What the fuck happened last night? I'm not really sure....
Went out on my own determined to watch the game on a proper television screen this time, and not really feeling much in the mood for company. Which is difficult to avoid in a bar during a World Cup game in Korea, turns out. First thing that happens: run smack into a foreign male bachelor party. Loud talking. Obnoxious. But not rude to me, personally. They kept taking special care, actually, to comment on the fact that there was a lady present (present, as in standing in the same general area -- not present, as in having joined the party). One comments that a Korean girl who ignored his advances "looks better from behind, anyway". Another corrects him, saying, you do realize there's a lady standing right in front of you? First one says, "That's alright. I never had a chance with her anyway, did I?" Too right on that one.
Second thing that happened: went inside, ordered a drink, sat down and realized I was sitting directly across from the pack of Christians I've been awkwardly avoiding in my neighborhood ever since they invited me to church. Hilarious. God's got a sense of humor, you see. Anyway, they're leaving on Monday.
Third thing that happened: an Irish guy with lovely eyes was shocked to hear me say he was from Ireland (you fellow Americans must not make such a good impression with recognizing the spectrum of other English speaking nations' accents or something) and guessed that I was from Michigan or Ontario, based on mine. Which I suppose is better than the "Eastern Europe" I've gotten from time to time.
Fourth: The bachelor's party gets to discussing how to get themselves into a "sexy bar", which they've clearly never done before, despite all their bravado. One of them catches me chuckling at their total incompetence in this area, and shouts, "HEY DON'T YOU FUCKING LAUGH! IT'S HIS BACHELOR PARTY ALRIGHT!" At which point, I hold up both hands and explain that I'm not judging, I just think it's funny how they're going about it. He shouts back, "FUCKING JUDGE! FUCKING SHOUT AT US! GO AHEAD!" Which is when the Irish guy and another Korean guy he was with step in. One of the bachelor party says something about not sleeping with high school girls because he doesn't want to lose his job, and Irish says, "The fucking morality of the situation doesn't bother you in the least, then?" And Korea says, "Just I want to tell them, 'Grow up! Grow up! How old are you?'"
Take it easy, boys.
Irish is with another Scottish boy, and they both speak more Korean than I've heard out of any other foreign male in all of my time here. I compliment them on it. They try to refuse the compliment. Korea gets talking to me about how he lived in Waco, which is hilarious. It kind of goes from there.
Before I know it, I'm being shoved into the back of a cab after having told everyone goodbye, four boys piling in after me, and we're off to Bucheon. What the fuck? They're good guys though, almost all with girlfriends (which always makes me trust men more), so I just give up and enjoy the ride. At the new place, one of the Korean guys explains to me the trouble he's having with his family not accepting his girlfriend. I told him that I understood the differences in our cultures, and how it's not easy to just ignore your family (as Irish had suggested), but that I also thought his family might be good people who ultimately wanted him to be happy, depsite their big ideas. Ideas are ideas and people are people, and good people can often have ideas that crumble in the face of meeting actual people. After some time, they will accept her, if they see she makes you happy....
After this, he promises to teach me Korean.
And then, I don't know what. Scottish disappears with a girl who's not his girlfriend. His girlfriend shows up at the bar looking for him. Me and the first Korean guy somehow get sequestered off at another table, because I figure the last thing this girl needs to see is another girl sitting at the table. We get talking.
Three hours later, without having touched another drink, we look up and the sun is coming up outside the windows of the empty bar. We look around and realize everyone else has left, but we don't know how or when. He realizes his exam is in three hours. We walked out together and he put me in a cab. Promises to really keep in touch.
And so far today, he has kept that promise. But as always, it was worth what it was worth in the moment, no matter what comes of it. As he said just before we left the bar, although our bodies are weaker (too much alcohol, too many cigarettes, no sleep), our minds and hearts are stronger -- "Please, do not blame yourself." And those foreign guys were fantastic and respectful and intelligent and kind as well. And a bit of Liz's faith has been restored this rainy, muggy weekend.
6.27.2010
Bad decisions.
I'm no Picasso may or may not have fallen head over heels in love tonight. Let's wait for the sober hours to set in before we decide. But any guy who can promise "24 hour piston time" and convince me to move to Africa to do volunteer work nearly in the same breath has got to be worth looking into.
Most probably, ladies and gents, I made a real soulmate of a friend tonight. And I didn't mind walking home in the rain, and I hope he won't mind going to his early morning English exam reeking of cigarette smoke and booze. As he chose to explain it, sometimes bad decisions are good decisions. Always keep that in mind, kids.
Most probably, ladies and gents, I made a real soulmate of a friend tonight. And I didn't mind walking home in the rain, and I hope he won't mind going to his early morning English exam reeking of cigarette smoke and booze. As he chose to explain it, sometimes bad decisions are good decisions. Always keep that in mind, kids.
6.26.2010
Too late.
The 편의점 ice cream freezers are all stocked with beer, and everyone's carrying a watermelon home wrapped in lines of blue and yellow twine. This shit ain't no joke, kids. The fourth Korea game of the World Cup, and no one knew if they'd make it this far. The weather's killer today. I think everyone wishes it would just go on and rain.
Coming back up the hill from the shops a tiny little fat cross eyed boy with an orange splotch in his hair wearing his father's gigantic shoes stared up at me hard for a long time. And then, finally, with a serious little face, bowed. Sometimes you do stop and think, just where the hell am I? But it's too late to go back now.
Coming back up the hill from the shops a tiny little fat cross eyed boy with an orange splotch in his hair wearing his father's gigantic shoes stared up at me hard for a long time. And then, finally, with a serious little face, bowed. Sometimes you do stop and think, just where the hell am I? But it's too late to go back now.
6.25.2010
Formspring promise keeping.
1) What has been your most successful lesson in getting your students to start chattering away in English? 2) Could you recommend any books for learning Korean? I have some but they're shit. 3) Are you familiar with KVP (Korean Veering Phenomenon)?
1. My students don't really chatter. I don't work at a hagwon. I don't even work at a decent public school. But basically anything that allows them to talk about themselves or each other is the way to go. Topics that they can't relate to are never going to motivate them. They don't even motivate them in Korean -- why would they in English, which is twice, three times, a hundred times as hard? Give them a chance to argue their own opinions or to tease and joke around with each other, and they'll find a way to get their point across, even if they have to do it in English. That's why my "opinions" chapter is my favorite.
2. Not really. I haven't found any very good ones, to be honest. If anyone else knows of any, especially those beyond beginner level, please let me know.
3. Are you referring to the phenomenon when, much like when one is driving a car and turns one's head to see something thereby also simultaneously turning the wheel in that same direction, at times Koreans will get to looking at you so hard on the street, that they'll actually veer directly into your walking path, and then suddenly snap out of it and look panicked and horrified, because now they are standing nose t0 nose with you on the sidewalk, while you stand there looking annoyed and trying to continue on your way around them? No. I don't know anything about that.
Or maybe you just mean the inability to walk in straight lines, or to merge gradually. Either way.
What materials are you using to learn Korean? Do you have advice for newbie Korean-learners?
Right now I'm using a pretty crappy book that I wouldn't really recommend to anyone, most especially beginners. But that's not my main source. My main sources now are the students at my school, who are always eager to teach me something here or there, the students and staff at the study room I volunteer at, any number of Korean friends, pop songs and Korean movies and dramas. None of this is useful before you've reached a certain level and are able to pick out new words within a dialogue. So the best advice I can give to a beginning learner is to get thee to a class. Even just for two or three months, taking a structured class to get you up to a certain level will open up a whole new level of "picking up the language" ability. Once you get through that beginners' blockade, everything becomes much easier. You start to naturally retain words after hearing them. Before you push yourself over that first hump, it will just seem impossible. The best way to get there quickly with the least frustration is just to suck it up and take a class for a couple of months.
Have you ever thought about moving back to the States and teaching middle school there?
No. At the moment, I really have no interest whatsoever in moving back to the States. And it's possible that that will never change. And I certainly wouldn't want to teach there. First of all, I'm not qualified. And it wouldn't really be worth it to me to do what I would have to do to get qualified.
Teaching in an American school doesn't appeal to me at all. Teaching anything besides EFL/ESL doesn't really appeal to me at all. I like the creativity my job demands of my ability in using language. I like making those connections with the students, with getting the students to understand a concept or an idea or a word, that are so taken for granted when you can just explain it in the native language. I like Korean schools. I like Korean students.
I think I would probably despise teaching in an American middle school. But then again, I thought teaching kids would kill me before I started it. So who knows.
Where's that asshole going?
Probably to meet his mother.
(A favorite passtime of mine and Mags' while he was here in Korea -- sit on a bench in a public place with a coffee and a pack of cigarettes and play "Where's that asshole going?" -- miss you, Mags.)
What books - fic and non-fic - did you pack with you when you first came to Korea? Have you yet found good sources of English books in Korea? If yes, where do you usually go? If not, how do you deal with not having fresh supplies of books? Thank you!
I can actually tell you exactly what books I brought with me, because I put a list right here in this very blog before I left:
The Dream Songs, John Berryman
Collected Poems, Frank O'Hara
Selected Letters: Volume 1, Jack Kerouac
Five Decades: Poems, Pablo Neruda
The Tibetan Book of the Dead
The Other Bible
English books in Korea. Obviously there are the Bandi & Luni's and Kybobo bookstores in Gwanghwamun, which have a decent enough (I guess?) English selection. Except, not really. And the stock doesn't seem to ever change. And Gwanghwamun is like a million miles from my house. And everything's really overpriced.
Itaewon is also a million miles from my house, which is where What the Book? is. Luckily, I figured out that What the Book? delivers to your door for free. And you don't even need a credit card to order -- you can pay with a bank transfer. And you can get just about anything you would want (although you may have to wait a few weeks for some things, if they have to order them from the US). And they have used books as well as new, so the prices tend to be a lot lower overall.
