Daewonsa

On Monday, a friend and I went out to Daewonsa, one of my favorite places in Korea.

The trip to get out there is rather epic. We left Mokpo at little before 8:30, and made it to Boseong with enough time between buses to take a taxi to the green tea fields (Boseong produces at least 40% of the green tea consumed in Korea - that's a lot of green tea) and do a quick walk-around in the blistering heat.

Ever want to know how green tea is harvested?


Though there are machines that will do the harvesting for the cheaper tea, the expensive kind is all picked by hand.

We caught the 11:45 bus out to Daewonsa, and it took FOREVER. I mean, the ride is beautiful - Boseong is sort of at at the foot of the Jirisan range, so there are rivers and trees and rice fields, and some of the most entertaining old folks on the bus with you - but the bus is ancient and the roads twisty.

We decided to go eat lunch before wandering around the temple and went to what we call "the flower bibimbab restaurant." After you order, someone goes out to the green house to pick the vegetables for you lunch. To quote a friend from the first time we went, "This is what the angels eat!"


If you go to Daewonsa during the week, you realize how rural this area area really is. It felt like we were the only folks to come into the restaurant all day, and we only saw a couple of people anywhere at the temple. It was pretty amazing and incredibly peaceful.


Afterwards, we went to the temple, and it was almost completely deserted. One of the big reasons I wanted to go in summer was to see the lotus flowers, and while I think I was probably a little too late for their peak, it was still beautiful!


We wandered around for a while, finally finding this little bridge/pagoda area and we just sat their listening to the water and cooling off for a while before wandering the museum before beginning the trek back home. All in all, it took almost exactly 12 hours.


For people in Mokpo:
Bus to Boseong: 8:25
Boseong/Daewonsa bus: 11:45 (you CAN do a quick to to the tea fields, wander around, eat some green tea ice cream, and get back, but you should ask the driver to come back and pick you up. About 9,000w each way. They do the "rural, so we can" higher meter pricing.)
Daewonsa/Boseong bus: 5:20 (and some of the drivers are maybe a bit impatient, so you need to be on time)
Bus to Mokpo: 7:10.

Last day

This picture pretty much sums up my teaching elementary school in Korea. There is a lot of touching, people covering their faces, making of peace signs, not following directions, and me grinning a bit maniacally in the background.


This one just made me laugh - both because of the kid in the center, and also because I'm not sure if the kid hitting the ground dove out of the way or was shoved - really, it could have been either.

(I posted a ton of pictures on flickr - let me know if you need the id there - but they are all basically variations on the same theme.)

Last week was my last day as a teacher in South Korea.

I honestly am unsure of what my impact here has been most of the time. The kids who are doing well would likely have done well had I not been here, and there are still kids who look stumped when faced with "how are you?" But on the last day of school one really good thing happened.

소진 said hello to me in Korean.

Last year, So-jin came into my class late almost every class. She was often dirty, more than once was missing a shoe, sat in the back alone, and was harassed by some of the slower kids in class. She obviously had special needs, and when I asked my co-teacher about it, got little more than she was only there so her teacher could have a break. I would try to get her to do just about anything but didn't get far at all (though I DID make the boys who were picking on her stop when I was around, so that was something).

This year, my (new) co-teacher sat students by height and gender and I insisted that So-jin was left in the mix. I bribed the heck out of the girl who sat with her to get her to translate and had her get So-jin to participate (I lucked out that she ended up next to an amazing kid who was much more open than a lot of kids that age. And that she was easily won over with praise, stickers and candy). And it worked. They would volunteer to perform dialogs in front of the class, and while So-jin wasn't retaining much, she would repeat me and she pretended to follow along in the book or with games.

Her homeroom teacher was amazing at getting kids to work together, and it was so beautiful to see this child go from being ostracized to, if not accepted, at least acknowledged. So-jin had her shoes on everyday and was coming to school in clean clothes, with her glasses, and with her hair in a ponytail like a lot of the other girls. If I said hello to her in Korean, she would either answer or laugh at me, and was much more present in all of our interactions. In a culture where homogeneity is so highly valued, kids outside the norm have a really hard time, particularly kids with intellectual special needs, and simply being able to interact with other people can be life-changing. I wish I had a way to communicate to this teacher how amazing I think she is for what she did for this child.

On the last day of school, most of the other kids had already left for the day. So-jin was hanging around the school, we passed in the hallway, and she said hello, first in Korean, then in English.

