Change

Annyeong!

I suppose it’s been a while, hasn’t it?  There I was back in August raving about my wonderful adventures in Japan and then haven’t bothered to update you on a thing since. Like my thoughts on being back in the United States, or my, shall we call it, eventful trip through the San Francisco airport. Like driving thousands of miles down Route 90 and gradually realizing that maybe, just maybe another year in Korea’s not for me right now. Or the ensuing job hunt I’ve embarked on and the not one but two positions I’ve been offered that have been postponed by slow-moving FBI paperwork. The past three months have had their ups and downs, their Kimchi and reverse culture shock, but all in all I’m glad to be home.

So as the leaves continue to fall outside and the times keep on a-changin’, so must this blog. It’s hard for me to provide you with thoughts from the thirty eighth parallel when I no longer live close to that latitude, much less the wonderful ROK it represents a hemisphere away. Sad sad. I can, however, continue to provide you with my thoughts about the ROK from time to time or whenever the mood strikes my fancy. So all is not lost, that is, if that would be acceptable to you. ㅠㅠ

안녕히 계세요!

Cheers!

 - Christine

re: Expectations

Today is a very, very special day, and I bet you almost missed it! (Don’t worry, I’ll forgive you) One year ago today, I began documenting my Korean life on this very site. Happy birthday, Tft38P!

In celebration of this momentous occasion, let’s revisit my first real post, shall we? I distinctly remember writing my first expectations post, sitting in my parent’s basement, typing away in the one room in which my then-vintage, now-antique laptop could get internet. I remember my initial thoughts about moving to Korea centered mostly on what things to bring, what things I would miss, and I had this major initial struggle about not wanting to appear too materialistic for the whole internet to see. I ended up limiting my “things” discussion to about two sentences, and then organized the rest of my expectations and concerns about moving to the other side of the world into three seemingly-important and encompassing bullet points: language, public transportation flirting, and cake.

(Oh dear...)

1. I was actually pretty close in my initial analysis of the Korean language. For the most part, the language seems to follow rules, but trying to learn those rules is another story completely. I’ve learned to read Korean pretty well (if I do say so myself), but I really haven’t gained much vocabulary during the past twelve months. Although as I’ve come to realize, it’s amazing what a big smile and 감사합니다 (formal “Thank you”) will get you. If nothing else, people will think you’re cute for trying, which leads me to…

2. Public transportation flirting. Note, not public transportation, as in living in a city and relying solely on busses and subways for the first time in my life, no no no. Public transportation flirting.

Korean public transportation is actually much different than in the US. In the US, if a subway car is full, the doors gently close, and the leftover people wait patiently for the next train. Easy as that. In Korea, if the subway car is full, you should expect at least twenty more people to climb into the car with you. You will be touching other people, and other people will be touching you. It is awkward. If you’re lucky, the driver will be experienced and slow down gently, but if not, meh. There are too many people for you to possibly fall down anyways.

In terms of flirting, the main differences I’ve noticed would have to be the age of the flirter and the cultural assumptions about flirting. In the US, my public transportation flirting experiences generally came from people approximately my own age. In Korea, public transportation flirting typically comes in the form of very old men staring at me and occasionally asking me if I am Russian. Oh, what I would give to have my own car out here, just for a day…

3. Cake. In retrospect, I think it’s hilarious that this was one of my three biggest concerns about moving to Korea. Luckily, however, the Korean cake scene has not disappointed me. Mmm mmm mmm.

For one, there are little cake shops and bakeries on every corner, which make delicious cakes possible at any time you’re having one of those “I need cake, NOW!” moments. Although, I’ve rarely had such moments, considering I fill my cake quota pretty regularly through the coworker birthday cakes we seem to have every couple weeks. It’s great, I get to sample all the different flavors from all the different bakeries around for free! Furthermore, it turns out I do have a working oven (kind of), which I have used several times throughout the past year to remedy my sudden and insatiable cravings for baked goods.

Assa!

So in summary, despite my questionable priorities and initial concerns about moving to Korea, I was 100% correct in my assumptions that my first year in Korea would be amazing, eventful, and hilarious. Despite its quirks and absurdities, I am completely in love with this country, and am thrilled to be spending another year out here. Horray!

Cheers!
 - Christine -

E-Mart

I’d always thought Walmart was a pretty neat place. I mean, it is the one-stop shop right? Better prices, everything you could ever dream of, all available for 24 hours a day? Barring some debates about its negative impact on the world, something about globalization being totally evil, I always really liked Walmart.

Until I found E-Mart.

Turns out E-Mart trumps Walmart in so many ways, I decided it was high time to make a list about it. So here you have it, my fourth official Korea list: Reasons why E-Mart Kicks Walmart’s Ass, hereafter REKWA.

REKWA #1. Location Location Location.

If I walk out the door of my ninth floor apartment right now, I will be standing in E-mart within 3 minutes flat. I have yet to find a Walmart that convenient, anywhere. 

REKWA #2. Dry Cleaner.

In any given Walmart, you can generally expect to find a pharmacy, a photo development center, and an optometrist (bare minimum) in addition to the shopping center itself and the mandatory Subway in the entryway.

