Cats and an Earthquake

After the hard week I stayed home ALL day. I woke up early (especially for a weekend)--9 AM, but then took an afternoon nap for around an hour at 2 PM. When I woke up I had a little energy. I made friends with the new tenants in the building across from me. I don't know if they're kept out there all the time or just when the human isn't home, but there are two beautiful cats on the veranda. One looks a little like my memory of Dean Dean--gray and fluffy, but with the scariest eyes. I meowed at him and he stared at me, almost as if he didn't see me, or maybe he was just trying to figure out why I look different than all the other people he's seen! Later I saw the other cat, also a grayish color, but a lighter color gray. It also responded to my meows, but its eyes are milder. I kept looking down and up to make sure no one was "eavesdropping," as it was, on our conversation. It's so unusual for a Korean to have cats as pets! I'm sure it's a Korean because of the clothes hanging to dry: military and a private security company uniforms. A dog barked ALL day long and into the night--what was its problem?!

What's up with all the earthquakes? A big one hit Iran, then two in Asia. From news reports:

TOKYO - An earthquake registering an estimated magnitude of 5.9 on the Richter scale hit Iwate, Miyagi and other nearby prefectures in northeastern and eastern Japan on Saturday afternoon, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the 12:47 p.m. quake. No tsunami warning was issued.

I've been wanting to talk to Nic. I think I'll call him and compare earthquake stories. However, I'm pretty sure he's on a different island so might not have felt it.

South Korea Jolted by Strongest Earthquake Yet
SEOUL, May 29 (Yonhap) -- The strongest earthquake to ever hit South Korea took place Saturday evening sending minor tremors across the country, with its epicenter in the sea off Uljin, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said.

Measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale, the quake occurred at 7:14 p.m. Saturday about 80 kilometers east of Uljin, KMA officials said. Uljin of North Gyeongsang Province is about 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

The tremor was felt across the country, including Seoul, but no damage was reported, they said, adding that jolts were particularly strong in North Gyeongsang Province.

"Buildings were shaken across South Korea. But casualties were not reported as the epicenter was very far from the mainland," a KMA official said. "A complex of nuclear power plants located in Uljin sustained no damage."

The East Sea earthquake was the 20th one to hit South Korea this year.

In 1978, a 5.2-magnitude earthquake was reported at Mount Songni of North Chungcheong Province, about 180 kilometers south of Seoul, while a 5.3-magnitude quake occurred near the North Korea-China border in 1980. Most earthquakes reported in South Korea are weaker than 3 on the Richter scale.

I was lying on my bed watching TV when I felt slight vibrations, more along the lines of a passing truck or construction work. It was a little different than anything I'd ever felt before, but it stopped and I didn't think about it again until I got on the internet for my nightly "checking out who's updated their blogs today" and came across Joel's entry. He (or one of his readers) had found a link to a single website (the one quoted above) about the earthquake. I looked on other websites and CNN, but no coverage of it. With no damage or fatalities, it wasn't worth reporting, I guess. Until today I didn't even know Korea HAD earthquakes. What an exciting day!

Philosophy: West vs. East

I was SO tired this morning. The adults were fine; we started studying the medical chapter. They were in awe that I've given shots before. They thought only doctors or nurses could give shots. We also talked about how the West likes even numbers and the East likes odd numbers. Grace had quite a time trying to explain what apparently even in Korean is a complicated philosophical issue. But as I understood it, even numbers indicate a finished product of pairs, while odd numbers indicate an emptiness that's always looking to complete itself. Perhaps that explains why the Koreans are always taking classes or getting extra certificates, while many people in the West (traditionally, anyway) don't learn anything new after graduating.

An interesting phrase I saw on the About Joel blog is:

기대만큼 실망도 크다
(disappointment is as large as the amount of expectation)

That phrase could be interpreted in a zillion different ways, but there's something about it that I like. Having no expectations is bad, but being too hopeful is bad, too. I guess what I take away from it is, don't have unrealistic goals. Now there are those who say you can't achieve anything without setting high goals, but face it, some things just can't happen. So don't try for something that's impossible. Maybe. It's an interesting phrase.

