Today at lunch I was sitting with a girl who has been nothing but sweetness to me since I've arrived- she doesn't really speak english so much, so we just smile a lot and she invites me to lunch, etc. And I asked her a question... there is nothing, nothing worse than watching someone, knowing they understood your question, trying to formulate a response. It is the most awkward, horrible embarassing silence ever. And that is why I want to learn Korean, I think. To end that. People are totally willing to communicate within their abilities, if I approach. But when their abilities are not sufficient, I don't want them to feel bad or awkward, it's me that doesn't speak THEIR language, the native tongue of this country. Thus, with the help of my Korean tutor, and the independent study I do, I will master this, or at least get to a point where I can communicate at least reasonably within a month. I have the time, I have the motivation, there's no reason why this won't happen...
hope springs eternal.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
revision to the last post
ok, I just read that last post, and I'm not editing it, but I do sound like a pouty sucky-baby. I should be endeavouring to communicate with everyone in this country (co-workers included!) in Korean. I'm in Korea after all. That's where the weird conflict comes in though... I've been told by my principal, co-teacher, etc. that I should be speaking only English at the school. They requested specifically a teacher who speaks no Korean, so that everyone's English must improve. Unfortunately I don't know that they took into account that people would just decide not to communicate at all. It's certainly not fair for me to expect people to communicate in a second language just to deal with me, when I barely speak a few words of their first langauge, the language of the country I happen to be working in. It's such a pickle of a situation, I think. I'd be interested to know what anyone else thinks on this one.
What would be fantastic, is if everyone who was in our teaching program had to go through language training when they landed in Korea, or a few months after arriving.
What would be fantastic, is if everyone who was in our teaching program had to go through language training when they landed in Korea, or a few months after arriving.
the terrific-ness that is my schedule for the next 2 months
Ok all you out there in Canadialand, get ready to have some fierce jealously.
My schedule for the next two months is as follows:
Teach for the rest of this week.
Teach two classes next week (Wednesday).
Time off from school until January 2nd.
Teach 3 45-minute periods a day every day for the next month - starting at 9am, finishing by noon. Small classes, too, with no co-teacher, so things will be a bit more relaxed I think.
Time off from school from February 2nd to the 8th or 15th or something.
Teach one full week of classes.
Two weeks vacation (less a day) - Jess arrives and we're off to China! (Beijing and Harbin)...
And then, well, nose back to the grindstone. New school year starts on March 2nd (yes, a Friday).
So, woooo! I plan to use all of my extra time during the next month to do lots of cycling (the weather here is still great for cycling, my only problem is the daylight disappears at 5:30!) And study Korean hardcore. Today I began my mastery of the present tense. I can now make random sentences!
(Really I can only make random sentences if they involve a subject and a verb -- or if they involve a subject, a verb and the preposition "to/in/at".)
But one small leap for Katrina's brain is one giant leap towards actually being able to communicate beyond pointing and naming an object. I hope to master the past and future tenses during the grand amount of free time I have spanning the month of January.
If my schedule is making you _too_ envious, then pause for a moment, because right now I'm up to my eyeballs in work, planning 24 "writing and grammar" lessons. WOOT!
Also of note, most Korean teachers are actually off from school from 28-Dec to sometime in Feb. Winter break.
Strange things encountered today: my most meaningful and longest conversation of the day so far was with two kids in grade three (elementary school). We spoke half in Korean and half in English and got along just fine. Which makes me wonder, if I can communicate with the young'uns like this, why do the teachers at my school rarely speak to me (in any language)? It's not that they're not friendly, they're always smiling and offering me treats and being really nice, but not so much with the conversation, chatting, or, well, speaking. (With the exception of my co-teacher and one other English teacher - yes, even the English department doesn't really speak to me -- unless they're one-on-one and there's no one else around).
Someone asked me if I'm trying to learn Korean so I can communicate better with my co-workers and the answer to that is simply "no". I've been told that I should speak English at school (with few exceptions) and I see no reason why, when I know so much less Korean than (mostly) they know English, I should be putting myself out there to be laughed at for wrong word errors, grammatical flubs and whatever else. And then there's the potential of insulting someone - because Korean's based heavily on "honourifics" -- you conjugate verbs differently if you're talking to kids, equals or superiors... there's also an age thing, and that I'm a waygook (foreigner) makes it all tricky too... I'm learning it so that I can communicate here in general. Meet people, talk to them, a respect thing and also a making-life-easier thing. Am I sounding a bit bitter? I think perhaps. It amazes me how many people miss the idea that language is all about communication and between two interested parties, it doesn't need to be anything else... not an academic exercise, nor a grounds for any kind of judgement.
Ok, I'm off my soapbox now. If you were all here I'd give you hershey's kisses for listening to me. (That's the Christmas treat for the kids in this week's class - candy canes proved impossible to find at Costco in Daegu...)
My schedule for the next two months is as follows:
Teach for the rest of this week.
Teach two classes next week (Wednesday).
Time off from school until January 2nd.
Teach 3 45-minute periods a day every day for the next month - starting at 9am, finishing by noon. Small classes, too, with no co-teacher, so things will be a bit more relaxed I think.