Have you ever seen a dry cleaner in a Walmart? No, how about a nail salon? Veterinary clinic? My dear E-mart has all of these things and more. Try this on for size. On the first floor, we have a food court, portrait studio, pet store, veterinarian, optometrist, dog groomer, pharmacy, photo development center, and dry cleaner. On the next floor we have a nail salon, a spa, and a hair salon, as well as a sitting area for the resulting bored children. On the bottom floor, we add in a vitamin/supplement shop and a pretty extensive wine collection. Oh yeah, and there’s the store itself too. Pretty magical, really.

REKWA #3 . Footprint.

If you look at an aerial view of Walmart, you’ll see an expansive building surrounded on all sides by acres and acres of parking lot. Not only did some developer have to cut down forests and kill wildlife in the immediate footprint of Walmart’s unreasonably wide-set main building, but also in the obnoxiously large parking lot surrounding it. And that’s not to mention the impact of increased traffic on the environment surrounding the entire complex. And no, Walmart, those scrawny little trees planted at the ends of the rows don’t make it any better.

Commence angry fist shaking… (and queue this song)

Korea, on the other hand, has become an expert at condensing buildings to fit into the increasingly dense space it has to work with. Instead of building outwards and taking up more land space it doesn’t have, E-mart decided to build up and down, condensing its store into a much more efficient three-floor design. The groceries are located on the bottom floor (two floors below ground, which keeps the foods cooler while exerting less energy), the sports supplies and clothing are located on the middle floor, and the basic home supplies are located on top. Furthermore, the expansive parking lot has been condensed into a multi-floor parking garage located on the four floors above the store, completely eliminating the need for such an absurdly wasteful sprawling lot. Oh yeah, and they threw a park on the roof, making the whole structure just a slightly elevated version of nature.

REKWA #4. Hot Babes.

In Walmart, you have friendly little yellow smiley faces plastered onto prices tags pointing you to where the sales are. In E-mart, you have smiling Korean chicks dressed in ridiculous miniskirts standing at the end of every aisle. If you’re into that kind of thing.

REKWA #5. Boxes and Bags.

I remember one particular trip to Walmart back in my college days in which the woman bagging my recently purchased items placed exactly one item into each bag. I wish I was kidding. Prior to this incident, I had been naïve to the dangers of placing shampoo and ranch dressing in the same plastic bag, lest the outside of their bottles (gasp!) touch each other, but thank goodness she was there to help me…

Commence second angry fist shaking...

In Korea, the bag situation is much less stupid. For one, you have to pay for every bag you need, about 10 cents for paper, and about 70 cents for plastic. It’s not very much money at all, but it makes you stop and question if you really need that extra bag or not. The default bag they give you is paper, and you need to gesture vigorously if you really want a plastic bag. And even then, they won’t call it a plastic bag. It’s a recycling bag.

Even better, you know the thousands and thousands of cardboard boxes they use to ship products to the big name distributors? Instead of smashing them in some back room and leaving them outside in the elements to eventually be taken to a landfill somewhere, they cart them downstairs for customers to take instead of paper or plastic bags. Lots of really, really good ideas Walmart should take note of. 

REKWA #6. Samples.

When is the last time you got a free sample at Walmart? I'm talking a real sample, not a knife demonstration, or whatever else they're waving around shouting about.  

It's hard not to end up with a stomach full of samples at E-mart. Oh, is this mandu? Sure I'll try it? And bulgogi? Why not? Maeil milk? I don't even know what you are, of course I'll try you! 

Mmmm yum! 

So there you have it. E-mart rules, and Walmart drools. And by "drools," I mean is  a horrendously wasteful company that needs to seriously reconsider some of its environmental policies before it can expect to see me as a customer again. And maybe stick with the smiley faces for a while, I don't know if the States are ready for hot greeter babes just yet... sorry!

Cheers!

 - Christine - 

Sunshine

I just had the most wonderful epiphany. The key to world peace is as simple as a little bit of sunshine.

After spending a leisurely Sunday afternoon taking the little one to the dog park and planning my upcoming trip to Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam (!!!!!), I decided to head over to a cafe down the street to catch up on a little bit of reading (Currently, The Two Koreas, by Don Oberdorfer) over an iced tommcino. Because it was a beautiful day, I decided to sit outside and take in a little bit of "nature".

(Side note. Isn't it amazing how much like our parents we turn out to be? It just crept in and snuck up on me, really. First, my iPod filled itself up with Led Zeppelin, next I stopped drinking in an effort to be more financially responsible, and now this, reading history books for [gasp!] enjoyment! If only I could make oval boxes, my dad and I would be indistinguishable...)

After a while, I started to feel a little chilly. It was one of those days where you feel perfect in the sunlight, but if you're standing up and can feel even the slightest breeze, you start to feel chilly. Recognizing my need to be horizontal, I decided to head up to my roof and bask in the remaining late-afternoon sunlight I could find...

Have you ever had one of those moments where you are completely at peace with the world? Where everything makes sense, where you're completely at ease and just feeling wonderful? Amazing, right? And to think, it comes from something so natural as the sun, the one thing every person in the world has equal access to. Somehow, those warm rays, permeate into a collective unconscious and leave you feeling so calm, so serene, so in touch with the world, that it's just magical.

