Some unfortunate news. 

I just found out last night that my hagwon is closing down at the end of February due to insufficient number of students.  This was a bit of a shock as I knew that we had lost a # of students but had no idea that recently the hagwon was right on the verge of closing.  So now, I'm without a job at the end of February.  Another twist, Kate's hagwon and mine shared the cost of our apartment so now, I'm not sure if we're going to have to find a new place or not. Just trying to process our options right now.  Both our jobs were supposed to last until mid August, with a nice chunk of our debt paid off as well.

We have some friends putting out the word to see if there are other jobs to be had.  We're not sure yet what the ideal situation going forward would be for us.  Signing another year contract with a different hagwon would mean that Kate and I are on different length contracts so I don't think that's going to work.  I've heard that you can get shorter length contracts (less than a year) with hagwons but am not sure about this.  Plus, when I asked my boss about the certainty of Kate continuing her employment at her school, he replied that he thought she would be okay.  'Course, I thought I was okay too!  We don't want the situation where I sign another contract till mid August and then in 2 months, Kate's school closes down and we have to try and find her a 2-3month job.
 
If you are the praying type, if you could pray about this, it would be appreciated. 

Thanks,
Nathan

So here it is.  February...oh...something or other, almost the 10th which would mark 6 months of our Korean experience.  Kate has been as consistent as a sunrise with blogging while I'm (if I may continue a weather analogy) more like an eclipse: rare, and when it does come, you can barely look at it.  Now, perhaps I'm being unduly harsh on myself but the fact remains that Kate has done 99% of the brilliant writing and picture taking on here.  So here is my attempt to push that percentage to 98.  In the form of a ramble...

So as Kate, I've been teaching, eating, sleeping, breathing Korea for a time now, a time where we've mostly adjusted to the smells, the sounds, the behaviors, (though I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the driving) that make up this part of God's green earth.  It's been good and bad at times, hot and cold, dry and wet....(wow...riveting, I know. It gets....better? (shrug))

I've been thinking about attitude lately and I've thought that your attitude can influence a lot of your experiences in life.  You can be in the most perfect place for you in the world and it can be hell, conversely, you can be in a very harsh, unforgiving, difficult place and if your attitude is right, it can be tolerable and maybe even enjoyable.  That has been a challenge for me and maybe for some of you out there in reader-land. 

My work has introduced tests and report cards now, pretty much in line with what Kate's being doing since day 1 at her job: marks and report cards designed to keep parents happy and students butts in the academy and little else in my opinion.  Ah, the business of education.  Can't say too much though, since that business is paying my salary.  And down our debt.  But you still question things...

Had a wee bout of food poisoning from a poor meal selection on my part.  Korean version of a pre-packaged chicken nugget that looked more like beef.  "Mechanically-separated" would definitely be in the fine print of the English version of this package.  Anyway, that, unfortunately, put an end to any plans we had for the Lunar New Year we've just had.  Last time I think I had food poisoning was over 10 years ago.  This time was a milder form, (I'll spare the details) but still not pleasant.  Almost 100% now.  The thought of food is almost not at all revolting. 

Ah, to teach students that want to be there, that respond well to your activities, that positively want to jump out of their chairs to continue a conversation or a dialogue, to volunteer first, to have them understand that time in the foreign teacher's class does not equal texting and video gaming time...ah to have all these things in one class would be ESL teacher heaven I think....  Of course, some would say you need to create the atmosphere you want in your class.  And I agree.  For me though, you try everything and sometimes you need something else.  Some kind of magical aura to totally erase your classroom and transform it to an English speaking paradise that students will flock to from miles around.  So right now, I'm looking for a Korean cornfield to plow under thinking, "If I build it, they will speak!" 

To end this entry I leave you with the fun English on a small Korean dessert.  It needs no setup beyond knowing that in Korean, the symbol for "l" and "r" is the same.

peace,
Nathan

P.S. Though the actual taste makes me think they did choose the right spelling...Not good.
P.S.S. Tried to work in a "Field of Dreams' reference.  Not sure if totally worked but I just recently watched it again.  Awesome.  On an agricultural note, the farmer background in me noticed that they referred to Kevin Costner plowing his corn under when actually he was mowing it with a haybine, thank you very much!  Yeesh.  I mean, yeesh!

