Exam Days

Hello faithful readers. The holiday season is upon us and I hope you're doing a better job than me at keeping warm. Turns out, I'm becoming far too accustomed to Korean weather and every little drop in temperature seems to force me to add new layers. The Michigander in me is quite ashamed.

Today I would like to take you into my school life a bit. Today is my school's final examination day (yes, it's December so you may think I mean midterms, but I don't). One of the wonderful perks of exam days is that I'm pretty much desk-warming the whole time so I get time to type this. Unfortunately, I have a new "no computer before noon" rule in my office in attempt to force me to study Korean. Therefore, this entry is costing me 5,000 won.

First, let me get the whole "why the 'final' exams are in December" issue. As you know, the school years in America, Canada, and I'm assuming many other western countries begin in the Fall and end in the Spring. Well, in Korea the school years start at the beginning of the year and end at the end (go figure). It's not quite exact... the official start of the year for elementary schools is at the beginning of March. Therefore, even though it's December 5th and we're already having exams, there are still a few weeks of classes before the winter break. The students will also come back to school in the beginning of February for a week or so... then the 6th graders will have their graduation. Then the whole school is on Spring break until the beginning of the new school year. I may have confused you somewhere in there... if so, grab a calendar.

Since I've been in Korea, my jobs on exam days have slowly grown. My first exams were a little awkward. Since I started teaching in early November, I had only been a teacher for about a month when my first exam day came about. So naturally, I had no idea what I was supposed to do. My co-T's at the time made it rather simple for me. Every English exam in our school has two parts: a listening section and a reading section. My Korean co-teachers are always in charge of writing the tests, while I'm responsible for helping record the dialog for the listening test. This was my sole task during my first exam period. About a week before exams, I went into our English room and recorded a pre-written dialog with each co-T for each grade level. Pretty simple except for the fact that our recording set-up was pretty basic and we had no editing program to speak of. Therefore, each recording had to be done in one shot and with no errors. If we ever made a mistake, we started from the beginning. Each test is usually no more than 5-10 minutes long, but it's much harder to read a flawless dialog with a Korean English teacher than you think. I'm not saying that their English is bad... I'm saying that it's a lot of pressure when they see you as an English "professional" and think you should be perfect on every try. So of course, I was the frustrating cause of multiple re-do's. Since then, I've become much more efficient with the whole process and rarely make any mistakes. Also, I have become friends with Ziggy, the native English teacher across the street, and she comes over to help record and uses her audio editing software to make our lives easier.

After I became more comfortable with my school life, my co-T's started giving me slightly bigger responsibilities such as proofreading the tests and providing input for test materials. I really started to feel like a real teacher once they started letting me correct the tests too! It doesn't seem like a big task, nor does it seem like a big deal since I AM considered a teacher here... but you'd be surprised by how few of my friends are allowed to or even asked to help correct tests. The whole thing kinda makes me feel privileged. However, I do feel a bit of pressure since I don't wanna be the guy who accidentally writes down the wrong score on some kid's paper. They take grades rather seriously here.

So what do I actually do when the kids are taking their exams all day? Well, pretty much nothing. Obviously... I'm sitting here and typing this now. We do have to be in our office when the students are taking the English exams in their classrooms, just in case there's a problem that needs our attention, but that rarely happens. Although, I do remember one time when Youjin forgot to send the audio file for the 6th grade midterms and I had to run through the school to find her. It all worked out fine, by the way. It's really weird for me when the 5th graders who share a hallway with my office are taking the listening section of our exam. There's nothing like hearing my voice echoing down the hallway at five different points of a dialog saying things like, "What a tall tower! How strong he is! Where is the bank? Go straight and turn left, it's on your right. Please do not run, it is dangerous."  I've truly come to hate hearing my own voice.

Although exam days are really easy and quite relaxing for me, it's the days after finals that worry me. As I already mentioned, the students still have a few weeks before vacation starts and they really have no incentive to pay attention anymore... especially the 6th graders. Every good thing comes with a price I guess. But I'm pretty sure at this point, the teachers are more excited about the vaca countdown than the students are.

