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.

Ninja training and teaching english

For those of you who were wondering, I have not found a place to practice Ninjitsu yet. A typical morning for a ninja trainee/English teacher usually involves either sleeping until 12 o clock and missing the morning completely, or waking yourself up really early to work out only to find that you could have slept till 11 and still got your work out in. You then boil some dumplings and watch the Mummy Returns for the 5Th time that week.
After two viewings, 20 dumplings, and an inner battle to resist going to the 24 hour McDonald's that is right next door, 3 o clock finally rolls around and you cast aside your ninja stars and pick up your text books. The next hour and a half is crucial. Preparing your lessons. This might seem easy to the untrained eye, but looking at a lesson entitled "Banana" (That's right, you guessed it, the lesson is about a dog.") and trying to find a way to make it remotely interesting to a bunch of middle schoolers is no easy task.
Interesting or not the 6 hours for two classes goes by and you and your fellow trainees meet for the walk home. At this point, one of two things happens. A teacher decides to internalize the complaints he or she may have about the students and simply go home to eat more dumplings/ chocolate, or the teachers gather to go out and complain about the students together over Korean BBQ. At this point I'm pretty much the BBQ master.
Some people may be reading this and say "hey Jason! Ninjitsu is only in Japan!" While that is true I must say however that Asian cultures do tend to mix a bit. For example, I've been here three weeks and I've heard the saying "the nail that sticks out gets hammered" twice from two different people. This is a Japanese saying, and it's also from one of my favorite movies. 2 points if you can guess which one.

Jason

Wired

So after two weeks of being in Incheon, and 3 weeks of being in Korea I am now officially hooked up to the Matrix. I have a Bank account with quick money transfer, a cell phone that receives spam text messages in Korean on a regular basis, and super fast internet that I had to fight to get (usually involved me yelling over the phone "I don't speak Korean.") But we must look on the bright side, now instead of wasting time playing spider solitaire I can now waste time playing online video games.

Darling Little Angel or Hell Spawned Demon Child?

With My first week of teaching over I decided to write a little bit about my first impressions of the children I have/ will be teaching. I'll start with the younger elementary kids. The first thing I want to point out is that while they may look very cute, every single one of them has the potential to utterly destroy you mentally whether they know it or not. Fact: there is nothing scarier to a young Korean boy than having to sit next to or work with a girl. On the first day of class I had assigned seating and one boy was supposed to sit next to a girl, he looked at her, than at me and simply said "girl" to which I replied, "yes that is a girl, now sit down please." And God forbid that you have to have only one boy work with two or three girls, the same kid simply turned his chair around and wouldn't look at me. All the children are expert not passers and will not hesitate to beg you to play a game when they're bored, which is all the time.
The older middle school kids are any or all of the following: apathetic, tired, mean, awkward, emotional, feel they're too cool for this, and very hard to motivate. I would say teaching English to them is like pulling teeth but I'd prefer to quote my old TEFL instructor in saying that it's more like trying to drag a dead water buffalo through a swamp. I could literally be shouting at these kids with enthusiasm trying to get to read the story about pirates, and ask the easiest questions I can to try and get some response out of them and more often than not I will be met with blank stares.
Don't get me wrong though, some of these kids are indeed darling little angels that will make you smile whenever they open their mouths, but a class with all good kids is a rarity.
I complain of course, but the fault is not all with the students. Your average Korean child is at some form of school from early in the morning, to very late at night. Some of these kids are a lot smart than I was at there age. And while I was busy stuffing my face with swiss cake rolls and playing video games after school still looking forward for the weekend, these kids were still in school until about 8 at night, only to go home and do homework, and than still have school on Saturday. Needless to say the average American kid would probably have literally died in a Korean school system.


