Sick

I awoke at 4am last Sunday morning to my body completely evacuating the diner I put into it Saturday night. My first thought as I was leaning over the toilet was that I had poisoned Mike and my co-teacher, who we invited over to diner. I stumbled back to bed and decided not to seek sympathy from Mike just in case he was going down with me. After four increasingly painful and noisy visits to the bathroom, Mike still slept soundly, so I gained hope that I had caught my annual 24 hour stomach bug. (four years in a row)

When Mike got up around nine feeling fine, and completely unaware of my hours of misery (sorry for the drama) I decided to call my co-teacher for help. He said he was feeling well, and agreed to speak with the local pharmacist about giving Mike some stomach medicine.

Mike paid the equivalent of two dollars, and this is what he came home with. I must have been really delirious but I was hoping for trusty yet disgusting Pepto-Bismol.

Mike spent hours and went all around Seogwipo trying to figure out how much of this medicine I was supposed to take. First he tried google translate, then he went to a café where the proprietor speaks English really well. Unfortunately the café owner wasn’t in, so we called several people who might have been helpful, none of whom were answering. Mike went back to speak with the pharmacist who seemed to tell him using drawings and numbers that I was meant to take all of the medicine. Please keep in mind that the photo above only shows the left over pills that I didn’t take.

As you can see this is a lot of medicine. It seems sketchy to consume so much medicine, but dosage aside, it was logistically impossible for me as I wasn’t even holding down water. Furthermore, of what Mike was able to translate it seemed as if the consumer was intended to take two spoonfuls three times a day. The pill dosage and the hours lapsing was unclear via google translate. Feeling like there was still a misunderstanding we finally got a hold of Master Oh from Kuk Sool. Mike went across town again where Master Oh looked over the medicine, gave his best guess of what I should take, and wondered why I didn’t go to the hospital. Finally at 1pm Mike and I decided that I probably wouldn’t overdose if I took a few pills with a few swallows of the liquid. I repeated the process four other times, and felt increasingly better as the hours wore on.

Despite feeling awful, I just kept thinking that I was so happy to be with Mike, and that he was spending so much of his day figuring out what and how much medicine I should take.

As you can see the medicine looks really different here. One time we picked up cold medicine from the pharmacy. The cold medicine was really cheap, and looked like sugar tablets. Since we couldn’t read the label, the two of us had a hard time thinking of it as real medicine. It is real medicine of course; a whole country uses it. But the medicine is so different than what we’re accustomed to that it’s not very comforting when you’re feeling sick. Stay tuned for the next blog about observations I’ve made about sickness during our stay in Korea.

Schedule Changes

Vacation is over and we are back at school, so I thought I would create a few more posts about school life. Something to be expected on any given week is a schedule change. Usually these schedule changes are last minute.

Mostly the change is that a class was canceled due to sports day rehearsal, graduation rehearsal, exam studying, or special programming. When a class is canceled I just tuck the lesson away and plan future lessons with my new found time. Sometimes my co-teachers will let me know in advance that classes will be canceled. Even if this forewarning occurs, I always have a plan in hand because it’s also possible that the cancelation will be voided and teaching will be expected.

Mostly it’s harmless that schedules get changed last minute. How could it be upsetting to do less work than planned? But sometimes these changes are as disappointing as they are thrilling. The disappointments come when I plan something extra special like Halloween, or a graduation party. I ask permission in advance and follow up with constant reminders, yet schedule changes may still swoop in. Halloween carried on with a little added stress, but the graduation party has been reduced to, “Have a snack! Congratulations!”

These “surprise” schedule changes are part of the school culture in Korea, but it’s exasperated by the language barrier. Mostly I smile with a shrug and carry on. At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter.

Here is a photo from Wednesdays schedule change. The fourth grade teacher recommended that instead of English, we throw snowballs at each other. It’s the last week of the school year, I couldn’t be a downer. Fortunately when the play resulted in a giant rip in my slacks he had extra sweats for me to wear. Thanks for reading!

Fire Festival

On Saturday we went to the Fire Festival with our Kook Sul master, and several other foreigners who practice with us. We had heard lots of good things about the festival, and it did not disappoint.

We got there around 4:15pm, but unfortunately it was too late to climb the small hill that was later lit on fire. So we had a look around, and then went to a tent for diner. Master Oh explained that the fire festival stems from farming culture. Farmers used to light their fields on fire in the late winter to fertilize, and kill any bugs before spring planting.

This tradition is honored by song, dance, fireworks, and lighting a hill on fire. First in the video you see woman wearing traditional dress called hambok. I assume they are singing traditional songs. Every time I see a woman wearing hambok and singing it is captivating. Unfortunately my camera doesn't convey the magic as well.

After hay stacks were burned and things appeared to calm down the hill suddenly blew up. Fireworks laying on the side of the mountain caused explosions, accompanied by more aerials. I didn't catch that initial explosion, but the whole thing made me think about war instantly.

After you see Mike, you see some of our friends dancing. At the end is a short clip of traditional circle dancing.

Enjoy!

Manjanggul Lava Tubes

The Manjanggul Lava Tubes is a one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites that Jeju is so proud of. They are an hour and forty minutes from our house via the east coastal bus.

It as a challenge to take photos in such dim lighting, but the location is absolutely beautiful. The tubes feel cold, wet and a little mysterious. Sometimes the space between the floor and ceiling is so big it seemes like nature's cathedral.

Later we discovered another opening to the tubes. There was a huge sturdy ladder leading into a dark hole. It seemed like workers were scouting new places to open for visitors. Each of you can form your own opinion about whether we did a little unauthorized exploring.


These are the stairs leading into the part of the tubes open to visitors.


This is is the lava formation at the end of section open to the public.

