My fellow teachers

It's only been 8 days since my last blog update and of course, I feel like so much has happened!

Honoring my Dad's request, I'm going to try to paint a picture of the new people in my world. Today marked my 5th official day of teaching and even through the language barrier, I'm really getting a sense of the personalities of the other teachers.

Lets begin with Mrs. Kim, the stoic looking teacher standing to the left of our token male teacher Mr Be. She is such a sweet woman who has been enormously helpful over the last week in getting me settled. Perhaps what makes us get along so well is that she is a bit of a ditz like me... though I have to say, I think she would probably trump me in a “Who's a bigger ditz” competition! Top three ditzy moments from this week: #1 Driving me home for the fourth time and forgetting where I live getting us COMPLETELY lost (mind you she grew up in Busan)! #2Turning onto a one way street going the wrong way (totally terrifying!) which is consistant with her other driving habit of stopping in the middle of intersections with a half dozen cars honking at her. Finally, #3 Running over an old woman's foot with her shopping cart and not noticing (though this may just be a Korean thing, Mad, what do you think?). Ha! She is great though, again, she remains the teacher who I go to most often and have the easiest time talking with! I think we're are going to have a good time planning the English Camp together.

Let me now take a moment to talk about the English camp. On Thursday I finally got some more details about what exactly I'm expected to do for this 10 day camp. Turns out there will be three 45 min. classes every day. So, that would be 30 lessons to plan! Mrs. Jeong, the woman seated next to me in the photo is the head of the English department (though ironically speaks the lest amount of English) and is therefore calling the shots for the camp. I assumed she would be involved in the lesson planning...“Its ok, I give you lessons,” she stated firmly. “Few!” I thought... Wait, no, not quite. What I got instead were 28 or so sentences that she scratched down on a piece of construction paper sounding something like this:

1. You had better go to bed.

2. I want to have two hot dogs.

3. Hey, what is the problem!

Apparently she expects us to make lessons from these sentences somehow...

This brings me to Mrs. Jeong as a person. I would say that she is in her 50s or so and I recently learned from Mrs. Lee that when Mrs. Jeong was in school, it was believed that eating an English dictionary would help their English ability. Can you imagine eating an entire dictionary! Alas, it didn't seem to help her much...

Apart her lack of English skills, I probably struggle the most in her classes because her students are absolutely insane! She has the hardest time keeping a handle on her class

though she talks the loudest and sternest of all the teachers. She'll repeatedly yell “Eep, eep!” (which literally means mouth) while she swings her wooden stick in the face of any boy closest to her. The boy, in turn, tries to grab the stick from her which of course, only makes her more angry. Once she's quieted them enough, she'll then turn to me with a huge smile and a sweep of her hand indicating that I should proceed. This sherade will happen a dozen or so times during the 45 min. class. There are moments when I either have to A. not stare with a gaping mouth or B. Not bust out laughing!

Then there's Mrs. Lee, the woman flashing the peace sign. Her classes are the polar opposite of Mrs. Jeong. Her students are attentive and well disciplined. At times I feel like I must be in a completely different school. Though she does use corporal punishment (she's the teacher who will pinch their ears) its rare that she needs to. She commands respect at all times and for the most part, she gets it. She is incredibly animated and has great carisma. She told me that every class she tries to improve herself. She also gave me the sage advise that “to be a teacher takes a healthy body and mind,” which I believe to be entirely true. My one qualm with Mrs. Lee is that she smiles little so there are times when I seriously wonder if she likes me.

My favorite is Mrs. Lo, the woman in the glasses. She is so incredibly sweet! She covers her mouth when she giggles (and she giggles often) and wears a little microphone head-set when teaching. She does not use corporal punishment, opting for “bribes” instead.

Alas, Mrs. Lo is moving to the United States with her husband next month. I told her that she can practice her English with me as much as she likes. Giggling, she told me that she's not worried about her English but about driving. I assured her that if she can drive in Korea, she can certainly handle driving in the U.S. I can honestly say that my most frightening experiences in a car to date have all happened within the last five days. I'm not just talking about Mrs. Kim either. What's interesting to me is that from what I've observed, Koreans are very literal with everything. For instance, I've stood at many crosswalks that say don't walk and even if the street is baren of cars, no one will walk. Therefore, their poor driving makes me believe that there are simply very few driving laws to adhere to. If there were laws, I'm convinced they would be followed.

Finally, there's Mr. Beh. Unfortunately I know very little about Mr. Be. We've only had two class together and he speaks very little. Hopefully I'll get a better sense of him over the course of the year (though like Mrs. Jeong, Mr. Beh speaks little English).

Lunch is eaten at the school with the other teachers and administration members so I am slowly getting to know the rest of the school's population. I'm sure as the year progresses, there will be more stories to come.

***

One requirement at the school is a mandatory health exam. Thus, last Wed. after school was spent in the waiting room. It was an experience for sure! For instance, it is common practice for people to roll around their IV drip bags (not sure the technical name for this). So, I would see people in street clothes, people in hospital gowns, people in wheal chairs, and women with children in backpacks all cruising around the hospital saline bag in tow. Then there was the urine sample. Basically they gave me a dixie cup to pee in which I was asked to put on a tray in

the middle of the waiting room (again, in a coverless cup)!

This is not to say that a Korean hospital is a backward place by any means. Everything is run incredibly efficiently and most people wear face masks which I think is fantastic!

One purely different thing that a Korean physical includes that one doesn't get in the US is a full chest x-ray. I was instructed that I needed to pick up my results on Sat. which would detail my very thorough physical. Saturday rolls around and I go to the hospital expecting a quick in-and-out errand. Instead I'm told that I need to get retested because there's somethings wrong with my lungs. I'm led into the office of my doctor (who speaks VERY little English.) He pulls up my chest x-ray and points to a dark area. I of course have no idea what I'm looking at and he has no way to really explain it but indicates that it's not good. I'm then told that I need to get another x-ray and pee in another dixie cup and then come back on Monday for the follow-up results. At this point I'll admit that I'm getting somewhat upset. A side note to this story is that I'm

currently reading Canaries on the Rim by Chip Ward about all of the down-winders in Utah who are experiencing serious health issues from the Nuclear testing that was done in our deserts. (Health issues like lung cancer I might add!) I sherade to the nurse that I HAVE to speak to someone in the hospital who speaks English and can explain all of the things the doctor couldn't. Finally after much waiting, a very sweet Korean woman found me very worked up! She explained that it wasn't anything serious, but simply that this area in my chest was “inflamed”. I'm happy to report that I picked up the new results today and apparently everything is fine. Who knows, maybe they just wanted an extra 20,000 Won from me.

After my visit to the hospital, I hopped on the Subway en route to an area of Busan called Haeundae. I had made plans to meet another girl from Footprints named Kayla who arrived in Busan 5 days ago. The plan was see the sights of Haeundae for a couple of hours before meeting 10 other Footprint teachers at 5pm. I had arranged for all of us to meet at a bar called Crossroads about 30 minutes away from Haeundae near the Pusan National University (PNU).

Kayla and I had a lovely time swapping stories of our first week over coffee and then hopped on a bus to visit a sea-side temple. Having never lived in a city and therefore, having never really dealt with public transportation, it's hard for me to remember that anything taking say ten minutes in a car, takes about four times as long in a bus. We therefore quickly realized that there wasn't enough time to see the temple and meet the others at 5. We turned around, hopped back on the subway and once in PNUs neighborhood decided it would

be best to just catch a cab to the bar. Here's a major issue to taking cabs: My little guide book has everything written in English so when I tell the driver that I need to go to, lets say the Good Samsun Hospital, what I really need to say is the Samsun Pyong Won (meaning hospital). At any given time, I usually have my South Korea guidebook in one hand and my Korean dictionary in another for this very reason. But even if I say the name of a well known spot in Busan like the Lotte Department Store which can simply be called Lotte, my accent often makes it hard for the drivers to understand me. I usually have to resort to writing it down for them. So, this particular cab driver had no idea where Crossroads was and I didn't have the Korean translation which I'm sure wouldn't of helped anyway. Basically he ended up driving us here, there and everywhere asking anyone he could on the street for directions. Once we finally found it, a solid 45 minutes after Kayla and I were supposed to be there, we discovered that Crossroads was under construction anyway. Ha! This is the last time I try to plan something solely using the internet as my guide. Miraculously, we were able to find four other Footprint teachers and even met three more teachers at the bar so it ended up being a fun night.

Unfortunately, mass transportation shuts down at 11:30, so Kayla and I ended up taking a cab to her house and I spent the night on her couch.

That is basically it so far. It was nice meeting people who can be potential travel companions. Two of the guys are planning a trip to Japan for a skiing adventure so I'm hoping to tag along for that. Besides big vacations, I plan on seeing something of interest every weekend. This country has so much to offer, a year isn't nearly long enough to see it all!

The first 5 days...

Annyong haseyo everyone! I’ve been in Korea for 5 days now and oh lordy, it’s been quite a shock. Let me start from the beginning. Here is my abridged story thus far:

After 23 hours of travel I arrived on Friday the 6th at the Gimhae Airport in Busan City, Korea. Waiting for me with a name sign in hand was Mrs. Lee, a fellow teacher at my school, and her husband. At this point I still had no idea where my school was or even what age group I would be teaching so I had many questions for Mrs. Lee. Initially I asked how old the students were which she misunderstood as me asking my own age. “25!” she said. I laughed and told her I was actually 24. “In Korea you are 25!”… she said eplaining that they give each child born one year to start. Duly noted!

Once that was settled I again asked about the school. I found out that I’m at the Jeon Po-dong Middle School for lower income boys! Ha! I have a feeling that this is going to be quite the year! Mrs. Lee assured me that the students were great, “just loud” she said. “They are very excited to meet you, they want to know what color you are and what your age is! You are so young but you look strong and healthy.” Glad she approves!

Mr. and Mrs. Lee dropped me off at the Angel Hotel as my apartment wasn’t quite ready. At 10:30 the next morning she took me to the school which is in the heart of down-town Busan. I was taken on a tour of the school where I met the administration staff, other teachers and the Principal. Using Mrs. Lee as the translator, the Principal exclaimed that I had to learn one Korean word a day so I could talk to him. He was too old he explained, so it was impossible for him to learn English.

After the tour, an admin staff member named Mr. Kim took me to my apartment. He spoke little English but we made small talk in the car. It went something like this:
Mr. Kim: What is your family name?
Alison: Lewis
Mr. Kim: Do you like noodles?
Alison: I do like noodles.
Mr. Kim: Do you like pudding?
Alison: [trying not to laugh] Why yes, I do like pudding.
Once we arrived at my apartment, he took me on a grand tour. I was expecting a 10 ft by 10ft cubicle so I was very impressed to find a spacious and clean apartment. I think from what I’ve read, I really lucked out!

Later that day, a fellow teacher named Mrs. Kim arrived to help me get settled. There’s no relation to the before mentioned Mr. Kim, Kim just happens to be the most common last name in Korea. I’ve since met 4 other Kims in the last two days alone.
She decided that the first order of business is to acquaint myself with the bus route to school. She had a car so it was just as new to her. After Mrs. Kim asked a good number of people, she finally determined that we needed to be on bus #17. After getting on Bus #17 going the wrong direction, we both determined which side of the street to stand on to catch the right one.