Living Memories

Today was a rather nostalgic day for me. I was brought back to some fond memories of Michigan Tech by a few of the rare, fellow Huskies here in the ROK. Back in my final year at Tech, long before I ever decided to teach English here, I was introduced to a few Korean girls who were studying abroad. One of them was a girl named Ahyoung. We've been in semi-steady contact ever since I got here. She lives in Daegu, which is in the south-eastern part of the country and about a 2 hour KTX (express train) ride away from Seoul. She's been up to my area a handful of times over the past two years, while I've been down to visit her once (twice actually, but the second time was actually to visit someone else and she was busy that weekend). Anyway, Ahyoung came to visit today and she invited a couple of other fellow Michiganders who are in the country.

We met up in Myeong-dong at 2:00 and had some kal-gook-su (I would type the Korean, but I don't have the characters on my computer yet). Basically, it's a really tasty noodle soup. This version of the soup also had a little beef and a few mandu (dumplings) in it. After our late lunch, we went to the Cheong-gye cheon, a man-made river running through Seoul, near City Hall. The yearly lantern festival was still going on and half of us had yet to see this year's display. We wanted to see them lit up, so we killed some time in a Baskin Robbins. It was in this cozy little ice cream shop that we began to reminisce about our days back at Tech. After the ice cream and checking out the lit lanterns, we took a bus to Seoul station and grabbed some McD's before Ahyoung's trip home.

The day was fun and I really enjoyed the company, but our activities were nothing out of the ordinary. My friend Alan, who also tagged along, pointed out that I've got the "two year apathy" feeling going on. He noted this when I said that the lantern festival was rather disappointing compared to previous years. He's probably right, though. If we had taken this day and played it out two years ago, I would have thought that today was the most exciting and adventurous day ever! But all in all, the day really made me realize some things.

First, my days at Tech are becoming VERY distant memories. One of Ahyoung's friends, Ben, reminded me of some people that we both happened to know at school. People that I hadn't necessarily forgotten about, but people I haven't had the occasion to think of in a really long time. It was kind of scary to realize how unfamiliar those types of discussions have become. The feeling I had was kind of similar to the way I feel when I look back at pictures on Facebook. I realize that it's all stuff that I had been a part of, but it feels like I'm kinda looking back on someone else's story. Kind of an unfamiliar familiarity if that makes sense.

At the same time, the day was filled with activities that I've done on numerous occasions in the past two years. The food was something I know well, the river is a place I've been countless times, and Seoul station has become such a familiar transportation hub that I can navigate the entire place effortlessly. It's almost like I've lived here forever!

What's the point in all of this? I guess it's sort of a verification that my time in Korea is on its last leg. I had some great times at Tech. I met some awesome people, did some amazing things, and made more memories than I can even recall on my own. But once I got settled in and comfortable there, I realized that I needed to move on to the next step of my life. On to the next adventure, if you will. The same feeling is beginning to fall on me here in Korea. I have no regrets of my time here. And there are an infinite amount of things that I'll miss once I'm gone. But falling into a feeling of normalcy and complacency isn't something that I desire yet. I'm starting to get anxious to walk into the unknown again and give my life story another shake-up. Obviously, this isn't an ideal way to live life on a long-term basis. But for now, it's what I've come to enjoy and find fulfillment in. I'll make my final year in Korea the best experience possible. But after that, my life here will simply become something to look back on... and reminisce about with old friends.

It's all in the name...

Today is my official two-year anniversary here in Korea! Since it's such a big day for me (not really, I'm just using it as motivation) I've decided to write my first official blog revival post today.

The topic that came to mind today is about names. Maybe not the most exciting of subjects but hey, gotta start somewhere.

Three very important names will always remind me of my initial few months in Korea: Sally, Clara, and Mrs. Lee. These are the names of my first three English co-teachers at Changshin Elementary School. Sally was my head co-teacher, and the first of the three that I met. She's a wonderful person who made my transition into Korean school life rather comfortable. Even though she doesn't teach at my school anymore, we still keep in touch and meet a couple of times a year. Sadly, I must admit, even though she's an important person in my life over here... I still can't remember her real name!!! The same can technically be said about Clara, but at least I can remember that her surname is Kim.

