Make it a good day

My father's fond of saying "Make it a good day," as opposed to the more common "have a good day." He started saying it a few years ago. 

Verbs drive language. They convey action and do the heavy lifting of expressing thought. My father understands this, for once he explained what prompted him to change the verb from "have" to "make." As he explained it, making implies action and movement--doing something. He figured that "have" sounded too weak and passive to work as a statement of encouragement and that "make" sounds stronger. Indeed it is. We possess within ourselves to make every day as good or bad as we want it. He says "Make it a good day," as an encouraging statement as well as a command, or perhaps an encouraging command. According to him, he dislikes the idea of things "happening" to him, and so he changed his tune because he knew he couldn't sit back and let life happen to him. 

It's important to remember this idea as teachers. Our classes are what we make of them. Our students look to us for guidance and for that, we owe it to ourselves to provide the best classroom experience possible. Not only that, but we should remember that our thoughts determine our actions, so we must stay positive as well. It is not always easy, especially in the ever-fluctuating sphere of the school and the classroom, but it is necessary. Growth doesn't happen without challenge, and making every day good stands as the goal to meet. 

While my father's words echoed in my head in the States, I don't think they fully sank in until I landed at Incheon Airport nearly 2 years ago. I had just turned 25 and had arrived in a new country to begin a new chapter of life. Then as well as now, there is more to life than simply staying afloat: To float would be to not stand tall and take ownership of life here. To let things "happen" would mean not taking charge of life in and out of the classroom. I'd been hired to do a job and to do it well. Doing a job well by letting things "happen" does not compute. Jobs are done well because of action and resolve. And with the ink on the 3rd contract signed, sealed, and delivered, I must strive to making a good life here for myself, the students, and for the larger community. 

Advice for newcomers to Korea from Cheorwon veterans

EPIK teachers come and go every 6 months due to how our contracts are set up. Teachers either get contracted from February to February or August to August, so the time has come to say goodbye for those who are leaving. This time's an especially big exodus, for no less than 4 of us in Cheorwon (plus 2 from nearby towns of Gwanin and Uncheon) will be leaving. Dongsong in particular is losing 3 teachers; all two year veterans at that.

I asked the departing members of the Cheorwon Crew what wisdom they'd like to pass on to the newcomers. Coming to a foreign country to begin a job's a big undertaking, so I hope this advice helps...

• Say yes to everything. Yes, this includes the 3rd round at the noraebang or doing extra work for classes. The first six months aren't the time to get finicky about contractual clauses. Saying "yes" is how you gain face and build relationships here. All of the things you do will pay off down the road. Nina writes, "Sometimes it's really awkward to go out of your comfort zone, or you're tired or whatever, but now is the time to do it. You arrive not knowing anyone and having all those crazy weird experiences in the beginning help you build lifelong friendships."
• Coming here to save money is great, but don't over-analyze expenses. Our salaries do quite well in covering utilities and day to day living expenses. Not only that, but Korea offers many cheap opportunities for fun. My dad's fond of saying, "Work hard, but don't kill yourself." Nina echoed this idea by saying "you are in Korea...you traveled halfway around the world, so go out and have fun!" 
• Talk to the kids outside of school. Get to know your students outside of class as much as possible. Esther mentions that she enjoyed going on trips with her students because she saw them outside the classroom. They weren't following a script and freer with their conversation, so their personalities could come through better.
• Remember the excitement of the first week. The land will be strange and you most likely won't know any Korean, but fear not: It gets better. In time you will become more familiar with your surroundings. Those crazy Korean letters will become understandable after a time as well. 

Good luck!

May 2012 in review

A new month has begun, so it's time to look back at the previous one. May was a good time. There'll be more to come...the following comprises some of the best times:

• Getting a cab ride from central Seoul to Wasu at 3am with Kirsten. We rode around 110km and paid 100,000won including tip. This came at the end of a long night that began with Claire’s choir concert downtown and ended with a long after party in a neighborhood near the Noksapyeong Station.

• Pub Golf with most of the Cheorwon Crew. Claire put this together: Nine holes spread across all three of our towns, replete with 3 legged races, flip cup, beer pong, bowling, beer chugging. The opening hole had us chugging a beer through a mouth full of marshmallows and then eating the marshmallows. I did this in two long swigs. Most everyone else did it in one. Those marshmallows burned on the way down the throat.

• Meeting some of teachers and students of my two schools’ sister school in Heffei, China.

• Having the distinct pleasure of teaching a 90 minute joint class of Korean and Chinese students from middle school and high school. The principal, vice principal, and many of the teachers watched. The class had students from middle school grade 3 to high school grade 3. I and my co-teacher Ms. Jeong taught the students how to write a comparison paragraph about the two schools on a piece of poster paper and the kids did wonderfully. The paragraphs they wrote exceeded our expectations and the kids had a great time working with each other. All of them listened attentively and showed enthusiasm. This day will forever stand as one of my best (and favorite) classes. Credit goes to the principal for the comparison idea and Ms. Jeong for preparing the posters and 90% of the lesson. She outdid herself there.
• Drinking free makgeolli on the street at the Cheonggyecheon Festival.
• Riding on a motor  scooter for the first time—on a Friday night in the gridlocked Dongdaemun area of Seoul. Weaving between cars made for one fun near-death experience.

9 Months This Week / Stuff Back Home

Standby for a series of posts for the page. I've been a bit slack on getting new stuff up on here and wouldn't want to let anyone down. This week marks 9 months in Korea and I can't wait for what the next 15 will bring. 1 year just isn't enough, not with a job that's beyond satisfying and a great group of people to share it with.

