Fan Death and Busy Weekends

I learned something new from one of the TPs at school this week, and I thought I’d relay it (I also did some research to flesh out how the whole thing started).  In Korea there is a very widespread belief in something they call “fan death”.  Basically, Koreans say that if you leave a fan on at night with all your windows closed it can kill you.  Scientifically the idea didn’t seem to have a lot of merit to me, so I did some research to see if there was even a hint of truth behind it.  Only one study was released on the subject, and it was done in South Korea several years before, by the government.  One article I read on the subject claimed that this study came out after an unsuccessful government campaign to get people to use less electricity in their homes.  The theory is that this study was released as a new method of getting people to use less electricity, by not leaving their fans running all night.  However, it is a very vehement belief for a lot of Koreans, so taking up the other side and saying that sleeping with a fan on is probably not harmful just seems to make people angry.  Moving on.

The last two weekends have been really eventful, which is great because they've both been amazing (and I've got another great one coming up) but at the same time it leaves me no time to talk to friends back home or post on my blog.

Two weeks ago I went to an orphanage in Anyang with Amanda and some other assorted friends. It was an orphanage run by the same people as Amanda's adoption agency (if I haven't mentioned it before, Amanda is Korean but she was adopted as an infant and grew up in Oklahoma, hence she speaks very little Korean). We met a bunch of little kids. When we first got there they said that they had too many volunteers that day already and we couldn't visit the kids, but then they changed their minds. We headed upstairs and some of the older kids were sort of roaming the halls and a few of them played with us. Pretty quickly we went into one of the rooms that contained all the three and four year olds. They were absolutely adorable. When we came in they had been watching TV, but they immediately came over to show us their half-broken toys and play with us. One boy bee-lined straight for me, wordlessly plopped down in my lap, and went back to watching TV. Then he started stroking my face and calling me "Oma" which means mommy. Uh, seriously, break my heart kid.

We went in and helped feed the one year olds during lunch time, though I mostly stood in the hallway and played with the older kids who were still roaming. By older I mean like six or seven. None of these children spoke a single word of English, by the way. Even the three year old who sat with me was talking about the Thomas show on TV, but he didn't know that Thomas was called Thomas and kept calling him "hamatchita" which is what they call Thomas in Korean, I guess. The others fed the babies, but I've never been big on children when they're that small, so I just hung back in the hallway. Then one of the little girls kept staring at me and reaching for me, so Holly called me in and I sat with the girl in my lap. She was adorable, and really only wanted to see my necklace, which she kept trying to pull straight off my throat. It was just an old chain with Sam's old nametag on it. Then she stopped trying to do that, and any time she thought I wasn't paying attention would try to jam one of her hands down my shirt. Fyfe was laughing at me the whole time, and so was Greco (two of the Air Force guys who came with us to help translate since Fyfe is a Korean linguist).

We left after lunch because it was naptime. On the way out we stopped at a bulletin board with babies pictures on it and little descriptions, and Ellie (Amanda's TP) started reading them to us. They were pictures of babies that had just been abandoned, with descriptions of where they had been. Every single one of us (except the boys) started crying. When Ellie (who is the sweetest, most gentle woman) got to one where the baby had been abandoned in a toilet, she got so angry and embarrassed that she punched the bulletin board and wouldn't read any more. None of us really wanted her to anyway. Then we stood outside awkwardly and silently for about ten minutes and cried.

Then it was Shannon's birthday that night, so we had a big barbeque and weekend out in Songtan with all the guys. Holly had revealed that week to us girls that she is pregnant and is maybe going home to the states in a few months to have the baby and then wait for her husband to finish his time in Korea and come join her at home. So she doesn't work at Maple Bear anymore. We found that out just before the party, so after having a great time at Holly and Chris's house, we went out without them. It was a pretty good night. We all came back to Holly's and fell asleep on the floor, then got up the next day, walked a dog on base (Greco volunteers at the shelter on base) and got some Taco Bell. Seriously, they are going to have trouble tearing me away from that. Then we played some soccer and hung out in the sun. The weather here has been beautiful here lately.

