chinese/Korean spicy seafood noodle soup. Picture: http://www.maangchi.com/photo/jjamppong-3]

Note: This dish took a long time to build a taste for.

===============

Veruca Salt - "Don't Make Me Prove It"

"Words won't do/words won't do it"

Television - Prove It

"Just the facts"

Screen time: Me versus the students

Coteacher: So, how much time do you spend on your computer?

EPIK teacher: Hmmm…maybe 6 hours a day?

Class: Whoa! 

Coteacher: Really? What do you do?

EPIK teacher: Everything. Lesson planning, shopping, sports news, email…

[Coteacher and class nod] 

--Demonstration lesson video at an EPIK workshop, Yangyang, circa 2012.

I’ve written about phones and “screen time” on here before, yet…lately the idea of comparing my screen time to the students came to mind. It wouldn’t be right to complain about something others do when I do it, so let’s take a look at how the numbers compare. Bear in mind that this is completely unscientific...

I started with the overly cynical and unrealistic idea that students spend every spare moment on their phones. And how many spare moments do they have? Let’s see: There 10 minutes between classes, 60 minutes for lunch, 20 minutes for cleaning time, and 60 more minutes for the dinner hour at school. Considering the hours between 8:30am and 7pm, the timetable looks like this:

Breaks between classes (6 @ 10 minutes each)	60
Lunch break	60
Dinner break	60
Cleaning time	20
Total	200 minutes (3 hours, 20 minutes)

And me?

Breakfast: Emails and blogs	20
School: Planning, research, emails	60-180
After school: Emails, videos, music	40-90
	120-290

Well then. We both spent a lot of time in front of computers or phones...but to be realistic, there's no way the students can spend all of their time in front of computers or phones. It's impossible. It only looks that way sometimes. And as the cliche goes, looks can be deceiving. I probably spend more time in front of screens than the students do. It'd be good to remember that.

Test day hath arrived

Another short one:

Like I wrote yesterday, the big College Scholastic Ability Test/College entrance test day is today. The Korea Joongang Daily ran this little article about it today. Here's something that caught my eye:

Airplanes will be banned from flying over exam locations for 25 minutes from 1:10 p.m. during the English listening portion of the exam. Cars will be banned from a 200-meter (650-foot) radius from test sites. [NEWS1]

Some thoughts on this:

1. Never have I ever heard an airplane flying over head when I was in or around Seoul. I can't recall even seeing an airplane flying overhead either.
2. I'd known about flights getting diverted, but didn't know it happened during the English portion. 
3. Again, not to harp on it, but I do wish the students well. Their experience is worlds apart from my experience with the ACT ~10 years ago. I (and many other American teens), apart from a couple of ACT-prep workshops, no after-school classes, and no cram sessions. The Korean kids, on the other hand, stand against a whole culture that pushes a high score and considers the CSAT the moment in teenage life. Pressure, indeed.
4. And on the other side: "Businesses capitalizing on free time after CSAT." Mother-daughter surgeries? What a strange message, though: "Don't worry about the lines on your face from all that stress! We'll straighten your face out now. And you can go with your mom!"
5. How many students will go to special schools to study and take the test again?

Editorial: "A sad portrait of Korean society"

Interesting article about gifts for CSAT test-takers.

Lotte World observations

1. We arrived around 10:15am. There were no bag checks or security lines. The students got together and the teachers doled out tickets. I got one that said "guide pass." We passed through the turnstiles and wenot our separate ways. That is, I followed the teachers and the students went every which way. Our instructions were simple: Be ready to go at 3:40pm. I marveled at the amount of freedom given to middle schoolers.

2. Lotte World is indoors and outdoors, and while it bills itself as an amusement park, it also has plenty in common with shopping malls. I was surprised to see cosmetics stores and chain coffee shops here and there.

3. I think my past trips to Six Flags Great America have spoiled me. That park had more than five roller coasters; coasters that were much bigger, taller, and longer than the coaster I rode at Lotte World. Not that the Lotte World coaster didn't have its thrills--it was just too short.

4. Lotte World has a Folk Museum inside and a pretty good restaurant sits next door to it. I joined the teachers for lunch at that restaurant and enjoyed the bossam (steamed pork) and bibimbap. Both dishes are excellent by themselves, but the combination of the two made it one of the best meals I've had here.

5. Students and young people everywhere. One coteacher explained that October's usually a time for school trips, which explained why the place was packed on an ordinary Wednesday.

