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

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.

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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