Beautiful Japan

A few weeks ago I took a 1 hour 10 minute flight to Korea's next door neighbor... Japan. One of the greatest perks to teaching here in Korea is the abundant amount of countries that are available to travel to during your vacation time. On the down side, my school decided to switch around my camps last minute, resulting in me only getting five days in Japan. Despite the sucky-ness of that situation... it was my own personal challenge to make the best of the time I had. I traveled with a friend from home, and together we traveled within the city of Osaka, Nara and Kyoto.

First up was exploring the city of Osaka. We stayed at Ten Hostel, a great urban-inspired hostel with traditional ondol rooms. (Basically a futon mattress, blankets and pillows.) The hostel staff couldn't have been more helpful. Definitely recommend it to anyone traveling within Osaka. (http://ten.hostelosaka.com/rooms_en.html)

It was a relaxed day, taking in the city. We had Udon noodles for dinner then walked over to Umeda for some drinks.

Nara. The next day we braved the subway system to Nara (which by the way, sucks compared to the Korean subway. So confusing. But thanks to the recommendation from a few friends in Korea, we purchased the Kansai Train Pass, which helped a ton in getting around.) We fed wild deer, saw many temples and pagodas including the famous Five-Storied Pagoda and Todai-ji Temple, (the largest wooden building in the world) which holds The Great Buddha Vairocana (the largest bronze Buddha in the world.) I don't have the words to express how enormous this statue was, and of course pictures never do justice. Like many temples, it took a while to get to the actual temple, first going through the outskirts of it. The second I walked into the building, my feet stood still, mesmerized by the size of it. You don't have to be Buddhist to feel the emotion that comes along with being in the presence of this religious figure standing so beautiful and so much larger than life. For lunch, we had okonomiyaki, a Japanese favorite. It's like a big grilled pancake made up of cuttlefish, onions, cabbage, cheese, egg, seaweed, ginger, and other vegetables. Delicious.

The Five-Storied Pagoda

Cleansing at the entrance to a temple

The Five-Storied Pagoda

okonomiyaki 

Todai-ji Temple

Buddha Vairocana

Looking up at the Buddha

Kyoto. The next day we made our way to the former imperial capital of Japan, Kyoto. This place is filled with culture, including a total of 1600 Buddhist temples and 400 Shinto shrines. One of our first stops was Kiyomizu-dera, a temple built on a mountainside, overlooking Eastern Kyoto. It was quite a hike walking up to it, but boy was it worth it. We also made it to the district of Arashiyama, including Sagano Bamboo Forest. The forest was a nice peaceful getaway from everything, and was the perfect opportunity to take a bunch of artsy photos. We ended up in the Gion District (the Geisha District) for dinner and some shopping. There, we saw many Japanese women dressed up in traditional kimonos, hired to appear as real geishas. It reminded me of Disney characters in Disney. The real geishas are a part of a kind of underground world, not for show to the public. In Kyoto, we had more okonomiyaki as well as horai, a famous hot meat bun (I opted for a tofu one). Again, delicious.

okonomiyaki

Kiyomizu-dera

horai

prayer sticks

We had one last full day in Japan, and we decided to relax and take in the modern culture of Osaka. We made our way down to Namba, exploring Shinsaibashi (the shopping district) and Dotonbori (also known for its many restaurants and shopping) We visited American Town, where I went into my first Uniqlo, which I'm now obsessed with, by the way. 

America town

Side note- this needs it's own paragraph. 

One word: Takoyaki.

This is an Osaka favorite. A few friends in Korea basically told me I couldn't leave Osaka without trying it, and so finally in Dotonbori, we stopped in what looked like one of the most popular takoyaki restaurants, (all we had to do was look at the long line of people). You're probably wondering what it is huh? Well, takoyaki is simply an octopus filled pastry ball. It includes ginger, tempura, green onion and is mixed with a type of Bisquick looking batter, and made in a special takoyaki pan. They top it with a drizzle of takoyaki sauce and Japanese mayonnaise, and a sprinkle of extra ginger. It's a famous Osaka street food, and you can find them almost everywhere you turn. However, we were able to sit down at this restaurant and enjoy it. WOW. I can't say enough about it. Definitely a must for anyone going to Osaka.

