The Massacre in Korea by Picasso, 1951

The Massacre in Korea by Picasso, 1951
Originally uploaded by TJF.

"Apparently the painting was considered Anti-American and was banned
from public display in South Korea until the 90s."

happy birthday to me

Today was my 22nd birthday (though sort of technically not, since Korea is about a day ahead of the U.S., but today was Nov. 30th and that is my birthday). You always ask yourself if you feel older when that year creeps up on you, but I think I'll still be wavering back and forth until tomorrow morning when it feels true.

But it was a good birthday, certainly as good as could be expected if not better. This morning I had the traditional Korean birthday breakfast with my host family--rice with red bean, seaweed soup, and a big birthday cake. When we were in Seoul for Thanksgiving Aaron told Rachel and I about the birthday cake for breakfast phenomenon he'd witnessed, and it's a ritual that seems to extend to my host family as well. I also opened a few presents from my host sister: socks from Seo In (a popular gift in Korea), a hair-clip from Seo Young and a pair of gloves from Seo Jin. I think the birthday celebration was probably this morning because it's the only time that we'll all be at home at the same time ('all' actually excluding Seo In and Mr. Lee). I remember when we celebrated Seo In's birthday a few months ago it was on a weekend, and so we ate cake and gave her presents in the evening, over at the grandparents' apartment. (Which meant I got to watch her grandfather eat some pixie sticks that I'd given Seo In: first he dumped the contents of one on top of a slice of cake and later he mixed one with his orange juice).

The birthday excitement at school at first mostly consisted of me trying to figure out what to give all of the teachers and staff. At my school at least it's expected that on one's birthday (or another special occasion, like when one buys a new car), that person treats the teachers and staff to some kind of treat, like fruit or rice cake. Weeks ago I'd decided that I'd give everyone oranges, since they're in season (the oranges here are small, more like tangerines), and also they aren't too expensive (I'd spend maybe 40,000 won to give 77 people a few oranges each, with some extra). When one of the administrators at the school celebrated his birthday yesterday and gave everyone not only duk but oranges as well, I felt a little thwarted, but oranges still seemed like the best option. Then I felt even more thwarted when Jeju University for some reason decided to send oranges to the high school today--some kind of recruitment ploy, I guess. Oranges two days in a row is okay; oranges twice in one day is not. My host mother, who was helping me with the ordering, suggested apples or kongshi (persimmons, but the kind of conical kind that get very sweet and squishy when they are ripe and that are actually really good). Finally I settled on giving everyone yoghurt, which ended up being cheaper than oranges anyway and seemed acceptable. Anyway, I think it was because I think few teachers were expecting me to give them anything on my birthday.

Later today a cake appeared on my desk, with no note, so I still don't know who it's from. I encountered Mr. O, and he didn't mention it, and Mrs. Kim, the chemistry teacher who often gives me little gifts because I tutor her daughter, gave me a pretty extravagant purse later in the day, so I ruled her out. My co-teacher joked a few times that it was from the strange man who popped up at my school a couple times and made me really nervous, whom she has dubbed "the ugly-faced man," but I'm pretty positive he doesn't know my birthday.

I also got a big bouquet of white roses from the vice principal, who told me with much laughter that he remembered my birthday because his wife's birthday is the same day. The bouquet was nice, though I do find it kind of strange that florists here frequently glue glitter to a bunch of fresh roses. Then the three third graders, U Jong, Min Seon and Jin Hwa, who took the big college entrance exam recently and now only stay at school until about noon, lured me out into the courtyard. I noticed they looked a lot more relaxed and two of them had gotten their hair done, I'm guessing to celebrate the end of the exam. They lit a candle on a piece of cake and sang to me, and then gave me a pair of underwear--sort of like feminine boxer shorts. They were Christmas-themed (or as U Jong put it, "Christmas atmosphere") and were red with two sort of cutesy reindeer on one leg. There was also the words, "I want to make love to U" which I laughed over but I don't think they quite understood. I've also suspected that English-literate Koreans, when they see the English language used in that way, on stationary or clothing or a store sign, even if they can tell that it's inappropriate or nonsensical, don't really react, I think just because it seems run of the mill and normal to them. I actually wasn't sure how to react when thanking them. I've noticed that Koreans in general are more spontaneously physically affectionate than Americans, especially between members of the same sex, but I wasn't sure how to express my gratitude because outright hugging seems to be sort of rare in Korea. We ended up sort of rapidly patting each other on the back while holding our bodies about five inches away from each other.

