On The Side...

This week so far has been filled with evening events. On Tuesday, my school had another hweshik. Near the end of the dinner, people began changing tables as usual, moving to exchange drinks and chat. At some point, one lady who works at my school (I'm not quite sure what her title is, but she works with the principal and vice prinicpal often) came to sit at my table. Her English isn't very good and so with the help of other teachers she asked me questions about universities in the U.S.  Which universities were the best for a major in chemical biology?  Well, of course, I had no idea. I told her so, but I also told her I'd look it up for her. Her son wanted to study in the U.S., she said. Chemical genius, another teacher said. There was a moment where the the translating teachers were trying to figure out how to translate the Korean word for chemical biology.

At school the next day, I had time to spare, so I set to work researching. It began with looking up the meaning of chemical biology. Was it it's own major, or was it part of a bigger subject? I'd never really heard of a chemical biology major before, but it seemed completely possible to exist. Turns out, the phrase "chemical biology" is still relatively new in the U.S. There are several schools and research facilities that offer special courses in chemical biology today, but most schools only offer it as a single class (if at all).  As my research went on I became uneasy. I compiled a list of every university that offered undergraduate and graduate degrees in chemical biology. The list of names featured top tier universities (Harvard, Yale, etc.) Sure, they called him a genius at dinner last night, but was he looking to go to the most expensive schools in the U.S.? Still, I continued making the list.

Before leaving school, I printed out the list and went to go give it to her. There wasn't time (or any translators nearby) to go explain the list to her, however, and besides, she wasn't at her desk. I settled for writing my thoughts and an explanation of the list at home that night.

I went out to pay bills that evening and paid a visit to the phone shop. I asked my Korean friend, if I wrote a short explanation down on paper, could he translate it for me. He agreed, so I explained the situation (as well as my concerns) to him. We worked together on the translation, and I soon had a nicely written, printed note to give the lady at work.

Today is the day I give her the note. She is busy ... teaching... or something, right now, so I'll have to wait. I hope that my efforts will be helpful.

'Til next time,
-Shirby

Surprise, Surprise

This morning, I walked up to the school and saw some of the kids dressed in highlighter-yellow jackets. There was a huge, 2-story firetruck behind them. I stopped and stared. A fire safety demonstration?  Why were these kids so lucky as to get to go into the truck, climb up to a top balcony, and rope down the side, landing on thick safety mats?  All I remember from my childhood fire safety demos is visiting the station and watching the guys drive the truck around, stop somewhere far away, and spray high-pressured water in the field nearby. "You can try it," my mentor teacher told me.  I politely declined. Don't ask me why. I don't know if I'm really not interested, or if I'm just upset and the unfairness. Either way, the truck's gone by now. When the 1st graders came back to the classroom, one of them acted out what happened inside the truck. Something about it being really dark inside, and looking around, and finding a direction to walk in. At this point of the charades story, he was dogpiled by two other classmates, and I couldn't hear the rest of it.

Work at school's getting a little bit trickier... for reasons I didn't expect.

Last Thursday was Sports Day at school. I found out late, that I'd be participating in it. I'd be running in a relay race. Oh, really? When? Well, I got most of my information from other students. I'd be partnered with 6th grader?  Ok.... So, in the end, I participated in this race, though I didn't really understand how the race was orchestrated. I didn't understand who won or lost, just took the baton and ran when it was my turn. Don't get me wrong, it was really fun. I'm glad I got to participate. I even got some compliments from some 6th graders after the race. Still, I'd have liked to known what was going on so I could enjoy the race better. I'd tried so many times to get info from the others, but no luck. Let's just mark this down as another one of those "don't ask questions, just do it" moments.

And yet again, I am discovering that the students have to learn and perform English pop songs for some sort of special day in the near future. My mentor teacher told me a bit about it. A few bits of important information here and there. "Actually, you have to do this, but I will help you."  ... I was asked to come up with a list of pop songs for grades 1-2 and 3-6 to learn. Songs with dances were best. I had a day and night to pick the songs, so the next day I came to school with a decent list of songs. Turns out none of them were good. Well, honestly, I thought SOME  of them were good. Not "too fast," or "complicated," like she said they were. She ended up picking a song she knew. The kids don't like it, but I think they won't have a problem learning it. This story is still ongoing. Today, I picked "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" for the 1-2 graders. She OK'd the choice, but I'll have to come up with a dance for it. Well...I hope I can come up with something good, and worthy.

