1. At the movies in Korea, you pick your seats as you're buying the tickets. It doesn't sound that extraordinary, but it's actually really cool and will hopefully catch on in America one day! It reassures you that you have a seat when you get in the theatre and won't be stuck in those dreaded first few rows that give you a crick in your neck and make you feel car sick. haha My explanation does it no justice, it's a cool system!
Disclaimer: this next little story is sad. I apologize in advance, but it's sad and I just learned about it recently so I wanted to share. I promise to follow it with better stories.
2. There is so much pressure for Korean students to do well in school that the suicide rate for middle school and high school students is among the highest in the world. Most students, grades K-12, attend school all day, then go to one or more after school private academies-hagwons-that their parents pay extra for. These academies come in a wide range of subjects, including English, Math, Science, Piano, Violin and PE. There are so many more, but those are the ones my students talk about. I was walking home one night about 9:45 and saw a bunch of kids getting out of a hagwon by my house. 9:45 at night! It was very likely that they had been going nonstop since about 8am, only to get home and study and do homework for their school and hagwons. With all of that being said, high school seniors have it even worse. They have to take college entrance exams and the score they earn determines which university they can get in to. This is literally life and death in some cases. If a student does bad, they think that it's better to commit suicide than to continue their life. The college you get into determines the rest of your life in so many different ways. It's so sad to me, and I feel for them being put under this much stress. This is an excerpt from a blog I found talking about suicide and testing. It's been called suicide season because of the increase in suicides around this time every year. This excerpt talks about the testing day. Please read and see how serious this stuff is:
"Today, roads will be blocked off to eliminate traffic noise around test sites. Airports will even re-arrange flight approach paths, so that airplanes' drone does not distract students in their seats, during the exam. Police wait by subway stations to speedily escort late students from the subway exit to their exam site, to help them arrive on time. High school seniors have been living on four hours of sleep a night for the months leading up to today; some parents even rent their kids a room in a goshiwon -- a cheap hotel -- so that they can study without distraction from their brothers and sisters, or from the TV or internet."
It's so shocking to me that this happens. I've made a new friend recently. He's my age and in nursing school full time. He was working at a Western bar in my town behind his parents back because they only wanted him to study and having a job would take up too much time. His dad found out and grounded him because he was so mad. Isn't that mind blowing? In America, parents are forcing their children to get jobs, and in Korea, children are going behind their parents backs to get jobs. We need a happy medium, people!
3. So I had a weird walk to school today. It takes me about five minutes to walk to school everyday. Occasionally there are two ajumas (old Korean women who rule the Korean world, basically) sitting outside of a store on the stairs. The thing about ajumas is they don't speak English because they're part of the older generation when it wasn't importnat to know English. They are also usually pretty unfriendly (and mean) and don't really have to follow any rules. If they want to cut you in line at the store or while you're buying a ticket for the bus, you can't do anything about it. If they want your seat on the bus, you better get up. If you're talking too loudly, they'll shush you without hesitation. If your bus window is open and they wish it wasn't, they have no problem acting like you're not even there, reaching over you and closing the window. Well, these two ajumas are not like the ones I just described! They always say hello to me in English, but unfortunately for everyone involved, that's all the English they know. The first day I saw them and they said hello to me in English, I responded back with hello in Korean, and a bow. They were shocked, it was so cute. So since that day, the three of us have become friends. They're usually outside 2 out of the 4 days I go to school, so they always greet me in English and I always respond in Korean, all three of us amused by this, or so I thought. Eventually they started attempting to have conversations with me in Korean. As we've learned previously, that doesn't work for me. Luckily I understood a few words and figured out they were talking about me being a teacher. I told them I was an English teacher at Naun Elementary. For a few weeks, that simple conversation was enough, but today, they wanted more. Today, they said hello like normal, and then one extended her hand. It's not really a Korean norm to shake hands, so I wasn't really sure what she was going for? I awkwardly extended my arm, praying she was looking for a handshake. It was exactly what she wanted! But for good measures, I still threw in a little bow. Then she pulled me real close and made me take off my sunglasses to look at my eyes. Oh boy...that really got them talking. I assume they were talking about my eyes being blue, but I have no clue what they were saying to me. Just then, one of my students and her mom drove by, yelling Kyla Teacher out the window, giving me a perfect escape route. The conversation obviously ended with them asking me about school and being a teacher.. haha I said, yes, and ran off to school. haha So odd! Sweet ladies though! I can't wait to see what we 'talk' about next week.
4. My classroom is on the second floor of the school, so I made my way up stairs and flipped on the lights (which are located outside the classroom and behind this really difficult door...doesn't make sense!) and I notice my classroom door is already open. Not thinking much of the door being open, I start to go in. I hear something down the hallway, so I'm not looking straight ahead when I walk in. Just then, one of my students jumps out and scares the crap out of me! Unfortunately for him, my reflexes told me to punch him. Yes, you read that right. I punched that little booger right in the chest. hahahaha It was probably one of the funniest things that's ever happened to me. We were both laughing so hard we were almost in tears. He just kept running around the room holding his chest saying, "OHHHHHHH! TEACHER!!!!" I apologized a hundred times and told him he shouldn't scare people like that! He then drew a picture on the board for me and went to recess. What did I learn from this situation? That
Anyways, that's all I have for now. Today marks 18 years after the Bombing downtown. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in Oklahoma today, as well as those involved in the Texas explosion and all of the things going on in Boston. This is out of control and I'm praying for peace! I love you all! Stay safe and let your loved ones know you love them. It's a crazy world out there.
-Kyla
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기