Teacher's Day and Sports Day (Again)

Teacher's Day

May 15th is Teacher's Day here in Korea, and unlike "Teacher Appreciation Week" in America, Teacher's Day is actually a big deal here.  Last year we still had to go to school on Teacher's Day because the country was in mourning after the Sewol Ferry accident, but this year the teachers of Mungyeong gathered at a local college for a big volleyball tournament.

Every school had a tent set up, where there was of course lots of food and alcohol. I should mention all the students had this day off, so while there was a lot of drinking, it wasn't like there were students running around.

Every school had a girls and a boys team, and since I now have four different schools, I pretty much had at least one school playing at all times, so I just did my best to watch them all at some point.  Since this is Korea, of course the schools take this competition super seriously, and most teams had been practicing after school for quite some time.

I spent most of the day walking around and watching my different schools play, and from time to time being pulled over to a tent and given beer. The girl's team at one of  my schools made it all the way to the finals, but unfortunately didn't win. At the end of the game I was with one of my friends from town when her school called us both over to come drink with them. Since I was with her school, I think this is how I managed to get out of being pulled to any kind of teacher's dinner, which was quite alright with me, because it meant that I got to go home early and enjoy Friday afternoon. Overall, not such a bad day.

Sport's Day

Most schools had their Sports Days towards the beginning of May, so when I went to my Friday school a few weeks ago, I was shocked to see that it was Sports Day--I had assumed they had already had it. I essentially had a repeat experience of what happened to me in the fall at this school--I walked in and all of the teachers were in their sports clothes and I definitely was not.  I was actually in a dress and a new pair of shoes I thought I would wear to break in (we usually change our shoes when we get to school, but since we were outside the whole day, I had to keep them on the whole time). I certainly wasn't dressed for the occasion, but I came to school expecting to teach six classes, and instead I got to sit outside and watch the kids have fun, so I definitely wasn't complaining.

Welcome to Korea, where they sell baby hamsters at Sports Day

Overall, Sports Day was good, but pretty much the same as the fall, so I won't go into much detail about it. The good thing is this time around I knew the kids much better, so I think it was more enjoyable for me.  As I watched them throughout the day, I couldn't help but think about how much they have grown in the nine months I've been teaching them. They are suddenly looking so much bigger than the kids I remember meeting in the fall, and it does make me sad to think that soon I'll be saying goodbye to them.

Of course, the day didn't end with sports day.  On days like this there are almost always teacher dinners, but I was going to try to escape without getting dragged into it.  Not that I don't like my co-workers, but on a Friday evening I'm usually ready to get home.  However, on my way to the bus that afternoon I ran into the principal and in Korean he asked me if I was coming to dinner.  I may have acted like I didn't understand (ok, I did), but he gestured to bring me to the teacher's room, where my CT told me about dinner and asked me to join.

Since you can't really get out of these things in Korea, I agreed, and I'm actually really glad I did. I got a new CT at this school this semester, and she has been really good.  It was nice to spend time with her and the rest of the teachers, especially since I'm only at this school one day a week now.  I've also never seen any of them drink so much/been forced to drink so much with them, so that was a new experience. I've also somehow made it almost two years in Korea without going to a noraebang with my co-workers (this is totally abnormal), but that finally changed. Teachers were even singing and dancing when we were in our room at the restaurant, so naturally noraebang was our next place. I was surprised, but relieved that the night ended up being so fun--after the rough first semester I had with this school, I'm happy to have it end on a better note.

Day 2

Originally written Wednesday, 8/28

Day 2 is down…talk about exhausting! I got picked up at 9:00 this morning by my co-teacher.  After we got on the road she told me that she was bringing me to get my picture taken.  I totally forgot that I would need a picture for my ARC (I actually brought a bunch of passport pictures with me, but I didn’t think to bring them, and I didn’t want to ask her to turn around to go pick them up, so I just went with it). In the US when you need a passport picture you just go to a CVS or Wal-Mart, but we went to a legit photo studio.  The woman who was taking my picture insisted on pushing all my bangs completely aside, buttoning my black cardigan up to the highest button, and not allowing me to smile.  Just use your imagination to picture how wonderful these photos look.  Oh well.

After that we went to school because we had to wait until 11:00 to pick up the pictures.  I got a tour of the school (which is so small!) and got a glimpse of some of the students I will be teaching.  It was really entertaining to see the way that the students would stare at me when they saw me walking through the halls.  There is definitely no blending in here.