So here's my plan. I need to take every world leader and as many lay-people as I can get my hands on, and drag them into the sunlight. Fidel Castro, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Omar Al-Bashir, Muammar Gaddafi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and just force them to sit in the sunlight for, say, twenty minutes or so. Even the Dear Leader, if I could get him to roll up the sleeves of the ridiculous jumpsuit he wears every day...



It's worth a shot anyways.

Cheers!
- Christine

Photo cred: Kim Jong-Il Looking at Things... only one of the best ideas for a website ever!

Osama

After writing a fairly substantial novel's worth of material about my recent trip to the DMZ and North Korea, I am going to keep my thoughts about Osama Bin Laden's death succinct.

I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

(Kudos to MJF for finding the perfect quote to eloquently sum up everything I'd been thinking already, even if it's not really MLK. Whomp whomp)

Cheers!
- Christine -

Letters for Japan

Aka Creativity Part 2



March was possibly the worst month for Japan ever (Well, maybe next to August 1945). Not only did they get struck by one of the largest earthquakes in recorded history, but on top of that a tsunami. Oh, and nuclear plant failures and ensuing radiation leaks that are still causing problems nearly a month later. Mother nature really outdid herself this time. No pun intended, but this was natural disaster overkill!

Now initially, I didn't think there was a whole lot I could do to help Japan. After all, I am just a lowly, still mostly-broke recent college graduate who has no time off and/or money to offer to the thousands of people in need in Japan. But then my friend Danyell found this. 3000 letters for Japan. A Canadian expat working in central Japan decided to start collecting friendly and supportive letters for the children most affected by the disasters in the Sendai region of Japan. Aka the nicest idea in the history of the world. My co-workers and I decided to partake immediately.

While writing nice things to the newly-orphaned and impovershed Japanese children whose lives have just been ripped apart was a no-brainer for us Waegooks (especially those of us with creativity-promoting agendas), this proved to be more than a little challenging for my students. Namely because my students "hate Japan."

How my 11 to 13 year old students have come to hate another country so much that their first response to my explaining what a horrible situation it must be over there is simply "Good," is puzzling to me. Let's just say that South Korea and Japan have a touchy past and in lieu of going into an entire spiel about Japanese colonialism on the Korean peninsula, understand that Japan was historically not very friendly to Korea. Like taking artifacts, victimizing women, renaming historic buildings, and oppressing the Korean people kind of not friendly. Japan has since tried making amends and apologizing profusely to the ROK (Not so much to the crazies up north), and the two countries have drastically improved their relations, even cooperating enough to joint host the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Yet, there are still points of contention between the two nations, the most vehement according to my kids being the territorial dispute of Dok-do Island.

Ohmygoodness Dok-do Island... Technically known as the Liancourt Rocks, Dok-do is a tiny island located in the East Sea between Japan and Korea. When I say tiny, I mean tiny. Like 46.32 acres tiny. As in smaller than most farms. According to my ever-trusty Wikipedia, Dok-Do Island has all of 2 residents (along with a couple dozen Korean police officers). It has some natural resources, yes, but in the big scheme of the universe, Dok-do Island isn't a big deal. Talk to any of my students, though, and you'll get a completely different story. Teacher, I can't write this letter! Why not? Because I hate Japan. Dok-do Island is OUR island!

And once again, my job turned into a game of distinctions. You do not hate Japan. You disapprove of their government's past actions (in terms of colonialism) and it's current policy on the Liancourt Rocks dispute. Even then, the territorial ownership of the island really doesn't affect you in the least. You will probably never go there. In contrast, you would probably like actual Japanese people. They like computer games and cartoons and hate going to English Academy just as much as you do. Same same. So suck it up and write a friendly letter to a Japanese student, not to their government. Go.

(As a side note, I don't know exactly who's to blame for my students so fiercely hating another group of people at such a young age, but kind of like the 2% of people perpetuating the "debate" that global warming is phony, please stop perpetuating hating another country just because of a disagreement about a dinky little island. It doesn't really matter, and teaching 11 year old children to hate anyone is wrong.)

So with that little misunderstanding taken care of, we got creative. After collecting and editing their draft letters (to fix spelling and X out anything pertaining to the word "Dok-do"), we spent full class periods Tuesday and Wednesday decorating our letters. This was our first craft project in a long time, and my students didn't disappoint. They colored, cut, folded, glittered, you name it. Although some of my kids finished in 15 minutes and spent the rest of the time bored, most of my students really enjoyed having time in class to just be creative. In all, I collected over 75 letters, and here are just a few of my favorites :)













































Creativity is still awesome. So are my kids.

Cheers!
- Christine -

Sendai Earthquake

Like the last time I documented a major current event that had everyone at home worried about my safety and tsking about my decision to move to Asia (“I toooold her not to go…”), I wanted to wait a couple days and figure out what was happening myself before passing on my thoughts to you.

Friday afternoon at around 2:30 pm, a 9.0 magnitude earthquake occurred about 131 km from the eastern coastal city of Sendai. Although Japan is no stranger to earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis, seeing as it marks the border of several tectonic plates, Friday’s earthquake is the largest ever reported in the region and the fifth largest ever recorded since people started recording these things. To make matters worse, the earthquake triggered tsunamis that extended not only across Japan, demolishing cities with 10 meter waves littering debris, wreckage, and even boats all across the country’s costal regions, but it also triggered tsunamis as far away as Ecuador and Peru almost 10,000 miles away!

Seoul is maybe 700 miles away from Sendai, and somehow the earthquake and ensuing tsunami didn’t impact us one bit.

Friday was a completely normal day for me. I got to work at exactly 1:59, and promptly started calculating how to afford a new camera, a new laptop, and Photoshop before my contract ends in July. (It’s technically possible… if I don’t eat for the next 4 months) At around 4:10, I finished my number crunching and ran over to the bank to send some money home. In the bank, there was a big plasma screen tv flashing images of some natural disaster happening behind the tellers’ heads. It looked like a flood, these strong waters plowing over towns carrying trees, homes, debris, and even boats. As I watched the waters moving further and further inland, I kept expecting it to stop somewhere, to reach a point where there was just no more water left, but it kept going. I pieced together in my broken Korean that it was Japan, and when my transaction was finished, I headed out to obtain a much-needed Friday latte, blissfully unaware that there had been a 9.0 magnitude earthquake merely 700 miles away…

Luckily Korea, unlike Japan, lays tucked away from and not directly on top of 4 different tectonic plates (intersections of such plates being the direct cause of earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis). In this case, the Pacific plate subducted under the Okhotsk plate, and actually pushed Japan about 5 meters closer to Korea. This pushed water in all directions, but Japan shielded any of that water from reaching Korea. Moral of the story, Korea’s location is awesome.

My heart goes out to Japan, the record-magnitude earthquake combined with the smattering of tremors and a 10 meter tsunami that engulfed the eastern coast of the country in a matter of minutes is just unimaginable, or as my coworker Elly would say, "Unbelievable!" I keep picturing the flooding I saw in the bank, watching boats destroying trees and houses as they washed further and further inland. I just can't imagine! I wish there was something I could do, but given the instability of several nuclear reactors and the intentional leaking of radioactive materials into the air (to decrease the pressure in the chambers and prevent a Chernobyl-type explosion), I think it better for me to stay my whole 700 mile distance from the wounded nation for the time being.

So keep Japan in your thoughts. (And don't worry about me.)
-Christine-

Macro Mode

When I first moved to Korea, I was concerned about Bucheon not being a big enough city. I wasn’t really looking for it to be a Korean NYC, per se, but I wanted to make sure it was big enough to give me the urban feeling absent from my life in Ohio for the past however- many years.

Six months later, I’ve settled into my city lifestyle, adjusted to there being a 9-lane freeway outside my front door and a rainbow of lights lining the street that literally never turn off. I’m used to relying on bustling public transportation, vying my way for the next taxi in line, and having a coffee in hand wherever I go. You would think that at some point the novelty would wear off, that I would occasionally miss the quiet country bumpkin lifestyle I had back home, but there’s something so engaging and inspiring about living in this city amongst so many people who can’t speak my language, that I’m really going to struggle leaving!

I think part of my positive regard for Bucheon, as for city life in general, comes from the fact that I think there’s something inherently beautiful about cities. I’m not arguing that cities are beautiful in a traditional sense. Matching buildings blend together in grayish monotones of cement and concrete. Cigarette butts lie scattered on the gradually cracking pavement. Tacky neon signs light up at night, extending on for miles. Litter lies abandoned in the gutters, and on everything rests a thin layer of black grime. Of course, none of this is particular to Bucheon alone, rather the same could be said of every city I’ve ever visited.

I think what makes cities seem beautiful to me, in part, is the textures. From the patterns of the sidewalks to the grainy look of the asphalt on the streets to the intricate details on drain covers, to me, there’s something simply artistic about these little intricacies we pass over every day without notice.

Thanks to the fabulous Nikki Raasch, I discovered the macro setting on my camera, and decided to start documenting what I mean. In this group of pictures, I focused on mundane textures that I found around me in Bucheon. There’s nothing intrinsically Korean about any of these pictures, these sights are more or less universal and could be captured in almost any city in the world.

(Note: Feel free to click on the images, most of them look MUCH better full sized! Also remember this is my first time using macro mode, so please forgive me if I did it wrong…)









































Thank you for humoring my faux-artsyness yet again. Finishee!
- Christine -

Social Media

Now that I’ve completely suffocated you with cuteness to the point that you’re afraid to ever read this blog again, let’s rant about a more typically-Christine topic, shall we?

In short, my school curriculum is bizarre. This semester alone I’ve taught about such diverse topics as the Amish, ancient Egyptian cosmetics, the value of paper money, peacocks (did you know the babies are called peachicks?), totem poles, tarot cards, zonkeys, and the Berlin Wall (which should have been a relevant topic for Korean children had it not included an illustration of a man climbing over the wall with a dog biting his pants exposing a Galileo tattoo on his ass while another man stands in the background peeing on a lamppost). Combine these with my lessons on dolphin hunting and the aforementioned victimless crime from last semester and oh gosh, it’s shocking the number of useless facts I’ve picked up in the past six months! Yet, what strikes me in all of this randomness is the number of lessons I’ve taught on cell phones, social media, and technology.