Kevin (Mona's 4 PM class, around 5th grade) wrote about what he did on the holiday in his diary. He wrote about going to a Buddhist temple and then, "I believe in Buddha so I hate Christians. The Christian is very silly." How do I respond to that?! In the 7 PM class I asked them how their holiday was and a very confused Paul said that buchonim (Buddha) and hananim (God) got married and had yaysunim (Jesus). The other students corrected him. At least everyone's not clueless!

The laptop guy asked Matt to proof-read/correct what he's been working on. Does he know that Matt's not getting paid yet? Matt mentioned that he's thinking about writing a book about his experiences here. He made it sound like he's the first one to think of such a thing. It sounds like he's writing a group email home practically EVERY DAY so far!! He's also CALLING home daily!! Monday he asked to borrow Sandra's handphone to call home, which I thought was rather bold of him. Tuesday he asked to borrow it AGAIN, which I thought was rude. From her face/voice, Sandra thought the same. I know her too well!

Matt was around a lot again today, mostly on the computer. The four of us got some more interesting talking in. Matt seems to be one of those Canadians who have a problem with the USA being the dominant power in North America. Nothing he's said has been too offensive (yet!), so I mostly laughed it off. Tanya saying, "Go ahead and hit him" helped the mood, too. They both studied history in university, so yesterday we talked some about the Korean war, and today about the North/South divide in the USA. Tanya's called me a "Yank" several times and I made it VERY clear that I'm not a Yankee!! She knows the regional differences in the USA, but apparently everyone in her area calls Americans that, so it's a hard habit to break.

The day was pretty stressful. I taught the first 2 classes, and then wrote some more evaluations. Jane came to get me to read the Impact First questions because the tape was a low quality. I thought Sandra retaped all of the bad tapes two sessions ago! After I read for that class I went into the video room and spent about 45 minutes wrestling with poor quality tape players. I got it finished just as the 5 PM bell rang. It was a race to hand the tape off to a confused Stephanie (who thought that it was still the bad tape so I had to accompany her), then get to Mona's class to give her speaking tests. But I also had to do a speaking test for Jake (from another class) because he was absent yesterday. I had one student left when the bell rang; that student was able to stay late so we finished.

My throat was really getting sore. Some from singing in the 3 PM class ("If you're happy and you know it" and "Hokey Pokey," which they particularly enjoy because I make it as crazy as possible) and also from all the talking and from going in and out of the A/C in the teachers' room. They turned on the air conditioner for the first time this year yesterday! It felt incredibly good.

At 6 I was free, then 7 I taught some really rowdy kids and I was free after that. But I stayed at school until when my class would normally end at 9:20, grading stuff.

I napped on the bus home and ran into Jane's friend. She asked how I was and I said, "Tired. We had tests this week." She responded how Koreans usually respond, "Oh, you do look very tired." Thanks a lot for making me feel even worse! She went on to say something about it being Friday night and that I should be going out. Nope. I need sleep more than anything else right now.

How strange: I was walking through the university neighborhood just after 10 PM and there were families out walking with kids as young as 3, students, and more than one group of guys so drunk that some of them were passing out while walking. Their friends were struggling to support them, but not having much luck.

Earlier this week Miro asked me to look over the test she made. I found some minor grammatical errors, but then a HUGE error. There was a reading passage and one of the questions the students were supposed to answer is, "What school does the boy go to?" Well, that information wasn't in the reading passage. It turns out that ALL of the Korean teachers thought "Band Geek" or "BG" for short, as used several times in the passage, was the name of the school! So I told Miro what "geek" meant as best I could, contrasting it with "nerd." She then shared the information with the rest of the teachers. Her English is good enough that I think she understood my explanation and accurately told the other teachers what I said. They've been teaching that book for three sessions now (nine months), and none of them have bothered making sure of the meaning they're teaching the kids?!