In addition to the wonderful gifts, I got a text message from some students in one of my Thursday classes wishing me a happy birthday, and a second grade class sang to me when I let them know it was my birthday. And of course numerous teachers wished me a happy birthday as well. I also got a few e-cards, two from Fulbrighters, and one from my dad. I should be getting a package from Mom in the next day or so.

So in general, a good birthday--especially when I sort of expect it to extend into tomorrow.

Reading: Just finished "A Tale of Two Cities" last night. It was my first Dickens, and I really enjoyed it. I feel like I've heard the final line, "It is a far better thing I do now, than I have ever done..." quoted a lot recently, I want to say in relation to the election or some other politics, but I can't recall. Now that I know what it really refers to it makes me much more curious. I finished "Mona Lisa Overdrive" a couple days ago, and have reluctantly set aside "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" because it really is causing me itchy eyes and sneezing.

At the Aura

At the Aura
Originally uploaded by TJF.

It's times like these when I think, "Yeah, I am really lucky to be where I am doing what I'm doing."

today

I actually started composing a post yesterday about visiting Rachel for her birthday a week ago and about last weekend, when I went to Seoul for a Thanksgiving dinner, and I finished up the post tonight, but somehow everything I wrote today was lost, so I'm putting that off for now and moving on to stuff that's a bit more fresh in my mind, since this school week so far has been pretty eventful itself. And I don't want to bore people with incredibly long posts.

I came back from Seoul late Sunday night, at first feeling a little morose as I often do (and have probably noted before) on the ride home. But when I got to the apartment, the family was all smiles and very welcoming, and I found myself relaxing pretty quickly. I had a funny conversation with Seo Jin, the youngest, last night over dinner. Seo Jin has a rabbit as a pet--he's basically wild, though he's come to get excited when people come near his cage because he thinks it means food. I don't really understand Seo Jin's disposition towards her pets (she used to have two hamsters in addition to the rabbit--she still has one); she seems to really dote on them but at the same time I think is sort of mean to them, reprimands them and such for not acting how she wants them to act, when I wouldn't really expect them to understand. I also worry about the rabbit because it seems hungry all the time, though my host dad usually picks lots of food for it when he's home on the weekends, and I feed it fruit peelings and stuff when I get the chance. Anyway, I've been wanting to liberate this rabbit for a long time. It was slated to go to live in the country with an aunt, but when Seo Jin discovered that it would probably eventually be eaten, she refused. When I visited Rachel's school she showed me the 'rabbit community' living on the school grounds---a bunch of rabbits living in a large fenced in area. Rachel thinks that originally they might have been part of some student project. We had the idea that maybe we could convince Seo Jin to let us bring her rabbit to Gochang to live happily with the other rabbits (though in reality, we weren't actually certain about how the rabbit would be received by the others--though I feel like if the rabbit himself could make a choice, he would probably take the risk of being attacked by his own kind then remaining in his cage). I carefully brought up the possible rabbit transfer at the dinner table last night, and Seo Jin seemed excited about the prospect but then announced that if the rabbit went to live in Gochang, the family would have to visit it once a month. So there goes that plan. It was a cute discussion, despite my worries for the rabbit.

