I broke a board with my foot.

It's true.  I am now an official board-breaker.  The tae kwon do exhibition went very well on Friday.  It was held at the same hotel where we had orientation three months ago (can you believe it's been three months already?!  I can't) which made me a bit nostalgic.  It seems like just yesterday we were there, but I know so much more than I did then.  We had a delicious free buffet followed by some quality (ha ha) entertainment from a Korean Beatles cover band.

I was able to break the board on my first try and it did not hurt at all.  The boards are incredibly flimsy and fairly easy to break, but I will continue to brag about my feat.  A good portion of the ceremony was devoted to handing out door prizes.  If I haven't mentioned it yet, I will say it now, Koreans love giving gifts.  They are of the philosophy that "it's the thought that counts".  Case in point:  I won a door prize and this was my prize:

Yes, that would be a year's supply of toothpaste.  Lucky me!  It even comes in a handy carrying case.  But the best part of the toothpaste, and really, what you should expect out of any toothpaste is this:I am really not a fan of math and I expect nothing less from my toothpaste as well.  I will be enjoying this toothpaste for the next year.  And since my toothpaste feels so strongly about it, we will not be doing any math together.  I like my toothpaste to be strong in its convictions.

The rest of the weekend was quite fun.  After the tae kwon do ceremony, I went to a bar to watch some of our friends who have joined a band play their set.  There was lots of dancing and singing.  

On Saturday, we celebrated my good friend Ryan's birthday.  A few of us went out to our favorite bulgogi restaurant in Bupyeong for his birthday dinner.  We then hit up Bupyeong to continue the celebration.  If I deem it appropriate, I may post some videos I took of the festivities Saturday night.  

Today I had a few people over to begin our winter vacation planning.  Six of us are planning on going to Thailand.  Yes, I know Thailand has had some issues as of late with the government and protestors, but I'm hoping that in two months time most of that will be resolved.  We have yet to book a flight, but hopefully that will happen tomorrow.  Our plan is to stay in Bangkok for a couple days, then spend the rest of our time on a beach somewhere.  We're planning on going for ten days.  I am really looking forward to the trip and I hope that everything comes together in the next few days and that Thailand gets its act together.

Anna Rickert Minnesota

Inquiring minds want to know

Alright, after many questions by multiple parties, I have finally taken a video of my apartment.  You can view it here:

Hi-ya!

I am now a yellow belt in tae kwon do.  Yeah!  I passed my test tonight and will receive my belt on Friday at our performance.  I'm moving on up in the world.  Only seven more belts until I'm a black belt in tae kwon do.  Ha!

Hardcore

At tae kwon do today I found out that I have to break a board at the exhibition on Friday.  Have we practiced this?  No.  Am I nervous?  Very.  I was chosen to break the board with an axe kick.  For those who don't know, the axe kick is probably the most ridiculous kick ever.  Basically you lift your leg straight up as high as it will go without bending it.  Supposedly I will break the board with the ball of my foot.  Most likely I will just injure my foot.  Needless to say, my week will now be devoted to axe kicking.  

I love these guys.

I posted the other EV Boyz video here.  They have a new song out now.  It's not as good as "Kickin' it in Gumcheon" but it's still pretty funny.  I think this is how a lot of relationships are here.  A lot of guys come over here with the intent of dating a Korean woman.  

Weekend Wrap-up

The weekend is coming to a close here in Incheon.  I thought I would take the time to recap my not too exciting, but not half bad weekend.  On Friday night it was a friend's birthday, so about 40-50 of us descended upon a bar in Incheon that has become one of our many favorite hangouts.  For some reason, whenever I see my tae kwon do buddies, we always feel the need to practice our moves, so I did a lot of kicking and punching at the bar.  

Yesterday Chrissy and I laid low and did some shopping and saw a movie.  There are three large department stores near me.  The stores are broken down into smaller sections and one of them, an outlet department store, has many individual stores all in this giant department store.  It's a bit confusing, but they tend to have some good deals.  It's a shopper's paradise here in Korea. We also went out for sushi at this great sushi buffet nearby.  It has become a favorite for us because they not only have great sushi, but also salad, soup, spring rolls, and ice cream.  I have been there far too often in the last few weeks.  As we left, a waitress waved goodbye and said, "see you again soon."