Last weekend was basically Nacho's going away weekend (he finished his time here a few days ago, and is now back in the states on a month's leave). Nacho is Cally's boyfriend, and one of the central guys from the air force that we usually hang out with. He's also hilarious and we're all going to miss him a lot, because he was always the life of the party. We went out to base on Friday after work and they got us passes to spend the weekend there. We had already bought tickets to go white water rafting with all the guys up in Northeast South Korea (that's a lot of cardinal directions really close together), so we left Saturday morning at 6:30. One three-hour bus ride later, we got there, and got out on the water. It was really fun. One boat was Fyfe, Greco, Nacho, Cally, Amanda, Winge, Doc, and me. Doc may sound like a dwarf, but there is no Snow White around, and he is from deep Alabama and has the accent to prove it. It was my first time meeting him and he's actually pretty hilarious. Winge is dating Amanda now (as of this weekend).

The river was fun, and we got soaked, mostly because we jumped in. I'm an idiot and when I jumped in to swim I freaked out for a second because the water was sticking to my eyes, and droplets were clouding my vision, but then I realized that I had jumped in with my brand new sunglasses on, like a moron. Don't worry- they're unharmed. We swam for a bit, and rafted a lot. Really we were just acting ridiculous the whole time. We had chants that we did any time we came up to any other boats, and a war cry. We also loudly sang Aerosmith "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" for most of the ride, and for some reason none of us can remember we at one point softly murmur-sang "On Top of Spaghetti" to one another. The whole time was hilarious and I am really glad I went.

Of course, we went out that night. Shannon came out and we went to our first Handsome Boy's Night, which is where the guys all get together and watch movies and get drunk. But they call themselves the Handsome Boys, so there you go with the name. Then we went out to watch Chris, Holly's husband, play at the local bar we frequent. Holly couldn't come because bars in Korea are super smoky and she has to incubate baby Baldwin (their last name) so she opted out. We all had a great night, but I don't think any of us girls actually spent any of the time together, because we'd all made tons of new friends among the guys that day. It was a great night.

Then the next day Holly, Shannon, Amanda and I went to Seoul in the afternoon with a few of the guys (Fyfe, Greco, Chris, and Doug) and met up with two of our TPs (the same two from the orphanage, Ellie and Faye). There was a huge festival for Buddah's birthday, which is this Friday. People were making little lotus lanterns and all sorts of crafts, and there was a bunch of traditional Korean dancing. We went to a Buddhist temple and took pictures. It was all really cool, but we were all exhausted. We took the fast train home, but it was so full that we basically all ended up falling asleep in a pile on the floor of the cafe car.

Monday was Nacho's official going away roast, as in Comedy Central style roast. Then Cally showed this 30 minute video she made for him made up of pictures and videos she'd taken while dating him. One of the great clips of video was a video of me speaking to Nacho entirely in Spanish while he refused to speak Spanish back to me. I don't remember it, mostly because it was a long time ago and I'd never seen the video before, but it was funny.

This weekend for my birthday (which was Tuesday) we are all going up to an island off the coast of Incheon called Muido. We have a three-day weekend because of Buddha's birthday, so Shannon and I are going up Friday morning and everyone else will come up Friday afternoon after the guys get off work. I'm really excited about it.

Last note: it looks like I'm resigning with my school for another year which means I will be coming home for two weeks in August (probably the first two weeks) and then I'll be back here until August 2011 for more adventures.

The Air Force Base and New Kids

I want to apologize, first and foremost, for taking so long between entries. In March my schedule changed, and with the increase in teaching hours I am exhausted by the time I get home. It's not an excuse, but I'm using it as one.

One of the new things I have noticed about Korea, which I've noticed since the beginning of my time here but haven't yet written about, is that by American standards Koreans are extraordinarily rude. Culturally things are very different here in unexpected ways. For example, lines don't actually exist. People will walk right in front of you, and you basically have to push your way to the front or get pushed out of the way all together. Even my Koreans friends will walk in front of me if I don't push forward quickly enough. At stoplights, cars can go around the line and cut in front of the left turn lane, into the middle of the intersection. While waiting at a bus stop people will shove you aside to get on before you. Another example of what we would view as rudeness in the states: walking down the street people will bang into you hard enough to knock you over, but they won't apologize or acknowledge it. On the subway, men will push you out of the way to get to an open seat before you do. Men who are getting on the train when I'm trying to get off have literally shoved me back onto the train so they can get on more quickly. At first it was hard to get used to, but now it's become almost expected. Almost.

