More Annoyances; Rain

The rest of the day was a little better, but I'm still annoyed. Today was Annie's last day teaching the adults, but no one has said anything more about who is replacing her. I asked Miro about it, and she didn't realize that she'd be starting next week (someone had discussed it with her, just not specifics), so I asked Joelle, who said she'd talk to Miro. Also MBT (the new academy name) will have its own website, which we'll begin using on Tuesday. No one mentioned that to the foreign teachers, it's only written in Korean on the board. I understood most of it, but Joelle wrote the day of the week in the Korean version of Chinese, or hanja, so I couldn't understand when we were changing over. They sent home a paper explaining the name change with all the students today. Some of the older students commented how many times the academy has changed names: something, E-Champ, OSS, and now MBT.

As I was going home several guys in suits came in to look over the "new books" (as Joelle said when I asked her why they were at school). She acted like she didn't want to talk about it. What's this about new books????? One of the guys was the really irritating one from about a year ago who wanted the foreign teachers to evaluate EVERY SINGLE STUDENT on their pronunciation of various sounds ONCE A MONTH. If we did that, then we wouldn't have time to do anything else, like actually teach anything! His face looks so Chinese, with that plastered-on, artificial smile. Greeting him politely and making a small bow was incredibly difficult. Mr. Kim has been looking a little worried lately. Because of the economic situation in Korea, we continue to lose students, and changing franchise names is probably stressful.

Despite the rain, I decided to walk home to hopefully get rid of some of the stress. I was tired mentally, but not at all physically. It's about 3~4 miles, or an hour walking. I ran into Jennifer not too far from school. Because of the distance, she was surprised to hear I was walking home. Then I ran into Mi-ran on the bridge near church. She was going to take the bus to Busan with Shelly and Kendall tomorrow, but now, since we live on the same side of town, we're meeting to go together. That takes care of the issue of whether I should bring my CD player or not--she'll talk my ear off. Now I almost wish that I hadn't agreed to it, because I won't be able to enjoy reading on the way, she'll think it's odd that I'm leaving books at Starbuck's (Bookcrossing, again), and my people-watching will be limited.

The rain got harder as I walked, and what with walking fast and the wind blowing a bit, (and my small umbrella) I got pretty wet. By the time I got home my shoes and socks were wet, my pants were wet enough to wring water out of up to the knees, with the rest of my pants damp and water dripping off my arms. And that's even with an umbrella! But it did help to make me feel ready to sleep (several hours later).

I Hate the World

I slept late this morning, then after some computer stuff and IM'ing with Mom and Dad, I got a late start walking. A bunch of kids, both elementary and middle school, were down by the lake writing and drawing, so I got a fair number of "Hello!"s. One of the kids was a little cute. He called out, "Hi, waegookin!" (foreign person) If I had been thinking more clearly I might have shouted back, "Hello, hangukin!" (Korean person) It annoys me that they wait until AFTER I've passed by, and only THEN do they say hello, so I have to turn around while walking to say hello back, while being careful not to trip and fall.

Even the teachers stared. Yes, I look like I just rolled out of bed, just chill and STOP STARING AT ME!!!! Especially the older men sitting around, they had no business looking at me, as if to imagine what was under my clothes. It's called a tank top, and those are called breasts, and yes they're bigger than most other breasts around here, but you don't have to look at them like that!!!! And last night on the bus--I'm growing to really, really, really hate drunk guys. I didn't realize the guy was drunk until after I sat down next to him and smelled the alcohol. He then spread his legs out wider, pressing again my leg. When I moved away from him and started to look his way he temporarily moved his legs back onto his half of the seat, but a few seconds later pressed against my leg again. I was about to move when he pushed the button to get off the bus, then he had the hardest time walking past me to the door. Believe me, I gave him PLENTY of room, and I was ready to make a huge scene if he tried anything.

The first two classes weren't so great. Mark threw a piece of paper out of the window in front of me, so I made him go downstairs and pick it up. Then I made him write, "I will not throw paper out of the window" thirty times. I mean, really! He would NEVER have done that with Kara in the room, why do so when I'm there?! Of course, it all comes down to the respect issue. Foreigners are made fun of and looked down on by everyone, so the kids inherit that from the media, their parents, their teachers, etc. The other boys in that class weren't listening at all, so I had them write, "This is not a playground. This is English class" ten times. I needed that ten minutes of quiet to keep from killing them. Then the next class Jessie was talking incessantly and Tomas was screaming, "TEACHER!" every time he wanted my attention. I was glad for the break time, hoping for time away from kids and all things Korean, but no. All of the computers in the teachers' room were busy, so I went into the kids' room. The one student in there studying WOULD happen to be one of mine, and a particularly demanding student. Nick kept bugging me about what various Korean words meant (for his homework). I DON'T KNOW!!!! IT'S YOUR HOMEWORK, NOT MINE! I DON'T KNOW KOREAN! USE THE DICTIONARY!!!!

