week 6: rewards

at the beginning of week 5, mihwa, a third grade student, came into my office asking if i would help her prepare for an entrance interview at an english language university in seoul. her goal? to become a translator at the UN. i agreed to help, and we put together a schedule. she only had 2 days, so every minute of free time that i had (about 6 hours) on thursday and friday were spent practicing mock interview questions and helping mihwa to polish her answers. sitting in an empty room, listening to mihwa's stories and learning about her life was an extraordinary moment in my korean adventure and was one of the most inspirational experiences of my life.

mihwa was quite nervous about her interview, but after our study sessions, she felt more confident. however, her grades did not reflect her countless hours of study nor her passion for learning and speaking english. and, in korea, grades are everything. the program only accepts 10 people in the entire country; odds were against her. with encouraging words, i sent her out on friday afternoon to face the admissions board on saturday morning.

monday morning of week 6, she came bursting into my office. although, she was still nervous about the outcome, considering her grades, the interview had gone well. i congratulated her for performing well in the interview and crossed my fingers. on wednesday of week 6, mihwa was notified that she was accepted.

my opinion? mihwa is going to change the world. here are some of her stories.

when she was in middle school, mihwa and her family traveled to china for vacation. one day, in shanghai, she got separated from her parents. at first, she was terrified. she didn't speak chinese and had no way of finding her family. eventually, it occurred to her to ask for help in english, because it is such a widely spoken language. she stopped a chinese man and told him, in english, that she had lost her father. luckily, he spoke english and was able to reunite her with her family. it was then that she decided to become a translator, recognizing the importance of being able to communicate with others in a common language. quite the insight for a middle school girl.

as part of korean high school education, students are required to participate in volunteer work of some kind. mihwa volunteered at a hospital for people with leprosy. at first, she was nervous about helping people with this horrible disease, but after spending a short time with them, she found that the patients at the hospital reminded her of her own family: her father, her mother, her grandfather and grandmother. at once, she felt a desire to care for them, not just for their physical needs but for their emotional needs as well.

about a year ago, mihwa read a book reading about ban ki-moon, secretary-general of the UN. he grew up in korea under financial strain when his father's business failed. ban ki-moon's dream was to become a diplomat. in korea, money is an essential part of receiving a quality education. many parents spend thousands of dollars on private academies to help their children learn english and succeed in school. as his family was unable to provide this, ban ki-moon spent time around the american military bases speaking with american soldiers to improve his english. mihwa was inspired by his story and his lifetime of seeking new challenges. he is her role model, and so far, i think he would be proud.

week 6 sidenote: i have learned a few korean words. hopefully, this is the beginning of a better understanding of the language. oh how i long for the days of the mission when i could speak the language all day long. speaking english all day is hindering my ability to crack this very complicated language.

week 5: there's just nothing like it

chicken nights are some of my favorite korean memories so far. they were sprung from the seeds of my early mornings and cultivated my resistence to hanging out at the local foreigners' bar. understanding both of these things, once a week my friend paolo came over, and we grubbed on the best fried chicken in the world. for real. i've lived in the south, and they ain't got nothin' on korea. really. i think they put crack in the chicken. as i exclaimed one chicken night, "there's just nothing like it!"

there's also just nothing like old dudes in the park.

one of the delights of mokpo is a walking path that winds through the city. it's a wonderful little amenity complete with exercize machines for public use placed every so often. i took the path to home plus this week to pick up some essentials. on my walk back, groceries and blanket in hand, an old man named pedro, whom lindsey and i met earlier that month, was sitting with his pals on a bench that lines the path. he called my name and waved me over. i shook my head and insisted that i had to go home. he insisted that i come over and sit for a while. what's a girl to do? so, i sat with three old korean men for about 30 minutes, answering their questions, which were asked in broken english, and drinking a hot chocolate they bought me from a vending machine.

life in korea...there's just nothing like it.

week 4: becoming an alien

week 4 brought some important logistical moments.

moment 1:

i finally got my alien registration card, which facilitated moment 2.

moment 2:

i finally got a bank account. and, not a moment to soon, because of moment 3.

moment 3:

my first pay day. whew. i needed that. but, not as much as i needed moment 4.

moment 4:

i discovered baskin robbins peanut rocket. seriously, stop reading my blog, google your nearest baskin robbins, and go get yourself some peanut rocket. it's that good. (this isn't actually a picture of peanut rocket. it's never in my cup long enough to take a picture. really, why are you still reading this? go get some.)

along with ice cream, week 4 also brought some love into my life.