Before I go any further, let me give you a quick breakdown of what Korean names are like. For the majority of the Korean population, their names are broken down into three syllables. Each syllable is made up of a collection of Korean characters (letters). For example, my Korean name is Bae (surname) Joon-Min (given name). It's written like this: 배준민 (배=Bae, 준=Joon, 민=Min). At this point you might think remembering Korean names is a lot easier than remembering western names... they're only three syllables!!! My family name alone has that many!!! Not to mention, there aren't any of those pesky middle-names to deal with! Speaking of which, you'd be amazed by how many Koreans have asked me what the purpose of middle names is. I usually just say, "they're a way for parents to yell your name in a more meaningful and angry way". I would say overall the structure of the three-syllable-name makes them somewhat "easier". But obviously, they're still Korean names and we aren't used to hearing them. **Note: Some Korean names are two and sometimes four syllables long. I have a friend at church whose full name is 최고 and a teacher at my school is named 남궁영서. But like I said, the three-syllable thing is the norm.

So going back to my original three co-workers, I can proudly say that I succeeded in remembering one of their full Korean names (the fact that I still work with her is irrelevant). Mrs. Lee, as I call her, is 이혜숙... which is pronounced ee-hey-sook. So why do I call her Mrs. "Lee"? Oddly enough, there are a few Korean names that translate differently than how they're pronounced in Korea. 이 is ee (Lee) and 박 is bak (Park). Lack of matching characters for letters in the English alphabet also changes some names. One of my very close friends is named 유리, which we say "Yuri". However, there's no actual Korean character for the letter 'R', so the correct pronunciation has a cross between an 'L' and an 'R' with a bit of a tongue flick.

Mrs. Lee was the beginning of a rather helpful trend for remembering people's names here. I find it's much easier to remember their family name and use Mr. or Mrs. This led to the name of my second head co-teacher, Mrs. Kim... as well as my current, Mrs. Ju.

But wait a minute... didn't I have two original co-workers named Sally and Clara?!? Don't all Koreans adopt English names??? No, not all. But many of them, especially English teachers, do. Mrs. Kim actually has the name Nancy, but due to a stupid pronunciation error on my part, I simply began referring to her as Mrs. Kim, and still do. Mrs. Ju has the name Gloria, which is actually the name that my predecessor used for her. However, Mrs. Kim knew of my habit of using family names and introduced her to me as Mrs. Ju. I still get confused when I hear people refer to her as Gloria... and even more so when they use her Korean name 선희, which is pronounced just like "Sunny" (which happens to be a common English name amongst Koreans). These days I tend to try and learn full Korean names, as well as their English names to try and avoid confusion.

Many Korean names are relatively easy to remember. As I mentioned before, Yuri is the name of one of my close friends. Youjin (유진) is another friend with an easy name, especially since hers shares the first syllable with 유리. My Korean brother, Jinsung (진성) in my mind has an easy name to remember as well. His name has also proved to be helpful to me since many Korean men have the syllable -sung (성) in their names.

In some cases, people prefer that I use their given name, rather than their surname, because calling them Mrs. or Mr. makes them feel too old. For example, I never call Youjin, "Miss Lee". It would just be awkward. But at the same time, it's inappropriate for me to call some people by their given name due to age difference and the amount of respect the culture demands (that's a whole other topic). Therefore, on occasion, I've been given the honor of naming a few of my Korean friends. My newest co-teacher, 전성하 (Cheon Sung-Ha) is only 30... but since she's married, I would naturally call her Mrs. Cheon. If you were to meet her, you would instantly see the amazingly young personality she has and feel that calling her a Mrs. would be just as inappropriate as calling me a grandfather. So after much consideration and researching English names that start with an 'S' (since her name is Sung-Ha)... I named her Stacy. I'm proud to say that the name has begun to stick and I frequently hear it used by the other English teachers.

Now, lets turn the tables and take a look at what people in Korea call me. First of all, "Kinnunen" is even more difficult for Koreans than it is for many people in the U.S., so my surname is more of a formality than an official name for me over here... it's also a fun activity for my students to try and guess the proper pronunciation and spelling. My middle name is kind of fun for my students since many of them have the English name "Alex", and I even had a 4th grade class last year who called me "Alex Teacher" for a whole semester. But for the most part, people stick with "Mark".... sort of.

As I mentioned earlier, there really is no Korean character for the letter "R". Therefore, my name written in Korean is 마크... pronounced kinda like "ma-keu", which I relate to the sound of someone saying my name and sneezing in the middle. Most of the good English speakers I've met over here are rather good at making the 'R' sound and they succeed in saying my name almost perfectly.

As for my students, I would say the greater majority of them use the Korean-styled pronunciation of my name. I think this is partly because of the two syllables in "teacher", which they pronounce kinda like "tea-cha"... which results in a cute little ring of "mah-keu-tea-cha" (which I've grown quite fond of). In the case of younger students or students who don't know me very well, they get by just referring to me as "teacher" or 선생님 (teacher in Korean). I even use this technique with other teachers whose names I've forgotten or never learned.

There are other areas that I could discuss about name usage, but I feel like I've gone on long enough with this first entry of my "new blog". I hope you enjoyed the read and learned a thing or two about Korean culture.

Stay tuned for more to come! 잘가!!!

The Revival

After a great deal of consideration, I've finally decided to start posting on this blog again. I began this blog with the intention of using it as a type of travel "journal"so people back home could keep up to date with everything I do in Korea. This failed for a couple of reasons. The first reason is due to my inability to withhold major information and interesting life events from Facebook. Pretty much everyone who matters to me has access to my FB page and therefore knows every major (or semi-interesting) detail of my life. The Second reason this blog failed is because... wait for it... I already HAVE a journal!!! Sadly, I've been just as lazy with my other journal as I have been with this. Regardless, the redundancy has made it nearly impossible for me to keep motivated with this. Not to mention, I tend to look at a "journal"as a means of keeping private thoughts and personal opinions stored in a secure location. A public, online blog is obviously not the best place for such a thing, which resulted with me constantly censoring each blog post I put up to a certain degree.

The list goes on...

So why start again???

I recently had somewhat of an epiphany. I've been in Korea for almost two years now (the anniversary will be in a couple of weeks).  I have signed my third commitment to teaching here... at the same, wonderful school with the same, wonderful students. I can say, with almost absolute certainty, that this will be my final year as a teacher in Korea. Meaning, starting from my upcoming "time in Korea"anniversary, all annual events, holidays, and somewhat meaningful days will be referred to as my last in Korea. One final Christmas in Korea... one more new year in Korea... one last birthday in Korea... etc. When I first realized this, I became rather nostalgic. On paper, two or three years in a foreign country can easily be brushed off as insignificant and uninteresting. I can imagine meeting someone in a few years... and telling them I lived in Korea for three years. They would probably respond with a "Wow, that's pretty cool! What did you do there?" The conversation would most likely include a 2 minute summary of my teaching experience and a few questions like "What was your favorite food?" and "Was it dangerous living so close to North Korea?" When all is said and done, this conversation won't last long and will be nothing more than an interesting anecdote for this person to share with his/her friends later. I'm fine with this. I'm fine with the fact that most people will never fully understand what life was like for me while living in a foreign country. Not to mention, a foreign country that, barring decisions made by three people, could have been the place I called home. It could have been the place where I went to school, met my first friends, learned to read and write (in a slightly different way). The fact is, even though I'm a proud American who grew up deep in the woods, in a small Upper Michigan town, with the most loving, White-American family you'll ever find... I still have ties to Korea. And those connections have become stronger and more emotionally present in the past couple of years.

Even though my time here will be very small in the minds to some other people, it will always remain a monumental, life-changing experience that helped promote the largest chunk of adult growth and education in my life (up to this point). Given the right catalyst of questions or random ideas, I could go off on endless tangents about experiences and interesting stories about my time here. I'm so immersed in the culture right now that I've almost forgotten what would be considered normal back home, as opposed to what's normal here. At some point, after I've returned to the States, that will begin to fade away. Korean culture and lifestyle will become nothing more than a memory to me. And I will no longer be able to fully grasp what it felt like to be somewhat "Korean".  

