The Week that Was: Friends, Art, and Inspiration

FRIENDS

On Tuesday afternoon one of my closest friends in Korea, Korena (I know, it still gets me too sometimes), came all the way down to Naju to visit. She unfortunately missed her train in the morning and was unable to observe my classes but we still managed to tour the campus– a campus that has around 1200 Koreans on it with about 15 of them being females. Due to this lack of exposure Korean adolescents have difficulty grasping the concept of a male and female being platonic friends (“Teacher, teacher! Girlfriend? You girlfriend?” questions flooded our senses). After we shook off the students and left school we walked downtown.

Naju doesn’t have much of a downtown scene to offer so we were able to cover the majority of it in the little time we had. I took Korena to “my place” for kimbap and ramen, our favorite dishes, and then we chatted at a temple and WaBar. We talked a lot about how our identities as Korean-Americans are being shaped through this experience. I’ll get to reporting on my findings one of these days haha.

Finally, we ate dinner at Anskar’s homestay and demolished plate after plate of samgyeopsol. After dinner we played with his 5 year old homestay sister on her trampoline and synchronized our choreography.

She warmed up to me...eventually.

ART

According to my school’s calendar Wednesday was “Picnic Day.” Without a trace of a basket or blanket each grade went on a field trip to different sites. The 9^th grade boys went on a hike while the 7^th grade boys went to a traditional cloth-dying museum. I opted to go into Gwangju with my 8^th graders and see the Biennale Art Exhibit.

After a brief and unexpected hike, we finally arrive at the venue.

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While in Korea I've thought a lot about beauty and whether it's inherent or constructed. The scars were self-inflicted for personal gain.

Outside of school and visiting a big city, the last thing a hundred 14 year old boys want to do is wander quietly through a modern art / politically charged art exhibit; I was skeptical about going to the exhibit because I’m not a big museum guy but it turned out to be a really great day (that is before lunch and alcoholic vice principal came around). I’m sure the boys enjoyed themselves, probably for reasons other than what the artists intended, so I was glad to be there to buy them some snacks, learn some names and bond with them.

I don't know his name yet but with a pose like that the whole world's bound to know it sooner or later.

Kim Bom Joon thank you for always knowing the answers in class.

Yong Seok please stop making me laugh in class and then following me to the bar after school begging for snacks.

All 100 of 'em.

Fellow teachers. Mrs. Joo (far right) is my biggest help and the man in the middle is the librarian / former star of a 1970s American cop drama.

INSPIRATION

Over the weekend we had the first Fulbright Conference in Gyeongju for current ETAs. The conference created a four-day weekend and was advertised by a renewee as “spring break.” I was excited for both of those reasons but surprisingly the reason why I enjoyed conference was because of something completely different: it was energizing.

I usually can’t sit still for more than 20 minutes and as college showed me there’s no way I can pay attention in a lecture hall for more than 30. Workshops during orientation over the summer solidified this and made Saturday’s prospects very bleak (presentations from 8am – 4pm). The presentations varied from human trafficking to learning your middle schoolers’ names and while there were a few bland ones I’d say that as a whole I really enjoyed the day. Seeing what my peers were doing and their devotion to teaching was really inspiring; even though it’s exceedingly difficult to adapt most of their plans to my situation (very few low-level middle school teachers but seemingly a lot of advanced high school ones)  it was great to watch people’s passion and drive.

The evenings weren’t what I envisioned (we only went out once) but, along with a few lengthy and sincere conversations I had with people I don’t get to talk to too much, the inspiration from Saturday’s workshops will be what positively color my memories of our fall conference.

Fun Fact: On our rest stop from Gwangju to Gyeongju a few elementary-aged kids thought I was a famous soccer player. The kids really thought I was Cha Du-Ri. Like enough to ask me to sign their shirts. I signed about ten arms and had several pictures taken of me because the boys honestly thought I was Cha Du-Ri. I guess they didn’t notice all of the Americans (or my lack of Korean language ability) friends I was around, maybe if they did they would’ve realized haha.

That's just not fair.

***

Winter break plans have hit a few roadblocks over the last week (limited mutual availability and an unsuccessful internship application) but I’m still optimistic that things will come together. While Indonesia may be unlikely I’m still holding out for a few nights in Hong Kong and a few days on the beach in Thailand. And even though I didn’t get the internship with the KAEC (Korean-American Educational Commission) I’m hopeful that a few of my other interests (working with a junior researcher and contributing to an online start-up magazine) come through.