Tests and Fight Part II

In the adult class we talked about their holiday activities. Several of them went to a Buddhist temple. Vivian went to 3 temples in Kyungju and at each temple, she paid to write her family name and a wish on a lantern. Supposedly you make a wish and it comes true. Since her son is a senior in high school, she wished for him to get into a good university. It's not cheap--anywhere from 10,000~30,000 won ($8~25), depending on the size and placement of the lantern.

I got the In2Books letters finished before classes began, which was a relief to not have to finish them later. Matt came in and asked where to change money. I walked him down to my bank, which was surprisingly empty, and helped him change $100 USD to 114,000 won. They wouldn't even look at his Canadian money. Mr. Kim is supposed to take him to the Korea Exchange Bank on Tuesday morning. Matt also asked me about trash bags, so I taught him the Korean word--su-re-gy-tong--to ask for at the corner store. Stephanie wrote it down for him in Korean. I also made them an "idiot card"--their address in Korean, to ensure a taxi driver can always get them home, also emergency phone numbers (Mr. Kim and Joelle).

The speaking tests went fine, but I only got one class of evaluations finished. I did finish grading most of the essays. Sandra was in for several hours, to return the completed evaluations and finish some other work. At one point she said something about me knowing her too well. That's so right--several times I could see her tension building up, like strangling Tanya was only seconds away. Tanya sure is hyper! I wonder how it'll work when Sandra gets back?! We said a more meaningful goodbye, with me congratulating her and wishing her a pleasant trip, and her saying she'll really miss talking with me everyday, so I should email. We did talk a lot!

Around 8:20 the same woman as Monday showed up, this time with an older man, too. Jennifer and the couple started shouting at each other and doing the slapping thing. Mr. Kim and Joelle were at the desk to intervene, while the laptop guy and five teachers came running to help. I stayed out of the danger zone. After all, I don't know how they fight, or what they were fighting about, or anything. The one point I started to get involved was when "our" side pushed Jennifer into the teachers' room to keep her away from the couple. (She was shouting and fighting just as strongly as them.) She started to go back out, so Joelle came in to keep her from going back out into the lobby. Then the woman came into the teachers' room and there was only little Joelle between the two furious women. Don't kill Joelle!

Several teachers stayed in the teachers' room with a sobbing Jennifer. She stopped crying long enough to call the police. She gave the address and asked them to come quickly. I timed it--less than 4 minutes until three middle-aged, fairly strong-looking policemen walked in. By that point Mr. Kim had the couple sitting down at the counter talking with him, with Jennifer still in the teachers' room. I was in the hall by Kiwi classroom giving a speaking test. The policemen walked in and looked around, trying to find the problem. When Jennifer saw them she came out of the teachers' room shouting, ready to go at the couple again. I'm not quite sure what the policemen did, but I think the people went downstairs or at least into the stairwell because it got quieter. I was relieved to see that the police officers who respond to emergency calls aren't the same 18-year-olds who direct traffic and do crowd-control. I still don't know that these officers carried guns, but they looked more intimidating than the young guys.

I left school just after 9:30, but was absolutely exhausted with a fairly bad headache. I just wanted to go home and not necessarily sleep, but at least lie down, especially considering tomorrow morning is another early morning with adults. So no Bible study tonight, only sleep.

Buddha's Birthday

I spent the morning doing routine chores and ended up being nearly 15 minutes late to school, where Matt and Tanya were waiting on the front steps, watching people walk by. We took the long bus ride out to Bangojin, with me pointing out important things on the way: downtown, Wal-mart, Mega Mart, the sports complex, the Hyundai factory, and where the Korean class is held. An older man asked Matt (in English), "Where are you from" but Matt didn't get it at all because of the Korean pronunciation, so I told Matt in my American pronunciation and Matt answered the man's question.

It looked like it might rain, so we skipped the long coastal hike and just used the road to walk to Daewangam. The wind was stronger than normal, while the waves looked angry, matching the sky. There were lots of ships on the water, like usual, and despite poor visibility, the Hyundai cranes could be seen. On the walk back to the road we stopped for Tanya to use the restroom. I thought to warn her about their possibly being no tissue, but nothing else crossed my mind. She came out a few minutes later with a weird expression on her face. She said that she'd heard of squatters a few days ago from Sandra, but never actually used one. She then went into detail about how she used it, because she wasn't sure if it was right or not. Basically, do whatever works!

Then we walked to Ilsan Beach, where some event was going on. A lot of kids were wading in the water, while old people were getting out of buses. We were all getting tired, so we headed back to the bus stop.

Matt had been out late at various bars with Julian the night before, so he was the most tired. He sat down on the bench to wait for the bus. A group of 6~8 old men came up, and he stood up to allow them to sit down (although he was the only one sitting there at the time). One of the men had a problem with that, saying (I think) that just because they came over, Matt didn't have to move. The man wasn't angry, but possibly slightly offended. Of course, Matt didn't understand anything, so I translated what I thought was being said. The man took a liking to Matt so continued talking to him. I tried to explain that they had just arrived on Sunday so couldn't speak any Korean, but the man didn't listen to much that I said, and he didn't say ANYTHING to me. I think it was because of his generation--a man shouldn't talk to an unrelated woman. The men were SO SHORT--the tallest couldn't have been over 5 feet tall. Most of them wore suits while a few wore traditional Korean clothes (not hanbok, but the non-formal kind of clothes). They weren't bent over at all like the older women often are; they were just short.

The man asked us where we were from; that was easy enough to answer. The next question left me struggling to keep a straight face. He wanted to hear me speak "miguk mal" (literally, "America language") so, thinking he meant "English," I said (in English), "Hello, how are you? Nice to meet you." THEN the man asked the Canadians to speak "canada mal (Canada language). He obviously didn't know that we speak the same language, but even after I tried to tell him that, he insisted on hearing "Canadian." OK, let's make him happy. Then he told Matt (always talking to Matt, even when he was aware that I was translating) his age (82, his friend was 89) and asked Matt's age. He didn't believe that Matt is only 25 (24 Western). The whole time I spoke with him was stressful because I was trying to make sure I used the right verb form to show respect to someone so much older than me. I was also worried about what their reaction to me as an American might be. Because he was speaking to Matt and not me or Tanya I didn't have to worry about what perverse things they might try to do. Wow were they curious about us!

On the bus back I had to struggle to stay awake. It was a little crowded so I was separated from the two of them. Tanya ended up talking to a Korean guy for most of the way back. He had EXCELLENT English and gave them a similar tour to the one I gave, but from a Korean perspective. He also gave them tips for traveling in Korea.

When we arrived back in Taehwa-dong we were all ready for something to eat. Matt asked for dulsot bibimbop. I wasn't sure where to find it, since I always order food at school. But then I remembered Apujang was nearby so we went there. Luckily they were open. Of course we got lots of strange looks walking in--three foreigners going into a Korean food restaurant that is mostly delivery. I was able to translate most of the items on the menu with no problem, which (especially considering the conversation with the old men) impressed Matt and Tanya. A man (probably one of the delivery men) took our order, and then relayed it to the women cooking. The woman argued with him, saying that he must have misunderstood because the foreigner couldn't possibly want kimchi bokumbop. He said that it was right, because we were from Oh Sung Sik so ate Korean food a lot. I didn't recognize him, but apparently he recognized me! We got mostly what we wanted, except Tanya got boiled mandu instead of fried--I don't know those words. Matt paid for everything, as a thank-you for showing them around. We had a nice conversation over the meal, covering lots of current events type things that many foreigners have very little knowledge of.