Oh, and so I think all of my classes, from now until the performance day, will be used to practice the song and dance routines. Does that mean I have to make a lesson plan for October...?  I'm looking forward to this upcoming Chuseok holiday. Hopefully it will give me some time to think.

One final thing to mention. The evening of Sports Day, I said my goodbyes to the teachers and got ready to head the bus stop. My mentor teacher stopped me and told me I had to stay. She and the other teachers would first have a meeting, and then we'd all go have dinner together. Ok, I thought. I went to the gym-a-torium to play on the piano while they had their meeting. After awhile, I saw my mentor teacher walking out of the other building, heading to her car. Oh, I thought, maybe she's pulling her car around. I'd better get going. In the time it took me to walk down the stairs into the courtyard, she had driven away towards the restaurant with some other teachers. I called her phone. "Oh! Shannon, what happened to you?"  "I'm here at the school. Did you forget about me?"

Before making this phone call, the kindergarten teacher spotted me and told me to wait for her. She'd drive me to the restaurant. I relayed this info to my mentor teacher, and headed to the restaurant with the kindy teachers instead. After dinner, all the teachers were gathered out front (like usual), laughing and chatting and discussing what they'd do after dinner. My mentor teacher was one of the few who didn't drink during dinner, yet she somehow disappeared. I thought she'd walked off with the first group of teachers who were heading to the noraebang, so I headed over with the second group. When I arrived and saw she wasn't there, I realized she'd forgotten me again. The next day at school, she asked me how I'd gotten home. I told her the other teachers had kindly helped me get a taxi. She explained something about being tired and going to pick up her husband before heading home. End of conversation, literally. No apology. Well, I'm not sure how to take that.....

It's lunch time so I have to stop writing. TTYL

'Til next time,
-Shirby

Last Week's Vacation Pt. 2

Monday came. A Japanese friend I met back in the States was visiting Korea with her sister for a few days. I was determined to see her for at least one of the days she was here. We met up in Seoul and spent most of the day shopping. After travelling by subway to Dongdaemun, we met up with another friend of hers and headed to this huge shopping mall with a million floors. I can afford to exaggerate. It was really big, and I think we went on almost every floor. We went to another, cheaper place with hawk-like shopkeepers who spoke the basics of at least three different languages (to attract all customers). They all call out to you and it's quite intimidating. Luckily, my friend's friend was a native Korean who knew how (and had to guts) to stand up to them all and guide us safely through their suggestive words. Did I buy anything? Yes! Surprisingly, I bought a pair of shoes and a blue wig (aside from the various food I usually spend tons of money on). The shoes.. well it's worth telling this story. It was the first stall I stopped at, and the guy was really determined to sell to me. I actually liked the shoes I looked at, but seeing as it was the first stall, I told my friend's friend... (we'll call her Kim from now on)... to let him know that I would come back after looking around. This guy would absolutely not let me leave. He kept taking a few dollars off the price and asking if I liked the price. I just wanted to look at the other shoes in the building! He kept asking, do you really, actually like the shoes??? Yes, and I would probably come back to get them if I didn't see anything nicer. Still, he got frustrated (I guess?) and jabbed some new numbers into the calculator. He showed it to me. It was almost $10 cheaper... 1/3 the price. I went ahead and bought the shoes to appease this man who might've keeled over in agony if I walked away without buying his shoes. Afterwards, Kim wasn't sure what to make of the scene, but she congratulated me, assuming that I'd successfully haggled down the price on purpose. No, I'm just indecisive and weak when it comes to shopping. Case in point: The wig. Well, I got a bit flustered. I mean, I'd really wanted a blue wig for a long time, but I really know nothing about buying a wig. I don't know what to look for. So this guy saw that I was interested and I just thought to myself, "what the heck," and let him talk me into buying it. After all the shopping, (rather, during the shopping) there was a lot of talking about tomorrow. Tomorrow, they were all going to the mud festival. I really wanted to go, but I was pretty sure I had an appointment the next evening. That meant missing out on an impromptu trip to the beach. So, after sending a few text messages, it turned out that I really would be busy the next evening and broke the news that I wouldn't be able to go the mud festival after all. That evening, before going our separate ways, we took pictures together, and I told my friends to talk tons of pics so that I'd be jealous of their beach trip. I saw the pics. I am still jealous. :) Tuesday was a dinner with some of the teachers at my school (and one who no longer works at the school.. the one who left suddenly). 6 of us formed a group, called "the different group" because we couldn't find anything in common to name our group with. Here is another small chance to build bonds with the teachers, and just hang out outside of school. I met with 4 of them, and we had pizza and watermelon and chatted in one of their apartments for a few hours. I ended up taking home some eyeliner. One of the teachers, long ago, kept asking me why I didn't wear makeup. So, while I was with them, I asked to borrow one of her extra eyeliner pencils and put some on to show her. After receiving her praise, I made a show of trying to wipe it off. I didn't look clearly at the label. It was waterproof. Darn. Wednesday was a farewell dinner with the other TaLK scholars in my town. Two of the 3 , actually, but I don't expect to run into the 3rd one. He's hardly in town when he's not teaching(long story). It was kind of hard telling them goodbye, and preparing myself to not see them so easily. One's heading back to California, the other to New Zealand. We actually shared a few adventure trips with each other, so I can say that I will really miss their company, their presence. 'Til next time, -Shirby

