But–I haven’t been a complete bum. The camera on my cellphone is so good that I really have no excuse for not taking photos–so I do have a lot of pictures of my events. Since work has been miserable, I’ve been getting out a lot on the weekends (also why I haven’t posted anything). Here are the various things I’ve done in the last month that I promise I’ll catch up on, and post about:

• Participated in my school’s Sports Day
• Attended a baseball game in Gwangju (goooo KIA Tigers!) with my main co-teacher, Jin Young.
• Traveled to Damyang, where a famous bamboo forest is located
• Attended a work conference in Boseong, on the coast about an hour and a half from Gwangju
• Traveled to Seoul to see a concert, watch Korea lose in the World Cup, and just generally goof off
• Traveled to Mokpo and visited a dinosaur(!) museum
• Hosted a 4th of July party for all of my…non-American friends.
• Hosted a Mary Tyler Moore Conference at Yangsan
• Was interviewed in Korean for a major broadcasting station

Without further ado, let’s get into Sports Day (complete with pictures!).

As best I can describe it, Sports Day is the Olympics meets the World Cup. It is the biggest sporting event in the world at Yangsan Middle School, and it is also the most important sporting event in the world at Yangsan Middle School. Preparations for field day began at two weeks ahead, with all the homerooms facing off in soccer, kickball, basketball, and jumprope so that all the various competitions were at the semi-finals when we had our actual Sports Day. Competition was fierce. Kids stopped eating lunch so they could go outside and watch their classmates battle another homeroom. I had more than one class who were simpering and crying (a little bit) because they had lost a crucial match.

The actual event takes place over two days (May 13th and 14th), and for those two days there is no class. Each homeroom class has it’s own uniform that they design. They go from the simple–Jin Young’s class had family shirts; she had ‘mother’ while the girls had ‘daughter’ and the boys had ‘son’–to the more elaborate puns. One class had shirts that said “I’m a beautiful flower!” But the word for ‘flower’ is similar(ish) to the word for ‘soon’ so the shirts also said “I will soon be beautiful!” I thought they were hilarious, but the kids were less pleased with them. Another classroom’s shirts said “I am a country boy/girl!” The teachers thought this was great (there’s a whole stigma that goes with being country folk, but that’s for another entry).

When Sports Day arrived I was ushered outside, where all of the lounge chairs from the teacher’s room had been placed outside, along with a plethora of chocolate snacks, ice cream and drinks. Yes, this was 8:30 in the morning. I was told to stay outside so the kids could come and talk to me. Sure, okay. That’s going to be really difficult. I’m getting paid to sit outside in the shade, watch baseball and this weird kickball meets cricket game (I’ll describe below). But, sure enough, the kids did come and talk to me. Mostly to show me their uniforms.

The girl on the left is Shin Ho, who is in my second year after school class. She’s very smart, motivated to learn English, and just generally fun to be around. The pants she is wearing were very embarrassing to everyone else–they’re the kind of pants a grandma or a country mother would wear–but she just thought they were a laugh.

These two girls started my fan club. They come to my classroom at least once a week to chat and play Jenga with me.

The girl on the left is Elli, one of my third grade after school students. She’s smart, but loves to talk talk talk, so I have to remind her quite often to actually work.

Students cheering for their classmates. The plastic things in their hands are almost as annoying as the vuvuzela. Almost. Jin Young bought me a pair, so now I’m super Korean, and expected to use them at sporting events.

The kids are playing this game that’s cricket meets kickball. I don’t know the name of it; no one really seemed to know at school. They just all knew this game. You use a real kickball, and the two teams have something like ten players each. The defending team takes places around the field like in baseball (or normal kickball). The team at-bat, has one player ready to kick the ball, while the rest of the players are in a tight line cluster a slight distance away.

So the person kicks the ball as far as they can, and the defending team all run towards the ball. The person who gets the ball first grabs it, and stops in their tracks. The rest of the defending team run to stand behind the person with the ball, and once they are all lined up they pass the ball over their heads.