love 1: snowboard club

on our bus ride to the ship festival on jindo, jane told me that she was part of a snowboard club here in mokpo. of course, i told her how much i love snowboarding and that i was hoping to meet people in korea who knew the sweet spots to ride. this week, i met the members of the club at a restaurant (owned by one of the members). we sat in the (closed) restaurant and talked shop, and then lindsey, erin and i went to norabong with some of the members. we had a great time singing our hearts out to ridiculous songs like aqua's "barbie girl" until 3am. the mokpo snowboard club is awesome, as expected, and i am looking forward to riding with them very soon.

love 2: orphanage

i've never volunteered at an orphanage before. in all of my travels and all of my volunteer experiences, the opportunity just never presented itself....until now. when i first arrived in mokpo. i met shanna. she organizes a volunteer program that provides free english classes to two orphanages in mokpo. after finally getting settled and getting over being sick, thursday of week 4 was my first day at orphanage. the house, run by caltholic nuns, is out in the country, about a 20 minute car ride from mokpo. we have 3 classes every thursday night, broken up by age. i work with three, very rowdy, but very cute 10 year old boys: self-named alex, shark and tiger. i instantly fell in love with them, despite their rambunctious nature. although it is difficult to get them to sit still, i enjoy being able to talk to them, listen to them, play with them, and watch them show off thier myriad talents e.g., mad yo-yo skills, crazy dance moves, legit piano playing, and punching and kicking each other without mercy. the teacher in me really wants to help them with their english as much as i can in between eraser fights, but really, i'm just happy to be able to hang out with them once a week.

week 3: finding my inner korean

i remember walking around mokpo my first week or so (which is now months ago) and feeling an absence of emotion for my korean experience. i live under a strict, self-imposed, no-regret policy, and i can honestly say that i never once felt regret about coming to korea, but i wanted to feel the sense of adventure and possibility that usually accompany such journeys. i am certain that the lack of enthusiasm was the result of a combination of factors that need not be mentioned here, especially since i have 8 weeks of posting to catch up on. what should be mentioned, however, is that that in week 3, i found the excitement that i had been missing; it was hiding somewhere with my inner korean.

[korean culture sidenote: one of the most intriguing aspects of korean culture is the obvious gender separation that dominates social interaction. this separation goes far beyond gender-specific schools; it is visible among the young and the old alike, in formal and casual situations. i haven't quite figured it out, but i find it fascinating. even in the school cafeteria, the male teachers and the female teachers sit at separate tables.]

one day at lunch, i walked up to the female teachers' table with my tray. as is customary, one of the teachers across the table from me (a chemistry teacher whose name i have yet to learn), bowed and said hello (in korean). i did the same, returning her hello in korean. she looked shocked, and another teacher sitting across from her (joyce) turned around with excitment. they both said (in english), "wow! you sound like a korean!" i laughed and thanked them. then, they asked who was teaching me korean. "no one," i replied, "i just listen to people speaking." they both seemed quite impressed by that, and the nameless chemistry teacher said, pointing at me, "genius!" oh yeah.

on friday of week 3, we had a sports festival for the faculty members of the 4 schools that are part of the hyein family (girls high school and middle school, boys high school and middle school). the schools competed against each other in a variety of sports, some more ridiculous than others. after the festival, the faculty of our school went out to dinner together at a traditional seafood place down by the harbor.

i walked in with joyce, a little later than everyone else. we started to make our way over to the right side of the room to sit at a table with a few empty seats. the principal of our school waved us over and insisted that we sit at the table with the administrators of the school and the owners of our 4 schools. i sat next to the principal, honored that they asked me to sit with them. the principal introduced me to the owners, who had some difficulty pronouncing my name. i suggested that perhaps they should give me a korean name to make it easier. after some deliberation, the principal (via translation) asked if i was christian.

"yes," i answered.
"then," she said, "you should pick a name from the bible."
"ok, what are some names from the bible?"
joyce suggested several, translating them into english. the last one was sarang. "love," she said.
"yes, love. sarang. that's the one i want."

the principal and others at the table approved. then, the pointing to herself, she said, "kim (this being her family name)." and then, pointing to me, "kim sarang." and, there it was. my inner korean was born, and then claimed by my principal. this, of course, was all done with boisterous laughter. and, silly though it may be, in that moment, i didn't feel like an outsider, like an american foreigner. i felt accepted into a surrogate korean family. and, man, do i love them.