Try just for a minute to remember your curriculum from elementary school. I distinctly recall watching Bill Nye the Science Guy, getting excited for long division contests on the board, and something vague about a show called The something something Mimi, where all I can remember is that the captain of the boat fell off and got hypothermia? The closest thing we had to a lesson on technology was playing Oregon Trail on Wednesdays and giggling stupidly at hampsterdance.com, the viral video of the 90’s I suppose.

Returning to 2011, I swear every book I teach has at least one article on technology of some kind. My JA’s learned about social media, my GB’s about cell phone addiction, and today, Mark Zuckerburg. Technology has become one of those go-to topics lumped in with the likes of food, animals, and sports that everyone can communicate about on some level. It's not that I think technology in and of itself is a bad thing, quite the opposite. I just worry about the inclusion of certain aspects of technology and social media in my elementary school textbooks, printed words my students take to be completely unbiased and true. Furthermore, it makes sense for my kids to learn how to talk about technology in this ever technologically advancing world in which we live, but I still feel dissonant encouraging them to fully embrace this technologically driven culture I have yet to fully embrace myself.

My GB book cites three warning signs that you may be addicted to your cell phone: Spending excessive amounts of time on your phone while, say studying; Getting angry when someone doesn’t message/call you back quickly, and; refusing to turn it off in inappropriate places. Check, check, and check. And I’m only a mild case! When I first moved to Korea, I lived without a cell phone in my life for about 50 days. I’m skeptical that my kids could do the same. Who would have thought I’d need a cell phone policy in my classroom of ten to thirteen year olds, but I can’t tell you the number of cell phones that have rung in class and the number I’ve kept in my designated cell phone mug on my desk for up to a week for such outbursts.

(I’m starting to sound awfully old fashioned, aren’t I?)

Though my kids haven’t yet started using Facebook and Twitter, my books seem to be doing everything they can to make sure that they eventually do. In my GB class, we spent two articles today talking about Mark Zuckerburg and the role of Facebook in the social networking world. Because the article itself was written in language and terminology way above their heads, I had them design their profile pages for their own imaginary social networking site (many of which contained battles between Kimchi and Tony, Harry’s alligator shaped pencil case) instead. Overall, they got really into deciding what information about themselves they wanted to share and finding ways to make their profiles unique and “funny.”

I’m torn about Facebook (although obviously not torn enough to give it up). I joined the site during my freshman year of college because “everyone else was doing it,” and now that the site boasts over 550 million users (or appx. one in every 12 people in the entire world), it really does seem that way. I think Facebook is great for keeping in touch with people you would otherwise rarely see, but it can also encourage exhibitionist tendencies in trying to prove your worth by having the most friends, the best pictures, and biggest collections of “likes,” not to mention that it’s completely addicting and easy to get lost stalking profiles of people you haven’t thought about in years. It’s concerning enough for people my age, I really worry about the impact such social-networking pressures will have on my eleven-year old kids…

And finally, leaving me even more dissonant than Facebook is blogging. The word blogging still instills in me images of nerdy people spilling their guts over the internet, keeping a diary that everyone else can read (As Bo Burnham would say, "And I want you like Anne Frank wanted nobody to read her @$%#ing diary, 'Cause a diary is a collection of secret things that no one's supposed to read, that's the whole point of a diary. Millions of people have breached this little girls privacy after she was chased by Nazis... kick her while she's down"). My JA listening book spent a chapter talking about the benefits of blogging and that keeping a traditional private diary is simply old fashioned. If you are eleven years old, however, I think there’s definitely something to be said for keeping your secrets, well, secret and not posting them all over the internet for everyone to see… Actually let me scratch that and extend that advice to everyone…

Obviously my blogging dissonance comes from the fact that I keep a blog (shocking, I know) and that I get surprisingly into it when I really take the time to write. In addition to feeling relieved at having written a really solid post (pretend I’ve written a couple such posts), I can access stats that tell me how many readers I have, what browsers and types of computers you use, what country you’re in (Shout-out to my readers in India and the Ukraine!), and what my most popular posts are. Basically everything short of your social security number. I like the fact that I have this outlet to share my experiences living in Korea and occasionally rant about, say, social media’s impact on Korean elementary children and the like, but I really don’t advertise myself publicly as a blogger, nor do I plan on continuing to blog once I’m back to living in the States…

Who knows, maybe I’m being old and fussy, but I really do think it’s fascinating how social media and technology have not only permeated my students’ lives through pop culture, but also through their textbooks. Textbooks which they take for truth, which tell them to rely on technology in ways I‘m hesitant to do myself. To think that so much has changed in just the past ten years!

For the record, I think technology is amazing, I really do! The fact that I live thousands of miles away from everyone and can still keep in touch with my friends and family in the States (and almasicr in France… of whom I am still jealous!) is just awesome!

Finishee!

- Christine –

Also, today is my 6 month anniversary of arriving in Korea! Can you believe I survived this long!?!

New Years

Happy New Years from the ROK!!!!!

