Free Friday

I stole this picture off Facebook, so that you may appreciate just how involved this job is, sometimes. The bonus of costumes: You can't really be recognized. The downside: You're in a dumb costume.

Ah well.

Today, in a meeting, we were told that we have Friday off, since there was no work for us to do. Whee - A surprise long-weekend ain't something i'll ever complain about. No plans as of yet, but we'll see... i'm sure something will pop up.

I had an interesting conversation in my Freespeaking class on Tuesday, regarding the Education system in Korea. There's a perception from the general public that the Public School system is inadequate, which is why private education (including English schools like GEC) is so popular. Most parents feel that for their child to be able to compete, they have to attend a number of after-school classes, or else they won't have a prayer.

What that means for kids, unfortunately, is that the bulk of them are in school extremely late. After school ends, they go from private-school to private-school, one for each different subject. The government is talking about implementing a curfew of 10pm for elementary-level private schools, because many of them go well-beyond that time (as late as 1am, apparently).

This is all for elementary-kids. Oh - and those same kids also go to school on Saturdays.

My opinion is that over here, Society has pushed itself to compete so hard, that everyone has to do insane amounts of work to be considered 'above average'. The mentality is 'If the neighbor's kids are doing it, my kids have to do it harder' - and that way, the entire neighborhood just ends up constantly raising the bar - over and over. If people stopped constantly pushing, then that 'high standard' could be a bit lower, and allow kids to just get a break.. and be kids.

It's a pretty vicious circle.

There are many things I admire about Korean culture, but this is one aspect that I hope never gets exported into North America. Kids should be able to have fun, every now and again.

Cheers.

No Rest for the Wicked

The last weekend of April was one I had to spend without getting much rest. I had to work on Saturday and Sunday, both times outside of GEC.

On Saturday, I taught as part of the 'English Plaza' program. It's a range of weekly classes for kids who want to partake in English activities at a local Youth Center. There are classes available from the Beginner to Advanced levels, the latter of which is filled mostly with High-Schoolers.

For the teachers, once we arrived, we were given a quick briefing on which classes were being offered. People then volunteered for which classes they wanted to teach.

I ended up having to teach a two hour class about Limbo Dancing to High Schoolers. Moreover, I was told by the Korean co-teacher who was tasked with preparing the material, that we had no Limbo stick, and no music. He then gave me the Wikipedia page on Limbo Dancing, and told me to just teach.

It could've been worse - I somehow kept a decent class going for the entire time - but I can't say that my first-impression of this program was a very good one.

On Sunday, the bulk of GEC's Teaching Crew took part in the annual 'Flea Market', an event that was held near a local Park. It was pretty similar to a 'Hello GEC' event (where we set up booths and activities), except for a couple of things.

One: We had to wear costumes. I don't really know what I was supposed to be - I had to wear a Maroon-colored costume with a Cross symbol on the chest (??).

Two: There was a stage. On this stage, the Foreign Teachers had to perform. There was a dance act, a juggling act, and a singing act (where I proudly sang Disney Classics like 'Under the Sea' and 'Hakuna Matata' to an audience comprised of dozens of people).

I got to MC the event, so I was lucky enough not to get stuck in a booth - overall, it was a fun event, though I think I prefer having a day off.

Have a good week.

Golf, Water and Evaluations

For the first time since I left Midway, about a year ago, I got the chance to use my mini-golf skills on Sunday. The girlfriend of a friend (and fellow teacher), Crian, was visiting Korea for the first time. We went to Yongsan in Seoul for a dinner, and randomly decided to go play a game of Mini-Golf - which was located on an outdoor patio on the 7th floor of the mall.

I must've picked up a thing or two from seeing that Midway mini-golf for so many years, because I had a pretty damn good game.

This week, teacher evaluations are taking place for all Foreign teachers. This was the second (and last) time that I had to be evaluated. My turn came up today (Tuesday), and went as smoothly as I could've hoped. I lucked out, and had it during one of my best classes. They were awesome, as always - i'll have to remember to buy them some candy before the end of the semester.

With evaluations done, it's one less thing to worry about.

Next on my list of things to do: actually figure out where to go for the upcoming vacation.

Lastly, something I wasn't terribly impressed with: The water supply for this area of Incheon is being turned off for two days. We've been asked not to shower (that's a first!), or do any laundry. We weren't given a reason, but I was told by a Korean teacher that they're probably doing maintenance on the tanks.

I'm assuming that since this affects the entire region, that it affects all of the kids as well - as such, I can expect some pretty funky smells coming from them in the next couple of days.

Well - I came here for different experiences!
Wheee.

Have a good week.

A Different Kind of Wedding

I had to get up earlier than usual today, to be able to attend yet another wedding - this time, of the Korean variety. We began by going to a nearby district of Incheon, where the hosts of the wedding made a Bus Shuttle available (since the wedding was all the way in Mokdong, a district of Seoul).

The wedding-itself took place in a wedding hall, as do most weddings in Korea. It's definitely different. For one, before the wedding, friends of the bride go out to meet her in the 'Bride's room', the room pictured to the left, where multiple photographs are taken (including some with the groom! So much for superstition).

While this is going on, the previous wedding in the hall is wrapping up (There's a different wedding every single hour). Before going in to the hall for the ceremony, as goes Korean tradition, instead of presenting a gift, you give an envelope filled with money. The typical amount varies, but I was told that for an acquaintance, anywhere between 30-50$ is expected, and for a close friend or family member, at least 100$ - and possibly more, if you can afford it. This helps pay for the wedding, or for the early-necessities of married life.

As for the actual ceremony, I was genuinely entertained. First, since the hall is equipped with some great lighting equipment, there's somewhat of a light show that happens during the key events (the mothers walking down the aisle, the groom, the bride, etc). There are also fog machines rigged under the aisle, so it created a very unique athmosphere.

After the Master of Ceremony did his thing (or was it a priest? I'm not sure who exactly hosts the event), friends of the Bride and Groom arranged two things: A duet, singing an english song i'd never heard of, and most awesomely, a dance. The dance had about 8 people who were well co-ordinated, who were even joined by the Groom at the end of the number: all 9 of them knelt down and presented a rose to the Bride.

After all of this was done, the groom literally crouched down and groveled to the Father of the Bride, who gave him a pat on the back for approval.

In total, the ceremony lasted for just under 40 minutes.

Afterwards, in the same building (three floors up), there was a high-class buffet served for all of the guests. Tons of seafoods, and traditional Korean dishes were available - all excellent! The buffet itself, though, wasn't a reception - there's no such thing after weddings.

You eat, give thanks, and leave.

As you can imagine, it makes the whole process much faster than a typical western wedding. It was a great cultural experience! Below, I posted two videos - The Bride walking down the aisle (where you can see the cool light show, and smoke), and the dance-crew towards the end of the ceremony.

Happy Saturday!

Horrible Hockey

During this past hockey-season, the Sens weren't the only ones who started out slow, only to have a surge towards the end. GEC had a hockey pool going - and as one of three (out of ten) people who knew anything about hockey, I was sure this'd be a piece of cake. My picks, at first, seemed half-decent.

After the first week, I lost my Matchup (you were up against a different person each week); I figured 'bah! Bad luck!'. Then it happened again. And again. And again... for the first three months, I only had two victorious weeks.

Only the top 6 seeds made the playoffs ; the bottom 4 didn't. I finished a stunningly-embarassing 10th out of 10.

Come playoff time, though (the hockey-pool playoffs happen during the last three weeks of the season), I managed to somewhat turn it around, and won the 'Consolation' bracket - climbing all the way to 7th place. Whoop-dee-doo!

There's always next year.

I confirmed that I won't be working this Saturday, which means i'll be able to attend my first Korean wedding - i'm looking forward to it! It should be a great cultural experience. Other than that, the rest of the week is looking like the same 'ol routine - no complaints.

Hope you have a good one.

Easter Wedding

As it turns out, the dinner on Saturday night wasn't an engagement dinner, but rather a wedding reception. Tiko, one of our teachers, got married earlier in the weekend, and we gathered at a nearby restaurant named 'VIPS' to celebrate.

VIPS is a Korean franchise - The acronym stands for 'Very Important People's Society' - it's a slightly-pricy buffet restaurant that serves both Western and Asian dishes. We had a private area reserved, and altogether, about 25 people showed up for Tiko and William (her new husband).

Pretty cool reception - not too long, not too short. Congratulations go to the both of them!

The day didn't end up being as long as expected, since the Korean wedding I was supposed to attend is actually next week. I may or may not have to work, so we'll see what happens.

Easter kind of snuck-up on me over here - it's completely uncommercialised... and lets face it, I usually only know it's coming because of the Cadbury rabbit. I can't really say I celebrated it, unless you count buying a bit of Chocolate at the grocery store. We don't get any time-off for it, either. Eh well.

