I've got some new insight this week into far some Koreans are willing to go so that they, or their kids, can learn English.
I was talking to my co-teacher Kim Ok-jin, and she brought up the topic of her husband for the first time. I've heard about her parents, her friends, her coworkers- no one else. As it turns out, her husband lives 6 hours away and works as a university professor, and she has 2 sons! (Apparently she has no desire to live with her husband anyway, and has actually tried to divorce him numerous times. oh dear.) As for her sons- here's how our conversation went...
A: So do your sons live with your husband?
K: No, they live in America.
A: Oh, are they going to university there?
K: No, they're 13 and 15 years old. They live with my husband's sister and her husband in New York.
A: Oh wow, that's a good opportunity. Are they doing some kind of exchange? How long will they be there?
K: Until they finish school or university.
A: Goodness, that's a long time! How long have they been there already?
K: 5 years.
A: (SERIOUSLY!?!?) oh wow.
Can you imagine birthing children and raising them to the ages of 8 and 11, and sending them to another country to live with family just so they can learn English?!??! I realize there's a lot of pressure on many people to learn the language, and it's true it opens up a world of opportunity... but surely that is not the only option. Kim Ok Jin speaks excellent English, and her husband studied in the US for 4 years- he teaches English literature for goodness sakes. I would think they could teach their sons great English just speaking it at home. Ah, I don't get it. She didn't seem very happy to be talking about her sons though, so I dropped the topic. Sheesh- and I thought the idea of boarding schools was bad!
Thursday, April 9, 2009
In like a lion...
As if a 5:00am wakeup and stroll through the blossoms wasn't enough last weekend...
Well with such an amazing group of friends in Suncheon the fun just never stops.
It started weeks ago, with Amanda Gale and I meandering downtown talking about how fun themed parties are... We were so excited by the idea, we decided we needed to have one for whoever was lucky enough to be having the next birthday-- Lisa! With a Birthday on March 30th, what better theme than Lions and Lambs? Wahoo!
As you can imagine, it was the most random birthday idea you've ever seen. With a mishmashed planning committee sending over 100 messages back and forth over facebook, Lindsey was added as another birthday girl- and the insanity grew.
The weekend before, Jen, Ali and I got together to make the lions and lambs with some white and yellow foam board. Others brought food, made cards and decorations, and our darling Jodie baked her butt off and hosted the whole event.
The day of was a mad rush: returning from the blossoms, running to the store to pick up some last minute supplies, get dressed, and head down and help with set-up.
And in came the birthday girls!
It was quite the scene :o) As Lisa and Lindsey walked in (to supposedly 'help Jodie with some baking'), a rain of confetti came down from 3 giant party poppers. In the apartment stood 15 grinning idiots wearing lions and lambs around their necks, surrounded by balloons, a painted backdrop to take pictures infront of, happy birthday signs, and an amazing spread of food that included bruschetta bread, brownies, and 3 cakes.
The party spread out over the hours, and ended with another event downtown: a going away celebration for Therese, a 3 year veteran and cornerstone of the ex-pat community here. I missed out on the norbang that night- After 18 hours of fun, I just couldn't fit in any more!
It was a hilarious night, leaving us all feeling very lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends. Love you Suncheon crowd :)
Well with such an amazing group of friends in Suncheon the fun just never stops.
It started weeks ago, with Amanda Gale and I meandering downtown talking about how fun themed parties are... We were so excited by the idea, we decided we needed to have one for whoever was lucky enough to be having the next birthday-- Lisa! With a Birthday on March 30th, what better theme than Lions and Lambs? Wahoo!
As you can imagine, it was the most random birthday idea you've ever seen. With a mishmashed planning committee sending over 100 messages back and forth over facebook, Lindsey was added as another birthday girl- and the insanity grew.
The weekend before, Jen, Ali and I got together to make the lions and lambs with some white and yellow foam board. Others brought food, made cards and decorations, and our darling Jodie baked her butt off and hosted the whole event.
The day of was a mad rush: returning from the blossoms, running to the store to pick up some last minute supplies, get dressed, and head down and help with set-up.
And in came the birthday girls!
