In search of 'Seoul'

I finally made the trek to the nations capital; Seoul.

Waking at 4:30 am I hurried around the apartment making sure that everything was in order for my departure. Rising while the sun sleeps is never fun or easy but in this case it was necessary. I was out the door a little after 5 am, bag in hand, braving the oncoming winter's early morning chill. More than once I wondered why I was up so early on a Saturday morn, as I waited alone in a dark and windy parking lot for my friends to arrive.

Together at last we crammed our burdened bodies into the taxis and sped off to the bus terminal in hopes of leaving Suncheon at 6 am. Luck is a harsh mistress and on this chill morning was not on our side. We consoled ourselves with the knowledge that the next bus would leave at 6:20 am. So we huddled together and warmed ourselves with visions of Seoul and the hope of lofty plans.

Soon after leaving Suncheon the rain came. It lashed the bus in unceasing torrents, while we sat and dozed in our reclining seats. The fear of such rain greeting us in Seoul, cast a pall over the hearts of many. There was nothing to do but sit, wait and hope.

Five hours into our journey we arrived in Seoul. We stepped off the bus into a parking lot drenched in the rays of glorious sun. Now was the time for the parting of company, our journies briefly diverging. Down into the depths I walked, alone with my thoughts, the rumble of the distant beast growing ever louder.

Emerging from the beast's lair, the sun greeted me warmly, welcoming me back once again to the land of sun and wind. The streets were crowded with vendors, shoppers, and gawkers; each pursuing their own agendas. I ventured forth into the chilling wind, to find my own fortune.

Up and down the wind blown street I walked, waiting for the call that would signal my companion's arrival and with it a welcome respite from the cold and a warm meal. We supped on Mexican and went over our plans once again. On such a journey, one can't have too many plans.

The end of the meal brought, once again, an end to our fellowship as we split and followed the compass as we chose. My journey though lie before me in the endless shops and back alleys that would spill forth their treasure for those with purse enough. 

The beginning of my quest complete, the fellowship was once again rejoined in time for a hearty meal of fine Indian cuisine, where tales were shared and plans reformed. Then we were off, to once again ride the beast that would take us to the night's entertainment; Alegria.

The majestic characters soared above us, while others enchanted us with their songs, feats of skill, strength and agility. There were some still who could make two one or appear headless if they chose. Shy were these performers though, for if a camera were to appear others would rush to their aid to ensure that their picture could not be taken.

The night's entertainment delightfully witnessed, we retired to a friendly establishment to end the night amongst friends, cheap ale and the company of two friendly women who welcomed us to their table and spoke of life in Seoul till the early morning hours.

The fellowship, earlier splintered assunder by the weight of darkness, was once again rejoined in the light of day when wonderful markets opened themselves to our curious eye and minds. But alas all good things must too end and so began the end of our journey. Once again we rode the beast that would take us to our means home. 

Finally, at 7 pm on a dark Sunday evening we arrived home, travel weary and burdened with newly purchased treasures. Treasures to once again be marveled at by the warmth of the home hearth.

***

Sorry, I just finished reading The Hobbit and couldn't resist the urge to craft something of an adventure tale myself. Of course mine doesn't feature goblins, bears, giant spiders, eagles, wolves, dwarves, elves, hobbits, wizards, necromancers or dragons.

Sweet Korea High

I recently was given the task of providing five of my grade six classes with an oral exam. It wasn't much of a surprise as grade six students do a lot of testing to see what Middle School they will get to attend. At first I was a little worried about what it was that I should be testing them on, but eventually my co-teacher informed me that the students needed to be able to handle tenses; past and future tense. I thought, no problem. Then I was told that I would have one period per class to do the testing. Let see, that's an average of 36 students per 40 minute class. Surprisingly I had to fight to get an additional class period in which to do the testing, giving me two minutes per student.

Yeah, you can kind of figure out already how well all of this is going to go.

So testing day came and I had prepared a whopping three question quiz to give each student. I was already depressed by the level of importance that English education was being given. Of course I managed to leave the first round of testing more depressed than when I started.

It came as no shock that those students whose parents pay for them to attend an English academy after school did the best. Of course this is a poor school in a poor neighborhood so the number of students wasn't that high. In fact I think the number of students who did quite well on the test was equal to the number of students who didn't utter a single word.

I came out of this first half of testing really wondering what I was doing. Unfortunately, it is very easy to get apathetic about the job and simply coast on through. Most of the students are uninterested in what your teaching, and too many don't have the necessary language skills by grade six to make grade six lessons appropriate. For the most part the Korean teachers have little to do with what is going on. In one school I stand alone in front of the students and struggle to get meaning across while at the other I have two co-teachers who offer limited translation if I specifically ask them for it. It is obvious that far too many simply don't understand what is happening when after four years of English instruction, they still don't understand the difference between 'how are you?' and 'what day is it?'

My unfortunate first reaction was further apathy. It's hopeless to really get them to understand so why fight for it. That lasted about two hours. Then I was left to wonder 'what can I do to change this?' Now when I say 'change this' I don't mean change the entire Korean educational metntality towards English, but rather what can I change about what I do to try and make my English classes more beneficial for the students.

There is definitely some room for thought and experimentation here and perhaps I should feel somewhat sorry for my current students who are going to be used as test subjects for any new ideas or methods that I come up with.

***

The Korean school system is definitely different than the Canadian one. I was talking with my co-teacher yesterday about the testing that our grade six students were going to have to take next week. I was asking if she thought any students might fail. She was puzzled for a moment and then explained to me that the testing has no bearing on whether or not a student would pass or fail as no students fail in Korea (at least at the elementary level). Rather the end of year testing determines which tier of Middle School they will get to attend. 