Last Week's Vacation

It started with the weekend before.

On Saturday, I went on a teacher's "field trip" with the other staff at my school. We met at 7 or 8 in the morning and took a rented bus to various locations throughout in the neighboring cities. Of course, I think we wouldn't have been able to take this trip without it being a little educational, so the first stop was an elementary school. At this elementary school, there was a lot of greetings and our teachers "inspecting"... (oggling) the hallways and classrooms of this other school. Let me say now that nothing during this part of the trip was explained to me, so my point of view may lack a lot of real information.

I assume we met the principal and vice principal of this other school. He took our group into a room not far from the main entrance and we all sat down facing a projector screen. We were served drinks, and then a short lecture began. Now, I have overheard a phrase, "economic education" .. or some such thing. I'm guessing that's what the lecture was about. A chance for both schools to share ideas. Some books were passed around. I spent the entire lecture looking at a tourist map of the city. After the lecture, words were exchanged, and my group was dismissed from the room. We took a picture in front of the school before getting back on the bus.

After that, there was a short hiking trip (I'd forgotten how much I miss hiking :D) which left so many of us sweating. At least the view was worth it. On the bus ride from place to place, the teachers played games (like a game show on a bus, it was hilarious), and ate snacks. ... Oh, they'd brought beer and fried chicken too (because those things are a must in Korea). The penalty for the games was that one person from the losing team had to sing a song. Let me inform you that all travelling (charter?) buses in Korea come equipped with karaoke systems. The speakers are incredibly powerful, and there's even a song book like the ones in noraebangs. It's a noraebang on a bus! Anyways, all the games were done in Korean so I didn't get to participate, but it was fun to watch.

Wait. I did sorta kinda participate in one game. Although I didn't know what was happening. I can only say I'm so glad it was one number system and not the other. You see, as the "game show host" fifth grade teacher was making everyone on the bus count from 1-30 (again, I don't know why. I didn't understand the rules of the game), he decided to hold the mic in front of me and let me say a few numbers. "...18, 19..." I said in Korean after thinking way too long. He nodded, and went to the next teacher. I passed! ...Or I thought I did. One teacher wiggled her finger at me in mock shame as the 5th grade teacher moved on. I looked confusingly at her. My mentor teacher, sitting next to me, explained. "You said 'ship-pal' (18).... In Korean that has two meanings. It sounds like 18 and it sounds like 'f*** you'." My jaw dropped. She and the other teachers had a nice quick laugh together. I thought to myself, I don't want to play anymore.