It was quite the scene :o) As Lisa and Lindsey walked in (to supposedly 'help Jodie with some baking'), a rain of confetti came down from 3 giant party poppers. In the apartment stood 15 grinning idiots wearing lions and lambs around their necks, surrounded by balloons, a painted backdrop to take pictures infront of, happy birthday signs, and an amazing spread of food that included bruschetta bread, brownies, and 3 cakes.
The party spread out over the hours, and ended with another event downtown: a going away celebration for Therese, a 3 year veteran and cornerstone of the ex-pat community here. I missed out on the norbang that night- After 18 hours of fun, I just couldn't fit in any more!
It was a hilarious night, leaving us all feeling very lucky to have such a wonderful group of friends. Love you Suncheon crowd :)
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
A Blossom-tastic day
Spring has sprung! And last weekend all over Korea, 1000s flocked to numerous locations across the country to see the infamous Cherry Blossoms. For me and five friends, that meant getting up at the ungodly hour of 5:00am to catch the earliest bus out of Suncheon, and drive 2 hours to Gurye, a 5 km strip along quaint little river lined with cherry blossoms.
I got off to a bit of a rough start. For some reason I woke up around 2:00am- stumbling around my apartment in a stupor thinking it was 5:00. After getting dressed, I wander back into my living room and stand there staring at my clock- gaaaa, it's 2:00am! Don't ask how it happened- I have no idea... So back to bed I go. Can you guess what I forgot to do? Yes- of course reset my alarm.... Result? I didn't wake up until 5:50- 20 minutes AFTER I was supposed to meet everyone downstairs. Panic time! I run to my phone and see that my friend is also late, and currently putting on her jacket. Good thing I was already dressed, because all I had time to do was brush my teeth, throw some cereal in a ziplock bag, and run out the door. Sheesh!
Thanks to our excellent Korean skills, we were at least able tell the cabbie "bali bali"- which means faster faster! He happily obliged, and drove about 90km an hour through town, getting us to the station in record breaking time- and we made the 6:10 bus. yay!
The blossoms, naturally, were stunning. Walking down a winding road along a shallow rocky river- there was nothing but a canopy of pale pink flowers overhead, with petals falling like snow with every gust of wind. Japan definately made a good choice for their national flower!
As the hours wore on the weather got warmer, and the street became more and more crowded. There were people everywhere! It soon became cumbersome to navigate our way around the cars parked on the sidewalk, baby strollers, and couples posing infront of tripods. And boy, when Koreans take pictures they do it right. When we walked down to the river, I saw at least 6 Koreans on one small rock, all pointing their cameras on tripods at the tiny waterfall. I don't know if they're all professionals or just wannabes- but I either way I was more than a little jealous.
There were plenty of food vendors set up along the street too- selling overpriced drinks and Korean snacks- pressed fish on a stick, pogos, bitter yellow tree nuts (not good), red bean cakes, and my personal favourite you can small a mile away-- silk worms! I think they're in the pupae stage, boiled in a hot oil- and do they ever stink. I don't know how anyone could eat anything that smells that bad!
The highlight of the afternoon came with our climb up to a lookout pavillion. Looking out over the winding flower street and tea fields growing on the steppes of the hillsides, we sat down at one of two small tables for some Korean tea. Being the ignorant waygooks we are, we didn't know what do to- but a man who spoke some English was kind enough to sit down with us and help us out. No tea bags here: this was real Korean tea ceremony, involving pouring boiling water into a bowl- into the tea pot with the tea leaves- through a wooden strainer into another bowl- then into our cups. Thank goodness for him, we would have had no idea! The man was there with his brother- one is a master in tae-kwon-do, and the other a hapkido master in Busan. It was really great to be able to chat with them though, and was one of those random moments that make you feel lucky to be having such great experiences in Korea. :)
After they left we were sitting there for a while, and had another visitor- 4 year old Yu-Gi :) I think she's my new favourite person- this little kid was adorrrable. Usually, if kids here aren't aftraid of foreigners, they usually keep their distance and point and yell "waygook" (foreigner) or "meegook" (American). But little Yu-Gi just marched right up and started playing with my hair! It was the cutest thing ever. She was there with her mom, just babbling away- and kept coming back over to me to play with my hair or put a towel on my head. She followed us back down the long flights of stairs too- taking with her Stephen's long bamboo hiking pole and almost wacking Jennifer in the face with in a few times! So her and I held it together, little Yu-Gi counting or making little grunting noises with each step. What a doll, ohh she was too cute. She didn't want to leave when we got to the bottom either, she just kept holding my hand and wouldn't let go as her mom led her away. Aww!
