Il Dan

I have been asked to take my black belt test!

My Gwangjang-nim has asked me to take part in the Korea-wide black belt test in August. It would be in a city a couple hours away, and with probably several dozen other test-takers.

The sad news is that the test takes place five days after we leave Korea. There will also be a test in July, but it's in two weeks - which probably won't be enough time to prepare.

We ended our slow-going Korean-English conversation with the understanding that even if I can't test for my black belt, I will know that I've earned it. I'm actually really flattered that he thinks I'm ready to take the test. I know I've improved a lot, and learned a lot over the past year, but it's still nice to have it validated.

I might just have to look into continuing taekwondo in DC.

Rainy Season

My co-teacher is currently scooping water seeping up through the floor with a dustpan and tossing it out the window.

Our windows were all fogged up this morning and dry clothes had become damp and wet clothes were not yet dry. Even though it rains outside, the moisture and humidity are so thick that they join us inside.

Mold is a worry.

It is worth mentioning that up until now we have had some of the most beautiful spring weather I have ever experienced. Twenty-one degrees and sunny blue skies every day. This may mark the end of it.

Summer is here.

I've stopped wearing dress clothes to work. They're too hot and whether or not I'm wearing a tie is of no consequence. The time for impressing my employers is over, anyway.

Shopping for clothes in Korea has yielded an exciting discovery: I share the exact dimensions of a tall Korean male. Young men here are definitely slimmer, by and large, and so I have been able to find khaki slacks and polo t-shirts for someone of my height and width. Not only that, but the pants were $10-15 and the shirts were $7 each. You simply can't find pants that cheaply at an equivalent store in Canada (Wal-Mart or Zellars are likely most comparable to the Lotte Mart where I was shopping), and although you might be able to find polos in a similar price range, they are tailored for the physique of the typical American Wal-Mart shopper. In such ill-fitting duds, I am left feeling like a mast on a ship wearing a sail, my slim athletic build draped in fabric meant for someone much broader. So it was quite a boon to find that though I am taller than the average Korean, I still share enough of typical Korean build to find clothing that fits me perfectly.

The last couple weeks I've been wearing my polo tees, and the students have taken notice. The average Korean, to quote the O.C., is "hairless like a seal." As a result, my forearm hair is the object of intense curiosity. While I'm helping them write their names in English, boys pet my forearm hair and say "Ohhh, very good!" and girls have bashfully stroked it and erupted in fits of giggles.

To a lesser extent, the boys have noticed that I have muscles. They fondle my triceps and give me praise similar to what I get for my ability to grow arm hair, then they ask me to flex so that they can observe my biceps. On one occasion, a boy lifted up my shirt to see my abs, and then was somewhat disappointed that I wouldn't let him capture them for posterity with a cell phone picture.

On the one hand, I appreciate the admiration for my gym efforts (although I can't say I understand being praised for hair-growing ability; I wonder, if I had tufts of back hair peeping over my collar, would they respond in the same way?). However, having my forearms petted and my muscles prodded has made me feel more like a zoo attraction than an English teacher. I'm still a sucker for flattery; the kids make me blush.

A Hilarious Journal About Korea...

We've been reading the blog of model and fellow Korea appreciator Elyse Sewell and it's yielded this hilarious discovery:


This winter these animal hats were hugely popular. I sent two home to my brother and sister, but apparently the trend had caught on in Canada too--for Christmas my sister ended up receiving a panda hat from me and a bear hat from her step-brother.

Anyway, Elyse Sewell's journal is full of funny and interesting stories of life in Korea, life as a fashion model, and life in general. I highly recommend it.