Not much has been written, as of yet, about teaching--which is, in fact, what we are doing in this country.   

Teaching, or not teaching?  That is the question.  My hope is that the students have not regressed.  One thing is certain, my English has deteriorated.  I've started talking in broken, halting phrases and the pace has slowed considerably.  Nate asks me questions, and I grunt under my breath. 

But the students.  How are they faring?  I have one class of very active boys.  One perches on the edge of his chair and rocks it, incessantly, back and forth.  On the forward tilt he crashes into the imbalanced desk and on the backward tilt, he hits the brick wall.  It's been six months.  I've tried to occupy him with other things--art supplies and bingo games and candy...still, he rocks, his little, wiry frame burning 500 calories an hour.  He is, apparently, an exceptional athlete--if only I was his track coach and not his English teacher!  I've threatened to glue the chairs to the floor. He thinks this is funny but improbable. 

My Mom sent me Teacher, by Sylvia Ashton-Warner to help me with ideas.  One of the theories in the book is "the key vocabulary." The idea is that kids learn language most easily when it is the language that is most meaningful to them.  Ashton-Warner, who worked as an ESL teacher in Australia during the integration of white and Maori classrooms, found that the language that is most meaningful and memorable is linked to primal instincts: sex and fear.  For example, kids will learn words like kiss and ghost almost instantly--these are "one look words"--words that come from the child's life or imagination and can be learned--spelling and meaning--in one look.  During the North/South Korea tensions, a number of my students drew pictures of war, guns, fighting and monsters, so we labeled these pictures.  My class of active, little boy know exactly how to spell many horrific words now--but they are learning English, and hopefully, processing some of their emotional tension.

When we learned body parts, I decided to have one class draw and label a person, with each student drawing one part.  Of course, the girls wanted to draw a pretty girl and the boys, well, they envisioned a monster.  

So after the girls drew some pretty eyes and perfect hair, one of the boys added monster ears.  But the girls turned the monster ears into angel wings! 

Rachel, my very thoughtful sister, gave us a South Korean travel guide for my birthday, and according to the guide, one of the top five "must see/dos" in this country is going stark naked with a group of complete strangers in the traditional, public baths.  I swiftly added this activity to my "will not do" list, along with the eating of live octopi. 

We did add a visit to Gangchon Elysian Resort to our list of things to do on our holiday break.  The pastor at the church we have been attending told us we should visit this resort, just outside Chuncheon, to see the beautiful light displays and have a swim in the indoor/outdoor pool.  So we embarked on a mini-train excursion. 

A couple of online sites told us to disembark at Gangchon Station.  We did.  But the shuttle bus to the resort was not to be found outside the station.  Instead, a kind tourist office employee told us we needed to go downstairs, by which we inferred she meant down the hill, to catch the shuttle at a GS store (a convenience store) twenty minutes later.   

The snow was falling softly on the hills, there was not a high rise to be seen and Gangchon seemed like a sweet little town.  This was beginning to feel like a little adventure.  But at the bottom of the hill, there was no GS store. Nate thought he recalled the tourist officer saying we would need to walk 15 minutes.

We attempted to get directions from some construction workers and then from some young men who looked like they were in town for a party (Gangchon is a popular over-night destination for university students--in summer the roads are filled with more bikes and ATVs than cars).  Then, we wandered through the town, past lot after lot of ATV and bicycle rentals covered in snow, until Nate spotted the GS.  When I asked about the shuttle, the girl at the counter phoned someone.  A little later, a woman teetered gingerly through the snow in high-heels to inform us there was another GS store further up the road and that we needed to go there.  

By this time, it was snowing heavily, my feet had frozen in my boots, and we were frustrated with our inability to communicate effectively where we were trying to go, but we shuffled through the snow to the next GS store.  We waited for a few minutes.  Then I mustered up the nerve to ask the attendant if we were in the right place.  Well, we were at the right GS store, but we were standing on the wrong side of it.  Nate was being good-natured about all this--I was the one who planned this so far disaster.  We realized that we'd probably missed the shuttle to the resort, so we attempted to hail a cab on the main road. Two minutes later, the shuttle passed the pick up spot and took off up the mountain leaving us in its snowy wake.  Next a sander drove by and pelted us with some salt.  No cabs passed by for a long time. The world looked a little dreary. 

