People compliment me on my Korean pronunciation all the time. They say that Korean seems easier to me than to other missionaries. My secret? When I say something in Korean, I say it in Spanish. This is why my Korean turns out so good. I relate to the Koreans through my Spanish or Arabic culture, which I find helps me grow closer to them. There are other missionaries here, and they seem to have come to spread their culture and knowledge of the world. However, other than to teach them English and show them hope, I came more to learn from them. I want to know the inside of the Korean culture, the things you don't learn from a book. This why I pick up more Korean expressions and traditions than other missionaries. This is why they like to include me in their more intimate gatherings. If I've learned one thing about Koreans, it's that they're incredibly hard-workers, and unafraid of personal sacrifice to please, to impress, or to get ahead. This is why Korean women wear impossibly high heels, that may look beautiful but are painful. Once I saw a Korean woman's feet when she took off her heels. Her feet were red and calloused, and bruised. However, she will probably put her expensive heels back on and continue walking because it will give others a high opinion of her. This is why Koreans drink too much. They feel like they need to impress their boss, their friends, their family. Personal sacrifice is little to pay to gain the approval and admiration of everyone around them. This also plays in with the conformity of the Korean mind. They all have to strive to be better at the same thing. They would not dare to step out of the socially acceptable norm. To excel in something rare would be unthinkable. It is better to beat someone at the same thing everyone is doing. If a Korean man is going to get married to a beautiful woman, it has to be a beautiful Korean women. This is why foreigners rarely marry Koreans.
I've never been an extremely competitive person. Sometimes, being second or third or even last gets you to the same place as the first, just a bit later. Therefore, this cultural mindset is a bit strange to me. I keep encouraging my students that sometimes, it's ok to lose, or to be different if in the end, the prize is bigger. Even if they don't accept my words, I know they listen and one day will have to face a decision in their lives. I hope that on that day, they might remember me... The girl who couldn't conform to win.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Even Teachers Learn from Teaching
Funny how something so horrible and difficult can change when you take your time to change your attitude and thoughts.
I have a junior class at 5:40pm Monday through Thursday that I absolutely hated. The kids were rude and mean, they mocked and disobeyed me. I would come out of that classroom barely holding back the tears and praying that I wouldn't have to go back the next day. There were at least two boys in that class that were making my life a living hell. It didn't help that the Korean teacher would either ignore the kids making trouble or leave the classroom. I was miserable. Normally I'm really good with bad kids. However, the language and cultural barrier was throwing me way off.
Finally, one day the Korean teacher walked out almost as soon as I came in, leaving me with a classroom full of bad Korean kids. I looked down at my book and mumbled through the drills, trying to get through it as soon as possible. Then one of the kids, let's call him Lenny, started acting up. I snapped. I looked up at him and said "HEY. QUIT IT." He didn't understand what I said but he understood how I said it. He stayed still. The next day another one of the trouble makers; call him Max, wasn't putting effort into repetitions and adding endings to his words. I went and stood in front of his desk. I looked him in the eye and said, "If you add a single sound to the end of another English word, I will not hesitate to fail you." When he started to repeat the sentences, I realized what a smart kid he was and how well he spoke English.
I eventually realized that for a class so rebellious, regardless of culture I would have to revert back to my old tricks. And I did. In Korea, everyone, from the oldest person to the youngest child has their own cell phone. It's understood and expected to be that way. So I told this class that if they fail their next test I would have them call their parents and explain to said parent that they were calling because they had failed their English test because they were too lazy to study. My students understood I meant business. The next day, they all passed with 100%. It was the first time any of these kids had passed a test in this class.
Nowadays, this is my favorite class. They aren't better behaved. The Korean teacher still is no help. The textbook is still boring. But the kids know that I mean business but I can still joke around with them. They joke around with me about who's the worst behaved and who will be punished that day. Without their noticing it, their English is improving inspite of and maybe because of their behavior. I would love to take credit for this amazing change in situation and learning. But I really can't. God had to work on my heart and patience and teach me a lesson in understanding. I'm always complaining that no one understands me, but now I realize that no one is going to bother understanding me if I don't try to understand others first. Harsh lesson, God. Harsh lesson.
I have a junior class at 5:40pm Monday through Thursday that I absolutely hated. The kids were rude and mean, they mocked and disobeyed me. I would come out of that classroom barely holding back the tears and praying that I wouldn't have to go back the next day. There were at least two boys in that class that were making my life a living hell. It didn't help that the Korean teacher would either ignore the kids making trouble or leave the classroom. I was miserable. Normally I'm really good with bad kids. However, the language and cultural barrier was throwing me way off.
Finally, one day the Korean teacher walked out almost as soon as I came in, leaving me with a classroom full of bad Korean kids. I looked down at my book and mumbled through the drills, trying to get through it as soon as possible. Then one of the kids, let's call him Lenny, started acting up. I snapped. I looked up at him and said "HEY. QUIT IT." He didn't understand what I said but he understood how I said it. He stayed still. The next day another one of the trouble makers; call him Max, wasn't putting effort into repetitions and adding endings to his words. I went and stood in front of his desk. I looked him in the eye and said, "If you add a single sound to the end of another English word, I will not hesitate to fail you." When he started to repeat the sentences, I realized what a smart kid he was and how well he spoke English.
I eventually realized that for a class so rebellious, regardless of culture I would have to revert back to my old tricks. And I did. In Korea, everyone, from the oldest person to the youngest child has their own cell phone. It's understood and expected to be that way. So I told this class that if they fail their next test I would have them call their parents and explain to said parent that they were calling because they had failed their English test because they were too lazy to study. My students understood I meant business. The next day, they all passed with 100%. It was the first time any of these kids had passed a test in this class.
Nowadays, this is my favorite class. They aren't better behaved. The Korean teacher still is no help. The textbook is still boring. But the kids know that I mean business but I can still joke around with them. They joke around with me about who's the worst behaved and who will be punished that day. Without their noticing it, their English is improving inspite of and maybe because of their behavior. I would love to take credit for this amazing change in situation and learning. But I really can't. God had to work on my heart and patience and teach me a lesson in understanding. I'm always complaining that no one understands me, but now I realize that no one is going to bother understanding me if I don't try to understand others first. Harsh lesson, God. Harsh lesson.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
I Sound Like I Know What I'm Talking About, Don't I?
Today my students took me out for a very expensive lunch and then traditional Korean tea afterwards. Over lunch they asked me why I had come to Korea. I really didn't think before answering and I found myself saying, "God sent me here." As I thought about it, I realize that it really was God leading me here for some reason. I shared with them some of my experiences from my first time in Korea and how scared and alone I felt. I know it takes alot of courage to go to a foreign land where you don't understand the language or even recognize the alaphabet. However, I had none. Nothing. Zip. Nada. Courage was not something I felt as I said goodbye to my family, or as I boarded the plane. Courage was not what I felt as I landed in Japan and made my flight connection. Courage was not in my mind when I walked out the airport doors dragging two suitcases with what was basically my life support for the next year behind me to find a stranger in the night rain. Courage maybe has not even caught up to me yet. Somedays that I'm here teaching, I realize, 'How am I doing this? I can't do this.' Maybe God is teaching for me. Maybe God is surviving through me and I'm a casual observer. So when I tell my class God sent me here, I'm seriously not kidding. Not only did He send me here, He's here with me.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Until I lived in Korea, I had never...
1. Considered a pet octopus
2. Eaten a cake with chopsticks
3. Taken off my shoes before entering a restaurant
4. Tried seasame leaf. I didn't even know sesame had leaves.
5. Had rice and seaweed as a meal.
6. Hung out in a burnt down restaurant
7. Had cake for breakfast and cereal for dinner.
8. Taken off my shoes for a picnic.
9. Been to so many free concerts in such a short period of time.
10. Made my own yogurt.
11. Enuciated my words.
12. Been to a Buhuddist temple.
13. Become friends with someone who doesn't understand a single word I say.
14. Been so lost in my life.
2. Eaten a cake with chopsticks
3. Taken off my shoes before entering a restaurant
4. Tried seasame leaf. I didn't even know sesame had leaves.
5. Had rice and seaweed as a meal.
6. Hung out in a burnt down restaurant
7. Had cake for breakfast and cereal for dinner.
8. Taken off my shoes for a picnic.
9. Been to so many free concerts in such a short period of time.
10. Made my own yogurt.
11. Enuciated my words.
12. Been to a Buhuddist temple.
13. Become friends with someone who doesn't understand a single word I say.
14. Been so lost in my life.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
And to think I Saw it in Gumi...
When I was a little girl, my mother used to read a Dr. Seuss book called, "And to Think I Saw it on Mulberry St." It was about a little boy who is walking home and he sees all these things on his walk home but at the end you find out that he was making them up.
