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A year ago today…
5 minutes ago, I officially completed my first year of teaching English to elementary school children in Korea. It has been a fantastic year of work with very few forgettable days. I still remember how nervous I was teaching during those first few weeks, not really having much experience interacting with children since I was one. What kind of teacher would I be? Would I be the cool teacher, the strict teacher, the disciplinarian? Would the students enjoy my class or even enjoy learning English at all? Would it be a job I gladly woke up for or struggled to drag myself through everyday? Would I even enjoy Korea?
Turns out, I really couldn’t be happier with my situation. There are truly so many amazing things about my time here in Korea that makes it one of the best decisions I ever made and makes me so excited about my second year here. Outside of family and the obvious comforts and familiarity of home (Mom’s meatloaf, driving a car, Dexter, the Braves, and beer to name a few), I don’t really feel like there is anything back home that would make me happier than I am in Korea right now (maybe if the Braves asked me to be their starting shortstop).
I know I have lucked out with my situation in Korea. There are people here with terrible locations, uncooperative co-teachers, miserable apartments, poorly behaved students, and some people just cannot deal with the Korean way of life. Lucky for me, I hit the jackpot.
First, my school is amazing. Unlike some other English teachers in Korea that are only scarcely used for correct pronunciation avowal or to grade papers, I am fully responsible for planning, executing, and evaluating 22, forty minute classes every week. I have successfully ran eight English festivals and I am about to host my second English camp this year. Sure there are days when I don’t want to do the work, but then I hear from other teachers that their lessons consist of sitting in the back of class waiting for the teacher to call on them to affirm their pronunciation of the word ‘ketchup’ and I am reminded why I enjoy teaching at my school. This actually brings up something totally unrelated but it’s such a part of the Korean culture I have experienced this year I need to bring it up. People in Korea will know exactly what I am talking about and people back home might get a laugh from it.
A few weeks ago, I walked into one of my 5th grade classes and all the kids were shouting something that sounded a bit odd to me but I didn’t know if I was hearing them correctly. My co-teacher came up to me and asked if the children were pronouncing the word ‘Asshole’ correctly. Taking a few seconds to recover from the question, I slowly said it back to her; she turned to the students and said “Repeat after me…” Although I was a bit shocked by the question, English profanity is actually quite common in everyday Korea. Don’t get me wrong, I love a bit of cursing when the moment calls, but it is strange coming from a student who cannot string a full English sentence together yet. The most obvious and hilarious case of English profanity is Korean culture is the students clothing. Here are a few phrases I have seen on shirts at my school and around town this year.
- “Fuck Hockey”
- “Get on your knees”
- “Best fuckin five”
- “I ♡ Crap”
- I have yet to see this exact shirt, but there is one that simply lists every derogatory racial term you could think of in big, bold letters
Back to why I love my school and my job. The children are fantastic. No matter what kind of mood you are in, when a tiny three-foot nothing second grader comes up to you and gives you a big hug and says “Hello Jimi teacher” there is no physical way to hold back a smile. Without fail, at least once a day, a student does something to put me in a better mood. Whether it’s a poorly spelled love letter, an impromptu dance performance, watching a first grader struggle to lug a liter bottle of water up the stairs like it’s a sixty pound bag of potatoes, watching a student laugh so hard they fall out of their chair, or just a hug, the kids truly make this job a blast every day.