***Note: "I'm so glad it was one number system and not the other." Korea uses two names for numbers. One is Chinese-based. The other is Korean-based. I still can't remember which is which, and I keep mixing 5-8 of one system. The other system, I know perfectly well, so I was really happy to discover them counting with it.***

After hiking, we rode down the hill a bit, had an excitingly small adventure in a corn field where the bus tried to drive out of a deep dip in the road, and finally made it to the river that we'd seen up at the hiking point. We got on a "traditional boat"... uh, more like a really huge raft... and were taken a short ways down the river and back. After that, there was lunch at a restaurant a bit further away. After lunch (and this is still a bit shocking), we went to an African art museum. I just have to say that it's really hard representing the U.S. when people think I might be from Africa. It's bad enough being stared at because I'm a foreigner. Yeah, the experience there was mixed. I love art, have nothing against Africa, but have so much against stereotypes and dangerous assumptions. Most of all, I wonder why the teachers wanted to go there. I wonder and I haven't asked. Don't know if I will. On a lighter note: What the heck's an African art museum doing in the countrysides of Korea!? LOL, I expected to only find this sort of thing in/near Seoul or other large cities in Korea.

Luckily, my mentor teacher sensed something of my mood and walked me quickly through the exhibit so that I didn't have to listen to the tour guide explain things in Korean while the other teachers and staff snuck glances at me. I should also mention that the tour guide seemed a bit saddened to hear that I was from the U.S. when he asked me (in English) where I was from. Oh well.

After the museum, we went to an aquarium (one that I'd recently visited with my foreigner friends during the paragliding trip), and visited another famous riverside. At this riverside was a famous view, which one of the kindergarten teachers tried her best to explain to me. I don't think I could do a retelling of the story any justice right now, so I wont. We walked around a bit and saw a swing set that was designed like the ones from ages ago. There's just one seat, the bars are wooden and about 3 times the height of regular swing sets, and you have to stand on the seat and swing rather than sit. I tried it. It was fun, but super difficult.

Ah, then, we headed back to Jecheon for dinner. There was more crazy singing on the bus, but many people were so wiped out from the sun and travelling that they just slept or talked quietly amongst themselves. At dinner, I had the rare occasion of sitting at the same table as the vice principal, so I did my best to talk to him in Korea. I had to drink more soju... (this may be the one thing I hold against Korea, regardless of my final impression of this country after the year's over). Then there were farewells, and everyone split off to go home. All in all, and despite any uncomfortable feelings, I really enjoyed the day. I was glad to spend time with the other teachers. Doing so is such a rare thing. I'd rather have gone with them than missed out. These bonding moments are hard to come by, so I have to cherish them.

This has gotten long, so I'll have to write parts 2, 3, and however many more come along.

'Til next time,
-Shirby

Random Happenings of the Week

Yesterday, I guess one of the staff members brought sandwiches to school. When I went to say hello to the principal, she shared some of her sandwich with me. Even though, I suspect she didn't like the sandwich, it still made my day. We hardly get to talk to each other, let alone share things. On an average day, I pop my head in and say hello (안녕하세요) to her first, then the vice principal, before making my way to my mentor teacher's classroom. At most, if she's in her office, she will smile and reply with a yes (네)... or sometimes 네, 안녕하세요  and quickly turn back to her work. This is as far as our daily interactions get, unless there's a special occasion and she's not completely surrounded by the higher-ranked staff. So yes, this moment felt special. She beckoned me in and offered me some of her sandwich (and even some juice... which I stupidly turned down. I don't even know why. ... Maybe I felt like I shouldn't take too much from her at one time, even if she was offering). She sat down with me at the couches beside her desk, and I told her they were delicious (in Korean). She seemed happy about that, and said some things in Korean which I can only guess were details about where she'd gotten the sandwiches from. I nodded as if I understood every word, telling myself I'd ask one of the other teachers about it later. She's a really pretty, nice, respectable lady, my principal. I truly wish I could get to know her more. It seems like one thing that will be a bit impossible while I'm here.

One of my 6th graders asked me about racism the other day. Really, I was supposed to be teaching, but students were coming and going  in such an annoying fashion that all I could do was casually converse with the two students who were sitting down in front of me. One of them came up and asked me if I knew about... I couldn't understand his pronunciation. I asked him if he knew how to spell it. He nodded and wrote it down- rasism.  I tried my best to explain it to him. I don't know how much he understood, or why he even asked me in the first place. What happened in life that such a word was in his head? I'm not sure if he was asking me about racism in general or specific situations. It's sometimes hard to ask students, "Why?" because they might not have enough vocabulary to answer. I told him to ask his teacher about it too if he was confused.