Hope everyone has a happy Easter - and good luck to everyone who has exams in the coming week.
Cheers

Destination Hunting

The end of May will mark the end of the current school-semester- and as luck would have it, it'll finish a week before June arrives. This means no classes for a week, and another opportunity for a trip somewhere in the region. We've been told that this is the last week-long break before the August session-break - which I won't be around for, since that's the week my contract ends.

It means that May will be the last chance I have at a lengthy vacation.

I've looked around at a few interesting places in Asia, but frankly, there's nothing that i'm really drawn to (i'm not a big lay-on-the-beach person). I'll most likely be staying within Korea, and try a solo-trip to either Jeju Island (a very reputable vacation spot), or one back to Busan. I didn't really get to see much of it during my two-day stay there, last time - it'd be nice to explore another side of this country.

Other than going through the usual motions, and doing some research on vacation spots, it's been a pretty uneventful week. Adult-classes restarted this week, and since they make my life much-less dull, I was happy to have them back.

I'll be attending a Korean Wedding this weekend, as well as one of GEC's Foreign Teacher's engagement dinner, so it'll be a pretty intense weekend. Should be fun!

Have a good one.

Rocket Launchers

The general mood in the past few weeks, regarding North Korea's anticipated Rocket Launch, has been one of general indifference. With the Rocket finally being launched this morning, I haven't had the chance to get much feedback from any Korean friends, but I suspect their reaction will once again be 'meh'. While children sometimes get the free pass 'Kids will be kids', my impression is that other people just see it as 'The North being the North'.

There isn't a whole lot going on, this weekend. The exciting highlight was me being able to buy a free Sandwich, after having collected enough points on my Happy Point card. I'm going to pre-emptively answer the flurry of questions I know i'll get, if I don't answer them:

-The sandwich was good.
-It made me happy.
-Yes, I should stop living too exciting a life.

On the awesome side of things: I went to some Karaoke yesterday, and found what may now be my favorite song to sing in front of others: The alphabet song. That's right! I sang A-B-C-D-E-F-G, but I couldn't successfully sing the rest - it's a surprisingly hard song to sing, without cracking up in the middle.

Ah well. I just need to practice - Next time!

Phonics & Letters

This week, I started teaching a Phonics-leveled class (for the first time since i've been at GEC). Phonics is the absolute-lowest level that you can get - The only thing kids know is 'Hello', and sometimes, the letters 'A', 'B' and 'C'. That's it. The kids are generally very young, though (4 or 5 years old), and pretty wide-eyed when it comes to seeing a foreigner for the first time.

During the first class, this Thursday, I walked in and said 'Hello!'. All the little kids replied 'Hello'. I tell them 'My name is Alex!', to which they enthusiastically replied 'My name is Alex!'.

Ahhh, boy.

I spent the first 10 minutes teaching them how to properly answer 'What's your name?', which they eventually got. The rest of the class was spent teaching them about the letters A and B - practicing writing the 'big' and 'small' versions, as well as practicing speaking, and learning a few words that started with those letters.

The fun part of a phonics class is that you get to sing really corny, but very catchy songs. After the class, I caught myself humming 'A... A is for Apple and Ant! A... A is for Arrow and Alligator! B.. B is for Boy, and Bed!'.

I'm teaching this group until the end of May, so it should be fun. Having been teaching lower-level classes for awhile now, i'm starting to catch on to some common mistakes; most notably, the small B and the small D being confused by a lot of kids.

Sometimes they turn out to be pretty funny.

The picture at the top was drawn by one of my favorite students, Sarah, while we were learning 'This is my'. Her dook, with the title 'dook' made me laugh - and if you consider that she's one of my best kids, you can imagine the sort of spelling-mistakes that I usually see (Her class is about 5 semesters-beyond the Phonics level)

Even at the highest levels, some kids still struggle to grasp basic grammar and spelling. The second picture is one that I took of my phone (I couldn't figure out how to e-mail myself pictures). Back in December, once of my advanced-kids wrote this message on the board, before class: (spelling as-written)

'Aelx hand some man~ Jamiy'.

Jamiy (whose actual english-name is Jamie, a boy) thoughtfully decided to write down that he thought his teacher was a 'hand some man'. So, there's your lesson: While the spelling of some kids might never improve, at least they'll always find some way to keep you laughing. English is very, very difficult to learn, when you consider how different the Korean Language structure is, so I can't do much more than commend most of these kids (including Jamie).

They've made this a fun job, no matter how hard it can be at times - and they're awesome for it.

Have a good weekend!