In short, my 2010 was FANTASTIC! I graduated from college, travelled to my fourth continent, bought a puppy, conquered my fear of children, and mastered the chopsticks. I've been to the highest point in Korea, post-it noted a car, won the Miami Redhawk Hunt, and celebrated GBD to its fullest. My football team is finally good (relatively speaking...), I can read and write in Korean, I've become quite good at synchronized heal clicks, and I've grown to truly appreciate the US. I've become more independent, less high-maintenance, and have learned not to take myself too seriously. Despite a couple setbacks involving a certain tailbone fracture and a 4 month-long flu, 2010 was nothing short of awesome.

Here's to an equally successful 2011!

Cheers!
- Christine -

Turkey

This post is uncharacteristically sappy. Let me apologize in advance.

I never really thought much of Thanksgiving. I mean, I enjoyed having a couple of days off, spending time with my family, and stuffing myself with, well, stuffing. But I never really gave it any more thought than that. This year, in particular though, I guess I have a lot to be thankful for...

First of all, I’m so thankful to have been born in an era where it’s possible for a 22-year old single woman Miguk like me to be able to pack up and move to the opposite side of the world and take up a job there. I’m thankful for the technology that has made such globalization possible, including the means with which I have managed to (kind of) keep in touch with my family and friends at home. Really, stop right now and think about it. From technology to feminism, when else in history could such an experience have been possible for me!?!

Of course I'm thankful for my wonderful friends here. Zooms, for practically adopting me. My coworkers, My Miami alumni who convinced me to move here in the first place, my 남자친구, etc, etc.

I’m thankful for all the just plain kind Korean people I meet out and about who go out of their way to help out the hopeless Miguk... And remind me incessantly that my exit is only 5… now 4…. now 3…. now 2…. stops away. As much as it annoys me and my sense of independence and autonomy, it really is much appreciated. Korea as a whole has been so welcoming, and I truly am thankful to have had the opportunity to spend time exploring such a wonderful culture.

And most, Most, MOST of all, I’m thankful for my loving family and friends who supported me in my admittedly spontaneous decision to move to the ROK, despite all their well-reasoned and completely valid (especially now!) concerns about me and my well-being. Thank you for forgiving my chronically broken internet and busy schedule to make time for me in your life thousands of miles away!

Lots and lots of love! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

- Christine -

ps. Be thankful for the day off and presence of turkey in your country! I'll be missing such things...

Yeonpyeong

I had every intention of writing yesterday, reassuring you all that I was still doing fine in the ROK after the shelling attack on the island of Yeonpyeong 90 miles off the western coast of the country.

Here you go. I’m still fine.

From what I can gather, yesterday's attack was the culmination of a number of internal issues going on in North Korea currently. At the center of these issues you have the priming of Kim Jong Il's youngest son, Kim Jong Un, for the impeding regime change. Add to that the newfound presence of advanced uranium enrichment facilities over the weekend which suggest the North Koreans possess stronger nuclear capabilities than what we had previously thought. Then combine these recent developments with the long standing and increasing poverty within the nation, the general tensions between North Korea and the conservative policies of South Korea's president Lee Myung-Bak, and of course, the March sinking of the Cheonan, and you're bound to have conflict. Though the island of Yeonpyeong has been the target of North Korean hostilities before, both in 1999 and 2002 as a result of a disagreement about the UN drawn NLL, the current situation has truly raised tensions and made people nervous.

It’s a delicate situation, and I would be lying to say otherwise.

One of the coolest things about Koreans, however, is their resilience against the ongoing war. The two Koreas have technically been at war since the signing of the Armistice Agreement (read: not a formal peace treaty) in 1953, but you’d never know it walking around the streets of Seoul.

Today felt like any other day at work. My students still whined and moaned about the same things, pretending to have hiccups in a futile attempt to trick teacher into letting them get water, begging for a few extra minutes for the “picture game”, and the like. A few had devised elaborate plans for killing Kim Jong Il since yesterday, my personal favorite being sneaking a 1/1,000,000,000th sized bomb into his favorite food, but for the most part, they seemed calm about the whole situation. At one point in the day, however, one of my classes briefly deviated to the topic of war. Still struggling to understand the critical difference between “fun” and “funny” (Me: “Dan, what did you do this weekend?” Dan: “I played soccer. It was funny.”), one of my more outspoken students proclaimed suddenly “War is funny.”

War is anything but funny (or even fun, for that matter) especially on the Korean peninsula. South Korea has made incomprehensibly huge strides in the past sixty years, becoming one of the most thriving economies in Asia, if not the world. Looking back at pictures of Korea from before the war, South Korea’s development from the poorer and less industrial of the two Korea’s is nothing less than awesome. Where once lay rice fields and small villages now lay thriving cities and complexes of apartment buildings. The striking economic achievement, the rise of Korea to being one of the most technologically advanced nations in the world added to the rich historical and cultural environment here would be just devastated by war. To be sure, the same can be said of any nation plagued by war, but I suppose I feel particularly strongly about this country I’ve learned to call home and believe adamantly that we should do everything possible to avoid war with the North.

Like an adolescent lashing out against its parents, North Korea’s actions are a form of garnering attention from the international community. We need to resume talks, acknowledging the very legitimate problems going on in the rogue nation, and work to come to some kind of agreement. Does that sound wussy, less macho than going on the offensive and seeking revenge for the lives lost and billions of won spent on repairs from their lashing out over the years? Maybe, but in this case restraint is imperative in preventing the escalation of a potential war of an unimaginable magnitude on the continent. At present, no one is firing at anyone, and with a little restraint and a whole lot of talking, things will hopefully remain that way.