Time off from school from February 2nd to the 8th or 15th or something.
Teach one full week of classes.
Two weeks vacation (less a day) - Jess arrives and we're off to China! (Beijing and Harbin)...
And then, well, nose back to the grindstone. New school year starts on March 2nd (yes, a Friday).
So, woooo! I plan to use all of my extra time during the next month to do lots of cycling (the weather here is still great for cycling, my only problem is the daylight disappears at 5:30!) And study Korean hardcore. Today I began my mastery of the present tense. I can now make random sentences!
(Really I can only make random sentences if they involve a subject and a verb -- or if they involve a subject, a verb and the preposition "to/in/at".)
But one small leap for Katrina's brain is one giant leap towards actually being able to communicate beyond pointing and naming an object. I hope to master the past and future tenses during the grand amount of free time I have spanning the month of January.
If my schedule is making you _too_ envious, then pause for a moment, because right now I'm up to my eyeballs in work, planning 24 "writing and grammar" lessons. WOOT!
Also of note, most Korean teachers are actually off from school from 28-Dec to sometime in Feb. Winter break.
Strange things encountered today: my most meaningful and longest conversation of the day so far was with two kids in grade three (elementary school). We spoke half in Korean and half in English and got along just fine. Which makes me wonder, if I can communicate with the young'uns like this, why do the teachers at my school rarely speak to me (in any language)? It's not that they're not friendly, they're always smiling and offering me treats and being really nice, but not so much with the conversation, chatting, or, well, speaking. (With the exception of my co-teacher and one other English teacher - yes, even the English department doesn't really speak to me -- unless they're one-on-one and there's no one else around).
Someone asked me if I'm trying to learn Korean so I can communicate better with my co-workers and the answer to that is simply "no". I've been told that I should speak English at school (with few exceptions) and I see no reason why, when I know so much less Korean than (mostly) they know English, I should be putting myself out there to be laughed at for wrong word errors, grammatical flubs and whatever else. And then there's the potential of insulting someone - because Korean's based heavily on "honourifics" -- you conjugate verbs differently if you're talking to kids, equals or superiors... there's also an age thing, and that I'm a waygook (foreigner) makes it all tricky too... I'm learning it so that I can communicate here in general. Meet people, talk to them, a respect thing and also a making-life-easier thing. Am I sounding a bit bitter? I think perhaps. It amazes me how many people miss the idea that language is all about communication and between two interested parties, it doesn't need to be anything else... not an academic exercise, nor a grounds for any kind of judgement.
Ok, I'm off my soapbox now. If you were all here I'd give you hershey's kisses for listening to me. (That's the Christmas treat for the kids in this week's class - candy canes proved impossible to find at Costco in Daegu...)
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
green beans and jingle bells
Ok, so today (Monday) I have taught 5 lessons on the Holiday Season (and Christmas) in Canada. I am a bit sick of Christmas. Thank god it doesn't feel at all like Christmas here. Well, it feels a bit like November in Canada... a few decorations, a few Christmas carols, no snow and nippy weather.
That's the "jingle bells" part of this post.
Now for the "green beans" part. So, I have no idea how word travels so quickly at my school but one of my OTHER teachers asked me about the significant quantities of green beans that Rachel and I came back to Ulsan with. Yes, it was a backpack full, but we went to Costco. We're lucky they weren't selling them in 24-packs! And why on earth are my vegetable preferences making it through the grapevine anyways!
Oh well. At least it's not something bad. I mean, I just appear strange, but not psychotic or anything, right?
Also, this week, hershey's kisses instead of stickers for my kids. You should see them move their butts to get stuff done. Wow. Yay chocolate!!
That's the "jingle bells" part of this post.
Now for the "green beans" part. So, I have no idea how word travels so quickly at my school but one of my OTHER teachers asked me about the significant quantities of green beans that Rachel and I came back to Ulsan with. Yes, it was a backpack full, but we went to Costco. We're lucky they weren't selling them in 24-packs! And why on earth are my vegetable preferences making it through the grapevine anyways!
Oh well. At least it's not something bad. I mean, I just appear strange, but not psychotic or anything, right?
Also, this week, hershey's kisses instead of stickers for my kids. You should see them move their butts to get stuff done. Wow. Yay chocolate!!
Saturday, December 16, 2006
the first of many updates to come...
Sorry it's been so long since I've updated this blog. I've been having problems with beta.blogger - it's been crashing things...
Today I went to Daegu with the sole purpose of going to Costco. One of the teachers that I teach with in my middle school, he was kind enough to drive us to Daegu, it's his hometown and he was going there for a wedding on Sunday. I'm pretty sure that he thought we were crazy.
I know it sounds strange that we'd travel to a city an hour and a half away just to go to Costco, and turn around to come straight back, but they have oodles of western stuff - I am now the proud owner of 8 cans of green beans, about 2 kilos of hard cheddar (real cheese!), some salami, 32 oats and honey granola bars, about a kilo o'salsa. And a few other things. When my co-worker was looking through our purchases, he didn't recognize the green beans, salsa etc. etc. so you can see, our trip to Daegu was clearly to obtain elusive western items.
