Alien Resident

Good News. I received my Alien Registration Card today. This means that I am officially an Alien Resident of South Korea. It also means that I can proceed with getting internet and cable for my apartment and a Korean cell phone. All in all, I am pretty happy about this.

Fire Drill

Dong Mak Elementary School had fire drill today. Unlike similar activites, their drill was much more like a show. As we left the building the school had smoking machines set up outside the windows to give the impression of a real fire. Outside, the students all sat in classes around the edge of the school yard. The fire department began by lighiting a bonfire in the middle of the school yard and having teachers put it out with fire extinguishers. Then they set up the hose and had about a dozen teachers and students take turn holding the hose. All of them tried to spray the audience. At several points, an entire class or grade of students would make a break for it and run into the shower of the hose. Altogether, the production lasted about 45 mintues and forced the cancellation of two of the classes I had scheduled for this morning.

Pictures from Seoul

I have decided not to wait for internet at my apartment to start posting pictures. Here are a couple images from my recent trip to Seoul.

This is the gate to the Secret Garden at the Changdeokgung Palace.

Changdeokgung consists of about a dozen buildings of varoius sizes. Most of them are in this style and are connected by elevated walkways (so that the king never had to go outside and walk on the ground). The downside of this was that a fire about four hundred years ago spread through several of the buildings via the king's walkways.

This is a shot from one of the shows I watched at the Aquarium in Seoul's 63 Building. The woman on the right (outside of the tank) plays a prince. The woman inside the tank is the princess (complete with tutu and tiara around her wetsuit) that the prince wants to marry. Before they can go through with it, children in the audience must answer trivia questions about various aquatic animals. Needless to say, there was a happy ending.

Teaching Update

Since my last post, I have begun teaching in earnest. In the mornings I teach classes of 5th and 6th graders with my co-teacher. Last week, we began collaborating on lesson plans, with varying success. Our lack of fluency in a common language (she speaks very good, but not perfect English) and my lack of experience in planning lessons has made our task rather difficult. So far, we have done four lessons with each one taking about an hour to plan. I should note that these are only forty minute lessons. In any case, we have managed to insert me into the teaching method.

My other classes are more difficult. At the end of last week, I was told that I would be teaching three classes on my own - two advanced English classes and one class of other teachers at the school. My first teacher class was last Thursday and I - having no real idea how to teach a group of adults English - decided it would be best to wing it, try to figure out what the teachers wanted to learn, and go from there. I bombed. With no idea what to do, I began by asking each of them to tell me their names and goals for the English class. It quickly began to feel like a self-help group with me saying things like "Welcome Mr. Kim, thank you for sharing your goals with us. Would someone else like to speak." I then tried to simulate some conversation, failed, explained some grammer that they were uninterested in learning, then discussed my future "plans" for the class. Needless to say, I am hoping for a better performance tomorrow.

My advanced classes are going much better. I taught both of them alone today and things seemed to go well. I think that these will probably be the classes I enjoy the most each week.

Wedding

This Saturday I attended a wedding. No, it wasn't mine. It was the wedding of one of the sixth grade teachers here at Dong Mak Elementary School. The ceremony took place in a conference center devoted solely to wedding ceremonies. Walking through the building, I saw several weddings going on at once in various rooms - each of which was open in the back so that you could look in on the proceedings. I arrived late with a group of teachers, waded through the standing room only crowd in the back, and was able to watch the second half of the ceremony. After the short service, as pictures were being taken, they did one of the bride and groom with all of the teacher's from the grooms school. So, I will be in one of their wedding pictures!

At the lunch which was held after the ceremony I was trying all kinds of new foods - baby octupus, shrimp with the head still on, etc. One of my safety dishes was made from beef and looked pretty good. I had two large bites before I realized I was eating raw beef. It probably would have been much harder to try it if I had known what I was eating. That said, I don't think I will be eating much more of it.

Teaching/ Badminton Update

Today should be my first full day of teaching. I say "should" because I was supposed to begin on Tuesday and it is now Thursday. My Tuesday classes were canceled for student health examinations and I had to leave school yesterday because the vice principal thought I would benefit from going to abother school's open house. I ended up watching a 2 hour presentation about teaching English (spoken entirely in Korean) and learning almost nothing. In any case, I should have four classes today and they are going to start in about 10 minutes.