When we finished they went off to use the PC bongwhile I, suddenly full of energy from the meal and all the water, decided to walk home, despite the 4~5 miles we had already walked. Well, that was a stupid idea. By the time I walked the additional 3~4 miles, the bottoms of my feet were sore with developing blisters. I was suddenly exhausted, way too tired to go to Amanda and Jeremy's goodbye party. I took a shower and got still for a bit, then could barely walk, what with the aching muscles and the blisters and sore feet.

On the walk home I saw my second car vs. pedestrian accident since being in Korea. Because of the holiday the evening traffic was bad. I was walking towards Shinbok Rotary nearly to Namwoon Plaza when I heard the sound of metal hitting metal. I looked toward the crosswalk and saw a bicycle and 10-year-old boy on the ground. The SUV driver got out; the boy stood up, crying and hopping on one foot while holding the other leg. There weren't a ton of people around, but what was I as a foreigner to do? There was a hospital maybe 150 yards away, if necessary. A couple of people besides the car driver went to help the boy. Did I imagine the sound of one of them slapping the boy?? I think they might have been trying to calm the boy down or a "What were you thinking, running out in front of a car?" angry kind of slap. I tried not to stare too much. I didn't notice if the cars or the pedestrians had the green light. But what I imagine happened was the pedestrians had the green light but because of the backed-up traffic the cars were blocking most of the crosswalk. I do know that the boy was RIDING his bike across the 8 lanes instead of walking it across, and the driver likely saw the car in front of him pulling forward so followed suit just as the boy crossed in front of him. It was low-speed thus low-impact, and that the boy was standing up and making so much racket was a positive sign, I think.

The Fight

Now for the rest of the day. Before classes started Joelle told me they were collecting money for Sandra's wedding gift and asked what I thought was good to get for her. They ended up getting her some pajamas, but conservative ones.

At 2 PM Billy continues to do a good job of expressing himself using the vocabulary that he knows. He was trying to say "today" but instead he said "here day." Not exactly perfect, but I understood.

During that class the day got interesting but in a very bad way. It's no secret that Jennifer's been having problems. She's been missing days at work and making lots of phone calls sounding upset. I suspect that the "stalker" on the phone that morning was her boyfriend. She lives in the same building as Julian and he says she has horrible fights, lasting late into the night and LOUD. Well, while I was teaching the 2 PM class I heard some strange noise coming from the lobby area. I inconspicuously looked out the window to see a woman in her 40s or 50s trying to get behind the counter. At least three people were holding her back as she shouted and pushed against them. I was extremely curious about what was going on, but the classroom was situated so that the students couldn't hear or see what was going on, so I didn't want to draw attention to the situation. I saw Sera (Mona's 3 PM class) ushering two younger girls into the video room, away from the lobby. Whatever was happening quieted down fairly quickly and my concentration shifted fully back to teaching.

After class I went into the teachers' room, eager to hear what the mother was upset over. All of the Korean teachers weren't in there yet, but the ones who were there were quite tight-lipped and not happy with my asking what was going on. Kara hesitantly said, "Something quite serious" and went on to say that the woman was, in fact, a mother, but not a student's mother. It was Jennifer's boyfriend's mother. That was about all that was said, as I quietly said, "Oh" and tried to remove the foot stuck in my mouth. Oh. What a thing to have happen at work! It was toward the end of the hour, too, so there were lots of kids around to see what was happening.

The 3 PM hour I don't have class, so in between doing other things I was getting some water and a student (Tom from Miro's 4 PM class, he's in 3rd or 4th or 5th grade, I guess) excitedly told me about the fight and asked me questions about it. Jinny was also in the computer room and wanted to know, too. I can only assume that Tom saw the fight, because he said the "counter teacher" was crying and he also said something about a policeman. Did they have to call the police?? He asked if it was 2 teachers fighting, and I answered no. A mother and a teacher--no. Who? Don't worry about it! He didn't understand that, but I said a few similar phrases and he at least understood that he wasn't going to be getting any answers from me. Of course, not that I know too much more, but it's bad enough that the students saw the fight, and will probably go home and tell their parents about it. They don't need to know all the details. I saw Jennifer just briefly after that; she left for the day when Mr. Kim came. He stayed at the front desk for the rest of the day.