In many ways it's so easy being an American in a foreign country.  There are constant reminders of home all over.  After sushi, we spent about an hour in Starbucks.  Besides the constant stream of Koreans walking in the door, I felt like I was sitting at a Starbucks on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.  There were even multiple tables filled with waygooks (foreigners).   If I really want a taste of home, I intend to spend my time in Starbucks.  Another thing that reminds me of home is getting fountain Diet Coke at the movies.  I had a bit of an addiction to diet soda in the U.S.  Fountain soda is the best, followed by cans, and bottles are my least favorite way to drink diet soda.  It is rare to find fountain soda here (unless I frequent McDonald's--which I refuse to do) but they have it at the movie theater.  Not only do they have it, but I can buy a tub of Diet Coke here just like I can at theaters in the states.  I think this may be my favorite part about going to the movies here in Korea.  

We saw the movie Blindness.  It was incredibly disturbing, but also very interesting.  There was kind of  a Lord of the Flies, Plato's Cave, Holocaust feel about it.  Apparently the book is really good and probably better than the movie.  It makes me wonder, has there ever been a movie that is better than a book?  I know I've never seen a movie that was better than the book.  Speaking of movies and books... I'm so jealous of everyone in the states who saw Twilight.  It was supposed to show in South Korea before the U.S. but somehow it doesn't come out until December now.  Early reports from my friends at home are that it's good.  I was in love with this series until the fourth book.  I bought it to read on the plane ride over here and am still only halfway through it.  I cannot bring myself to finish it, I just hate it so much.  I hate the plot, I hate the voice of Jacob, I hate that Stephenie Meyer is trying to push her morals onto her readers.  My goal is to finish the book before I see Twilight, but it's not looking promising.  

Anyway, back to my weekend.  Today I have tae kwon do practice for three hours.  Tomorrow I have my test to get my first belt.  Apparently we're tested on kicks, tying our belt, and our routine.  I think I've got everything down except how to tie my belt.  I need to figure that out today.  On Friday we have an exhibition of our tae kwon do skills.  We have a routine we've been working on and we will show it off on Friday.  I guess it's kind of a big deal because about 140 people are coming to watch.  I think I am going to continue on with tae kwon do (as long as I get my belt tomorrow).  My tkd skills are severely lacking, but it's a lot of fun and a good workout.  It's more fun than going to the gym.  

I hope the weekend finds you well-rested and renewed for the coming week and Thanksgiving festivities.  

When in doubt, make up words.

Yesterday I was teaching students about describing physical characteristics.  During part of the lesson, I showed students pictures of celebrities and had them write down and share descriptions of the celebrities.  I tried to include a variety of celebrity photos.  I showed my students a photo of Dame Judi Dench.  One student raised his hand and said, "She has big nose holes."  (Obviously he meant nostrils.)  

The weather is a-changin.

I wouldn't be a true Minnesotan if I didn't discuss the weather in at least one post.  We got our first "snowfall" here in Incheon today.  There were a few flakes that fell on my way home from school today.  The weather has decidedly shifted.  It is now cold (nothing like Minnesota of course) and windy.  According to Peter, it hardly snows in Incheon.  I can't say I'm going to miss digging my car out of the road, or moving it for snow emergencies.  I do enjoy a good white Christmas, but that's about all I'll miss about Minnesota winters.  

Because Koreans don't celebrate Thanksgiving at the same time as we do, there is no set date to begin decorating for Christmas.  Many stores have Christmas trees up already.  A large department store by my apartment has giant neon snowflakes lit up.  I think I won't get homesick until I start hearing Christmas music.  

I celebrated the change in weather by purchasing my first Starbucks latte since I've been in Korea.  For those who know me, it's quite a feat that I've lasted this long without Starbucks.  They have the same holiday cups as they do at home.  I was disappointed to note that they don't seem to have peppermint mochas here in Korea.  That's a December staple for me in Minnesota.  This toffee latte wasn't half bad though.  