Rain and Journals

Another bad mood day today. What's up with me? Do I need another vacation already?!

The kids were OK, nothing too notable. I started feeling overwhelmed by all the stuff building up, so skipped Bible study. I managed to get the daily reports finished between classes, then spent about 90 minutes correcting journals tonight at home. Having it on the computer makes it a lot faster, and tons easier on the eyes (not having to decipher horrible handwriting). My apartment is looking a little better since I've swept and tidied up. I also mended my pants and did laundry. I got two packages today--one from Mom with a bunch of magazines and some newspaper clippings, and another from Bookcrossing with the free book they're publicizing. I now have lots of reading material!

It rained most of the day, starting and ending with a misting kind of rain that gets you wet regardless of an umbrella, but raining hard in the afternoon. As a result, most of the school was pretty wet (from kids tracking in water). That's about it for my life for now.

Student Reactions

I dressed a little differently than normal, and what reactions I got! Sera said, "Cute!" while Luby said, "You look so sick!" I guess that's because by that class I was losing my voice. Billy said, "WOW! Good clothes! A+! 10 points!" (I was wearing a pink v-neck shirt, capri pants, and sports sandals.) He went on to explain Matt's behavior system to me really well. (We share that class.) If they don't speak any Korean, they play 10 minutes at the end of class, if they speak one time they only play 5 minutes, two times and no game. Mr. Kim doesn't really like us playing games, but if the kids studied hard for 40 minutes, then they'd probably get as much done in that time of hard study than in 50 minutes of half-way studying. I'll have to think about it. Also in Billy's class, the boys started telling all kinds of stories about the girls (primarily Angela and Annie)--how they hit the boys everyday, etc. At the end of class Billy confessed, "It's a lie!"

ALSO in that class, I asked them the typical, "What did you do on the weekend?" and they talked a bit, then they asked me what I did. I said I went to see a movie, and John asked some good follow-up questions (for his level, anyway). It was really cute, "Teacher, what was the story?" I told the story, then they wanted to know how many people died, then that led to them asking how many people are in the world, and how many people are in individual countries. They were doing really good with talking, but eventually I had to cut it off and get to the book.

Who are you?

A little encouragement is always nice. This morning Grace said in her out-of-the-blue, where-did-that-come-from kind of way, that I was a born teacher. I asked her to elaborate, but I didn't get much more. They asked me about my experience and how I liked my job. I told them about my experience teaching music, and they acted surprised that I played--I'm sure I've told them that before.

Matt can be really annoying. Mostly little comments he makes about the students, or making a big deal if I have a period off during the day or if I get off before him. I've reminded him several times that I also get to work long before he does most mornings. He complained about one of his Green classes because they don't understand. Well, they're young and still learning. Then he was acting like the kids were stupid or had some kind of problem because they couldn't listen to the tape and follow the directions correctly. I wanted to ask him if he had explained the words "top," "bottom," "first," and "second" to them, as knowing the meaning of those words was essential to completing that exercise. I didn't ask him, hoping that he would have explained that to them. I did ask him their age, and pointed out to him that 2nd graders would probably have trouble following directions that specific in Korean, let alone in a foreign language. He said something about preferring older kids, and I asked how old of kids. He said that he had one class that he liked the age group. In university he was practice teaching with high school students, and everything about him screams to me that he doesn't like/wouldn't be good with younger kids. Well, he knew what he was getting into before he came--he needs to handle things better, and be more organized. I know Julian didn't leave a very organized desk, but he's had several days to do something with the mess, but it's only gotten worse, and in the meantime he's been waiting until the bell rings to figure out what class and book he has next, then borrowing tapes from me or Tanya without asking. Get with it already!!

Today was much better than yesterday, largely because I really made an effort to have a better attitude (towards the students, not necessarily towards my co-workers!). At 4 PM I had fun joking with them a bit. When I came in they asked who I was, and I said, "I'm Miro teacher." Tom told me that today was Beth teacher's class, so I needed to "go out." I went out, closed the door, then came back in. They asked me, again, "Who are you?" This time I answered correctly, "I'm Beth teacher!" I asked them how the weather was, and someone said, "It's raining!" I very visibly turned to the window, looked outside, dropped by jaw, turned back to them, and said, "No it's not!!" They laughed and said, "OK, it's sunny and hot." That's more like it! The rest of the classes were pretty typical.

From last week, I remembered Kelt and a funny exchange between us. I don't know that I can recall all the details, but he said something about a test (along the lines of they had a test recently so we should play a game) and so I replied, "Oh, you want a test? OK!! I'm excited!! How about a spelling test?? Number one: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious." He actually tried to spell it!! He got the "super" part right, then gave up. He's in Green 1, which means he's been studying for maybe a year or possibly two, he's in the 3rd or 4th grade, but progressing so quickly!!

