The Harsh Reality of Childhood: Korean Context

Hi folks,

Here's what's up:

I went to my friend's wedding on Saturday. She got married in "Laboum" Wedding Hall here in Gwangju. In Korea, there isn't a lot of space and everybody is working all the time. In response, everyone gets married on Saturday or Sunday at a wedding hall. Couples book a wedding room for an hour and then a reception hall for another hour. There's a lot of comings and goings as one wedding celebration comes in and the previous one leaves. It's a little chaotic at times but it's a pretty place and a good chance to see people you haven't met in a long time. Plus Korean people are trendy and fashionable regardless, but they try to look exceptional at weddings. 

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Yesterday was American thanksgiving, so today my class had a pizza party to celebrate. I made them do thanksgiving cards that they could give to anyone they wanted. At first I was pretty worried because my grade 3s were like, "I'm not thankful for anything!!" but as the ball got rolling they started to think of some things. Maybe it's because they're kids, or maybe it's because they've never had to do without, but to be honest I found their answers to be a little lame. They were thankful for eating or for their top-of-the-line Samsung smartphones, but fortunately a couple of them were serious and thankful for their parents or the friendships they had. 

I'm deeply moved by what I hope is an error in communication, and not actual tragedy. One of my smart, pleasant, wonderful GRADE 3 (that's 10 years old, people) students wrote a card addressed to herself. She wrote some of it in Korean, and my co-teacher translated it, astonished. This sweet student had thanked herself for talking herself down from a suicide attempt! 

I couldn't believe it, my co-teacher re-checked with her, and the student even did charades to get her point across. Some of the other students heard what was written in the card and chimed in about their own suicide attempts. I just can't get over how shameless they seemed about it... Maybe it was a moment of peer pressure, or maybe they were serious, I'm not sure. Either way, it is a thing I'm mad these young children have faced. 

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I guess on a related note, I went for coffee with a fellow teacher from workshop this evening (it's Friday), and afterwards it was 7pm. We were walking to the Damyang bus terminal in the cold and the dark, and there were simply too many students just leaving schools and private tutoring academies. MY students who should be having a nurturing childhood of their own instead of having a math textbook for a companion. Ugh. The perceived cost of success is one of the ugliest facets of Korean society in my opinion.

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(Post-publish edit)

I had wanted to write more about this but I forgot what I wanted to say, so I published this post anyway.
After talking with my mom, she brought up the point I wanted to raise.

In retrospect I should have been more happy that my student was able to talk herself down, so to speak. I mean, the reason I was shocked was because it's such a serious thing for a little girl to deal with, and the reason it's serious is because it's an incredibly high-cost decision to make. It takes a lot of desperation and will to come to the conclusion that it would be better to cease living than continue, but it takes a greater amount of courage and will to find a reason to continue living, in spite of the option of ending it all.

What I'm trying to say is that I should have (and now do) celebrated my student's courage and determination.

French Class Drama and a Classroom Revelation

Hi Folks,

Here's a quick update on my goings-on.

I overslept on Monday and didn't go to my French class. I got the homework assignment from another student in the class, so I could have it prepared for today (the professor says students should not ask her for the assignment, they are responsible for asking each other before the class).

Anyway, this morning it was really cold, and my bed was so warm, I just wanted to stay in and sleep. However, I managed to schlep myself to school. That was a good decision. Why? Surprise test! Oh dear...

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The other day I was waiting for my grade 3s to arrive before the start of class. I was then informed that they went on a field trip that day, so there would be no grade 3 students in attendance. That's okay, my co-teacher and I needed to prepare some materials for a project our classes are working on (they're creating their own island for a story). So we were cutting and gluing and printing, etc. while some of the grade 6s were hanging out with us. One of the grade 6 girls was talking to me (I have the highest hopes for her in terms of future success and language ability), and I mentioned to her that I needed to wake up early to choose my new university classes because of the time zone difference. We talked about my age for a little bit, and about university, and then she asked when I would be going to university. I said January, after English camp.
Then she asked me a question that brought me to a sudden realization, like children sometimes ask.

