My new MacBook will be on its way to Jeju-do very, very soon. I’ve come to peace with it. My father, he has deep-rooted, principled objections to Apple Computers Inc., and I understand them; anyone can make a PC or a PC part or a PC program, but if you want something for an Apple, well, you have to go through Apple. But I’m really, really excited. It’s like a toy. Have you seen iLife ‘08?
Today I taught my kids the word for “flood” (hmm), ate a yogurt popsicle, and had one new boy show up to choir and two girls quit. Cool, whatever, we didn’t want you anyway. I also saw the student body president being a jackass in the special ed classroom – it appears that all student body presidents everywhere are alike – and told ACT that I’m down for yoga and pottery classes. I really want to take up cello again too, but they’re telling me that a used one costs around $400, so I have to think about it. I think I need some extracurriculars, though. I’m ready to do more on my own, to get more involved in this city, to be less reliant on others. And in that spirit, even though I don’t really feel like it, I’m going to go walk around Hwabuk and see what I can see.
My choir boys are tone-deaf. Stone-cold tone-deaf. We finally got the rhythm down for the first part of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” but it doesn’t exactly sound like anything, yet.
Also, my students are terrible at playing hangman. Why on earth would anyone use Q for their first guess? Q?
I’ve switched the Patbingsu Song punishment – now they have to dance to “When Doves Cry.”
Filed under: ACT, PCT, life in Jeju, miscommunication, music, pipe dreams, skool, teaching
So my room is filled with decorations from last year’s ETA, including class projects, English concepts, and signs that say “Happy Times with Jullienne” (sic). Monday, after many promises of redecoration, PCT and ACT offered to take me to the stationery store for room supplies the next day. The next day (yesterday), however, it was raining, so PCT came into my room and was like, “What I mean to say is I think maybe it is bad idea to go because the rain is so heavy.” And I was like, fine, whatever, and we made plans to go today. And they went anyway, because the rain stopped, and failed to call me. Although they bought me Post-it bookmarks. Which – granted – I needed. But still. And now PCT says she is too busy to help me make new signs for the classroom, which is fine, but I would be willing to do all the work – I just need to know what to do. I already tried emailing her documents she could print out and I could laminate (again, I would do this, but I don’t have access to a computer with a printer) and she told me that they were too small, or something. I don’t even know. And now ACT just came in – apparently we ARE going to the stationery store today, and I feel really bad, because I would have gone last night had I known, and thus avoided making them trek twice. Sometimes it just feels like there is a lot of stuff that they think/say in Korean and just, you know, forget to translate.
Also: first a cappella practice this morning. Students did NOT like “Lean on Me.” Which I was going to say is positively un-American, but then I remembered I am not in America.
PS. I am debating giving busted laptop to Candace for college, since Acer will take approximately six years to fix mine, and investing in a new one. And – I hate to say this, but I was looking at Glypie’s MacBook Pro, and it is so pretty. But a Mac? Really? In my family, that is akin to buying a Chevy, making cake from a mix, or voting Democrat. In other words, it means admitting the defeat of your convictions. Never mind that I don’t really want to vote Republican or Democrat or Green or Constitution, lately.
I’ve been watching this music show thing with HS – maybe it’s an awards show? – and for lack of a better word, it’s awesome. A few observations:
- We just saw the lead singer of this band called Banana Boat prance around on stage in a tailcoat
- Um, I just saw a band called Banana Boat
- All of the bands seem to have at least seven members
- Maybe “bands” isn’t the right word?
- No one can sing – at least in America our production values take care of singers who go flat
Anyway I’m about to call Tony and head out to Hallim for the evening, but I think I have to spend a little more time with HF, since I just got out of bed, you know, an hour or so ago. I actually woke up at 8 AM (thanks, school), watched an episode of Cupid, talked to Glypie, and generally was unproductive before falling back into a hangover-induced stupor around 11. I was working under the (erroneous) impression that my host fam was also asleep, so my sloth was acceptable. Actually, my host family was doing things, like normal people do on Saturdays, and they just didn’t happen to be in the apartment.
So now I’m sitting here in a shirt that says “What a Lovely,” thinking about what the rain means for my plans tomorrow with HB and HS, and about last night. I’m still not worried about the island – I think we’re all settling in, trying to establish our places with our families. I can see how one might be concerned. But I’m not, yet. I’m still happy.
What I am concerned about, though, is Monday. If my class of obnoxious eighth-grade girls yesterday reminded me of anything, it was that I really do need to come up with some sort of disciplinary policy and a set of rules – even if there’s another teacher in the room with me. I wish I’d established this routine earlier. Why did I just assume that they wouldn’t be needed? The educational system is different here, but kids are kids are kids. Even if it seems like only in South Korea would I find a student reminiscent of a small, Korean Eugene Levy. Why are the only resemblances I find obscure ones?
I think – I think - we’re having our first a cappella (aka “English pop song? Do you want to join English pop song club?”) practice on Wednesday, where I will begin the process of whipping these children into singing shape. I want to start with “Lean on Me,” because it’s easy, and who doesn’t like it? Co-Teacher has been incredibly supportive of this endeavor, and she also wrote me a really sweet letter the other day that basically told me to keep on truckin’. It made me glad I spent a lot of money to take a taxi to buy us frozen yogurt.
1. American music played: Azure Ray (host mom likes, natch)
2. Teaching today, I realized that I sound like Will Ferrell talking to Sean Connery on “Celebrity Jeopardy.”
3. New KFB post…check it out on the sidebar, kthx
Filed under: fondness for analogies, host fam, life in Jeju, music, okay seriously Korea
Good thing it’s around midnight and I still have a PowerPoint to complete for Classes 1-4 tomorrow. In college, to be honest, that would have been a decent track record. But now I am a functioning adult – I am – and so I should be doing these things earlier, even though the rush of excitement I feel about tomorrow is the same feeling I’ve always had before the first day of school, from age five to age now.
Again, full disclosure: I would probably have made more progress had I not arrived at school this morning, achy and congested, to find that my computer was entirely in Korean. This made making a snazzy presentation difficult. It actually made making any presentation difficult, since I couldn’t understand any of the commands. After half an hour of trying to explain to the other teachers that I just wanted my computer commands in English, I did NOT want to type in Korean, I did NOT want to read English-language websites, and I was NOT having trouble accessing Microsoft Word, I was able to move on to asking if I could go home and work on my laptop, where all the commands are in beautiful, blessed English. After deterring me for another half hour with hollow promises of repairs by the computer teacher, it was finally discovered that the computer teacher was too busy to fix my computer that day. But then, of course, it was time for lunch. Not time to go home and get some work done, time (of course) to eat. They told me that if I was not feeling well that I should order some mandu with them, so I did. Then they got me some Tylenol and told me that I should eat some noodles before taking the medicine, and that we would be eating both noodles AND mandu, despite the fact that I didn’t really want any mandu in the first place, much less noodles + mandu. Eventually I managed to talk them down to just noodles, although the moment I came home my host brother and sister were like, “Hey, do you want some mandu?”
But in the interest of complete truth, I will admit that I went downtown exploring with HS and HB today, as we had previously planned, when I had foolishly believed that my morning might be productive. After they left for hagwon I stumbled upon an underground fish and vegetable market, where the fish were so fresh that the market didn’t smell and huge pyramids of Jeju tangerines decorated the stalls. I felt like Alice in Wonderland. Then I emerged back into the downtown, went to the wrong Pizza Hut, and finally made it to meet the Jeju-si crew, where – much to my surprise – I almost cried in relief. I told my host mom that I like Korean food better than pizza, which is largely true, but tonight this was the best pizza I had ever had, despite the fact that it was accompanied by really gross and partially frozen lasagna. The crust was filled with cheese and sweet potato. I suggest you not knock the combination until you have tried it.
