What's the Time, Mr. Wolf? - Friday Nov. 30, 2007

So, today, I played the role of a lifetime. I played a...wolf. That's right! For a first grade open class in front of the other first grade teachers, the vice principals, and the principal...I wore a wolf costume. Pictures may be up at some point within the span of my lifetime. I danced a little wolf dance, and I sang a little wolf song. All in all...a pretty good time!

After school, I hung out and made some stuff/decorated my classroom until I met 1-5 teacher to go to dinner at around 5:45PM. We were late to dinner, AND late to meet the principal and vice principals. Oops!

Dinner was okay, but it was just as uncomfortable as it always is when going out with the higher ups. Confucian society creates so much tension when in the presence of elders or people of higher rank. It is impossible to feel comfortable with them. I have talked to other Koreans who feel similarly even though they are accustomed to the natural societal rules.

After dinner, the first grade teachers went to this bar named "Aqua Vitae." Apparently it has changed since the last time the teachers had been there; it is now India motif. I really like it, but the teachers were a little weirded out by it. I think it even has hookahs, which I would have never expected to see in Korea.

I had to leave soon after arriving, because I was the leader for the topic today at the English meeting. The topic was a pretty heavy one and a difficult one language-wise to discuss. The topic is three parts about equality, prejudice, and discrimination: 1) Are women and men treated equally in Korea? 2) How are people of different races and nationalities treated in Korea? 3) How are people of different sexual orientations treated in Korea?

It was a pretty interesting conversation. Like I said, it was difficult for a few to discuss, but we made sure everyone in the group had a chance to talk. I discussed about how it is nice, but almost uncomfortable to be treated so well in Korea. I am treated as well as I am 1) Because I'm American and 2) because I speak English. I don't like knowing that I'm treated the way I am simply because I have a skill that Koreans want. They discussed the fact that blacks are not treated very well by Koreans and that people from South East Asia, as well, are not treated very well. They, for the most part, feel like women and men are treated fairly equally. I beg to differ, but it was only an hour long meeting.

We barely got into the topic of sexual orientation, but it's probably a good thing. I tend to get a little frustrated with the topic. I also was frustrated at the fact that a few members of the group made HUGE generalizations, which isn't uncommon for people of every country. The United States was called conservative, because of this story from one woman in the group:

"I have a friend who knows this guy in the United States who hadn't even kissed his girlfriend as a freshman in college, because his father is so conservative."

My response: "But that is one person."

There was one new member who studied abroad in the states for 6 months; he is about 25, I think. He had a much more liberal stance on "homosexuality" than I have heard from any Korean I have talked to about it. He said that he doesn't see anything wrong with someone, "coming out." He also talked about going to a gay bar in the states with one of his friends (Sidenote: Just because you go to a gay bar, does not mean that you are gay. I think the group picked up on this concept, but I'm not entirely sure.) Some of the Koreans at the table thought this was a mistake on his part and incredibly weird. I think it was brave of him to say at a table full of Koreans who obviously disagreed with homosexuality.

I was asked after the group meetings ended by one of my friends in the group, "How do you feel about it?" My response, "I support it." She was slightly baffled. She told me that she didn't used to have a problem with it until one of her friends chose to be gay. She said that she thinks some people are born that way, but some choose that lifestyle. We didn't get to finish the conversation, but I was interested to hear her opinion. I disagree with where she was heading, but I wanted to understand more about where her thought process was.

After the meeting, we headed to our Makkoli restaurant. I spent a lot of time talking to Vinod (a new member; his parents are from India, but he was born in England). He's quite funny to talk to, and has an interesting outlook on life; he's lazy and he doesn't care. I love the phrase, "I can't be bothered." Talking to him reminded me of two male British friends of mine from study abroad in Japan; they, too, were hilarious to talk to and had a similar outlook on life.

We headed home around 12:30AM. A few people wanted to go out for longer, but I think the majority of people were ready to go home. I was named the most reliable member of the Sunshine Club, and Jay was disappointed that I wasn't ready to go out after Makkoli. LOL!