Movies

Since my time started here in South Korea, I have been to two movies, and I must say that they have been learning experiences. Since Koreans always build up instead of sideways, all the theaters are usually on the top floors of some buildings. The box office is on one floor and the theaters themselves are on the floor above. The way you get your ticket is sort of like getting meat from a delly. You pick a ticket from a machine and wait for your number to be called (the banks work the same way here). You than go up to the cashier and try and communicate with her to make sure you're seeing the english version of the movie so you don't waste your money. Than you either get seats assigned to you or you get to pick them yourself. It's pretty cool when you get to pick them, but when we were assigned them, we noticed something interesting happen in the theater. We were all seated in the same area but not really next to eachother. Koreans would come in, sit by us, and than kindly offer their seats so they either weren't sitting in between us or next us. So even though the majority of us weren't sitting next to each other, by the time the movie started, 7 out of the 10 of us were grouped together with out us ever having to ask to move. Either they were really friendly, or just wanted to consolodate all the foreigners into one section for whatever reason.
Another thing I noticed was while we were watching Toy Story 3. There definatly at least 3 moments in the theater when we were the only ones laughing at the movie (about 9 of us.) You see when they put korean sub titles they don't actually translate things the same way, so some jokes get lost in translation. Also some concepts such as american body language and sarcasm are lost on asian cultures, so they probably missed out on a good deal of jokes while we laughed and sounded like that person in the theater that you hate for making too much noise. It was a good learning experience.

Jason

Testing Week

Sorry, but this post won't be that exciting. Last week was the week where the students take their level up tests. Which meant that all the teachers spent long hours proctoring and not a lot of time teaching. Needless to say it was a very easy week. Now with 3 weeks left in my first term, rumor has it that once the students find out if they're leveling up or not they stop caring and some become a problem. So basically I have to start devising my battle plan of psychological warfare against the students to keep the troublesome ones quiet and the good ones interested. That was actually an epiphany I came to a few weeks ago. Especially in a private school, teaching is all about psychological warfare between you and the students. Sadly though, some of the students realize this as well. One of your kids may be 3 feet tall and look adorable, but they might have the mind of an evil super genius when it comes to causing trouble in class.

Jason

Home sweet home?

It seems as I go to work from day to day I still have the mindset that I'm simply on a semester long trip with my school and I'll be going home soon. But that is simply not true. I could be here a long time. So I figure if I'm to start thinking of this place as home, I have to make it feel like home. I never thought I'd be considering what is the best type of furniture to buy to make a place feel like home, that's always been done for me (thanks Mom). Even in college I didn't really care what my room or townhouse looked like just as long as I could live there for a few months. It's a task that will take some work, but I'll get it eventually.
As far as teaching goes, things are getting somewhat better. I am trying to find the delicate balance between the good/strict teacher and the teacher that lets things slide because ultimately at a private school keeping the kids and parents happy is the #1 priority. It's kind of frustrating at times but like everything else here it will simply take some getting used too.

Jason

Authority

So after a few weeks of teaching I have come to realize that I must be more strict with the students. Even though some of them seem nice, the "appealing to their good nature" approach just didn't seem to be working. So I upped the anti a little bit last class. I started by taking away all of their cell phones at the start of class which was surprisingly easy. My next step was to show one student in particular that I am in charge. I've given him a lot of chances and that day I decided enough was enough. To make a long story short he was acting up a lot and would simply not listen to me. So I told him if he wouldn't sit down I'd send him to the office, and he looked at me and decided to try and call my bluff and said "OK let's go." and to his surprise I wasn't bluffing. I took him to the office to see his adviser and he came back 10 minutes later not looking too happy. Take that 10 year old kid who I'm supposed to be more mature than!

Jason

Pumpin Some Iron! Part 2

So it turns out that the really jacked Korean dude who gave me my first session wasn't actually my personal trainer. I got a call that night saying that my free sessions would begin tomorrow and my trainer would meet me at 8 o clock. I arrive at the gym the next day to meet my trainer. Who happens to be a really small Korean girl who probably weighs about 70lbs. So instead of having a buff Korean dude yelling at me to keep my form up, I have a small Korean girl emasculating me at every turn. After getting all my body information from a super duper high tech Asian machine she reads a piece of paper it printed out and tells me I have too much fat on my lower abdomen. She then takes me through a routine full of exercises most guys in the states would consider girly but were actually quite difficult. And of course she did them flawlessly, which as I said, made me feel like less of a man. Afterward she suggested I join a spinning class, which is full of middle aged Korean women. I didn't really feel like dancing around with them so she said I could just run on the treadmill.

Jason

Pumpin Some Iron!

One of the first things I told myself I was going to do when I started to live in Korea was join a gym. 1 month later that dream has become a reality. A brand new gym opened up right across the street from my apartment. You're probably thinking, "Jason! How could it get any better than that!" Well it can! As part of my contract to sign up for a year I received cool Korean work out clothes, a gym bag, and 3 free sessions with a personal trainer! That's right, my very own jacked Korean guy to help me get buff. I had my first session today and it was everything I thought it would be. Which was a huge Korean guy yelling at me in Korean to lift weights with the proper form and feeling my muscles while I was lifting to make sure they were getting worked. As I was doing a rope pull down exercise for my triceps I was having trouble with my form and we basically ended up spooning up right just so I got it right. He was the big spoon. I can only hope tomorrow's session will be as good as today's! Time to chug a protein shake!

Jason

Time Flies

It's kind of hard to believe that I've almost been here a full month. Not much has changed since my last post, but teaching does get to be more fun once you get to know the students. I always thought it was quite amazing how teachers could remember all those names, but now I understand. You remember the good students names because they don't bother you, and you remember the bad students names because you say them at least 50 times a class. All in all, things at work are falling into routine now, which is good.
Outside of work, however, I'm still trying to find routine for my mornings, wandering around the city, and hiking up the nearby mountain can only take up so much time. And the fact that I can't read Korean doesn't help much either.
I will say one thing though. Living in a country that actually cares about soccer while the World Cup is going on is very cool. In America we never heard much about it, but here every one is cheering for South Korean Red Devils. People walk around with red shirts and light up devil horns on their head. Last night I had my second class off so I got to watch the game while all my other fellow teachers were teaching. I was walking to a bar to watch the game and on the way I could see TV's in almost every single store and restaurant watching the same game. Wherever you went you could here cheer's or cries of greif echo through the city because so many people were watching the game. If South Korea does somehow manage to win the World Cup, this place will literally explode.