The restaurant where we ate

making takoyaki

finished product

That night, we stayed at Capsule Hotel Asahiplaza Shinsaibashi. (http://www.asahiplaza.co.jp/capcel/english.html) It was closer to the airport, for we both had early flights, and it was something we both were interested in experiencing. Men and women are separated by floors, and you need a key to enter everything. It includes public baths called onsen, saunas, and massage rooms. Your capsule room is small enough to fit just your bed and nothing else. It's very hard to explain, for we have nothing to compare it to in the States as far as I know, so the photos can do that for me. But I did experience my first public bath. Talk about having to be comfortable with your body. I have recently gone to my first jimjilbang, which I will have to devote an entire post to soon.

Now, for only having 5 total days in Japan, including travel time, we saw and did A LOT. I'm kind of surprised at how much we accomplished, despite the insane heat. It was unbearable at times, but I'm glad we fought through the sweat and were able to experience and see what we wanted to. What I've realized about my traveling is that people differ greatly when they travel. Half of us travel to these culture rich areas in hopes to see the temples, and the traditional side of the country, taking in the history and culture. And the other half go with the mindset of laying on a beach somewhere drinking pina coladas and shopping. For me, I've learned that I like a nice mix. I love seeing these beautiful pagodas, temples, and sculptures. I picture what it must have been like during the time they were first built, how different life was. Though those times live forever in our textbooks and in movies, our world is changing every day. And so as much as I like to bow to Buddha, and wash my hands with its holy water, I also enjoy sitting at a Starbucks and taking in modern-day Japan and its people.

What I found most interesting was finding myself comparing the Japanese to Koreans and not to Americans. Korea really has become my home. I realized that a few days in, when I was picking up Korean language around me, only from a few exchanged words. Before I came to Korea, Asian language was all the same to me. I never had enough exposure to differentiate between, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Thai, etc. But sitting in Japan on a subway, I was able to point out the Koreans sitting amongst everyone by mere spoken words. I found that so cool. Never would I think I'd be able to do that.

I also noticed how Japanese fashion differs from Korean. Koreans are very conservative, as I've spoken about in multiple posts. But in Japan, I felt like the sky was the limit. Anything goes. I understand I was in Osaka, which is a big party city, but even in culture-rich areas like Kyoto, I noticed it as well. Girls were not covering up top like Koreans do. Japanese men had more liberal haircuts, some wearing spiky gelled-up hair, paired with black clothing. Most Korean men are pretty men, always looking put together with their clean cut demeanor. In Osaka, you also got the very VERY openly advertised strip joints, where girls would stand outside their respective clubs with their "pimps" advertising them. You don't see anything like that in Korea. The business men type noraebangs and coffee shops in Korea where girls are hired to entertain the men are very much underground. It's one of those things that everyone knows about but is rarely talked about, and very frowned upon. Where in Japan, it's no surprise.

I found it interesting and humbling that on my flight back from Japan, I couldn't wait to get back home. I wanted my apartment, I missed my students, I missed being able to communicate. Bahaha that was the most comical, because I am in no way fluent in Korean, but when in Japan, I couldn't get out expressions like, "one moment please", "how much is this?", "beautiful!" "this tastes delicious," etc. But I knew how to say all of that in Korean and that was comforting once I made it back. When I landed in Busan, I felt I was home and secure. I was more at ease. Six months learning, living, and teaching in Korea did that. I have six months left. Half of my time here is over. Who knows where I will be in February.. but I do know that I am looking forward to each and every moment.

The much anticipated visitors finally arrive in SK!