the meal was...an experience. i ate all kinds of shellfish that i have never seen before, including a pink shellfish that i dug out of a shell that looked like i had picked it up on a beach somewhere and another that resembled turtle feet; i was told it was some kind of crab. both were very good. i also ate baby octopus (a mokpo speciality) for the first time. it was cooked and wrapped on a wood skewer, and actually, it was delicious. i ate the most expensive shellfish in korea, according to the people at the table, and another shellfish that was like chewing boulders. literally. not so good. we had several different kinds of raw fish, some traditional korean pancakes, two kinds of seafood soup and some really good potatoes. i tried everything on the table, and my fellow faculty members were impressed. although i was terrified in moments, the majority of the food was scrumptious.


during the meal, the principal (via translation) told me that she was impressed with my teaching and that the girls are loving my class. i was flattered, and happy to have the feedback, but then she told me that she hears the girls speaking english more and more outside of class, which thrilled me. i realized, for the first time, that my korean journey is different than other adventures i have had. excitement will not only be found in traveling and living in korea; it will be found primarily in teaching the 700+ girls at hyein high school. and really, i can't think of a better adventure.

mother nature

about a month ago, my friend lindsey and i took a trip with our (korean) friend jane to the ship festival on jindo. while it is quite close to mokpo geographically, jindo is a small island with a great deal of agriculture (please see pictures on facebook).

being that jindo is still dominated by nature, we had multiple encounters with earthworms throughout the day, much to jane's excitement. puzzled by her reaction to these worms, lindsey asked what was so special about them. jane explained, "korea used to have much more nature than it does now. when i was a child, i used to see worms all the time. now, i hardly see them in mokpo. to me, it is very exciting to see a worm."

turns out, jane is not alone in her excitement for mother nature. last week, one of my students approached me with a plastic cup. she said, "look teacher," tilting the cup to reveal the contents; inside, there was a caterpillar. not a cute, green caterpillar like you see in cartoons. no, this one looked more like a transparent slug. nasty. but, to her, it might as well have been a puppy.

and, quite frequently on my walk to and from lunch, students will be gathered around some bug or another: a praying mantis, a snail, a spider. my high school girls love to pick these bugs up, inspect them and, sometimes, chase each other with them. it reminds me of my childhood in the desert, catching lizards and horny toads.

kinda makes me appreciate mother nature all over again.

korean hospitality

i feel blessed to have spent a significant amount of time in my life with people from many different cultures, and i am always taken back at the overwhelming hospitality they show me. surprisingly, i have very few asian friends. so, as i embarked on my journey east, i was expecting to encounter the politeness that pervades the stereotypes of asian cultures. we are all familiar with these stereotypes: formal, well-mannered, lots of bows, etc. (please see figure below).


however, i did not anticipate the grace, style and sincerity of korean hospitality. world take notice: koreans know how to do it, and it is impresivo.

i give you...Exhibit A: the plane ride over on asiana air.

my plane. (ok, not really, but i flew on one just like it.)

for a minute, i thought i was in "catch me if you can" with these uber-classy flight attendants who, by the way, were also the nicest flight attendants i've ever encountered.

first class (i wish) where the seats recline completely flat into nearly full-size beds.

complimentary toothbrushes and toothpaste in the plane bathrooms that were cleaned repetitively on our red-eye flight from LA to Seoul.

Exhibit B: service.
it's cold in korea. really cold. it's not even cold yet, and i'm already cold. i'm freezing. i think it has something to do with the wind and the concrete walls that take hold of the fall chill and turn my school into a (very environmentally-friendly) freezer. of course, it could be that i am from the desert and meant to exist only in temperatures ranging from 80-115 degrees. i am becoming slightly concerned that i might not survive winter.

fueled by this fear, and by my ever-present desire to be warm, i walked myself down to shinae (old downtown mokpo) and bought a north face puffy coat. really, i have been looking for an excuse to buy a puffy, as i lost one a few years back, and life has never been quite the same without it.

upon paying for my puffy coat, the lady behind the counter put up her hand and said, "wait. service." she ran to the back and returned with a plaid fleece blanket wrapped in plastic. she placed it in my bag, and i left, elated. this is a common thing in korea. from free coke at restaurants to free facial products at the beauty store, when you spend money at an establishment in korea, you are rewarded with "service." i realize that this is all an attempt to obtain my loyalty as a shopper, but i don't care. frankly, it works; it works a lot better, i think, than an ever-present sales associate haunting me through the store and stalking me in the dressing room.

service? yes please.