6. The Folk Museum: I got tired of the noise and rush of events in the afternoon, so I went there and spent an hour enjoying the exhibits from Korea's past three kingdoms of Gogureo, Baekje, and Silla. I honestly hadn't expected much from a museum that was attached to an amusement park, but I was wrong. The museum's worth visiting for anyone interested in Korean history, especially in seeing scenes from its past monarchies or its many temples and palaces.

*Lotte World is located next to Jamsil station on Line 2 of Seoul's subway system. It is less than 20 minutes from the Dongseoul Bus Terminal.

**Seokchon Lake is nearby as well.

Blogging on the bus: Going to Lotte World

We're on our way to Lotte World amusement park this morning. I'm on the bus with the art teacher and the third grade middle schoolers. It's my first time going there. It'll be good to ride a rollercoaster again.

Also: Updates on the way about the first month in the new town, hiking, and attending the KOTESOL International Conference. They conference was quite good because I got to meet Scott Thornbury, the renowned teacher and author, after his plenary talk.

Links:

http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264152

High school poetry action

For Kevin at The Other Things Matter, whose post “9 Tanka” inspired me to try using some poetry in my 1^st grade high school class a couple of weeks ago. His post was also where I learned about Tanka.

Tanka is short Japanese poetry. There’s likely a more technical explanation, but for our purposes here, tanka means short poems about everyday life. In his post, Kevin writes about a few poems he’d used in classes over the years. He used them because they contained things students could relate to, like loneliness, and they did it in a way that was direct and easy to understand.

The poem I used was this one:

because I thought

it was the girlish thing to do

I pretended

until my 2nd year of high school

to love strawberries

-Mayumi Satou, Kitto Koi no Sei

Please note that the poem was translated from Japanese by Kevin.

I chose the poem for these reasons:

l  In other words, I thought the students might appreciate being able to read and understand a poem in a foreign language. I know how good it feels to understand a bit of Korean and figured that the students would feel the same way.

l  It’s about time and how people change. It might spark some thoughts about how people change over time.

l  It’s about being a girl—or doing the girlish thing, which the students might enjoy discussing, so we can lead into gender roles and ideas about being a boy or girl.

Kevin had included some thought-provoking discussion questions that he used in his classes. I used them as well:

1. What do you notice about the poem?
2. Have you ever pretended to like something?
3. Do you think there is a way to act like a boy or a girl?

...to which I added:

1. What are girlish things? Boyish things
2. Why does the poem end with the word strawberry
3. Could you change the poem to be about you?

We spent more time thinking of differences and similarities between boys and girls than we did writing, but we did end up with some detailed Venn diagrams in all four classes. My coteacher also stepped in and translated the poem for every class. This was good of her to do, since maybe not everyone understood exactly what the poem was saying. I hadn’t accounted for translating the poem.

As for the questions themselves, I listed them on the board and distributed copies of them to small groups.

The groups eagerly listed anything they could think of. After they had time to discuss the questions amongst themselves, I called the class to order and made a master graph on the board. I wrote everything down, from differences in appearance (long vs. short hair) to attitude. The group and class review took longer than I expected, so there was little time for writing. This wasn't a big problem, for the list generated plenty of vocabulary and discussion amongst the groups.

Something else that came up: Few if any of the students said they’d pretended to like anything in the past. They were surprised to hear that I've pretended to like or dislike a few things. One of those things is in this attempt at rewriting the above poem:

because I thought

it was a cool thing to do

I pretended

until age 26

to hate going to bed early

The students seemed to understand it. The bell rang right around this time in all four classes. And all four classes did go well. We may not have gotten to do the poetry recitals that I’d envisioned, but we got somewhere. Ideas came up. Words were spoken. They got on the board. The big thing in my mind was the students had read and understood a poem in English. They’d read and commented on a piece of literature. I count that as a success.

Notes:

l  For the rewritings, I made this model:

n  because I __________________

it was a ____________________

I pretended __________________

____________________________

to __________________________

l  And couple of students did attempt to write their version of the “because I thought” poem. One girl wrote this:

because I thought

it was a good sister thing to do

I pretended until the movie Frozen ended

to love the prince

l  Though I did highlight the poem’s short lines and show that it’s one sentence that’s divided into lines, I didn’t highlight the the girlish thing part. The difference between a girlish thing and the girlish thing amounts to something in general versus something important. Maybe it doesn’t matter as much as I thought, for such a distinction might have been too much for the students to bear at first.