No Wonder You Need A Passport!

    Ok. I know that my last post was not that long ago, but I feel like if I wait too long between posts (at least during the culture shock phase) I won't be able to fit all the hilarity into a post of reasonable length. So! I've decided to write small chunks more often, rather than huge chunks less often. It's totally unimportant that you know this, but when you have OCD, it's difficult to abstain from sharing the intimate details of your mental organization processes.

    First. Day. Of. School. Wooooow! I also want to share a little about my city-exploration adventures from yesterday, but I am going to go out of order a little bit because telling about school is going to be so much fun! BUT! Before I talk about anything else, let me just take a moment to say that when you travel to a place where the humidity level is between 90 and 100 percent 24 hours a day, there are certain acclamations that have to be made.... things you can't even prepare for. Like the fact that after taking a shower in the morning, you can pretty much count on being some form of damp for the rest of the day. There hasn't been a moment since I walked off of the plane that I haven't felt shiny, or sticky, or frizzy, or soggy, or any combination of the above. So when you are trying to look presentable for your first day of school, things get complicated. I've given up trying to have hair like I did at home, and now efforts have been shifted so that the ultimate goal is simply to not be mistaken for a baboon.

Not me. In case you were wondering.

Also, when you apply make-up to dewy skin, it does not hold. This means that along with presentable hair, I might also have to start giving up on having matte skin, but this one is a more difficult battle for me to surrender to. After a difficult struggle with these things, I finally left my apartment more or less satisfied with the result, and headed toward the bus stop. I got super lucky and made it there just as my bus pulled up so I hopped right on. This bus ride was really the only thing giving me anxiety about the day because I didn't want to miss my stop and wind up in East [Buddah] Nowhere*, having no idea how to get back. But ultimately, I was successful and got off on the right stop. As I walked into the school and down the halls, I was greeted by loads of smiles and giggles from adorable little faces. Korean kids are stinkin' cute, people!

~~~SIDE NOTE~~~

    What I Know About School So Far: Claire and I and my co-teacher, Young, are considered "subject" teachers because we all only teach one subject. There are also two science subject teachers that I have met. The other teachers are "homeroom" teachers and as far as I can tell they teach multiple subjects and do not have rotations like the subject teachers. The subject teachers kind of hang out together I think because they all have a similar schedule and they are all around the same age so they get along well. I hang out with them too because wherever Claire goes, I go!  My favorite of the group so far is one of the science teachers because she is very sweet and she is dying to practice her English by talking to me. This is great because most of the time everyone speaks Korean and I just pretend to be following the conversation. I spent a long time during the break today talking with the science teacher, though, and answering questions she had about American culture. It was really fun! The only thing is... Everyone at school introduces themselves by the grade and subject they teach and not by their name! So I will have to specifically ask the science teacher what her name is the next time I see her.

~~~END SIDE NOTE~~~

    When I got to my office, I met with Young who told me that we would have 5th graders today and that we might have 3 classes or we might have 5 because today was the first day of the new semester and the homeroom classes stay over time to elect their new class representatives. Before class started, I snapped a few shots of my classroom and office.

Front gate of the school

English Zone!

Claire's and my office

Me at my desk, all shiny and sweaty

My classroom

TEs and kids' text books

    Then. At 9 oclock. It happened. The bell rang (also known as Fur Elise playing over the loud speaker) and about 25 screaming, shouting 5th graders came bursting into the classroom! They were shoving and punching and wrestling each other like a pack of crazy monkeys! But then Young rang the bell and they all sat down. This does not mean they were quiet though. They were just sitting. Pretty much the entire first period was a chat session for them while Young talked over them during the lesson. The following two groups weren't nearly as rambunctious as the first, but still a little more talkative than what I'm used to. They seem to somehow be paying attention, though, because when Young quizzed them individually on their way out the door, most all of them knew how to respond. They all wanted to say "Hello" and "Nice to meet you" and "See you soon!" to me as they were coming and going. They are all so stinkin' cute! Smaller than the 5th graders I'm used to. But in Korea you are a year old when you are born, so it could be possible that 5th graders here are the same age as 4th graders back home. Either way, I love them!

    Today at 2:30 we had a kind of a staff meeting where all the teachers gathered to welcome the new Number 2. We all stood up and they put their hands over their hearts while the South Korean flag was displayed on the projector screen and a man's voice said something in Korean as the Space Odyssey theme song played in the background. Then they presented Number 2 with flowers and she made a speech. Then Number 1 made a speech and presented me and the teacher that just got back from maternity leave with flowers. The other subject teachers told me that this is the first time he has done this for a new teacher - kind of flattering and kind of embarrassing. 

Flowers from Number 1 and the Jidong Group

     After all that, we went to one of the classrooms and had fried chicken (basically the Korean equivalent of KFC) and beer, and ate cake with chopsticks. Here, everyone shares everything when it comes to food, so they sliced the cake into very large pieces and put one on each table, but Number 1 cut one small piece and brought it over specifically for me. All the subject teachers ooo-ed and ahh-ed and laughed because it was a large gesture for him to serve me this way I guess - again, kinda flattering and kinda embarrassing! 

    I'm almost positive that none of this would seem so strange if I could understand what everyone around me was saying. Without understanding the language, though, it's kind of like trying to determine the storyline of a ballet: you just interpret the things people are doing in order to try and keep up, which is really hard to do and precisely why I hate ballet! Now I know what the Arabic cucumbers at Lexington must feel like!!!! But regardless of how strange it seems, it also has a feeling of genuine hospitality and kindness. Everyone at school seems to get along so well and they are kind of like a big family which I love!

    This post is becoming devastatingly long, so I am going to save my city-exploration adventures for tomorrow. Thanks for hangin' in there with these wordy posts! Once I get over the initial excitement, I think I'll start trying to focus on one topic at a time to help keep things more succinct. All my love from Suwon!!!

*This term is most commonly stated as "East Jesus Nowhere" and refers to a place in the middle of nowhere that no one has ever heard of. Given that the country where I currently reside is heavily Buddhist, however, I've taken the liberty of altering it a bit.