Waiting for the Bus

I slept horribly last night, which led to a bad attitude all day today. By 6 PM my voice was nearly gone, so I started the last two classes by telling the kids that my throat hurt and asking them not to be loud. They sort-of cooperated. Stephanie wasn't there today and won't be there tomorrow, either. I think her grandfather died, although Joelle explained it in Korean.

While I was waiting for the bus to go home, a drunk guy appeared. (This was at 8:30 PM.) He sat in the middle of the 4-lane road in the 3-foot area between the lanes. He had a bottle of something and was waving it around while he waved his arms at passing cars. When the cars cleared he staggered across the street. When he reached the sidewalk he stepped up onto it and weaved back and forth. As he came in my direction I stepped a little closer to the other people waiting for the bus, but still felt terribly conspicuous. He continued in my direction, passed by, then stopped at the table by the store to put on cloth gloves (???). He then staggered past me again, going in the direction he had just come from. The smell alone was enough to intoxicate anyone within a hundred feet. He squatted on the curb and looked down off of it as if looking off the side of a mountain. At first I thought he was going to vomit, but he just squatted there, then got into a football-type pose and waved with his arms as if to part the sea of cars in front of him. When the road was clear, he went running across to squat on the curb on the opposite side of the road. He fell backwards, laid there for a minute, then got up to run across the street again. At that point my bus came and I happily got on.

Nice Weather; Annoying People

It was an absolutely gorgeous day today. The sky was the bluest of blue, no clouds, no smog, warm during the day yet not hot, cool at night--perfect. I took a long walk by the soccer stadium. It was around 9 AM, and there were HUNDREDS of people running a 5-K marathon. The people in the front were men, but women and entire families were in the back. Some women even ran with a child on their back, as old as 3 or 4 years old.

On the walk to the bus stop a car pulled up beside me honking. Oh, it's just the guy from Shinbok Church. I've ran into him a couple of times in the area. He asked me if I could start tutoring his daughter in September after she gets back from spending the summer vacation in New Zealand. I told him that I'd be leaving around then, but we exchanged contact info so maybe I can find someone else to do it. Rob and Joy are staying another year, although he'll only be working 2 days a week at his job and her having no contract with anyone, they make a lot of extra money by doing odd jobs and tutoring. Apparently they have no fear of being caught.

Some Korean people REALLY bother me--the annoying lady from the retreat sat down behind me in church, then proceeded to pronounce the words to the songs wrong. In the middle of singing she tapped me on the shoulder and asked me what "regular orphanage visit" in the bulletin meant. Uh, are we singing or are we studying the bulletin?! I explained what an orphanage was, then she asked if it was the first time. Well, do you know what "regular" means? That means it's NOT the first time. Then she asked what time it would happen. I don't know, that's why it says "See Bill for more info." Who's Bill? The pastor! Then the OTHER annoying lady from the retreat was asking Scott for more info about the orphanage, and when he said she'd have to take the bus from Ulsan to Nopo-dong and then the subway from Nopo-dong to Nampo-dong to the meeting place, she acted like that was a huge deal. We explained that since Nopo-dong is at the end of the line, you can only get on the subway going in one direction, then you don't have to change lines at all (Busan only having 2 lines makes it easy even when you do have to change). She still acted clueless and wanted to meet somewhere else, like at church or at Nopo-dong. I don't know if they agreed to that or not; if she comes, will she bring her brat children with her?! I know, I have a bad attitude. But some Korean people really drive me crazy!

At Shinbok Octavia was back. The normal boys weren't there. In their place were three girls and two boys who come occasionally. John and I talked about Reagan over coffee; later Octavia mentioned him, too. Apparently among their generation Reagan was fairly well-known and well-liked. People in my generation don't know who he was, though. They asked me what I thought of him, and I said that I don't really have a memory of him, I've just heard what people say about him. The only thing I remember is of him being really old (even older than my grandparents--to a 7-year-old, that's ANCIENT!) and that people seemed to be fairly happy when he was president, and they didn't think George Bush (the first one) was as good as Reagan.

Back at home I had pizza then went on another walk around the soccer stadium. Did I say the weather and temperature were great?! The walking path was congested and the slopes were filled with families picnicking. I got a lot of looks--it's better to walk in the morning--I run into mostly the same people, so since they're used to seeing me now they don't stare as badly anymore.

The whole evening the cats have been crazy. One figured out how to climb the screen and got on top of the clothes-drying rack; the other one tried to follow but was too timid to make the contortionist jump from the screen to the rack. They've been meowing off and on all evening. I've yet to see their owner. I wonder what the reaction will be when the claw marks are found?!