The stop closest to the school is at the Lotte Department Store, a massive structure with an equally massive underground series of stores all surrounding the cities subway line. This makes for a labarynth of passage-ways all surfacing at different parts of the city. With Mrs. Lee again asking and re-asking directions we were able to emerge a mere 6 blocks from the school. For our return trip, Mrs. Lee decided that we should take a different route. She proceeded to lead me down a congested alley-way. She suddenly turned to me and asked me if I like noodles (sounding familiar?) “Yes I do!” I told her and she led me down and even smaller and more congested walk-way with little Korean women squatting over massive baskets of unknown food. We turned into a restaurant and she ordered our meals. She then explained that we were in a VERY famous restaurant called 1501 Kuksu with VERY famous noodles. After we began eating I noticed the building across from us had the sign 1501 Kuksu over their door. When I mentioned this to Mrs. Kim she turned, paused, and then asked the woman serving us if both buildings were the same restaurant. The woman shook her head no. Apparently I’ll have to eat my very famous Korean noodles another day.

We finally made it back to my apartment and I invited Mrs. Kim up for some blueberry tea. She therefore gets the title of my first official house guest! After our tea, we went to the Family mart for some essentials. I was pretty out of it so I basically let her make the decisions for me.

The next morning I awoke promptly at 4:30 am, unpacked and at 10 decided I needed to test the bus out on my own. Everything went smoothly so once I was back at my home I decided to find some concrete free nature. Luckily I’m nestled in the foothills so I discovered a hiking trail a mere 10 minutes from my front door. Because its fall, the trees are on fire with color which made for a very beautiful hike! It was a good end to my Sunday. Monday was to be my first day of class.

Monday morning I arrived at the school to find out that I not only needed my lesson plan (which I was told I needed) but also a work sheet for the students (which I had not been told I needed). I madly whipped one out in time for the principal to call me over. He pulled me in front of a rolling camera where I introduced myself to the school. I used my one of two Korean words that I know (Annyong haseo) and I think everyone was very impressed. “The other English teacher didn’t know any Korean!” Mrs. Kim exclaimed, so hey, at least I’ve got that going for me.

After my chaotic morning, I still had four 45 min. classes to teach. I allowed the students to ask me questions about myself. The most common question: “Do you have a boyfriend?” Ah yes, nothing like teaching middle school boys, it’s the same everywhere!

The basic set-up in the school is that I will be co-teaching with four other Korea English teachers. Each teacher has a very different and unique style. All of the teachers however, use corporal punishment. Some pinch the students' ears, others cary around a wooden stick to threaten the boys with and others just smack their heads. Never seeing punishment like this in a classroom up close and personal, its been very interesting.

At the end each day the students are required to clean the school (can you even imagine this in the United States?!) The school remains relatively clean because in typical Asian form, all people trade their shoes for slippers once they enter a building which keeps the traffic areas relatively clean. On a side note, I've been incredibly impressed by the cleanliness of Koreans. Everything from a sanitizer spritzer for the toilet seat to plastic baggies at restaurants for wet umbrellas to keep things dry. The city itself is mainly free of litter and though areas may be shabby looking, they're scrubbed.

After class, Mrs. Kim (who seems to be my personal tour guide/translator) took me to the hospital for a health exam and then back to the store for some more essentials (a much needed adaptor for my computer and cooooffffeeeee!) The school has been super generous in helping me get settled. Basically they gave Mrs. Kim a credit card which she was instructed to use for anything I might need! I keep expecting some catch but none has come so far.

Basically this bring me to today, my second day of teaching. It went smoothly enough though it feels looong. My job is to create one lesson plan a week (very easy!) but I still have to be at school for eight hours every day even though I'm only teaching half of that time. This means there is much time in front of the computer which I'm not exactly good at.

The students Christmas vacation is coming up and Mrs. Kim and I will be in charge of the English Camp. I had a grand vision of games on the soccer field shouting the english names for various fruits and vegetables but Mrs. Kim just informed me that its basically just an extension of class. Boo!

My general impression of my school, fellow teachers and Korea as a whole is very positive. I am really enjoying this adventure and am happy to be doing it alone! I'm sure in a couple of weeks I'll be crying for some native English speakers but at the moment I'm enjoying Mrs. Kim and the other teachers though there are constantly miscommunications between us!

I do miss all of you back home and already can't wait for visitors (i.e. Mom, Jos, Rachel, Em, and maybe Jer!) Thats about it, more to come soon!