On July 25th, my mom and Dennis flew the 14 hours direct from New York to South Korea. This trip had been in the works for months, and the anticipation was eating us up! So as I traveled my 4 hours to Incheon Airport, I stood in front of the international arrivals gate like a little girl on her tippy toes, craning my neck to scan every person who walked through the doors. Finally, I spotted them and couldn't even believe that they were standing in front of me. Face to face. Not behind a computer screen. The tears rolled of course, and the excitement and giddiness took over. We were all at a little loss for words, trying to take in the reality of it all.

First Korean meal

That night we traveled to our hotel at Hotel Prince in Myeongdong. GREAT hotel by the way, if anyone is looking for an affordable, somewhat high end, clean, kind staffed hotel. Right in the middle of it all in the shopping district. http://www.princeseoul.co.kr/. We had a low key night to aid the jetlag. We walked around Myeongdong, where they had their fist Korean meal. None other than samgyupsal! We spent the next day and a half in Seoul. Traveling to Insadong (traditional part of Seoul, filled with traditional type souvenirs, great food, and famous temples), Namdaemun Market (another hotspot for traditional souvenirs), and Itaewon (foreigner hotspot. I wanted to give them a taste of where I usually end up when in Seoul including the bars I frequent and of course the best brunch spot in Korea- The Flying Pan!) We also attended Nanta. A cooking, musical show that's really popular in Korea right now. AMAZING and so talented! I recommend it to anyone who comes here. Before returning to Andong, we traveled to Gangnam (a richer area of Seoul) to scout out Kukkiwon- The World Taekwando Academy. Dennis' family had studied taekwando and wanted some type of something from it, however it was harder to get to than we thought and it didn't quite work out unfortunately. But at least we tried! Sorry Lodato family! =/

At Gyeongbukgong Palace

Taking in Insadong

Namdaemun Market

Itaewon- Of course they spotted all the Irish pubs.  A Hundred Thousand Welcomes

So late Friday afternoon, we made our way back to Andong via bus. They were pleasantly surprised that Korean buses are far from Greyhound buses, and were able to catch up on some sleep. They had great accommodations in Andong, which was relieving. We had Shabu Shabu for dinner, a popular Vietnamese dish that is extremely popular here in Korea and one of my favorites. It's not surprising that it became my mom's favorite dish as well.

The next morning I made them breakfast in my apartment. Breakfast spots are very hard to come by in Korea. I took them downtown and we hung out in my favorite coffee shop, Zelkova. We made a very impromptu trip to Pohang that night. They had a huge international fireworks show, and since most of my friends would be there, it was perfect timing for my mom and Dennis to meet them. It was a bit chaotic that night, with hotel mix-ups, the amount of people at the show, and the fact that all of my friends kept losing each other (typical with our big group.) The lack of taxis in that area, resulted in the three of us walking for about an hour before we actually found one. He took us to Bukbo Beach, where we had a really late dinner, but a delicious one at that. I took them to Tilt, the bar that we often end up while in Pohang, where they met a bunch of my friends and had a few drinks before going back to their hotel. Despite the craziness of that night and a minor meltdown on my part, the night turned out grand, as it always does. We spent the next day on the beach until the heat became overwhelming. I give those two a lot of credit for putting up with this Korean heat. It really has been out of control. My co-teacher even reassured us that it is unnaturally hot this year. We arrived back in Andong that night and had Dakgalbi. This dinner was very comical, for my mom was kindly offered a fork when she dropped her chopstick, and the restaurant was much more intimate than they had been used to, so it was a bit intimidating at first. But our waitress was the kindest woman, our other waiter took a picture of us, and we were welcomed with open arms. And my mom, if you were wondering, accepted the fork, but never used it. Her chopstick talent was on par by the end of the trip! Good job Mom!

Escaping from the heat

Bibimbap and mandu to-go

Dakgalbi

As they kept saying, my city, being the small city it is, was probably thinking "what the F is this family doing in Andong?" We have a good amount of foreigners here, but it's still a small city, so when Koreans see this foreign family hanging out, walking into restaurants where they have no English whatsoever-- well there are probably a lot of questions going through their heads. And I say this because I see the confused looks on their faces; even more so when they see me, one young foreigner, walking through town.