Since the last time I wrote I have discovered a magical new area of Korea. It's called the US Air Force Base in Songtan, and it's essentially a tiny slice of America set in the middle of South Korea. There is a Taco Bell there. A TACO BELL. I can get American products there, and everyone speaks English, and nobody stares at me because I look different from them.  Shannon and I have started hanging out with a group of the Air Force guys that we met through Holly's husband. The main problem I have been having in Korea is the lack of variety in food, but on and around the base you can find any type of food you want. There's a decent Mexican restaurant and an amazing gyro place, plus good Thai. After so long spent somewhere so different from home, it's seems magical to take a short subway ride and arrive somewhere so much more familiar. It makes me miss home because it's so close without actually having the people I love, but at the same time it definitely makes it easier to handle a week of non-stop Korean culture when I have that outlet on the weekend.

Amanda, Shannon, and I went and saw the cherry blossoms last weekend at a local university, and they were absolutely beautiful.  They are a big deal here, and there were tons of people walking around, spending an afternoon looking at the multitude of pink petal covered trees reaching up toward the perfectly blue sky.  There are cherry trees all around the country, lining streets, on school campuses, in the parks.  It was a nice, relaxing way to spend an afternoon with a few friends. 

Also, our schedules changed, so I have twelve new kindergartners, twelve Grade 1 kids and four kids of scattered older ages. Five of the Grade 1 kids are mine from last year, two were Tara's, and four were from Cally's kindergarten last year. There aren't many of them that set themselves apart.  They’re all great though, and I can tell that I’m really going to enjoy teaching that Grade 1 class.

I have a new kid named Jun, but this one is ADORABLE, unlike the similarly named Junsung from last year. This kid is dumb as rocks, but cute as a button. He’s already been studying English for a year, and today I gave him the assignment to draw a picture of himself as a baby and then a picture of him today. He came back to me with a picture of a tiger and a picture of a car. Well, sure. Okay, Jun. That's nice.

I've got another one named Peter who is beyond brilliant. The kid can read everything no problem, do any math problem you put in front of him, and speak with near perfect diction and grammar. He self corrects when he makes grammatical mistakes. He is polite and sweet. I'm trying to find the pod he came out of and see if there are any more children left in it that I can bring home.

Andy is the clingiest child I've ever come across in my life. He literally attaches himself to me in any way he possibly can. He grabs my leg, wraps his arms around my waist and his legs around my thigh, jumps up so I'm wearing him like a fanny pack with his legs around my waist, sits in my lap any time I stop moving. Once I was crouched in front of another student's desk helping them with their math work and he came over from his desk with his math book, sat on me while I was crouching down, and tried to sit there and do his math work on his lap. He almost tipped me over.  This is the same kid who was constantly touching me and being physical when I taught Thor’s class for a few weeks back when I first started at this school, so I expected this sort of behavior and affection.

All in all I really like my new classes and I think they will be a lot of fun.  I’ll let you know how things develop!

This Week's "Cuteness of the Week" Award

Today was activity day, which isn't really important. It's Lunar New Year coming up, so we made wooden tops, they dressed in Hanbok, they bowed to me, and we talked about resolutions.  It was cute and fun, but that’s not the point of this entry.

Every Activity day there is a special lunch that is smaller than regular lunch because the TPs are super busy during activity days and don't have enough time to serve the larger lunch. The lunch consists of a clementine, a roll with melted cheese on top, and shrimp fried rice. The shrimp is tiny and there isn't a lot of it, but I still can't eat it because the rice has been cooked with the shrimp. The first activity day I went to, however, I didn't even notice the shrimp, ate a huge serving of rice and felt sick for the rest of the day. Because I can't have the rice, Miss Theresa (the lunch lady) always puts in extra rolls and clementines for me. I sit at a table with Thomas, Cherry, Andrew, and Jully, with my back to my other students (Miss Young sits at their table).

Today, I sat down with my tray full of rolls and oranges, and Thomas asked me why I didn't have any rice. I told him I had an allergy. He said shrimp was one of his favorite foods, which Ryan chimed in on. He heard that part from the other table, and said it was one of his favorites, and asked why I didn't like it because he hadn't heard the first part of the conversation. I repeated myself, saying I loved shrimp but that I can't eat it anymore. Sally, who sits across from Ryan and about as far away from me as possible, having heard nothing but this, asks if I have an allergy. I say I do and explain to the other kids what an allergy is because they didn't understand. Everyone then turns back to their food and proceeds to eat.

A minute, maybe two, passes in complete silence. Then, out of nowhere, Sally jumps out of her chair and yells "Miss Kelsey! Don't eat the rice! It has shrimp!" I turn around to look at her and she is reaching out toward me (from about ten feet away), and she looks so concerned and afraid for me. It was adorable. This little girl who is only seven years old, was THAT concerned about my health. It was like I was about to go into a room that had a bomb in it, or as if I were the heroine in a scary movie, running from the villain and trying to get away by running up the stairs. She literally JUMPED out of her chair (she actually almost knocked it over) and reached out for me, just to warn me about my rice.

Honestly, the first thing I thought was that this girl actually cares about me. I'm not just some white lady she's known for six months. She really loves me. Then, when we practiced our graduation songs after lunch she sat on my lap and leaned her head on my shoulder while she sang. And when I told her I'm teaching the new class she'll be starting in a few weeks, she got so excited she practically tackled me just to give me a hug. So, in other words, the cuteness of the week award goes to: everything Sally did today. Thanks for making me feel amazing, my love.

Very quickly during my 15 minute break:

Two things that I find interesting.

1) In Korea people are actually honest about appearance. If you are fat, they tell you that you are fat. If you look tired, they say it. No one gets offended. It's like a statement of fact, and everyone knows. They also tell you when you look good, and it actually makes you feel good because every time they say it you know it's honest. Anyway, in class the other day we were making a boat out of tangrams (those special shape things that you can put together to make all sorts of pictures). I drew the boat on the board, and then as a joke, drew all the kids in the class inside the boat. When I was finished, there was no room to draw myself, so I drew me hanging off the side. When Thomas asked why, Junsung said "Because too heavy." And instead of getting offended, I laughed. It was funny. Yeah, I'm not nearly as thin as any of the women he knows, and I probably never will be. Asian women are tiny. And yeah, at the moment I'm packing on a few extra pounds from my normal size. So what? I actually kind of like it when people are honest. It makes me feel better when they say I'm fat than when people back home tell me I look skinny, because at least I know they're telling the truth.  There is even a guy from English class who openly admitted to having a crush on me, then a month later asked me (verbatim) “Are you on a diet?  You look less fat than last time I saw you.”  He definitely knows the words “thin” and “skinny”.  But I didn’t look thin or skinny.  I just looked less fat.

2) My kids invented the best kind of tag EVER and when I return to the states I fully expect a large-scale version to be played. It's called Zombie attack, and it's a combination of tag and the zombie apocalypse. One person starts as a zombie, and everyone else is a "people" (we're working on plurals and singulars, but they still have trouble). The zombie has to move kind of slowly and hold their arms out in front of them, while making creepy moaning noises, like a zombie. Everyone else screams and runs. If the zombie catches someone, that person also becomes a zombie. The infection spreads. Every so often one of the zombies calls out "Who is still a ‘people’?" and one or two kids raise their hands, only to be viciously hunted by the others. The last “people” standing wins, and starts as the zombie in the next round. It's HILARIOUS to watch. At least, it was until I started playing and someone knocked Cindy over, causing me to knee her in the forehead at the same time that someone accidentally body-slammed Junsung into a wall. It was that exact moment that I realized Zombie Attack should be an OUTDOOR game.