While that is going on, the person who has kicked the ball is running around their cluster of a team as many times as they can. Each time they run around their team they get a certain amount of points. But they only get these points if they can make it back to home plate before the other team reaches there. It’s a strategy to see how far you can go without getting too dizzy, and still be able to make it home.

This game was a blast to watch. It was a very fast moving game. I had no idea who won each game, but it was fun anyways.

• My hair is Draco Malfloy blonde. Which I loved until my kids started calling me Lady Gaga (as a compliment). So, it’s going away in a couple of weeks. I’d post a picture, but I don’t think I want to remember this era. Or want you to remember this era.
• I have a cellphone! And internet! So, I will be able to leave Skype on 24/7. Anytime you see me there, feel free to call.
• Because I have a cellphone (that is way too smart for me), I will have no excuse for not taking pictures. I’m generally lazy when it comes to picture taking, but it’s kind of fun on my phone. Keep hounding me, and results are more likely to come.
• Speaking of photos…all the ones below were taken on my phone. Way to go Korean technology!

I decided to head up to Seoul on Saturday to run a couple of errands, and to just explore the city. My computer charger was objecting to the add-on plug I had, and the only Apple stores are, naturally, in Seoul (although they’re not actually run by Apple, oddly enough). But it was a great excuse to get out of Gwangju for a day!

The bus up took three and a half hours, which my friends here seem to think is ridiculous. To me, it’s going from UW to Vashon by bus on a Friday evening when the Mariners are at home. Not at all bad. After I finished at the Apple store, I went down to see Cheonggyecheon, a man-made stream in the middle of the city. It was a natural stream, but sometime in the 50′s, Korea filled in the stream with concrete to make a highway. In 2003, Seoul mayor (and current President) Lee Myung Bak tore down the highway, and restored the stream. It’s a nice tourist area.

The first picture is of the more natural end of the stream, while the other is more abstract. What you can’t see (amazingly) in the photos is the crowd of people present. But, more on that later.

There was some sort of art installation at the abstract end of the stream. I’m not sure what it signifies, a historical tale perhaps, but they were gorgeous.

It turned out the reason for the insane crowds was that there was a Friendship Festival, which turned out to be food booths from countries around the world. My face?

\(^_^)/

Even better was that there was a Norwegian booth! I had already bumped into what were probably the only two Norwegians in Korea, and was able to speak Norwegian for a few minutes, but at the Norwegian booth they were serving gravlaks, one of my favorite things in the entire world. Salt , sugar, and dill cured salmon. For 2,000 won ($2) I could get a heaping gravlaks sandwich.

The Norwegian booth in all of its glory, and half of my delicious sandwich. There were a couple of Norwegian-Americans at the booth who, unfortunately, did not speak the language, but they did know how to make the food. Which is, obviously, the most important thing. They were (also obviously) from Minnesota.

So, the trip to Seoul was a success, if not a Korean culture experience. I needed an energy boost of Western food, and that’s exactly what I got.

]]> http://brackishness.wordpress.com/2010/05/10/seoul-friendship-festival/feed/ 3 turnsillusions Cheonggyecheon Cheonggyecheon CP100508_017 CP100508_016 CP100508_008 CP100508_009 CP100508_013 CP100508_006 http://brackishness.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/oh-child-racism/ http://brackishness.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/oh-child-racism/#comments Tue, 27 Apr 2010 05:20:11 +0000 turnsillusions http://brackishness.wordpress.com/?p=359 ]]> I made a four year old cry yesterday. Huge crocodile tears.

I was at E-Mart, Korea’s answer to…hm…an entire mall, maybe? They sell everything. But, I was there just buying groceries, because they have a decent selection of vegetables and western food.

Everything was in my cart, and I was standing in line, waiting to check out. The woman in front of me was with her little son. They were talking, doing whatever. I wasn’t paying attention. She put her kid down so she could pay. The kid turned, looked at me and screamed.