The operative word around here seems to be “maybe.” As in, “Maybe the computer company is very busy, so they will maybe come tomorrow, or maybe Monday,” or “Maybe that is cuttlefish,” or “Maybe my mother will pick you up.” The element of terrifying uncertainty that’s already inherent in having your language brokenly translated by a twelve-year-old is amplified by such statements; will my host mother be there, or won’t she? Is it squid, or isn’t it? The only explanation I can come up with is that “maybe” is somehow synonymous with “to be,” or that here on this island, nothing is for sure, not even the identity of dried seafood. But it still seems to fit, somehow; after tonight, I have hope for this year. Will it fly? Maybe.
I don’t know if I could drive a car
Fast enough to get to where you are
Or wild enough not to miss the boat completely
Honey, I’m thinking maybe
You know just maybe
- Liz Phair, “Shatter”
- “Praise You,” Fatboy Slim
- “Satellite,” Dave Matthews Band
- the entirety of Sufjan Stevens’ “Michigan” album
- Ralph Stanley
To be fair, the first two stemmed from the fact that Host Brother was working on his English vocab, and two of the words just happened to be “praise” and “satellite.” Also the fact that I will use any excuse. I played Sufjan when we returned home from seeing “D-War” on Saturday night and I was eating instant udon with my host brother and sister, and my host sister requested “soft” music. (My host mom, or omoni, liked it so well that I made her a CD. Incidentally.) As for the bluegrass…well, that’s what I brought them, so. I don’t speak Korean, so this will have to do.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about compromise, and not compromising. I am so happy to be on Jeju with these ETAs, specifically. I am. And I cannot wait to see them. But – at the same time – I am very happy here, happy to be settling in, to continue to get to know my host family, to befriend my teachers, to know the beaches. I miss my friends in other cities, but I’m not leaving Facebook wall posting for everyone I see. I think I’ll be okay for the next six weeks, in other words. But I can’t help but wonder: is this wrong? Is the absence of dependence just a masquerade for the absence of connection? I am content here, at least so far. I know I shouldn’t be doubting myself. But I am.
Last night I also watched an episode of “Scrubs” with HB, who seemed to think it was funny, probably because of Fat Albert’s double cameo appearances. At the part where Dr. Cox explains, “Kelso’s not just some harmless guy pushing my buttons, Carla. He’s a pod person,” I found myself laughing out loud for no particular reason. I seem to be prone to inappropriate displays of emotion lately; for example, right now I am thinking about Coldplay’s song “Yellow” and Joanna Doiron’s house, two things which have no obvious connection, and even though I am lying in a room filled with giant yellow flowers on the walls, I’m in, as they say, a glass case of emotion.
Filed under: U S of A, fondness for analogies, life in Chuncheon, music, orientation, poetry, reading
I am sick, which will either limit or heighten the number of blog posts made, depending on the effort I choose to exert when I’m forced to do nothing. As it stands, I sound like a late-stage emphysema patient. People keep asking me how I am, since the uninformed dorm resident could easily assume that I’m dying. They also keep telling me to not talk and rest my voice, which is a little like telling Paris Hilton to stop getting arrested, or telling otters to stop being cute.* I.e. it’s not going to happen.
Today I went to E-Mart by myself to get 약 , medicine, which is – almost unbelievably – pronounced “yahk.” Like yuck. After a certain amount of time around others I tend to get sort of antsy and need to explore by myself, so being sick was actually quite convenient: it allowed me to take a taxi on my own, describe my symptoms to the pharmacist (although, after she proceeded to ask me some questions in Korean and then saw my confused look, said pharmacist asked, “Do you want me to speak to you in English?”), ask questions regarding the location of plastic spoons. Etc. Also, now I have yogurt, and although my yogurt was strawberry, it came with two pomegranate yogurts free (“service,” as they say here). And sushi at E-Mart is sold a la carte for approximately $.60 per piece. I did choose to invest.
Tomorrow I’m going to this “traditional folk village,” aka Probably Korean Shakertown, but Gwi Ohk is so excited, and it’s hard to not feel the same way around her. Then Monday: DMZ. I’m performing in the talent show on Tuesday, so getting my voice back by then would be ideal.