I did a little computer stuff during the break, and just before the next class I also managed to spill coke EVERYWHERE--on my chair, my pants, my shoes, the floor, a little on my desk, at least it missed the books! It was so sticky and quite a mess to clean up, especially when the only thing to clean it up with is toilet paper! It was totally due to the late night and early morning. By the end of the day I was absolutely exhausted.

At 4 PM they were a little crazy, stealing my markers and pen. But when I gave them my "I'm serious" face they gave the stuff back and settled down. Each day classroom discipline gets easier and easier! : ) Tom and Jinny again asked me about the fight. Apparently they had told the other students what they knew because the other students were eagerly listening. I told them it wasn't any of their business (which they of course didn't understand) and moved on to the lesson.

How stupid can kids be?? At 5 PM Rooky was without his book again, while the older boys made me feel like a kindergarten teacher. I explained the listening page, then we listened to the tape and they just stared at the book. All they had to do was circle the words they heard!! I yelled at them a bit in English, entirely too fast and with words they didn't know. But, it doesn't depend on the language--they understood that I was upset. Later in the class the word "sex" was used in the context of "the opposite sex." Sally disgustedly asked me why that word was in their book. She only knew it with the sexual meaning. They don't know the word "gender" so I wrote "sex" on the board and then under it wrote "boy" and "girl" and they broke out in nervous laughter, thinking the foreign teacher was about to do a little sex ed. Oh, must teenagers always think on the dirty side of things?! I resorted to a little Korean to make it easier. I drew a form on the board with Name, Address, Phone, and Sex. Beside sex I wrote (in Korean) nam (namja is man) and yo (yoja is woman). They immediately understood. Then Sally, with her 7th grade brain that's a little behind in knowing what's appropriate, asked me if I'd ever had sex. I skipped that question! I really cannot believe that she asked me that.

At 6 they were extremely good, which was a relief after the 5 o'clock class. During the next break I offered to take Matt and Tanya somewhere tomorrow. (They both went home after the meeting to rest; Tanya came back around 4 to watch some more classes; Matt came back at 6.) They sounded interested, and after the next class we arranged to meet at 1 PM at the school to go to Dae-wang-am. In the 7 PM class I had my dictator hat on. Joelle's timing is great--she came in to get a student to talk to his mother on the phone when they were at their loudest. Oh well.

I hung around school until 9 to say goodbye to Sandra. It was pretty quick since she still had to talk to Mr. Kim about some last-minute stuff. Then I came home and started writing on the last In2Books letters. They're due the 27th. This is the second or third letter (of 5) that I've had to write without having read the book. I even emailed them a few weeks ago to say that I hadn't received the book--no response. They need to do better with organization!

Party, Meeting, Complaining

The party was actually quite fun. We walked to a hof just a few minutes from the school. About 12-14 people were there (Lee and a friend of his came later). They ordered some kind of set so the food kept coming--some kind of noodles, grilled stuff, fruit, squid, never-ending popcorn, and huge pitchers of beer. I made one 6-ounce cup last the whole time, taking a sip only when the salt in my mouth forced me to. It was a good time, but like most parties everyone had to stay later than they wanted to. If you're the first to leave it looks very bad, so everyone usually leaves together. We left at 1 AM. I lucked out with a woman taxi driver, and one who was quite good. I was home, checked my email, and in bed by 1:45. (It was way too late to do a load of laundry because of the noise.) This morning I woke up around 6 or 7 (I don't even know what time it was!) because of the sun and started the clothes, then when it beeped to announce that it had finished I got up just long enough to hang up one of the thinner pairs of pants. When my alarm rang and I had pushed the snooze button as long as I could, I got up and ready and finished hanging up the rest of the clothes. The pants were dry enough to wear.

