Crying

Don't worry, it's not me that cried, it was my student. I seriously wanted to cry with her though, it was so sad. For the life of her she could not acknowledge the difference between a big 'A' and a small 'a' and my friend/coteacher reamed her out for her lack of memorizing abilities. I felt a little uncomfortable, just because I couldn't imagine being yelled at so harshly for not being able to comprehend a language that is so different from my own. I don't really know if this is a U.S. vs. Korea type of learning system because I was pretty quick as a child (definitely not as an adult) and I don't remember even being yelled at for being dumb. Plus, I totally would have cried as a college student when I took Japanese and couldn't seem to remember the words.

Before coming here I read about the way children learn English in Korea and it was almost always critized by the Native English speakers. I think my biggest criticsms so far are its lack of cohesiveness. Then again, I'm just a small private kindergarden teacher and I'm sure they'll get more knowledge during their daily public school learning. But here, we seriously spew off so many new words everyday, and the next day just throw some more at them. Personally, I've been trying to learn two or three Korean words a day and one or two phrases/grammatical structures (all very simple) and thats overwhelming! I only end up retaining about half of that. I don't know, the moral of this topic is I feel bad for the poor girl. I also kind of sympathize with many of my students because their pressure to succeed to such a great extent is all they know. I have some kids who seriously study from 8am to 10pm at least everyday, and they're 9 years old! I was asking one kid when he plays, he says he doesn't. I asked him about his favorite movies or music or TV shows and he said he doesn't have any because he's not allowed to do that. I'm sure this is great for their future and setting them up to be smart and productive members of society, but shit, you're only a kid once. I love Korea, and I know they are doing the best for their children, but I don't think I could raise my (non-existent) child to be under so much stress and pressure. This probably makes sense why Korea has such a high suicide rate. Anyways, enough social commentary, this blog is for writing about my mundane daily activities, not for important sociological analysis of the Korean culture.. pshh

So, to follow along those lines, I'm going to Seoul next week! I may have said that before, but we have a bit more of an update this week. I'm going alone! Dun Dun Dun.. My director couldnt find subs for both me and my coteacher so I have to go alone. On the plus side, I was planning on going anyways, so I'll have friends there to meet up with on Saturday! I will try to take some pictures so I can add interesting visuals (which I still have to do for the last post) but don't hold your breath.

Additionally, as I usually say, I love Korea. I've been here exactly 29 days and it feels like only 2. Although it is very soon, I can imagine myself staying abroad for 2 years total (Don't cry! You all know I'm better off over here anyways) The only question would be to a) Stay in Korea, and if so, stay in Gwangju? Or maybe go somewhere like Busan? and b) Go to Japan? As much as I think Japan would be awesome, I think cost wise Korea is a good bet. I just get angry that I could do basic conversation (To get me from point A to point B) in Japanese but am still struggling with the basics of Korean. However, Koreans writing is so much easier, I actually can/have mastered it, while it would take a million years to do that with Japanese. Who knows, after my one year I might be AWESOME at Korean anyways. Either way, I'll for sure take a trip back to MN to visit and then head off.

As for tonight, it's Friday. I've been definitely enjoying my weekends here, and the week seems to go by so fast so that's awesome. I'll be heading out with the girlfriends, having dinner somewhere delicious as usual and hit up the local foreigner scene. I can only tell you this: fruit Soju will be consumed, most likely some cheap beer as well, and plenty of fun! Gunbae! (cheers in Korean)