Because Korean names are hard for me to pronounce and remember, my 5th grade teacher thought it would be a good idea to have everyone choose English names for themselves. Two of my classes had a hard time with this and I gladly gave them all names that I would remember. I ended up giving about fifty students the names of current and former Atlanta braves. If you were to walk into these two fifth grade classrooms you would find students wearing nametags like Maddux, Chipper, Justice, Bream, Rocker, Heyward, Smoltz, and so on. Although this was amazing for me, the names that the other classes gave themselves were even better. Here is a short list of some names from my other four fifth grade classes
- Randy Orton
- Surly
- Starlight
- Ironman
- King Kong
- Tom and Jerry (this is one student)
- Kung Fu Panda
- And without a doubt my favorite name is the kid who decided to name himself “English Name”
Another great thing about the students is their ability to make you feel superhuman. Simple things we do drive the kids insane. We are rock stars in Korean elementary schools. Writing or speaking in Korean, having arm and facial hair, kicking a soccer ball, and apparently being over five and a half feet tall, are all reason for claps, gasps, admiration, and all around amazement. This happens in daily life with adult Koreans as well. An adult Korean male stranger has no problem stopping you in the middle of the street to let you know that he thinks you are “so handsome”. It’s a bit embarrassing when it happens in front of your friends, and we know it boils down to us looking different, but I think quietly inside, it’s a nice self-confidence boost for all of us. Regardless if it’s your looks, your height, or the speed you can kick a soccer ball, it’s always nice to be complimented. One student, whose English skills are basically non-existent, has only ever said two words to me, but says it every time we cross paths in the hallway. “Power shot”!
My co-teachers are equally fantastic. Day or night, in my school or out of the country, they are some of the most helpful, reliable people I have ever met and continue to amaze me everyday. I would not be able to do anything without them. A few things that might have gone terribly wrong without the help of my co-teachers include haircuts, postal deliveries, flight tickets, movie times, moving trucks, internet, cable, paying bills, buying a cell phone plan, insurance from my car crashes, hospital visits, acupuncture visits, directions to everywhere, and countless other important things for surviving in Korea. Outside of their extreme helpfulness in getting through daily life, my teachers are a joy to work with. They treat me like an adult and give me plenty of responsibility at my school; something I know other teachers are not as fortunate to have. I am not forced to teach out of the textbook if I feel it’s a waste of the student’s time, and I am given every opportunity to experiment with different lessons and class management techniques. They have three times as much work as I do and work on the weekends and late into the nights sometimes, yet they always have a smile on their face and are happy to help me with any difficulties I may have.
Here are a few other things that make my school amazing. First though, let me say to other teachers that might be reading, this post isn’t meant to brag about how my school is better than yours or make anyone feel jealous about my situation. I figured after a year of teaching that it would be helpful to write down how I felt about my year; to have it written down to actually explore why I had such a fun time these past few months. That said, here is some other things my school does that have made my year so much fun.
- My principal and vice principal are wonderful guys. At his old age, my principal seems to be able to drink anyone under the table. I will never make the mistake of sitting next to him on a school dinner night again. They are unbelievably understanding dudes and have never given me anything but respect and gratitude. They agree to let me leave early on some days and gave me an extra five holidays this year on top of the 50 or so I seem to have already. My Principal has, to this day, only ever said 2 words to me in English and I don’t know why. We were having a beer on the front steps of the school, he turns to me, clinks his can against mine and says “Tony Hawk.”
- While we’re on it… Holidays! I was in the Philippines for parts of January and February; so long I don’t remember the exact number of days. I am about to spend thirty straight days in Borneo. Every month seems to have two or three holidays that I get off. It is unreal how many days off we get here. Makes two weeks back home seem cruel. Sorry to anyone that is infuriated by this part (Stephen).
- Food. My school is apparently one of a few model nutrition schools in the city. I don’t know what this means, but they feed me well. I am not the biggest fan of a lot of Korean foods, but at least three times a week we will have spaghetti, salad, pork cutlet, chicken nuggets, curry, or something else that I really enjoy.
- Spending free time in the music room playing piano.
- Spending free time in the music room playing ping-pong.
- Teacher’s volley-ball team.
- All of the gifts they gave me to bring home to my family.
- They pay for my apartment, TV, bed, closet and they double my pension!!
