Trip to Sokcho

market time!

1st restaurant we ate at

Students throwing spinning tops

my first grade girls :)

teachers :)

other teachers :) (plus drivers)

night club...ARABIAN NIGHT

appetizer

our private charter bus on the right

aquarium

This past week and weekend were quite action-packed. During the week, my uncle came to visit me, the school had a small market, and I had a demo class in front of parents.

The school market was quite amusing as I watched children trade in their goods the day before for item tickets. With these item tickets, the students purchased goods that other students brought. As I watched the children huddling over the ping pong tables with the goods, I could only smile. I remember similar market events at my school where an imitation market would be in session. The students were all smiling and fighting over hats, books, soap, toothpaste, clothes, toys, pencil cases, and videos (VHS videocassettes). At the end of the market session, I saw a boy reluctantly take the last clothing item, a Von Dutch hat. Only a few years ago, Von Dutch was a very popular item in the states as well as in Korea, but now a Von Dutch hat is a left-over item at a student market in the countryside. Quite amusing as it reveals the capricious and fickle tastes that we have.

During the weekend, I went on a trip to Sokcho with the school faculty. Supposedly the trip was supposed to be an instructional workshop for teaching; however, we all knew it would simply be a time for the teachers to have some fun together. Right after school on Friday (my classes were cancelled), we took a charter bus to Sokcho. Stopping by a condo we had rented, we dropped off our stuff before heading to a sushi restaurant. As expected, 3 hours later, bottles of soju and beer were on the floor and all the teachers were hugging and talking to each other. I was on the receiving end on many lectures on Korean history, the beauty of Korean culture, and the blood bond I have with Korea. Older male faculty members who I usually never speak with were sharing their desire to be younger so that they could show me Korea and introduce me to all their friends. They also shared many things about how much they like me and how my parents raised me very well. This was a bit strange coming from men who don't speak to me very much in school. Anyways, after a quite sentimental and embracing dinner, we all headed to a night club. Now, this night club is not a hip-hop blasting, under 30 zone. Arabian nights (the name of the club) housed lots of 아저씨 and 아줌마. It was very amusing to dance with all the teachers under disco lights. I even slow danced with the kindergarten teacher (she had shared with me before the trip that she had never gone to a night club and had never slow danced with anyone). There was one noteworthy event that happened in the night club; one of the DJs stripped in front of the dancing floor to his crystal-laden underwear. All the 아줌마 were clapping and hooting in approval; I could only look away in shame. In the wee hours of the morning we headed back to the condo, and the principal, vice-principal, and other male teachers brought me into their room to listen to them talk about random things over fried chicken and more drinks. Somehow, I was able to return to my room and sleep on the floor. The sleep was not very peaceful, as teachers would walk in at random times in the morning for a quick nap before returning to their rooms to play cards and drink some more. At 8AM, we headed to a restaurant that served Korean hang-over soup and then went to the condo to have a "workshop." We all sat around a table for 2 hours sharing our teaching experiences, which was quite difficult for me because I didn't really know how to communicate all I felt to the teachers. They repeatedly asked me to tell them the best way to learn English, but I couldn't give a straight answer because I don't believe there's any strict pattern or guideline to learn English. Learning a language is different for everyone, depending on their learning styles and backgrounds. However, I did share that the key for me in learning a language is to have fun and to have someone instill in me the confidence to continue instead of constantly pointing out mistakes and shortcomings while practicing. My emphasis on independent learning (developing the seed of interest on your own time) seemed to be a bit foreign to the other teachers, which I can understand because many of Korea's students don't seem to have their own private time after endless hours spent in private academies and school. Regardless, I did like the teaching workshop at the condo. Later we stopped by an aquarium and another seafood restaurant before heading back to Jangpyeong.