oh pencil case of the korean student, how truly magnificent you are. somehow, despite your multitude of colors and flowery designs, you mange to remain decidedly unisex; your functionality is admired by boys and girls alike. you manage to pull off the most improper english in such a way that i can not help but laugh. every time i read your faithful declarations of friendship and love i have to stifle a chuckle. "a piece of remember" and "friends makes happy" serve as exalted examples of your infinite wisdom.
regardless, i have never before seen a hypersexed pubescent male embrace an electric pink hue such as when a student dug a highlighter of such color from your depths this evening. and, speaking of your depths, what exactly do you hide in the dark interior of your printed fabric? i have permanently withdrawn my awe after seeing exacto-knives, large pepperoni pizzas, and full length mirrors emerge from your inconspicuously compact frame.
at any rate, pencil case of the korean student, i salute you. you at one time are the holder of multi-colored pens, the cheat-sheet of choice, and the secret source of power of my students. searching for some mystery object has saved millions of desperate pupils from having to answer with a complete sentence the dreaded open-ended question. because of this, you have also saved me from having to pretend that i could understand them and have allowed me more time in the spotlight, which i, of course, relish. furthermore, without you the papers i collect would be limited to the silver-gray of a #2 pencil rather than the day-glo works of art that glow in the dark and make me wonder how much radiation i contact each day. also, my students would never comprehend the wrath that is a teacher fully fed up with them pulling fake rose bouquets, trained lions, and fully packed clown cars from amongst erasers and white out. i dont quite know how you do it, but you keep their attention better than anything else i have ever seen. because i can not unlock your mystery i must pay homage. you have foiled me again, pencil case of the korean student, but rest assured that in the end i will conquer.
until we meet again (tomorrow, and every day thereafter),
a
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Thursday, October 11, 2007
me, on tv
if my life were a tv show, today, definitely today, would be the opening credits. the cool autumn breeze in my hair, theme song pumping in the background, finally, after weeks of searching, a good latte in my hand, and me feeling as though i could conquer the world. if my life were a tv show there would be no subtitles. i dont understand what is going on, why should anyone else? or, perhaps, the subtitles could be just as confused as i am. "did i just say 'i dont understand' or 'how much does that cost?'" the viewers wouldnt know either. but it doesnt matter, we are only on the opening credits. if my life were a tv show, the credits would include a gaggle of girls yelling hello to me and then screaming with glee when i asked them how they were in korean, like what happened today. if my life were a tv show it would be cancelled in a week. but today, opening credit day, good latte day, screaming korean girl day, i dont care one bit.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
finethanksandyou
i know, i know. ive been doing a terrible job keeping this up to date and filling you in on all of the important things that are going on in my life, and in korea. its funny, too, because its not like i dont have anything to tell you about. i think of things all the time, cool things, things that i would want to hear about if i were you. things like:
-its become autumn here suddenly, but what is interesting about this is that during the day it is still nice and warm. at night, however, it is about 20 degrees different. i wasnt expecting this; it happened so suddenly that one night i couldnt sleep for wishing i had turned on the ac and the next i was wishing i had closed the windows.
-konglish exists. it is the hybrid version of english and korean. in korean writing, there has to be enough vowels to pair up with consonants in syllables. it is also the reason that the pasta rio restaurant across from my window is pronounced pas-uh-ta rio. likewise, i got my first bank statement the other day and alexandra is written 알렉산드라 and pronounced al-leg-sun-de-ra. and the ls and rs are pretty similar sounding
-playing soccer with my coworkers is pretty much the highlight of my week. i look forward to it for days. we play at 11 pm and dont score on goals but rather by hitting one of two mannequin torsos. i love the excuse to play soccer and run around with my friends.
-the last 2 weeks were middle school breaks, where my second class, the middle school one, was canceled because the students had really intense exams at their daytime school. as a result i only worked 3 hours a day but got paid the same. we are back on our six hour/day schedule and i forgot how tired i could get. its been taking some getting used to.
-i am now in my seventh week of teaching. this, to me, is beyond belief. it feels like not so long ago i was still living in the sty that was 747 packard, complaining about the hotel guests and hanging out in the garden. now i live alone and the cleanliness status of my apartment is on me. i miss the mess sometimes, or rather, the people that made it.
-korean students have been brainwashed from an early age to provide a standard response to "how are you?" ask any of them and you will get "finethanksandyou". it's monotone and without any real concern for the answer so sometimes i wonder if they have ever even thought about what they are asking. theyre bright kids, really spot on, but so much of their education is memorization. i like that as a school, we dont do that as much as others.
anyway, thats life here i guess.
