3rd graders. These are four of my favorites. They have quite the personalities.
Third grade girls. Ellie’s (right) parents own a great homemade noodle restaurant not far from school.
My occasional a.m. chocolate milk stop.
It's time to put on my work shoes.
On my way to the English Center.
Approaching my "office".
My front door.
Images of t’s day.
One of Korea’s tourist campaigns is titled, “Korea Sparkling.” Yes, it does often dazzle here, but isn’t that the first stage of culture shock? After being here for over two months, here are a few things that do, indeed, sparkle in this foreign land:
We had a couple of Will’s fourth grade Korean co-teachers over for dinner last week. When they were leaving, one of their two year old sons bowed to us as he left our apartment.
School kids enter the classroom by way of the back door (there are usually two entrances to every room). Classroom manners. They will actually walk past the front door to the door at the back of the classroom.
Kids are responsible to clean their own classrooms. I’ve walked by a few times to see a bunch of third graders meticulously sweeping the floor.
Almost everything kids wear has English on it somewhere. Usually it doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s amazing how this can lighten my mood.
Everyday, at the school I travel to teach at on Thursdays, at 11am, the teachers gather and share something to eat. It might be persimmons and pears, like today, or assorted cakes and cookies. No occasion necessary.
When riding on a bus, if someone older than you enters and there aren’t any open seats, guess who’s getting up?! And as the foreigners, we always give up our seat.
Many Koreans believe that if you leave a fan on in your room while you sleep, you will die.
Shoes off, shoes off, shoes off! Everywhere, take off your shoes! I find this very welcoming and relaxing.
Slurp your soup! I still haven’t gotten used to this, but everyday at lunch I am surrounded by a symphony.
Street food is very cheap, very fresh, and are usually items that you can’t really get anywhere else. Last night we tried one Korean sweet pancake (400won) and went back for another, much to the owners delight.
Four 3rd graders just came up to me and told me to, “Shhh”. They are hiding from their friends. I must keep my lips sealed. Will do.
Will had all of his classes cancelled today because of mid-term tests for the students. It’s not unusual to come to school expecting to have a full day and end up desk-warming, or lesson planning, for eight hours.
If anyone has anything eatable, expect to get at least a small taste. Korean’s share everything, and it is considered quite rude to bring your own snack to work if there isn’t enough for everyone.
When it’s time to eat, being “proper” goes out the window. Sure, they have manners. But at the table, the main business is getting the food in your mouth.
Everything is good for something. “This makes a man strong.” “This makes a woman strong.” “This is good for immuninty.” “This is good for your throat.”, etc.
Modest on the top, maybe not so much on the bottom. I’ve found this particularly curious. Korean women wear a blouse with the top button fastened. Most don’t show a bit of chest. Then you look at their skirt, and perhaps they forgot the other half at home.
Relationships come before everything. When people go out to dinner, everyone leaves at the same time. It’s not good to break the community.
SNOW!
It came down in torrents until 11am.
A new sight: Autumn red leaves dusted with snow. Quite beautiful.
I bet Will 10,000Won that it would all be gone by evening, leaving not a single trace. It’s 12:30pm now, and I am bound to loose some money. It’s quite cold outside and flurries are still flying about.
A new feeling: snow bringing back memories of home. I always hated the stuff, but now as I gaze outside I am carried to another country, another state, another city. I see snow-covered Spokane.
A new perspective: Snow was created to glorify God and declare His extravagant mercies. How? “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” Isaiah 1:18.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Psalm 51:7
“I’d like some milk, please.”
Every Thursday night Will and I go to Sokcho for free Korean classes. They are one hour long, which hardly seems like enough time to cover anything of significance. Nevertheless, we are always shocked at how much we learn in sixty minutes with a native Korean compared to studying on our own for countless hours. The name of the game is “Pronunciation”.
How do we study? Well, we have a beginners workbook, a few flashcards, and the language all around us. I tend to practice reading the most; when I am walking, riding my bike, riding on the bus. Whatever I see, I try to read. On my route to school I attempt to read the same signs faster, and try to remember them before I sound out the letters. Will assured me that we will come to a point where we don’t have to read every symbol, but will begin to recognize words, which is how we read English. Profound. I had never thought of it that way.
Will can definitely understand a lot more than I can; benefits of being a half-blood. Example: During an adventurous taxi ride in Gangneung on Saturday, Will somehow understood that the driver was trying to tell us that, “If I drop you off here, there is no way to get back. No taxi’s, no buses. Do you want me to wait for you?” Amazing. I had absolutely no idea what he was trying to communicate.
The first new word I learned in Korean was “milk”; 우유, sounds like “oo you”. The second, “apple”; 사과, sounds like “sagwa”.
Here’s a rough list of what I know so far (I’m hoping this will encourage me to keep at it…):
Hello. Are you well? 안녕하세요
Goodbye (to person who is staying). 안녕히 계세요
Goodbye (to person who is leaving). 안녕히 가세요
Yes, no. 네, 아니요
Thank you, you’re welcome.
It was nothing, no problem.
My name is Theresa. I am an American. I am a teacher. 저는 타리사 예요. 저는 미국 사람이에요. 저는 선생님이에요.
I would like (insert food or item here) please. …주세요
Thank you for the meal. I will eat well!
Thank you for the meal. I ate well.
It’s delicious! 마시서어
This is (insert name). He’s a (insert profession). 여기는 크리스씨예요
Nice to meet you. 만나서 반가워요
What’s your name? 이름이 뭐예요?
Are you Japanese? (or other nationalities/professions) 일본 사람이에요?
Welcome. 어서 오세요
Excuse me. 여기요
Assorted vocab: milk, apple, grapes, cucumber, water, juice, beer, coffee, tea, pear, orange, banana, bread, numbers 1-10, root, train, baby, child, teacher, school, nose, ear, mouth, arm, leg, to write, bird, ant, doctor, time, rice, chicken, eye/snow, bag, love, rest room, leaf, house, room, clothes, pot, mountain, student, person, name, here, there, this, that, cola, bottle, cup.
Two months we’ve been here, and I still feel like I can’t communicate with anyone. When people are talking I can catch a word or two, but most of it just sounds like noise still. It’s enlightening teaching English in a homogeneous culture where I am trying to learn the language because it reminds me when I am with the students: fewer words, more actions, SLOW DOWN!
Korean is really the first language I have really attempted to learn. It takes so much energy and time, lots and lots of time. Time that we would rather spend zoning out to a movie, reading Adoniram Judson’s biography for the second time, or going for a run. We’ve tried to motivate ourselves with trips to Rolly Espresso, vowing we will spend at least one hour sipping a cappuccino and flipping through flashcards. But I sense we need something different.
Then Zerubbabel…and Joshua…the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” The the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel…and the spirit of Joshua…and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God… Haggai 1:12-14
O Lord, stir up our spirits.
And guard us, for:
What do we have that we did not receive? If then, we received it, why do we boast as if we did not receive it? 1 Corinthians 4:7