This week is only a four-day week because we all had off on Monday due to Conference. Halloween weekend looks like it will be in Seoul. So many buses, good thing I just snagged a netbook!

The Week that Was: Sports and Leisure

Even though there was no traveling outside of Jeollanam-do, I would say I had a pretty eventful week. All week I was wildly unproductive during my prep time but somehow I managed to piece together a lesson loosely based upon professions and jobs. Monday was a wash because I was still exhausted from the weekend in Busan but Tuesday was a day to remember: Sports Day.

Entire student body stretching at Sports Day.

I knew I didn’t have to teach on Tuesday because of Sports Day, however, I didn’t know about the day’s schedule (or my thorough involvement in it). I came to work in jeans and a sweatshirt and was quickly asked to participate in Sports (aka Soccer) Day. I called up my friend who works nearby, borrowed his gym shorts and hit the field.

Insert comments about famous Korean soccer player.

I wasn’t very good but in the second game when I finally scored a goal “best player” and “very strong legs” comments ensued.

My boys on the bleachers, spectating.

Jump Rope Day*

A few weeks ago we put up flyers advertising “Korean-English Language Exchange” around the local university. We didn’t get any responses for a few days but over the last week or so we’ve gotten a couple of hits. On Thursday we had our first “blind date” language exchange. It was with two Korean girls who spoke English pretty well. We’re in the process of making more Korean friends as we speak.

On Saturday I went to a F1 race in Mokpo. I had never been to a racetrack before so I figured it would be interesting. It turned out that it was only the qualifying round so it wasn’t all that exciting. However, after the race ended we walked over to where they were having a post-game concert and T-Ara and Super Junior performed. Really unexpected and really neat.

F1 in Mokpo.

T-Ara performing "Roly-Poly."

The kids of Geumsong Won!

An Australian gets mobbed by Korean children (more on this later).

At night I went into Gwangju for my friend’s birthday. We’ve all been traveling a lot the last few weekends and since we have the Fulbright Conference next weekend only a few people made the trek out. I got there around 10, the guest of honor decided to go home at midnight (?!?) and I was very skeptical of the night’s prospects. That being said, being tenuously linked to one of my friend’s spending a night in a police station’s holding cell makes it all worth it. No worries, everyone’s fine and we’re all alive. Club Houze I love you.

Sunday morning I woke up and had to grab a bus back to Naju because I had baseball practice (earlier in the week I agreed to “coach” some of my boys)! A friend from Mokpo came up and helped me run the practice and it was awesome. An center-fielder by trade, Morrow ran drills with the outfielders while I held infield practice. Aside from the moaning about running ONE lap around the field (typical baseball kids: lazy) and some confusion over how to warmup I would say the practice went smoothly. Morrow and I got to air it out later and do some long toss, too.

The boys warming up their arms.

Coach Willis runs outfield drills.

My new glove from E-Mart. It cost $30 and the pocket is already sort of breaking. I miss my old glove-- the one I've used since 8th grade-- so much. Sentimental value on it: priceless.

The upcoming week is going to fly by because my friend Korena is visiting from Cheonan on Tuesday, my school has “Picnic Day” on Wednesday and I don’t have to teach on Friday because of the Conference in Gyeongju!

Lastly, the reason why I was excited to see the Australian guy in Mokpo is because I just booked my flight to Australia for the holidays. I still have to look into other international flights (Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong mayhaps) but Australia is a great start.

This is going to be my NYE, nbd.

The Week that Was: Gwangju and Busan

I only taught three days this week because of the national holiday on Monday and midterm exams. Knowing that they would have to study for their exams I decided to do Review Baseball Jeopardy with them. RBJ is the same as regular Jeopardy except that in order to keep (or double) the points you’ve earned by answering questions correctly you have to throw a ball into the strike zone (see below). The kids loved it despite being athletically challenged.

He was vacuuming the ledge where the chalk was...random.

On my days off I went into Gwangju to see one of the Tigers’ last home games before the playoffs. They lost 3-0 and aside from us there were maybe 2,000 people in the stands.

The next day I went shopping with my friend from Naju. We (mostly I) bought a lot of winter clothes… only to find out that my package of winter clothes from the States would arrive in a few days. In sum, Uniqlo’s awesome.