I think I told you about the coffee shop that was built near my home. I'm curious about how their business is going. Actually, I've only visited there once since it's opened. I still favor the coffee shop a bit further away (because it's cheaper, and they have hot chocolate). Still, this week I'd been walking past the store quite often. (Usually, I have to walk the other way down the street). I figured I should visit them once again. After grocery shopping, I dropped my things off at home, grabbed a book and walked over to the shop. It was empty at this time-- 

...I'm sorry, I've momentarily lost train of thought. A first grader just procured an imaginary laser sword, and sliced me up. Give me a moment to put myself back together....

-- Yes, there wasn't anyone in the shop at that time. I walked up to the counter and the lady quickly ran to get her son(?) who could speak English. Now, I tried to speak in Korean with her and her son before, but I guess they insist on him using his English skills. I didn't even get a chance to order before she rushed off to get him. I ordered some chamomile tea and a cookie, and told them I'd drink in the store. As the lady made my tea, the son asked if I liked chocolate. I said yes, then paused. Oh no, what if they put chocolate in my tea? I stopped him and asked him what he meant. He asked again, and I said yes hesitantly. Then he went to the freezer and pulled out a handful of bite-size chocolates, put them into a dish, and placed the dish on my tray. Free chocolates. I paid, thanked them, and went to sit down with my tray. About five mintues later, the lady came over with a plate of sliced toast (strips, like french toast strips, but this was just regular toast) and a small side of whipped cream decorated with chocolate syrup. Wow. Before me lay a dish of chocolates, a plate of toast with a sweet dip, a cookie, and a cup of tea. I thanked her and dug in.

'Til next time,

-Shirby

Special P.S. Thanks, Katie, for keeping up with these. I hope they don't all sound bad, or all good. I'll do my best to write about all my adventures, good or bad or in between! :)

Understanding?

Ah, so my MT tells me I already knew about the teachers. Even though I don't remember now, I have to believe this is possible. If she told me, for instance, in the first week of school then that explains why I don't remember. Well, I met the new teacher today.

The new teacher is actually the original teacher. She had a baby and was on maternal leave. Just like the other teacher who came to school late. ...I honestly DON'T remember being told this. Still, I can't be mad. Maybe it was announced in Korean during one of the meetings I was somehow allowed to attend. Can you tell I'm still bothered by this? I'm trying not to be. No worries, I'll get over it!

Yes, so this new teacher. She speaks English very well (and of course thinks that she doesn't). She seems very friendly, and a good teacher. This is good because her class is a very rowdy one. A few minutes before I was scheduled to visit her class, my mentor teacher got a phone call. After hanging up, she told me that the 4th grade teacher had been changed, and that this new teacher would like to meet me today. I thought maybe I'd be told not to come to class that day, so this news was a bit surprising, but welcoming. I went upstairs to meet the teacher.  I guess we both had a lot of questions for each other. We paused between greetings before delving into the topic of English class.

I look forward to getting to know her. I don't know if we'll get to know each other past the topic of school. I now know that not everyone is privileged to such turnouts. (One of my friends, another TaLK scholar, goes on weekly dinner meetings with some of the other teachers at her school. They just hang out and talk).

It seems like I have bitterness towards this topic. Really, I'm just finding it hard to make Korean friends (and keep them). Luckily, the internet allows me to keep in touch with those I've met in other cities and towns in Korea. As for Jecheon, I may just have to wait for something that could come later... or not at all.

Goodbye?

This last weekend was kind of hard. For many reasons. I'll get started.

One:
You know that saying, "You are your own worst enemy?" In my case, not only that, but the weapons I use against myself are enough to make anyone want to give up. Anyone without confidence, that is.

So, as I face this obstacle once again- this SAME obstacle I thought I was overcoming- I am finding it hard to summon the strength to defeat it for good. Oh, this is why it's been reappearing. I never defeated it, I just turned around and walked in a different direction hoping to avoid it.

If life is about finding out who you are, then I have never found it an easy task. If life is about an important journey that we must all take, then I have never known where I was going, or why my past is so important to my future. My biggest supporter should be me, right?

What will I do with myself after teaching here? That is the big question of the hour. ...And even through all the turmoil my mind has wrestled with this weekend trying to figure it out, I was able to receive some lovely advice from a friend: Get a new outlook on life. So I ask myself, why have I always thought of discovering "the next step" as a painful process. Sure, it may never stop being tiring, but at least I should take advantage of this mystery and make use of the energy in a positive way.