The scream quickly became tears, and I’m lefting standing in the line, petrified, while the entire store looked at me. The mother turned, wondering if I’ve done anything to aggrivate the boy, but she (thankfully) realized my only crime is existing while caucasian.

She mumbled an apology, tried to hush her son, and dragged him hand-in-hand out of the store (while he’s still pointing at me and crying). The rest of the store continued to stare, so I hastily shoved my groceries on the belt, paid, and walked very quickly away. Oh, boy.

It didn’t seem fair to make them study, so I rummaged through the many, many cupboards in my classroom, and pulled out Apples to Apples for them to play. In the card game, each person is dealt five red noun (or noun phrase) cards, while a judge pulls a green adjective card from a deck. The object is to play the best matching red card to the green, and hope that the judge chooses yours as the best.

My explanation was dubious, but, as soon as I gave an example they understood.  My example? The green card says ‘terrible’ and the red says ‘my school.’ They giggled for at least three minutes. I didn’t explain that you’re allowed to argue on behalf of your card, or that you should try to persuade the judge.

They figured that out all on their own. Ten minutes into the game, and they had the adjective ‘mysterious.’ Some of the cards they played? ‘Swamps,’ ‘Boys,’ ‘Washing Machines,’ and ‘Pluto.’ These kids were hilarious. The kid with ‘Washing Machine’ tried to argue for his card the most. He kept repeating “But where do the socks go?” (The winning card, of course, was ‘Boys’)

We had a few problems, mostly with pop culture cards (my school also has Cranium which just won’t work). They had no idea who Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen (for the better I think!), or what girl scout cookies were (oh for the love of humanity!). But overall, it was good to know that kids are kids wherever in the world you are, and that a joke about how dumb school is, is universally funny.

I’ve been thinking about social norms a lot since I arrived. Mainly because I’m in the unique position where I’m never going to fit in, no matter what I do. With my blonde hair, double eyelids, tall height and Seoul dialect Korean, I won’t ever fit into Gwangju. So, the question remains. Do I try to abide by Korean social norms anyways as a sign of respect? Or, do I remain true to my American self, say screw it, and do things my own way?

It’s hard to say.

One big social norm here is the importance of food in bringing people together. I love food. A lot. But because I can’t eat a majority of Korean foods, there’s always going to be this invisible barrier between me and my co-workers (and more generally, Korea).  It seems that the teachers at my school go out for a meal about once a week to de-stress, and bond over grilled meat.

I have not yet been invited. Half of this, I’m sure, is that I’m still getting used to Gwangju, and they want to give me space, and time to settle down. But, the other half is that they’re not quite sure what to do with me. They want to offer the branch of friendship, but I think they’re worried that I will be offended by the offer, and going to a different restaurant isn’t something they can/will/know how to do. They understand why I don’t eat meat, but they don’t understand why I would make that decision. It’s just not something done here.

My co-teacher took me out for dinner on the night I arrived in Gwangju, and once she found out I couldn’t eat meat, it took her a good ten minutes to think of a restaurant to take me.  Last Friday I went out for dinner with Laurence from England (vegetarian), and we had to go into six different restaurants before we found one downtown that would make us a vegetarian pizza.

What interests me is how Koreans eat tofu on a near daily basis. It doesn’t have the vegetarian stigma here that it does in the US. Koreans don’t think of tofu as some evil bland mush that vegetarians force themselves to enjoy. Tofu is just a part of a lot of Korean foods, and you can buy it in fifteen different forms at the grocery store (I’ve become fond of ‘liquid’ tofu that I use in soup broths). But, the stigma that tofu does have here is that it’s the ‘poor food.’ You would not serve tofu to a guest as the entree in a meal.

You would serve meat because it’s the ultimate sign of respect. When you want to really treat someone well, you buy them meat from the market. To my co-teachers, the idea that I wouldn’t want to eat the meat they offer as gesture of friendship is boggling. It’s almost as if I were rejecting their friendship.