On to the important stuff - badminton. This week's meetings have forced me to face the grim reality that I need a lot of work. Yesterday, the badminton coach came to improve our form, show us drills, and critique me in Korean. I had no idea how serious these teachers take their badminton.

Seoul

My co-teacher took me to Seoul this Saturday and showed me around. We firstvisited Insadong, a famous Seoul neighborhood where traditional Korean foods, pottery, and artwork are sold. This was the first time since I have been in Korea that I saw large numbers of westerners in one place. Having a Korean guide certainly proved to be a benefit. She pointed out and explained things I am sure the majority of tourists missed, and took me up a non-descript stairwell to a small tea house where we enjoyed tea, a cold rice soup, and rice cookies.

We next visited Changdeokgung Palace, which is one of the oldest and most important palaces in Korea. The palace, which consists of a series of buildings and courtyards, as well as a royal garden commonly referred to as the "Secret Garden" was both impressive and historically interesting. While most of the buildings are four to six hundred years old, kings of the Joseon Dynasty continued living there into the 1920's (even though the Japanese began their occupation of the Korean Peninsula in 1910). The last royal residents were still using some of the palace grounds in the 1980's.

After seeing the palace, we ate a lunch of various Korean foods then headed to Seoul's tallest building, the 63 Building, which is apparently a popular tourist sight in the city. Here, we saw the aquarium (which my father would have loved), then went to the top floor where there is an observation deck/ art gallery. On display was a collection of Hello Kitty artwork which I will not even try to explain. After a quick electric violin concert we took the elevator back down and headed on our way.

Needless to say, the day was pretty full and this post probably does not do my experiences or the city of Seoul any justice. But thats kind of the point. My overall impression of Seoul is that it is a spread out, diverse city that has a lot to offer if you know where to look. Some cities in the world can be seen and understood in a couple of days. Seoul is different. I strongly believe that I will have to spend more time there before I can begin to talk intelligibly about my impression of the Korean capital.

Note: I am having some computer issues and this post may need to be slightly edited in the next 24 hours.

Home Economics

Today, I was observing a sixth grade class again and had the opportunity to take part in another specialty class - home economics. Or as Americans might say, shop class. The task at hand was for every student to build a small shelf. The school-supplied kit included four pieces of wood, a saw, a hammer, nails, sand paper, and hooks to hang the shelves. The first step was cutting the two end pieces into matching shapes (apparently to give the shelves some character and style). Since the student's saws were small and flimsy, the teacher asked me to take the large saw and assist the students who needed help. If all of the students had wanted to make a basic shape (requiring one straight cut) the work would have been rather easy. But instead, the students started coming to me asking me to cut arcs, notches, zig-zags and various other shapes. Before long I was sweating profusely. Then, some of the students began coming to me asking me to make slight alterations from their original designs. I think some of them may have been conspiring to make me work harder for their own entertainment. All in all, I assisted in the creation of about 30 first-rate shelves.

On Tuesday, I will began teaching. While I will miss taking part in the specialty classes, I look forward to actually teaching English.

Pictures Coming...

At the moment, I am only able to access the internet on the computer in my office at school. Once I have internet access in my apartment (hopefully sometime next week) I will begin posting pictures of my apartment, my school, Yongin, and maybe even a few shots of the badminton club. So please bear with the text-only blog until I can start putting pictures up as well.

Badminton and Kick Baseball

Yesterday afternoon I joined the teacher's badminton club here at Dong Mak Elementary School. Every Monday and Wedenesday about ten teachers (and the school's principal) get together to play after school. When one of the teachers invited me to join them, I knew it was a good idea. I did not however, show up prepared top exercise. (Note: I where a shirt and tie to school everyday. Also, in Korea, students and teachers do not wear shoes in the school - they change into slippers outside). So I arrived at the gymnasium yesterday in dress clothes and slippers. As soon as I entered the gym I saw that all of the teachers had changed into track suits and were sweating quite a bit. As I decided that I would watch this week and play next week, the principal (who speaks almost no English) turned to me and handed me his racket, gesturing that I should take his place in the game he was playing. I would also like to note that the principal was wearing the Red Sox hat that I had given to him as a gift when I first arrived.
Fifteen minutes later I was running around the court in blue dress socks, dress pants cuffed up so that they would not drag, and a tucked in white t-shirt. Add on to this that I have not played badminton in at least ten years and you can imagine what I must have looked like. Nevertheless, it was very fun. After we played some of the teachers had ordered Korean pizza and beer to welcome me to the club. Once again I was made to feel very welcome by everyone.