Funny Stuff

So, at the beginning of every class I pass around a beach ball, and "randomly" stop this song in order to select students for brief three sentence interviews. The kids roar with laughter when the music stops and I get a deer-in-headlights look from the young girl or boy holding the beach ball. I don't know if this would be hilarious in Canada, but it works like a charm as an icebreaker in Korea. Then, I ask, "What is your name?", "What do you like?", and say "Nice to meet you." The student knows the answer for the first question, but isn't always able to put it into a sentence. Half the time the student stumbles on the second question, maybe he half gets it and says "computer game." Often the student fails to respond to respond to the third sentence with "Nice to meet you too," despite the hounding of my co-teacher.

My favourite response to the "What do you like?" question came this week, when a cute little girl answered, "I like dog babies!" This has had Joanne and me laughing all week.

Later on, I ask the students to write "Something Special About Me." It is rare for the students to know the word 'special' so I have to explain it to them. I say:

"What is different about you? What do you like about yourself? I am special because I am very tall and I like running. Some girls say 'I am very very very very beautiful' (all the girls laugh at this), some boys say I am a 'pro-gamer' (there are Korean teenagers who make a living playing video games), some say 'I am very smart,' 'good at soccer' or 'I have nice friends.'"

Some kids balk at the question and write "I don't no" or "There is no thing special about me." But other times I get really amusing gems. I wish I could remember them all. Here are a few:

"My fat."
"I going up a tree very well."
"I have very many freckles."
"I want to be a UN Ambassador."
"I have black hair."
"I am a long hair."
"punching"
"I'm small."
"I like meets" (for their favourite food).

Today a girl came to English Town wearing a hoodie that was rather amusing. It had a smiling monkey in a tub of "Monkey Wax." Underneath it was the text, "Polish your monkey every day," "Banana Flavoured," with the footer "Give your monkey the buffing he deserves." In a different context, this would be considered lewd. But few people know anything about innuendo in Korea.

Earlier in the week, we saw a girl with a cartoon of a pig on her shirt, beside text that said "I love pig" and surrounded by multiple inscriptions of "yummy" on all sides. In Korea, people advertise food with cartoons of the food looking hungry. So pork restaurants have pigs licking their lips, cows have cows licking their lips, and little girls wear cute cartoons of animals advertising their favourite food.

I got in!

This coming September I will begin my PhD with full funding at the University of Maryland College Park.

I wrote my MA thesis on a book by the chair of Maryland's Philosophy Department, so I am thrilled to be going there.

Family Time!

My family has finally arrived! I've been anxiously awaiting their visit, and it's been wonderful so far. Our visit started up in Seoul - where my mom ran the Seoul International Marathon. It was quite a sight, with 30,000 runners... and no spectators (see the picture of the empty street below - this was one minute before the lead runners went by). Not like anything I've ever seen before!

Maman ran a 4:08 marathon, which is especially impressive considering that she was still jet-lagged (my family arrived 38 hrs before the start of the marathon), and had spent most of the previous day on a walking tour of Seoul, including climbing Namsan Mountain (Dad's idea).

We all took the bus down to Yeosu on Sunday evening, and the fam spent the week touring the surrounding area while Alden and I worked. They covered Odongdo Island, Hyangiram Hermitage (a temple on a seaside cliff), Naganeupson (a Korean Folk Village), came for a visit to the school and managed to spend a day walking to the next town! In short, they covered pretty much everything there is to do in Yeosu.

Our next weekend outing was to Boseong, where there is a tea plantation, a beach and a 'sauna' - with various small pools, including both sea water and green tea pools. It was a very enjoyable unplanned weekend, though I think the food is starting to get to two of my family members. (Ask them about the instant noodles, fried chicken, chips, popcorn and hamburgers.... while my Dad eats bowlfuls of bibimbap and rolls of kimbap. Actually, Dad also managed the entire school lunch, which is a feat I have yet to accomplish.)

They're now exploring the volcanic mountain (Hallasan) and lava tubes on Jeju Island, the "Hawaii of Korea". I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing Jeju in May, when it'll be warm enough to go swimming.

And of course, I'm looking forward to seeing my family again when they come back to Yeosu on Friday.