The Gwangju Life

So I decided  to update quickly to make up for lost time. This post is focused mostly on my life in Gwangju and teaching. Afterall, people might think I'm in the boonies if they think I only go to Seoul to have fun.

Gwangju is one of the largest  cities in South Korea.  It's by no means the  country, although kpop media makes it seem that way. It's a city, through and through. The only thing it's lacking is a decent subway system  (there's only one incredibly useless line). Gwangju has several large Universities other than Chosun, like Chonnam and maybe like three others. Also, it's night life is pretty active too. However, the  club of choice has shut down and is being replaced by another. It's okay though, Saya found a better one and I trust her judgment.

Moving on... I don't know too much about Gwangju because when I'm not at work I'm usually sleeping, studying or in class. One day soon I'm just going to get up and explore. I maybe next weekend. I'll dedicate it to getting lost in Gwangju and take a taxi home afterwards.

Gwangju has some pretty good restaurants too. We have  particular favorite in the downtown area and one at the back gate of Chonnam University. The first is a ramen place that's pretty legit and the second is a koreanized italian place called the Flower. I also have a burger place I go to before class and the lady who owns it knows me order now. I hope my korean classes pay off so that I can talk to her in Korean.

In general, I find the people in Gwangu to be nicer than the Seoul people. They're very curious about my hair, but most of the time they know not to touch it (apart from the ahjummahs) and there were even a few times when people tried to talk to me about where I come from and why I'm  here. They usually think I'm an international student and they're really surprised when I tell them I'm a teacher.

Children are always open with their fascination and although I was sure they would think I was African, the vast majority assumed I was from my rightful birthplace,  the US. They would always say "미국 라람!" (American!) I think in total I got African about 10 times as compared  to the vast amound of American guesses,  but I don't  mind. I am ethnically of African descent.  Also, having dreads may not help.

Speaking of hair, people -including my students- often look at hair, point and say "reggae style!" And then I'd shake my head and say my hairstyle may be associated with reggae, but it's  not reggae style.  It's older than that. I think I should blame Korean reggae star Skull for that. Even if a lot of famous reggae singers have dreads (I don't even know if it's a thing, I don't  watch  lot of music videos, even kpop videos are lost to me most of the time). But I'm usually kind about it. I consider myself eclectic, but asan unofficial cultural ambassador I want to explain my hair has nothing to do with reggae. It has more to do with looking good and being lazy at the same time.

My students are generally  well-behaved, but I  envy the other TaLK scholars who get to talk with them during lunch. Because I have a building detached from the rest of the school  that takes some walki g to get to, I don't get many lunchtime visitors and I don't  think it's polite to intrude on the classrooms of the homeroom teachers just to talk to my students. I'm mostly told to stay in my office unless I come to class. But today, for the first time, three of my fifth grade girls came to visit me for a few minutes. I hope it happens more. It made me really happy.

Also, I have the same backpack as one of my sixth grade girls,  only a different color. They found this very amusing. I thought when they pointed it out that I had locked someone in the building when I left, but no, it was the backpack. A lot of people have jansport backpacks in the States, so I didn't  find it as entertaining, but I thought they were being super cute.

My mentor teacher is having me help prepare the students for a speech contest. I hope I can do well, but my teacher is expecting a student to place and I find the pressure to be a downer. Koreans find prizes and winninv to be very important (my mentor teachers say it's because they have very low self-esteem) and so winning and getting prizes is the goal in order to increase the prestige of the school. I get it. Everyone likes winning. I just wish there was more emphasis on intrinsic motivation. But that's  just me Western way of thinking. It would  most likely  make more sense if I was raised in a strict, asian household or in Asia. The pressure to be the best is really high here. I just hope I can help the student have fun while striving to be the best.

That was depressing. I'll talk about something more rewarding. I'm going to Jeju next month for a culture trip with schoars from my generation and the 13th generation.  We have a curfew again, but it's okay. I mean, our trip is free so it's  a fair trade in my opinion. If we abide by the rules, we may be ae to stay out later anyway. Then we could go to a beach party in Jeju or something.

Saya and Gretchen have been attending language exchanges most weekend and I think it's  about time I join them and make new friends. Besides, it's a language exchange, and I should start practicing what I'm learning in class, even if it's  minimal. Wish me luck!

Cheers ~

What I've been doing

(Pictures will be updated later, I'm currently waiting for them to upload!)

It's been so long since I've written a post and I'm sorry for my laziness. I'll try to update more!

Anyway, I guess I told you about my orientations and my first week teaching. Now I'll tell you what I've been up to. First off, I started taking Korean classes at Chosun University, which happens to be the best University on the Jeollanam-do area. I don't know how, but we managed to pull free classes. The good thing is that the classes are really small, we only have 6 students in our class and we have about 8 hours of class a week. I don't really get home until 9 on those days, so anyone who knows me knows I'm dead tired by then.

Next I should also say my classes are going pretty well, I co-teach most of my classes with the curriculum teachers during the day. The curriculum teachers are really nice, although I have no idea what we're actually doing until we do it. But they always offer me advice on teaching when I need it. I think the 5th grade teacher is the one who gives me the most information beforehand, though.

My students are crazy kids. I only have 6 kids for third grade, but they're all sweethearts. What alarms me is the gap between the two halves of the class, so I've been thinking of a way to give them more help that wouldn't offend the curriculum teacher. We focus mostly on phonics, but with that I took the opportunity to expand their vocabulary. They're going to have a lot to work with. That and I've been using pokemon to help with phonics. It works pretty well since they all know pokemon.

My fourth graders are much the same, but they are a bigger class (14 students) and they are easily excited. However, I can confidently say they're all around the same level, which helps in teaching them. The only problem I'd say is that these kids need more confidence. But if you give them a game (in English) using the grammar and vocab, they're all in.

Then there's my 5th graders. For a while I had some discipline issues, but I cracked down on them now and they don't step out of line as much. We also had a conversation about the kinds of games they want to play because they didn't like some of mine. When in doubt, ask the kids themselves. They always have some pretty good ideas of what they want to do. It really helps. Besides, they were happy that I asked them and they have been much more active in class since then, since I told them any time they have an idea, they should tell me. I think I'll do a Konglish lesson for them. For some reason I think they'd find it extremely entertaining.

My 6th graders are the most advanced, so I can actually have short conversations with them. They're pretty much cool with anything as long as they're having fun, and they love to talk. I usually have them make short dialogues and then present it to the class. Perhaps I'll have a short project where they make a whole skit using the things we learn later. They'd like that. My 6th graders are all extremely bright and quick to pick up new things, so I actually can pack a lot more into their lessons than the others. I also take the time to teach them more colloquial English, meaning bits of slang here and there.

Outside of school, I have classes, but I also started doing what normal people my age do: party and have "fun." Now usually, I would curl up in bed and read a book (or watch anime), but I figured, I'm in another country. Might as well experience it. I've actually been clubbing now. Shocker, I know, but it's much safer here in Korea. The only downside, I guess, is that guys here are pretty thirsty. Ladies, be careful. But don't worry, a simple "no" is all you need. Really. That's all it takes. If all you wanna do is dance, Korea is actually a pretty good place. Just be sure you make the men here know that.

I've also went up to Seoul a few times. The first time was to go see San-E with my girl Saya, who absolutely loves him. For those who don't know, San-E is a Korean rapper, but he's a gyopo from Atlanta. And he;s really weird. We actually went to 2 concerts in one night. The first was at Lotte World (an indoor amusement park) and there we saw Jay Park, another group whose name I don't know, and San-E. Jay Park and San-E are short. Really. If you guys think they're tall, don't lie to yourselves. They're short. But that's cool for me, I'm into their music anyways. San-E was really good onstage, and he brought on this great beatboxer who did a whole instrumental (voice-over?) by himself. Never got his name, though. Saya managed to get San-E's towel and we discovered that he smells like flowers and fruit. That was freaking weird. What does he eat?! Anyway, I was happy for her, I was trying to get the MC to give it to her for the whole time. I think he was impressed with my selflessness.

Anyway, the next few times I went to Seoul, it was mostly for clubbing. So far, I've been to Cocoon, Papa Gorilla, NB2, BrandNu and I think one other. I don't go as hard as some of my friends. Still too much of an old lady. Haha~. Anyway. Cocoon is has the best atmosphere, although it's super packed, but NB2 has the best music, because it's a hip-hop club. I liked BrandNu the least, but that's because of the foreign guys there, all touchin' my hair and actin' like they're the best thing on the planet. How dare they? Don't touch my hair when you're a Black man that knows the rules. The forgot, been living in Korea too long. I didn't want to get kicked out, so I stuck to just saying "back off" instead of punching them in the face. I am not a dog to be petted. I give Koreans a pass (the first time) because they don't know and they're just fascinated hair like mine exists. I will NOT give others who know that same courtesy.

Anyway, on one of my visits, I met up with my friend, Sun, and we went to the Imperial Castle and Jeongno. The Imperial Castle is huge and I was not prepared. It was beautiful too, but really, it was huge. Why does one person need a house that big?! Good thing his family, courtiers, and ministers all stayed there too. I told Sun that if I were a member of the royal family and they wanted to see me, someone better carry me because I ain't walkin' that far if it's not a matter of life and death. But the castle was indeed very beautiful. Jeongno (I think that's what it's called, correct me if I'm wrong, please) is a traditional street in Seoul where pretty much everything is in Korean. It was a nice place for a walk, and Sun and I took the time to catch up on all the things we missed.

Then it was Amariah and Gretchen's birthday weekend. Woo. Four days of dancing. I had to back out of the third day, I can't do that. But it was fun and we ended up all having a good time. I'm happy that Amariah and Gretchen had fun too, it's only right that they do for their birthdays. I take birthdays very seriously. You're celebrating life. so it's only right to have fun and well... live it up!

I think that's all I can talk about for now. I believe the next post will focus more on my life in Gwangju, and what I've learned so far about teaching while being here. I will tell you this, I really like teaching. It's difficult, but it's a fulfilling profession. Unless I become an idol (which I won't, not in a bajillion years) I'm gonna keep teaching for a while.

Cheers~