Jason

Incheon

For those of you who were wondering, I did in fact pass my training. The final presentations had everyone on edge but nearly all passed. Around four o clock I set off for my school in Incheon with my two co-workers, Jim and Jim. We were all really excited to finally be settled in to our own place but when we got to the school we were informed that the three teachers who we were replacing were not leaving until the next day and we would be put up in a hotel for the night. So our new branch manager, who sort of reminds me of a bad guy from an old kung-fu movie, took us to our lodgeings for the night. As soon as we saw one of the rooms we immeadiatly knew that this was not a normal hotel. The dimmed lights, hanging bathrobes, and large circular bed were all very good clues, but the biggest one came in the form of of a vending machine within the room that sold various...off color oddities. I slept in my sleeping bag that night.
The next morning we packed up our stuff and left the love motel for good. We went to our local institute and had an informal orientation. We then hopped on a bus to meet one of our fellow instructors who vollunteered to show us around. We met Tracy and she showed us to our places. They were pretty nice, and we were all releived to finally have a place of our own.
My first classes are tomorrow night. We were told to expect anything from the kids, but once we got the hang of it it would be an easy job... hopefully.

Jason

Training Week

People who I have managed to converse with back home usually ask me how I like Seol pretty quickly in the conversation. To be honest though, I really haven't had much free time to roam the city and get into trouble. What I can tell you is that the city is huge, there are many tall cool looking buildings, McDonalds delivers, and it is probably one of the few places in the world where you have a better chance of getting run over on the side walk than on the street.
Training consists of us memorizing numerous methodologies and class structures in a very small amount of time. You get wake up at like 4 am cause you're still jet lagged, lie in bed for a bit, eat and or prepare more for your mock presentations, leave for training, leave training around 3, scarf down some dumplings on the way home, and than work until you fall asleep. The last part is kind of hard cause as I said you are still jet lagged. My room mate is actually asleep right now as I right this using his computer.
While not true for all people in training, most seem to be on edge and stressed. Some of the trainers are not the most friendly people in the world and will be quite blunt with their critics so I've been told. My trainers have been quite encouraging and constructive with their criticism and I have yet to have one of my mock lessons be ripped to shreds (knock on wood). People have failed, which worries me, but if I keep things up I should be fine. Hopefully next time I write it will be from my apartment in Incheon.

Jason

P.S. No ninja attacks yet, for all those who were wondering (Ben).

Arrival

After flying for almost a solid day I finally arrived in Incheon/Seol Airport. My new friend Allison (who I met in San Francisco) and I pulled worked our way through the air port and immigration without much trouble. We than pulled out our list of papers to see what our next task should be. We came to our first obstical: using a pay phone. We found them without much trouble but trying to work one was another story. There were instructions written next to the phone both in English and Korean but no matter how hard we tried and no matter what combination of numbers we put in we just couldn't make it work. So after about 20 min and picking up one more member of our crew, some random guy finally took pity on us and just called the numbers for us. We could now move on to the next leg of our journey.
Getting to the hotel wasn't much of a problem but it did take a little longer than I would have liked. We had about an hour bus ride to a Taxi pick up spot and than had to wait for about another hour to grab the right cab that would pick us up. Not very eventful.
The second I encountered was when I got to my room in the hotel. I met my roomate (Nick, who is also from Boston) For about 20 minutes we could only figure out how to turn on only one bedside light in our room. There were plenty of switches but no other way of turning them on. So we wandered around in the dark a bit until I noticed a place to put my room key card on the wall that had some korean writing on it and below it said: put room key card here. I didn't know what it would do but i decided to give it a shot and the lights came on.
The third obstical was where I sort of had an epiphany. Even though most instruction are written in Korean and English, the mere fact that there is a block of letters that you can't read, above the english ones that you can read, and the fact that you're in a strange place, makes you second guess everything you do, even simple things like turning on a light. So in a sense just being in a foreign land automatically makes you stupider. Or rather, just being in a foreign land makes me stupider. The third obstical was in fact, learning how to flush the toilet. This toilet had a lot of buttons on it. I mean a lot of buttons. I'm pretty sure on one the english word "massage" was there. How you get a massage on a toilet I will never want to find out. But after staring at the toilet for about a half hour, my roommate and I decided to give up and just tell the front desk that our toilet wouldn't flush. A man prompletly came up and showed us that the flusher was exactly where you would expect it would be hidden behind all the buttons. We laughed, felt stupid, and said thank you.
The first day wasn't too eventful. We mostly just slept and studied for our training which begins tomorrow. It should be interesting. I'll keep things up to date as often as I can.

Jason