So yeah. I place gigantic orders with What the Book? every couple of months and I'm fairly well satisfied. Getting a nice sized bookshelf built up back at the flat.
In your time in Korea, have you come to know any Korean recipes? If so, what kind/are they? :)
I put a lot of effort into learning my way around Korean food and ingredients when I first arrived in Korea. A big part of that was a. getting comfortable with the food and b. getting comfortable with the grocery stores. And it helped a lot. Rather than just wandering into these stores and markets and wandering around aimlessly thinking food food food I have to buy food where's the food? I was calming down and looking for specific things, and learning the lay of the land much more effectively.
I can make:
kimchi bokkeumbap
kimchi jjigae
doenjang jjigae
kimbap
panjeon
gyeongdan
And all the other store bought kind of stuff, like ddeokbokki. And probably some other stuff I've forgotten as well. All of the above is extremely fucking simple. And you'll notice a lot of it can be made without meat, because I don't really do meat. I'll eat it at restaurants, but I don't really cook it at home.
Of course, I'm pretty sure a lot of that would taste a bit strange to a Korean. I always say I make kind of foreigner versions of Korean food, change the recipes a little. But for other foreigners, I think they're probably close enough.
where are my poems? bitch.
Haha. I'm working on it, angel.
*sends strength* i've just been stalking your blog for awhile, and i love the stuff you have to say, it's quite amazing. and the kids' profiles ... i'll never forget that conversation you had with the boy who wanted to become a musician filling the empty
Thank you. And you should see the letters he's been sending me since. The kid's a fucking genius and way too wise for his age. He's going to be one hell of a man -- mark my words on that one.
I searched GFBR for both halloween and frog and can't find it. :( Please help.
Haha. GFBR never wrote about that in her blog. I know GFBR personally. In fact, other than Smalltown, she's my oldest friend in Korea. It was a story that was personally related to me, whilst she was actually still in the frog costume. Which made it that much more classic. GFBR is one of the funniest people I know, if for no other reason than the situations she can sometimes get herself into, and her ability to re-tell them with totally genuine emotion. (And no, Mags, she's not funnier than you -- she's just funny in a different way.) (I'm not allowed to say anyone's funny without clarifying in this manner, and haven't been for about six years now. My life is hard.)
Do you know why most Koreans have 3 names, but a few have only 2, or sometimes 4/5?
I don't know the exacts on all of this, but I do know that my students and friends who have two names tend to say it's "just because", whereas some I've met with four or five names have family names that are based in Chinese, and therefore are more than one syllable. Sometimes Koreans will take kind of Western names also, especially in the case of very religious families who will give Bible names. In that case, sometimes the names are longer. I've also had some students whose first names were one syllable and family names were two (Chinese).
And finally, Jason. You ever think about giving a girl a real means of contact anytime? Me addressing you publicly in my blog feels a little creepy, does it not?
That's not everything, but I think it's quite enough for now.
1. My students don't really chatter. I don't work at a hagwon. I don't even work at a decent public school. But basically anything that allows them to talk about themselves or each other is the way to go. Topics that they can't relate to are never going to motivate them. They don't even motivate them in Korean -- why would they in English, which is twice, three times, a hundred times as hard? Give them a chance to argue their own opinions or to tease and joke around with each other, and they'll find a way to get their point across, even if they have to do it in English. That's why my "opinions" chapter is my favorite.
2. Not really. I haven't found any very good ones, to be honest. If anyone else knows of any, especially those beyond beginner level, please let me know.
3. Are you referring to the phenomenon when, much like when one is driving a car and turns one's head to see something thereby also simultaneously turning the wheel in that same direction, at times Koreans will get to looking at you so hard on the street, that they'll actually veer directly into your walking path, and then suddenly snap out of it and look panicked and horrified, because now they are standing nose t0 nose with you on the sidewalk, while you stand there looking annoyed and trying to continue on your way around them? No. I don't know anything about that.
Or maybe you just mean the inability to walk in straight lines, or to merge gradually. Either way.
What materials are you using to learn Korean? Do you have advice for newbie Korean-learners?
Right now I'm using a pretty crappy book that I wouldn't really recommend to anyone, most especially beginners. But that's not my main source. My main sources now are the students at my school, who are always eager to teach me something here or there, the students and staff at the study room I volunteer at, any number of Korean friends, pop songs and Korean movies and dramas. None of this is useful before you've reached a certain level and are able to pick out new words within a dialogue. So the best advice I can give to a beginning learner is to get thee to a class. Even just for two or three months, taking a structured class to get you up to a certain level will open up a whole new level of "picking up the language" ability. Once you get through that beginners' blockade, everything becomes much easier. You start to naturally retain words after hearing them. Before you push yourself over that first hump, it will just seem impossible. The best way to get there quickly with the least frustration is just to suck it up and take a class for a couple of months.
Have you ever thought about moving back to the States and teaching middle school there?
No. At the moment, I really have no interest whatsoever in moving back to the States. And it's possible that that will never change. And I certainly wouldn't want to teach there. First of all, I'm not qualified. And it wouldn't really be worth it to me to do what I would have to do to get qualified.
Teaching in an American school doesn't appeal to me at all. Teaching anything besides EFL/ESL doesn't really appeal to me at all. I like the creativity my job demands of my ability in using language. I like making those connections with the students, with getting the students to understand a concept or an idea or a word, that are so taken for granted when you can just explain it in the native language. I like Korean schools. I like Korean students.
I think I would probably despise teaching in an American middle school. But then again, I thought teaching kids would kill me before I started it. So who knows.
Where's that asshole going?
Probably to meet his mother.
(A favorite passtime of mine and Mags' while he was here in Korea -- sit on a bench in a public place with a coffee and a pack of cigarettes and play "Where's that asshole going?" -- miss you, Mags.)
What books - fic and non-fic - did you pack with you when you first came to Korea? Have you yet found good sources of English books in Korea? If yes, where do you usually go? If not, how do you deal with not having fresh supplies of books? Thank you!
I can actually tell you exactly what books I brought with me, because I put a list right here in this very blog before I left:
The Dream Songs, John Berryman
Collected Poems, Frank O'Hara
Selected Letters: Volume 1, Jack Kerouac
Five Decades: Poems, Pablo Neruda
The Tibetan Book of the Dead
The Other Bible
English books in Korea. Obviously there are the Bandi & Luni's and Kybobo bookstores in Gwanghwamun, which have a decent enough (I guess?) English selection. Except, not really. And the stock doesn't seem to ever change. And Gwanghwamun is like a million miles from my house. And everything's really overpriced.
Itaewon is also a million miles from my house, which is where What the Book? is. Luckily, I figured out that What the Book? delivers to your door for free. And you don't even need a credit card to order -- you can pay with a bank transfer. And you can get just about anything you would want (although you may have to wait a few weeks for some things, if they have to order them from the US). And they have used books as well as new, so the prices tend to be a lot lower overall.
So yeah. I place gigantic orders with What the Book? every couple of months and I'm fairly well satisfied. Getting a nice sized bookshelf built up back at the flat.
In your time in Korea, have you come to know any Korean recipes? If so, what kind/are they? :)
I put a lot of effort into learning my way around Korean food and ingredients when I first arrived in Korea. A big part of that was a. getting comfortable with the food and b. getting comfortable with the grocery stores. And it helped a lot. Rather than just wandering into these stores and markets and wandering around aimlessly thinking food food food I have to buy food where's the food? I was calming down and looking for specific things, and learning the lay of the land much more effectively.
I can make:
kimchi bokkeumbap
kimchi jjigae
doenjang jjigae
kimbap
panjeon
gyeongdan
And all the other store bought kind of stuff, like ddeokbokki. And probably some other stuff I've forgotten as well. All of the above is extremely fucking simple. And you'll notice a lot of it can be made without meat, because I don't really do meat. I'll eat it at restaurants, but I don't really cook it at home.
Of course, I'm pretty sure a lot of that would taste a bit strange to a Korean. I always say I make kind of foreigner versions of Korean food, change the recipes a little. But for other foreigners, I think they're probably close enough.
where are my poems? bitch.
Haha. I'm working on it, angel.
*sends strength* i've just been stalking your blog for awhile, and i love the stuff you have to say, it's quite amazing. and the kids' profiles ... i'll never forget that conversation you had with the boy who wanted to become a musician filling the empty
Thank you. And you should see the letters he's been sending me since. The kid's a fucking genius and way too wise for his age. He's going to be one hell of a man -- mark my words on that one.
I searched GFBR for both halloween and frog and can't find it. :( Please help.
Haha. GFBR never wrote about that in her blog. I know GFBR personally. In fact, other than Smalltown, she's my oldest friend in Korea. It was a story that was personally related to me, whilst she was actually still in the frog costume. Which made it that much more classic. GFBR is one of the funniest people I know, if for no other reason than the situations she can sometimes get herself into, and her ability to re-tell them with totally genuine emotion. (And no, Mags, she's not funnier than you -- she's just funny in a different way.) (I'm not allowed to say anyone's funny without clarifying in this manner, and haven't been for about six years now. My life is hard.)
Do you know why most Koreans have 3 names, but a few have only 2, or sometimes 4/5?
I don't know the exacts on all of this, but I do know that my students and friends who have two names tend to say it's "just because", whereas some I've met with four or five names have family names that are based in Chinese, and therefore are more than one syllable. Sometimes Koreans will take kind of Western names also, especially in the case of very religious families who will give Bible names. In that case, sometimes the names are longer. I've also had some students whose first names were one syllable and family names were two (Chinese).
And finally, Jason. You ever think about giving a girl a real means of contact anytime? Me addressing you publicly in my blog feels a little creepy, does it not?