"Teacher, when will come back?" She asked.

Oh. Well...... n-never. I sort of stammered.

I guess I hadn't really envisioned this conversation in my head, I kind of assumed my students wouldn't notice I was gone since they're pretty occupied with other things. Anyway, I felt pretty bad about giving that answer, but I didn't know what else to say. I mean, at this point in time, I don't have plans to come back to Korea other than maybe travel or something. It just felt kind of awful to say it out loud. I genuinely like my students, and I hope they choose to be fine, upstanding people--maybe I didn't think I'd miss them.

Tuesday Update

Maybe you saw it on Facebook, but we had our first snowfall of the season yesterday. Pretty slushy and it didn't stick, but snowfall nonetheless. So pretty ;)

My co-teacher and I are implementing a new reading initiative in our class starting tomorrow. I'm excited to see how it may benefit the students. 

Today is Mimi's open class, so she's pretty stressed out. Poor thing. At least her voice has recovered from last week. 

I was able to purchase a copy of Bop-It! for my classes. So far I've only played it with my grade 4 girls, and they loooooove it. They request it every class now. This is a good thing, but I'm saving it for really special occasions only. I'm hoping one of the other teachers doesn't appropriate it and use it as a babysitting device, lol. There's learning to be done people!

That's it for today, see you later!

Thursday Update

Hi folks,

Here's an update on one's goings on on the peninsula. 

- Last week was performance day at my school. My grade 3's sang a medley of English songs and danced. It was very Korean. 

- I was invited to a friend's wedding mext week. That will be a fun experience!

- on Tuesday all the Damyang TaLK scholars had a field trip to our local village, Changpyeong. We made some rice-krispie-esque treats and some small dainties. 

- yesterday I had a really great chat with my I/O Psychology professor. What an interesting field of work.

- yesterday our French professor reamed out the class for not memorizing a 10 line poem. She said we were not as capable as elementary students. 

- everyone is so sick... Cold season really packs a whallop

- I've implemented a new project in my TaLK class which seems to be very successful with potential for continued success. I'm very happy about this. 

Japan Trip: Osaka and Kansai

Hi Folks,

I'm on the bus heading back to Gwangju right now, listening to my "Songs 4 Worship 2001" album which I discovered with the Yeagers at Cannon Beach this year (great album, so jubilant).

Anyway, I'm really pumped because I had a really awesome weekend. I'll tell you about it now, but don't mention it on Facebook because I could face some social scorn for it here in Korea. 

First off, last week was midterm week, so I wrote my industrial psychology midterm on Wednesday and it went really well. Thursday I went to see Josh and the next morning I took the bus near his house to the Incheon airport where I boarded a flight to Osaka, Japan!

I've never been to that area of Japan, and to be honest, I wast actually that excited to go. I planned this trip before I came down with this dreadful illness, so all I wanted to do was stay home and be a basement dweller. But I went anyway, and I'm so glad I did. At first I thought it would be kind of boring because I was going by myself, but it turned out alright :)

I'll try to recap some of the highlights:

- I went to Universal Studios which was pretty cool. At first it wasn't a good experience because it was crowded and they weren't running the single rider lines, which meant I'd have to wait almost 2 hours for each ride--no thanks. However, something happened in the evening that made the experience unforgettable. Ask me if you want to know more. 

- I kind of binge ate this weekend. I can't help it, Japanese food is just sooooo good, and they have milk tea too. I had the best roasted pork ramen ever at Kyoto station, melt in your mouth tuna at a conveyor-belt sushi place, and Osaka style okonomiyaki in the neon future Dotomburi area. 

- I saw real live Maikos (geishas in training) on their way to work in the Gion neighborhood of Kyoto. 

- I walked around misty ancient Nara park, with giant, incense-y ancient Japanese temples and curious deer you can pet and feed. 

- I visited the Osaka museum of transportation and learned about Japanese trains. So interesting! 

So that was my weekend. I'm very happy.