Boys will be boys.... sometimes unfortunately

Well it finally happened. A window was broken in my classroom. Ever since I heard I was in an all-boys school people have been telling me, "There won't be a window in your school that hasn't been broken." I should say that I didn't know I was in an all-boys school until I got here. With two days left in orientation I was told by a presenter that my school was all-boys and basically given a "Good luck" look from everyone in the room. The presenter summed up the life of an all-boys school with the handy phrase "There won't be a window in your school that hasn't been broken." I heard the phrase a few more times in the following days and was slightly nervous that I was entering Animal House.

Turns out, I was. This place is a zoo most of the time. Thank God John Henry was my only brother, but because I hadn't really grown up around all of this boy stuff I was a little out of my element at first. Without having the incentive of female attention to keep them on the straight and narrow, men are truly nasty. On a daily basis I see boys farting on each other, hitting each other (usually in the crotch), spitting, screaming, singing, biting.... the list goes on and on.

However, I was getting comfortable and beginning to think that the "window breaking" was kind of an extreme description of all-boys school. Until Friday that is. Everyday after classes the boys clean the school. I have six boys who come in and do a half-hearted job of sweeping, mopping and straightening up. When I went up to let them into my room on Friday, I found the door open, the padlock that should have been securing the classroom laying in a pile of broken glass just inside my door and about a dozen students milling around. All fingers pointed to one boy as the window breaker. Then they changed their story and said that some "pirst (first... they don't do "f") grader" did it. I sent the apparent culprit to get an English teacher. She came and hauled the boy away while the rest of us cleaned up the broken glass. In the meantime I found out that the key to my room is the same as the key for the homeroom of the boys who come to clean my room. So I knew one of them had opened the door... I assumed they opened up to clean the room and were goofing around when the window was broken.

Since it was Halloween, I had told students that if they came to my room and said "Trick or Treat" I would give them a candy. The glass was all cleaned up when some boys came trick or treating. I opened my desk to get some candy and to my naive surprise it was all gone, save one lonely candy. Now I'm angry. I open my other drawers to find that some stickers are missing. Not a huge deal except that I use stickers for bonus points. The more stickers you get, the higher your participation mark at the end of the year. Also, the board I use to keep track of class points had been tampered with before I had a chance to copy last weeks numbers into my binder. So, now I had no idea how many stickers were out there and no clue how many points each class was supposed to have.

Needless to say that the responsible class is going to have a sticker and candy famine for awhile.

It's drama, drama, drama in Korea!

Earlier this month I co-directed an English play here at my school. I was asked to help with something in English for the school festival. The boys who volunteered wanted something funny, with fighting, it could only be ten minutes long and include a cast of fifteen. One of the students who speaks nearly perfect English suggested doing a take on Kurasawa’s “Rashamon” where different witnesses retell the same event in entirely different ways. Some of the younger boys decided against participating and I was left with about 8 Grade three students (Grade 9 age back home) who are all part of the student government.We began rehearsals about a month before the festival and they were hilarious. You have to understand what these boys are like to truly appreciate it. They are extremely physical and are constantly either hitting each other or stroking each other. So a typical rehearsal involved them hitting each other over the head using these metal poles that they seem to always find, poking each others asses with the poles or sitting two to a chair, on laps like petting each others arms and heads. Highlights from rehearsal? The time that someone stole the main character’s mechanical pencil and he was so upset that he went behind a desk and laid on the floor for the entire rehearsal. No one seemed to find this odd but me. I had to read his part while he was like a foot away! Also, once the costumes came out the boy playing “Girlfriend” decided to wear a miniskirt. And let me tell you, it was mini. His boxers kept sticking out the bottom and whenever he had to fall to the ground or walk over someone else on the ground his fellow cast members gave a collective “Oh my God!” and random Korean expletives (p.s. all Koreans seems to love to say “shit”). I actually overheard him say “Oh my balls!” at one point which is amazing when you consider the English he doesn’t understand. The play ended up going very well and I was happy I did it. I will have a DVD copy of the whole school festival that I will have to screen to everyone when I get home.

Jinju Lantern Festival

On Saturday the 11th we went to Jinju, about an hour outside of Suncheon to see the Lantern Festival that happens on the river there. It was so cool! First we went through the market section, got some food and did a little shopping. I got a stamp with my name in Korean engraved on it. Lots of Koreans use these as a signature in their daily life so I thought it would be a cool souvenir. As a bonus we got to hang out with Kyenne, a super cool 2 year old boy. He’s the son of two foreigners who teach here in Suncheon and in Korea he is a rock star! He is crazy cute, even by North American standards but to the Koreans he is fascinating! One woman grabbed him by the face so she could get a look at him! I was told that it happens all the time but actually seeing it was pretty crazy! Some Korean girls even grabbed him for a picture.