Today, I have been observing a sixth grade class. Their third period was gym and I was allowed to join them for "kick baseball" (which is almost identical to Jim Gately style American kickball - readers from Sterling will appreciate this). I played defence on both teams and made a few big plays in the field. The students seemed to enjoy having me play on their teams and I enjoyed playing. This is quite a job I have.

Korean Food and Korean Drinking

My first full day in Korea was a whirlwind. I ate lunch at the school cafeteria and had my first experience with Korean food. I did not know what everything was but I did recognize pickles, pork, and rice. All in all, it was different but still pretty good. After school I went to get a medical check which proved to be very thorough, opened a Korean bank account and went shopping at an e-mart (something like a Korean Super Wal-Mart).

The real highlight of the day was being invited to a Welcome dinner with my school's Vice Principal - Mr. Lee. He took five other teachers and myself to a traditional Korean meal. As soon as I arrived the table was covered with dozens of small dishes which everyone shared, and meat was brought out and put on the grills to cook. As we began eating, shot glasses were placed in front of everyone and the Vice Principal opened a small glass bottle and poured everyone a drink. He then made a toast and we all drank. The clear liquid tasted a little like vodka and I soon found out that it was Soju. As soon as our glasses were empty one of the teahcers began filling them again. In Korea, drinking is an important part of the culture and is treated somewhat like a ritual. As the other teachers explained to me, drinks are almost always poured according to age with the oldest being served first. This meant that it was a point of great honor that the vice principal had my glass filled before his.

As we drank more and more, some of the teachers began asking me if I drank a lot (not an easy question to answer). They found it very interesting that my face and ears turned red as I drank. It even caused a few of them to warn me that Soju was a strong drink.

Altogether, the food was very good and the meal was very enjoyable. After we finished eating (and drinking many bottles of Soju) we left the restaurant and went to a bar for beers. At Cheers (yes, the bar we went to was called Cheers) the pouring ritual continued with several large pitchers of beer. Although Mr. Lee speaks almost no English, and I speak almost no Korean, we seemed to get along very well. The other teachers translated for us throughout the evening and we agreed that I would learn Korean so that I can have a conversation with him without a translator in six months.

Needless to say, I could not have asked for a better welcome.

Quick Post

I have arrived in Korea, settled into my apartment, and am currently using the internet at my school. I only have a few minutes before I have to go observe my first class (I will be observing, and not teaching for my first week). So, a few quick notes on my arrival and first day so far:

• I brought 120+ pounds of luggage. So, what did I forget? Toilet paper. I realized this with about 4 airplane meals working through my system at 11pm last night.
• After 18 hoursd in the air and a two hour bus ride, all I really wanted last night was a good shower. That said, I have not been able to figure out the hot water in my apartment. So I have had two cold showers and one cold shave. Great start!
• The students all seem to be very entertained by the mere sight of me. I was just introduced to a fourth grade class and was asked three questions: Did you go to Harvard? How old are you? and, where did you go to school?
• I also encountered a group of six graders who immediately erupted into screaming questions and remarks at me in both Korean and English. At least I know they will be enthusiastic students.

Thats all for me. More to come...

Welcome

Welcome to the blog. As many of you know, I am moving to Korea on Sunday morning. I will be living in Yongin, South Korea and teaching English at Dong Mak Elementary School. While I am living in Korea, I will regularly be posting pictures and thoughts on my experiences.

Needless to say, I am excited, anxious, and a little overwhelmed by the realization that I am actually leaving in about 36 hours. That said, my predominant feeling is excitement. I am especially looking forward to meeting my co-teacher, moving into my new apartment, and starting teaching. My first day in the classroom will most likely be Tuesday. I am anticipating that most of my students will know more English than I know Korean. We'll see.

Wish me luck.