The next morning, we went up to my school, and I was overjoyed when I saw a bunch of my students playing soccer, including some of my favorites, Chang Hun and Do Yeup..  (Yes, I allow myself to have favorites here. Though I adore them all.) All of the boys were so excited to see my mom and Dennis. Dennis who became Opa for the day, since there was no point in explaining that relationship haha was told he was handsome by one of them. They were able to see my office and most of my classroom, being that my school is in the middle of construction. It was wonderful that they got to see where I spend most of my hours and meet some of my students. It gave them a little sense of what I do here five days a week. We did some shopping downtown and went for Andong Jjimdak, Andong's famous dish, which became Dennis' favorite of the trip. After, we visited my co-teacher's apartment, where she prepared fruit, pastries and tea. Despite our struggles and differences, she couldn't have been more welcoming.

The next day, we were on rapid speed, getting last minute souvenirs and packing. We made our way down to the river where we went into the small Hahoe Mask Museum we have there. I can honestly say this was the most hysterical part of their trip. My mom and Dennis, being who they are, bought out almost an entire wall of framed masks. The sweet little ahjumma didn't now what to do with herself with these three foreigners completely erasing her inventory hahaha. She called up her daughter who arrived minutes later to help her mother wrap up all of our frames. I offered them some almonds I had in my bag, and after the kind ahjumma snuggled up to me on the couch, taking it on herself to stick her hand in the bag and taking more almonds, I left the bag with her. Funniest sight. Figured she was enjoying them way too much. We took a bunch of pictures with the countless statues we have near the Hahoe Mask Festival venue which is always a good time.

We had one last dinner of shabu shabu, per their request, and took our last cab ride together to the bus terminal. I was leaving for Gyeongju that night, to depart for Japan the next morning, and they were heading back up to Seoul, as they had an early flight as well. Of course, it was a quick goodbye, but as my mom said, it was better than a long dragged out one. I didn't know how much the tears would roll until it came time to hug them goodbye. I am my mother's daughter in almost every way. Her cries are contagious, so it was a hard goodbye to say the least. I caught a glimpse of a middle-aged Korean woman shoot us a smile. We may speak different languages, live in different countries, come from different cultures, but cries and smiles are universal, and she understood what was going on. I appreciated her empathy. It was a nice moment.

Of course I am trying to describe how it felt to have them here with me, but it really is indescribable to captivate what it was like having the most important people in your life fly halfway across the world, to take part in where and how I have been living for the past 5 months. They stepped into this new life I have embarked on, and I couldn't be more grateful. This was a big trip for them, leaving the other important people in our lives behind, but they did it. And I love them both for that. They assimilated into this country as much as they could for seven days. They were accepting, willing, open-minded and intrigued in every way. I will forever remember their time here, and there are as always, countless pictures to remember these memories and share them for years to come. Thank you you two! You truly are amazing.    

Update

So if you read my last blog entry, you know that I've been in a really hard situation at work lately. So here's an update as of two days ago. I had the weekend to think, relax. and get my feelings together. And after talking with friends and receiving indirect advice from a Korean English teacher/local Christian Church Deacon, I decided to express my feelings to my co-teacher, despite it not being the most "respectful" action here in Korea.

So two days ago, I went up to my co-teacher and I basically stated, how there had been something on my mind and that I felt like I needed to talk to her about it. I said when she kicked our student, I felt extremely uncomfortable and the feeling hadn't gone away. I went into how corporal punishment is not accepted and is illegal in the States, so I spent a lot of time trying to accept it here. I told her that I wasn't okay with it and never will be, but I have accepted it as being a part of the Korean education system. However the kick was way too much, and that I thought it was very wrong. She explained that she saw I was uncomfortable too, was sorry for the boy, agreed that it was too much, but she was very angry with him, because he was always coming in late, and was refusing to work, making annoying noises during class, and that she wanted to make a point to the class but especially to him. "His mother called me that night, yelling at me, using very bad words towards me, and told me that she would make noise with the principal. She is a terrible, terrible woman. I could not sleep that night. Also it was very hot that day, everything got out of control." These were her exact words. So as she was speaking, my emotions were on a freaking roller coaster. I was thankful she was telling me, I was elated with joy that our student went home and told his mother, I was upset that my co-teacher still couldn't fully admit that she was completely in the wrong, and REPULSED that she was saying that this mother was wrong in defending and protecting her son. She was being a mother. A mother protects their children, she is wise, she is responsible, and she will do anything and everything to keep their child safe. This mother was being just that. A mother.