So today, Tuesday, there were supervisors from the provincial education department at our school. I had been told about them last week, but I found out about certain last minute changes Monday afternoon, for instance, 1) I would be helping my desk neighbor, Ms. Hwang, in her English class that the supervisors were slated to visit, something which I've never done before, and 2) The supervisors would also be visiting one of my classes. As with the photo shoot last week, I wasn't really prepared for this. I ended up making up an entirely new lesson Monday afternoon, with no chance to try it out and see how it would go. I needed a new lesson because I didn't think my Pictionary lesson, which tended to get a bit unruly, would go over well with a supervisor. Ms. Hwang, who was I think much more nervous than I was--actually, all the regular English teachers were being observed and they didn't find out Saturday, until so they were all rushing around submitting lesson plans on Monday--explained to me a little about how I would be contributing to her class, but we didn't review it completely until this morning. We did a test run on her first period class. I read some material to the class and then helped it explain it to them after they read it themselves, though Ms. Hwang often translated my 'clarifications.' All in all everything went well though. The supervisors actually only dropped in on the second period class for maybe two minutes, and they neglected to come to my class at all. I think my school had decided that the supervisors should observe me, but they had many other classes to observe so they probably ran out of time.

It was interesting for me to observe Ms. Hwang's classes, and see what an average English class at my high school is like. It actually made me feel like my classes were too easy (as if that'd never crossed my mind before). But I also realized that my classes have ended up being tailored to the students with the lowest level, or often, simply the students with the lowest enthusiasm. When I see a student staring at me blankly or simply neglecting to do the assignment, I feel like the lesson was a failure. But Ms. Hwang's class seemed to operate more on the assumption that all the students could handle the lesson, though it involved a lot of reading comprehension, and I think a few of the students just didn't participate (I've noticed that a lot of the students are good at pretending to be reading right as you get near them, and since a lot of times the class just responds to the teacher in unison, they often don't have to formulate answers on their own). It made me wonder about my own class style. In some ways I think it is important that the lower level students don't fall between the cracks, but on the other hand all the students deserve to be challenged, and maybe I'm underestimating them. I think they certainly tend to underestimate themselves. Even though I don't necessarily think I should teach the sort of lessons Ms. Hwang does (and not being able to explain things for them in Korean often makes these kinds of lessons just infeasible) I do think that my sort of low-aiming approach isn't the best way to go. Or at least, I shouldn't consider a lesson a failure if some students aren't engaged or don't do original work, because I think some students, with an environment of thirty-plus students, won't really try or be engaged no matter what lesson I do. Anyway, I don't know if this realization will actually result in any significant changes in lessons, because the issues of feasibility haven't really changed, but it's something to think about. I think the winter break class I teach in January, when I will spend three hours a day for ten days with the same students, will be a good time to try out new tactics.

The class schedule has been wacky lately, so I'm actually teaching about three different lessons at the same time right now. Some classes I haven't seen in awhile, and they're still finishing up the movie I've been showing for the last couple weeks. There are actually a couple classes that haven't watched any of it yet. It's actually nice to have some variety though. Tomorrow is going to delay some classes further, as there's a Thanksgiving celebration. All the classes are going to compete in a choir competition and then we have the afternoon off (by decree of the minister, I heard). This weekend I'm going to stick around Suncheon. I've decided to try not to travel until I leave for Thailand on the 19th of December. I need to save up some money. Speaking of money, the won is at an all time high while the dollar is pretty low, so the exchange rate for won to dollar is pretty good right now. I plan to wire some money to my American bank account as soon as I get paid at the end of this month. Hopefully the won will still be high then--the Korean government has actually already taken action to curb it, and plans to do more, since the Korean economy depends so much on export, it actually hurts the country's business to have a strong won.

Reading: Finished "Mrs. Dalloway" and the dream book Rachel lent me, and now I'm reading "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." It's hugely long, and it's sort of an old paper back so I think reading it is actually giving me allergy attacks, but I find it really interesting. It's sort of like a crash course on a lot of European history I never got.

P.S. Might be posting some recent photos from Seoul, and some older photos from my trip to Gwangju and hiking with Rachel that I just got developed, soon. So stay tuned.

this weekend

Decided to spend this weekend in Suncheon instead of traveling around, and I'm glad I did. Weekends when the whole family is more or less together have a different feel to them than the usual day to day, and usually we have fun. Friday night we watched a movie together on my computer, despite some techinical difficulties (my computer is apparently more sensitive to scratches on a DVD than your usual DVD player, so we had some difficulty and had to go back to the DVD rental place to exchange the movie). So we had to trade in Pirates of the Carribean for The Day After Tomorrow. I actually saw both movies in the theaters. Day After Tomorrow is actually a pretty good movie, though slightly less impressive when watched on a thirteen inch computer screen.

The weather is already getting significantly colder here--last weekend we had some nice sun but this weekend has been mostly overcast, and it even rained pretty hard last Wednesday. Friday night I mentioned to my host mother that I needed to buy a warm winter coat sometime soon, and she suggested that we go this weekend. So on Saturday all of us (except Seo In, who is always in school or studying) went to a big department store near here in search of a coat for me. Even though there was an abundance of nice winter coats, it was a bit of a challenge to find something that fit me well and didn't have some kind of fur around the hood or collar (apparently a popular style this season). My host parents were incredibly generous and insisted on buying the coat for me, which was a real surprise. It reminds me how lucky I am in terms of my home stay, that I have a host family that is not only generous in many ways but who want to really help me adjust to Korea.

The plan had been to go to a movie that evening, but after the coat search we didn't have enough time, so we just went to Pizza Hut for dinner. There are plenty of different pizza restaurants in Suncheon, Pizza Hut and Dominoes are maybe the only American chains, and I think Pizza Hut is by far the most expensive and probably least reasonable, but we always end up getting pizza from there. Seo Jin, my youngest host sister, really likes the 'Rich Gold' pizza, which I think was developed by Pizza Hut especially for South Korea--it's a regular pizza of choice with a ring of sweet potato along the circumfrence. I'm actually growing to like sweet potatoes more, even though I've always had a sort of aversion to sweet-tasting vegetables. It was the first time I'd been in a Pizza Hut restaurant probably since I was in elementary school and living in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and we used to go to Pizza Hut to get "personal pan pizzas."

This Wednesday is the huge college exam for all third grade high school students. I get the day off since my school is one of the testing centers for the area. Tuesday is Rachel's birthday so I'm going to take a bus up to have dinner and hang out with her, and then probably visit her school on Wednesday. I found out on Saturday that a photographer from the city is going to visit my class on Monday and take pictures for some brochure--sort of problematic because my classes on Monday are actually finishing up watching a movie, so the photographer is probably not going to have any good opportunities for shots. I'll have to see if I can fineagle my way out of it on Monday.

I've been thinking a lot about the future and what I want to do after Korea. I don't think I'm going to stay here after my contract ends in July, but I do want to go to another country after spending a few months back in the U.S. I'd really like to go to Latin America, where I can get better at Spanish. I've been trying to investigate job or internship possibilities but all I can really find on the internet are organizations that charge you either to participate in their program or to find you a job placement. My only considerations are that I don't want to live in a homestay and I'd like something that is either paying or provides room and board. If anyone has any leads, let me know. I'm really interested in something involving urban planning, sustainable development or land-use management but I don't know if I really have the background to find a good job or internship in that area. But I would really take anything, though I'd rather try something other than teaching English. It's a long way away though--I might end up just going sometime next winter or spring and trying to find a job there.

Reading: Finished "Living Dangerously in Korea"--really a pretty good book for understanding the U.S. influence on South Korea. Started "Mrs. Dalloway," a copy I picked up for free from a departing ETA. Haven't read any more of "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" since those couple first pages weeks ago. Lately I've been in the mood for reading something a bit lighter, I guess.

On an afternoon walk

On an afternoon walk
Originally uploaded by TJF.

and so on

Last weekend was really nice. Rachel and Joanne came down from Jeollabuk province (Jeongup and Jeonju, respectively) to stay with me, and on Saturday we went to Seonamsa temple to see some of the fall foliage. It was, as I think either Duncan (Jeonju ETA) or Jairus (fellow Suncheon ETA) described it, "riotous color." It really was beautiful, some really bright reds that I don't think I've ever seen, having spent most of my life on the West Coast. On Sunday Rachel, Joanne and I took a bus out to Suncheon Bay. There was a reed festival going on. Unfortunately, my quest to see Suncheon Bay when the reeds are red was again thwarted. But we talked to a staff person and it turns out that there is a sort of flowering reed that is red this time of year, but those reeds only grow in a certain part of the bay, far from where we were. So that quest has been postponed indefinitely.

On Sunday morning, before we headed to the bay, Joanne and Rachel cut my hair. I've been growing my hair out, but I needed a change. So Joanne gave me bangs and Rachel gave me a bit of a trim. I haven't had long hair and bangs since maybe middle school or early high school, but I'm happy to say my hair looks much better now than it did then. It's a nice change, and my host family had fun watching the process.

I've finally purchased my plane tickets to Singapore and Saigon. The direct flights from Saigon to Seoul were disappearing quickly, to be replaced with flights with long lay overs in Hong Kong. As it was, I had to spend about two hours talking to six different customer service representatives, three from the ticket website and three from my bank. Finally figured out that my bank needed to raise the spending limit on my debit card in order for me to buy the tickets, and since I didn't have certain account information on me, I got them to do so only by somehow being able to provide the amount and date of my last account transfer, from memory. Anyway, it's a relief to get that over with at least. Now I only have to plan a week in Japan, and I'll be going to Japan by boat instead of plane, so hopefully it will be less expensive and less complicated.

In the news of urban legends, I only decided to comment on this because I've received this e-mailing twice in the last month--it looks like the NPR petition is in circulation again. This e-mail petition has acquired urban legend status because it is actually incredibly old. I actually remember receiving it for the first time years ago when I first had e-mail. The e-mail commonly starts, "On NPR's Morning Edition last week, Nina Tottenberg said that if the Supreme Court supports Congress..." though there are other variations. According to a couple websites on the subject, this petition was started by two concerned University of Northern Colorado students in 1995. Shortly after it was first sent, the University found its system clogged by responses, and the students' e-mails were shut down. In 1998, the University and the two students apparently tried to stop the circulation of the e-mail, since many consider e-mail peitions to be actually useless anyway, and this one was also outdated--but as we can see it's still continuing. It's kind of amazing that the Internet can operate in such a way that not only can something like this keep going for so long, but when it resurfaces, I can receive the same e-mail from two different friends who are from opposite sides of the country within a relatively small time frame.

Reading: Finished "Reading Lolita in Tehran." Now I'm reading "Living Dangerously in Korea: The Western Experience 1900-1950." I'm finding it interesting because not only does it maybe explain some aspects of the American influence on Korea (for instance, a couple of the most prestigous universities in South Korea were founded by American missionaries, and Pyongyang in North Korea was a big missionary spot before the Korean War), but since most of the Westerners in Korea in the early 1900s were Christian missionaries, Suncheon and the American missionaries who founded my school have been mentioned.

checking in

So I spent last weekend in Seoul, hanging out with Billie, Matthias and Bonnie. We wandered around Seoul, went to an art gallery, tasted a Korean microbrew, and on Saturday night checked out some Halloween parties. It was a great weekend, even though I ended up with a pretty bad cold by the end of it. It was the first time I'd visited Seoul since my teaching placement, and it was refreshing. Seoul really feels like a different place, so going there feels even more like an escape from the teaching life. And it was great to see friends and celebrate a beloved American holiday. I would write more about the weekend, but there'd be a lot of cover and anyway I've been sworn to secrecy on a few counts.

According to the Korean newspaper today, the U.S. military presence in the DMZ has officially ended. Even though 40 U.S. soldiers remain there, control of Outpost Ouellette has been handed over to South Korea, meaning that South Korea is taking complete responsibility for the patrol of the DMZ for the first time since 1953.

Tomorrow's a big day, world-changing in fact. Being sick has me a little emotionally unstable already. I mailed off my ballot weeks ago so now all there is to do is wait.

Reading: finished "Refuge" by Terry Tempest Williams, loaned to me by Rachel. Great book, really interesting. I'd recommend it to anyone. Now I've simultaneously started "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and "Reading Lolita in Tehran." I want to finish a couple books before I go to Seoul to celebrate Thanksgiving at the Ambassador's on the 21st, so I can give them back to other ETAs.