Student evaluations are due once again. It feels much too soon. However, it's not work that's keeping me away from livejournal so much as spending time out enjoying my new home. One of my university friends who is now back in Korea jokes about how I generally do more on my weekends than she manages all week. In truth, I'm not quite that active.

Yesterday was a national holiday in observance of 開天節, which meant the day off for many employees. After finishing work the night before I sent a text message to 美 to see if she had made it home from work; instead she was in Uijeongbu waiting to meet a friend and we were able to spend some time together. My original plan had just been to keep 美 company until her friend arrived. However, they invited me to join them for dinner and coffee, which was a wonderful way to spend the night.

Returning home did make me question the decision though -- going to see a friend while they wait for an appointment wouldn't make me think twice in the United States, but this is by no means a universally applicable standard. Fortunately 美 and her friend both enjoyed the extra company so my perceived faux pas resulted in nothing more than a little needless worrying. There are times when living in Korea doesn't feel any different from living in Washington - apart from details like food garbage getting its own special bag or transportation costs being cheaper - but it would be a mistake to just assume that social interactions will all be the same (even if many are similar).

추석 (Chuseok) is a good example of this. It gets translated as 'the Korean Thanksgiving' due to both being associated with the autumn harvest, but 추석 is a much more family-oriented and solemn occasion. Traditionally, people return to their hometown in order to pay respect to their elders, both living and dead. Despite receiving a five-day vacation from work there were still several foreign teachers who complained about not being asked to a Korean's house for the holiday. While it isn't rare in North America to invite guests over for Thanksgiving, you also don't find many people who visit a family shrine or grave site for the occasion.

Then again, I was invited to 대구 by my academy director and to 인천 by a co-teacher for 추석, so who knows. Even without taking any long trips my time was well-spent. A large and diverse seafood dinner - squid, octopus, jellyfish, mollusks, shrimp, crab - with a Korean teacher that Saturday; meeting a friend from Seongnam, browsing through Kyobo Books and discovering 美 was with friends two blocks away on Insadong, then sharing dinner with them Sunday; making rice cakes (송편) with Ji Sook on Monday; watching egrets along the river by my apartment Tuesday; and spending time at a board game café in Gangnam with one of the teachers from my training orientation in August. No sitting around and moping for me.

And on the subject of not sitting around, today is the 50th anniversary of Sputnik's launch!

I made one of my students cry in class last Thursday. However, in no way was this a deliberate action on my part. Honest.

This particular girl is a kindergarten student enrolled in our advanced phonics classes reviewing the various sound combinations of the English alphabet. She's only five years old but is one of the brighter students in class. All the students are expected to have their homework gathered together in a pile for me to grade before class starts, yet every once in a while someone will forget and need to be reminded. When I noticed this girl's homework wasn't with the rest I asked if she had it - "any homework today?" - thinking that it might still be in her bookbag.

Her response was to stand up and shake her head no. That's when the tears started pouring down her cheeks.

This is not the first time that a student has cried in my class. One boy cried from a migraine until he left the room to go home, while a second boy has a habit of crying any time he's the first to sit out during classroom activities. These other occasions have been tied to a specific incident and were relatively easy to remedy, but how do you calm a girl who's crying over not having her homework done? My response was to walk over and pat her arm while repeating « 괜찮아 » ("It's okay" in Korean).

After a bit of soothing she stopped crying and class resumed. Tutoring Jung Ah and Kyo Wook had gaven me the impression that I would be more comfortable teaching the higher-level students, but now that I'm here it's the lower-level students that are the most enjoyable to work with at the academy. While I've heard that the middle schoolers are sullen and refuse to speak in class, the advanced students in my classes are younger and like talking, yet generally don't bother using any of the grammar or vocabulary that they're learning.

When asked about their favorite animal one boy from my class of advanced students said he likes lions because they're strong. The girl sitting next to him said she likes rabbits because they're cute. The next boy said he likes snakes because they're cute (copying the girl before him?). The final boy said he likes tigers -- but not just any tigers. He likes white tigers because they're majestic like the other tigers, harder to find, more interesting, unique, and important to study before they're all gone. I'm sure you can guess who earns the most points in that class ...

Today marks one full month since my arrival in Korea.

Marking the occasion, a typhoon has been dumping rain in Uijeongbu for the past two days. While I certainly don't mind the rain there have been several pedestrians who have stopped me in concern; to allay their fears I bought an umbrella for the first time in my life after finishing work tonight. Consider it an anniversay presnt to myself. The purchase did feel a little strange, as back home in Washington there are jokes about how only tourists and transplants use umbrellas despite the frequent rains.

Overall things are going well at the academy. The worst part of my job so far is the other American teacher at the school, who complains each and every day about some aspect of living in Korea. Usually his attacks are aimed at Korean people in general, the students in particular, Korean food (he's a vegetarian but hates rice and seaweed), how there's nothing to do in Uijeongbu (he didn't bother researching the city before he signed his contract), the lack of American clothing stores, or the weather. He's seven months into his contract but appears more than ready to go home. Life must be unbearable for an indie scenester.

« from Changgeonggung | 昌慶宮 | photo from Wikipedia »

Other than that, this past weekend was spent as an example in contrasts. I met 美 on Saturday and we spent a wonderful ten hours in the capital with her sister. Looking through children's books, strolling through Changgeonggung and its hidden garden, watching a romantic comedy that had very little comedy and even less romance, and enjoying lunch and dinner together. The following day was spent cloistered in my apartment working on student evaluations until four o'clock in the morning. It's hard to write insightful commentary for 25 students when you've only seen them five or six times. Going through the process has given me a new-found respect for the work that all my teachers have done outside the classroom.

Umbrella or no, the sound and feel of rain falling to the ground is just as soothing everywhere I've travelled.

While at the Moscow Social Club last Thursday I met Andrey, an international student from Uzbekistan. He's returning home at the end of the month and will spend a year working in Tashkent before coming back to the United States to finish his PhD. I've received an invitation to visit him while I'm living in Asia, but the primary topic of our conversation was the 2007 Asian Cup that's currently underway.

Even better than talking about football though is watching it live. It's four o'clock in the morning and I'm watching South Korea play Iran in Kuala Lampur. Earlier tonight I stumbled across a Korean website broadcasting all of the quarter-finals live. The speed isn't that great - presumably from a large number of Koreans watching the match - but it's definitely better than nothing. A personal revelation was seeing the team formations listed in Hangul (the Korean alphabet) and being able to read the Iranian player's names. 마다비키아 = Mahdavikia. That was a pleasant surprise.

However, what really has me excited is the upcoming clash between Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia. Uzbekistan played China in their final group game and needed a victory to progress. They pulled off a 3:0 win, which had me quite animated when I heard the final score, but the Saudis will be another tough opponent. 3a Ўзбекистон!