Across the street, some women were selling hot, steaming street food.  Everything was a blur.

When I was on the verge of giving up and only wanted to get warm again, Nate saved the day by running after a cab that parked at a shop up the street from us.  The cab driver delivered us to the resort--for an exorbitant little fee--but we were just happy to make it! 

We went into the hotel-like building and fortunately, signs were in English.  I'd read that there was a swimming pool and sauna, and we'd brought our bathing suits for this reason.  We were both cold, so we headed there first.  We paid the entrance fee and walked into the separate change rooms...and then, to my horror, I discovered there was no swimming pool.  This was a traditional Korean bath house-style sauna.  Everyone was walking around naked, and I was officially stuck. 

I wandered around for a minute looking dazed until a kindly ajumma (middle-aged woman) grabbed my locker key and showed me to my locker.  I pretended to read the aforementioned travel guide for fifteen minutes.  After some mental deliberations, I gave in.  The temperature of my toes tipped the scales in favour of going buck naked with complete strangers.   

Basically, it works like this: you strip and head to the showers. Then you scrub off your entire body with soap.  Then you go sit in the hot pools of water (there was also a cold pool).  Then, most of the women take an incredibly rough cloth and rub their bodies very pink--extreme exfoliation?  Next you can go sit in the sauna or relax in the pools.  Apparently, at some bath houses, you can also be scrubbed, head to toe, by a bathhouse attendant.  I would add this to my "will not do" list, but I'm afraid to add anything more to that list. 

According to the travel guide, Nate and I have completed one of the "must have" experiences in Korea.  And it really wasn't  bad.  It was nice to see Korean women taking a break because most of the time Korean women seem to be working exceptionally hard. I found the whole experience relaxing and regained the sensation in my toes, so it was, in fact, the perfect thing to do.   Then we took a look around the resort.   

Next we had a fantastic dinner at the little hotel restaurant. Okay, it wasn't that fantastic but anything tastes great when you've been relaxing in a Korean bath house and then wandering under trees filled with lights!

A very nice hotel manager helped us locate the shuttle point, and we managed to catch the shuttle back down the mountain.  We discovered that the beginning of our journey was unnecessarily challenging when the shuttle dropped us at the train station at the base of the mountain. If we had not disembarked at Gangchon and instead stayed on the train for one more stop, we would have been delivered right to the resort.  

So the moral of the story is, if you're up the creek without a paddle, strip naked and take a dip with some strangers...it might just be relaxing. 

Recent Events

There was a mild snow fall on Saturday morning.  Such an innocent thing to fall from the sky. 

The residents of Yeonpyeong Island, a South Korean territory located near a disputed demarcation line, saw fire falling from the sky on Tuesday when their homes and a military base were shelled.  The island was evacuated.  Two civilians and two soldiers were killed and many others were injured.

The North says the attack was a response to South Korean naval maneouvers near this disputed territory.  Apparently, they asked South Korea to stop the drills before heavily bombing the little island that is much closer to the shores of North Korea than South.

The media dubbed the attack the worst escalation since the Korean war ended, without armistice, in 1953.  Perhaps a better way of framing the situation: the events on Tuesday most resembled the experiences of the Korean war.  Fire fell from the sky, civilians were killed, homes were destroyed and the attacks were on a land-based target. 

On the Korean news channel, elderly people, evacuated from the island with tears in their eyes, looked like they had seen a ghost. 


A Little Background

In context, the incident is just one more in a long string of provocative acts.  The border skirmishes between North and South have killed many soldiers, the sinking of the Cheonan on 26 March 2010 resulted in the deaths of 46 sailors, and the bombing of a Korean airline in 1987 caused the death of 115 people.  These are just a few of the many incidents that have occurred over the years. 

Tensions ebb and flow on a wave of complicated factors--internal politics, aid bargaining power and face saving. 

Many analysts suggest that the recent events are linked to the regime change currently underway in the North.  The ailing leader, Kim Jong-il, is trying to position his son, Kim Jong-un, to take the reigns.  Kim Jong-un was recently promoted to a military position, but has no victories and accomplishments under his belt.  Recent events (bombing of Yeonpyeong and sinking of the Cheonan) lend credibility to his cause.  