After we left the market we headed to the lantern making station. You pay about $3 to write your wish inside a paper lantern, tape it together and set it to float on the river. It was really time consuming to tape it up but well worth it! Aside from the obvious environmental concerns (hundreds of styrofoam plates thrown into a river), it was really cool. After making our wishes we headed down to check out the huge amazing lanterns that are everywhere! In the river were really cool, huge floating lanterns and along the banks of the river were these amazing lanterns that move and one, a dragon, that even blew smoke and fire! Once we saw most of the lanterns we headed up the bank of the river and down a path through a really neat bamboo “forest” to catch the fireworks. They were really elaborate and at one point crazy sparks started shooting down from a bridge over the river. All in all it was a great day and it made me happy to be here in Korea.

I’ve been to the *$&# Mountain Top!

Well the MacDonalds are hill climbing people, I’ve said that many times. These meaty calves of mine are from ancestors who existed in the Scottish highlands for hundreds of years, no doubt spending their days tending hillside farms and homes.

So, when I was invited to go for a “fun hike” with some teachers from my school I happily accepted, thinking that surely even I could handle hiking here. The mountains that surround us here in Suncheon are mere hills by Canadian standards. No problem!

I began to get a little nervous as we left Suncheon on the highway and began driving through some pretty twisty roads through some mountains that were starting to look pretty daunting. When we arrived at the entrance to the hiking trail, all seemed well but I knew I was in trouble. At least 50 Koreans were milling around throughout the parking lot and these people were completely outfitted. Walking sticks, pristine hiking boots, name-brand everything. My group was 9 people total and glancing around I noticed that they were getting geared up themselves. I was wearing sunglasses, yoga pants and a Sandbanks Fun Run T-shirt, carrying my camera in one hand and my water bottle in the other.

Fast forward about half an hour later… I’m out of breath but doing okay. The trail has become pretty steep but is mostly stairs and still manageable. However, it just won’t end! I find it very hard to describe but I think most people can imagine how I felt. You know when you are just so tired and you keep thinking, “It must end just around this corner” but it just keeps coming. Steeper and steeper until I thought I would have to pull a Radar and fake a pulled muscle. The group stops once for a short break and then continues. Now I am ready to die. I am covered in sweat (the Korean women still look perfectly made-up and if a bead of sweat happens to appear they delicately blot it away with their beautiful hankies) and wipe it off with the neck of my t-shirt when I can. My hair is plastered to my face and neck and I keep stopping to take pictures as an excuse to stop and breathe a bit! My legs refuse to move at some points, I am dizzy and a little light-headed. Mood: bitter.

I finally make it to a small summit where the teachers are waiting only to find out that we are now going to go over the mountain to have lunch! So, now we walk mostly downhill (there is a God!) to a little restaurant on the other side of the mountain. We have our lunch (including plenty of alcohol because who doesn’t want to get liquored up and go climb a mountain?!) and then start walking back over. We decide to go a different way than the way we came and I am faced with at least 200 stairs. I curse Korea, Mountains,Amanda Gale for making me come to this godforsaken place and my own ill health. Finally, FINALLY we make it down the mountain. One of the teachers takes me to show me the temple which is beautiful. I am giddy. All I can think of is my apartment, my shower, my bed! I see the van…. Yes!

This is when I find out that the day (the most physically challenging day of my life) is not over. We have one more stop before we go home. We are going to visit the Grade 3 (middle school Grade 3 is like Grade 9 at home) students and teachers who are on a camping trip. I agree, I really don’t have a choice- how else will I get back to Suncheon? So, off we go. I realize too late that the other car full of teachers went back to Suncheon and watch as we drive by my apartment building (from the highway, there was no way for me to get out!). I curse my own stupidity and want to cry a little.

ONE HOUR and 45 minutes later we arrive at a Youth Hostel where the approx. 300 Grade 3 students are “camping.” We are very kindly welcomed in to the facility to have some dinner. Dinner is… what else? RAW EEL. We are on an island so this is considered a real speciality because it is so fresh. I eat it (it wasn’t bad) and drink the Soju that is inevitably offered to me. Now I am thinking we must be leaving, we must be going home. We are, of course, not leaving.

Because the hostel rooms where the Korean teachers are staying are “too small” we are told to head down to a room in the basement. I have only been in Korea for two weeks but I knew what this meant- drinking. Boy was I right! After doing rounds of shots of scotch and eating more raw fish we finally get ready to leave. Every teacher leaves the basement and comes outside to say goodbye. Twenty minutes later we are on the road, heading back home.
The moral of the story? Don’t ever hike with Koreans.

In Korea!

Hello to Everyone!
I made it to Korea alive and have been enjoying orientation so far! There are a ton of awesome people here and it's been a lot of fun getting to know them. I'll be posting pictures and more exciting stories soon but just wanted to add something to this pathetic blog!
Until next time...

My first post

14 days and counting until we fly out of Canada! Once I am in Korea I will be using this blog as a space to keep everyone updated on my teaching and travelling experiences, I will NOT be blogging my every thought, don't worry. Just an easier way for those without Facebook to keep track of me and what I'm up to!