Last week of School in Pohang

Well for this year anyways. I've re-signed for next year at the same school.

This year has flown by! It has definitely been one of the best experiences of my life. I am so glad that I came here. It's funny to think that a year ago now I was getting my stuff all packed and ready to come to Korea. It seems like so long ago! I definitely packed too many things.

I'm really looking forward to going home for a visit in few weeks. I'll get to see my family and the family pet dog Addie (she is my princess). I'm looking forward to drinking diet soda and eating barbeque and other classic American foods. My hometown of Missoula, MT will seem really small after living in Pohang for a year! The population here is about 500,000 and it is considered a small town by Korean standards. Missoula has a population of about 60,000. I was biking through an intersection the other day on my way to school and looking at the giant sky-rise apartment buildings thinking, it will be strange to be back in the land of one or two story houses. But mostly I'm looking forward to seeing my dog (oops I mean my family) again. :)

My school year is wrapping up here. This week I'm giving out awards to the top students in my classes and giving them a CD I made with some of my favorite songs. The students at my school are just great. I think it helps that I'm a 28 year old American woman and they are middle school boys... yes this is an all boys middle school. They are kind and gentle to me, but my boyfriend also teaches at an all boys middle school and he tells me the kids jump on him and are generally more rowdy. Same sex physical contact is OK here but not contact between a man and a woman. Sometimes I accidentally brush against a student when helping them with a worksheet or something and they always get really quiet and jump like a mile. There are a few students who come in every day and clean up the tables, sweep the floors and mop. They sometimes just sit and talk with me, but I think it makes them uncomfortable to be so informal. They are used to teachers being on a rung above them in the pecking order and they usually look at the ground when they talk to me. Most are getting more comfortable now, and they laugh and make jokes with me. One student has blue sandals he wears around every day, and when he sees me he always says 'Blue shoes!' and smiles.

I'm starting to get a grasp of the student's names, too. When I first came, it was a hopeless endeavor. Even my favorite student I had trouble keeping them apart. The difference between Young Ju and Yeong Ju is just too subtle. All the names are three syllables. And most of the syllables are the same just in different combinations. Like Jin Young and Young Ju. Also, about half my student have the first name Kim. (The first name is the family name here... so Kim Young Ju I call Young Ju at an attempt to be friendly and 'American Style'.) I also have the students call me Miss Joscelyn since I can't seem to get my mind around Miss Weber. And Joscelyn is somehow easier for them to say since it's three syllables that are all used in their language already. Jaw-Suh-Leen is how they say it. But it works. I feel comfortable and the students have responded really well to my classes. In class I am more strict when the students get too loud or too crazy, but if they are good then we have fun and I am more informal. Through out the year we've gotten really good at knowing how to maximize fun and learning at the same time. I have had very few problems with discipline.

The first semester was really hard. I had never been a teacher before and especially not one in Korea. School is much different in Korea than in America. Students sit quietly and listen or sleep and the teacher tends to stand in front of the class and drone on and on. Students are not expected to talk or ask questions at all. So... many students have a lot of trouble with the idea of a conversation class. I'll ask them a question like - how was lunch today? Did you eat any delicious food? What was your favorite food today?' and they stare at me... cricket chirp... and I ask them again. They've gotten the idea now that I expect them to talk to me and actively participate in class. Not all students are always good, but the bad ones aren't too bad and if they get out of line I get on them right away so I haven't had too many problems. The second semester was SO much easier than the first. I just kind of got the groove. I learned what was expected of me and how to make it easier on the students so they could understand what I expected of them.

It also feels good to see the students smiling and happy and excited to come to my class. I'm always smiling and happy at school. High fiving the students in the hall way and saying 'Good morning!' . The other teachers are also very friendly and I spend most of my free time talking and sharing snacks with them in the teacher's lounge. I seriously love my job and my life here in Korea.

Plus the markets! I live very close to a large market where I can buy fish, vegetables, fruits, all kind of wonderful things! I can buy fresh tofu still hot and being formed from the cheese-cloth. The man also sells eggs and gives me eggs and 'biji' or tofu Okara... the bean sprout parts that are leftover after the tofu... for free! A days supply of tofu is maybe a dollar US. I bought a whole watermelon the other day for 5,000 won (about $5). Granted it is watermelon season. But there's just something cool about buying fruit from a farmer who has a big truck full of melons on the side of the road. You can see he just picked them and put them in the back of the truck and drove into town to sell them. And wow, it is delicious. I never want to go into another grocery store again as long as I live. Well, maybe for some ice cream. :) I guess grocery stores can stay. They do have their uses. But not for fruits and vegetables.

I rarely eat meat anymore. I didn't choose to become vegetarian... it just kind of happened. I just feel more happy and light when I eat tofu and vegetables instead of beef. I will still eat beef and chicken from time to time. But it's funny to realize that given the choice between a beef steak and a hunk of fresh tofu, I'd prefer the tofu. My dad would say it's blasphemy! :) But it just kind of happened. It's funny to look back and see how different I think and feel now then I did before I left.

Another thing I'm not excited about is to go back to the land of cheap chinese imported goods. I didn't realize how much I bought Chinese imported goods until I came here and saw that it's possible to not buy them. Things here are more expensive, but they are also higher quality. So instead of owning 4 or 5 cheap things, people own one really expensive one that they take really good care of and fix if it breaks rather than throwing it away. I remember one day I broke a cord, the plug fell off. And I took it downstairs to the office to ask where I should throw it away. The man took it from me and took out wire cutters and a screw driver, unscrewed the plug part, cut the wire shorter and re-connected it to the plug, and then reclamped the plug part down and gave it back to me good as new but an inch shorter. I was like... WOW. And I was just going to throw it away and buy a new one. I think living away for a year has really given me perspective on the consumerism and waste that is generated in America.

Well, the bell just rang and it is lunch time. I'm headed down to the cafeteria to eat some rice, soup, and kimchi with my teacher friends.

Hopefully I'll post again sooner next time... :)