Monthly Archives: June 2010

July Teaching Schedule: Last minute culture

It used to drive me crazy in the US when I was caught doing things ‘last minute’. Poor planning or procrastination by me or others would mean scrambling the last few days to complete a project.

But that was nothing!

Here, last minute is honed to an artform beyond anything I could ever imagine.

When I arrived at the end of May to begin teaching June 3rd, I was given my class assignments on Tuesday June 1 to begin teaching on Thursday. I was informed that I was ‘lucky’ that I had that long to plan and that I only had two different types of courses to plan for (Level 2 and Level 3). My schedule was teaching five level 2 course and one level 3 course, for one hour each day M-F. Plus, I was given a one-to-one student. I was told that I was given more notice than usual, because I was a newbie.

So, on June 30th (the day before July 1) at 4:15 pm, I received my ‘tentative schedule’ for July. It was then that I learned that I would be teaching three classes of a discussion group, one Level 2, one Level 3 and continuing with my one-to-one student.

The first day is always introductions, games and overview so prep isn’t required, but still, wow! As a new teacher, and never having seen the material before, it’s a lot to handle without totally freaking out.

There’s no way for me to prepare in a way that I would like to. I have to remind myself that the most important thing for me is to be there in a way that I can be present with the people that are my students, in a calm, open, caring way.

Thus, again, I turn to meditation. It helps me change my perspective from denial, frustration and panic to acceptance, gratitude and serenity.  A practice I feel better when I do once or twice a day!

Samkwangsa Temple

Wow, with the help of a Korean teacher friend of mine, I found out about a place called Samkwangsa. Just a 20-minute bus ride on a small bus, a ‘village bus’ …bus number 15, and you move out of the commercial hub of Seomyeon and step into an oasis of serenity.

On the first visit, we arrived at night. Hundreds of people, mostly older women, were moving about. Walking around the pagoda, doing bows or sitting in the shrine area.

She Sells Seashells hand jive

Today, I went to the Korean Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (KoTESOL) conference in Busan. This 6-hour event cost less than $5 for registration (plus another $2 to ride the subway there and back).

The speakers were amazing: funny, skilled, informative. There was a good presentation on digital storytelling and another on professional development, with emphasis on self-reflective teaching. That is, how to take time to figure out what you’re doing that works and what needs improvement, and how to understand ‘who you are’ as a teacher. cool!

I went to one presentation on how to teach pronunciation. This is a tricky area because unlike spelling or grammar, what makes good pronunciation seems more like art than science. Just pronounce it like I do, isn’t really good enough.

An English speaker with a different first language can’t often hear the sounds we’re trying to get them to make, and can’t see clearly what’s happening inside the mouth, nasal cavity, or catch the movements of the jaw and lips.

One speaker illustrated how the placement of the tongue is critical to:

  • S: tongue is up (at 90F roughly), and produces some focused friction of the air that moves from the back of the throat through that opening, thus the “ssss” sound
  • SH: tongue is back and scrunched over (^..kinda), and produces a bigger surface for friction, thus the “shhhhh” sound
  • TH: tongue is straight forward through the lips

To help teach this, he has students learn a hand jive moving their hand in the same shape as the tongue needs to move to form the initial sound of each word in the tongue twister. What’s cool about this is how it brings something invisible out to being visible, uses movement and rhythm to help the student absorb it in a visceral way:

She           Sells         Seashells          by            the             Sea-shore

Hand movements:

scrunch    up         up – scrunch     ??            (straight out front)    up – scrunch

^                                         ^                                ____                                        ^

Singing Coffee Break

I’d heard of singing rooms, or Nori Bangs, but hadn’t experienced one. So, on our 10 am – 11 am break on Friday, four of us teachers walked out of work and then tried to figure out where to go. No one was particularly hungry. We were happy to be out for a break. My young American coworker suggested a singing room. Sure, I said. The other teachers: Korean and Canadian, said no thanks, and made a beeline the opposite direction.

So, the two of us headed into an arcade and opened the half-solid, half-clear plexiglass door and sat down, each on a bench next to a microphone.These aren’t ‘real singing rooms’, but they’re pretty nice for a couple people and  a short time. Real singing rooms might have big red cushions in a large circle and stuffed animals (to hug?!).

It seems easy enough to look through the book, enter the song number and away we go, but that darn not being able to read slows you down. After maneuvering past a trivia game, and a few menus and controllers, we spent a whopping $1.40 to sing three songs. We somehow missed getting the right number in for one, but successfully (well, that’s a generous interpretation) belted out The Look (an 80′s rock ballad) and Fly Me to the Moon (Sinatra).  So fun!

Without a crowd looking on, there’s not much to be embarrassed about. The music and your singing comes out in the room all around you, so you sound magically great. I hear that it’s common to see someone in the room just singing all by themself. It wouldn’t be any stranger than saying playing an arcade game alone.

…Which is what I used as my rationale when I stopped in there today when I had a few minutes. After enjoying a 1,000 krw ($0.90) roll of kimbap (think  California roll but with ham, Korean noodle, cucumber inside, then rice, then seaweed and sesame seeds outside), I headed into the arcade. I felt a little weird but no one else seemed to notice. Without my seasoned coworker, it took me three tries to push the right buttons to actually get a song going in English. And, though it wasn’t what I meant to choose, it was fun and stress-relieving to sing John Lennon’s LOVE (Love is wanting to be loved. / Love is touch, touch is love, / Love is reaching, reaching love, / Love is asking to be loved.)

World Cup hopes dashed. Uruguay 2: S Korea 1

Most people I know here scheduled their day to be able to watch the 11 pm World Cup match tonight between South Korea and Uruguay. Making it to the Final 16 was a big achievement for S Korea, so there weren’t many that expected Korea to win tonight. But most hoped they would.

Out walking tonight, every bar and restaurant was packed with red tshirts, red glowing horns and people faced watching the game on TV. Every few blocks, crowds formed watching the game on large outdoor screens. Of the few people not sitting somewhere, most were watching on a hand-held phone as they walked hurriedly, likely to get somewhere else to watch the rest of the game.

I watched a good part of the first half on the outdoor screen near Lotte department store. People sat on mats on the ground, with the remains of their dinner and bottles of beer. The rain paused and started, with umbrellas going down and up every 5-10 minutes. Others sat on the wall by the sidewalk across the street, taking some shelter from the rain under the trees. One couple sat under the popped back hatch of a minivan, parked strategically on the street. At halftime, the score was Uruguay 1 : S Korea 0.

I walked home and watched the rest of the game there. At one point, I’d turned the channel to see what else was on and heard loud cheers coming through my open windows. I don’t really understand where the noise is coming from …I’m on the 22nd floor so not sure if it’s from adjoining apts, or those across the way, or echoing up from the street (or all three). Korea tied the game 1:1. But by the end of the game, Uruguay scored again making it 2:1 and ending S Korea’s chances for any further advance.

Too much of a good thing?

Oh no! I’ve recently found out that several of the teachers here have gained weight working in Korea, and not yet taken it off.

Uh-oh. Maybe eating Korean food diligently is not enough alone. Teachers point to the split schedule, the food (eating too much Korea and continuing to eat western food too seems to be the worst idea), and the stress of the job, a new culture and the fast pace of this culture in particular.

I walk back and forth to work, a total of about 60 minutes per day, plus am on my feet for maybe half of each class, so I think it will work out. But, I now know maybe it’s an area that requires diligence in my overall strategy.

Squid Galore

It’s hard to describe what it’s like to see squid at nearly every turn in your day.

Busan is on the coast, so squid and small octopus show up on nearly every block in one form or the other:

- in the convenience stores (7-11, GS25, Family Mart), you’ll walk past six to ten types of squid snacks of varying shapes, sizes, flavorings, either vacuum packed or dried, in pouches or cans.

- walking to work down the street vending streets, women making paejeon have a stack of whole purple squid perched neatly at the end of one table

- in Daejeon, we ordered Paejeon and it arrived as a green onion pancake. Ordering paejeon here means you’ll get squid tentacles thrown in no extra charge (and I haven’t seen one street vendor that makes paejeon w/o squid)

- on the street, in a store, anywhere you’ll see stacks of dried squid that are pressed flat and crunchy

- other places, you’ll see aquariums in front of restaurants with squid and small octupus swimming or shooting around the tank

- advertisements for delivery services feature photos of delightful dishes topped with piles of raw squid tentacles

- you can order a dish that arrives with the tentacles still moving, as one coworker recently experienced. In class, my students described this specialty dish, adding “It’s very fresh.” yessss indeed

- supermarkets have dozens of squid snacks and packages of squid to bring home

- and restaurants serve squid and octopus in a dizzying variety of soups and other dishes

And oddly, my students have never heard the English word for ‘squid’!