Unlike back home, where a student attends a school based on proximal geography, here in Korea that only happens with elementary school. In grade six students are tested and placed in an appropriate Middle School. In year three of Middle School the students are tested again to determine what High School they can attend. After three years of High School, they are given the University entrance exams (much like SATs from what I can tell) which will determine what Universities they can attend.

So it doesn't take one long to see that much a person's future success can be determined by their Middle School placement tests taken when they are 10 or 11 years old. 

This is serious stuff. This is the high suicide season in Korea where numerous students kill themselves over poor academic performance. A poor test score not only affects the school they can attend but potentially the career they can achieve. It also brings shame upon the family's honor and such a shame needs to be expiated. 

***

I thought I'd mention another conversation that I had with my co-teacher. She asked me what would a mother in Canada say to their child if the child refused to obey. She explained that the Korean method of guilt was to threaten the child with the absence of their mother. That the mother would leave the recalcitrant child. 

I explained that in Canada it was the other way around. Rather than having the mother leave because of the actions of the child, we would tell the child to leave. The oft-used "if you think you can do it better than go" routine. This of course shocked her to no end. I tried to explain the logic that why should the mother suffer exposure when it is the child that is misbehaving. Rather the child should bear the burden of the consequence. 

She wasn't buying it.

In from the cold

Having been in Korea now for three months there is one thing that I have come to understand; Koreans are cold people. Not 'cold' as in hard hearted or malicious, but rather 'cold' in that they are always complaining about how cold it is. Meanwhile foreigners are still wandering around in t-shirts or occasionaly shorts. The thing I don't understand is why, if you are constantly complaining about how cold it is, do you insist on opening all the windows in the school?

For instance, this morning it was pretty nippy, hovering around 2 degrees celcius. The teacher who is kind enough to give me a ride to work two days a week begins our morning conversation with "it is cold today," and blows on his hands to warm them. Is he wearing a coat? No. Does he have the heat on in the car? No. But he still complains that it is cold.

When I get to school, like any other day, the windows are flung wide as teachers and students alike huddle inside winter coats or with a friend under a blanket. I've seen some wrather interesting wraps that students have brought in in order to keep them warm while at school. 

I've been doing some looking around prior to this, but today I made a point of looking for a heating system throughout the school. I can't find one. They rolled in portable heaters today for the cafeteria. Can you guess where most people congregated?

So I get that they find it cold out. I mean its only 2 degrees (I wish I had packed my toque). But why then, would you do virtually everything in your power to make sure that you remain as cold as possible? Just so that you can constantly complain that it's cold? I'm beginning to think so.

***

In a previous post I commented on the apparent sexualization of young girls here in Korea, as evidenced by their outfits during the school festival. Well, I'm obviously not the first nor will I be the last foreigner to comment on such things as is evidenced by this other bloggers post. 

But I was hoping that against all odds, that it was only apparent sexualization and that it only appeared that way because of my tainted western view point. I'm not so sure. I was discussing the occurances with another foreigner and we are now wondering if it's not so much that they aren't sexualizing children, but that they don't see anything wrong with sexualizing children. That of course is a little scarier. 

I mean, I know we do it back home. All one has to do is take a look at Brittney Spears when she first came out through a number of other examples up the latest one (perhaps) in Miley Cyrus. But back home there seems to be this duality about the whole thing. We do it on one hand and decry it on the other. Hypocritical to be sure, but there is a glimmer there that we are doing something wrong. I have yet to encounter this glimmer here in Korea. I'm hoping that that is only because I haven't been here long enough.

Of course the comments of people who have been here much longer than I, don't give me much comfort. Nor does the survey data that shows one third of teen girls in Busan have been propositioned concerning prostitution, while five percent admitted to being part of the sex trade and another 10 percent were intrigued by it. 

The ministry questioned 2,012 female students in the southeastern port city and found 33.4 percent, or 672, answered they received prostitution offers. 

Among the female students who received the offers, only 35 percent said they ignored them. Nearly 20 percent said they were actually engaged in the sex trade, while the rest said they were ``intrigued'' by the offers. 

Festi-valle!

This past Friday was "Festival Day" at Seongnahm Elementary School, here in Suncheon, South Korea. The following is my impressions, photos and video of the event.

First the impressions.

As with any school pageant of this nature, the kids are always cute. It's also a great way to see your students in a new light. Especially for me, who only gets to see them for one class a week. It was great to see some of the kids that seemingly have no interest in school (from my limited perspective) up on stage performing.

The thing I found a bit shocking were the outfits and nature of some of the performances. From seeing a group of grade one girls wearing short skirt and halter top chearleader outfits while dancing to 'Mickey' or watching a group of grade six girls dressed up as hookers and dancing erotically on stage to the Wonder Girls (much to the delight of the grade 6 boys).

I felt rather awkward at times filming them, but I had agreed to take photos and film the performances for my co-teacher. I kept looking around at the other teachers to see if they had a problem with what was happening and they didn't. Niether did the parents who witnessed the performances.

I guess it speaks to the level of sexualization in their culture, especially of young girls. If such performances were to happen in Canada people would be up in arms.

Here are some photos of the event:

The grade 1 girls dancing to Mickey
One of my grade 5 classes waiting for their chance to perform
The grade 5's in action
Some of the kindergarten kids
A grade 1 class awaiting their chance
The grade 1's having fun
One of my co-teachers with her troupe of singers
Here they are singing
The aforementioned grade 6 girls
Some of my grade 6 boys dressed in school uniforms from 20 years ago
Grade 3 girls dancing up a storm
A very diligent triangle player
A collection of black belts
Some grade 5 girls doing a fan dance
A grade 1 class
A grade 2 class
Another grade 2 class
A grade 4 class doing a traditional dance

Here's a video of the proceedings: