Thursday, August 27, 2009

Home Visit

With my family at the airport

Some of the Korean snacks I brought home didn't go over well...like dried squid and squid-flavored chips

Alyssa's Bridal Shower

Baby Kevin!

My Dad tries Bulgogi

Catching up with my college roomies in Uptown

My parents' new cabin



I saw Jason Mraz at Excel with my sisters. Great Concert!

Overheard at LeAnne's Daycare, 8-10-09

Charlotte, one of my mom's daycare kids, has always been a favorite of mine. She's 6 years old, completely blunt and brutally honest, which makes conversations with her highly entertaining.

Last summer she and Sofia, another outspoken daycare kid, were giving me a lot of grief because my YOUNGER sister had gotten engaged. Why wasn't I getting married? I told them that boys were overrated and I wanted to travel the world.

This week I was showing them where I live now and the places I visited this year in a World Atlas. I also showed them some pictures and videos from my year abroad, expecting them to be impressed. Not so much. Our conversation afterwards went something like this:

Charlotte: But, are you married yet?
Me: Ha ha, no.
Sofia: How old are you?
Me: 26.
Sofia: What?! Why aren't you married?
Me: I don't want to get married right now. Maybe when I'm like 30 I'll start looking for a husband.
Sofia: (Aghast) You should have been looking for a husband when you turned 21!!!
Me: If I was married, I couldn't travel.
Charlotte: You could travel with your husband.
Me: That's true.
Charlotte: Or you could just tell him you're going to school or work and go on a trip.

Guess they have it all figured out for me :)

Friday, August 7, 2009

미국에 와요! I'm coming home!!

In T-minus 19 hours, I will be back in the Land of 10,000 Lakes! Like I said in an earlier post, I have mixed emotions about this. I finally get to see the people I've been missing like crazy all year, but last night I had to say goodbye to the people who won't be coming back for another year. I hate saying goodbye to people and knowing that I may never see them again, mais 'C'est la Vie'

I want to wish everyone the best of luck and safe travels. It's been a great year.

Reason #678,945 I pushed for a 6 month contract

(Written August 6th)

Right now I'm sitting in a nearly empty school building, wondering if any of my 6 summer camp students will show up for class today. The last day of summer classes for the rest of the teachers was yesterday, but I still have to come and teach for 2 more days because "it's in my contract" that I have to teach a 3 week summer camp.

Nevermind that some of the other SMOE teachers got to condense or shorten camps to spend an extra week at home with their families during vacation. No, it is more important that I sit and Facebook in an empty building instead of being with my family and friends that I haven't seen in a year.

Nevermind that when it works in my school's favor, it's perfectly okay to break the rules. Example: SMOE recently issued a new rule that any teacher returning from a foreign country should stay home for a week so that they don't spread any potential swine flu or "new flu" germs. (it's called "new flu" here, because if they called it pig flu, Koreans would be too terrified to eat pig meat and the industry would crumble)

My VP wants me to come to school that week because there's a group of Japenese exchange students visiting and they want to show me off. My coteacher and I have already had to do several demo lessons this year showing off our "groundbreaking" ESL teaching methods. In Korea, whenever someone comes to observe your class, you are supposed to blow them away with a meticulously prepared, previously rehearsed lesson to make yourself look like a super teacher, and therefore make the school look good. It doesn't matter what you do on a regular basis, for this one demo lesson where people are watching, you are supposed to be a model of teaching perfection. Hence, most Korean teachers dread these "demo lessons" and avoid them like the plague.

I think this is ridiculous, and one of many, many complaints I have about the education system here, and the reason I was almost dreading the thought of another whole year. Back home, teacher observations were used as an opportunity to give constructive criticism and help you improve as a teacher, not hurl insults at you if your lesson is short of perfect.

Don't get me wrong, I like Korea. I like my life here, my friends, the country itself. But I think the school system is completely backwards. They think that by sticking a bunch of Native Speakers in the classrooms that they are being progressive and improving English education. But it's not working because there is very little we can do within the system itself. I feel like more of a figurehead and walking grammar book most of the time.


I'm staying with SMOE for 6 more months, because the pay and hours and vacation are very good compared to other jobs. Also because I like my students and my coworkers. I live and teach in an enviable area. However I cannot handle the chaos and illogic that is the school system here much longer. Fellow (foreign) teachers tell me to relax and stop taking it so seriously, but I can't. Teaching for me is a vocation and I have to believe in what I'm doing. I keep hoping that the situation will get better, but I keep having to put up with the same BS over and over. I'm ready to try something different.


Note: My students did show up for class today, 15 minutes late. They apologized and worked diligently on their projects for the rest of the period. They don't really get any credit for my class, they signed up voluntarily to improve their English. Kids like that are the reason I'm in this 'biz.

My busy little worker bees in Summer Camp: