| | A few things have happened since my last update. I'm still enjoying my job tremendously. I feel so much more confident and at ease with the job...and with myself. I'm really starting to feel like I am a teacher...a good teacher at that.
I continued the same activity in each class (the getting to know you sheet) and students seem fairly comfortable with that. Thursday I began the first real lessons with the students. My first class barely spoke to each other. They are art students and art students are known to not talk much even in Korean so it was a struggle to get them to do the activities in pairs. I've come to the conclusion that I need to do things and say things that will make them relax and even laugh in class. One question I'm starting with before each class begins the first lesson is "What is the worst thing that could happen if you made a mistake speaking English?" I have already asked at least one class that question. I got responses like being embarrassed, feeling stupid, offending someone. Then I asked them, "will you die if you make a mistake?" They laughed and some said no. Then I said to them "if you die in my class I will go to your funeral and apologize to your parents". That got a big laugh. They have culture "against" them when it comes to learning the language because Korea is a saving face society. It also doesn't help that they are teenagers too so it really doesn't matter what culture they are from they'd still be embarrassed speaking another language in front of classmates. But I'll keep pushing them...and make sure they're relaxed in class. The first lesson went well. I think most of the students got something from it...but there were those who zoned out. One even fell asleep and when class ended we are quietly left the room and called his name from the door. He saw me later that day and joked with me about it so I think he was cool with it happening.
As a little side note...instead of placing curtains in my apartment the worker from the school installed shades that have black on the outside of them. I have one friend who still wouldn't be able to sleep in the room, but for me it's so much better. I'm able to have a dark room in the night. No need to place something over my eyes to go to sleep.
Monday through Wednesday of this past week (May 19-21) I went with the 1st year students to the yearly retreat they always go to. It was about 2 or 3 hours away from Seoul and was located outside of a small city. The students had a great time and were very satisfied with the program. The teachers on the other hand weren't so satisfied. While the students had fun and learned new things, the teachers sat around and did nothing really. I was invited to go because I was told we'd do something. Well the most interesting thing we did was go to the East Sea and eat raw fish. yummy. haha. I tried some. It really has no taste at all. I don't see what the big deal is. They tell me there is a taste that I need to work toward tasting...food like that is not worth my time.  The teachers stayed about a half an hour away by van from where the students stayed. That's mainly because our school had to change the date that it went there. The 2nd year students had made plans to go to Japan, but with fuel prices the way they are it was very expensive. So instead they decided to go to a famous mountain in North Korea. That changed the date for their trip so they had to change the date for the 1st year students too. With the home room teachers of the 2nd year students away they couldn't have the 1st year students in classes because many of their teachers would be away. So we were the second group that was there and the other group got first choice of where to stay. We were shipped off to a vacation cottage (they call it a pension house) and the teachers from the other school stayed at the retreat center. Instead of going in for breakfast in the mornings we stayed at the vacation cottage and ate fruit. Fruit is wonderful, but I can't eat a whole lot of it at once and feel full. I'm not one to eat sweet things in the morning. And if I do have much in the morning it's not a lot. So the teachers felt sorry for me because I didn't eat much that weekend. I even had to pass up their barbecue Saturday night because it was pork. It's a good thing I had eaten the supper served by the camp or else I would have been very tired. The other teachers were still stuffed that day from eating all the raw fish and were waiting until that evening for the barbecue. They kept insisting on me eating the pork, but the only way I'll eat it is if someone offers it to me at their home. I know many people who would disagree with my beliefs on that, but as a missionary in a culture where eating is a time for bonding I believe i can only refuse when I am out in a public setting, but if I am in someone's home I do not feel comfortable rejecting what they offer me. At this point they're realizing what I don't like to eat, but there may come a time when someone will not know my preferences and it would offend them greatly if I refuse. I do not want to put up barriers to friendship. I don't believe God would ever want us to do that.
Friday at school was a riot. I taught one class and then the rest of the day I basically did nothing. It was the student festival day. The classes had different activities in their classes and there was a large program in the auditorium for students to show their talent. A few of the classrooms had some nice things. One had a dance club, which I was a little disturbed with...I really think I'm getting old because I really don't get the youth culture today. Another classroom had a coffee house style to it. I liked that room the best. The room that I heard people liked the most had massages and they did people's nails. Everything you did you had to pay for too. At the program in the auditorium the students did performances that had to do with their major. There were a few dance numbers, many singing numbers, and one of the drama classes did a comedy act. The boys dressed up as girls and the girls dressed up as boys and they had a contest among them to see who will be chosen as Miss Kaywon and Mr Kaywon. The girls weren't as funny as the boys (to me anyways because I didn't understand the dialogue), but many of the boys were disturbing. Men should never wear certain things. There were also a few famous graduates from the school who visited and also performed. Two of the famous actress/singers decided to leave the auditorium by walking through the audience. Big mistake. They were mobbed as they were leaving. The principal quickly raced out of the auditorium and I am assuming he apologized to them for how the students (especially the boys) reacted. There was a similar response when the friend of a famous graduate performed. Many girls raced to the stage and were reaching out to touch him. It was pretty crazy to say the least. I took several videos just to document the experience. Teen culture is so different than when I was a kid...but then again I wasn't really into the normal teen culture at the time. I have so much to learn. I'm going to have to do research at the movie theaters and with the popular music. I'm even going to have to do some research about dancing and art and...the horrors...classical music. I know I'll never truly understand the culture, but I need to see what they see in their world so that I can at least get a partial understanding of what it's like to be a teenager in this day and age.
Last Sabbath I went to the main SDA Language School in Seoul for a prayer meeting. They were praying for the summer camp that will be happening in July. After the prayer meeting I went with a friend and the other teachers at her institute to their town and went out to eat with my friend. We were going to all eat together, but we were all so hungry and didn't want to wait and didn't want some things that other people were having and what not so I just ate alone with my friend and the other people went their separate ways. This Sabbath I went to church and enjoyed the sermon and the meal afterwards. I was then invited out for ice cream with some students and went with them. It was nice to talk with them and get to know them. After ice cream some of them went to get some food. It's called Dok poh key. Dok is rice cake in Korean and the other parts of the name I'm not sure what they are, but it has fish cake and noodles and a little bit of cabbage in there and it all some red spicy sauce mixed into it. I always have a hard time eating slippery food with metal chop sticks. I splattered the sauce all over my face. I'm pretty good with chop sticks, but I need more practice using the metal chop sticks with slippery food. Tomorrow I'm going to church with the pastor from my school. His church is very large and the service is all in English, no translation. There is also a larger foreign community at that church. I'm interested in meeting more foreign Christians. The teachers at SDA Language School's don't have much time to meet with me so I think it's best that I find Christian community with other foreign believers in other places. I may eventually have community among people at SDA, but I don't think it will be among the foreign teachers, so it will be nice to have a foreign Christian community to turn to when I need them.
Well i guess that's all for now. I keep meaning to post pictures, but I'm so busy these days and my internet at home is not very good. When I'm at work I always seem to forget to upload my pictures in my free time. Soon I promise.
update...pictures |
| | Posted 5/24/2008 8:01 AM - 35 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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