In all, the flowers were beautiful, the tea was yummy, but for me Yu-Gi definately stole the show :)
I got off to a bit of a rough start. For some reason I woke up around 2:00am- stumbling around my apartment in a stupor thinking it was 5:00. After getting dressed, I wander back into my living room and stand there staring at my clock- gaaaa, it's 2:00am! Don't ask how it happened- I have no idea... So back to bed I go. Can you guess what I forgot to do? Yes- of course reset my alarm.... Result? I didn't wake up until 5:50- 20 minutes AFTER I was supposed to meet everyone downstairs. Panic time! I run to my phone and see that my friend is also late, and currently putting on her jacket. Good thing I was already dressed, because all I had time to do was brush my teeth, throw some cereal in a ziplock bag, and run out the door. Sheesh!
Thanks to our excellent Korean skills, we were at least able tell the cabbie "bali bali"- which means faster faster! He happily obliged, and drove about 90km an hour through town, getting us to the station in record breaking time- and we made the 6:10 bus. yay!
The blossoms, naturally, were stunning. Walking down a winding road along a shallow rocky river- there was nothing but a canopy of pale pink flowers overhead, with petals falling like snow with every gust of wind. Japan definately made a good choice for their national flower!
As the hours wore on the weather got warmer, and the street became more and more crowded. There were people everywhere! It soon became cumbersome to navigate our way around the cars parked on the sidewalk, baby strollers, and couples posing infront of tripods. And boy, when Koreans take pictures they do it right. When we walked down to the river, I saw at least 6 Koreans on one small rock, all pointing their cameras on tripods at the tiny waterfall. I don't know if they're all professionals or just wannabes- but I either way I was more than a little jealous.
There were plenty of food vendors set up along the street too- selling overpriced drinks and Korean snacks- pressed fish on a stick, pogos, bitter yellow tree nuts (not good), red bean cakes, and my personal favourite you can small a mile away-- silk worms! I think they're in the pupae stage, boiled in a hot oil- and do they ever stink. I don't know how anyone could eat anything that smells that bad!
The highlight of the afternoon came with our climb up to a lookout pavillion. Looking out over the winding flower street and tea fields growing on the steppes of the hillsides, we sat down at one of two small tables for some Korean tea. Being the ignorant waygooks we are, we didn't know what do to- but a man who spoke some English was kind enough to sit down with us and help us out. No tea bags here: this was real Korean tea ceremony, involving pouring boiling water into a bowl- into the tea pot with the tea leaves- through a wooden strainer into another bowl- then into our cups. Thank goodness for him, we would have had no idea! The man was there with his brother- one is a master in tae-kwon-do, and the other a hapkido master in Busan. It was really great to be able to chat with them though, and was one of those random moments that make you feel lucky to be having such great experiences in Korea. :)
After they left we were sitting there for a while, and had another visitor- 4 year old Yu-Gi :) I think she's my new favourite person- this little kid was adorrrable. Usually, if kids here aren't aftraid of foreigners, they usually keep their distance and point and yell "waygook" (foreigner) or "meegook" (American). But little Yu-Gi just marched right up and started playing with my hair! It was the cutest thing ever. She was there with her mom, just babbling away- and kept coming back over to me to play with my hair or put a towel on my head. She followed us back down the long flights of stairs too- taking with her Stephen's long bamboo hiking pole and almost wacking Jennifer in the face with in a few times! So her and I held it together, little Yu-Gi counting or making little grunting noises with each step. What a doll, ohh she was too cute. She didn't want to leave when we got to the bottom either, she just kept holding my hand and wouldn't let go as her mom led her away. Aww!
In all, the flowers were beautiful, the tea was yummy, but for me Yu-Gi definately stole the show :)
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