 

At 11:00 we went to pick up my pictures then headed to Gumi to apply for my Alien Registration Card.  Gumi is where I got picked up by my co-teacher yesterday (about an hour and twenty minute drive), so I’m definitely getting lots of quality time with my co-teacher.  We stopped for lunch along the way and she of course directed me towards the “western food”. This “western food” was pork with a brown sauce on it, but of course it was served with rice, kimchi, and Korean soup.  I actually think the most western thing about it was that we used a fork and knife, but regardless, the food was good, and for probably the first meal since I’ve been here, I didn’t have to guess what is was that I was eating. 

Registering for my ARC was actually very quick, and we were on our way in no time.  On our way back, we stopped to open my bank account.  I didn’t think this was possible until I had my ARC, but my co-teacher did the talking and they let me open an account anyway.  Next we stopped at a cell phone store.  I was also sure that I wouldn’t be able to get a phone until I had my ARC, but since my co-teacher was able to get me a bank account, I figured I’d let her try this too.  Unfortunately, they said that I would have to wait, so I am still phoneless.  C’est la vie. 

After running all of those errands we went back to school because my co-teacher had to teach a class.  I really wanted to use the internet to check my e-mail and facebook, but there were other teachers trying to get a messenger program to run on my computer the whole time.  At 6:00 we went to a restaurant downtown for dinner with all the teachers from the school.  The food at dinner was SO GOOD.  We had Korean barbeque, which I was very happy about because I had heard such amazing things about it—it definitely lived up to the hype.  Yay Korea!

I have to say, Koreans know how to do it right.  The beer and soju were flowing, and everyone was having a good time.  Of course, there were plenty of awkward moments as I struggled to use my chopsticks in front of everyone….it’s a skill I definitely need to work on.  There were many times when I would try to pick up something and then drop it.  Oops. 

At the beginning of dinner I was sitting with my co-teacher and another young male English teacher, and about halfway through my co-teacher got up and sat somewhere else, only to bring back another young female English teacher.  Then, my co-teacher said something to the other teachers, picked up her things, and said “Bye, see you tomorrow!”

Ummmmm….ok?  Of course, I figured that this meant that I she thought I would be more comfortable with the other English teachers, which was nice (although not necessary because she really is the sweetest lady!) I talked to the other teachers for a while…they are GREAT.  Both of them are in their first year of teaching, so they are around my age and speak really good English.  It turns out one of the other teachers lives right in the same area as me.  Yay!

As expected, these past few days have been really awkward.  I’ve been doing a lot of smiling when I don’t really know what’s going on.  There are a lot of times when I know that the other teachers are having a conversation about me, but I have no idea what they’re saying.  It’s really kind of an odd feeling. 

There have been so many impressions to make over these past few days, and it really is exhausting.  I just hope that I am doing enough right to make good impressions.  The principal kept looking over and smiling during dinner, so I’m guessing that’s good?  Also, he said he was impressed that I was trying all the different Korean food.  So I guess that counts for something. 

Other random points of interest:

-Apparently the last English teacher here married a Korean man while she was here.  Almost every teacher so far has pointed this out (big shoes to fill?!)  Of course, it’s almost funny because before I left many of my friends and family predicted that this is what I was going to do.  But there have been a lot of awkward comments about this kind of stuff…when I was sitting with the other English teachers tonight the principal looked over and said “and you’re all single!”  I don’t really know what to say to that. 

-Along the same lines, during my car ride with my co-teacher today, she was asking what American men are like and what men and women look for in each other when they want to get married.  It was a hard question for me to answer, but when I asked her about it in Korea, she told me that the most important thing men look for is how attractive a woman is.  She then told me that the most important thing for women is how much money a man makes.  She told me about how common plastic surgery is among women now.  In order to get married to a wealthy man, they think that they have to be more beautiful, and therefore get surgery to do so.  Of course, this is a broad statement, and I’m sure many people don’t look for those things in others, but it must be true enough that she would come right out and tell me.

I knew that Korea is a very image conscious country, and I knew about the plastic surgery craze that is going on, but it was still surprising to hear her talk so openly and matter-of-factly about it. 

The idea of beauty in this country does, and probably will continue to fascinate me.  Almost all the teachers have told me things along the lines of “ohh, the boys here will love you!”  Today when I was in the office a group of boy students walked in, asked my name, and then shouted “you are so beautiful!”, giggled, and then ran away.

Now, compliments are nice and all, but it really is fascinating to me because I would consider pretty much all of these Korean women to be much more beautiful than I am, but many feel they are inadequate and feel the need to go to great extents to change their appearances.  I’m sure I've only experienced the tip of the iceberg on this issue, but it is nonetheless really fascinating (and sad) to see.

-I have a wireless router in my apartment, but I don’t know the password to get on.  I asked my co-teacher, but I think she forgot.

-I only have cold water in my apartment.  I also asked my co-teacher about that, but I think it was also forgotten.  So for at least another day, I will take a cold shower in the morning. 

- I tried squid today.  And I liked it.