Today was a big sticker day. Oh mercy. As soon as I show some of these girls stickers they fall all over themselves volunteering to answer questions. It makes me feel good when my kids are happy, even if bribery is the key to their happiness.
In other news, I just watched 15minutes of the classic movie Demolition Man. For anyone who doesn't remember this movie, it is a shoot 'em up action movie set in a distopian (I think I'm over intellectualizing it) society in the mid 21st century, starring the ever-popular Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. Why is this noteworthy? Well, I found it interesting that while all the swear words are kept in tact, the only thing that was dubbed over was "Taco Bell". In this future society, Taco Bell is the only restaurant available (distopian indeed!!), but as there are no Taco Bells in Korea, they over dubbed it with...."Pizza Hut". You betcha, there are indeed pizza huts in Korea. Yet another way America is pissing off Koreans, by making them fat. Although I must say that Pizza Hut in Korea is far less greasy.
Last weekend I was lucky to experience a Pansori Festival right here in Boseong. Pansori is traditional Korean music. They equate it with western Opera. I love this music! I sat watching a competition where there is one singer and a drummer as accompaniment. I have no idea what the singer was saying, but you could tell immediately that the story was tragic and ages old. One of the most wonderful things is that the old people in the audience get so into the music that they shout things during the song if the singer really moves them. As I sat watching I was almost brought to tears because the history of this music is so tangible. As simple as it is, with one singer and one drummer, the listener can feel the tradition seeping out of it. Western music, by comparison, is still in its baby years. I'm not negating the beauty of Western music (it is my first love), but when there is 5000 years of history behind a song, one can't help but be awestruck.
This past work week I've had it pretty easy. No classes on Monday or Tuesday due to student midterms - good for me, bad for the students. It was like mid term time at Western; all the halls were deathly quiet and the students looked pretty strung out. Just think - they are only 13-16 years old! At any rate, on Monday afternoon all the teachers went for a hike and I joined them. This is what I have to say about Koreans and climbing mountains:
There is no shortage of mountains in Korea, so most of the people enjoy hiking. I get the impression, after a few hikes, that Korean hiking is slightly different than hiking up an incline in Canada. Firstly, there is no wandering hither and thither making the path smoother and easier...it's pretty much straight up. Secondly, I'm fairly certain that they don't believe in resting - just make it to the top and then go back down. I was sweating and panting like, well, draw your own picture of that one. "Vanessa you're a good climber!" Me: *wheeze* "thanks" *pants* *passes out*. Lastly, making it to the top of one peak doesn't necessarily mean that it's over and you're going back down. Inevitably there will be another peak just a little further down the road. Oh mercy. Naturally, I taught some of the teachers the meaning of the phrase "Go hard or go home" as that seems to be their philosophy.
The next day I went and visited a temple with my afternoon teacher workshop. Yeah, I know, tough life. At any rate, the temple was beautiful. This particular one had an enormous iron statue of Buddah. This is quite rare apparently. What's more interesting is that the iron statue is the only original part of the temple that was left after the Korean war. All of the building were burned down and the bronze buddah statues melted with them, but the iron statue remained...nice! All of the buildings were reconstructed, though and they are quite ornate. Good eye candy.
Wednesday and Thursday passed without incident, and then came today. I woke up with a funny feeling and then, when I got to school, realized what it was...I was on my own again today. Mrs Kim had to go to Seoul. YIKES! I'm happy to say that it went much better today than the first time it happened. It was so fun! I teach an extra class on friday's for students who want to learn English more. I tried to teach them the camp song "the green grass grew all around". I think I had more fun than they did! heehee
I will leave you with this quote: (I promised myself I would write down when a Korean said something funny in English but they didn't realize what they were saying. This one is awesome!)
On someone's girlfriend: "After a year we made our love more deeply." (WHAT?!?!?)
what he really meant: After a year of dating, their relationship got more serious.
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