I've felt pride for my past and present students academically, but I never knew how much pride I could have for my students emotionally until this moment. My reaction was simple. Nodding. I never once spoke something in response to her words. I felt that was the best choice since I know if I opened my mouth, things would get ugly. So overall, I am glad that I opened up to her and expressed my feelings. My goal was to keep my emotions and opinions short and to the point, saying what I needed to say, get her side of it, and be done. And that's exactly what happened. I ended it with telling her I'm glad we talked about it. We're fine now, except for the fact that if she ever does anything like that again, I will be sure to go to the principal, now that I know there has been a threat made against her/he has talked with her. Either way, I never want to experience anything like that again.

NOT Corporal Punishment

I've been contemplating for the past 24 hours if I should write about this in here, but I've come to the conclusion that I need to unless I might go insane with keeping it in. It may not be the most appropriate to right about on a public blog, but honestly at this point, I just need to do it.

Yesterday, one of my sixth grade classes were misbehaving. The usual six boys were late, and so my co-teacher kept them in the hallway on their knees and brought out her wooden stick with her. She told me I should just start class without them. So I did. Who knows what was going on with the wooden stick. Hopefully her usual hitting them in the back and nothing more, since it was out of sight. Not that I'm condoning that anyway. One by one the boys started coming in. Three went back to their seats to join the rest of the class, while the other three had a pencil and paper and had to kneel in the back of the room writing something. When they started coming in, the rest of the class started getting really noisy so I had them all put their heads down to chill for a few minutes. Lately my co-teacher has just been hitting them in the back with the stick, so it has become normal for the students, but she is still sometimes very unpredictable, so because of that I kept my eyes on the back of the classroom.

Some of the students at their desks were also looking back. And all of a sudden, one of the boys kneeling, looked up from his paper, and she kicked him in his right ribs. The boy fell to the floor onto his left side and grabbed his ribs immediately starting to cry. I heard myself shriek and the rest of the students make noises, as if they had never seen this happen before. My immediate reaction was shock, so I stood there just staring, not knowing what to think. I was looking back and forth from my co-teacher to the student, and didn't care that most of the other students kept looking back at me for my reaction. Clearly they sensed that I was uncomfortable and not okay with this.  My next reaction was to run to the boy and pick him off the floor, and then I realized where I was and what role I have. It's like my feet were trying to move and they couldn't. My co-teacher stood there for at least 60 seconds staring at him.The entire room was silent except for his cries. He finally got up slowly and tried to walk out the door, but my co-teacher grabbed his neck and pushed him back to his spot so that he could continue writing. Finally when he was done, he went to his seat where he was still shaking and quietly crying. I think I kept my eye on him the entire time. At one point I quickly went to my office to look up how to say "Are you okay?" in Korean. I came back and my co-teacher had asked everyone to take a personal broom and dustpan to clean the classroom and inside their desks. Again, with my eyes on him the entire time, the boy got up slowly, holding his ribs as he walked. As I watched, about 12 different students came up to him quietly and gave a look of empathy, asking if he was okay. He wouldn't even respond to them. When they were dismissed by my co-teacher, I walked out the door into the hallway before any of the students and waited until my student walked out.