Not that my co-teachers actually think this. But, it’s definitely in the back of their minds. Society has programmed them to think this way.

I’m heading out tonight to see my first Korean baseball game. I’ll take some photos, and hopefully they’ll do better than my beloved Mariners back home.

After work today, I needed to get a passport photo taken (to give to the local immigration office tomorrow for my “Alien Registration Card”). My co-teacher printed out a map, wrote down an address and name of a photo studio, and sent me off in a taxi. The driver found it without any problem, and dropped me off. However, the studio was closed. CRAP. I was completely SOL.

I fretted for a couple minutes, worrying that a)I had no idea where else to go and b)shops were going to start closing soon. But I “manned up” and decided to try and ask a taxi driver to take me to another photo studio. Even though I didn’t know how to say “photo studio.” Or  ”another.” I hopped in the next taxi anyways. The driver was an elderly man, and he didn’t know so much as “hello” in English. I mumbled and tried to say that I needed a picture, and showed him my passport. He looked at it, and said, “you don’t need one. You have a photo.” So I tried saying that I needed another one. A lightbulb went off in the man’s head, and he said “Okay. We’re going.”

He zoomed off into traffic, and I hoped we were going to a photo studio, but I wasn’t quite sure. We drove for ten minutes, he stops, points and asks if this is what I wanted. It WAS. He dropped me off in front of an open photo studio, and I could have cried. He smiled, accepted my three dollars, and zoomed off. Amazing.

My middle school, Yangsan, is out in the suburbs, by Korean standards. By American standards, I’m pretty much downtown. It’s a ten minute taxi ride to Shinsegae Department Store, the Nordstrom of Korea. Yangsan is also the name of my neighborhood, and it seems to be quite poor. Trash litters my street, and if I want to shop for any foodstuffs that isn’t used to make kimchi, I need to walk fifteen minutes. But, it’s a small price to pay. It’s perfectly safe, my apartment is quite nice, and my commute to school is a five-minute walk.

I haven’t taken any photos yet of my apartment, due to a lack of storage. I’ve unpacked, but there’s a pile of electronic cords, miscellaneous clothing and oodles of books that need places to go. When I buy a desk, or a bookshelf…or something they will be dealt with, and pictures will be taken. Until then, you’ll have to do with photos from my classroom. A couple of years ago the Korean government gave every public school x amount of money to refurbish, remodel, or build a new English classroom. Mine was finished last year. I don’t know how much they spent, but it was easily $150,000.

My teacher’s corner. I have a brand new computer (and another brand new computer in the teacher’s room one floor below), a printer, a copier, and CD player. In the cabinets behind my chair are several unused WACOM drawing tablets, and a large, if not random and inappropriate collection of English movies. Among the choice films are, Saving Private Ryan, four copies of Mulan 2, Erin Brockovich, three copies of Shrek 2, Rambo, and M.A.S.H. Could the last film be any less appropriate?

The white board, and front area of the classroom. The projector screen hangs above the white board, and on the left side of the picture you can see the door, leading out into the hallway. As modern as my classroom is, the rest of the school is decidedly less so. 

Desks, the classroom projector, and half of the class bookshelves. The books on the right house dictionaries of every kind, as well as English language novels (mostly childrens). The selection, however, is pretty good. We’ve got every Harry Potter, numerous Rhold Dahl books, and pretty much every Newbery award winner for the last 50 years. The countertop in the very back of the photo is the “listening zone.” There are headphones and CD players

The computer area, more classroom books and in the very back is the “reading corner,” although you cannot see it in this photo. I have ten computers in my classroom for the students to use. They are all brand new, and were used once before I arrived. I’d love to do a long-term project, where students plan a vacation to America, but I’m not sure their skill level is high enough to navigate English language websites.

…Well, maybe YouTube.