I actually arrived a little early for the 10:30 meeting. It only lasted an hour, so we got there entirely too early. Young (Mugeo director) was supposed to show us how to use the website (daily reports, journals, and evaluations will be done on the computer now) but he wasn't prepared. The new MBT website isn't even ready yet, so he showed us on the OSS site, which is mostly in Korean. SHOWED us is definitely the right word, because he didn't say ANYTHING. That part was a waste of time. It was nice to socialize with people, though, and we had a nice lunch (in the classroom) of sweet and sour pork and mandu. Besides Taehwa teachers we had KJ and Dane from Mugeo, Nathan from Samsan (where was Gloria??), and Terrence from the one way far out. All three directors were there, too. (Shouldn't the Samsan manager have attended??)

Nathan is having MAJOR problems at his school (Samsan branch). Sue is basically the manager because Michael is never there. Her attitude SUCKS. She actually told him, "You're not here to actually teach. You're just here for show." Way to go in making the teacher feel needed and appreciated!! Then she made him rush to finish evaluations on the kids, but then she CHANGED THE GRADES to better grades. He has repeated problems with certain students but she won't discipline the kids. She called the lesson plans that Sandra and Joelle wrote "shit" and is writing her OWN lesson plans which she'll probably try to force on all the schools in this new franchise. Nathan seems like a really good teacher who wants to make the extra effort to do a good job. Sue even acknowledges that he works hard, but then makes horrible comments like that to him!

Everyone wants to feel that their work has value. If what I do doesn't matter, then why should I try to do a good job? It's like with some of the Korean teachers that I've worked with in the past--if they re-teach EVERYTHING that I've taught, then why should I bother to teach it in the first place???? (Reviewing it or checking for comprehension is another thing entirely.) Sue being best friends with Ally certainly doesn't help. It sounds like Ally is controlling a lot of stuff there. They continue to lose students, and are losing money. Nathan seemed really stressed about everything--I don't know if he'll last the next 6 months until his contract ends. He has said that he plans to stay in Korea for an extended period to learn the language so if Mr. Kim played his cards right he could perhaps get a long-term teacher.

Sue needs to go. She thinks her English is perfect but it's not, and she has no idea what it's like to be a foreign teacher here!! If she tries to push her lesson plans onto us I'll try to remain objective as I look at them. But if they're not good for my students, I will at least talk with Mr. Kim about it. Since it's likely to be towards the end of my contract before anything is changed, I couldn't make a big deal out of it (not wanting to jeopardize my plane ticket and severance pay). But I would certainly say something.

Joelle listened as Nathan, Sandra, and I discussed all of this. She understands how we feel, and I think she feels the same way about Sue. Joelle can be sort of wishy-washy when it comes to talking to Mr. Kim, though, so I don't know what kind of ally we have. Right now all the Taehwa teachers are working together REALLY well, though, while the Samsan campus has a tense environment. We also have more teachers and FAR more students. Strength in numbers??

Enough complaining for now! Oh, while Sandra's gone I'll be leading the monthly foreign teachers' meeting at work. That should be interesting.

Dangerous Classrooms

I spent the entire adult class just talking with them. That's me, hard at work! In the 2 PM class Dana had a badly skinned knee that I made a big deal out of. I asked her what happened, and several kids jumped up to demonstrate to me what happened! There's indoor/outdoor carpeting in that classroom, so Clint ended up with matching carpet burns on each knee as he showed me how Dana fell!

Teaching sure can be dangerous. I'm not sure quite how it happened because those brain cells were damaged in the incident, but I think I was bending over Cindy's desk to look at her work and Ally came over to look at it, too. Somehow or other Ally's hand or elbow or something hit the bridge of my nose harder than I think I've ever been hit before. My teeth rattled, my nose went numb, my head flew back, and my head started pounding. I closed my eyes and bit my bottom lip to stay composed. After a few seconds I opened my eyes and reached up to feel my nose to see if it was still intact and to make sure it wasn't bleeding (the inside of my nose felt weird). It was still intact and it wasn't bleeding. Ally wasn't sure what reaction I'd have. She's in 3rd grade, and it was an accident, but she should have been sitting down! I said, "OUCH! Be careful!" Ally apologized, then started giggling. Uh, it's not funny! The following class was normal, except for the ringing in my ears. (I'm fine now.)

