In which I cry at school, am told that my head looks like an egg, and feel that I'm exactly where I should be.

Well, I finally have internet in my apartment... woo-hoo!  Unfortunately, I still don't have wireless, so my battle with technology has yet to be won.  My laptop is slow, old, and has a screen with the annoying tendency to flicker for no apparent reason; this is the device I can use at home.  My tablet is brand new and has an app to mask my location, thus allowing me to watch as much Hulu as my heart desires.  (Hulu has a multitude of subtitled Korean dramas available for streaming... this is one of the main reasons I have wanted internet at home with such an intensity).

Life in Korea is good, but I am a little overwhelmed by the prospect of blogging all I have failed to write about in the recent past. 

Korea has done strange things to me.  In two months, I have morphed from someone whose knowledge of Korean pop culture was limited to the Gangnam Style music video, into a Hallyu enthusiast.  For those of you wondering what "Hallyu" is, I will save your fingers a trip to Wikipedia by pasting their definition here: "Hallyu is a neologism referring to the increase in the popularity of South Korean culture since the late 1990s."  In other words, Hallyu encompasses the massive wave of pop culture originating in South Korea and spreading its addictive coolness to other parts of Asia and beyond.  This trend is quite visible in music, films, television, and fashion but it is so much more than just that.  Hallyu is a way of life and a living, breathing entity.  Like I said, I will devote a separate post to my new and ardent love for Hallyu because it's just that significant.  (So stay tuned, please!).

Two weeks ago, I rode the KTX express train for the first time to visit Seoul for the first time.  At EPIK orientation, almost every other teacher I became close to was placed in Seoul.  Because of this, I had an open invitation to stay with my friend Alison which I happily took up during my four-day weekend.  Seoul is an exciting place and I will be back soon; there wasn't nearly enough time to see or do all I wanted!  I found the subway system to be one of the most convenient to navigate (which is saying something, considering how many metro systems I've experienced in the past 18 months).  The best part of my trip to Seoul was reconnecting with friends from orientation; even though I am on the other side of the country, the gloriously fast KTX train makes my distance from these lovely people seem much smaller.

At Gyeongbokgung Palace

This past weekend, I went with Kaela, Rudy, and a few other people from the International Church to the Jinju Lantern festival.  Jinju is several hours away from Ulsan so we made a day of it.  We had a good time among the floating lights and lanterns.  My camera isn't designed for low light but I managed to get a handful of pictures in the dark.  I think between the six of us at the festival, there are plenty of good photos (although they haven't been uploaded yet, as far as I know).

The river before the lanterns are lit.



Besides my trips to Seoul and Jinju and my obsessive love of Hallyu, most of my life lately has revolved around teaching and my community at school.  As much as I enjoyed visiting Seoul, I wouldn't want to change anything about my location because I love my school.  I am about 10 years older than my students and about 10 years younger than most of the teachers, but I've been graciously adopted by several teachers.  (Particularly the three who brought me to the seaside).  The weekend before I traveled to Seoul, "Math Unni" ("unni" means older sister) took me to the hair salon to get my hair cut.  My bangs have grown too long for me to wear without pinning them back, so I hoped to get my split ends trimmed and my bangs restyled.  In my American way of thinking, this would be a simple procedure and I would walk out of the salon with freshly cut bangs.  My American way of thinking forgot to consider the ever-present reality of the Korean Surprise.  The stylist didn't speak English but Unni explained to me that the stylist thought my face was better without bangs.  "Forehead is too pretty; keep hair growing."  I confusedly sat in the chair, remembering that History Unni had remarked on more than one occasion, "I like your head, it's like an egg!"  (Being told you have a "small face" or a head "shaped like egg" is a compliment in Korea).  I resigned myself to waiting for my bangs to grow out as the stylist trimmed my split ends and left my bangs untouched.

Teaching has been frustrating and rewarding.  The ringleader of troublemaking in my third grade "demon class" was completely out of control this week.  It was bound to happen sooner or later: I was so angry and overwhelmed that I cried.  Thankfully, that was my last class of the day and I held it in until the bell rang.  But two of my room cleaners, Hareton (after Hareton Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights) and Donnie (after Donnie Darko) noticed before I had a chance to flee to the Teachers' Room.  Teacher Song, Math Unni, and Mentor Teacher were all very sympathetic, especially when I explained which student was particularly bad.  Apparently, he's a hellion to every teacher at school.  I also heard that his psychiatrist quit on him and his home life is pretty bad; I really hate having so many disruptions in class but more than anything I feel sorry for him.  I've worked with a lot of traumatized and behaviorally challenged children since high school and I love every single one of them.  But I found that the best way to reach the kids I've worked with was through one-on-one time and open communication.  I don't speak Korean so I am incredibly limited in the interaction I can have with this student... I'd like to simply explain to him that I am not his enemy and I want my class to be rewarding for all my students, including him.  But in light of my incompetance in the Korean language I'm stuck.

Anyway, the crying incident happened on Tuesday.  Wednesday was much, much better.  My first class of the day (with Gloria) had shown some pretty bad behavior before midterms.  I don't know what she told them in Korean at the beginning of class, but they were incredibly sweet and endearing.  Some of the boys in that class are fairly low-level English speakers so I don't know how much they actually understood.  However, when I would finish a sentence during my presentation, several of them would "wow" in awe.  I laughed about that and assured them it really wasn't necessary to "wow" (or clap, as some of them had) at everything I said, but I can't pretend I didn't enjoy it.  I also had one of the students who had given me (and apparently everyone else) a lot of trouble before midterms raise his arms over his head in a heart shape and say "Teacher, I love you!"

I teach after-school conversation classes every day until 5:30.  I have a handful of third graders Monday through Wednesday and second graders on Thursday and Friday.  One of my brightest and most respectful students, Patrick, told me that he doesn't enjoy school because there are far too many pressures on students; the only aspect he looks forward to, he said, is my class.  It is moments like these that ground me in my new reality and make all the difficult class periods completely worth my time.

My stream of consciousness is losing momentum and it's almost time for me to teach my penultimate class of the week.  I still have many things to write about (including a creeptastic language tutoring experience) so check back soon.  Peace!