This time of the month's always a bit of a reflective time because I left the States on my birthday (23 August) and another month's passing brings the country back to mind. It seems time to note what I do and don't miss about the USA:

What's missing

Soy milk

Can't find Silk soymilk or anything comparable here. Soymilk is available, but it's not the same. There's more sugar in it and it doesn't satisfy the way soymilk does in the States. Korean soymilk somehow has more calories and more fat in it, yet it doesn't seem as filling as Silk does. Strange. Not cool. I've gone back to regular milk and somehow the regular stuff tastes better here.

Public Trash Cans

They may as well not exist here. Stores put out giant bags for trash and that's it. Most of the time people throw their can of ____ on the sidewalk and keep on walking. Kids get these little bowls of spicy rice cakes, eat them, and then throw them on the ground. I should be used to this by now, but I'm not. Seeing this stuff makes me wonder why people can't wait until they do find a trash can. Trash in the street isn't the greatest sight to see. But, on the other hand, this may not be such a bad thing for two reasons:

1. The trash does get picked up y retirement-age men and women come around every so often and pick up the random trash on roads and sidewalks. I don't know if they get paid to do this or not, but either way, it gives the older people something to do and keeps them active. 

2. People can't get busted for littering so easily--if they can get busted at all. 

Being Able to Drink Alone in Bars

This is trivial, but it's enough for me to write about because there've been a few times where I wanted to drink a beer or two and not stay in the apartment. It doesn't work over here because bars expect you to either order food with your drinks or come in a group of two or more people. Stopping by the local for a drink after work doesn't happen here. There is no such thing as stopping by. 

Every time I've tried this, I've gotten a puzzled expression and a bunch of Korean I couldn't understand from the barmaid or bartender. Apparently a guy can't go get one beer and go home here. I don't know. It isn't a big deal when you consider that beer's available 24/7, but sometimes a change of scenery is good. 

Record stores and Spinning Vinyl Records

I've been in a few shops so far, and the only one worth mentioning was this small joint in the Hongdae area of Seoul. Me and a lady friend had happened upon it by chance when we'd met for a date in the winter. I saw it from across the street. It sold nothing but blues and jazz CDs. It felt good to scour the racks in there; it took me back to those days at Bullseye Records in Milwaukee. She pointed out a few people here and there until I found The Essential Bo Diddley. That's an album I should've had since day 1. He's up there with Chuck Berry for archetypal rock and rollers. The New York Dolls covered his song "Pills." It felt good to hear his original version of it. 

As much as the apartment feels like home, it may not feel complete until a turntable and a proper stereo get acquired. I haven't had a proper stereo in years. It's strange to play everything through the computer, iPad, or MP3 player. Those speakers I bought in September aren't any good. A former co-teacher gave me his computer speakers in the winter. They make the music loud and clear. 

One side effect of the change in music listening is I've been steadily buying stuff on iTunes. And even though I miss the packaging of albums, it doesn't make any practical sense to accumulate album after album here. Buying the physical product gets saved for the (awesomely packaged) Kpop albums and Western stuff that burns at my soul. 

Coffee

I've never understood this. This whole country works itself to the bone every day of the week and prides itself on doing things quickly. Students study from 8:20am to 9pm (not counting private school) with a few breaks, businessmen work until 7 most nights and Saturdays, construction crews work on weekends, convenience stores are almost always open 24/7, and yet decent coffee's only for those who can afford the coffee shops every day. This country needs better coffee! Cans of coffee are ubiquitous, but they're overmilked and oversweetened to the point where it's not even coffee but some express ticket to Diabetes Land. You can find a couple brands of straight Americanos, but it lacks even a tinge of bitterness. It's smooth, but it's devoid of any character. The caffeine certainly does the job, but coffee shouldn't taste like caffeinated water with food coloring. The instant stuff's even worse. More than once already I've tossed out my cup because of the taste.

The local Tous Les Jours coffee shop does do a decent Americano. The Paris Baguette is okay as well. When Kirsten first moved here, she used to tell Gabe, Peter, and I about how Wasu didn't have any coffee shops and she'd stop at the Starbucks in Chuncheon every time she went there. Maybe we should count ourselves as lucky. Gabe, Peter, and I went to Tous Les Jour on our second day here and the Paris Baguette only started serving coffee when it renovated over the winter. Maybe this is what I get for living in a small town. Ground coffee's easier to find in the bigger cities. I'll have go online or go to Seoul or Chuncheon if I want to buy some. 

Another thing: instant coffee mix packets are huge here. The packets already have the coffee, creamer, and sugar mixed in them. You boil a pot of water on the regulation office electric kettle, pour the mix into a Dixie cup, and pour in the water. The teachers call this coffee, but I swear a better name is coffee shot. 2oz doesn't count as coffee unless it's straight espresso. Again, they're sweet. They do go well with soju though. My idea. A few of lady teachers as well as members of the Cheorwon crew like them. 

*Tous Les Jours and Paris Baguette charge 2,500won for an Americano. It's around 2 dollars.

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So that's five things and none of them carry much importance in the grand scheme of things. That's about all I've got for complaints against daily life here. Everything else is great. Everything necessary is in walking distance: the school, the restaurants, the grocery store, the walking paths, the coffee shops, and the bus terminal. Beer, makgeolli, whiskey and soju are available around the clock. 3 cool EPIK'ers plus a great co-teacher and a cool apartment manager live in the building. The townspeople are nice. The scenery's gorgeous. Spring's turning into summer and the weather's grown warm.

I do miss waking up to a big  mug of strong coffee and a bowl of granola, but oh well. Life was good then, but it's better now. Cheers!