Kama

Hi All!

Here are some photos of Kama Elementary. I spend Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at Kama.



This photo was taken from the front steps of Kama. It shows a piece of a very large school yard. Kama is lucky to have such a beautiful field. Many schools I pass on my way to work have dirt in the yard, but both of my schools have lush grass complete with playground equipment. Mike said that the schools in his area are putting grass in the fields, so it is possible that there is a beautification initiative. Finally Kama is fortunate to have a lovely view of the water. A peaceful rocky beach is only a five minute walk from school.





This photo shows most of the students, staff, and a few volunteers at Kama. They are standing near the east entrance and in front of a new mural. Every student contributed to the painting thanks to the patience and facilitation of awesome volunteers.

Thanks for reading!

School Lunch

There are a lot of great things to love about teaching at my schools, but one of my very favorites is lunch. For just under $3 per plate school lunches on Jeju Island all made from 100% organic products. Most of the produce is farmed on Jeju, and some of it is even grown at school.

The lunches always have three staples; rice, soup, and kimchi. Typically there is some kind of meat either to the side or in the soup, but it is never much and it's always easy to pick the meat out. One day, the wonderful lunch ladies at Kama even went to the extra effort to set aside a portion of rice for me before they added the meat to it. It made my day that they thought of me.

Every Wednesday is special lunch day. These lunches are more food, use more expensive ingredients, and harder to prepare. Special main dishes may include Bibim Bap, chicken noodle soup, stew, or fancy rice. The special side dishes could be fruit, juice, or homemade vegetable doughnut. Radish kimchi is always served on special lunch day.

School lunches in Jeju feature a lot of delicious fresh fish products. Fish is only served in the United States schools in the form of reheated fish sticks which were previously fried and frozen. I was so surprised the first time I recieved crab in my soup. It wasn't even a special lunch day, but there it was, big pieces of crab still in the shell. I had no idea how to eat it without tools. My kids showed me that I should just bite into it, suck out what I can, and discard the rest. The waste still has plenty of meat in it, and all I could think was "Crab is so expensive!".

The only complaint I have about school lunch, and Korean food in general, is that it’s really salty. I’m always thirsty despite drinking several liters of water. Korean food is probabyl doing bad things to my blood pressure. In the summer the extra salt may be helpful since you lose so much sodium on hot, humid days. Although, between the salt and the sweat, I’m just not sure how to stay hydrated when summer comes.

Historically the Korean diet is really healthy, but it has taken a turn toward the processed in the last several years. Everything is sweet here, including chips. Many things are fried as well. Obesity is definitely on the rise in Korea, just as it is in every developing country.

The most surprising recent change in the Korean diet is the inclusion of milk. Nobody my age and older drinks milk, but somehow special interests have convinced the government to give milk to all the school children every morning. Both of my schools were confused that I don’t like milk, and don’t consider it healthy. Many colleagues and students thought that everyone from the United States drinks several cups of milk a day.

(Please click on The Cancer Project to learn briefly about why dairy should be consumed with moderation. Click here for the long version. Try here to search brief articles on your favorite topics.)

Marathon Stuyding

Several people have asked how long kids stay in school, so I thought I would write a blog about it. :)

The Korean government and most Korean people value education very highly. Normal school hours are M-F 9am until about 3pm depending on the grade. Saturday class was standard, but it is ending with the start of the 2012 school year. Nobody goes home at 3pm when normal class ends. There are after school classes, and studying every day. Gama offers flute, English, reading/writing, and computer science. Tosan offers martial arts, flute, piano, and I’m not sure what else. Part-time, specially contracted teachers instruct the extracurricular classes. If it isn’t a testing time, then everyone usually leaves my elementary schools by 5pm.

Middle school and high school are notoriously stressful in Korea. Testing is the driving force behind the stress. The average test score determines the school ranking so there is a lot of pressure from the administration for students to score well. Additionally test scores determine what school a student will attend after elementary. At the higher levels testing seems to be endless. One teacher joked that testing was the students’ hobby. Classes get canceled, and kids stay at school late to prepare for tests.

Even the elementary students study much harder than we are used to in the United States. The sixth grade students at my schools were studying for a regional exam until 10pm under the guidance of their homeroom teacher. One of my fourth grade students told me that she was up until 11pm studying with her mom.

A high school student expecting to go to university arrives at school around 7:30am and leaves around 11 or 12pm. A high school student at our kook sul gym told me that she studies at school with other students until 11pm every night. She said teachers are sometimes at school helping them study. The same student also told me that she lives at school and sleeps at home. She is only able to practice kook sul during school breaks, because she spends so much time studying.

There are exceptions though. Three high school boys at our kook sul gym arrive to train at 4pm, and leave at 10pm. These boys don’t want to go to university though. One of them is going to a culinary college after high school. I’m not sure about the other two. They are shy around me, and they don’t seem to speak much English.

Additionally there is a huge market for private schools in Korea. Kids, and sometimes adults join these institutions after normal school or work hours. There are private schools for English, science, music, visual arts, sports, martial arts, traditional arts, and more. The Korean government has chosen to spend money on extracurricular classes in the public schools because not everyone can afford to attend a private school after normal classes. The Korean government makes a valiant attempt at creating equal opportunity for low income kids, and students in rural areas. Unfortunately kids with higher socioeconomic status still have a significant edge over their low income counterparts.

We knew coming to Korea that education was extremely valued. We assumed that our students would be enthusiastic little angels eagerly soaking up every nougat we shared with them. This was the height of naivety on our part. Kids are kids, no matter where in the world you are. Yes Korean kids are trained, and expected to study harder than in the United States, but they are still chatty, show up late, get bored, mouth off, and fall asleep. Everyone gets bored with the same old routine even in a culture that cherishes education.