Catching Up With Korean Culture

Back in Seoul!

I’ve really been neglecting the blog.  So much has happened, I don’t even know where to begin! Bring on the novel!

We went to Seoul for Lunar New Year in February, which I don’t remember entirely because I had a terrible cold. We went around the old stomping grounds—some things have not changed and some things have. My apartment is still there, as well as the school, but the Smiling Jesus homeless shelter has gone and is being replaced with some high-rise.  Many new buildings are going up, just as many of the older buildings are emptying. It was great to be back in the city, but not as nostalgic as we had anticipated.

The weekend after Seoul, we went east to visit Matt’s friend, Tyler. He is now married to a local and lives in her parent’s “old” apartment, built in the 1990s. It has nearly the same layout as our apartment which was built three years ago. We reveled in the mother-in-law’s taste in decorating: a different wallpaper pattern for every wall.

After we recovered from the new bird flu, we put in our sixty-day notice at our school. This comes after many, many trying and mind-boggling “policy” changes at the school. Not wanting to stay a moment longer than we had to, we suggested an end date of the 15^th of May—cutting the month practically in half (exactly 60 days).  Ten days later, the boss says that the accountant doesn’t like having to calculate unfinished months, so could we possibly stay until the end of May—they pay for the ticket change fee, etc (up to $200 each). We agreed, but after several attempts at changing the ticket, we were told it wouldn’t be possible.

Two days later, it was found out that new teachers could arrive on the 25^th of May, so could we call the ticket agent and beg to change the flight to just one week ahead. I questioned the feelings of the accountant, but they just asked me to change the ticket. The fee would come to $230 each which was too costly for them.  This past Monday, it was concluded that they’ve “had a change of heart,” and “may” be willing to pay that price, but they’d let us know for sure and shrugged off our warning that the longer they wait, the more expensive the tickets will be.

This constant indecisiveness is one of the deciding factors of turning in our notice. These bosses cannot stick with a decision. First it is “don’t play games in your class.” (not defining what they mean by games), and then a week later “The students are complaining, you better play many games from now on.” To be followed with, “The parents are complaining that you are playing too many games, so no more games.” Lately, our fearless leader has been having trouble motivating the Middle School students and has made a deal that if they work hard in her class and for twenty minutes in Matt and my classes, they can have 25 minutes of uninhibited phone time. She failed to communicate her thoughts to her husband, who then comes and has a go at Matt and I for allowing free time. Her husband says “don’t listen to her,” but then the wife has a go at us for not listening to her. We talk to them until we’re blue in the face, but the only decision is to listen to whoever told us last.

Wednesday, I taught a group of six graders. They are the oldest in their school, so that means they get away with EVERYTHING. No teacher wants to teach them, so the fresh graduate teachers, who are already overworked with odd jobs from other, older teachers, are put in charge of these guys. In short, no one stands up to these spoiled monsters.

Our bosses have continuously told me to send any of these students out of the room if they curse in Korean—apparently mothers have been complaining that we allow such a thing. Usually the kids curse, I threaten, and they stop. But Wednesday would have put a sailor to shame, so I threatened again and shortly after, a kid made another student angry, and the irritated kid screamed “She-Pal!” So, I sent him out of the room. The boss comes back and says “Well, he told me he was angry, so it is ok.” I told her I didn’t care, but to just figure it out and stick with a decision, so I could do my job. She ignored me.

This week has been possibly the most Korean culture has confronted us than in the entire of time we’ve lived in Korea.  

On our way to work Monday, we were nearing an intersection. There was a car, going incredibly fast, and no indicator, it of course, suddenly turned left, into our lane. Matt slammed on the breaks, but it was too late, we connected with the driver’s rear tire. Our driver’s front bumper was pretty crumpled, but no one was hurt. Of course a bus decided to come barreling down the road, so we had to move the cars.  The ladies in the other car, saw their opportunity and called their fathers. We called our boss.

When we all were gathered, the fathers tried to blame us for the accident and scam us out of money. We called the insurance, but apparently, older males usually win the insurance battle, even if they are no where around at the time of the accident, just because they are older males. There was a lot of shouting from all sides. Incredibly infuriating, and we still don’t know what has happened with it.

They have special lady parking.

Wednesday was April Fools’ Day. A favorite day for Korean children. They come up with all sorts of shenanigans, like putting their clothes on backwards, moving the desks around, writing on the blackboards—they laugh for hours about this. We decided to pre-empt the students and changed the schedules on all of the doors. The kids didn’t really notice, but the teachers did and our boss lost it. It took us three times of saying “April Fools’!” before it registered that it was a joke and neither she, nor the receptionist had messed up.

We’ve also been going to the gym to blow off work steam. If we’re lucky we can get there before anyone else does. Koreans love to exercise in freezing temperatures and with sad, wailing, ballads. It’s a real downer. If no ballads are playing, the old people usually turn on a TV to a really loud talk show for old people. Their “must get things done fast and inefficiently” culture is reflected in their exercise routines. They put the machines on a low weight setting and go 90 miles an hour. Bounce, bounce, slam, slam, clang, clang. I’m surprised the machines don’t break! The gym also has a driving range, so there is the constant “thwap” of golf balls on the wall.  Also curious, the weights are always disappearing from the gym, one by one. It is good though, I turn my irritation to workout motivation.

Spring is here. So we go from blinding yellow dust, to thick fog and rain mixed with yellow dust. Soon the eggs that the yellow dust has brought will hatch, and the insects will start feeding on the trees. In the meantime, the tulip trees are blooming, and they are pretty.