I’ve started looking for some Vachel Lindsay online. Even though I seem to recall not liking him much before, I read a line in After Henry from him -
I brag and chant of Bryan Bryan Bryan
Candidate for President who sketched a silver Zion -
and it really made me want to read more, probably because I think I subconsciously miss America. And cheese. I talked to Candace the other day and started naming off foods I wanted and they all had cheese as a major ingredient. Soon I’ll be sitting around listening to nothing but Aaron Copland and dreaming of QDoba.
I’ve also been listening to Tegan and Sara’s “Walking with a Ghost” on repeat, but I don’t think that has anything to do with the U S of A.
*At the DMZ there’s apparently this Otter Research Center, since otters are the only mammals that can successfully pass from North to South Korea without getting blown up by land mines. I am not making this up. And I am so excited.
tonight’s dedications:
Momma, I got your package 
I will call you when my voice comes back.
Roommates, I love you both.
Filed under: Fulbright, crushes, how we roll, life in Chuncheon, music, okay seriously Korea, orientation, pictures, poetry, reading
Standard conversations with my teachers:
HILLARY Bang-teacher!
BANG-선생님 (teacher) Yes?
HILLARY Doesn’t your last name mean “room” in Korean?
BANG-선생님 You call me over for that? That is not question.
in Korean
KIM-선생님 We talk about location. So right now I stand in front of the
HILLARY Oh! Blackboard! I know this one!
KIM-선생님 Um…yes.
Note: we learned “blackboard” on the first day. I tend to get so excited when I recognize words, however, that I call them out regardless of their relevance. It should come as no surprise to anyone, then, that Bang-선생님 had to reassure me repeatedly tonight that she does not think I am stupid.
Here is Bang-선생님:
And here is Kim-선생님, shown here with my friend Ariah:
And here is part of our class at a hof called 75 (or 칠십오 , if you’re into that sort of thing):
This was, of course, pre-Korean haircut. On this night (Thursday), it was just our class. Apparently we are so well known for our poor performance that the advanced teachers actually make fun of our Bang and ask her how the dumb class is going, and she gets really heated on our behalf.
Friday was all the beginning classes’ party. This is post-Korean hair. Which is $8, so I highly recommend.
The club was called “STOP!” Our teachers reserved tables for us and set a cover charge. Note: In Korea, hugging is regarded as strange, but drinking with your teachers is totally acceptable. The above is an abstract depiction of noraebang.
Korean hair:
Something was funny, obviously. You can see the top of this Yoshitomo Nara shirt (also $8, incidentally) that says “mumps.”
These are the pitchers our teachers bought us. Lest you think “Oh, that’s not so big,” let me inform you that my friend Andy, who is shown above holding the aforementioned pitcher, is 6′8″.
The rest of the subjects I have mentioned in previous entries as needing discussion also require photo viewing, and I do not wish to overwhelm the reader, so I’ll deal with these topics incrementally. I will leave you, instead, with some lyrics to a song that I like. Also, I did not bring any books of poetry with me, so I am putting out an official request: blog readers, send me poems you like.
orange ball of peace - the mountain goats
they wanted me to be a lawyer. they wanted me to work in a machine shop. they wanted me to be a designer, but I came out on top. I'm a fire-man. I'm a fire-man. stand and watch the smoke. see the flames rise to the sky. I stand and watch the flames climb higher. I feel the smoke get in my eyes. I'm a fire-man. I'm a fire-man.
Filed under: music
I was listening to a lot of Azure Ray before I left, but I haven’t listened to much of anything since my arrival – only Micah P. Hinson (which suggests that I may miss the South more than I realize). I am remedying this situation, however, as I type. I don’t think it’s healthy that I haven’t been listening to anything lately. It suggests a willful shutting off, as opposed to communion with the rest of the world.
Displaced.mp3
Also, another KFB post.
I got my homework done tonight and then Glypie and I sat around and gossiped. There is some sort of large winged insect trying to commit harikari in our room right now. I’m pretty sure. Last night I dreamed that I was hanging out with Shanna Sanders and we both had doors in our foreheads.
