My first week teaching in Korea is complete. Overall I have a decent feeling about teaching these kids. Throughout the rest of my week I had some classes that were even worse than the ones I was writing about the other day. I also had some classes that were really well behaved, eager to participate, and had lots of good questions. I think I was asked my age in each class. In Korean society, one based on hierarchy and respect, people are always trying to assess someone’s level of importance (based on age, job, etc.) so that they can figure out how to speak to you. A few other favorites included my weight, marital status, if I eat kimchi (a Korean staple food), whether or not I can understand Korean, and why I came to Korea.
One important detail that I failed to mention in my last post was the absurdity of the class sizes here, which accounts for some of the atrocious behavior in class. There are at least 35 students in each classroom. The most I counted was 46. 46 kids?! Are you kidding me? I thought handling 30 students last year was tough and I had a full time instructional aide. These teachers have to deal with all those bodies in a tiny classroom by themselves with no one to help them. No wonder classroom management is non-existent.
In one of my fourth grade classes the other day a little boy introduced himself to me and told me that he just moved to Korea this week from the U.S. He is Korean American and grew up in Texas speaking both Korean and English at home. He has never lived in Korea before and we bonded over the dramatic changes in lifestyle and culture here versus back home. Also foods we miss. Kind of funny how the person that I can relate most to in my school building is a 10 year old child.
I have never met a people that are more aware and obsessed with their feet and foot etiquette, if you will, than Koreans. These people are never bare foot; even at home they wear slippers, which I found out during my home stay over Chuseok weekend. They also wear different shoes indoors and out. I had to go and buy a pair of strictly indoor slip-ons the other day for school. The shoes are kept in little cubbies and changed immediately outside the school building. Socks or nylons are always worn by both women and men with their slip-ons indoors. There is also a community slip-on type shoe that is worn in the bathroom. People do not walk on the bathroom floors barefoot. Traditional Korean style restaurants require you to remove your shoes before setting your (socked) foot inside. Korean women wear high heels everywhere. I really have no idea how they do it. The grocery store, exercising, running errands, you name it; they’ve got a pair of heels for the occasion. After careful observation I have decided that Korean people have the most interesting foot etiquette that I have ever experienced.
I had a terribly embarrassing melt down the other night and was seriously having a panic attack. It had been a long day at school and I got home and threw in a load of laundry. The washing machine started making funny sounds and then beeped at me and stopped. I was thinking “oh no, not again.” This time the door decided to remain shut and wouldn’t even let me get my clothes out of the sitting water. I was so upset and was hoping that my clothes would not be ruined by the time I got a repairman in to fix it. To make matters worse, a little while later my computer shut down and did something I had never seen it do in the three years since I’ve had it. It turned off and would not start up again. I could not hear any sounds or anything so I was really getting nervous. After about a hundred tries to get it to turn back on I had convinced myself that it was broken. You have to understand that up until this point my computer has been my lifeline here in Korea. Without it I could not contact my family or really anyone for that matter because Facebook has also been a miracle worker. (Thank you Mark Zuckerberg!) Of course I was in hysterics, making myself believe that I would be completely doomed without technology, lost forever in this foreign country, etc., etc. I was being a huge drama queen and crying like a pathetic baby. Finally something popped into my head and I remembered that I had brought my computer manual with me and so I was able to fix the problem after many unnecessary tears and much wasted time wallowing in self-pity.
It has been tough here at times and I do miss home, but someone told me “you’ll be yourself soon enough” and I truly do believe that. It will take some time, but I know that eventually this strange country and mysterious city will feel like home and I will feel like myself at home in it.
On a positive note my washing machine was fixed the next day, I received my alien registration card, got my bank account opened up, bought a cell phone, and I get my first paycheck next week. Life is good. For the moment.
Namaste
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