A similarly tense situation occurred when the current leader assumed the command position from his father. 

Many nations, including the USA, have called on China to play a much stronger role in corralling their wayward neighbour, but there is confusion about what this role will look like.  Recently, China attempted to bring the member states of the stalled six party talks (Japan, USA, Russia, South Korea, North Korea, China) back together for an emergency meeting in December. The USA and South Korea opted out of these talks in 2009 after the North seemingly refused to curtail its nuclear ambitions. 

It is unclear whether the recent wikileaks exposure of China's comments about the North will be a solid dose of reality for the North Korean regime or whether they will further destabilize the situation as the North reacts to the criticism of their only remaining ally.  In classified US documents released a couple of days ago,  Chinese officials are reported as assenting, in principal, to the reunification of the Koreas under Seoul and calling the North a "spoiled child" in conversation with the USA.

The BBC has been providing thorough coverage.


The mood in South Korea

Students informed me of the bombing on Tuesday.  They drew a picture on the board of Yeonpyeong and told me the North had shot it.  Then they said there will be a war, and we are all going to die. 

Now, you should know that these were two twelve year old boys.  They said all of the above with smiles on their faces and waited for my reaction.  I left the classroom and asked the Korean teachers about the events.  They hadn't heard anything and the Internet was down. 

Turns out that the students were more informed than the teachers.  Later that night, I discovered that they had drawn a pretty accurate description of the events. 

The next day, the Korean teachers were a little worried.  One expressed anger over the civilian deaths.  Another said it was worse than she thought.  One chalked the situation up to the regime change.  The other believed the North wanted to use the situation as a bargaining tool to access more aid from the South. 

Immediately following Tuesday's events, and ever since, all the T.V.s in the cafes, restaurants and pizza joints are tuned into the Korean coverage of the situation.

One night, I was waiting for a pizza and watching the coverage of the evacuation of Yeonpyeong when the channel was suddenly switched to a popular Korean soap opera.  I wondered if the seeming nonchalance of the owner indicated she was not worried or whether it meant she couldn't handle the intensity and needed a distraction. 

We watched CNN coverage in a taxi (yes, the taxis have televisions in them that the driver watches-- while driving).  "Brink of war," flashed across the screen.  From our vantage point, the CNN coverage seemed to sensationalize the situation.  We worried that our family and friends were watching similar coverage back home.  This kind of coverage makes you wonder how much power the media has to influence the outcome of the stories it tells? And just how much money is bunged up in the war machinery floating off the coast as the South Korean and American navies carry out defensive maneouvers?  How good is war for the military business?  Is Kim Jong-il off his rocker, or is he still concerned with his own interests? 

All this talk of war has me interested in what people in South Korea (and North Korea) are doing to promote peace...hopefully more on that to come. 

A week ago, all the gingko leaves were still on the trees.  The fan-shaped beauties start off green, until yellow tinges bloom across them. Then the whole tree is suddenly yellow. In the evening under the street lamps, the trees are lit up with magical billows of yellow softness, and in the silence, it's like walking under canopies of gold snow. Then the leaves swell until they split themselves in two--each leaf is two wings, and the whole tree is full of resting yellow butterflies.

Suddenly, over night, they are gone.  They have fallen and been swept up off the sidewalk by men with brooms made of twigs and branches. 

Now, there is only the lonely glistening, fan-shaped leaf blowing on the silhouettes of the dark trees against the milky blue almost-night-time sky. 

I'm pushing my bike up the hill toward our apartment, and I begin to see the beauty of this place.  I see the copper-coloured street lamps engraved with leaves, now visible because their far more extravagant neighbours are bare.  

This road on my way to work is filled with neon signs and flashing advertisements, small dogs on leashes, scooter drivers, people and more people, rapidly turning over business after business (flower shop, craft shop, pizza place, clothing store, pharmacy, food market), the occasional street food vendor selling fish-shaped pastries filled with hot red bean paste or custard, a man who sells peanuts and almonds and beans from a truck parked roadside (he gave me a roasted chestnut as I cycled past), racks of warm pajama bottoms, the post office, remnants of sunflowers and roadside gardens, a small cafe that sells gelato, Korean style fast food, elderly people who cannot stand up straight and pass by doubled over, a processed fish vender filling the air with steam, a leafless persimmon tree that is still clasping a few overripe, topaz jewels. 