Beauty is only skin deep... or some other such cheesy notion.

My best friend here is 5'5" and weighs 105 pounds. The other day teachers at her school called her "curvy". This is what I'm up against living here in Korea.

In many ways Koreans are very superficial. When I first started here, Namyi, one of my co-teachers, told me about a former American teacher she taught with. She told me that they didn't have a lot in common because he was in his 50s and a man. On the other hand, she said we would get along well because I am "young and pretty". Now I have no idea what being pretty has to do with getting along with someone, but apparently it makes a difference.

On Friday night I went out for dinner and drinks with some friends. Before I caught a cab home, I bought some delicious walnut baked good things (I like to call them "walnut balls") from a street vendor. While I was waiting for the food, a group of college-aged Korean boys started talking to me. A couple of them spoke English so I spoke with them for a little while. They then asked me to choose who was the handsomest in the group. This is not the first time I've been asked to do that. Sometimes when my co-teachers ask me to choose a student to speak in class, they will tell me to pick the handsomest boy in class. Now in the U.S. I might get a severe talking to from a parent or principal if we decided to call on students this way.

Koreans are not afraid to comment on weight here either. Although the teachers at my school don't think I eat enough, they also make sure that I get enough exercise. They love that I'm in tae kwon do, probably because they hope I will shed a few pounds. Yesterday I was teaching my students about describing people using physical characteristics. We were going over body sizes and I was explaining to my students that we don't call people fat. Peter then tried to interject that we use a nicer word like "plump" to describe someone. I tried explaining that if they called an American that, it would still be offensive. Once again I was trying to hold back my laughter during class, because "plump" is just a funny word, and not commonly used in the U.S.

My friend Chrissy also told me about a comment made at her school. For one of her Korean English teacher classes, she reads books with them and then they discuss them. She recently read The Great Gatsby with the teachers. They were discussing the book and the fact that Tom cheats on Daisy. Chrissy asked the teachers if they would forgive their husbands if they had an affair. A 24-year-old teacher said that she would have to see the woman and if she was prettier than her she would forgive her husband.

Yes, living in Korea can often be the ego boost. Yesterday a student told me I looked like Angelina Jolie, on Saturday I was walking down the street and two girls stopped me and asked if they could take pictures with me, and a lot of my students and the other teachers tell me I'm pretty. But it also has its downfalls. Koreans aren't afraid to tell me when I look tired and sick or hint that I need more exercise. Also, I don't always feel like they're genuine to me. I think many of the teachers and students only like me because I'm American, I have blue eyes, and I'm a novelty.

Allow me to step on my soapbox for a moment.

I read this article written by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times recently, and I am very disappointed in Obama if he indeed is putting education on the backburner. I understand that he will have a lot on his plate as a new president, but I agree with Kristof that a lot of the problems America faces is a result of poor education in certain areas of the United States.

Having taught in the U.S. for three years, and now in South Korea for over two months, I feel like I've gained new perspectives on education. Both education systems boast some great qualities, but there are some aspects that need to be improved in both systems.

The U.S. is culturally and historically different from other Asian countries, so when comparing the U.S. to Asian countries regarding education, we do Americans a disservice. Yes, Asian countries are excelling at great speeds in math and science, but at what cost? My students come to school at 8:00 am. They have classes from 8:00 am-5:00 pm. They then have independent study at school until 9:00 pm. After school, many of them attend private academies (called hagwons) for English or other subjects. Many of them do not get home until at least midnight. Sometimes they then must study at home too. It is no wonder that so many of my students are falling asleep in my classes (and trust me, my classes aren't boring--I'm the fun class because we play games). The students are wonderful at memorizing information that they can then regurgitate for standardized tests. But their creativity and critical thinking skills are severely lacking.  In English, they probably have a similar vocabulary to my ninth graders I taught in the U.S. but most of them cannot form a sentence and speak it to save their lives.

Also, in Asian countries, as I've mentioned before, everything is based around respect. The students are expected to do what they're told. They are to respect their elders. Teachers are respected (although still underpaid and overworked) in Korea. There are still discipline problems, but they do not compare to issues in the U.S. In Asian countries, most parents take an active role in their childrens' lives. They pay for high school, they pay for extra hagwon classes, and they push their children to work to the best of their abilities.