So why is that little story about meeting a stranger relevant to me keeping up with this blog? I want to have something to go back to. Something, in my own words, that can explain the differences between life here and life back home. Even if I can't tell that stranger all about the things I've seen, heard, and felt over here, I want a way for SOMEONE to learn these things. I want something I can look back on and say, "Man... I remember what that was like. I remember how that made me feel." I know I'll go back to my old, American ways once I'm gone from here. But the biggest reason I've been able to do so well for the past two years has been my ability to adapt to the culture and embrace the lifestyle... despite being from a foreigners standpoint.

So let me break it down to ya. Here are the basic reasons why I'm doing this, as well as how I intend on keeping up with the blog from now on.

1. For the Reader : I'm pretty sure I've lost my 9 or 10 faithful readers who originally started following this blog. I'm really sorry for dropping the ball. Hopefully you regain some faith in me and periodically check up on this again. My entries should be more interesting and even educational for you from now on. My hope is to have answers for all the questions that you might have for me the next time we meet, right here in this blog. Of course, I'll still keep out the personal, "dark" parts ;)

2. For the Future ROK Explorer: I have hopes of one day giving speeches to or even just mentoring people who are interested in teaching in Korea. Even for people who just want to visit, I feel like I have a mass abundance of useful, as well as random unnecessary information that I can share with them. This blog will hopefully help prevent any major culture shock to people who plan on visiting. Most of it has simply become everyday life for me.

3. For Sheer Entertainment: I've been saying this for the past two years now... things happen in Korea that you never expect to actually happen in real life. Things ranging from "The Trifecta", hunting with strength and honor, having a phone stolen from right next to my head, and making friends with crazy-rich, construction company presidents who love treating foreigners to a night out... you've gotta admit, it's worth documenting.

4. For a Sense of Accomplishment: As I mentioned earlier, I've grown and learned a lot during my time here. As an English teacher, as a global traveler, as a person. I often think back to the way I was when I first arrived here. I was just a kid. And yeah, I still am very much a kid (especially by Korean standards). But I am rich with priceless knowledge and experiences that most people will never have the pleasure of knowing (especially by Upper Michigan standards). And I don't want to just tell people, "Yeah, I did 'this', 'this', and 'this'." I want to actually remember the road I took to get to those destinations. Learning Korean, Taekwondo, Salsa, and whatever else... they all have a story.

5. For My Own Revival: I am already aware of what will happen once I return home. Although the decision to come home after this year is solely my own, I know it will not be easy. Correction... it will be damn near impossible. I miss my home. I miss my family. I miss my friends. But my sadness comes from knowing that I have to wait another year before I see them all again. Here in Korea, I have settled into a place where I can, in a way, call home. I have become integrated into the lives of people who I have become so close with, I refer to them as my family. And of course, no person alive who has lived as happily as I these past two years could have done so without the comfort of good friends. My sadness will come when I realize that the next time I see them will always be uncertain. In some cases... the result will be never. Once my mind fully accepts this realization, a part of me will die. It will be unbearable. But with this blog, I will be revived with the wonderful memories that we created. I will remember that even though my time here with these people has passed, a new chapter will begin and new memories will be made. And although I'll be forced to start again in some new, unfamiliar area with no knowledge of what to do or who I will meet... I'll remember that that's exactly how I started in Korea. This blog will help me relive the great times I've had here in Korea... as well as help me survive in the future.

Too Much To Tell...

I know you've all been waiting anxiously for my next exciting blog entry, and I thank you for your patience! ㅋㅋㅋ Normally I would begin by apologizing for my laziness and lack of committment to this blog, but I feel that it's rather unecessary this time considering the level of kraziness my daily schedule has reached over the past few months. With that being said, please understand that the number of stories and life updates I have to tell can't be typed in a single work day (no classes today due to final semester exams). So some stories will be short, some stories will be paraphrased, and many stories will be skipped.