(In the meantime China needs to get off its ass and start talking some sense into it’s ally, like a Korean hagwon teacher who can just with words terrify a student in a way a foreign teacher like me simply cannot.)

In summary, I’m fine and hoping things here remain calm. I really like Korea, and I’m not ready to fly back to Ohio just yet. So no panicking, please :)

- Christine -

Routine

안녕하세요!

I always try to stay upbeat and mainly post here about things in Korea that make me happy and that I love about my new life in Asia. However, it’s been just over three months since I moved here, the weather’s getting colder, and I’m falling into a routine both in and outside of work. Same thing every day – I wake up around 8:30 am, go for a run, come back to my apartment, go grocery shopping, make brunch, hop in the shower around 1:30 and arrive at work by 2:29 pm. I work for exactly 8 hours, teaching the same classes I’ve taught for the past 11 weeks, getting frustrated at the same kids for not doing homework for the umpteenth time. I go back to my apartment, make dinner, watch a movie, read a couple pages of whatever book I happen to be in the middle of, and go to bed. My life’s not bad by any means, but I’m at the point where everything’s a whole lot less exciting than it was when I first got here.

As my kiddies would say, I’m feeling so-so.

For one, I’ve started noticing more all the reasons my job annoys me. The very being that it a business first and a school second, in particular has become really frustrating for me as of late. I have some students who are way way waaaay behind everyone else in their level, but because turning away paying customers is one of the worst business strategies imaginable, there these students are, sitting horribly lost in a system that cares more about money than whether the kid can answer me in English when I ask them, “How are you today, Jenny?” It’s so sad! It just makes me angry that I don’t have the time in a room full of rambunctious children prone to shouting at people outside the window, turning off the lights, and throwing things at each other to help catch up my poorly level-matched children! Even worse, I got two brand new students today in one of my elementary classes, literally 11 weeks into the semester. We don’t even have books for them it’s so late in the semester to be taking in new students! But of course, why would my school turn away perfectly good money whenever it’s willing to start coming in regardless of what’s good for the kids…

End rant.

Moral of the story, I need to suck it up, stop feeling sorry for myself and the routine I’ve fallen into and strive to make every day worthwhile. After all, I’m not going to live in Korea forever, I need to squeeze this experience for everything it’s worth in the next few hundred days I’m here.

- Christine -

Chile

(This post has nothing to do with living in Korea.)

Over the past week I’ve found myself surprisingly touched emotionally by the rescue of the trapped Chilean mine workers. Before last Tuesday, I’d read about the situation in passing, recognized unconsciously that something was going on, but never really given it a second thought. To be honest, most of the news I encounter has to do with death, destruction, and negativity (train crashes, bomb threats, hurricanes, land slides, and toxic sludge), so I suppose I just filed the Chilean mine story in with all the other disaster stories I’m exposed to daily. It’s not like I’d never read about a mine disaster story before. Mine collapses, rescue attempts take place, and more often than not, the trapped miners end up not getting rescued. Maybe a couple days worth of follow-up articles on the terribly poor conditions mine workers have to endure around the world. Return to news as normal.

It was not until last week, when I’d heard that the first miners had been freed from their underground entrapment that I really started to look any further into the situation at all. I won’t pretend to be an expert on the Chilean mine situation, because as you’ve just read, I was only merely aware that such a Chilean mine situation existed until maybe six days ago. But for the past week, I’ve been doing my research, looking retrospectively into the entire situation, and I just can’t get over the incredible strength and ingenuity of the human spirit on so many levels.

Let’s review:

On August 5, a section of a mine shaft in the San Jose Copper-Gold Mine collapsed, trapping 33 miners about 2,257 feet below ground. Some of the miners were there completely by chance. One was on the eve of his retirement, another few were driving a truck on their way out of the mine when the shaft collapsed merely a few feet in front of them. Somehow, no one died on that first day and the 33 of them managed to convene in a 165 square foot shelter at the base of the mine. They were then able to survive for 17 days on nothing but a few cans of tuna, eating about a bottle cap sized portion a day each, before finding a way to attach a message to a drill probe piercing their shelter and send a message over 2000 feet up to the surface, where, the people who had not yet given up on rescuing them, found it.

I’ve had my doubts about humanity, but everything about the survival and rescue of these 33 men has culminated to renew my faith in human kind...

How amazing that, despite the frequency of mining disasters in the world, governments vowed together to get these particular 33 men out.

How amazing that rescue workers on the surface were able to mathematically pinpoint the exact location in which the 33 miners were trapped and send a probe into their shelter.

How amazing that humans have created a tool that can drill a hole over 2000 feet straight into the ground.

How amazing that experts from all different fields collaborated to help them survive physically, emotionally, and psychologically in their underground camp.

How amazing that the 33 men all brought together in this disaster found a way to maintain civility throughout the whole ordeal without regressing to human savagery (a la Lord of the Flies).

How amazing that these men somehow retained their personalities and livelihood throughout the 69 day ordeal. The second miner to come out passed out souvenir rocks to the crowd greeting him at the top… How amazing that he could maintain a sense of humor after 69 days living in such conditions!

And how incredibly amazing that not one of the 33 men trapped in the mine died.

I’ve heard people calling this a miracle, attributing their phenomenal rescue to the will of some higher power. As a humanist, however, I think their rescue is the perfect example of what human kind working together can accomplish. The determination, strength, and ingenuity of every person involved in the Chilean mine rescue is just so inspirational, and reifies my beliefs in the capability and goodness of the human race. I’ve never been more confident that the human spirit is alive and well, and I’ve never been more in awe of what humans together can accomplish.

Creativity

In my experience so far, Korean schools are not especially interested in fostering creativity. Kind of at all. Thus has spurred my new project for the year, inserting creativity back into learning.

The U.S. is certainly not immune to the issue of creativity either. Obviously jobs in the fields of math and science pay more, so why wouldn't you want your child to excel in those areas and set them up for future success (Well, one version of success anyways...)? Of course the arts are something socially acceptable to pursue, but primarily as a hobby. Rarely are you going to look at someone with a Women's Studies or Music degree the same way you do someone with, say, Mechanical Engineering. Be honest...

In Korea, this hierarchy of study is even more pronounced than it is in the states. For these students, their childhood is all about working hard to place into a good high school and then working their asses off in high school to get into one of the top few Universities in the country. Once they're in University, it's pretty much smooth sailing, it's the getting there that's rough. And it infringes on their childhood in a huge way. I teach at a hagweon English school, basically an after school school. Essentially, two or three days a week, after they've already sat in their normal school for 8 hours learning, they come to me to learn even more. And they have all sorts of hagweons, math, science, you name it. Some of my students attend up to 5 different hagweons every week! It's so absolutely ridiculous to me!

If you know anything about me at all, you know that I practically grew up dancing at the Ashtabula Arts Center. Even though I'm retired to dancing in my living room (you know you do it too!), dance for me was a fundamental part of my childhood! It gave me a place to transform my rambunctious childhood energy (of which I had lots!) into a useful and productive form. These kids don't have that opportunity. They sit in classroom after classroom five to six days a week and then go home to a heaping stack of homework from their countless teachers they see each day. Even those who try to incorporate music or sports into their lives do so in, say, private piano or soccer lessons... what ever happened to giving children plain old free time?

I think for the most part, Korean children have accepted the system and learned to adapt to the rote learning required of it. But I can see some of my students struggling, not because they are bad or unintelligent students, but because they have been forced to conform to a system horribly matched for their learning styles. They sit there in class just wiggling, aching to not be sitting in a desk for the umpteenth hour that day. Some of my kids are so artistic, I can tell from the doodles and drawings they do in class. But those drawings will never be valued in this culture, rather their test scores and academic success will determine where they end up, probably not in the same high schools and Universities as some of my more left brained students. I know this happens in the U.S. too, I know it does, but I was able to conform to the educational standards well enough I suppose it never really bothered me. But these kids have really begun to highlight a fundamental problem in education as a whole, and I just want to help them!

So, it's not much, especially coming from just one of their foreign teachers at just one of their hagweon academies, but I make them color. We talk about our topic for the day, then some days I have them draw it for me. As they're drawing, I go around and they tell me about what they're drawing and why (hence conversational English is still technically being taught, win!).

Just take a look at some of their pictures. How fantastic are they!?


We did a lesson on decorating which focused on carpet, tile, wallpaper, and curtains, so I had my students decorate a room for me. This is my "Cleveland Browns" colored room... I was so proud he picked orange and brown all by himself!


This student's ideal carpet in his future home is patterned with an assortment of fruits? We made probably the world's longest list of fruits before he settled on these four.


I love this one. This student made his room into a face, with a nose shaped chandelier, an ear patterned wallpaper and a carpet that looks like a mouth...


I love this one too. Demonstrating that it's completely ok to have upwards of 4 separate wallpapers in one room, including one for the ceiling...


I gave them free time to color while I was conducting their speaking tests. I haven't even talked to them about dancing, but this is one of the pictures I ended up with. Sauté!


One of my students' depictions of my classroom. (Apparently in her eyes I'm blonde?) It's pretty accurate, really... She even included my water bottle, the radio I bring to class every day, my school name etched in the door, every single student in my class, and even my Korean teaching partner, Alice.


I'm not at all sure what's going on in this one, but I know there are ghosts, caterpillars, and a lightning bolt, and it's just adorable!


This one takes a little explanation. Yes, this "Boy from Busan" I keep talking about and I are dating. (Awwwww, shucks!) Of course these children of mine are suuuuper curious about Teacher's boyfriend, and ask about him almost daily. So when I told them he was at least a foot taller than me, their faces all lit up as they shouted, "Teacher, he's a monster!" Ergo, my bf is a monster, and I'm just crazy. And have antennae. I really enjoy it anyways :)

In conclusion, I think creativity is a huge, major, important, fundamental, key, (etc) part of childhood, and I'm going to insert a little creativity into these kids even if it kills me. End.

- Christine -

ps. I was out on a walk this morning and this Korean man I've never seen before comes up to me and says "Where do you go in the mornings? I've seen you before walking in the morning." Awesome. Either a.) I stand out even more than I thought i did, or b.) I have a 70 year old stalker. Horray...