Kids walking around the shopping district in Gwangju.

Lastly, over the weekend we celebrated my friend Alex’s birthday. Alex turned 21 (in Korean years) and was our RA at Jungwon University over the summer. His English is fantastic and he is the mayor of “Black Out City.” We went out with a ton of ETAs, explored Busan and caught some of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF).

My Korean brother, Alex Park.

Busan Tower.

Looking south into the ocean.

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I got a lot of crap for this scarf. I stand by it!

Haeundae Beach.

Haeundae Beach.

BIFF.

BIFF.

We saw "The Artist," a silent film set back in Hollywood during the '30s. I fell asleep at some points.

Compliments of Jim McFadden. We bought wine and because he was swinging the bag too vigorously it busted open against a metal rail. #crimescene

Gwangan Beach at night.

 

 

Anonymous VIP

“I wonder if any of Mr. Rogers’ neighbors are selling, with this on I should move in next door.”

“You’re gonna come out and show me, riiight?”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said as I walked out from the curtain in an unflatteringly cut cardigan.

I stared into the mirror and made some comment about looking overweight, probably referencing the pudgier days of my youth, when my friend in the fitting room advised me to:

“Stop slouching!”

“I’m not slouching I’m just standing normally… aren’t I?”

“No, you need to….ugh…pull your shoulders back but…”

I have terrible posture and any attempt at correcting it makes me look wildly uncomfortable.

“You would be a lot more approachable if you had good posture and didn’t walk around like a gorilla all the time, yknow.”

I put away the oversized cardigans and irritating wool sweaters and walked out of the fitting room, intermittently pushing back my shoulders as if I were an ex-girlfriend unsuccessfully trying to make her old boyfriend jealous. We moved over to the discount mall and my efforts to correct my poor posture proved to be short-lived.

Located on a street filled with name brands like Adidas, Nike and Uniqlo, these flea-market style malls are sparsely populated. Available hair clips and bags far outnumber the amount of heads and shoulders that are presently looking to purchase. Homogeneity—shoes, purses, accessories, shirts, dresses—is the status quo and with a finite number of customers each vendor diversifies the only way they can: hawking on wandering wallets.

My shoulders sunk after every smiling (Korean) introduction by a vendor. The disappointment and foolishness I felt from being unable to communicate, but more likely from consistently being an anomaly, led to an increasingly feeble posture. After having walked through the booths and been followed by several vendors I had perfected the awkward smile accompanied by headshakes and mumbling.

*****

I bought a lot of necessary new things, considering Korea’s recent cooling and snail mail’s leisurely pace. But the one thing I acquired more of today that I didn’t need was a reminder of my being an anomaly.

It isn’t that I agonize over these daily reminders—because I’ve come to accept them with a light-hearted smile most of the time—it’s that no matter how hard I try to assimilate I won’t ever match my appearance.

Which is sometimes a roadblock in my deliberation on whether or not to search for my birth parents…

The Week that Was: Teaching, Surprise Partying and Chatting

Teaching: I had a very up and down week. My lesson on “wants and desires” absolutely bombed and by the end of the week I completely scrapped it in favor of review Jeopardy. The problem was that there was just too much text on the PPT and it was too long for them to just sit and watch the screen. I’m teaching directions next week and there are a ton of activities so I’m hoping I’ve learned from my mistakes!

Surprise Party: For the past two weeks I’ve been “planning” my friend Anskar’s surprise birthday party. Admittedly, there wasn’t much planning involved but I did set up a facebook event! About 15-20 of our friends showed up to surprise him in Gwangju and he had absolutely no idea. He was surprised and we went to HOUZE until 4am (something he never does). It was a great evening, perfectly capped by his saying “this is one of the nicest things anyone’s ever done for me.” Cheers, bud, you deserve it.

Chatting: I had three particularly great conversations this week. The first one was about Korean urbanization and identity with my friend who is half-Korean. The second was just about families and getting to know one of my bros better. The third was about travelling and the NGO world. All three of them made me feel like I was at home speaking to my best friends. Surprise party aside, those conversations were the highs of my week. They were just real.

*

I’m so mad I don’t have pictures from the surprise party (or the hike we did on Saturday)! If people post them to facebook I’ll transport them both over to the blog.

This week there’s a full week of teaching and then the Jinju Lantern Festival this Saturday….

…can’t wait.