First I think I should say a little something about my students.
Most of them I really like and maybe I like them too much because sometimes I need to be a discipline figure but I have a really hard time doing that :( So often I just let my students do whatever they feel like doing instead of studying. As you can plainly see here:
Yes that picture on the board is of me ^_- They often like to draw me and call me funny things. I think that is how kids show their love ^_^
I figure even if we arent studying out of the book as long as we are talking and interacting their English is improving so I am happy.
Anyways that is one of my 13 classes and they are about the average age that I teach. (maybe 3rd grade in the US) They are really funny. I often have my cell phone taken by them and they all enter their phone numbers in it so I can call them and they can call me even though that will probably never happen but it is regarded as a Korean sign of friendship. Friendship is taken pretty seriously here. You don't have many friends and it is very very rude to talk to people you dont know so my students are fun.
These students:
Are really into getting my cell phone and going through all my messages to see if I have a girlfriend or just to learn about my life. They are a lot of fun and I really enjoy them.
I showed them pictures from back in San Diego but many of them were on the beach so I didn't have a shirt on or something and they were like "OMG teacher were girls you cant show us this!!"
It gave me a laugh, I didnt realize that was a big deal here in Korea until then.
Korean culture is very odd to me sometimes.
Some of my older students are trouble makers and enjoy throwing muffins and the like out the window of our building on the 3rd floor to hit people down below and are always hitting each other (in a not too voilent way). Or my favorite was when they decided to test if the fire extinguisher worked on my 3rd day of work :/ Yeah that was fun.
Anyway I wish i could explain most things about this culture but EVERYTHING is sooo completely different that I really couldn't but I will explain a few things, or try to anyway.
One of the first things Korean's ask when they meet is, "how old are you?" and then they want you to guess how old they are (at least in my case). Now really, this is quite difficult... I really really have a hard time with Korean age so I guess so far off that people dont take me seriously. Honestly, guessing korean age is near impossible. So of course when I meet a lady I always go for the undercut of 3 years or so then I find out I actually guessed 10 years or more off the mark so it didnt matter anyway.
Another question that Korean's always ask is, "do you have a girlfriend?" I always blush when asked this and I am never quite sure how to respond. This is one of the first questions they ask when meeting you. Unless I misunderstand my own culture, you dont ask this question unless your interested in the person. I mean, I dont have a girlfriend but if I just say "no" or "앖어요" it looks a little pathetic especially since I still blush at the O.O effect of the question.
Some other funny things are that Koreans have no problem informing you about their weight gain or loss or telling you that you should loose some weight. They mean it in a nice way to show concern about you but I have heard people tell others they are looking a little fat this week.
So koreans drink. yes alcohol. And yes they drink a lot. Not all koreans of course but culturally it is very important. If you ever walk by a restaurant you will see *Every* table has at lest 2-5 green glass bottles on it, which is soju. I am a fan of soju but it is quite strong and the Koreans often drink way more than their fill. So it is very common to see men in very expensive business suits or just anybody asleep on the sidewalk or planters or just all over the place at aroun 11 pm.
Also there are very formal drinking guidelines here. If i was to tell you about them all I would be typing for a very very long time but the basics are you never pour your own drink and you always use 2 hands when doing anything with people you are showing respect to. And then when you drink you look away from the most respected person and have one hand over your heart. I think it is quite cool.
Also an awesome part of Korean culture is that the oldest person with the most prestige always pays ^_^ Sometimes I really like being 22 because Koreans my age are still in the university or military service. So I rarely pay.
One of my favorite things about Korean culture is music and movies. Korean movies are really really great. They are very real life and very stubtle, well most of the time then something along the way is a little rediculous but anyways I love them. They are soooooooo funny. Humor here is much different and I really appreciate the humor. If you care to watch any here is a link i use and one of my main reasons I watch is to help me learn the korean language. There are english subtitles though so dont be afraid. I would recommend the top one on the next page... very very funny.
http://www.mysoju.com/browse/korean-movie/popular/
Okay next up is Korean music. Apparently because my hair is white many many Koreans call me G Dragon. He is probably the most popular pop idol in Korea and everyone knows and loves him except some of the older generation. So I think it is a compliment when they call me G dragon. Here is a video of him (I actually really like this video)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOXEVd-Z7NE
I saw Girls Generation in concert on Korean thanksgiving which was pretty fun. So here is a video of them. This is the main song they performed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb5GxZEZvt8
Next up I will just link some other popular bands because I am running out of time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlTqQjOJ7jk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwq-XdPfpeA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MgAxMO1KD0&feature=channel
Well that is all the time i have ^_^
Of course there are many more things I would like to tell you about. I went to Costco in Korea which was very interesting (and different of course). I also have vacation this coming week and I think I am going to Busan which is the other side of Korea. Also as with most things around here I just dont know where to start. One night I was at a restaraunt with Korean friends who dont speak English and I was really liking this drink that tasted a lot like horchata, so it was a little nostolgic and I was drinking bowls of it. But then of course later I figured out that 막걸리 was actually a quite potent traditional korean wine (kinda like japanese sakae). Well, that was a culture mistake ; _ ; Anyways my Korean is getting better but it still sucks but I wont give up.
I am sure there are many spelling and grammer error's, sorry. Time for me to hurry to work so no time :/
안녕 peace!
