First off, I heard what happened in Minneapolis. I hope everyone and their family and friends are safe and well. It was such a shock to me that it happened somewhere that I used to travel across so often. I haven't seen much of it in the news or newspapers here and none of my co-workers have said anything about it. So I'm not sure if it's a top story here. The main story is about the hostages in Afghanistan...
I have learned quite a bit about Korea and this entry is just a bunch of random facts I've found out and experiences that I've had.
1) I've learned that Goyang (the area that I live in which includes Ilsan) is literally the FIRST line of defense if North Korea attacks. There is dynamite under the bridges of Seoul so they can blow them up and slow down North Korean infantry. Apparently, a few months ago when there were the nuclear scares, helicopters and jets were flying over all the time. There are places designated to hide if an attack happens. Too bad no one has told the foreigners where they are... haha
2) I think it's amazing that I can pay my bills from an ATM in my bank. It scans the bill, which has a barcode thingy on it, and automatically takes the money out of my bank account. Ain't that smart.
3) I'm very happy that I chose to work with YBM rather than some other company. My friend, Shannon, hasn't been paid by her school for over two months. All the teachers have gone on strike but her. Who knows what's gonna happen or if she'll ever get paid!
4) It's seems to be okay to hit your children. Or else people just don't really do anything about it. I had a student who came in with bruises on her shoulder. I asked her what happened and she kinda brushed my hand off her shoulder and didn't talk the rest of class. Hmmmm. Another incident: My student, Bradley, isn't the smartest in the class and rarely gets a "perfect" on his workbork. One day, his workbook was perfect and, being the loud person I am, gasped really loud and put my hands up by my face. Bradley cowered and covered his head. I was like, "what are you doing?! You got perfect! Excellent Bradley!" He told me that when his mom does that, he's gonna get hit because he didn't do his homework. Of course I tell my co-workers but there's nothing they can do about it.
5) And speaking of punishments, I punish students (the same way everyone else does in my school!) in ways that would never be allowed in the U.S. For example, if a student is continually misbehaving, we can put them outside the classroom, in front of the front desk, and make them stand there with their arms above their head for as long as we'd like. If a student doesn't do his diary, they either have to stand in front of the entire class (public humiliation) or kneel on the ground or on their chair for 40 mins (and it HURTS). However, the one thing that every student really really hates is if I threaten to have the Korean teacher call his/her parents. Cuz then they know they'd really get it at home (see above).
6) Korean television is soooooooooooooooooooooo DRAMATIC. Especially their music videos. Someone is either dying, getting beat up, breaking up, losing their boyfriend/girlfriend to another man/woman. There was one where I seriously almost cried. It was about a girl who was waiting for her boyfriend to come home for her birthday. And she waited, and waited, and waited, not knowing he was being beat up by a mobsters or gang or something. (why? I have no clue) And he gets whacked in the head. So he never shows up and time has gone by and she reminisces the good ol' days. And at the end, she sees him, working on a pier or something, with mental problems because of the hit to the head and he doesn't recognize her and she cries. Oh the DRAMA!
7) Korean television is way more entertaining than any reality TV show. There's this crazy show that has about 8 guys and 8 girls and I have no idea what the purpose of this show is (which makes it even more awesome). And sometimes they dance in front of everyone. Sometimes they're doing the high jump (???) Sometimes they're playing English word games. It's all so random. And I guess they're partnered with someone of the opposite sex. So if a boy gets a word wrong in the English word game, the girl (who is sitting across the stage from the boys) will get WHACKED on the head by something (and vice versa). And it looks like it hurts!
8) My favorite lesson I had to teach was in my Wake Up 3B class. These students are our lowest level students in the afternoon (they used to be in the kindergarten class) so the English they learn is pretty basic. For example, Mia is IN FRONT OF the desk, etc. Well, this lesson I had two weeks ago, the vocabulary I taught them was, "Those are my balls". I'm sorry, but I could not keep a straight face during the class. It was even worse b/c one of my students kind of has a little bit of a lisp. Why did it have to be balls? Why couldn't it be yo-yos or jacks??
9) Most Koreans must think that live octopus wriggling in soup looks delicious. I always see commercials for restaurants and they always show the octopus in soup, just wiggling around while being cooked. I came to Korea with an open mind, but I'm probably not going to order that.
10) Korea is a pretty small country (compared to the US, it's like one of the states) and there are so many different actors in everything. SO I began to wonder if instead of six degrees of separation, it's like 2 or 3 degrees of separation. I asked Yoomi, and she said yes! In fact, we were watching tv one day and a girl in a commercial apparently went to high school with Yoomi. Crazy.
11) There are two channels, late late at night, that only broadcast pictures of little kids and babies that are missing. Some have been missing since the 1970's. It makes me wonder if they were lost and then taken to an adoption agency. (I read stories about that happening while writing my senior thesis on Korean adoption.) It's so sad!
12) Parents are really trusting of their kids and society. Some of our youngest students walk to and from school on their own for almost 15 mins. Kids go the PC Bangs on their own when they're like 10. On our way to the train station when we were going to Busan, one of Luc's students was on the subway by himself. He was going to Church Camp. He is 10 years old and had a two hour subway ride!
13) Koreans are the nicest people in the world. Almost nicer than people from Minnesota/Wisconsin! haha And it seems that men honor chivalry still. Boyfriends will carry their girlfriend's purses. Girls never pay when with the guys. When Claire and I got stuck in the rain during training, a random older man ran to us and covered us with his umbrella, getting soaking wet in the process and walked us to our building. An agima (old woman) was pushing a metal cart down the subway stairs and a random guy came out of nowhere and helped her carry it down the rest of the way. And the list goes on.
Ah, I love Korea.