That's not everything, but I think it's quite enough for now.
Passing notes.
Minwoo and Daeseok have now got it in their heads to make Seokhee translate notes from them to me. Actually, it started with Minwoo, who Co said was "thinking very hard for a long time" this morning about what to say. The next period, a note showed up from Daeseok as well.
For your enjoyment.
Hi Teacher. My name is Minwoo. I was a little tingled the first time I saw you. I thank you for always giving me a smile. Let's spend the rest of the year with you in fun. And I think you are very lovely, beautiful and cute.
Hi Teacher. I am Daeseok. I get a little worried when you come to me. Because I can't speak English well. But. I like speaking to you. Always take care of yourself and live long. P.S. -- Introduce a good boyfriend to Miss Yoon (who has a lot of money).
It could almost make your heart just cave in. If your heart were my heart, anyway.
For your enjoyment.
Hi Teacher. My name is Minwoo. I was a little tingled the first time I saw you. I thank you for always giving me a smile. Let's spend the rest of the year with you in fun. And I think you are very lovely, beautiful and cute.
Hi Teacher. I am Daeseok. I get a little worried when you come to me. Because I can't speak English well. But. I like speaking to you. Always take care of yourself and live long. P.S. -- Introduce a good boyfriend to Miss Yoon (who has a lot of money).
It could almost make your heart just cave in. If your heart were my heart, anyway.
So I'm a liar and formspring may not get done today. I've got five unexpected classes (unless cancellations come through at the last minute). But I'll do what I can.
I'm sure it's not hard to see that there's not much passion going into this blog lately. I don't know if that will change or what. I think nothing in my life here in Korea is going to be too focused until after I make it home and back. But stay tuned for the next month of pointless, half-assed rambling, and maybe you'll get a look at the I'm no Picasso homeland, which should be interesting.
Urgh. Sorry.
I'm sure it's not hard to see that there's not much passion going into this blog lately. I don't know if that will change or what. I think nothing in my life here in Korea is going to be too focused until after I make it home and back. But stay tuned for the next month of pointless, half-assed rambling, and maybe you'll get a look at the I'm no Picasso homeland, which should be interesting.
Urgh. Sorry.
6.24.2010
School stuff.
Oh. School stuff.
I taught one class today. That's how life has been lately. It was a C class, Minwoo's class, where Seungwon has recently moved down from B. Fuck knows why. Seungwon's smart as a whip. Daeseok has developed a recent case of attention seeking verbal diarrhea, and Minwoo doesn't like that either one of them are cutting in on his Liz Teacher Attention Time. So you can imagine how that goes. Minus a co-teacher. Because I guess they've just decided I'm alright on my own now. And I am.
We're done with our chapters in the book up until the exam, and I'm not a mean cunt, so I'm not making them move on to a new chapter with the test right over the horizon. It would be pointless, anyway. They wouldn't remember any of it. Right now their little brains are like overstuffed suitcases and they've got to leave for the airport in like fifteen minutes. Some shit's just not going to make it. I'm not about to try to hand them more.
So we played a game. It wasn't so much a game, as this is a C class, as putting a question up, walking around and giving them all the answers, and then having them call them out, giving them points. Every now and then one group or another would know the answer, so they would cry out for "TEACHER NO HINTUH! NO HINTUH!" When it was Minwoo who knew the answer, however, we didn't have to worry about Teacher giving hints, because Minwoo wasn't about to let any of his groupmates take credit for his genius, and would just call the answer out loud as anything for the entire class to hear, so that they could all just copy it down onto their boards. At which point Seungwon would perform his clever coverup: "Just kidding! Ha ha ha."
Minwoo and Seungwon managed to explode a red pen between them and get ink all over their relatively expensive super cool non-uniform shirts. They asked to go to the bathroom and came back, Minwoo with a huge red splotch on his and Seungwon grinning to himself that he let Minwoo go first to see what would happen, proud of his relatively small trail of little red dots.
There's a strangely relaxed atmosphere when the co's aren't in class. Don't get me wrong -- my co-teachers let me do my shit. They don't translate and they don't interfere. They assist with the assignments and will help every now and then if the boys are trying to say something in Korean that I can't understand. But the boys are more willing to use English when they're not around. Even my really timid little C boys, who mostly try not to attract my attention, have come around since the co's have been missing, and no longer hesitate to call out, "Teacher help!" Before, they would rely too much on the Korean teachers, who they can communicate more comfortably with.
Good times.
Then I got to go on a business trip. By myself. After all that hysteria last time, the co's decided I'm also fully capable of doing that on my own as well. All the better. Coffee and cigarettes ahoy. I stuck around for the meeting after the open class this time just because I wanted to get a look a certain cunt's ugly fucking face. I won't get into specifically what that means here. But I'm sure at least some of you can guess. The fucker sitting next to me kept giggling anytime a Korean spoke English into the microphone. Fucking newb. Get it the fuck together. And I was amazed at how I can possibly understand so many goddamn words in Korean all in a row and still not be able to produce a coherent singular meaning. Those higher-up types speak like machine guns. I'd get about fifteen out of every twenty words in a sentence, but fuck if my little brain had time to put them all together to form any kind of substance before they were right on to the next. The teachers guarding the sign-in sheet nearly peed their pants when I wrote my school's name in Korean....
God. They gotta figure out a way to give their older weoneomin a fucking break every now and then. How long are they gonna make me do this shit? At least there weren't any condescending fucking lectures about doing drugs or studying Korean this time. There were a few pointless speeches emphasizing how our main job is to be entertaining and make English fun. Yeah. Thanks for that fucking gem of wisdom. Really. A huge thank you to all fucking three of you.
Sigh. And the weekend is upon us. Here we go again.
I taught one class today. That's how life has been lately. It was a C class, Minwoo's class, where Seungwon has recently moved down from B. Fuck knows why. Seungwon's smart as a whip. Daeseok has developed a recent case of attention seeking verbal diarrhea, and Minwoo doesn't like that either one of them are cutting in on his Liz Teacher Attention Time. So you can imagine how that goes. Minus a co-teacher. Because I guess they've just decided I'm alright on my own now. And I am.
We're done with our chapters in the book up until the exam, and I'm not a mean cunt, so I'm not making them move on to a new chapter with the test right over the horizon. It would be pointless, anyway. They wouldn't remember any of it. Right now their little brains are like overstuffed suitcases and they've got to leave for the airport in like fifteen minutes. Some shit's just not going to make it. I'm not about to try to hand them more.
So we played a game. It wasn't so much a game, as this is a C class, as putting a question up, walking around and giving them all the answers, and then having them call them out, giving them points. Every now and then one group or another would know the answer, so they would cry out for "TEACHER NO HINTUH! NO HINTUH!" When it was Minwoo who knew the answer, however, we didn't have to worry about Teacher giving hints, because Minwoo wasn't about to let any of his groupmates take credit for his genius, and would just call the answer out loud as anything for the entire class to hear, so that they could all just copy it down onto their boards. At which point Seungwon would perform his clever coverup: "Just kidding! Ha ha ha."
Minwoo and Seungwon managed to explode a red pen between them and get ink all over their relatively expensive super cool non-uniform shirts. They asked to go to the bathroom and came back, Minwoo with a huge red splotch on his and Seungwon grinning to himself that he let Minwoo go first to see what would happen, proud of his relatively small trail of little red dots.
There's a strangely relaxed atmosphere when the co's aren't in class. Don't get me wrong -- my co-teachers let me do my shit. They don't translate and they don't interfere. They assist with the assignments and will help every now and then if the boys are trying to say something in Korean that I can't understand. But the boys are more willing to use English when they're not around. Even my really timid little C boys, who mostly try not to attract my attention, have come around since the co's have been missing, and no longer hesitate to call out, "Teacher help!" Before, they would rely too much on the Korean teachers, who they can communicate more comfortably with.
Good times.
Then I got to go on a business trip. By myself. After all that hysteria last time, the co's decided I'm also fully capable of doing that on my own as well. All the better. Coffee and cigarettes ahoy. I stuck around for the meeting after the open class this time just because I wanted to get a look a certain cunt's ugly fucking face. I won't get into specifically what that means here. But I'm sure at least some of you can guess. The fucker sitting next to me kept giggling anytime a Korean spoke English into the microphone. Fucking newb. Get it the fuck together. And I was amazed at how I can possibly understand so many goddamn words in Korean all in a row and still not be able to produce a coherent singular meaning. Those higher-up types speak like machine guns. I'd get about fifteen out of every twenty words in a sentence, but fuck if my little brain had time to put them all together to form any kind of substance before they were right on to the next. The teachers guarding the sign-in sheet nearly peed their pants when I wrote my school's name in Korean....
God. They gotta figure out a way to give their older weoneomin a fucking break every now and then. How long are they gonna make me do this shit? At least there weren't any condescending fucking lectures about doing drugs or studying Korean this time. There were a few pointless speeches emphasizing how our main job is to be entertaining and make English fun. Yeah. Thanks for that fucking gem of wisdom. Really. A huge thank you to all fucking three of you.
Sigh. And the weekend is upon us. Here we go again.
6.23.2010
Hof busted.
After work today, I just couldn't bear the idea of returning back to the flat to amuse myself (or face the mess that has accumulated there, due to my not being there long enough to do anything other than add to it of late), so I went to a cafe up the road. Today was one of those days where I somehow ended up having to use a lot more Korean than I usually do. It felt good, after falling a bit out of practice. My spoken Korean continues to become more active, and my listening is just flat out habitual at this point -- I'm almost always aware of at least the general subject of what's being discussed around me -- but my written Korean is something that remains largely sorely neglected. Abysmal spelling and that. Today involved writing a note to the VP, receiving and responding to a note from a student (C level -- no English), and sending and receiving approximately 20 texts entirely in Korean.