Exhibit C: "sharing makes us happy"--for this title, i give credit to nanette r. grant, who probably said this 100 times a day when we were kids. see mom, it stuck.
koreans are all about sharing, particularly when it comes to food. many of you will be familiar with this concept if you've eaten at a korean restaurant. but, this goes far beyond sharing dishes at a restaurant. the teachers in my office will often bring in food for everyone to share: fruit, drinks, pastries, traditional korean cakes and other delicious snacks. also, they spontaneously offer me half of an orange or a handful of candy. while this is dangerous for my waistline, i find the gesture endearing and quite impressive.

mom, you'd be proud of korea. they're all about sharing, and i think it does make them happy. because, contrary to the stereotype, koreans are perhaps the least formal people i know; they are quick to laughter, kind-hearted, and warm. i feel lucky to spend a year enjoying and learning from their extraordinary hospitality.

week 2: settling in

as most of you know, i am a fickle blogger. however, with my move to korea, i am committed to changing my past blogging habits. mostly, because i don't want to forget this experience, and i am terrible at writing in a journal. but, also because i want to share my life in korea with my family and friends back home.

unfortunately, the decision to start this blog has presented me with a problem: what, exactly, do i want this blog to be?

is it a travel log?
is it a diary?
is it a photo album?
is it a study in korean culture?
is it a teaching log?
is it a random sampling of my thoughts?

i suppose in many ways, this is the ultimate question facing bloggers (or, maybe i'm just obsessive). regardless, figuring out how to blog about my life in korea has been complicated.

but...

i have persevered and finally found a solution to my problem. unfortunately, now i have a ridiculously long list of things i want to write about. so, faithful readers, please bear with me.

week 2:

forrest gave me some great advice during my first week: make your house your own. most of my time the second week was spent doing just that. i continued to clean, moved some furniture around, reorganized the kitchen, and finally unpacked. this process did wonders for my emotional health. my little studio is now very much mine, and if i may brag a bit, in true brooke fashion, is very well organized.






it also helps that i have some reminders of home thanks to my amazing parents. they gave me this card when i left for korea, and the heart post-it notes were stuck onto individually wrapped chocolate chip cookies. yes, mom, this means that i ate all of them, and they were delish! (i found the seashells on a beach on jindo island during the ship festival. story to follow in week 3's update.)



but, the highlight of week 2 came on wednesday.

i was walking up to school in the morning, when i heard some girls yelling "teacher! bird! teacher! bird!" as they hung out of a 4th floor window . "yes," i said, "i hear the bird." i was slightly confused at why they were so excited about a bird chirping in a tree. pretty standard. it wasn't until lunch time that i realized what had them so excited: there was a huge, beautiful owl in the tree right outside of our building. it was one of the most awe inspiring animals i've ever seen. sadly, i didn't have my camera with me, but he looked just like this:


while the owl sighting was thrilling, the best part of wednesday came during lunch. i had a conversation (via students translating), with the vice principal, who is always especially kind to me, about how rare owl sightings are in korea. during that conversation, he had one of the students ask me if i knew who he was. "yes, of course i know him. he's the vice principal," i said.

he seemed quite pleased with my recognition of his title and position. i asked the students to tell me his name. they did; i can't remember it all, but his family name is mun, which is pronounced like moon. this pronunciation similarity then became a game of charades and ended in my decision to call him mr. moon from now on. he agreed.

lunch that afternoon was spent bridging cultural divides and relishing in an amazing pumpkin soup.

pumping...air?

i never really think of my vocal cords as being controlled by muscles until i have to teach after a lengthy break. then, like any muscle that hasn't been used in a while (sidenote: there are too many of these in my body), my vocal cords remind me that they are, in fact, controlled by muscles and pumping air is no joke.

my new job has my vocal cords on a pretty serious workout: i talk for the majority of 5, 50 minute classes a day, 5 days a week. this calculates to 250 minutes a day, 1,250 minutes a week. a good deal of those 250 minutes a day are spent trying to talk over (or silence) chatty, giggly korean high school girls. and, to add just a little more intensity to the workout for my already strained vocal system, when i am walking to and from class, to and from lunch, or even sitting in my office, i have 700+ girls that all say "hi!" every time they see me. i think i have said "hi" over 10,000 times in the last few weeks.

don't get me wrong, i love teaching these girls. i love that they all want to talk to me in english outside the classroom (my goal this year is to get them to speak english more frequently than once a week in my class). i love how excited they get to say hi to me. but, my vocal cords, and the attached muscles, are suffering. i can feel them in their little place screaming out at me: "please stop talking! we are going to snap!" alas, i cannot stop. at least, not until september 19, 2012.

i was worried about all kinds of things before i came to korea:

will i like the food?
will i get lonely?
will i like my school?
will i be able to survive not knowing korean?
will i find friends, both korean and american?
will i be able to adapt my teaching experience to high school? to korea? to esl?
will i miss my family so much that i die?

no, no, dear friends, these are not the things i should have been worried about. what i should have been worried about were those little muscles in my throat suffering permanent damage from excessive exercise.