But the most familiar part of this ride to and from school are these now bare and understated gingko trees. 

Beauty is perceived in contrast. 

Namdemon is a wonderful street market in Seoul.  Vendors sell traditional crafts and costumes, clothing, food and Korean Red Ginseng. The most challenging aspect of the market is the crowds.  You feel like you are in a school of fish determined to go in one direction.  Nate and I stumbled around for awhile. 

In Korea, age and hierarchy are respected, and if you are old, you can get away with a lot, but you might say the privileges of age are sometimes abused here.  The ajumas (aunties or older women) have absolutely no qualms about putting both hands on you and pushing you over or out of their way!  It's astounding.  We had to keep our cool and accept this as part of the Korean market experience.

And then there are other women who try to stay out of the way.  These are the poor, elderly women, who are bent over from arthritis and other ailments, selling vegetables while squatting on the street. 

I think of this lady on days when my job seems challenging.  She was transporting her load of merchandise down the hill and out of the market.

  Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
        Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
    Conspiring with him how to load and bless
        With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run
--John Keats, "To Autumn"

Gingko trees are on fire along the streets. Many elderly people collect the gingko nuts that fall at this time of year. 

We had intended to go to Seoul for the weekend to celebrate our third anniversary, but a cold bug hit, so we decided to stay in Chuncheon and go out for dinner on Wednesday.  We went to a little Italian-style eatery called Soho (strangely, an acronym for shared office, home office). 

But first, check out these flowers...I don't know whether the focal point is the blooms or the wrapping! 

Nate was not sure I would be into all the pink, but the florist was so excitedly wrapping these that he didn't have the heart to stop her.  The flowers were surrounded by five layers of tissue, netting and gauze!  I was pretty impressed.

We had a fantastic dinner.

I've been to the foreign import store in Itaewon twice.  The business thrives mainly on grocery items--from Kraft macaroni and cheese to earl grey tea to siracha and Reese peanut butter cups.  But it's not really the groceries that keep the store bustling with foreigners.  It is the desire for a taste of home.  

We all want things to taste or be exactly the same as we've always experienced them.  Most people are like that. 

Cliche: people don't like change.

And when things do, criticism of everything that's different ensues.  I've done my share of it.  But it is not very productive.  And you start to feel like a slug that is stuck in the mud. 

The self-help mantra, "Attitude determines altitude," may have some validity. Making the most of our time here will depend on attitude.

So in the spirit of being uncritical...and more generous, here are some things that are gratitude inspiring so far...

you get a hair cut that takes five minutes, costs ten dollars and doesn't look bad. 

figs are in season and sold by the roadside;  they are shaped like raindrops, purple and green ones, with sweet pink inside them.

an old woman waiting at a the bus stop smiles toothlessly and gives you the thumbs up as you pass her on your bicycle .

sometimes you get an unexpected smile from a stranger.

no one ever interferes with your picture taking.

Itaewon is the most multicultural place you've been.  There are equal numbers of black, white and Asian faces bustling down the sidewalk--this might be what heaven looks like.

you get invited to a wedding after knowing someone for only a month. she insists you take pictures with her in her traditional costume.

in the breeze, the ginkgo trees are fanning themselves with a thousand, yellow, fan-shaped leaves.

a student brings you hot coffee in a can with a cookie.

everyone is incredibly honest.  if you pay too much, you will not be cheated.

the caramel macchiato at cafe bene is the best you've ever tasted with clouds of perfect, velvety steamed milk.

volunteer profs at the university will teach you Korean for free.

people want to please and will do their best to answer any question you have. 

there are trails leading up from the main roads where you can hike and escape the city.

you can bargain with shop keepers for the best price on souvenirs.

new mothers try to get their adorable babies to say hello to you.

there is a green-tea flavoured everything--ice cream, cake, rice, latte.

the market is an archipelago of stands overflowing with vegetables.

the adoration of rice, respectful bowing

the hum of insects.

the smell of laundry drying in the sun room.

a thousand neon crosses dotting the city.