Speaking and listening to Korean doesn't fuck with my head anymore, but I still get spacey and confused when I'm switching back and forth between reading and writing in English and Korean. I've got to find a way to practice more....
After the cafe, I got home and crashed out for a couple of hours, hoping it would give me the energy to stay up and watch the game tonight (which will begin shortly). Our school anniversary is tomorrow, so we have the day off, and all the students are sure to be up watching.
I was woken up by Smalltown phoning repeatedly to set some things straight. Which I had sort of expected he would do after some thought. And was honestly very happy to have him follow through on. After work, he came round and we went to a hof up the road to split 3000cc and catch up.
That kid's great in a crisis, it has to be said. He has a way of asking just the right questions, but not reacting to the answers with any kind of overbearing pity. Just talking about shit like normal, even though you can tell it's out of concern, rather than his own interest. It was nice.
Of course, we're sitting in the window, and I look over and see Mingyoo, Dongyoo and Minwoo peering back in at me from the other side of the glass. I quickly stubbed out my cigarette and went out to talk to them. Teacher what are you doing?
What do you think I'm doing? Where am I? I'm drinking beer.
Teacher boyfriend?
Smalltown, anticipating the subject at hand, helpfully formed his arms into a giant heart around his head through the glass when they turned to look at him.
Don't listen to him. He's a liar. Joke-uh. Never mind that.
Continued smaller hand heart pantomines, including a little dance.
Asshole.
When I came back in, he sat back in the booth, clearly pleased with himself and his performance.
"Thanks a lot for that."
"You're very welcome. They looked like good boys."
"Not exactly. But good enough, I guess. Some of my favorites, in spite of myself."
"Wish I had a relationship like that with my students sometimes."
"What do you mean?"
"The way they were looking at you. They clearly respect you a lot."
"I worked hard for that, to be honest. Those boys aren't the kind to take to teachers just because. But you kiss their finicky little asses from time to time and..."
Homeplusin' at 2 am afterward. I love post-midnight Homeplus. And I got some stuff to fix up the last plumbing problem I had only jerry-rigged before, which had come loose again. Now it's fixed for good, with only the slightest bit of leakage.
Debating still on whether or not I'll actually stay up and watch the game. I've got it on now (one of the only things my staticy tv is good for). But mostly I don't want to waste the day tomorrow.
Sorry about the bitchy little mood swing posts. The emotions are still a bit raw. But I suppose I won't give up on humanity entirely just yet.
Speaking and listening to Korean doesn't fuck with my head anymore, but I still get spacey and confused when I'm switching back and forth between reading and writing in English and Korean. I've got to find a way to practice more....
After the cafe, I got home and crashed out for a couple of hours, hoping it would give me the energy to stay up and watch the game tonight (which will begin shortly). Our school anniversary is tomorrow, so we have the day off, and all the students are sure to be up watching.
I was woken up by Smalltown phoning repeatedly to set some things straight. Which I had sort of expected he would do after some thought. And was honestly very happy to have him follow through on. After work, he came round and we went to a hof up the road to split 3000cc and catch up.
That kid's great in a crisis, it has to be said. He has a way of asking just the right questions, but not reacting to the answers with any kind of overbearing pity. Just talking about shit like normal, even though you can tell it's out of concern, rather than his own interest. It was nice.
Of course, we're sitting in the window, and I look over and see Mingyoo, Dongyoo and Minwoo peering back in at me from the other side of the glass. I quickly stubbed out my cigarette and went out to talk to them. Teacher what are you doing?
What do you think I'm doing? Where am I? I'm drinking beer.
Teacher boyfriend?
Smalltown, anticipating the subject at hand, helpfully formed his arms into a giant heart around his head through the glass when they turned to look at him.
Don't listen to him. He's a liar. Joke-uh. Never mind that.
Continued smaller hand heart pantomines, including a little dance.
Asshole.
When I came back in, he sat back in the booth, clearly pleased with himself and his performance.
"Thanks a lot for that."
"You're very welcome. They looked like good boys."
"Not exactly. But good enough, I guess. Some of my favorites, in spite of myself."
"Wish I had a relationship like that with my students sometimes."
"What do you mean?"
"The way they were looking at you. They clearly respect you a lot."
"I worked hard for that, to be honest. Those boys aren't the kind to take to teachers just because. But you kiss their finicky little asses from time to time and..."
Homeplusin' at 2 am afterward. I love post-midnight Homeplus. And I got some stuff to fix up the last plumbing problem I had only jerry-rigged before, which had come loose again. Now it's fixed for good, with only the slightest bit of leakage.
Debating still on whether or not I'll actually stay up and watch the game. I've got it on now (one of the only things my staticy tv is good for). But mostly I don't want to waste the day tomorrow.
Sorry about the bitchy little mood swing posts. The emotions are still a bit raw. But I suppose I won't give up on humanity entirely just yet.
6.22.2010
Oh. Fucking seriously? It's nice to know who your fucking friends are.
Finished. I'm just finished. A lifetime supply of whiskey, cigarettes and books, a mostly empty tropical island, a meager but honest living... whatdaya say Mags? Do what we gotta do, and I'll meet you there in a few years. Fuck this other shit. It just ain't never gonna come out right.
Finished. I'm just finished. A lifetime supply of whiskey, cigarettes and books, a mostly empty tropical island, a meager but honest living... whatdaya say Mags? Do what we gotta do, and I'll meet you there in a few years. Fuck this other shit. It just ain't never gonna come out right.
To put a mind at ease.
To someone who left a specific request on the Formspring, of course the request wasn't even necessary. It was cute, anyway. But I'd never publish it on the blog.
6.21.2010
Busy.
Sorry, guys. Things are getting a little unexpectedly crazy around here. While a lot of my classes will be canceled over the next couple of weeks, due to exams, I have to do my lesson planning for camps. And now, in addition to working at the center and meeting with the girls on Wednesdays/Thursdays, I'm apparently learning to play the cello. Don't ask. It started as a misunderstanding (as we were speaking Korean) and once I figured out what was actually going on, I decided just to go with it. I've also got some traveling to plan and a lot of people to catch up with.
My formspring has gotten out of control, and I'll do my best to start working on getting those answers going. Probably a massive post on Friday. So now's the time to get those questions in, and those of you who have asked questions over the last couple of weeks... I'm not ignoring you. It'll all get done by the end of the week -- 약속 할게.
But for now, 잘자.
My formspring has gotten out of control, and I'll do my best to start working on getting those answers going. Probably a massive post on Friday. So now's the time to get those questions in, and those of you who have asked questions over the last couple of weeks... I'm not ignoring you. It'll all get done by the end of the week -- 약속 할게.
But for now, 잘자.
6.20.2010
The choice I'm making.
So I should do what I can here to give a bit of an update so as not to give you lovely people (who have left so many incredibly kind messages over the last few days that I don't even know where to begin....), and especially my family (who are, apparently, officially all reading this blog) and friends (who have received correspondence over the last few days akin to "Oh my god! Boo hoo!"/"No I'm fine everything's great. Why?"/*radio silence*/"Oh my god! Boo hoo!") the impression that it's all doom and gloom and bipolarocity over here at La Casa de I'm No Picasso.
It's been rough -- I'm not gonna lie. I honestly don't think I've ever cried so much in my entire life. And I'm not a crier. And it's been pretty spontaneous as well, which I don't really know how to deal with. There's been more than a little public lip trembling over the course of the last week. Which is just. Blah. But everyone understands, I think.
To recap, I was on the bus to Gangnam on Thursday morning, where I was going to change to the train to Jamshil for our field trip to Lotte World, when I looked down and saw a missed international call. I pretty much already knew what that meant at that hour. I had a bit of extra time, due to having left my flat extremely early to avoid commuting with the students, so I hopped off at Gangnam and ducked into a coffee shop to call my aunt back. I sat there calmly at a table facing a window in the smoking room and took in the news, asked all the necessary questions with all the emotional investment of a block of ice. I still had the whole day to get through, and was nowhere near being in private or with people in front of whom I would feel comfortable breaking down. So I just had to suck it up. I think it kind of alarmed my coworkers when I showed up with such a calm smile and demeanor to deliver such news. But you do what you have to do.
I hadn't had a chance to talk to my grams while I was at the coffee shop, because of a bad connection, so while we waited to go into Lotte World, I sat by the fountain and phoned her. Suddenly I saw Minwoo's eyes lock onto me from across the lobby, and he tilted his head, asking a question. He made a beeline for me, and when he sat down next to me, I told him it was my grandmother on the phone. He took it gently with both hands and said, "Hi. Nice to meet you?" and then quickly handed it back. He sat watching my face throughout the short phone call, and when I hung up, he asked me in Korean with his eyes narrowed why I was talking to my grandmother then. I just smiled at him. He narrowed his eyes further, and called Seokhee over to translate.
"He wants to know if there's something wrong."
I just looked at him and smiled. He stared at my face for a long time and then nodded. Scooted over a bit closer and just sat there next to me until it was time to go in.
Of course what always happens when I do things like bottle up extreme emotions happened, and by the time I got home that afternoon, I was running an extremely high fever and barely capable of holding myself upright. I stopped at the 편의점 with my favorite friendly ajeosshi on the way back to my flat, and when he stopped me as I went out the door to double up one of my bags so it wouldn't break, I thanked him with so much genuine emotion that his normal kind of nervous exterior broke down for a moment and he laughed, telling me that it was really nothing. People don't understand what small acts of kindness like that can do for another person when they're having a really hard day.