Korea values education and puts the highest premium on good test scores and getting into a good college. In the U.S. although many people might say they value education, it is not a priority for most people. When I taught in the U.S. students were constantly yanked out of school for family vacations, sports activities, dentist appointments, choir and band trips, etc. I understand students should be well-rounded, but this would not happen in Korea. Students DO NOT miss school in Korea. Parents and activities schedule around school, not vice versa. We only have to look at our current president to see that education is not a priority. He has tangled up the system with No Child Left Behind. Also, our most powerful leader in the U.S. in no way comes across as an intellectual. He barely slipped by two elections with his folksy, every-man charm. "Intelligent" is not one of the first adjectives I would use to describe Bush.

It is no surprise we are lagging behind Asian countries. Unless the U.S. does a 180 on its culture and values, we probably always will. From what I've witnessed from teaching in Korea, the two countries are barely even comparable when it comes to educaiton. Historically the United States has always been rebellious. This has often worked to our advantage and we wouldn't be where we are today if it weren't for our rebellious nature. However, in education this rebelliousness works against us. From an early age, students see teachers vilified in movies, on television, and even by parents. If parents didn't excel in school they often project that mentality onto their children. Also, absent parents are ubiquitous in the U.S. and thus American children do not receive that added educational support at home.

I do think the U.S. is much better at fostering creativity and critical thinking skills, however, if we use Asian countries as a model for our own educational system, and continue to use standardized testing, these crucial skills will be put on the backburner.

I really hope Obama sees the need for some educational funding. No Child Left Behind is ridiculous and needs to be completely modified or scrapped altogether. I have heard Obama speak fondly of charter schools. In theory, I think they are a great alternative for some students. However, I think we need to focus on the root of the problem which is public schools, instead of just transferring students (and in turn, problems) from one school to another. I do agree with Kristof that good teachers should be better compensated for teaching in difficult public schools. I agree that some bad teachers need to be weeded out of schools, however, I don't think tenure should be abolished. It protects far too many teachers from arbitrary firings. Politics is a tricky tricky business in education and many quality teachers would be wrongfully fired if they were not tenured. As a non-tenured teacher there were many times when I would have liked to speak up during faculty meetings, or brought new or different ideas to the table, but until I held that magical tenure title, I was not going to speak up for fear of consequences. I simply allowed other quality tenured teachers to speak their minds instead of me. Also, tenure protects older teachers who may be fired to hire a new, inexpensive teacher.

As teachers, it's often so easy to blame poor parenting on all the education woes in America. But ultimately, those poor parents are not going to go away, so we have to find better means to cope and compensate for the poor parenting plague in the U.S. I think it's important to enroll children in early childhood programs as soon as possible, because education truly begins at brith. I know Obama has talked about increasing funding to these types of programs. I hope he follows through on that. Also, he has admonished parents for not taking responsibilty for their children. I am glad that he realizes education begins at home.

I know everyone has high hopes for the Obama administration. I hope he chooses his priorities wisely and considers education to be one of them.

Nothing to do at school today. Weird.

Once again I am sitting in my office without classes for the day. Today is nationwide testing for seniors. It is a big deal for them because this makes or breaks their college career, something they and their parents have been preparing for since they started kindergarten. I don't have any seniors at my school, so my students just have a day off. But lucky me, I still have to come in to school even though there are only four of us here. So with the extra time on my hands I thought I would update my blog.

This may be a long post, so grab a cup of coffee and carry on my wayward reader.

I've written a bit about school, but let me share a bit more about my daily classes. I technically teach seven different classes each week. My classes consist of: a regular English class for advanced students, a regular English class for beginning-level students, an optional culture and activity class, English conversation club, Korean English teachers class, English class for non-English Korean teachers, and an English class for parents. I end up seeing each student one to two times per week.

I try to focus on speaking in my regular English classes. In the beginning-level classes my students can barely form sentences when speaking. Instead they shout out random words that I can hardly understand because their accents are so thick. You would never know they have had nine years of English training.