Everyday on my walk to work or home, I see so many things I thought I'd share here some of those things. My building is located in a popular date district with nice restaurants, bars and a huge public parking lot in between two streets. I love it here. Every morning I walk down 8 flights of stairs and start out towards the institute. I pass a few restaurants, a daycare, some hair salons, a dry-cleaning store, more restaurants and a 7-11. With the exception of the 7-11, at 6:45am everything is closed and empty. I usually see people with bags cleaning the street with huge trash bags and pickers, or a dustpan and broom. I pass a small hair salon every morning and I'm amused to find that although it's closed the people who run it do not understand English and their sign is hanging in the window, "Open". It's closed. Trust me, I've checked. Then there's this old couple who ride a scooter. And everyday around quarter to 7 the old man drops off his old wife, whom I think works as a gypsy nim (cleaning lady). Every single morning without exception I see them across the street from the 7-11. Outside the 7-11 I usually see a business man or two, maybe a child waiting for the bus. But other than these aforementioned, the streets are quiet and empty. When I'm walking home around 9am, the street is beginning to wake up and stir. By 10am, the people come out in force. By 12 the restaurants are beginning to fill with shoes at the entrance. The dry cleaners have their clothes at the curbside ready for pickup and the pre-school is brimming over with screaming Korean children. Trash has been mostly picked up and the buses are annoyingly always on time. Right now until June 2nd, we have elections in the city of Gumi and man do those Koreans know how to advertise. There are floats with techno music going up and down the streets all day. The people on the float can be the candidates or just hired dancers who wear white gloves and bow and wave to everyone. I cannot tell you how many times my class has been interrupted by a candidate's float music. And when there's no election, the street vendors use the same method for advertising their products; driving down the street like an ice-cream truck with products instead of Yankee Doodle.
By nighttime, all the businessmen come out drinking or on dates. There is a street vendor selling packaged snacks and stunning flowers. So a guy can run by and pick up some roses even if he's late for his date. Then after the movie or a drink they can grab some snacks and head for a walk in the park. The lights at night are bright and romantic, if you have time for that sorta thing. But since I get up so early, I prefer the quietness of the morning to the busyness of the night.
And I promise you, this is all honest to God truth.
Everyday on my walk to work or home, I see so many things I thought I'd share here some of those things. My building is located in a popular date district with nice restaurants, bars and a huge public parking lot in between two streets. I love it here. Every morning I walk down 8 flights of stairs and start out towards the institute. I pass a few restaurants, a daycare, some hair salons, a dry-cleaning store, more restaurants and a 7-11. With the exception of the 7-11, at 6:45am everything is closed and empty. I usually see people with bags cleaning the street with huge trash bags and pickers, or a dustpan and broom. I pass a small hair salon every morning and I'm amused to find that although it's closed the people who run it do not understand English and their sign is hanging in the window, "Open". It's closed. Trust me, I've checked. Then there's this old couple who ride a scooter. And everyday around quarter to 7 the old man drops off his old wife, whom I think works as a gypsy nim (cleaning lady). Every single morning without exception I see them across the street from the 7-11. Outside the 7-11 I usually see a business man or two, maybe a child waiting for the bus. But other than these aforementioned, the streets are quiet and empty. When I'm walking home around 9am, the street is beginning to wake up and stir. By 10am, the people come out in force. By 12 the restaurants are beginning to fill with shoes at the entrance. The dry cleaners have their clothes at the curbside ready for pickup and the pre-school is brimming over with screaming Korean children. Trash has been mostly picked up and the buses are annoyingly always on time. Right now until June 2nd, we have elections in the city of Gumi and man do those Koreans know how to advertise. There are floats with techno music going up and down the streets all day. The people on the float can be the candidates or just hired dancers who wear white gloves and bow and wave to everyone. I cannot tell you how many times my class has been interrupted by a candidate's float music. And when there's no election, the street vendors use the same method for advertising their products; driving down the street like an ice-cream truck with products instead of Yankee Doodle.
By nighttime, all the businessmen come out drinking or on dates. There is a street vendor selling packaged snacks and stunning flowers. So a guy can run by and pick up some roses even if he's late for his date. Then after the movie or a drink they can grab some snacks and head for a walk in the park. The lights at night are bright and romantic, if you have time for that sorta thing. But since I get up so early, I prefer the quietness of the morning to the busyness of the night.
And I promise you, this is all honest to God truth.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
I Breathe Everyday, Just like You Do Halfway Across the World...
Somehow I always thought blogging from Korea would be a breeze. Just write what happens everyday, right? Well I'm beginning to realize it is somewhat more complicated than I had originally thought. First of all, alot of things happen in one day for me. I meet people, prepare for class, figure out what to eat, take naps, showers, brush my teeth, drink coffee, water, milk, etc etc. And frankly, I'm beginning to discover that living in a foreign strange country can have it's boring moments as well as interesting ones. Unfortunately for me, I'm not a Hollywood celebrity and not everyone cares that today I bought dish-washing soap. Sometimes I wish my life was like Sidney Bristow's, saving the world from a fiery death on a daily basis. However, when I think about that more, I realize that would be too stressful for everyday life. I always wondered what it would be like to have the same work friends be my weekend friends as well like on Alias, where the work dominates your entire life. Now I know. And to be honest, it is best compared to having soup everyday for dinner. It's good and satisfying, but not extraordinary everyday.
