Teaching in all its Glory

Well, my first week officially teaching has come and gone... and it was certainly interesting.  The curriculum that I am to teach is entirely derived from the TOEFL, and when I say entirely derived, I mean ENTIRELY.  Though there is to a certain degree flexibility in how I teach the material, there isn't in the material itself.  This translates to me covering the most boring, absurd, and inappropriate material you can imagine to middle and high school students.  What, you may ask do I mean by boring, absurd, and inappropriate? Last week, I had to give a group of 11-12 year olds a reading on the concept of paradigm shifts, and then proceed to read a lecture on it.  Or there was the class of 11 year olds who had to read about, and then regurgitate to me the Ancient Greek Emission Theory of Light and then compare it to the Modern Wave Theory of Light.

For the high schoolers in my actual TOEFL classes, the material is equally dense and uninteresting.  The way the TOEFL class works, is that students come in, take a practice TOEFL test on the computer, and then once taken, my co-worker Rick and I go over the test material with them.  It's broken into sections, and I go over the 6 speaking questions with them.  Last week, my favorite question involved them listening to a short lecture on a brief history of rocket science, and then identifying three pioneers in the field and summarizing their contributions.  Though much of the language in the lecture was not necessarily beyond their comprehension, much of the material was.  Hell, some of it was beyond my comprehension. I don't know how to elaborate on velocity in a vacuum or the fundamental equations of rocket propellants (or something like that...I have no idea what it was). In a nut shell, my job is to teach them to pick up key words and phrases, that allow them to regurgitate material that they neither comprehend nor have an interest in.  Talk about teaching to the test.  That is what I do.  I feel I can say with certainty that were all native English speakers forced to take the TOEFL, a good number of them would certainly not do favorably.  (We also learned about the Roswell Incident... what is that you may ask?  Well, I could tell you all about it since I lectured on it last week, but if you really care just google it and read all about flying saucers in 1947.)  On the plus side, I think I will leave this experience being a bona-fide encyclopedia of completely random information. (everything from Borax and cedar oil as a means of ridding your house of fleas, to the lost colonists of Roanoke).  Here come my year-long American history class full of everything that I never learned in high school, and where I'm the teacher.

The seeming absurdity of the material aside, the people that I work for at SLI- Seoul Language Institute, are lovely.  I feel I have a solid support system, and I enjoy chatting with the people I work for and with.  One thing that I think is telling of the company is that everyone teaches.  My boss- the guy in charge of the entire branch- is in the classroom teaching, as is everyone else that does administrative work. I really appreciate the sense of connectedness and equality that this engenders.  Also for the most part, the students are hilarious.  The English names they give themselves highlight this- I have 2 Mia's (one is a boy) and a Mi-mi (also a boy), I have a Captain America, Darth Vader, Haha, and Egg (his head is a bit egg shaped..) to name a few.  Though they are admittedly sometimes quite obnoxious.

Case in Point:  Last night I had the unfortunate pleasure of learning about a game that young kids love to play...it literally translates to "poop stick."  It involves sneaking up behind someone and putting your index fingers exactly where you imagine you would from the not so clever title of the game.   Needless to say, as appalled as I was, I couldn't quite contain my laughter.  Though it was with a strong warning that I would physically hurt anyone who tried that on me and I would not apologize. And I'd probably would fail them too for good measure.

Anyway, I'm off to go read about mucus and its function and composition (antiseptic enzymes and proteins you know) for one of my classes tonight- at least this one if for 15 years olds.

Seorak-San National Park

Maddie and I went to Seorak-San on Monday and Tuesday as we didn't have school (still not sure why) and it was absolutely fantastic. Seorak-San (Snow-Peak Mountain) is Korea's second largest land based National Park and a UNESCO world biosphere reserve.  It's considered by many to be the most striking mountainous area in the country- which says quite a lot as about seventy percent of the country is mountains.  It was breathtakingly beautiful, with views all the way to the East Sea (Most Americans know this body of water as the Sea of Japan, but refer to it as such here and you'll get an earful about how it's more Korean than Japanese and a terrible misnomer) tumbling waterfalls, and unbelievable rocky cliffs and snaking valleys.