-its become autumn here suddenly, but what is interesting about this is that during the day it is still nice and warm. at night, however, it is about 20 degrees different. i wasnt expecting this; it happened so suddenly that one night i couldnt sleep for wishing i had turned on the ac and the next i was wishing i had closed the windows.
-konglish exists. it is the hybrid version of english and korean. in korean writing, there has to be enough vowels to pair up with consonants in syllables. it is also the reason that the pasta rio restaurant across from my window is pronounced pas-uh-ta rio. likewise, i got my first bank statement the other day and alexandra is written 알렉산드라 and pronounced al-leg-sun-de-ra. and the ls and rs are pretty similar sounding
-playing soccer with my coworkers is pretty much the highlight of my week. i look forward to it for days. we play at 11 pm and dont score on goals but rather by hitting one of two mannequin torsos. i love the excuse to play soccer and run around with my friends.
-the last 2 weeks were middle school breaks, where my second class, the middle school one, was canceled because the students had really intense exams at their daytime school. as a result i only worked 3 hours a day but got paid the same. we are back on our six hour/day schedule and i forgot how tired i could get. its been taking some getting used to.
-i am now in my seventh week of teaching. this, to me, is beyond belief. it feels like not so long ago i was still living in the sty that was 747 packard, complaining about the hotel guests and hanging out in the garden. now i live alone and the cleanliness status of my apartment is on me. i miss the mess sometimes, or rather, the people that made it.
-korean students have been brainwashed from an early age to provide a standard response to "how are you?" ask any of them and you will get "finethanksandyou". it's monotone and without any real concern for the answer so sometimes i wonder if they have ever even thought about what they are asking. theyre bright kids, really spot on, but so much of their education is memorization. i like that as a school, we dont do that as much as others.
anyway, thats life here i guess.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Monday, October 01, 2007
the upper hand
i am relcutant to admit it, but i had been a bit down on korea lately. perhaps it was the persistent rain that was supposed to stop in the beginning of august but hadnt; perhaps it was the lifecycle of an english teacher in korea, where friends are continually finishing their contracts and leaving the country, as one of mine did friday; perhaps it was the fact that i still have the korean whooping cough which, for the past 4 days, has rendered me entirely unable to speak. for whatever reason, korea and i had been duking it out in my mind for the past few days. the debate was not in a "will i make it here?" sort of way, that i will goes without saying. no, the grappling was more in a "how will i make it here?" manner, that is, how will i take the way of life here and adapt myself to fit into it.
i went on a couple of long runs in the past few days, despite the obvious handicap of the aforementioned bronchitis/pneumonia. these runs took me over to the river where it was possible to see the great variation of korean life. on the weekdays, the fields between the highways and the water are vast wastelands with patchy grass. on saturday, however, they were transformed into cultural hotbeds of activity. beneath one overpass sat 12 older women practicing korean music with bongos and gongs. moving forward, a man was testing out his parachute in the strong wind. cranes were everywhere, a feature i hadnt noticed before. and, once i crossed over the river to return on the other side, i got caught up in a strip of tot bumblebee soccer games. for some reason, the combination of all of these things made me feel as though i do have some connection to korea after all. i finished the run feeling as though korea had redeemed herself.
today, on a similar run, i was crossing a busy street via an underpass. as i began to descend the stairs, i was bombarded by people going the other direction. little people. 4 year old people. 45 of them. 45 little 4 year old people screaming hello. wearing gold lame' cowboy suits. well played, korea, well played.
i went on a couple of long runs in the past few days, despite the obvious handicap of the aforementioned bronchitis/pneumonia. these runs took me over to the river where it was possible to see the great variation of korean life. on the weekdays, the fields between the highways and the water are vast wastelands with patchy grass. on saturday, however, they were transformed into cultural hotbeds of activity. beneath one overpass sat 12 older women practicing korean music with bongos and gongs. moving forward, a man was testing out his parachute in the strong wind. cranes were everywhere, a feature i hadnt noticed before. and, once i crossed over the river to return on the other side, i got caught up in a strip of tot bumblebee soccer games. for some reason, the combination of all of these things made me feel as though i do have some connection to korea after all. i finished the run feeling as though korea had redeemed herself.
today, on a similar run, i was crossing a busy street via an underpass. as i began to descend the stairs, i was bombarded by people going the other direction. little people. 4 year old people. 45 of them. 45 little 4 year old people screaming hello. wearing gold lame' cowboy suits. well played, korea, well played.
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