That night as I lay in bed trying to catch a bit of feverish sleep, JH Unni phoned. She wanted to know if I wanted to come out to watch the game. Obviously I wasn't up for it, but we agreed to meet sometime this weekend. Which we did yesterday. The G Man phoned around midnight and we had a sort of much needed (for us) little heart-to-heart, and I feel like we set some things straight. Some things in life can show you the importance of other things. And those are the moments that I think you have to hold on to.
Friday's pretty much a blank. Most of my classes were cancelled, and the ones I did teach were my really darling and well-behaved C classes, who, of course, once they heard my sickly voice, tried their very hardest. Jae-in told me Ronaldo had told someone to "f off" and asked me what it meant. I explained. I came home and went back to bed.
Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30 am. I had a little chat with myself that ran along the lines of, "Enough is enough." I've gotten myself into real trouble before, with my tendencies to just hide inside when things get hard. Part of coming to Korea was forcing myself out of any kind of ability to hide away into things that are comfortable, and put an end to that kind of nonsense. And I've been extremely successful at it so far. I'm not about to go backwards now. So it was time to clean myself up and get back out there.
Not convinced I was ready to face actual people, I instead headed to Myeongdong to do a bit of shopping and sit around in a cafe reading all morning. After watching a couple of nearly ajeosshi at the next table compare biceps, them catching me watching, and us all laughing together, I figured it was best not to let the day end there. I texted Whiskey and asked him to come out to Sinchon for dinner and drinks, and later, at dinner, phoned JH Unni to get her and her boy and her boy's brother out as well.
We had a great night, mostly low key, and everything was fine until I looked down and saw that the time for my grandfather's funeral was drawing close. I went a bit funny and decided it was best if I just got myself home before any truly humiliating public drunken sobbing set in.
Of course, I left the bag with all my (fairly expensive -- it was Myeongdong, after all, and I gave myself every excuse to indulge) shopping in it in the cab. Fucking idiot. There was a moment where this relatively small thing almost broke it all down, but you know...
You can look at life one of two ways: either the hard things that happen are just bad luck that visit you for no reason other than you are a victim of fate. Or. There's something there that's pushing you to get up and push yourself harder. To become stronger. To face more challenges. To learn more, develop more compassion, more understanding.
Probably neither one of these things are true. Probably life is more times than not simply random. We give meaning to the good things and the bad, because we can't bear to face the idea that there is no bigger meaning to any of it. We try to organize it into all kinds of systems of belief and ritual, to protect ourselves, excuse ourselves, give ourselves a reason to keep trying. Probably, none of that is real. But I still think it's okay.
So I drunkenly left the shopping bag in the back of the cab. And I almost had a breakdown about how it was just one more thing, evidence that things just can't ever quite work out. But that's bullshit. I had a lovely day with people who were not my family, with some I had met for the very first time. But it was what I needed. And it was there when I most needed it. And that's something that's just a little bit bigger, if you want to choose to assign meaning to things.
So I'm going back to Myeongdong to replace every goddamn thing I lost. Because I choose to take it as a sign that I'm not meant to be allowed to sit in again today and sulk. Maybe I need one more day of forcing myself out there to get back to normal. That's the meaning I'm giving it. That's the choice I'm making.
It's been rough -- I'm not gonna lie. I honestly don't think I've ever cried so much in my entire life. And I'm not a crier. And it's been pretty spontaneous as well, which I don't really know how to deal with. There's been more than a little public lip trembling over the course of the last week. Which is just. Blah. But everyone understands, I think.
To recap, I was on the bus to Gangnam on Thursday morning, where I was going to change to the train to Jamshil for our field trip to Lotte World, when I looked down and saw a missed international call. I pretty much already knew what that meant at that hour. I had a bit of extra time, due to having left my flat extremely early to avoid commuting with the students, so I hopped off at Gangnam and ducked into a coffee shop to call my aunt back. I sat there calmly at a table facing a window in the smoking room and took in the news, asked all the necessary questions with all the emotional investment of a block of ice. I still had the whole day to get through, and was nowhere near being in private or with people in front of whom I would feel comfortable breaking down. So I just had to suck it up. I think it kind of alarmed my coworkers when I showed up with such a calm smile and demeanor to deliver such news. But you do what you have to do.
I hadn't had a chance to talk to my grams while I was at the coffee shop, because of a bad connection, so while we waited to go into Lotte World, I sat by the fountain and phoned her. Suddenly I saw Minwoo's eyes lock onto me from across the lobby, and he tilted his head, asking a question. He made a beeline for me, and when he sat down next to me, I told him it was my grandmother on the phone. He took it gently with both hands and said, "Hi. Nice to meet you?" and then quickly handed it back. He sat watching my face throughout the short phone call, and when I hung up, he asked me in Korean with his eyes narrowed why I was talking to my grandmother then. I just smiled at him. He narrowed his eyes further, and called Seokhee over to translate.
"He wants to know if there's something wrong."
I just looked at him and smiled. He stared at my face for a long time and then nodded. Scooted over a bit closer and just sat there next to me until it was time to go in.
Of course what always happens when I do things like bottle up extreme emotions happened, and by the time I got home that afternoon, I was running an extremely high fever and barely capable of holding myself upright. I stopped at the 편의점 with my favorite friendly ajeosshi on the way back to my flat, and when he stopped me as I went out the door to double up one of my bags so it wouldn't break, I thanked him with so much genuine emotion that his normal kind of nervous exterior broke down for a moment and he laughed, telling me that it was really nothing. People don't understand what small acts of kindness like that can do for another person when they're having a really hard day.
That night as I lay in bed trying to catch a bit of feverish sleep, JH Unni phoned. She wanted to know if I wanted to come out to watch the game. Obviously I wasn't up for it, but we agreed to meet sometime this weekend. Which we did yesterday. The G Man phoned around midnight and we had a sort of much needed (for us) little heart-to-heart, and I feel like we set some things straight. Some things in life can show you the importance of other things. And those are the moments that I think you have to hold on to.
Friday's pretty much a blank. Most of my classes were cancelled, and the ones I did teach were my really darling and well-behaved C classes, who, of course, once they heard my sickly voice, tried their very hardest. Jae-in told me Ronaldo had told someone to "f off" and asked me what it meant. I explained. I came home and went back to bed.
Saturday morning I woke up at 4:30 am. I had a little chat with myself that ran along the lines of, "Enough is enough." I've gotten myself into real trouble before, with my tendencies to just hide inside when things get hard. Part of coming to Korea was forcing myself out of any kind of ability to hide away into things that are comfortable, and put an end to that kind of nonsense. And I've been extremely successful at it so far. I'm not about to go backwards now. So it was time to clean myself up and get back out there.
Not convinced I was ready to face actual people, I instead headed to Myeongdong to do a bit of shopping and sit around in a cafe reading all morning. After watching a couple of nearly ajeosshi at the next table compare biceps, them catching me watching, and us all laughing together, I figured it was best not to let the day end there. I texted Whiskey and asked him to come out to Sinchon for dinner and drinks, and later, at dinner, phoned JH Unni to get her and her boy and her boy's brother out as well.
We had a great night, mostly low key, and everything was fine until I looked down and saw that the time for my grandfather's funeral was drawing close. I went a bit funny and decided it was best if I just got myself home before any truly humiliating public drunken sobbing set in.
Of course, I left the bag with all my (fairly expensive -- it was Myeongdong, after all, and I gave myself every excuse to indulge) shopping in it in the cab. Fucking idiot. There was a moment where this relatively small thing almost broke it all down, but you know...
You can look at life one of two ways: either the hard things that happen are just bad luck that visit you for no reason other than you are a victim of fate. Or. There's something there that's pushing you to get up and push yourself harder. To become stronger. To face more challenges. To learn more, develop more compassion, more understanding.
Probably neither one of these things are true. Probably life is more times than not simply random. We give meaning to the good things and the bad, because we can't bear to face the idea that there is no bigger meaning to any of it. We try to organize it into all kinds of systems of belief and ritual, to protect ourselves, excuse ourselves, give ourselves a reason to keep trying. Probably, none of that is real. But I still think it's okay.
So I drunkenly left the shopping bag in the back of the cab. And I almost had a breakdown about how it was just one more thing, evidence that things just can't ever quite work out. But that's bullshit. I had a lovely day with people who were not my family, with some I had met for the very first time. But it was what I needed. And it was there when I most needed it. And that's something that's just a little bit bigger, if you want to choose to assign meaning to things.
So I'm going back to Myeongdong to replace every goddamn thing I lost. Because I choose to take it as a sign that I'm not meant to be allowed to sit in again today and sulk. Maybe I need one more day of forcing myself out there to get back to normal. That's the meaning I'm giving it. That's the choice I'm making.
6.17.2010
That man suffered more in one lifetime than anybody has a right to. But he was also one of the most childishly joyful people I ever had the privilege of knowing. He built a beautiful family and brought them up in a spirit of love that he never had anyone teach him how to make. He never judged anybody, least of all any of us. And we fought so hard for his life, so many times. In a way, because most of us are so different from him, that fighting back was the only way we had to return the love he had given us.
There's a reason why I was here and not there. And if there isn't, then I'll fucking make one. I'll give him something to be proud of, something to show him that it wasn't in vain.
There's a reason why I was here and not there. And if there isn't, then I'll fucking make one. I'll give him something to be proud of, something to show him that it wasn't in vain.
6.15.2010
Finished.
I'm thinking very seriously, this morning, about leaving my MOE, even if it means leaving Korea. I've had a very serious breaking point moment with their inability to treat employees like human beings. I've given a lot to this job, and given up a lot for this job. I've been here for nearly two years, and I think that merits at least some consideration. Especially considering what I'm giving up at this very moment. And I just might be angry enough about this to make it worth giving up Korea, if that's what it comes down to.
I can reason myself into accepting nearly everything, but when those things come along that I can't accept, there is no reasoning with me whatsoever. And this just might be one of those occasions. So I'll take the day to cool down and think about it. But this might be it for me and public schools in Korea.
I find it twice as painful that this comes on the tails of me being forced into an "honorable" teachers' weekend. When someone can't be bothered to put paperwork through quickly enough to allow me time with my family during deskwarming time, when I'll be doing literally nothing, after my grandfather's death, while I sit here and teach classes all through the time he is dying. And I'm expected to just accept this, smile and nod and not get upset. Be grateful for their fucking weekend full of lectures on how great Korea is.
No. I don't think it's going to go down that way this time. I don't think I could make it even if I really tried. There are going to be words this time. Even if it means just walking away from everything.
I can reason myself into accepting nearly everything, but when those things come along that I can't accept, there is no reasoning with me whatsoever. And this just might be one of those occasions. So I'll take the day to cool down and think about it. But this might be it for me and public schools in Korea.
I find it twice as painful that this comes on the tails of me being forced into an "honorable" teachers' weekend. When someone can't be bothered to put paperwork through quickly enough to allow me time with my family during deskwarming time, when I'll be doing literally nothing, after my grandfather's death, while I sit here and teach classes all through the time he is dying. And I'm expected to just accept this, smile and nod and not get upset. Be grateful for their fucking weekend full of lectures on how great Korea is.
No. I don't think it's going to go down that way this time. I don't think I could make it even if I really tried. There are going to be words this time. Even if it means just walking away from everything.
6.12.2010
The stuff that life is made of.
At 3 am, my phone woke me up. After spending the last three days agonizing and having my beautiful coworkers go out of their ways to work around me, finding a way to set aside a month to be home in August, to say a goodbye... my phone woke me up. My grandmother finally cornered the doctors and got answers. My gramps has got "days to weeks". Days to weeks. What does that sound like to you? Days to weeks. It's lost all meaning to me. All I hear is, "not enough time".
I wanted to be the one to tell my brother out in California. It's the first time I've heard his voice in nearly a year. He was sitting at a restaurant having lunch with his wife and baby. The conversation was cooly rational, as it always is between the two of us. We don't have to break down or get hysterical to know exactly what the other one is feeling and thinking. After everything we've been through together, although it looks so cold to anyone on the outside, there's just no need for that.
I'm one of the luckiest people on earth, is all that I can think after speaking to my family this morning. The family that I have is simply unexplainable. It can't be put into words. There is a strength between all of us that can't be touched by anything, ever. And a love that can stretch down phone lines and across oceans as easily as can be conveyed with touch.
As I sit here listening to the rain fall outside this morning, I can't help but to accept. Accept that this is one of those profound moments in life when everything changes. When life grabs you by the throat and makes you stare it down directly in the eye, teaches you hard. And even though it's hard, you accept it for what it is, because this is the stuff that life is made of. This is what living means. Everything's connected, and in order to possess the profoundly good, you have to accept that someday you will suffer profound loss. And it's worth it. And if I ever say otherwise, you can take my life away from me, because I won't be deserving of it anymore. It's worth it.
I wanted to be the one to tell my brother out in California. It's the first time I've heard his voice in nearly a year. He was sitting at a restaurant having lunch with his wife and baby. The conversation was cooly rational, as it always is between the two of us. We don't have to break down or get hysterical to know exactly what the other one is feeling and thinking. After everything we've been through together, although it looks so cold to anyone on the outside, there's just no need for that.
I'm one of the luckiest people on earth, is all that I can think after speaking to my family this morning. The family that I have is simply unexplainable. It can't be put into words. There is a strength between all of us that can't be touched by anything, ever. And a love that can stretch down phone lines and across oceans as easily as can be conveyed with touch.
As I sit here listening to the rain fall outside this morning, I can't help but to accept. Accept that this is one of those profound moments in life when everything changes. When life grabs you by the throat and makes you stare it down directly in the eye, teaches you hard. And even though it's hard, you accept it for what it is, because this is the stuff that life is made of. This is what living means. Everything's connected, and in order to possess the profoundly good, you have to accept that someday you will suffer profound loss. And it's worth it. And if I ever say otherwise, you can take my life away from me, because I won't be deserving of it anymore. It's worth it.
6.10.2010
6.09.2010
Wankery.
Well it looks like I'll have to be swallowing an enormous amount of shit, because after years (almost) of bragging about this not having happened, I'm officially being forced into my first orientation.
I mean.
I've officially been invited to my first Honorable Native Teachers Reunion.
Pffffffft. Pfffffffffffffffffffffffft. Bul-fucking-gogi.
There's an enormous spot on the schedule marked "The Special Korean Culture" and another marked "Why I Love Korea". Gee. I can't wait for that. I also can't wait to spend the night sharing a hotel room with some fucking stranger. I'm sure I'll end up with the absolute weirdest of the bunch, which will probably be saying something.
The good news is:
So I guess forfeiting one night of freedom and being forced to sit through lectures on kimchi is a small penance to pay. Hopefully I can spot another smartass in the bunch to buddy up with for the weekend. Someone who's situated somewhere between 'obviously should've gone home months ago' negative and 'ridiculously out of touch with reality' positive.
I'm definitely going to make it known to all and sundry that 'educating' their native teachers who have been here for over a year in this manner is not appreciated. Is, in fact, quite condescending. And that some actual teacher training would be appreciated, rather than being lectured about why Korea is so great. Because obviously signing my third contract means I already know that, and wasting my time with this kind of assinine nonsense is something that makes Korea look definitively less great. In my opinion.
Of course, Korea wastes the Korean teachers' time as well. But not in quite such a condescending manner.
Urgh. I'm having a slightly irritating day. The horrible teacher is stalking my phone again because she wants me to come to her house today (an early day off) instead of tomorrow, because then I would have even more time to spend teaching her children English for free. That's fucking rude. So I'm being fucking rude right back and ignoring her phone calls.
Tit for tat and blow it all off. Right? Right.
I really could use that vacation right about now. Luckily, the dates were settled today and I'm getting on booking a flight and getting the hell out of here for a couple of weeks. It's time for that to happen again. Korea's great, but not for 12 months straight at a time. We all need our time away.
I mean.
I've officially been invited to my first Honorable Native Teachers Reunion.
Pffffffft. Pfffffffffffffffffffffffft. Bul-fucking-gogi.
There's an enormous spot on the schedule marked "The Special Korean Culture" and another marked "Why I Love Korea". Gee. I can't wait for that. I also can't wait to spend the night sharing a hotel room with some fucking stranger. I'm sure I'll end up with the absolute weirdest of the bunch, which will probably be saying something.
The good news is:
- I officially got out of doing the MOE English camp for the fourth time in a row and
- I was officially asked to re-sign at my school for a third year today, a whole two months early.
So I guess forfeiting one night of freedom and being forced to sit through lectures on kimchi is a small penance to pay. Hopefully I can spot another smartass in the bunch to buddy up with for the weekend. Someone who's situated somewhere between 'obviously should've gone home months ago' negative and 'ridiculously out of touch with reality' positive.
I'm definitely going to make it known to all and sundry that 'educating' their native teachers who have been here for over a year in this manner is not appreciated. Is, in fact, quite condescending. And that some actual teacher training would be appreciated, rather than being lectured about why Korea is so great. Because obviously signing my third contract means I already know that, and wasting my time with this kind of assinine nonsense is something that makes Korea look definitively less great. In my opinion.
Of course, Korea wastes the Korean teachers' time as well. But not in quite such a condescending manner.
Urgh. I'm having a slightly irritating day. The horrible teacher is stalking my phone again because she wants me to come to her house today (an early day off) instead of tomorrow, because then I would have even more time to spend teaching her children English for free. That's fucking rude. So I'm being fucking rude right back and ignoring her phone calls.
Tit for tat and blow it all off. Right? Right.
I really could use that vacation right about now. Luckily, the dates were settled today and I'm getting on booking a flight and getting the hell out of here for a couple of weeks. It's time for that to happen again. Korea's great, but not for 12 months straight at a time. We all need our time away.
Just wanted to do a quick promo for a cool blog I found this morning. Send Me To Korea has got nice little blurbs about all kinds of things here in Korea, as well as a lot of names and words for things in Korean, for those of you who are trying to improve a bit. It seems to be useful not only for the newbs, but also has some stuff on it you older folk might enjoy as well. Good work, guys.
6.08.2010
Formspring: How's Minwoo?
how's minwoo now? Shucks i love that kid
I've got a bunch of questions waiting to be answered, but I thought it was funny that someone should ask this one today. All's been quiet on the Minwoo front for a while, and I haven't seen too much of him recently, thanks to scheduling issues and the fact that work has been particularly busy lately, and I haven't been straying far from the office, other than to teach classes.
There's some stuff going on right now that concerns Minwoo, but it would be impossible to explain without introducing two other students: Daeseok and Seunghyeok.
Daeseok is a student I've always been fond of. He reminds me a lot of myself when I was younger. Daeseok comes from a poor family and every morning he comes to school hours before the first class begins, so that the other students don't find out where he lives (in the mountains). He's prone to skipping classes, but he never, ever causes trouble when he's in them. He doesn't sleep (although he's not always exactly engaged) and he's never been disrespectful.
Seunghyeok is our Jjang. I haven't talked about him much because I don't know much about him. Being the Jjang, he pretty much knows better than to engage in the usual nonsense that keeps the other boys from the Jjang Crew all tied up in the teacher's offices for hours on end being lectured and punished. He keeps his head down. I'm not fond of him, though, it has to be said. He gives me the creeps, to be honest. On the rare occasion when he is actually in class, I always make sure to stop by his desk and make him complete at least a bit of the exercises, but I don't push him too hard for any kind of personal relationship. I don't particularly want one with him.
Minwoo and Daeseok are in the same homeroom class and are essentially best friends. Although Minwoo causes more trouble on the surface, it's generally suspected that Daeseok may be up to more serious things, while under the influence of Seunghyeok. Co was trying to explain why she thinks this is to me after school today, but was unable to put it into words, because for all intents and purposes, everyone should suppose that Minwoo is the bigger trouble maker. But I told her I think her hunch comes from the fact that, even though Daeseok is not a mean-spirited student, he's an extremely logical young man. He seems to think very much in straight lines. Minwoo is emotional, which leads to all kinds of outbursts at school, whereas Daeseok is rational, which could lead him to becoming involved in much colder activities, if he sees the logic behind them.
Basically, Co and I have noticed that lately Seunghyeok has been having little meetings with Daeseok and Minwoo, and while Daeseok and Minwoo seem to be 'friends' with Seunghyeok, they seem a bit too serious and uncomfortable when Seunghyeok is around. Minwoo moreso than Daeseok.
I know for a fact that Seunghyeok is involved with some badass older boys. I know for a fact that Seunghyeok is involved in bread shuttling money to the older boys. I know that Seunghyeok has clothing and accessories that he, as an orphan, has no legitimate means of obtaining.
I told Co all of this and that I also suspect that Seunghyeok may be trying to pull Daeseok and Minwoo in on these activities. Yesterday, Daeseok literally ran away from Co, as she shouted after him while he was walking off the school grounds. She said she suspected he was going to meet Seunghyeok, because it's completely out of character for Daeseok to directly defy a teacher like that, but she suspects he's afraid enough of Seunghyeok to override any respect he may have for his teachers.
I stayed after work nearly an hour today talking this all over with Co and giving her any information I had. After I left, I happened to catch a glance of Seunghyeok heading up an alley with a boy from another school. I ducked in behind him and, sure enough, there was Daeseok. Minwoo was nowhere to be seen. I told Daeseok to be a good boy and not get home too late, and then I sent Co a text telling her I had seen them together.
Minwoo appears to be trying to stay out of all of this. Today, he and Daeseok came into the office after school while Seokhee (my South African student) was there. When they walked in, I called out their names and asked them why they were there. Minwoo grabbed Seokhee (who is a little bit afraid of Minwoo) by the back of the neck and told him to tell me that he hadn't done anything bad and he wasn't in trouble. After Seokhee had translated this to his satisfaction, he stood there for a moment with his hand still on Seokhee's neck, and thought. Then he added, "Tell her that I love her."
I laughed and said, "I love you too, Minwoo." (This is not as strange a thing for a student to say to a teacher in Korea as it is in the West.)
Daeseok saw the translation going on and decided he had something he wanted to communicate as well. He jumped in and told Seokhee to ask me how much my tattoo cost.
So. Minwoo's doing alright. He's back to showing Co a reasonable amount of respect and not kicking up any trouble lately as far as I've heard. He's a good boy, if a bit irrational at times. Rational doesn't always equal good, as we can see with Daeseok, who I am now legitimately more worried about.
6.07.2010
Blah blah blah.
I think I officially have some kind of passive aggressive thing going on with literally all the other foreigners I 'know' (aka have run into and spoken to once) in my neighborhood. They wanted me to go to church. I didn't want to go to church. They wanted me to believe in the Bible. I didn't want to believe in the Bible. I saw this continuing pretty much ad infinitum and cut it off at the pass. Now we pretend not to see each other, which is basically preposterous.
Well. Life wouldn't be right if I continued to exist without being horrified of running into people nearly everywhere I go. So there you have it. Glad that's settled.
I don't really feel like writing here anymore.
My boys are good and funny and stuff. I had a parents open class today and it was hot. Literally. The students mostly controlled themselves from informing me of this over and over and over, though, until the parents had wandered off. Good on them. Got pissy with my six class because for some reason they decided my class was the equivalent of sitting around in a living room watching television and cracking jokes about it today, which, combined with the being really fucking hot and stressed out from the open class, led to me glaring them down until they stopped acting like fools.
The private school teacher got my Jae-in on Friday and that pissed me off as well. Enough to go to the head of the student discipline department (the handsome PE teacher) and explain to him in absurd Korean that Jae-in is a good student and I didn't think he had done anything wrong. From what I gathered, the PE teacher had already come around to that point himself. He still made a point of shouting at Jae-in to stop crying because he wasn't a baby and/or girl, but he confronted the private school teacher over the whole matter.
I feel bad for her. She just honestly doesn't know what to do. But Jae-in didn't deserve an ass-whipping, no matter what he did, because Jae-in just never could deserve an ass-whipping. Period.
The boys at the center are good. I'm going to the DMZ with some students on Saturday. It's hot. I live in Korea. What else do you want me to say? Ah, just bugger off, wouldya?
Well. Life wouldn't be right if I continued to exist without being horrified of running into people nearly everywhere I go. So there you have it. Glad that's settled.
I don't really feel like writing here anymore.
My boys are good and funny and stuff. I had a parents open class today and it was hot. Literally. The students mostly controlled themselves from informing me of this over and over and over, though, until the parents had wandered off. Good on them. Got pissy with my six class because for some reason they decided my class was the equivalent of sitting around in a living room watching television and cracking jokes about it today, which, combined with the being really fucking hot and stressed out from the open class, led to me glaring them down until they stopped acting like fools.
The private school teacher got my Jae-in on Friday and that pissed me off as well. Enough to go to the head of the student discipline department (the handsome PE teacher) and explain to him in absurd Korean that Jae-in is a good student and I didn't think he had done anything wrong. From what I gathered, the PE teacher had already come around to that point himself. He still made a point of shouting at Jae-in to stop crying because he wasn't a baby and/or girl, but he confronted the private school teacher over the whole matter.
I feel bad for her. She just honestly doesn't know what to do. But Jae-in didn't deserve an ass-whipping, no matter what he did, because Jae-in just never could deserve an ass-whipping. Period.
The boys at the center are good. I'm going to the DMZ with some students on Saturday. It's hot. I live in Korea. What else do you want me to say? Ah, just bugger off, wouldya?
6.04.2010
Google searches leading to my blog:
- fat Korean thighs
- one night stands with Korean women
- Korean girlfriend
- find Korean girlfriend
- Korean girlfriend with foreigner
- my Korean girlfriend is pregnant
- Bupyeong Boss Night
- Disco Boss Nightclub Bupyeong
- UEE fat
- "honey" thighs
Haha. Guys. Come on.
By the by, Disco Boss Night is just around the corner from the old Woodstock. If you're walking away from the main road, you'll pass Woodstock on the left, turn left where the road splits, walk a few hundred meters and it'll be on your left. It'll cost you an arm and a leg, and it will be an altogether mystifying experience.
Here's my favorite, by the way:
he was piss drunk and doing hookah while wearing a D.A.R.E shirt... classic
The "... classic" was included in the search. I didn't add that myself. Lol.
6.03.2010
Growing on me.
My B level boys have mostly been without me, due to several scheduling issues over the last two weeks, and when I got back into their classes this afternoon, I was sorely disappointed with what I found. Not surprised -- not in the least. But disappointed.
I wasn't going one toe deep into that shit without getting a few things straight. I pounded my palm against the podium until their little devil heads spun around to face me: "SIT down. Now. Listen to me. Give me your eyes. EYES. Thank you ............ No. Do you understand me? Crazy -- no. Just no. Understand?"
You gotta keep it simple with the B boys, you know. They understood anyway, and mostly reigned it the fuck in after that. Daehee, otherwise known as The Artist Formerly Known As The Student With The Punchable Face (which is just entirely too long, so I decided to just go ahead and learn his name) carried on a bit. This is what he does when he has a teacher he doesn't like. In fact, this is what he does for most of his teachers. But. I had already been on that three weeks ago when the change was made, and I had been anticipating this. I grabbed him out from class and said, "What's wrong with you? You're being bad again."
"No like teacher. Teacher changee why?"
I told him then that that had nothing to do with me, I wasn't the king of everything, and he shouldn't punish me for it. Today, I referred back to that.
"Daehee... remember we talked before?"
"Yessuh."
"Remember? This is not my fault. So why are you being bad in my class?"
He looked genuinely ashamed of himself and gave a wee little embarrassed smile: "I'm sorry teacher. I no changee. Promise."
"Okay. I believe you. Don't disappoint me Daehee."
He did good after that. The class more or less hinges on his guidance, so if I can keep him under control, the rest is basically in the bag. As far as truly nuclear threats go, anyway.
I grabbed Jae-in, another student I've always been closer to, and asked him why the class was being so crazy today. "Oh teacher changee now everybody bad! Oh crazy!"
"Is it like this everyday?"
"Teacher... oh. You come.... and...." He held his hands far apart and then moved them close together.
"You mean everday it's WORSE than this?!"
"Teacher... very worse. Very very worse."
Oh god. It's only a matter of time now. But I seem to have worked myself up far enough in their esteem that they're not going to be too awful for me. Famous last words and that. At any rate, I've only got these boys for another five or so weeks before they're on to high school prep and I'm moved down to the firsties. Which is quite sad, actually. Which I never in a million years thought I'd say about this nightmare group of absolute hellions. But there you have it. Even the worst ones grow on you when you give them enough time.
I wasn't going one toe deep into that shit without getting a few things straight. I pounded my palm against the podium until their little devil heads spun around to face me: "SIT down. Now. Listen to me. Give me your eyes. EYES. Thank you ............ No. Do you understand me? Crazy -- no. Just no. Understand?"
You gotta keep it simple with the B boys, you know. They understood anyway, and mostly reigned it the fuck in after that. Daehee, otherwise known as The Artist Formerly Known As The Student With The Punchable Face (which is just entirely too long, so I decided to just go ahead and learn his name) carried on a bit. This is what he does when he has a teacher he doesn't like. In fact, this is what he does for most of his teachers. But. I had already been on that three weeks ago when the change was made, and I had been anticipating this. I grabbed him out from class and said, "What's wrong with you? You're being bad again."