School life has gotten both hectic and more comfortable at the same time. My principal has already asked that I try to stay until the end of his contract at the school (another year and a half) and I've reached a point where I recognize or even speak to the majority of the current teachers in the school. Despite some recent unfortunate events over the past few weeks, I still call Changshin E.S. my home and can't imagine teaching anywhere else (for now).  I love my co-workers dearly and probably would have gone crazy months ago if it weren't for them. A couple times a week I give them private "English Lessons" in exchange for an occasional post-work snack like fried chicken, pizza, or my korean-favorite, 보쌈 (bossam = steamed pork). Please note that I don't accept any official payment for these lessons, therefore not providing grounds to void my current work visa... haha.  My students are becoming increasingly more comfortable with me (which is both good and bad), as are my four co-teachers. Periodically, we hold "English family dinners" which range from simple meals of gimbab (like sushi) or long trips into Seoul for a nice, sophisticated meal.

My weekly schedule is pretty constant... work Mon-Fri with about 3 trips a week to downtown Incheon to meet with western friends or my lady friend, Seunghee.  Saturday is reserved for basketball and occasional R&R.  And Sundays are still my days in Seoul with Yuri and the rest of my church group. Of course, my weekly routine has various deviations every now and then. For example, a couple of weeks ago I traveled to Busan (South-East coast) to meet up with some friends from orientation for a 3-on-3 charity basketball tournament. My team placed third in the men's league and 2nd in the mixed. Last week, Seunghee and I went to Caribbean Bay, one of the most famous water parks in Korea. Let it suffice to say that it was an amazing time and pleasantly relaxing during one of my most hectic and stressful weeks in Korea.

My hair is slowly evolving into somewhat of a Korean style hair-do... meaning, it's far too long for my liking.

The heat and humidity here are horrendous. It averages high 70s to mid-80s these days, but the humidity is so high that I usually have to change my sweat-drenched clothes at the end of each work day. Also, we're sort of in Korea's rainy season, meaning two days of sunshine and no rain in a row is seen as a blessing.

Most of you on Facebook probably noticed that I've been rocking an iPhone for the past few months... that's because my original phone was stolen from my office..... while I was in the office, somehow.  Even though my phone bill has jumped quite a bit, I'm quite happy to have a constant time-waster in my pocket to keep me busy for long bus and subway rides into the downtown areas.

I've been attempting to move into a new apartment recently. My current one has a pretty bad leak and lack of sunlight problem, leading to mold and peeling wallpaper issues that can't be controlled. Unfortunatley, my landlord won't give back the school's deposit unless a new tenant is found or my contract expires, so that won't happen until October. Some might ask, "But Mark, does that mean you're staying in Korea?"  The answer is a very probable "yes".  Work contract renewals for October GETs is coming up, and I'm currently planning on signing on for another year. I know this may be sad news for friends and family back home, but I don't think my Korean people are giving me much of a choice!

Lastly, as most of you probably know, I'll be coming home in two weeks! My flight arrives in Esky at about 9:00 PM on July 22nd. I'll be home until August 5th, so give me a hollar if you wanna hang out or anything. I'll have two co-workers with me, Youjin and Jinsung.  We plan on doing a lot of outdoors stuff, but probably some things like shopping in local shops too.

Sorry if this sounded kinda random and uninteresting, but I just felt like something needed to be said on here. Check my Facebook page for pictures that I was too lazy to put on here.

I have a lot more to tell, but it's time to head home! Look for another update soon (I hope).

Brace Yourself... It's a Long One!!!

Finally... a blog entry!!!

Today is a special day where I've found time (and more importantly, energy) to update you all on my life in Korea!!! It's been awhile since I've posted and I've done some sporadic updates/picture posts on Facebook over the past few months, so forgive me if this entry is a little scattered and/or repetitive.

I'm finally back into a regular routine at school. At first, I was supposed to teach 24 classes this year (two of them yielding overtime pay) but somehow I ended up getting 21. Not complaining about this... I still get paid for 22. But as most of you know, the money is much less important to me than the opportunity to "educate young minds":)  Not to mention, my job is still extremely fun and rarely seems like a chore.

Mrs. Lee

I have two and a half new co-teachers this year (I'll explain the "half" in a minute). Mrs. Lee is the sole returning English teacher from last year. Despite my major disappointment with Sally and Clara leaving the school, I can now comfortably say that I'm glad that Mrs. Lee was the one who stayed. She's sort of become my school "guardian" and is very definitely one of my best friends here (along with Jin-sung and Yuri). 

Mrs. Kim

My new head co-teacher is Mrs. Kim. If Mrs. Lee cares for me like a mother, then Mrs. Kim is definitely the grandmother. Not a single work day goes by without her smiling at me and telling me how wonderful of a person and teacher I am. My daily confidence and self-esteem boosts from her are 100 times better than my morning and afternoon cups of coffee (which I've grown to REALLY appreciate). 

Next is MISS Lee. She has no relation to Mrs. Lee... this coincidence is due to the fact that like 30% of Koreans have this surname. To avoid confusion, I'll just refer to her as Youjin.

Me and Youjin (Miss Lee)

I'm rather comfortable calling her this since she's the youngest actual co-teacher I've ever had (32) and I've become quite accustomed to closeness with women around that age (more to come on that little tidbit). Finally, there's the "half" co-teacher, Sunny. I still know very little about her and still can't remember her Korean name. This is because Sunny is a temporary teacher at our school who only comes on Thursday afternoons. Later in the year I'll actually start teaching with her. But until then, my mentioning of her will most likely remain scarce.

At a Teachers' Dinner

Making Hotteok (Korean Pancakes)

My new co-teachers and I have become extremely close, VERY quickly. We've already been dubbed "the English family", which also includes Yuri and one other female teacher. I have no problem being the only male in this little group of ours... especially since the majority of the group consists of young, beautiful women. My only complaint comes from when they decide to have long conversations about fashion styles and skin care products.

My English Family:)

Of course, I couldn't talk about life at school without bringing up my wonderful students :) It's awesome seeing the familiar faces, as well as my new group of 3rd graders (who do nothing but increase my desire to have a child sometime in the near future). But my favorite classes are the ones that have students who attended my winter camp. Of course, Lena and her class are on top of this list, especially since she's the best behaved in her class (probably because she expects me to give her candy in exchange for good behavior). I also love Lily's class... Lily sits in the front row and tries her little heart out during every single activity we do. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna name my first daughter after her. In my 6th grade classes, I have Alex, Paul, Simon, David, Lucy, and Jenny back. Jenny is my Tuesday "laugh of the day" because she recently decided she wants to change her name to Lauren. I told her that I'll never be able to stop calling her Jenny, so now I use the name repeatedly just to get a rise out of her. David still showers me with "I love you Mark teacher"s for no apparent reason. Some people would find this behavior a little "iffy", but I happen to know that David is among the school's top "skirt chasers". This quote is brought to you by my trusty co-teacher, Mrs. Lee. Lucy and Alex are still their old selves... and I'm constantly telling them to put their hands down so that others may contribute to the class.

I do have an unusual problem with two of my classes this year... one of them is from a 6th grade class and the other is with a 5th.  Apparently, some of the girls are becoming much more comfortable with expressing themselves towards me. To put it more frankly, I have little girls falling in love with me. Yikes. In my 5th grade class, this actually plays to my advantage. Three of the girls (in the same class) have become bold enough to lock arms with me while I'm walking through the hallways and one of them even tries to rest her head on my shoulder while I'm waiting for the class to begin. I shake these things off as nicely as possible, and in return, they act both as my class stimulants and peace enforcers. They try like hell (and actually speak English very well) and help make the classes more interesting. At the same time, they keep order with the other students and make sure they're always paying attention. This class' 6th grade counterpart isn't quite as helpful. In said 6th grade class, there's one girl in particular who has become quite infatuated with me. She sits completely still and silent through the entire 40 minutes I have with her every week. Last week, Youjin asked her why that was. Her response... "I... can't.... speak. Mark teacher.... just... too ...... handsome!" I thought this was ridiculous, so I walked up to her during a class while they were all working on worksheets. Without even saying anything to her, she instantly turned the darkest shade of red I've ever seen on a Korean face. While walking out of the room after class, her friend who sits in front of her was chanting, "Sarah loves Mark teacher! Sarah loves Mark teacher!!!!" <sigh>.... kids....