The fun part, as always, was the journey. Car ride was quite fun... my coworker was so kind (and such a gentleman!)
So Rachel and I, we thouroughly enjoyed our Costco shopping (should we buy a 2 year supply of ketchup? no, we can get that in Ulsan... I think people at Costco also must've thought we were nuts, the way we were laughing and exclaiming at things!) Totally unexpectedly, my coworker called (!) and asked if we were done, could he pick us up... and we said, "Sure, we'll take you for dinner! To thank you for driving us to Daegu and to Costco (nowhere near where you're actually heading!)
So my coworker comes to pick us up at Costco (did I mention how awesome he is -- came in and met us at the cash!). Checked out our groceries (green beans? what are those? and why did you buy big jugs of tomato sauce? no not tomato sauce, salsa! and green beans are, well, beans that are green?). And drove us to his 'hood, Dongdaegu (east Daegu). Where we went to an AMERICAN chinese restaurant. You don't understand, sometimes it seems that they only have two types of food in Korea, Korean food and Korean-style foreign food. Which is Korean food, essentially, with foreign names, but Korean ingredients. So, WOOOOOOO! American Chinese food! We totally dug the sweet and sour chicken!
And then, we got into an arguement about the bill. Rachel and I pulled out all the Korean cultural stuff we could (ie. I'm oldest, I should pay... and We invited you out, we should pay...) but it did not work. My coworker thus ended up paying for the dinner that we took him out for, to thank him! Clearly we're going to have to kidnap him and take him for lobster (or as people commonly refer to it here, "robster") or tuna or something...
Dongdaegu is beautiful, the streets are treelined and the city is so lively! I'm not sure how else to describe it but the feeling was just completely different from Ulsan. I am looking forward to going back, but alas, our trip was done, and to the bus station we went. My coworker saw us off (waving at the bus, literally!) and thus almost ends my fantastic day. It actually ended at the WA bar, where I had a few pints with Thomas and a Korean, Ellie, who speaks amazing English. And second high point of the day (first being the awesome trip to Daegu!) was that Ellie has agreed to be my Korean tutor! I will speak this language if it kills me, and she's totally willing to help :-)
So, that's today. After reading that epic, aren't you glad that I don't write every day?
Today I went to Daegu with the sole purpose of going to Costco. One of the teachers that I teach with in my middle school, he was kind enough to drive us to Daegu, it's his hometown and he was going there for a wedding on Sunday. I'm pretty sure that he thought we were crazy.
I know it sounds strange that we'd travel to a city an hour and a half away just to go to Costco, and turn around to come straight back, but they have oodles of western stuff - I am now the proud owner of 8 cans of green beans, about 2 kilos of hard cheddar (real cheese!), some salami, 32 oats and honey granola bars, about a kilo o'salsa. And a few other things. When my co-worker was looking through our purchases, he didn't recognize the green beans, salsa etc. etc. so you can see, our trip to Daegu was clearly to obtain elusive western items.
The fun part, as always, was the journey. Car ride was quite fun... my coworker was so kind (and such a gentleman!)
So Rachel and I, we thouroughly enjoyed our Costco shopping (should we buy a 2 year supply of ketchup? no, we can get that in Ulsan... I think people at Costco also must've thought we were nuts, the way we were laughing and exclaiming at things!) Totally unexpectedly, my coworker called (!) and asked if we were done, could he pick us up... and we said, "Sure, we'll take you for dinner! To thank you for driving us to Daegu and to Costco (nowhere near where you're actually heading!)
So my coworker comes to pick us up at Costco (did I mention how awesome he is -- came in and met us at the cash!). Checked out our groceries (green beans? what are those? and why did you buy big jugs of tomato sauce? no not tomato sauce, salsa! and green beans are, well, beans that are green?). And drove us to his 'hood, Dongdaegu (east Daegu). Where we went to an AMERICAN chinese restaurant. You don't understand, sometimes it seems that they only have two types of food in Korea, Korean food and Korean-style foreign food. Which is Korean food, essentially, with foreign names, but Korean ingredients. So, WOOOOOOO! American Chinese food! We totally dug the sweet and sour chicken!
And then, we got into an arguement about the bill. Rachel and I pulled out all the Korean cultural stuff we could (ie. I'm oldest, I should pay... and We invited you out, we should pay...) but it did not work. My coworker thus ended up paying for the dinner that we took him out for, to thank him! Clearly we're going to have to kidnap him and take him for lobster (or as people commonly refer to it here, "robster") or tuna or something...
Dongdaegu is beautiful, the streets are treelined and the city is so lively! I'm not sure how else to describe it but the feeling was just completely different from Ulsan. I am looking forward to going back, but alas, our trip was done, and to the bus station we went. My coworker saw us off (waving at the bus, literally!) and thus almost ends my fantastic day. It actually ended at the WA bar, where I had a few pints with Thomas and a Korean, Ellie, who speaks amazing English. And second high point of the day (first being the awesome trip to Daegu!) was that Ellie has agreed to be my Korean tutor! I will speak this language if it kills me, and she's totally willing to help :-)
So, that's today. After reading that epic, aren't you glad that I don't write every day?
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