Deadlines

Lacey and I will be in Vietnam in two weeks. My first year in Korea is almost over. It's finally started to sink in, and now that we've crossed the deadline*, I feel a lot calmer about it than I did a month ago. Only four more lessons with my favourite kids, but only three more to survive with the awful ones. Undoubtedly, saying goodbye to my students is the part that makes me feel saddest about leaving. On my worst days, those kids unfailingly lift my mood and remind me why I'm here. Even though English teaching involves a large dollop of theatre and acting, I feel more like myself in the classroom than in any other job I've had.

Since I've extended my contract by one month, I'm now seeing the same part of the year as when I first arrived. Apples are back in season, as are the thick-skinned purple grapes, and the cicadas are loud, but back down to tolerable levels (for a couple of weeks they were loud enough to hurt your ears and drown out all conversation.) We've been watching a lot of 'River Cottage' recently, which is a pleasant but frustrating experience when living in a small urban apartment, but it makes me think that Koreans really are pretty good at living 'in tune with the seasons', as Hugh would say. Their seasonal customs are a little more rigid than we Westerners are used to, but they do make a lot of sense. I don't personally understand passing up on the delicious 'samgyetang' during cooler weather, but it is nice that the supermarket changes its vegetable display regularly.

Something else I've noticed: speaking Korean really has made the last few months a LOT easier. Taxi drivers understand directions better, I can ask for help in shops and explain my weird dietary needs in restaurants, signs are no longer a mystery. It has without doubt been the biggest help in adjusting to life as an expat. I'm going to miss studying it back home, and I'm sure that finding a decent class/tutor next year will be high on the list of things to do.

Also, the food situation has improved with time. I still don't like seaweed, though I can handle it mixed into food, and frankly I'm unlikely to ever come around on squid and octopus, but tofu and spiciness are both pretty much non-issues now. Figuring out how to cook at home has been really important too: Korean cuisine is healthy, but wherever you are, restaurants aren't going to be the best place for healthy eating. Oh, and vegan ramen. That's important too :)

I had thought that by this point in the year I'd be desperate to be out of here, but I'm really not. I'm excited about Vietnam, eating non-Korean food and, most importantly, about catching up with people I've failed to email regularly, but I'm also really happy that I'm coming back. Korea's well and truly under my skin, and I'm anticipating major kimchi cravings by the time I get back here.

*I just finished a book set in Niagara Falls, and the 'deadline' was the point in the river at which the current is so strong, going over the falls is unavoidable. Can't find a link to say if it's real or not though!

That vital ingredient in every good night out,

as every foreigner in Korea knows, is the norae bang. The concept is simple: singing along to your favourite tunes with your friends in the comfort of a private room. The microphones add a ton of echo, the videos don't make a lick of sense and at least two tambourines are always provided.

If you've never had the pleasure, it's hard to imagine. As a non-karaoke singer, it sounded so awkward to me at first: singing? In a room? For fun? But from that first weekend with all my new co-workers, I was converted. Belting out a song - even a rubbish song - is just so cathartic. I've come to think of it as communal shower-singing, without the nakedness (that's of course reserved for the bath-house, where singing is rather less common). I guess that's why Koreans only know about the joys of singing in the shower from movies: they already have something even better.

Usually, of course, everyone's a few sheets to the wind by the time a norae bang idea comes to fruition. And, usually, the singing ability ranges from acceptable to fighting cats. But this last weekend was a norae bang experience I never quite expected. We were on a beach trip to Jin-ha with a group of women - including more than a few who had some serious pipes. When they sang the Cranberries' 'Dreams' I was impressed. When they sang Sarah McLaughlin's 'Angel' the whole room was transfixed. No one spoke, no one moved and even as a memory, it gives me goosebumps. Later in the night, one of our singers even had me convinced that Evanescence produced at least one decent song.

Tonight is a friend's birthday dinner, and a norae bang sesh is definitely on the cards, as well it should be. With a new group of folk, it will no doubt be different from last weekend, but here's hoping it's another corker. Happy Birthday Mark! :)

But I didn't pray to him I promise!

My favorite 3rd graders have been learning about jobs recently. Today, our target vocabulary included 'pop idol'. Actually very easy to teach since 'idol' is a Konglish word with an almost identical meaning to our current usage of the word. But, never one to shy away from a chance to teach a little etymology, I thought I'd give them some background. Knowing that at least one of them goes to church, I asked if any of them did. Of course its the cutest child. The one I'm going to hide in my suitcase when I leave.

Soooo, I started by saying that in the church, they say you shouldn't pray to anybody except God, and that praying to statues is bad. Of course, throwing the word 'statue' in there didn't help things. A quick brush past that into a hasty "praying to anything that isn't God is bad and 'idol' used to mean things that people prayed to that aren't God. So the old meaning of 'idol' was bad, but now it just means people that other people really like." Our one little church-goer interrupted me to explain that she has seen pop singers but she never prayed to them! Honest! But really! She didn't pray to them!

Well that'll teach me to start launching into unprepared lectures on word origins to the under-10 year olds. Maybe next time we'll stick to bingo and charades. (But no hangman of course :)