At 5 PM we learned the definition of the word "rude" and the behavior that the American teacher thinks warrants that definition. I walked into class and said, "Hello, how are you?" The response: nothing. The boys continued their conversation, while the girls just looked down at their books. I tried again, and one girl responded. The others began to quiet down. I asked again. Nothing, and the boys continued their conversation. Then they all got quiet, except for Sam. I sent him outside to stand with his arms raised above his head while I explained the behavior I expected from them. "When I say, 'Hello, how are you?' I expect you to respond, 'Hi, I'm fine, thanks, and you?'" After all, that's one of the first things they learned, many years ago! Later I let Sam back into class and gave him an abbreviated version of my speech.

At 6 PM I started by writing "diamond" on the board and asking them to pronounce it for me. After all the time we spent on it last week, I still heard several students pronounce it with the Korean pronunciation. I pretended to strangle Jack, hoping for them to realize how important it is to pronounce things correctly!!

In the 7 PM class we had wrestling class, or so Brandon would have us believe. He continued to put his classmates into headlocks or punch them and constantly talk. I put him outside of class with a chair held above his head for about 20 minutes, but when I let him back into class his behavior remained the same. After class I took him to the teachers' room. He hid from Kara, so I assume that she had threatened him. I explained my problem to her and she grabbed him by the ear and pulled his head down towards her (she was sitting down). Then she grabbed him by both ears and pulled them as she yelled at him. Is that what's called "boxing ears?" She then had him call his mother to say that he'd be late. The next hour she had him writing or studying or something in the video room. He's in the sixth grade, and SO smart, but also totally has ADD or something.

The new teachers--well, they certainly look normal, especially when compared to some of the foreign teachers in Korea. But as far as how they really are, that remains to be seen. Sandra said a couple of things they said last night scared her. (She and Lee picked them up from the airport, took them out for dinner, and drove them to Home Plus to get some groceries.) Tanya seems more independent; Matt had a hard time leaving home. When they were traveling in Italy the pollution really irritated her asthma. Uh, Ulsan is pretty polluted! Last night they stayed at Sandra's old apartment; this morning they said they want to have separate apartments. Sure a one-room is sort of small, but . . . weird. They've been together a year and a half, but apparently the relationship isn't particularly strong? Throughout the day (as they observed her classes) Sandra said they were snapping at each other.

Something that PERHAPS they should have told the school before coming is that Tanya has ADD. That could impact on her ability to be a good teacher! She didn't understand some things, and other things Sandra would explain but then Tanya would ask the exact thing just a few minutes later. I assume that Canada is a lot like the USA in that disability-type things don't matter when getting a job, but in Korea it's a big deal! For example, at Mr. Kim's other school the guy with diabetes who occasionally fell asleep in class because of his blood sugar being off or something to that effect--Michael (Samsan manager) was upset that he wasn't told that before the teacher came.

For now it's off to the wae-shik (work party). It's to say goodbye to Sandra and hello to Matt and Tanya. I was expecting it at some point, but I don't have any clean pants to wear tomorrow! I'd like to get home early enough to wash clothes, then let them dry overnight. Worst case, I'll just use some spray on the pants I have on now.

A Routine Sunday

After church I spent some time talking with Jeremy and Amanda. (They're returning to Canada on Thursday.) We passed around a sign-up sheet for the June 5th retreat, but haven't done much else to get ready for it yet. I was tired so took the bus home rather than walking the 45 minutes. I did some de-cluttering, registered some books with bookcrossing.com (so they'll be ready to leave at bus/train/subway stations), then had some pizza. I also called Annie, who had no trouble changing days. Matt and Tanya should have arrived by now. I'm ready to meet new foreigners!