In my optional culture and activity class I choose a theme each week and we usually do activities centered around that theme. I end up changing lessons once every two weeks. So when I prepare these lessons, I make sure that I am as interested in the topic as the students are because I have to teach the lesson for two weeks.

My English conversation club is the light of my life here at Incheon Mansu High School. I meet with 8-10 students twice a week. There are two different classes, so I see the same students once per week. The club is made up of the best English speakers in the high school. I usually let them choose the subject each week and then I prepare an activity about the topic. Most of these students can actually carry on a conversation so I feel like I've actually established a relationship with most of these students. This past week I taught them the card game "Bullshit" (excuse my language) but told them it was called "I doubt it". I've never seen students so excited. They LOVED the game and it forced them to speak English most of the time. You can see pictures of me and one of my conversation classes in my photo album on the sidebar. Also, I don't have a co-teacher watching over me during this class so I have more freedom. I think that
is one of the reasons I enjoy the class so much.

Usually the other English teachers are so busy so I rarely meet with them for their class. Sometimes I will correct their teaching materials or they will ask me random questions about the English language. The other day I had a 20 minute conversation with Peter about the passive voice in English. Another time he asked me about the expression "wearing the pants in the family". Once he read me a bunch of jokes and asked me why exactly they were meant to be funny. Today he asked me about the phrase "beginner's luck". He really likes to throw random idioms into his speech and then ask me about them. He loves to refer to a student who "sleeps like a log" in every class of mine. Today he asked me if playing the piano was my "cup of tea".

I have only taught the English class for Korean teachers once. I am supposed to have the class every Friday and it seems like something comes up every Friday and they can't attend. I'm disappointed because the one time I had it I realized their English is much better than they let on and most of them can carry on a conversation with me. I was not aware of this because most of them do not speak to me during the day.

I have five mothers that attend my parents' English class. They are so cute. Their English pronunciation is horrible but they try so hard. Their English is very limited. I don't have a co-teacher with me during this class either, so sometimes it is difficult for me to communicate with them. They bring me presents almost every time we have class so I enjoy them a lot also.

I have three English co-teachers. Peter is my main co-teacher and is kind of in charge of me. I've described him before. He is incredibly helpful and a nice man, but sometimes I get annoyed with the way men over the age of 40 act in Korea. It is still a male dominated society and respect is a big deal here. Peter often tells me what to do and I am expected to do it. Namyi is one of my other co-teachers. She is 28 and not married. I have hung out with her outside of school once. We keep meaning to get together again but teachers work insane hours here so we can't always find a time. I enjoy teaching with her the most because we have similar teaching styles, probably because we're both young. My other co-teacher is Ms. Ok (I don't know her first name...ooops). Her office is upstairs so I rarely see her except when I teach with her. She is in her thirties and married with two children. She is very nice, but her English is definitely the
worst of my three co-teachers. Sometimes I have a difficult time understanding her.

It is now time for me to head home for the day. Overall this has been a rather productive day. I just performed my tae kwon do routine for a few teachers who are here. I am horrible at tae kwon do, but they all had good things to say. One teacher said I looked very powerful, another told me it was perfect, and they all said I excel at tae kwon do. I ate some delicious black noodles for lunch (a "Chinese" dish), Peter and I went to the bank to transfer money home, I sat on Facebook for hours, I listened to Korean pop music, I wrote three blog posts, I discussed the merits of evaluating teachers in the U.S. with Peter and another teacher, I had real coffee (a rarity in this office), I ate a sweet potato "for dessert", I talked about the lottery with my vice principal, and I didn't do any lesson planning. Good job me!

K-Pop

Now that I've been here a couple months, I've come to appreciate Korean pop music. We listen to it a lot during tae kwon do. Also, one of the teachers downloaded a bunch of Korean music for me. The Wonder Girls' "Nobody" is everywhere. I was shopping the other night, and heard it in three different stores. Here are a few of my favorites K-Pop songs:

Wonder Girls: "Nobody"
(This is just a great video in general.)


Wonder Girls: "So Hot"


Outsider (A Korean rapper--my students really like him.)


Epik High: "One"

Koreans have not heard about the War on Drugs in the U.S.

The other day as a warm-up activity to our lesson, I had my students list as many American foods as they could. One group wrote down "drugs". I tell you I break out into hysterical laughter at least three times a week in my classes.

I love Konglish

One of my favorite things about living in Korea is reading the random English phrases written on clothing.  Koreans love to wear shirts with English phrases.  I have read so many great phrases that escape me at the moment.  But I saw a quality one today that I actually remembered.  A ten year old girl on my bus this afternoon was wearing a shirt that said:  "College Life:  The most fun you'll never remember."

My life span was cut in half

Shortly after I wrote my last blog post there were some loud noises outside of my office. The other teacher in the office checked to see what the noise was.  She came back and told me that there was some work being done on the school.  We both went back to work.  A little while later it started to smell in the office.  The teacher again went to check to see what was going on.  She came back and said that they were disinfecting the school.  Her English is not very good so I didn't ask much further and she went back to work so I did too.  After about another half hour another teacher came in and told us we should leave the building because the fumes were poisonous.  I looked up and all around the office it looked like a smoky barroom.  There was a haze and the smell was strong.  I ran out of the building with my scarf around my face and the principal was outside laughing at me.  

I am incredibly worried that I will now develop lung cancer next week.  I know there's a language barrier and a lot gets lost in translation, but I feel that we should have been warned about these toxic fumes.  I was able to leave school an hour early but that's a small price to pay for the cancer that I am surely to develop from this incident.  

Weekend Ramblings

It is almost time for me to head home for the weekend. Once again I have wasted away the whole day doing nothing. The entire school went to Everland, an amusement park in Seoul, today and I am stuck in the office with the vice principal and one other teacher. I don't entirely mind because my other option was to go to an English conference with Peter which I wanted to do less than sit in the office all day. I went out to lunch with the teachers who were here. We had rice and vegetables wrapped in pig intestines. "No meat!" my vice principal told me. She still doesn't quite understand the concept that pigs are animals and therefore are meat. I picked around the intestines and ate some broth of meat soup. I feel bad because my vice principal is afraid I am going to "become malnourished". I assured her that I eat normally at home. On the plus side, one of the teachers told me I look like Mariah Carey.

This weekend should prove to be an interesting one. We are having a battle of the sexes type competition tonight. I won't get into the details right now, but the guys are quite cocky and there has been a lot of trash talk exchanged all week. I am confident I will dominate in the competition and I'm just hoping the rest of my team does too.

Saying the election turned out nicely is an understatement. I am so happy with the results. It was great to see the excitement unfold at home via the internet. I received many emails and messages from people at home. Also, many of the teachers at school were very excited for me as well. My mom told me my grandpa voted for Obama. I love that my 88 year old grandpa voted for change too. Now Minnesotans await the results of the senate election. My dislike for Norm Coleman runs deep so I'm really hoping Franken pulled it off, but it's not looking good.

I hope you all have a good weekend!

Seoraksan, Halloween, the election and other various ramblings

Before my mom harasses me any more about the lack of blog posts, I will attempt to spit one out.  I don't know where the time goes, but it goes somewhere, and in that time I have neglected my posting.  I've been here over two months.  It's now officially my life and at times I feel the honeymoon has worn off, but I'm still enjoying myself.  

Two weekends ago I went to Seoraksan National Park on the east coast of South Korea.  Saying the area was beautiful is not doing it justice in any way.  So I'll let my pictures speak for themselves:

I also have some more pictures you can see here.

We started off the trip in a stressful state because we missed our bus to Sokcho.  We gave it a good try by running through the subway stations Home Alone style, but we missed the bus by ten minutes.  Luckily we got tickets for a bus departing an hour later.  

On Saturday we hiked to the top of Ulsanbawi, a mountain in Seoraksan.  With my fear of heights and no experience climbing that high before, it was a bit unnerving, but I am glad to say I accomplished the hike.  It was incredibly crowded at the park and the hike up was more dangerous because of Koreans shoving than anything else.  At the top of the mountain it was windy, cold, and anticlimactic.  The hike up had much more beautiful views.  