Two:
So this, my Facebook post, sums it up.
"Another dose of culture shock. Not being told anything is bothering me this much? Well, back to the drawing board. Maybe I shouldn't try to make friends at school. REEEEEEEEAAAAAALLLLY wishing Seoul wasn't so far away. Or Chungju. Or Jochiwon."

A friend asked what happened. I tried so hard to keep the story witihin the unwritten "acceptable paragraph length of Facebook responses."

" 

i started making friends w/ a few of the younger teachers. then on friday i found out one of those teachers was leaving the school for good that day. usually, i don't get informed about stuff at school, but i somehow thought something like this would be announced early. i dunno if the other teachers knew beforehand, but how couldn't they? i dunno the story, dont even know if it's ok to ask... but if you make a friend you care about them a bit, right?"

There wasn't time on Friday to ask why this teacher was leaving. I walked into the teacher's classroom and couldn't summon of the courage (rudeness) to interrupt the steady flow of rummaging through papers and writing a million notes. Ok, I did say something.  Are you leaving? Today's your last day? A quick "yes" and then back to rummaging. "Oh," I said. The next reply, not from me, was (a seemingly careless) "Goodbye".

..Let me interrupt to mention that Korean people, for some reason, want to wave hello and goodbye with both hands. I reminds me of Mickey Mouse. That is all....

So, I felt dismissed from the scene. I left to go catch the bus home. I don't know if I'll be voluntarily told why this teacher left. Today is Monday, and I usually help teach in this teacher's class today. My mentor teacher hasn't said whether or not I'm suppose to help teach today. Like stated above, I'm not often told things. Yet, I somehow manage to play along as if everything is normal. Is this the right thing to do?

The Last 10 Days

Hey there! Long time, no ... see! Haha.

What's been going on? I'll tell you.

Last week was pretty interesting. Wednesday was a national memorial day for Korea which meant no school. So on the Tuesday before, the school had a parent-teacher dinner. I'm not sure how it was set up, but I suppose a few parents RSVP'd to join the school teachers and administrative staff. I was invited, too. We took up the entire restaurant, minus two small rooms that were separated from the main room by a sliding door. We feasted on dak galbi (forgive me, I'll have to look up the correct spellings another time), nengmyun, mandu, and whatever else the host felt like lavishing us with. Of course, there was alcohol all around....

After the dinner, my mentor teacher's husband "appeared out of nowhere" (again!) with his two "outing buddies."  Yes, that is what I will now call them: The Outing Trio. They appeared in the parking lot across the street, and we all talked and laughed about random things explained in broken English and Korean. I suppose at some point my MT's husband's stomach growled because he asked me where the nearest chicken restaurant was. Of course, this is not my side of town, but thanks to the errand-running adventure with the third grade teacher the previous week, I was able to oblige. "BHC...." I trailed off, trying to remember exactly where down the street it was. "BHC!" he exclaimed excitedly. I had picked a good brand. He praised me and quickly urged our small group (the trio, my MT, and two other teachers from the dinner earlier) to start walking. The BHC turned out to be a delivery-only shop, so we turned around and headed to the next best looking chicken restaurant, Hoo-La-La.

On Wednesday, I'd intended to eat dinner with one of the teachers from last night (I really wish we could all hang out more often), but I ended up boarding a train and going to visit Nurse Linda from the TaLK orientation. She lives an hour away from me, and I really wanted another chance to enjoy her and her son's company. They picked me up at the train station, home to a nice-looking building despite the area looking almost as scarce as a ghost town. This was a country side town. Her son, nicknamed, "Optimus Prime," ran towards me as I crossed the tracks. To him, I am "Shannon noona" (older sister Shannon). On this trip, I got to meet Linda's parents and see their lovely home. We spent the day grocery shopping, eating, playing, talking, studying Korean, listening to music, taking pictures, browsing the internet, and visiting a Buddhist temple. All of it was truly a great experience, but part of me wished that I could do one more thing that day. I got home late. 9PM or so. I'd been torn between getting to know an old friend and getting to know new ones. The new ones are closer to home. Having dinner with them this night would probably have been enjoyable, too. Sometimes, I dislike having to choose between these kinds of situations.