All in all, the year has gone better than expected. I couldn’t have asked for better friends or experiences to go along with my amazing school. I cannot believe I have met so many like-minded people out here who make every day that much more fun and truly comfortable. I don’t know how many people back home that read this know, but I have a pretty close-knit group of friends here in Korea, and early in 2011 one of them passed away. I figured since I am writing about my feeling on the past year, and it was definitely an experience, I should write a little bit about it. I won’t go into detail, but she was badly burned and cut during our trip to the Philippines and ended up getting very sick from her sores once back in Korea. I still don’t truthfully know how I feel about the whole thing. The immediate and shocking violence of her death will always stay with me and was a greatly emotional thing to witness, but after the initial wave of feelings from the afternoon had subsided, I really didn’t feel anything. This isn’t to say I didn’t miss her, but I thought I would feel different. I thought maybe my body just shut down to the event to help cope and that with time I would have some stronger reactions to it. They never came. This was the first person close to me I have ever seen die. It was the first time I ever saw a body. There were a lot of firsts that afternoon. Others have died in my past but I wasn’t old enough to understand the permanence and emotional impact it really had on those around me. But maybe this is how it’s supposed to be. You get on. You remember having fun with them but don’t let it engulf your life. We’ve had an amazing time since her death, and although it would have been nice to have her there with us, I’m glad we never slowed down and kept doing the things that made us happy. Her name was Yvonne.
Korea has been so fun and I cannot wait to start the next chapter of my experience here. Two close friends and I have bought an apartment in downtown together and we will begin moving in this Tuesday. We are looking into getting small motorbikes to drive around town, and to and from school on. It will be hard over the next few weeks to say goodbye to new friends, but the intrigue of my second year in Korea is way to exciting to feel sad for too long.
Jimi
I Wanna Walk Like You, Talk Like You, Too-oo-oo
Tickets to Kuala Lumpur and Malaysian Borneo are booked!
New Apartment too…
Two friends and I have put down a deposit on an incredible new apartment in downtown Daegu. The new pad is on the 19th floor overlooking the city, has three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, a living room, kitchen, patio, and lots of included appliances and furniture. Renting a place inKoreais quite odd actually. The deposit for the apartment, which is valued at ₩ 135,000,000 ($135,000), is a whopping \ 10,000,000 ($10K) but we are only paying around \280,000 a month between the three of us ($280 per person). The apartment is in the perfect location and we are all excited to get this next month behind us and start our second year inKorea.
So we move in to our apartment on the 26th of July. I’ll have about one week to get settled in before I leave forBorneo.
After 2 weeks of working summer camps and moving into my new place, I will eave Seoul, Friday night, the 5th of August.
- August 5th 23:25
- Flight 1:Seoul to Kuala Lumpur
- I will only be in Kuala Lumpurfor a few hours while waiting for my next flight. I will be leaving Seoul late at night and arriving in KL early Saturday morning.
- August 6th 7:20
- Flight 2:Kuala Lumpur to Miri (MalaysianBorneo)
- From Kuala Lumpur, I will be taking a short flight intoBorneo. My first stop is Miri.
- Flight 3: Miri to Mulu
- My last flight before I start my vacation is to the isolated city ofMulu. The only way to get to Mulu is a 30 minute flight on a little plane, or a 12 hour boat ride through the jungle. There are no roads to Mulu. For this part of the trip I will be traveling with a few friends. Once in Mulu, I will be exploring some of the most fascinating and gigantic caves. One cave in Mulu contains the largest chamber in the world (eight jumbo jets long and higher than the old Houston Astrodome). We will also go on some treks through the jungle. Explore the canopy of the rain forest and maybe climb the Pinnacles.
- August 14th 12:00
- Flight 4: Mulu to Miri
- We will spend 4 days in Miri exploring the beaches, snorkeling the reefs, visiting 4 gigantic, beautiful parks, and the largest Taoist temple inSoutheast Asia.
- August 18th 23:25
- Flight 5: Miri to Kota Kinabalu
- This starts the part of my vacation I will be doing alone. My plan when I finally leaveKoreais to travel for a while, so this will be a good experience traveling by myself for 16 days. In Kota Kinabalu I might look into getting my scuba certification, but I will be spending most of my time relaxing on the beach, writing, and working on my photography. I will probably rent a motorcycle to get around and see as much as I can.
- August 25th 23:25
- Flight 6: Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan
- Same as above, but I will be going to visit some orangutans and going to turtle island off the coast ofBorneo.
- September 2nd 10:25
- Flight 7: Sandakan to Kuala Lumpur
- Just a night inKuala Lumpur. I want to get some good pictures of the Patronas Towers.
- September 3rd 14:20
- Flight 8:Kuala Lumpur to Seoul
Trip to North Korea
D.M.Z.