When I realized that my place here does not allow me to push this teacher out of the way, say "Are you kidding me?!" or "What the fuck?!" and run to see if my student was okay.. I realized I still did have a role here and a major responsibility, as the students' teacher and as a person. I stopped him as he walked out and asked him if he was okay, making sure to act as empathetic and motherly as possible. This has been such a huge issue here, when I want to show a student I care about their feelings or to show sympathy or empathy. It's so difficult to express your emotions because of the language barrier. I know exactly what I would say to a student back home. (Of course this would never happen back home, because the teacher would be fired in an instant. No questions asked. It would be the end of their career as a teacher.) So my facial expressions had to convey my care more than my words in this case. When I asked him if he was okay, he barely looked at me and said "no." I asked him again, and again he said "no," and then he walked away. The other students around me had concerned faces, but I sensed that they understood my stand on this. Why else would I make my way out into the hallway for the sole purpose of asking him if he was okay. I watched as he went up the stairs and then kind of just stood there not knowing what to do, what to say, where to go. I did not want to look at my co-teacher for the rest of the day. I wanted to go to the nurse and ask her to look at his side. I wanted to go to the principal.  I wanted to report abuse to CPS. None of this would solve anything, because we learned from day one that corporal punishment is accepted here and parents agree with it, and getting in the way of that and speaking your opinion about it will only make things worse, and make your relationship with your co-workers drift farther away and more uncomfortable. You are not supposed to come into this country as a foreigner and try to change what they have been doing for the last how many years and what they say works.

I went to get my phone and decided to call my friend who has lived in Korea for about 2 1/2 years now. I was crying and explaining to her what just happened and what her advice was. She said she would ask her co-teacher who has a great relationship with her, and get back to me. As my friend said, her co-teacher basically talked in circles the whole time and giggled, which is what Koreans tend to do when they are uneasy or uncomfortable in a certain situation. But basically, it came down to this: 1) This boy should tell his parents and they should complain to the school. 2) If I talk to my co-teacher or make an issue of it, it won't accomplish anything, only make things more difficult. 3) She said the teacher was in the wrong, but doesn't think that I should take action. My friend and I were both fuming about this, because even though we both kind of saw these answers coming, we still can't believe they're really being said. Both of us said how we can't just sit back and do nothing. Most importantly, we both agreed that this is not another form of corporal punishment that I see almost once a week here. This was abuse. She KICKED this 12 year old boy while he was defenseless on the ground. Not that this is any better, but he's not even her child! How is that okay? How is that moral? And how did she possibly go home that night and be okay with what she just did? Also, what if he doesn't tell his parents? What if he does, and they don't realize the severity of what really happened? What if they don't care and think she was in the right to do that? What happens then? It's like I have no control over this situation, when really I should have full control, because I was there, I witnessed it and I am his god damn teacher. Mandated Reporter here means absolutely nothing.

As we were leaving for the day, she casually said, "I wasn't feeling good today. It was very hot." *giggle* "I was too mad. I shouldn't do that. *giggle*. My response: "mmm." End of conversation.

Today right before that class came in, I was walking to my classroom as my student was walking towards me. I asked him again if he was okay, and he looked at me quickly with a short, "yes." I started getting so anxious that I'm pretty sure I made myself sick. I I had no idea what she was going to do or how she was going to handle how she acted yesterday. When everyone was seated, she said something in Korean, and I'm guessing from the students' faces, it was an apology. She went over to the boy, rubbed his back and said something, (Once again, I'm guessing an apology.) He didn't once look up at her. He said nothing. It was the most sickening sight. She kept smiling, and making the other students smile, though clearly fake, 'Should I be smiling with her right now?' smiles. But he sat there just like yesterday. The worst part.. he had a bandage on his wrist, and she asked him what it was from.  Again nothing. My thought- She was probably sickened at the thought that it may be a result of her kick and and him falling over. I asked him about that bandage quickly in the hallway, but he kind of just waved it away. So I honestly do not know what it's from. He wasn't holding his ribs today, and that was enough indication to me that there's no damage. My attitude the entire day sucked. It's 2pm and I still can't get it back. I skipped lunch because I didn't want to spend more time with that woman today than I have to.

What all this comes down to, is that this act was NOT the normal corporal punishment you see and hear about in Korea. it was abuse. And I am sticking to that. The fact that I can't press charges, call CPS, anything, is absolutely not okay. And I'm pretty sure my relationship with my co-teacher is now changed for the rest of the year. I will put on a happy face for my students and teach them to my utmost ability, because they deserve that. She doesn't deserve any more of my time or smiles. I am still thinking about if and how I am going to talk to her about this. "I am very uncomfortable about what happened," is all that may come out of my mouth, because I'm assuming there will be giggles and confused looks, and I just can't continue on with that conversation if that's what's going to happen. 

Part of my job is to protect my students and keep them safe. Who cares if I am in another country where safety is clearly not number one in schools. It is still part of my job. Do I feel like I did as much as I could for this boy? No. And I hate that. Writing this was important to me. So please, don't criticize that I should have left this to myself.

And then there are those grand days..

...where everything works out just fine.

Typically, Thursdays are my short but stress-induced days. I teach my four sixth-grade classes all in a row right up until lunch... and then I am done for the day. So I spend my afternoons lesson planning, deskwarming, blogging, planning my summer vacation, learning Korean, AND needing a glass or four of wine by the end of it.

These sixth graders are extremely tough. I have one class that is always cooperative, volunteering, eager, and overall, a good time. One class that was great the first few months but they are slowly starting to check out. The other two classes take on daily hits from my co-teacher and countless stares and talks of disappointment from me. All I've ever wanted as a teacher is to engage my students, peek their interest in the subject, and have them leave that class having learned something, all with a smile on their face. Unfortunately with these two classes, that often doesn't happen. The disrespect towards my co-teacher is disgusting. I was told one day by her that "the students are only afraid of their homeroom teacher, that is why they do not listen in English." Well, excuse me but being afraid of your teacher is the last thing a student should feel. Classrooms and schools are supposed to be safe environments-  the safest environments in a child's world. Most of their disrespect comes from the lack of consistency. My co-teacher picks and chooses when to discipline. There is absolutely no structure. And so most of the discipline comes from me. But how does that become a major success when I don't speak their language, and the other half of my team (my co-teacher) just insists on hitting them with a wooden stick, having them hold a pushup position in the back of the room, or make them stand outside with their friends who are also misbehaving. When she hits them, they stick their tongue out at her; when they're in pushup positions, they laugh and make noises; and when they are out in the hallway, they're fooling round. How is any of this successful? She has actually told me more than a few times that I should completely run these 2 classes while she handles disciplines, because they listen to me more than her. Well I have very mixed feelings about this, because I agree they listen to me more when I speak, but that just means if someone misbehaves they're going to get a wooden stick to their temple and not just a look of disgust or a yell from me.

It's very different when I kick someone out of the room (which I've done a few times). I can see it affect them. I don't think the students ever think that their foreign teachers will overpower the Korean teacher. But from day one, I let my students know I meant business. Ever since my first day of observing classes in my junior year of college, the students knew that I wasn't kidding around. But the language barrier compared with this extreme heat, compared with their crazy puberty years, all add up to some really intense, hair pulling days.  

Enough venting. TODAY.. was grand.
We're on a "May I try it on?" unit. So I made a little activity where I had them use the key phrases,
A: "May I help you?"
B:"I'm looking for a _____."
A: "How about this ______?
B: "I'll take it./No thanks."

But instead of substituting boring words like dress, shoes, hat, etc. I put pictures up of random things like a pickle, a finger, a K-Pop star, a boyfriend (pic of Justin Bieber), a girlfriend (pic of a girl from a girl's K-pop group), a president (pic of Obama) etc. So each pair had to speak this dialogue out loud, using the pictures. It was a great time for all, and they left the class smiling, happy, with memorized dialogue in their heads. And I left the class without craving a huge glass of wine. Life is good.

Later on I bonded with my co-teacher, as I walked in on her shopping for Coach handbags and proceeded to ask my advice on some of them.

The best part.. it was pouring rain out all day, but despite that, I was in a good mood as I walked out the door, and went home to clean my entire apartment.