While she had been responding to me, she hadn't initiated conversation with me EVER.

I'm not sure why that is the story I wanted to tell about ending this chapter in Korea. I didn't do much other than be a decent human being and care about a kid other people were picking on. I guess maybe in some ways, it confirms for me that going home to work with kids with special needs is the right choice for me right now, and I'm excited to see what next year holds.

Two more classes

Today I inadvertently taught a group of 5th graders how to say y'all. Well, I mean, I accidentally said it the first time, but explaining how it was a contraction was pretty much direct instruction. Especially when I made the repeat it because it made me laugh.

Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Cupcakes. You have no idea how badly I want a cupcake right this very minute.
2. Libraries. Whole buildings that are full of books? And most of them in a language I can understand? For FREE!?! WOW.

Things I will miss:
1. Lemon Cap - Lemon-flavored soju. Delicious. Dangerous, but one of the two best ways to drink soju (kiwi soju - basically a kiwi smoothy with soju - is also in the running).
2. Having only cell phone, gym membership, and internet bills. Everything else is paid for by my school.

remember

So, like I said earlier, today was my last day with the 6th graders. Because I have three more days of classes, for some reason it didn't even dawn on me that today was their last class.

Some preface, I think I've mentioned that in Korean and Japanese schools, the kids do all the cleaning. This can be both good and bad, as really, you certainly don't want to use a washroom that a middle school girl has cleaned. But one of the 6th grade classes is responsible for cleaning my class. This is also the class that is right next to my room, so they see and hear me all day, everyday. They are obnoxious (and the class that was responsible for the multiple wallet thefts) but I adore them.

So I'm just doing a quick review of the lesson and realize that we are REVIEWING the lesson, and that we wouldn't start a new one at the end of the semester. So while the kids are working, I walk over to my co-teacher and say, "Eun-hae, is this our last time with this class?" She says yes, and I dig out some US flag stickers and after we finish the activity, I told them that this was our last class, and that this summer vacation I would be moving back to the USA. I gave out stickers, and we got together to take a class picture. A bunch of the girls crowed in, wanting to be the ones that were the closest to me, and after the picture, one of the boys - one who tries hard but struggles, came up and grabbed my hand. "Teacher, please, do not forget me. Please. Remember." He had tears in his eyes and it just about broke my heart into bits.

I don't know the names of most of my students. That sounds horrible, but with more than 300 students with names that are hard to draw associations with, I struggled, and finally gave up (I took some comfort in the fact that the Korean teachers couldn't remember them, either). And yet I will remember these children. The boy who always answered "How are you?" with "HUNGRY!!" or the girls who would gather in my room at lunch. The tall, brilliant boy who was always SO over everyone and everything. The girl who was only a couple of inches shorter than me. The middle schooler last year who wanted me to call him Bingo. The future-goth who made a pencil case out of electrical tape that looked like a coffin. A little boy with tears in his eyes as he begged me to remember him.

Of course, the next class that came in couldn't care less that I was leaving. Brats.

last day for 6th grade!

I realized that today was the last day with most of my 6th graders. WOW! Like, leaving and real and all that! Next week, I'll be going into their classes and doing some raffles for some USA-type stuff - my mom sent a ton of t-shirts from the canyon, and there are enough that there is enough for one per class, I have some USA stickers, some cups, and I'll probably buy some candy from the States - but today was the last day of the basic stuff. And it was a day where I was just doing the chapter review, so it wasn't even like it was something fun. Boo.

This afternoon I went to the doctor to get refills on drugs before I head home, and next week will try to get to the dentist. I'll need to grab a few boxes of contacts, but then I should be pretty well covered until I get a job and have insurance again.

The job thing is frustrating - I've had good feedback, until they realize that I'm not in the country for another few weeks. Stressful, but not a lot I can do about it.

Related to nothing, there was just the strangest tv show - it was some sort of high-school ballroom dance competition, only instead of having a boy and a girl, both dancers were girls, with one wearing the fancy dress (the "girl")and the other in black pants (the "boy"). Both had CRAZY amounts of makeup on, including false eyelashes that were about two inches long, with the "girl" of the pair with even MORE glitter, sparkle and shiny stuff. Which is saying rather a lot.

work-appropriate

It is so humid here that I have taken "work appropriate clothing" to mean "accessories mean this isn't wearing my pajamas to work." I seriously have been sweating through all my clothes and today broke down and just went with Thai fisherman pants and a black tee-shirt. At least you can't see the sweat as much through the black shirt. Besides, no one really cares what I wear (or even notices, really) and I like to think that the jangly bracelet makes it look artsy rather than "it's this or being a big sweaty beast." Though I'm still sort of a big sweaty beast.

I just realized that I have no full weeks of school left. This Friday/Saturday I will be teaching a group of college students from the States how to teach a Korean English summer camp, and next week we have two or three days. THEN SCHOOL IS OUT!! I have exactly three weeks from tomorrow left in the country!

Things I look forward to:
1. Shoes
2. cornfields

Things I will miss:
1. Cheap lodging - a motel is usually $25-30/night
2. Noreabang - singing rooms. Karaoke, but instead of embarrassing yourself in front of a whole bar full of people, you just embarrass yourself in front of your friends.

lists

Things I look forward to:
1. Listening to Morning Edition on NPR while drinking coffee.
2. Not having saleswomen climb all over me when I am just looking at stuff. (I was rude today and basically told someone to back off in really, really broken Korean and interpretive dance.)
3. FOOD. Mexican and Indian are big on my list of foods I miss right now.
4. Bigger personal space bubbles. Especially because it is so humid right now, the fact that kids feel like they need to be about 5 inches away from me if given the opportunity drives me INSANE, and it is sort of like that almost everywhere.

Things I will miss:
1. Cheap, reasonably healthy "fast food" choices. Kimbab, bibimbab, soups - basically, rice, veggies, tofu and/or a tiny bit of meat - range from about $1 to $4 and are available in even the smallest of towns.
2. Amazing recycling - almost EVERYTHING is recycled here, and most places have composting bins.
3. Inexpensive, efficient public transportation
4. "service" - basically, getting things for free. For example, I bought the hair goop that brings my joy (Aveda's Be Curly) and got samples of shampoo, conditions, and more hair goop. This happens in most stores, and it is like a nice extra little present.

Korean English Textbook translation

This is mostly for elementary English teachers, (though there are some resources for middle and high school teachers) but the Gepik Web site has full translations of teacher's guides for 3-6 grade English textbooks.

This is great! Before, they had some "team teaching" lessons, but this is a full translation of the teacher's manual, with good explanations for to how to play the games in the book and translations of the "culture" sections (which are HILARIOUS).

Because this is another Korean web site built on a million layers of Flash, click on English, chose the "team teaching" tab, and then select your grade level. For the Primary grades, you are then able to select "Teaching Guide" from the list on the left. The only caveat is that is it in Hansoft, so it will need to be done on a Korean computer.

For upper grades, they have some examples of team-teaching lessons, but it doesn't look like the whole guides are available.

hot hot heat

The sun is making one if its few monsoon season appearances, and is it hot!! And when I say hot, I mean really freaking hot. With lots and lots of humidity, so when I look at the temperature, I think "oh, not SO bad" and then I walk outside and instantly turn into a sweaty mess. Though it is nice to see the sun.

My principal has decided that as a tool to cut electricity costs, all of the air conditioning units (in the teachers' rooms and offices - none of the classrooms have AC) should be turned off. Now, because the old men on my floor have decided that it is perfectly acceptable to smoke in the teachers' room, I don't spend much time there, anyway, but STILL!! Also? NOT OK to smoke IN THE SCHOOL. Not ever.

Also, in my non-air conditioned gym, there are people who aren't turning all the fans on. I mean, really? Are you kidding me? My goodness, people!! Though I take advantage of this by aiming the nearest fan directly at me, so it sort of works out as well as could be expected.

Not a lot going on other that the thinking about and preparing to move home. I'll be back in less than a month, just went to the pension office to fill out all the papers to get that sent to the States (should show up in September. Fingers crossed) and deciding what is worth shipping home. And the whole "I need a job" thing which is more than a tiny bit stressful.

Happy 4th.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." - Declaration of Independence

Home

Today I spent rather a large amount of money on my ticket home. I'll be landing in Indiana the evening of August 6th!

I wrote my official letter of resignation today, and I am going to try to go to the pension office on Friday (no classes in the morning, so my co-teacher and I should be able to go to work out all the details).

I have packed a couple of boxes of stuff to ship home, and need to be ruthless in the purging of clothes. Well, really, ruthless in the purging of everything.