Still trying to catch 2-2 class up after the two classes they missed while preparing for their open class. 1-7 class is super adorable; they're excited about everything! Since it was so icy yesterday, I've been teaching them "icy" by pretending to slip; the kids think it's the funniest thing ever.
I was fully prepared to have my first teachers' class today after a long time of not having it, and I got a call from 1-5 (Yeon Ohk) telling me that she is going to Chiak Art Center and asked if I wanted to go as well. I then learned that all of the teachers were going there to practice for the concert tonight. Little did I know when I was planning my teachers' lesson that none of the teachers were going to be in the building, so I went with 1-5 teacher. I met up with the other first grade teachers, and we sat together to watch the classes practice. They were all super cute and really good!
After a while, we went out to dinner together. Our group got split up; I went with 1-3, 1-6, and 1-7 teachers. We ate KalManduGuk!! Oh, I found out two new interesting things about babies. 1) Women in Korea are pregnant for 10 months, because they count from they become pregnant (August, September, October, etc. instead of August to September, September to October, etc.) 2) When a woman has twins, the first one is called Hyeong/Oni (older brother/sister) and the second one is called Tongsaeng (younger sibling).
At dinner, 1-7 kept joking that I didn't like her and that I only wanted see 1-5 teacher. All because I asked where 1-5 teacher was at Chiak. It was because she had driven me there that I was curious where she was! Gosh! It has become a joke between 1-7 and I though. She said that when I talk about 1-5, my eyes light up, but when I talk to her my eyes are small. LOL! So now I squint my eyes when she looks at me.
We headed back around 5:30PM to get seats and some of the first grade teachers had to work. 1-7 and 1-5 were in charge of kicking people out of the VIP seats. 1-3 and I sat and watched/made fun of the other two...we were like...their managers. They get my sarcasm and sense of humor, which is really nice to have in Korea. I found out how their ages; it's different than I thought. 1-1 is 51, 1-2 is 49, 1-3 is 34, 1-4 is a little older than 1-7 but younger than 1-2, 1-5 is 39, 1-6 is older than 1-3 but younger than 1-5, and 1-7 is a few years older than 1-5. It's like one of those little puzzles on ISTEP or the SATs. The most important thing in Korea is to know rank, not necessarily exact ages. It depends on who is served first, who is bowed to first, who gets the most attention, etc. The other thing I really like about the first grade teachers though is that they are pretty modern and rank doesn't really seem that important to them. It's difficult to take cultural cues though, because I am never around anyone else my own age. I tend to take cues from my host brother at home, because he is very polite in the company of guests. In school, it's just pretty much gut instinct.
What I've also noticed is that children say "hi" to me constantly, but don't really say anything to the other teachers. If I'm walking with a Korea teacher, the Korean teacher is pretty much ignored. This is such a strange concept for me. It's like they're so fixated on the English teacher that they're a little oblivious to other people around me. I'm not saying this in a proud, look-at-me sort of way, but a very matter-of -act way. It's nice to be noticed, but English teachers/foreigners are very much on display 24/7. It's great that my students are getting cultural exposure of another country at such a young age. Even if I don't affect their English ability enormously, they will hopefully be comfortable interacting with people of different cultures due to these few months. I explained it this way to myself; I refuse to be here for the soul purpose of teaching my students English. It's hard to express the tension surrounding the idea of learning English, but it has beyond surpassed reality to me.
Sidenote: A married first grade teacher calls her husband "Capitan;" it's his nickname. I asked what hers is, and she said that she doesn't have one. I fought back the slight hatred of the Confucian ideological crap that has been burned into the brains of so many here and just let myself assume that it was simply a cute little pet nickname and in no way is it as degrading to women as it initially appeared.
The concert was awesome. It got to be a little long after two hours, but it was really good overall! 1-5 teacher played bouncer for part of the show; there were children running EVERYWHERE! I did the bowing deal to the VIPs after the show and talked to some of the teachers who performed, then I was out of there.
I didn't get home until 10:30PM. I talked with my host parents for a while. I told my host mom about when my winter class is scheduled for....drum role, please....December 24th, December 25th, and December 26th. Anybody see anything slightly/incredibly depressing about that? My host father told me to run away. LOL! Then my host mom gave me $200. Yah, apparently that's from the insurance company from the car accident. Also, apparently, if we had gone to the hospital more often, we would have gotten a lot more than $200. I obviously no NOTHING about the way insurance companies work, but I wasn't going to refuse the money!^^
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