The rest of the week went by nicely. There was a bit of trouble teaching the first graders, but the source of the problem is an old one that lies deep within me. It's completely a part of my personality, and one that will take more than a few lucky "good" days with them to overcome. On Saturday, I and the other foreigners of Jecheon set off to Seoul to see the musical, Wicked. The play was performed by an Australian cast, and subtitles were displayed on message boards on either side of the stage. My group had nosebleed seats. We couldn't see the actor's faces in any detail, but that didn't stop the play from being totally exciting!

A few of us also managed to visit a Latin festival for about 30 minutes before the play. My friend Lein and I did sooooo much walking Saturday and Sunday. Between riding the subway back and forth across the city and walking around exploring everything (in an attempt to escape boredom, kill time, or find food), this trip kept us quite fit! Our group spent the night at a hostel in Hongdae, and on Sunday Lein and I broke away from the group again to grab breakfast and go visit the Trick Eye Museum. I hope to make a video of the that part of the trip. As soon as it's completed, I'll post the link here.

Lein and I also went home a bit early so as not to feel totally exhausted on Monday. I've decided that sleeping on the train is no longer enjoyable. Too much anticipation thinking that you'll miss your stop. Even with a timer, it's just like trying to sleep on an airplane, seat-wise. ... I take that back. The train seats are spacier and recline better. Still....

'Til next time,
-Shirby

Dinner and the After-Party

I bet you're wondering what happened to the rest of the story? I'll tell you!

After the badminton game, there was a teacher's dinner. I wrote this email to my mom about it. Below is a CNN article that further explains my experience.

-----

On Wednesday all the teachers and staff played badminton together. Korean
schools (teachers and staff) like playing sports games together, and many
schools like competing with each other! I don't know if we'll compete with
any schools. After the game, we all went out to dinner. This dinner was just
like the first one at the beginning of the school year, but a little
different. Besides it being a school dinner, we were also welcoming one
teacher and saying goodbye to another. The current second grade teacher was
a substitute (which I hadn't known until the day before this dinner), and
had been hired from the first day of school. The original 2nd grade teacher
was on maternal leave from having a baby.

In Korean culture, drinking is a big part of these dinners. In the past, man
or woman, people couldn't refuse drinks/toasts, etc. from superiors during
these dinners. However, today, it's become more acceptable to turn down a
drink (although men still get pressured to do so). Foreigners are not
completely held to these rules (especially if their religion forbids
drinking), but they are still encouraged to share in this culture. A lot of
the Korean-American male TaLK scholars are treated as locals in this case.

This drink that I'm talking about is usually soju in a shot glass, and
there's a ceremonial way of sharing it. The youngest pours for the oldest
first, and the oldest drinks. Then the oldest pours for the youngest (into
the same cup) and the youngest drinks it. There's even a special way to
drink and pour, which makes it "a korean thing."

So anyway, I feel like I have to explain the whole culture thing to you, but
I will just continue with the story. In the past, I've been able to avoid
these "drinking encounters" with superior staff and other people at dinner
by simply avoiding eye contact, or talking to people whenever it looks like
someone might come over and ask to share the drink. Oh, but this time, the
vice principal called my name when I didn't make eye contact with him. I
ended up having to do this ceremony with him, with guidance from my mentor
teacher. He reluctantly only filled the bottom of the glass because I kept
asking him if he could pour water instead. In an effort to not be completely
rude, I poured for him and drank when he poured for me (it's only done once
between people). Ah, but now I know that if I go to another dinner, he will
try and get me to do the ceremony toast again and drink a little more than
last time. I can't help but think " this is war!" and i have to battle
against or negotiate with this part of Korean culture.

Well! That was the biggest bit of news. After the dinner, we went to a
noraebang (no-reh-bahng....literally "singing room") (a building with many
different sized rooms for people to rent and sing karaoke). I embarrassed
myself singing in front of everyone with a squeaky voice because I was
really nervous and the song was a little too high hahahah. They didn't seem
to care. Everyone took turns singing.

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http://www.cnngo.com/seoul/drink/business-travelers-guide-drinking-korea-213012?hpt=ias_t4

'Til Next Time,

-Shirby