World Cup madness continues

In a match against Nigeria, South Korea tied to advance to the Final 16. Now, it gets even more interesting as the US plays Ghana, and if Korea could win the next match against Uruguay (doubtful), they could play the US or Ghana…right there, is my entire allegiance all going at it!

Wednesday’s game was aired live here  at 3:30 am. About 90% of my students watched the game, using various strategies, including:

  • One businessman drank with coworkers until 1 am, came home, slept two hours then watched at home. Remarkably, he was on time and chipper, for my 6:50 am class.
  • One guy went with his cousin to Haeundae Beach and slept out on a blanket at 9 pm, woke up at 3 am to watch the game on the big outdoor screen, then crashed again from 6 am to 10 am on the beach, making it to my class (looking pretty clean!) at noon

After the previous game on Friday night, when Korea lost to Argentina, about 40 riot police were out doing crowd control. They were forming lines and trying to manage the movement of the drunken fans who wanted to walk across the busy boulevard to join up with fans on the other side. That was the only ‘tension’ I’ve experienced here to date.

That night, the police looked like a force to be reckoned with, mainly due to the quantity and their neon vests. But,  it was hard to take the sight too seriously, when the ‘mob’ was wearing their red t-shirts and glowing red horns. And after about 15 minutes of growing tension, the crowd randomly dispersed and began to head home.

Beomosa Temple Stay

From 1 pm Saturday until 11 am Sunday, my friend and I stayed at the Beomosa Buddhist Temple in Busan. It was a pretty cool experience and a definite change from the hustle and bustle of life working in the city.

Many talks with monks, many hours sitting cross-legged on the floor, learning the rituals and then enjoying the traditional Buddhist meal for dinner and breakfast, sleeping on a quilt on the floor from 9 am to 3 am, up for service where the monks played a huge drum, and bells, and a hike to a nearby hermitage.

I hadn’t expected to find the monks to be so personable and funny.  I had expected to be sore after doing 108 full bows but since we did this: one bow, then while down, string a bead, then repeat, it was actually enjoyable.

Probably the best way to get a sense of the stay is through the photos.

The freakiest thing was bumping into a classmate from my CELTA class three years ago. He’s from Michigan and had traveled to Denver to take the class, then went to Tanzania. That was a big surprise to see each other there, of all times and places.

Dinner out with students

On Friday night, the four students in the English class and I decided to work through our normal 10-minute break so we could leave at 9:40 (instead of 9:50 pm). From there we headed out to a traditional Korean restaurant to enjoy dinner!

It was really nice to hang out with them and discuss lives and culture. One of the students suggested this a couple days ago, because he said it would make our classroom discussions easier if we were all more familiar with each other.

Really wonderful experience. I resisted going to Karoake after dinner when we finished eating at midnight. Next time!

108 bows …training

I have been ‘training’ to be able to do the 108 full bows at the Temple Stay. At first blush, this might not sound strenuous, but it is. I did 50 one day, 70 another and 108 once. I don’t think I have all the steps correct though. I think I was bending forward to get all the way down and I think it’s supposed to be more of a squat. I’ll soon find out.

I hope this isn’t disrespectful, but a full bow reminds me a bit of the football training exercise in slo-mo (but we don’t shoot our legs out behind after you squat, instead you bow head to the ground).

Here’s the instructions they provided:

Ochietooji(Full Bow)

The posture of Ochietooji is intended to symbolically release the ego and respect the Buddha and other sentient beings. After putting one’s palms together and bowing to Buddha’s statue, press the knees, elbows and forehead to the ground.

1. Put palms together.

2. Make a half bow.

3. Sit on the knees.

4. Put the left big toe on the right foot.

5. Put the bottom on the feet.

6. Bow putting elbows and palms on the floor.

7. Put the forehead on the floor.

8. The knees, elbows and forehead, five parts of the body are on the floor.

9. Turn over your hands, to have palms upwards.

10. Raise hands straight up to ears.

11. Put palms on the floor again.

12. (every last bow of 1 bow, 3 bows, 108 bows and so on)

Hold up the head slightly and put palms together (hapjang) between the floor and the head.

13. Stand up.

14. Make a half bow before you finish.

Heading off for a Temple Stay at Beomosa Temple

A  coworker and I are meeting at the Beomosa subway station today at noon, to be at the Beomosa Temple by 1 pm. There we start our overnight temple stay. This is the same temple we hiked to a few weeks ago.

‘Temple stay’ is a way for English-speaking visitors to experience a day of monastic life in a traditional Buddhist temple. Beomosa’s history begins about 1300 years ago. Most Buddhist temple structures are made of natural materials, so are built and rebuilt at the same site over the years.

We’ll be in bed at 9 pm, and up at 3 am tomorrow.

Our schedule is:
Time First Day Second Day
03:00~03:30 Wake up & Wash

(in Silence)
03:30~04:00 Dawn Service(in Silence)
04:00~05:30 Seon Mediation

(in Silence)
06:00~07:30 Breakfast-TBM

& Clean Bowls
07:30~09:00 Tour to a Hermitage
09:00~10:00 Dharma Talk
10:00~10:40 Community Work & Survey
10:40~ Closing Ceremony
13:00~13:30 Registration & Orientation
13:30~15:00 Temple Manners

& Opening Ceremony
15:00~16:20 Temple Tour

& Self- Introduction
16:30~17:30 Learn Traditional Buddhist Meal
17:30~18:20 Dinner-TBM
18:30~19:00 Evening Service
19:00~20:30 Make 108 Prayer’s Beads
20:30~21:00 Ready for Sleep
21:00~ Sleep

Bow. Anytime. Anywhere

The fancy hotel Lotte has a person that directs cars into the parking lot. The uniform is the block cowboy? hat, white gloves, grey shirt and pants.

Some are more dramatic than others, making a fancy movement with the arms to direct the car where and when to turn. Then, he bows to the car after it drives past him.

Gwangilli Fish Festival

Saturday afternoon, my coworker and I took the subway nine stops (20 minutes or so) and thoroughly enjoyed the Gwangilli Beach for the Annual Fish Festival. Click above photo for link to more photos in this set.

  • Traditional drumming, dancing, storytelling
  • Wearing of foam fish heads (…think Wisconsin cheeseheads)
  • Tug of war
  • Pulling in the nets
  • Fighting over the fish
  • Fireworks
  • Lighting of the fishing boats

Does this game make my butt look big?

I am not this body, these thoughts or this day

I am not this body, these thoughts or this day

This simple line that I learned in my Sahaja Meditation class has been a sanity-saver. I believe that most of the angst associated with ‘culture shock’ is tied to our expectations, and in our reactions to people and situations.

When  I can remember to sit quietly and meditate for a few minutes, it puts peace within reach …puts me at peace within, and feeling at peace with whatever is happening around me.

I am not this body. I am not these thoughts. I am not this ego. I am not this past. I am not these conditionings. I am not this day. I am not this project. I am not this job…

…Reminds me that the real me is something bigger, and is in union with the real, deeper, absolute spirit of everyone and everything else. So, there’s really nothing worth worrying about. My daily, moment-by-moment challenge, is to choose either to trust and act accordingly, or to fear. I can’t do both …I gotta pick a team. These words remind me to choose the first option.

It’s like when I’m sitting in the theatre and caught up in the movie. It’s not until my friend nudges me to pass the Red Vines,  that I realize I’m not actually dodging bullets, crossing the rickety planks over the pit of snakes, as I desperately try to find the exit in the smoke-filled warehouse. Even though my heart is racing and my palms are sweaty, actually, I’m snuggled in a cool, comfy spot, safe and sound.

Being able to shift out of the fast-paced frantic movie, to enjoying and savoring the show, is what these words help connect me to.  Sitting down quietly, I can take a deep, relaxing breath and gently chuckle.

It’s a good starting point for the day.

Unbelievable, by day’s  end, I’ve usually forgotten the big picture, and am ready for another reminder.

Grammar beginner

How do you describe when to use “I have eaten”, rather than “I ate”? These are things I know how to do automatically, but now have the honor of teaching.

I figured out that curling up with the teacher’s resource guides and reviewing the days lessons for both my Level 2 and Level 3 classes, is key to being calm enough to teach the material well.

Our method emphasizes student-led discovery, where the students try the vocabulary and grammar, and it’s more likely at the end of the class that the teacher summarizes the rules or definitions, by eliciting the information from (rather than telling) the students.