While in Korea, I've realized how much I love Halloween.  The past two weeks were devoted to Halloween lesson plans in the classroom whether my students liked it or not.  I showed videos from A Nightmare Before Christmas, Michael Jackson's Thriller and the like.  Koreans do not celebrate Halloween, so we received many funny looks on Friday night when we walked to the bar.  I went the easy route and dressed up in a toga (my bed sheet).  I was impressed with many of the costumes people pulled together because there aren't many options here in Korea.  

Today is a very exciting day as everyone knows--election day!  I will not hear about results until tomorrow afternoon, but I am looking forward to it nevertheless.  Many of the Korean teachers were asking me about the election today.  No matter how much I travel, it still amazes me how much more everyone knows about the United States' political system than Americans know about any other country.  It seems like many Koreans want Obama to win, or at least expect him to.  Peter, my co-teacher, supports McCain.  That does not surprise me because he seems rather conservative.  He wondered how Americans could think Obama could run a country when he is so young.  I said the opposite could and is being said about McCain.  Peter also likes McCain's Vietnam War stories.  One of the teachers who can barely say five words in English spoke to me for a good ten minutes about Obama's ideas for change.  Also many of my students have asked me (or had teachers translate for them) whether I voted.  Overall there's a great sense of anticipation even over here.  I can only imagine what it's like at home.  I'm streaming the Current right now (seriously, streaming online radio is one of the best inventions ever) and all of their songs have to do with the election.  Good stuff.  

Don't underestimate Adam Sandler

Okay, this was written about a week or two ago, but like the procrastinator I am, I'm just posting it now.

Homesickness has finally hit me in two separate incidents. It's definitely not bad enough to send me home or anything, but it was unexpected. A group of us have established a game/movie night. A week and a half ago we got together and ended up watching the movie Click with Adam Sandler. I didn't really have a desire to see the movie but majority vote won out. Little did I know I was about to see an incredibly sad, touching, albeit cheesy movie. It is kind of along the lines of It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol. Anyway, it really highlighted the importance of family and not missing out on family events, important life milestones, etc.

I teared up a bit at the end of the movie. Never would I have thought an Adam Sandler movie could make me become a weepy mess. Ironically, I skipped out on a Skype date with my mom to go to movie night. The movie made me realize that I'm forfeiting a year with my friends and family to be in South Korea. With Grandma Jo having a stroke while I'm over here, it's really been difficult at times being gone.

So this is how I was feeling after watching the movie. After thinking about it a bit more, I gained a new perspective. As I posted in a previous entry, I spent some time with my grandparents before I left for Korea. We went gambling and had a nice time at the casino and also on the bus ride there. If I hadn't been leaving for Korea I probably would've foregone the casino outing because it wouldn't have seemed as important to go with them because I could see them any time. Who knows if I would have even seen Grandma Jo again before she had the stroke. The same thing applies with my friends. Before I left for Korea I got together with almost all of my friends, some I hadn't even seen in months. If I hadn't left for Korea, I probably wouldn't have gotten together with all of those people, especially the ones I hadn't seen in awhile.

Another bout of homesickness hit me at school last week. I was having a meeting with my English co-teachers and one of them asked me what has been difficult about teaching in Korea or what I miss about teaching in the U.S. I started tearing up as I explained that I missed having a relationship with my students. While teaching in the U.S. I prided myself on the positive relationships I fostered with the students at my school. Here in Korea, the students love me but only because I am the token American and we play games in my class. I love them dearly, but I can't have a real relationship with most of them because their English is so limited. Also, I've stayed in touch with a lot of my former students and I received a lot of emails from them last week and that just added to the homesick feeling.

Please don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it here and know that I made the right decision in coming. This past weekend in Seoraksan cemented that decision. (You'll see in my next post--especially if you look at my pictures.)

So moral of the story: Appreciate what you have while you have it, and don't underestimate Adam Sandler and his ability to tug at the heart strings. Could I be any cheesier right now? Probably not.