"No like teacher. Teacher changee why?"
I told him then that that had nothing to do with me, I wasn't the king of everything, and he shouldn't punish me for it. Today, I referred back to that.
"Daehee... remember we talked before?"
"Yessuh."
"Remember? This is not my fault. So why are you being bad in my class?"
He looked genuinely ashamed of himself and gave a wee little embarrassed smile: "I'm sorry teacher. I no changee. Promise."
"Okay. I believe you. Don't disappoint me Daehee."
He did good after that. The class more or less hinges on his guidance, so if I can keep him under control, the rest is basically in the bag. As far as truly nuclear threats go, anyway.
I grabbed Jae-in, another student I've always been closer to, and asked him why the class was being so crazy today. "Oh teacher changee now everybody bad! Oh crazy!"
"Is it like this everyday?"
"Teacher... oh. You come.... and...." He held his hands far apart and then moved them close together.
"You mean everday it's WORSE than this?!"
"Teacher... very worse. Very very worse."
Oh god. It's only a matter of time now. But I seem to have worked myself up far enough in their esteem that they're not going to be too awful for me. Famous last words and that. At any rate, I've only got these boys for another five or so weeks before they're on to high school prep and I'm moved down to the firsties. Which is quite sad, actually. Which I never in a million years thought I'd say about this nightmare group of absolute hellions. But there you have it. Even the worst ones grow on you when you give them enough time.
6.02.2010
This is it.
Another night in the neighborhood at a little hof. I don't know why we didn't start doing this before. It's so much nicer than the total insanity that goes on out in that other place. After taking Whiskey round that way on Saturday night and running into The Korean Body Builder, who was a bit of a cock as usual, I feel like I literally can't go out there without losing somehow. Even mildly. It was quite early and I knew all the boys would be out at Haebangchon, so the risk for incident was low. And the incident itself wasn't much to report. But still. It's nicer to just sit in having a few quiet beers and being left alone, without risk of running into anyone other than my students.
So. Something's come up that's got Smalltown racking his brain, and which had us sitting there over our 2000cc's rapping hard about the expat condition and all that comes along with it. How it feels like there's this giant stopwatch hanging over your head all the time, counting down the nanoseconds, and how that's just not the reality -- it's the getting out of thinking that way that's the hard part. How it's ultimately visas and contracts that make love difficult. How the world should be simpler, and how silly these lines we've drawn all over the damn thing are.
Mostly I just cling on to Kel and her partner as evidence that somehow we can all work it out eventually. Which, of course, means that they can never break up or I'll have a life crisis. You hear me, Kel? Even that kid out in Scotland is stressing a bit at the moment, I know. I don't know why living out of your own country makes everything feel so urgent and pressurized, but it does. It's the contracts and visa expirations that make cloudy futures that much harder to cope with.
Mostly I think we're just all in our mid 20s, and this is probably just the way that things are supposed to feel. No matter where we are. We've got the pressure of having to go ahead and just put ourselves somewhere looming just over the horizon, but no real idea how or where or in what manner to do so yet. We need time. But we can feel it eeking away.
All we can do, I suppose, is just follow our guts, deal with the situations we're in as best we can manage at the time, and see where life takes us. There's no more of this waiting around for life to start business -- this is it.
And at the end of it all, I'm just left thinking, Smalltown could be gone in two months. And even if he's not, it won't be long after that he definitely will be. And that leaves me just another good man down. Yet again.
Man. I don't wanna go to work tomorrow. Life feels too heavy at the moment. But I know those little brats are finally getting to bed now, so they can get just enough sleep to sit there and say brilliant, funny things all day long, so that I can forget all this serious business and just get back to enjoying life in the simple ways that they have to show me.
So. Something's come up that's got Smalltown racking his brain, and which had us sitting there over our 2000cc's rapping hard about the expat condition and all that comes along with it. How it feels like there's this giant stopwatch hanging over your head all the time, counting down the nanoseconds, and how that's just not the reality -- it's the getting out of thinking that way that's the hard part. How it's ultimately visas and contracts that make love difficult. How the world should be simpler, and how silly these lines we've drawn all over the damn thing are.
Mostly I just cling on to Kel and her partner as evidence that somehow we can all work it out eventually. Which, of course, means that they can never break up or I'll have a life crisis. You hear me, Kel? Even that kid out in Scotland is stressing a bit at the moment, I know. I don't know why living out of your own country makes everything feel so urgent and pressurized, but it does. It's the contracts and visa expirations that make cloudy futures that much harder to cope with.
Mostly I think we're just all in our mid 20s, and this is probably just the way that things are supposed to feel. No matter where we are. We've got the pressure of having to go ahead and just put ourselves somewhere looming just over the horizon, but no real idea how or where or in what manner to do so yet. We need time. But we can feel it eeking away.
All we can do, I suppose, is just follow our guts, deal with the situations we're in as best we can manage at the time, and see where life takes us. There's no more of this waiting around for life to start business -- this is it.
And at the end of it all, I'm just left thinking, Smalltown could be gone in two months. And even if he's not, it won't be long after that he definitely will be. And that leaves me just another good man down. Yet again.
Man. I don't wanna go to work tomorrow. Life feels too heavy at the moment. But I know those little brats are finally getting to bed now, so they can get just enough sleep to sit there and say brilliant, funny things all day long, so that I can forget all this serious business and just get back to enjoying life in the simple ways that they have to show me.
6.01.2010
프로포즈.
Today was one of those harass the teacher about her boyfriend situation days. Yessuh. I love those days.
First there was:
"Teacher. Weekend. Boyfriend. See."
"No. Teacher friend see."
"No. Teacher boyfriend see."
"No. Teacher friend see."
"NOOOO! TEACHER BOYFRIEND!"
"NOOOOO! TEACHER FRIEND!"
"Okay. Teacher friend see...... Teacher friend man."
"That's right. Teacher friend man. Why?"
"No."
"Okay. Bye-bye."
Seongmin, the next one, is my bravest little C boy. He reckons he's just about the best English speaker that ever there was and, although I've been told he spends the majority of all his other classes dead asleep on the desk, he always manages to make a scene and dominate my attention in my classes.
The thing about Seongmin is, he doesn't realize that actually, about half of what he says is in Korean -- it's just Korean that I can understand. At the end of it, he always pats himself on the back for the full conversation he's just held entirely in English. Haha.
"Teacher 내일 what do?"
"Maybe.... I'll go to the park? I don't know."
"Teacher boyfriend 있어요?"
"No. You asked that last week."
"아마 ... changee."
"No. It hasn't changed."
"Teacher 같이 who?"
"혼자."
"AH TEACHER NO! Teacher 못해요!"
"Yes I can."
"Teacher no. Teacher me 떡볶이 사다 I Teacher 같이 going with!"
"너.... Teacher 프로포즈?"
"Oh! Teacher 2pm like? 여기요!"
He began to pull up his shirt.
"HOOO! NO! NO THANK YOU! Seongmin. No thank you..."
Well. It's nice to know that if I do fancy a little jailbait boyfriend, it would only cost the price of a dish of rice cakes. Lord.
First there was:
"Teacher. Weekend. Boyfriend. See."
"No. Teacher friend see."
"No. Teacher boyfriend see."
"No. Teacher friend see."
"NOOOO! TEACHER BOYFRIEND!"
"NOOOOO! TEACHER FRIEND!"
"Okay. Teacher friend see...... Teacher friend man."
"That's right. Teacher friend man. Why?"
"No."
"Okay. Bye-bye."
Seongmin, the next one, is my bravest little C boy. He reckons he's just about the best English speaker that ever there was and, although I've been told he spends the majority of all his other classes dead asleep on the desk, he always manages to make a scene and dominate my attention in my classes.
The thing about Seongmin is, he doesn't realize that actually, about half of what he says is in Korean -- it's just Korean that I can understand. At the end of it, he always pats himself on the back for the full conversation he's just held entirely in English. Haha.
"Teacher 내일 what do?"
"Maybe.... I'll go to the park? I don't know."
"Teacher boyfriend 있어요?"
"No. You asked that last week."
"아마 ... changee."
"No. It hasn't changed."
"Teacher 같이 who?"
"혼자."
"AH TEACHER NO! Teacher 못해요!"
"Yes I can."
"Teacher no. Teacher me 떡볶이 사다 I Teacher 같이 going with!"
"너.... Teacher 프로포즈?"
"Oh! Teacher 2pm like? 여기요!"
He began to pull up his shirt.
"HOOO! NO! NO THANK YOU! Seongmin. No thank you..."
Well. It's nice to know that if I do fancy a little jailbait boyfriend, it would only cost the price of a dish of rice cakes. Lord.
One of those days.
"시-장.... 알아요?"
"Yeah. Market."
"No..."
"No? Yeah... 시장... market."
"No! Not 마트."
"I know. Not mart. Market. 시장."
"No...."
"...."
"시-장...."
"...."
"시장 is.... Korean style.... market."
"...."
"You know?"
"Yeah. Market."
"맞아! Market!"
"...."
"....?"
".... Oh yeah. Market. I know."
Please don't let it be one of those days. It's way too sunny to be one of those days.
"Yeah. Market."
"No..."
"No? Yeah... 시장... market."
"No! Not 마트."
"I know. Not mart. Market. 시장."
"No...."
"...."
"시-장...."
"...."
"시장 is.... Korean style.... market."
"...."
"You know?"
"Yeah. Market."
"맞아! Market!"
"...."
"....?"
".... Oh yeah. Market. I know."
Please don't let it be one of those days. It's way too sunny to be one of those days.
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