But I can't lie... all of the attention I get from the students, even the creepy "I love you"s, make me love my job more and more each day. My students are what keep me going and I honestly wouldn't have the desire to teach without them. Sometimes they frustrate the hell outta me and other times they make me want to fill out adoption papers. Krazy? A little bit. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Church Cell Group

My personal life has gotten much less dynamic over the past couple of months... but that's not to say it's gotten less interesting. Outside of teaching, much of my time has been devoted to taking Korean language lessons. I have two personal tutors who work with me whenever my schedule allows, as well as my co-teachers who love exchanging Korean lessons for English exercises. I also found a group of westerners to play basketball with every Saturday afternoon. Throw that in with a language lesson on Saturday night and my church/Seoul day with Yuri every Sunday, my weekends are pretty much booked solid nowadays. 

Seunghee

But the big news that people seem most interested in lately is the addition of my new lady friend, Seunghee. We met a little over a month ago and have been going on little dates about once or twice a week. Do I like this girl? Bet your ass I do. She's a lot of fun! And the pictures I have of her don't quite do her justice... but take my word for it that she's very beautiful. But am I going around telling people she's my girlfriend? Absolutely not. Things are a liiiiiittle complicated with her. 

On the subway back from Seoul

She lives in downtown Incheon, so it takes about an hour to get to her... her English isn't perfect, but passable.... oh yeah, and she's 33 yrs old. On top of that, she's an assistant manager at Samsung HQ in Incheon, cell phone division. In other words, she's got some money. So yeah... she sorta outclasses me in every way possible. Not to mention, it's very unusual for Korean women her age to be single and without a family... so you know what's on her mind. She's quite possibly thinking things that I'm not quite ready to jump into. So we'll see how things work out. No sense in being hasty... for either of us.


In closing, I'm absolutely ecstatic for my brother and friend Kim to be coming here on Wednesday. Ok, maybe ecstatic is a bit much... but I am very very excited to see them. I've done a lot of work to prepare for their arrival and to keep them happy and entertained while they're here. Hopefully it all pays off... I'm sure it will:) Anyways, keep checking for updates and look to Facebook for complete photo albums.


Peace!

Few Quick Fun Facts...

In case you guys haven't been able to tell, I've settled into Korean life quite nicely :) But every day there seems to be someone or something that reminds me that I'm still the foreigner in the bunch. Other times, there are things that make me realize how I've changed since I got here. I find these happenings to be quite interesting and sometimes entertaining. Here's a few of them that have happened today...

- This morning, I walked into my office and said "good morning" to Mrs. Lee like I always do. She replied, "Oh, congratulations!!! Your team won the Super Bowl!!!" I loved this because she has no idea what "my team"'s name is and she knows nothing about American football. But she still took the time to research who won and what the final score was.

- I had lunch with the 5th grade teachers today. I got my typical 돈까스 (pork cutlet) and tore into it. One of the teachers said something to me in Korean... Sally translated it to, "When you first came here, you ate like a bird. Now you eat SO much!"  I don't know if I should be happy that they acknowledge my appreciation for Korean food, or be weirded out from the fact that they always watch me eat...

- I came up with the idea to teach Kim how to read Korean so her and Thomas have an easier time when they visit. I was excited to tell this to Clara... the one who helped me fine-tune MY Korean-reading abilities.

- My little book of Korean flashcards is almost full. I've learned about 90% of the words in it. Some of the words I've learned include the foods I like (sushi, cutlet, bulgogi, etc.) and "I want to eat..."  As important as those may be, I still have trouble remembering how to say "restroom".

There are a bunch more but none that are coming to me at the moment. I'm sure I'll post more of these little fun facts in the future.