It’s pretty cool, but ya gotta know your stuff. My goal is to know it, even if that means doing so at midnight before the next morning’s class. Maybe it’s a good thing that the building closes at 10 pm and doesn’t open until 6:30 am.

So on days that I teach until 9:50 pm, and have a Level 2 class at 6:50 am and a Level 3 class at 7:30 am, this is a challenge! But hey, I’ve been getting that afternoon nap religiously, so it’s not too bad.

(Just, maybe don’t ask me my opinion at 5 am!)

Eating Korean Food…diligently

At home, when I’m lazy I eat out. It costs more, isn’t as good for me, isn’t likely to be a local owner, might have iffy service, and probably doesn’t taste as good as home cooking.

Here, it’s the opposite.

If once or twice a day, I make an effort go eat Korean food, I get food that is local, quick, affordable and healthy. For less than $5, and often less than $4, I can have a great meal.

On a break this morning, a coworker and I went to a cafe called (originality!) “Food Cafe”. I had dumpling soup for breakfast for 3500 won (about $3). She had Kimchi fried rice, and to go tuna sushi (Tuna kimbap). Our total was 10,500 won or about $10.

For lunch, yesterday, I went for Bibimkalguk or mixed vegetable soup, for 4000 won (about $3.80) and the day before for Bibimbap (mixed vegetables and rice) also for 4000 won.

I’m pretty wiped out after teaching sometimes, so I have to force myself to eat out. But if I do, I know I’ll get something fabulous, hearty and healthy!

When I don’t, I end up eating some random items from the convenience store: milk, bananas, digestive cookies (to remind me of Ghana, I guess), and it costs more for  a snack than for a full meal.

Worse yet, is going for coffee. You can’t generally order my preference, which is a small coffee with room for cream. So, instead it’s an Americano and trying to explain milk on the side (a ‘foreign’ concept), or a cappuccino or latte, which all cost 3500 won (…the same price as a full Korean meal!)

Going for coffee does have the benefit that it feels like home. Today, when I walked into Starbucks with a friend, I felt a strange thing happen. As I opened the door, all worries melted way as I walked into the familiar layout and decor. That didn’t last long. As soon as I stepped up to the counter and looked at the menu, and not seeing “Coffee” or “koppi” (as it’s called here), I remembered suddenly where I was. Oh yeah, I’m in Korea where I don’t know how to order a small coffee with cream at Starbucks.

Being a(n internet signal) seeker

It was less than two days after I boasted about how easy life is in Korea, where you have free, reliable, fast internet access, that it ceased to be that for me.

Since I checked out of the love motel and into my fancy apartment, I haven’t had internet access. I can’t order it until I get my registration card, so now I’m a seeker…continually seeking internet access.

Work: There is wi-fi at work, but there was no outlet within reach. I bought an extension cord and duct taped it down, and now my coworkers in that area and I can plug our laptops in. Cool, but not very private for making skype calls or doing photo/blog. The building is only open during class hours, so during that time it’s usually busy and after that time, it’s closed. Saturdays from 10 – 2 seems to be a good time for me to chill there, when others are teaching, so the building is open.

Coffee shops:

Many coffee shops have free wi-fi but no electrical outlets. My dog of a computer, with the funky electrical connection (they have 220 in outlets in Korea), has a battery life of 0.3 seconds so power is a must.

Starbucks: I was surprised to see that they offer free wi-fi. I bought a $3 cup of coffee, sat down and then realized that I need my foreign registration number and digital true name verification to sign on.

Holly Coffee Shop: This one I like and has nice reliable service, just across the street from work. Except for the day, I bought my $3 coffee and only then realized I didn’t have my electrical connector so couldn’t plug in. Or the day that I bought my coffee, then found that my cord kept falling out of the outlet at the only available place.

Krispy Kreme: In the mall area of Lotto, their service is so slow! I was able to upload three photos in 30 minutes, while drinking my $4 green tea latte.

Internet Cafes

There are tons of PC bangs (bang = room), or internet cafes, around. You can see one on every block…look for the big “PC” sign. These places are geared for those who love playing PC games. I tried the one by my apartment. It was a dark space on the 2nd floor, filled with smoke and grown men playing PC games. Posters of war games, and adventure anime characters and game advertisements covered the entrance, the door and the walls.

Oh how I miss the love motel and the free internet. :-(