Korea Life Blog - A blog about living and teaching English in Korea

Korea Life Blog

3/26/2005

KLB - Waiting

It's early Saturday afternoon. I went to the health club already. I managed to get two muscle groups in: shoulders and triceps. I'm so happy about getting back in shape finally. It's the perfect time of year to do it.

Actually I have a paranoia about becoming too skinny again, as I was skin and bones until about 3 years ago when suddenly I put on a load of weight at a health club in Ulsan. Smartest thing I ever did was join a gym and drink protein shakes. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time to when I was in college and force my ass to hit the weights. I probably would have felt much better about myself. Maybe dated some Playboy models.

So, I was relieved when I weighed in recently at exactly 80 Kgs, about 175 pounds, which is a pretty good weight for my height, 180 cms, or 6 feet. My goal is to tone up that weight for the summer. I bought more protein mix too and am trying to cut out fatty foods, something that is pretty easy here since I mostly eat Korean food.

While I was at the health club, Julie went to the hair shop. She's been getting free treatments for the past week after they blotched up her perm and left her with dead, dry hair (she cried about this for 2 hours and didn't talk to me for a day because it was all my fault. I'm still not exactly sure why it was my fault, but eventually I accepted the blame and now we're happy again).

At this moment, we're waiting around for James to finish soccer and John to finish shopping with his Chinese female friend from Hawaii. The lot of us are going to meet up for a nice Korean dinner, probably kalbi, in Hongdae, then possibly go dancing later - but maybe not. James is on call for work and can't drink and John's friend is flying out tomorrow. Still, should have a good time. James will likely have his camera along, so you can check out his site for an update after the weekend.

In the meantime, if you haven't already - be sure to check out this month's Seoul Magazine:

That's me on the left, in case you're wondering. We we're supposed to make it look like a warm spring day, but I think we failed. James' hat is kind of a giveaway. I should have worn one too. It was blustery cold and very windy. We were freezing without our jackets on, and we were outside for several hours. By the way, that's my new computer there. They asked us to bring our laptops as a prop.

written by shawn matthews -|link

KLB - VIPs

Dinner turned out to be pretty fun. Julia's mother, let's call her Sally, insisted everyone get steak and the salad bar. The steak was the size of a hockey-puck, but good. The salad bar, on the other hand, was incredible - huge variety.

There was no mention of a private lesson. She simply wanted to tell me that she is amazed by how fast Julia is progressing. She realized it one day when Julia started reading a children's English story book out loud in a store. Then she noticed Julia's English diary (which I assigned) and, of course, she can read that too. She couldn't read anything before my class even though she studied English for the past three years. (This is why I think it's so important to teach phonics and why I do so even though it's not part of the program). So, the dinner was to thank me for doing a good job.

Before this, Cathy had spoiled the dinner a bit by telling me (once again) that she's still only sleeping a few hours every night because she has to do so much work for our class - which is the real reason she is quitting, she confessed. She's utterly exhausted.

Further to my chagrin, Bonnie told her yesterday that she is unhappy with our class again, which is bizarre since she just told me everything is fine. I don't know what the hell to believe. According to Bonnie, the school thinks our program is of poor quality - the asshole vice principal has complained about a bunch of little things again. He actually pointed out that I made a cross-out mark on one of my lesson plans instead of using white-out (which we don't have) or re-writing the whole page. What a dick.

The administration at this school is just amazing - they've never made us feel welcome, never say anything nice, can't make up their minds if we can use the copy/coffee machines, never even attempt to communicate with me with any friendly gesture whatsoever - and then complains about such meanlingless trivialities. Come on - as if they even read my lesson plans in English when Cathy types up a highly detailed Korean version for them.

Then, can you believe this, Bonnie pointed out the program before us had 70 students in three classes, but we only have 60 in four and she wants to know what we're doing wrong, Cathy and I. In other words, she's really not happy that we just got 20 new students. That's not enough. And of course the "problem" is not because of her awful planning for the past 3 months. It's all my fault. I think she doesn't want a part-time teacher, she wants a full-time master magician.

"Um, the program before ours failed," I pointed out. This is because the students didn't learn anything (which is completely obvious - my students knew nothing 6 months ago and I thought they must have never studied English before). Anyway, I just shrugged this off at the table, but now it's making me mad. So much conflicting information, so much BS. All I see is that I'm teaching kids English, the students are having fun and learning quickly and the parents are happy. Why does everyone else involved have to make it so miserable and complicated?

Even though I genuinely enjoy teaching these kids, put a lot of effort into making it fun for them, and have felt proud seeing the results, it's getting harder to rebound from such comments and harder not to take them personally. What's the point in trying so hard every day? I may as well revert to passing out word-search puzzles and twiddling my thumbs. Then they can really have something to complain about. I love these kids but that's becoming less and less motivation to stay.

written by shawn matthews -|link

3/25/2005

KLB - A Fight and Some Good News

I lashed out at Cathy again today, the worst argument yet. I won't go into great detail but basically it culminated with me yelling things like, "Don't interrupt my class, don't try to teach my class, and never tell me what to do ever again! Just sit down while I'm teaching and do your paperwork and don't bother me!" Then, later: "Listen, this is a part time job. You don't have to take it so damn seriously. You don't have to work 10 hours a day. Use the class time to get your work done and then go home and relax for once. I'm tired of hearing that you sleep three hours at night. You don't need to be constantly worrying about every little thing. Come to work, do your work, go home and forget work until the next day, OK?"