Hiking is more or less a national past time in Korea, and on weekends the subways are full of people in hiking gear getting out of the city.  It tends to draw people that are older, and they all look great doing it.  There is very much a set Korean "hiking attire" which includes not only lightweight dark pants and a lightweight neon hiking jacket, but walking sticks and fancy mini-backpacks to boot. Oh and headgear.   You should see the headgear.  Picture everything from massive sun visors for the ladies to hiking fedora's for the men.  (I really want a hiking fedora... breaking the gender norms!) Needless to say, though subways are already notorious for good people watching, on weekends they are particularly great.

One of the things that I most appreciated seeing on this trip was that literally everyone, of all ages, gets out.  Not only did we come across a number of young kids on school trips visiting the park, but there were even more older people.   People who in America would likely never be capable, much less wanting, to do some pretty serious, and at times grueling, hiking.  Though the park is definitely a tourist (Korean and non) attraction and accommodating as such, (ie. there is a cable car that you can take almost to the top of one of the peaks before climbing the remainder of the way) it's not a park that you can drive into, snap a couple of pictures, and be on your merry way.  Actually, I don't think you can even drive into the majority of the park.  There is a big parking lot at the outer edge that I think you have to use.  The park is seen by foot.  If you want to see it, you have to hike it. And the thing is, everyone from babies to women I would put in their 70s was there appreciating it.

Seorak-San is also dotted with Buddhist temples, one of which, Shinhueng-Sa, is the third district headquarters of the Jogye Buddhist Sect.  It's really quite amazing to come upon these unbelievable temples and monks way up in the cliff faces and crags of mountains. It's such a beautiful experience, and I think it intuitively makes sense that places of worship should be in the midst of natural beauty.  I have found my Divine Being more in the natural world than I have in any religious institution.  The world we live in is the most inspiring thing humanity has, and it is I think easy to forget that.  Or for many perhaps ever fully realize that. 

The most invigorating part of our trip was the hike to the top of Ulsan Bawi- a rocky outcrop in the Mountains formed by a volcanic intrusion- that sits about 900 meters above sea level.  There are over 800 stairs throughout the climb, as a series of metal stairways and ladders have been erected to make it possible without ropes.  It's pretty intense.  While I don't have a hear of heights, I do have a fear of ladders.  Irrational? Perhaps, but real none the less.  I more or less ditched Maddie towards the end of the hike when it was essentially metal stairs in the sky because I couldn't handle stopping to take a break.  I just had to concentrate on getting off the stairs and ladders and onto the peak. And on breathing regularly too.  As a result of my irrational or not fear, I have to say I think I climbed the last part quite impressively time wise.  I was treking by people left and right.  

Overall, it was a fantastic trip, and I left it with a new goal- find a middle-aged Korean hiking buddy.  Maddie suggested I simply pick one at random on the subway and employ stalker-like tactics, but I've opted for joining Seoul Hiking Group instead.  Though being a subway stalker would probably make for a better blog post.  Pictures to come.

First you're 23, then you turn 24, but the whole time you've actually been 25! Welcome to Korea: where age has never seemed more arbitrary.

My 24th year has officially arrived, and I must say I'd consider it arrived in style. (Though in Korea I'm considered to be 25... and have been since the 1st of January)  The Saturday night before my birthday I met a number of foreigners at a party in a park before heading into Seoul to go out for dinner and drinks with Kyu-po.  My request was that we go somewhere I would never be able to navigate on my own (given I speak absolutely no Korean... and the only word I've picked up so far is "please", which Kyu-po informed me isn't really please, but more like "give me that", it wasn't to hard of a request to fill.) Oh, and I know the word for "5" too.  And I almost have hello.  But that really is the extent of my Korean vocabulary at this point.  Anyway, we went to a funky underground restaurant that served traditional Korean food, and was delicious.  Kyu-po ordered as the menu was entirely in Korean and I didn't particularly care what we ate, and we ended up with tofu with Kimchi (fermented veggies with spices...it's a staple here, but the kimchi at this place was the best I've had so far), mussels in some sort of white garlic sauce, and an as yet-to-be-determined-in-English chicken organ sauteed with veggies and a garlic dipping sauce.  Everything was delicious.  And made all the better by rice wine and Soju (a Korean alcohol that doesn't taste like anything...it's so easy to embrace! Though I suppose that's all the more reason to be slightly wary of it...)  Though my actual birthday was pretty low key- it was spent recovering and preparing for my own 24th birthday present to myself- a trip to Seorak-San National Park.