Sometimes I realize that wow, I'm in South Korea, arguably one of the most dangerous places in the world. And I'm alone. This is enough for a few chapters of the beginning of a book. But after a while, I realize I have to write a chapter on ordinary things like going up and down 8 flights of stairs at least five times a day, or crossing the street without looking and almost getting killed multiple times. Or trying to get my co-worker, a stubborn Korean who refuses to learn English, to crack his serious countenance with a smile or a laugh. Or learning my address in Korean. These are all things that may be funny or interesting at least once but then loose taste after a while. In end, my blog may not always tell of every moment of everyday, but after all, do you REALLY want to hear about how I washed my dishes before bed last night? Really??
Sometimes I realize that wow, I'm in South Korea, arguably one of the most dangerous places in the world. And I'm alone. This is enough for a few chapters of the beginning of a book. But after a while, I realize I have to write a chapter on ordinary things like going up and down 8 flights of stairs at least five times a day, or crossing the street without looking and almost getting killed multiple times. Or trying to get my co-worker, a stubborn Korean who refuses to learn English, to crack his serious countenance with a smile or a laugh. Or learning my address in Korean. These are all things that may be funny or interesting at least once but then loose taste after a while. In end, my blog may not always tell of every moment of everyday, but after all, do you REALLY want to hear about how I washed my dishes before bed last night? Really??
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Cooking Korean with my Friends
Sometimes I come to a sudden realization that I am living, by myself, in a foreign country where I don't know the language or culture. This is my first time being independent ever, and I'm doing it in a such an alien place to me. So far so good, I haven't completely run out of money yet or anything, but then again I have no one to tell me to remember to lock my door at night, or that if I don't buy groceries I won't be eating this week. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be independent in my own country but I realize this is what I have now, so I have to deal with it. I like it.
Today I learned a bit more about some of my students. One guy in my class is just a few years older than I but has been married for a year and is expecting his first child in a few months. Another one of the students is alot older, she's maybe in her 30's, and she lives by herself. She strikes me as being really lonely and I wish I could help her, but I'm not sure how. For now, all I can do is pray for her and open my home to her. Speaking of opening my home, God is paying me back for all those lonely moments I felt in the last few months. I prayed for companionship and friendship, and suddenly I remember why they say "be careful what you wish for". It brings to mind the verse of the Bible that says, "He will open the floodgates of heaven". There have been soooo many people here in my apartment this weekend. I feel as if it's been absolutely full all weekend long. I was actually surprised to be able to fall asleep last night at a reasonable hour. On Friday I had nine people here, on Saturday night, I had four, and Sunday, some students showed up to cook for me and brought all their friends: about 12 people from noon to 8pm. Think of my kitchen like, say, a shoebox. And that shoe box is inside an apartment the size of a closet. Now add 12 people. It was mad full.
These things maybe stressful to some, but for me they bring me joy. I'm realizing that I enjoy being alone because it's something that I was forced to learn, however, I love to have people around me at all times.
I must be a very social person.
Today I learned a bit more about some of my students. One guy in my class is just a few years older than I but has been married for a year and is expecting his first child in a few months. Another one of the students is alot older, she's maybe in her 30's, and she lives by herself. She strikes me as being really lonely and I wish I could help her, but I'm not sure how. For now, all I can do is pray for her and open my home to her. Speaking of opening my home, God is paying me back for all those lonely moments I felt in the last few months. I prayed for companionship and friendship, and suddenly I remember why they say "be careful what you wish for". It brings to mind the verse of the Bible that says, "He will open the floodgates of heaven". There have been soooo many people here in my apartment this weekend. I feel as if it's been absolutely full all weekend long. I was actually surprised to be able to fall asleep last night at a reasonable hour. On Friday I had nine people here, on Saturday night, I had four, and Sunday, some students showed up to cook for me and brought all their friends: about 12 people from noon to 8pm. Think of my kitchen like, say, a shoebox. And that shoe box is inside an apartment the size of a closet. Now add 12 people. It was mad full.
These things maybe stressful to some, but for me they bring me joy. I'm realizing that I enjoy being alone because it's something that I was forced to learn, however, I love to have people around me at all times.
I must be a very social person.
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