My first glance at Korea was walking down the jet way of Incheon International Airport half-asleep and feeling like a shell of a person rather than a fully-functioning human. One of my first thoughts walking down the long terminals was that for the first time in my life I felt taller. For the most part I felt like I was taller than at least 4/5 of all the Korean men.
The bus ride from the airport to Mokpo was even greater experience. In fact it was both humorous and eye-opening. The bus drive was quite the character. Whether it was his belching, picking his teeth, impromptu stretches that looked like dance moves or his chatter into his Bluetooth. I was half-awake for the majority of the drive down but marveled at the scale of the infrastructure. We drove across one of the longest bridges I had ever seen and every once and a while you would see towering columns of apartment buildings clumped together in the middle of nowhere. Planning and zoning takes on a whole new meaning here.
The simple things impressed too. The tollbooths are all automated; there is no stopping to pay. The tollbooth senses the car and charges it to the driver as they drive by, I have no clue how this works. At each city you drive through a checkpoint and are disinfected by a spray, I’m guessing that Koreans hate germs. One of the funnier things I witnessed was in relation to Korean traffic workers. They are mechanical men dressed up in orange and waving a fluorescent stick, warning of the inevitable roadwork or spray things.
The Swastika: Many people don’t know this but the Swastika is an ancient Hindu and Buddhist symbol. So it should come as no surprise to see a swastika every once and a while in Korea or other Asian countries. My first one happened to be on the way down to Mokpo. It was on a traffic sign of all places, a big white swastika on a brown sign. Westerners should not take offense to such a sight. It’s all a matter of context. Though I do hear that “Hitler themed bars” are very popular in Korea. That’s another story though.
My first experience in trying to communicate to a Korean went alright. I was trying to order some Korean food by myself before work. Somehow I ended up with a double order of food. The nice thing is that Korean food is cheap and good!
Now for the big topic, teaching. Being thrown into teaching with little or no experience in a foreign country is what you would expect it to be, overwhelming. At my school I teach six classes, fifty minutes each and in not in the particular same order from day to day from what I understand. So I basically had a half hour training for today’s agenda. Five of my six classes were basically the same sequence of events with me at the center of it all trying haphazardly trying to coordinate a class full of restless, hyper, sleepy Korean children.
Each private language school, or hagwon, is different. They choose the manner of how things are taught and what is taught and who is in control. In my particular case I am given subject material and work a tight schedule. Today being Monday was “Word Test Day”. So in five of my six classes I gave a word test, I am given a list of the previous weeks vocabulary and I give the students a word test sheet to fill out. Before doing so I naturally take attendance and try to say their Korean names, mostly to the sounds of laughter. As for the tests I say a random word and they have to spell it in English and Korean. Following the test that I hand out the new vocabulary sheet and the free-for-all begins, figuring out to keep kids occupied for a full fifty minutes is a challenge.
The kids that I teach are all different. Of my six classes I enjoyed about 4 of the classes. The children were relatively easy to communicate and worked diligently. The other two classes were full of hyper Korean kids that were difficult to keep under control and speak English. They weren’t terrible though. My first day I naturally had no idea what I was doing, It will probably be the same for a good while. Day one is complete, with many more to come.
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