I felt bad, but these things needed to be said. I let it go on too long. It actually paid off. She sat there the rest of the day quiet as a mouse. It was nice not seeing her roaming around, focused on me, interrupting to tell me I have to do something, that I should call on so and so, suggesting I spend less time on something and more on another, reminding me when to start class, when to finish, etc. I am completely confident in my teaching ability right now and I have total control of these kids and I know what I'm doing. All I wish she would do is make materials and do the Korean paperwork. Even is she sat there working on her university assignments would be fine with me.

In some regards I think she envies me and is frustrated by the fact that, despite my laid-back attitude and relaxed work ethic, I'm still a surprisingly effective teacher. After all, the kids love me. They hang all over me, vying for attention. They follow me through the halls and write me love letters and bring me candy and gifts. They draw "Shawn teacher" faces all over their notebooks. It's almost sickening the relationship I've developed with them. At the same time, they listen to me. I can say, "Attention!" and poof, silence as of the grave. They respect me. This must aggravate her to no end.

At the end of the day Cathy said to me, "I just can't angry with you because you're so nice to kids and so funny." Yes, I felt bad too. Once again, I know she's not a bad person and it's hard for me to stay mad. I tried not to back down this time, but, like a weakling, I ended up apologizing for yelling. Even so, hopefully she won't bother me for awhile.

I finally called Bonnie for the first time and told her what's going on. I'm glad I did. Get this: Cathy will be quitting next month anyway! I had no idea! She never said anything. Turns out she has to take some teacher's classes during the day to finish her MA degree. Bonnie also told me she knows Cathy over does it. She's told her before that it is my class and not to bother me. I'm not to worry, though, everything is fine. Everyone is very pleased with me, and she asked me to endure a little longer.

What good news! Thank God!

After school, the little girl's mother who is taking me to VIPS tomorrow, came in again to chat a bit. I found out she owns her own business, a trading company that supplies the food to restaurants such as, you guessed it: VIPS. She's planning to set up an office in New York within a couple of years. Cathy told me she's rich. I figured it already since her daughter, utterly adorable (she's one of my favorites despite being so spoiled) wears fashionable clothes and carries a brand new Samsung camera cell phone that must have cost $500. She's ten years old. Anyway, her mother wanted to verify the plans for tomorrow. After hearing how rich she was, I feel uncomfortable now. I wonder if she's planning to proposition me at dinner to teach Julia privately. If you don't know it, private teaching is illegal in Korea. Basically you're not allowed to earn money as a foreigner outside of the job that sponsors your visa. It's good money but to me it's not worth getting deported over.

Regardless, I figured I should bring a gift to dinner, so I went out and picked up a few things: a bottle of Chilean Red Wine for the mother and her husband and a bunch of things for Julia (as is she needs anything): crayons, stickers, a cute notebook and some colored pencils. Even if she's spoiled, she'll be happy. Her two little girlfriends, Sarah and Grace, will certainly be jealous too. All three of them sit out in the hall until I go home and then follow me to the bus stop every day. Maybe I'll split the gifts up for the three of them, since Cathy is also planning to get something for Julia.

written by shawn matthews -|link

3/23/2005

KLB - Moving Along

I managed to get up early again and hit the health club. That's two days in a row. It's much better to work out in the morning. Hardly anyone is in the place, save a couple of older women on the treadmills. Also, it's just nice to get it out of the way, go to work and then come home finished with everything for the day. I used to hate going after work. I managed to do so for about 6 months in Nowhere-dong before giving up, but I never liked it much.

Julie's sick. She missed work today. It took about 5 phone calls back and forth with her school before she got the clear. It's never easy to call in sick here. They kept asking her if she could come a little later, as if a few hours of sleep is all anyone needs to get over the flu. Her voice is gone and she sounds pretty cute. After work, I stopped off near Homeplus and picked her up some piping hot juk, which translates as Korean traditional porridge. It's pretty much rice that's been cooked then boiled and vegetables added. Kind of thick and slimy, but very healthy. Koreans usually eat it when they are sick. Their equivalent of our chicken soup. It seems to have worked, that and the Tylenol. Her fever has come down and her voice is already returning.

I had a typical day at work. Cathy pissed me off again, but it's the same old story so I won't mention it anymore. Everything is great with the kids. Damn good kids, I can't say it enough. Got two new ones again today, which is starting to worry me. It's up to 15 in each class now. That may not sound much to an American or Korean teacher, but for a foreigner teaching Korean kids, that's a lot of students. Still, I like all the kids except one, and even he's coming around already. I've never had a job where I've adored all the kids like this. Even the boys are growing on me more and more.

The books have really helped lately. Unfortunately I'm only allowed to use them twice a week according to our new syllabus. I have to teach a "theme" unit once a week again - ugh! Another day is supposed to be for story books, but we only have story books for one class - typical. Then Friday is "game and activity" day - which is fine. I asked Cathy if she could get together some kind of game guide. In my opinion, that would be better than her roaming around the room all day and bothering me. I keep telling her to sit down but she never does.

I know a handful of games that work well with kids. As a matter of fact I came up with a good one today. I called it, "I Made You Laugh!" First you split the kids into two groups, A and B. The two teams stand facing each other. Group A then tries to make any of the group B kids laugh. If they succeed, they yell, "I made you laugh!" and earn a point. Then B teams tries to make A laugh.

I like playing games and doing fun things with the kids, of course. Usually things like that game just pop in my head as I'm teaching and I do them. I love the spontaneity. I hate having to follow some pre-made time-table that really doesn't benefit the kids at all. So much wasted paper. I wish I could just do a variety things every day, say 15 minutes of phonics, 15 using the books/story books, 10 writing in the workbooks or notebooks, and the last few minutes some kind of activity worksheet or game. That's better than doing a different thing each day. For example, now I can't use my books again until next Tuesday, meaning the kids will probably forget what they've learned and I'll have to review - basically teach the same lesson all over - before moving on. Oh well, at least this way these precious books will last awhile. I don't want to have to try to get new ones again.

I guess that's it for today. I'm going to take care of Julie - tuck her in and make sure she's asleep before turning on the Xbox. Hah, just kidding. She's already asleep. Slept about 15 hours today. I'll probably read. I just finished Sex and the City, the book, which was better than I thought it would be. Now I'm starting A Civil Action.

written by shawn matthews -|link

3/22/2005

KLB - A Smurfy Day

As per usual, it's an up and down cycle here. Today was fantastic, and after a brief hiatus, I can give the thumbs-up sign to teach in Korea again. So get re-packing!

Let's start with the morning. The health club has actually reopened after all - at least the weights/machines room. The new Yoga/dance room and jim jil bang (multi faceted sauna) - all of which Julie is waiting on - won't be finished until next week. Anyway, I got up early and worked out, a solid arm routine which felt very good. Then, after a relaxing shower, I skipped off to work in a great mood. I love spring.

At second glance, the new books aren't nearly as bad as I thought. My first impression, of course, had been tainted by the crap Cathy mentioned upon giving them to me. They are actually pretty good. I used them for the first time today and the kids like them too. The included CDs and workbooks, which we didn't get until today, are especially good.

Now imagine this: the kids (for the most part) are in the right level classes and they have books. Wow - guess what? I'm a good teacher again! "You had the passion," Cathy pointed out after school. "Today I'm so happy."

"Well, when things are organized and we have books, it's amazing what a teacher can do."

It's true. I started each of the first three classes with phonics then used the books for the last 20 minutes of class. It was one of those days when I really enjoyed being a teacher. Because I was in such a good mood, the kids were happy and responsive. I had them rolling in laughter one minute and shouting "Me! Me! Me!" the next with every question.

We also got a couple of new students this week. That makes 23 new kids. Most of them are adorable little girls too. I swear I have a fan club throughout the school. Lately a lot of mothers keep stopping in to check the class out too, which is also cute in a way. Yesterday one of my favorite girls' mothers came in, decked out in designer clothes, a load of makeup and strong perfume. She comes in often and speaks English rather well. "Whats up?" she always says. She invited me to dinner with her family this Friday at VIPs (TGIF kind of place). I politely said no a few times but she was persistent and, so, I eventually accepted. Unfortunately Cathy overheard this, said she envied me in Korean, and then the mother (somewhat reluctantly I noticed) invited her too. Yay!

Well, time to chow down a couple of turkey subs I picked up from Subway on the way home for me and Julie. Mmm. Then it's time to watch The Smurfs DVD Volume 3, which just came in the mail. I also pre-ordered volumes 4 and 5 which are set for release the same day later in April. You should order your copies today, as international shipping is only a few dollars. Also, you never know if they'll ever be released around the world. Now may be your only chance to get them. In fact, looks like volumes 1 and 2 are already sold out.

They take between 1 and 2 weeks to arrive (got mine in a week). Keep in mind the prices are in AU dollars too, which means they are even cheaper than you think (around $15 USD). They are region 4, but you should be able to play them on your computer if you have DVD Region Free software, or on your home player by using one of the easy codes to make it region free: Check here... (For example, all Julie and I had to do is open our DVD player drawer and hit 9999 on the remote to choose "region 0"...

I sure love this series. I have 18 smurfy episodes now. They all have Gargamel in them too, the funniest cartoon villain ever created.

Bonus screenshots of Gargamel in action taken with PowerDvd: