Korean Royalty

Well, it has finally happened. I have done one of the most stereotypically white things I could do in Korea, short of actually buying this outfit. But don't put that past me. . . I've still got some time here.

We wanted a Korean wedding photo, but we couldn't do it due to my short hair. (wah wahhh) So we settled for being pictured as Korean Royalty. I am completely satisfied with that compromise. Sure, lots of people get married, but how many become kings and queens? Huh? It's rare. Jealous much?

Just a couple of tourists

Today Chin-Hwa and I were lucky enough to have a whole day to explore Seoul. It's crazy that we don't do it that often, and I thought we would be able to site see every weekend if we so desired, seeing as we live about an hour's train ride away, but once you live somewhere, one might feel less incentive to look like a tourist.

Not this girl. I went to the cable cars weekly in San Francisco, camera in hand. I posed with the hippies in Berkeley on numerous occasions and would have worn a fanny pack had I been better prepared. I loved Oakland's Lake Merritt and I thought about buying the t-shirt. I am committed to looking like a tourist whenever possible, and today, Chin-Hwa was nice enough to humor me. Here are a few pictures from our visit to Gyeongbok Palace, a large 14th century palace in the middle of Seoul:

Chin-Hwa and I posing as the Korean husband and wife.

Me with one of the "authentic" palace guards. I tried to get him to strike a pose or at least crack a smile (I'm so stereotypical) but no dice. His facial hair was painted on in places.

Chin-Hwa in front of a palace gate. Doesn't he look thrilled?

My purchasing bucket list

Time is running out here in Korea, and it's time for me to make my last minute purchases in this land of milk and honey!

Things I have to buy before I leave Korea:

1. One thousand stationary pieces that look hilarious. Like this:

2. Enough banana flavored milk to make me sick of it so I won't miss it in the U.S.

3. Matching underwear set for Chin-Hwa and I. Don't worry, I won't post pictures.

4. Cheesy souvenirs for the family. . . I mean, expensive souvenirs for the family! Haha, yes!

My Last Day

Well, it is hard to believe, but today was my last day teaching. It may seem surprising to all of you millions of readers, but I actually knew it was coming since the fall. My boss had decided to close her school and waited until January to make the announcement. Today made it official.

Although I am sad to say good-bye to the kids, I am not very sad to be done teaching. Teaching is hard work! And I won't miss having to explain things like why "Did" is past tense but "eat" is not in the following sentence, "Did you eat your meat?" I will also not miss teaching prepositions. They are second nature to most English speakers, but if you really think about it, why do we say, "I go pee in the toilet" instead of "I go pee on the toilet"? ***There is an added difficulty when you take into account that almost all of my male students did pee both on and in the toilet.*** Explain yourself. And if I have to spell "bought" one more time, I will get upset. And not in a cute, oh she's so easy to ignore, type way.

It was strange to say good-bye to my students because I seemed to take it a lot more seriously than they did. I looked at them deeply and said such yearbook-y things like, "Keep it up!" or "I'll miss you!" They just looked at me and said, "OK."

We spent the day eating donuts and playing games, and it was quite enjoyable. Here are some pictures:

Who's in charge of proofreading around these parts?

This was spotted in a cafe in Seoul. It was painted onto the wall of the entrance.

I demand an explanation, at least after I stop laughing. Who thought of this? The sad thing is that "panties" is the same word in Korean, so there's really no excuse. And what kind of creature is that anyways?

The life and times of an unprepared teacher...

My innocent student, we'll call her "Shirley" to protect her identity, had told me she wanted to learn about tigers. I found an article slightly above her reading level (gotta keep it interesting, right, folks?) and made a copy.

The article seemed innocent enough. The title? "The Secret Life of a Tiger" or something vaguely mysterious. The content? Tiger facts. What could go wrong? (In retrospect, everything. That's why this story is so funny. You'll see.)

A normal teacher would read the article, take notes, make a worksheet, plan a field trip to India, do some fundraising involving red pens and "You Did It!" stickers, and then begin teaching after meditating on the entire process for at least a week. I, however, decided to wing it.

The article started simply enough. It was enthrallingly guilt-trippy. . . "Did you know tigers are endangered? It's probably your fault. Atone!" (this is not a direct quote, but I hope the feeling is clear) "Tigers only eat meat. They aren't good with spinach. But humans have killed all their meat sources. Great job, humans." "Tigers have paws the size of baseball mitts. They could hit you and injure you badly, if they only had a chance against your gun and superior intellect." I felt like Shirley was both learning and enjoying herself. The perfect combo.

And then came the tricky part. "Tigers mark their territory by lifting up their tails, backing up close to a tree, planting their feet firmly, and spraying their pungent urine." (quote may have been exaggerated for comedic reasons.) How was I, a mere teacher, going to explain this to my innocent, eight-year-old ESL student?

Like an idiot.

"Um, ok," I started meekly. "Do you have any questions about these words?"

"What's urine?" Shirley asked. I knew she would go straight for the gold!

"Well. . . urine is not a, uh, nice word. But I need to tell you about it," I responded, stalling so as to steel myself mentally. "OK, so, when you, uh, go to the bathroom (gesture to bathroom mime-style) and sit down and relax, yellow water comes out. This is waste. It's from our kidneys, which are organs. Organs are a team that work together in our bodies. It's urine," I answered. I knew immediately that I had used way too much detail. (I inherited that trait from my dad.) I didn't need to go into kidney functionality, but it seemed so pertinent, you know?

"Oh, you mean pee," she said, without showing any hint of embarrassment.

"Yes. Pee. I, um, didn't realize you knew that word. Urine is pee. A tiger's urine is very stinky, but not to humans. Only to other tigers. They have good noses and they like to sniff trees. They think it's fun. And they like to spray trees with urine, too! This is so they can mark their territory. With pee. . . Any other questions?"

"Nope," she replied.

Another student's life changed. Mission accomplished.

Disney High Horse

***Check out those innocent doe eyes and her meek expression. She's trying to pull you in. . . resist!***

I just finished watching a documentary, and you know what happens after that. . . thoughts. And thoughts lead to. . . my high horse.

The documentary was regarding Disney and the messages in its media. I have loved Disney forever, ever since I received the Beauty and the Beast VHS tape for Christmas and made everyone at both Christmases watch it. I can sing Little Mermaid from front to back, and Robin Williams as the Genie in Aladdin never ceases to make me giggle. However, after seeing the documentary and really thinking about those films, particularly their portrayals of women as helpless, I am starting to become incensed. Stop and reflect for a second. Ariel "gets" Eric only after she loses her voice. Beauty "fixes" the Beast so he no longer treats her like trash. And these are happy endings.

Disney's most recent animated film was Tangled. I watched this movie with my students, and its sexism was flagrant. Rapunzel literally wouldn't leave her house without first finding protection from a man, and even though the only man she could find was a dishonest thief, she allowed him to lead her/provide her security on her journey anyways. Sure, she showed strength, if you can count hitting somone with a frying pan multiple times, but in the end, she fell in love, just like countless female leads in Disney movies before. (Spoiler alert! She also changed from blonde to brunette, which was the big surprise twist in the finale.) How original. And here I was, showing this movie to kids?! Ahhhhh! Even Mulan fell in love at the end of her movie! What's a modern, feminist-leaning, anti-chivalry girl to do here?

So perhaps I won't be forcing any hypothetical eventual offspring to enjoy a Disney marathon with me. I wouldn't want to mess with their heads.

P.S.-Chin-Hwa is a self-described "fun-hater" meaning he can't turn off his philosophy to enjoy things. This post is in honor of his ability to hate fun at all times and in all situations.