Pinishi!

At the school where I work, students feel the need to announce every time they complete a task--even if its something as menial as writing their name or the date on the paper. This announcement usually comes in the form of "pinishi" which is a Korean pronunciation of "finish."

I have been trying to break my students of this habit, or at the very least compromise by having them say, "I am finished."

As I had mentioned before, I have been participating in the National Novel Writing Month. The goal of the contest is for participants to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. There were many times when the task seemed so far away. My procrastination combined with writer's block is visible from my word count chart below from the nanowrimo website.


On the 15th, I should have been at the halfway-point at 25,000 words, but was only at about 14,000. You can also see that I wrote about half of the 50,000 words in the last five days. I spent 12 hours straight writing this past Sunday and that helped me get back on track. After Sunday, words just flowed out.

I actually have quite a bit more to write just to tie everything together and to flesh out some of the themes I've been working on. But tonight, after I cruised in with those final few thousand words to put me over the line, I celebrated the only way that seemed natural: I stood, punched my fist in the air and shouted, "Pinishi!"

So, I got this little image to display on the site. Its just a completion award but its one of the most beautiful logos I've ever seen.

Fun with Konglish

Taken at the Hyundai Oil Bank (gas station) near Okpo High School in Goeje.

The Propoganda Machine

I am beginning to have concerns about the Korean educational system. Recently, Japan has been taking several steps back toward a fair education with their denial of war crimes and rewriting of textbooks.

Before I go any further, do keep in mind that I have to temper my words carefully. The Korean government investigated some English teachers for a satire play.

The past week or so, I've become concerned about the state of Korean history. I've heard anecdotal stories from foreign English teachers who get chided by co-teachers or students any time they mention Japan. This issue came to my attention when I met my new class of "first graders." Under the Korean system the first grade students of middle school are about equivilant to 7th grade students in America.

One of the first questions out of their mouths were what I thought about Dokdo.

Dokdo is a group of good-for-nothing islands that Japan and Korea have been engaged in a war of words over since the occupation ended with the fall of the Japanese Empire. They are rocky and mostly uninhabited. No one really lives there except a small detachment of Korean soldiers to guard the rocks.

This seriously is an issue that just needs to die. I've read about it, and it seems that Korea has a sturdier claim to the land. However, the fact that teachers are drumming up this issue among students and instilling a sense of urgency and importance on this issue really concerns me.

Then I watched Arirang TV. Arirang is an international network that is basically a propaganda vehicle for Korea. It talks about how great Korean culture is, how superior Korean technology. There's a place for that I'm sure, but it really makes me draw back when they claim to have an incredible amount of influence over Japan (remember it was Japan who colonized Korea in 1905). Koreans take credit for sake for example. I watched an entire show where they claimed that Koreans traveled to Japan to teach the Japanese how to make liquor.

A larger disappointment came when I talked about my visit to the world's tallest building. I asked the students what the tallest building was. they ALL said 63 Building. The 66 Building is in Seoul, and as you can guess, it has 66 floors. Well, I brought the subject up to show off my pics of Taipei 101, the real tallest building in the world. According to Wikipedia, the 63 Building ranks 103rd in the tallest building category.

Come on Korea, there are some things you can argue about, but having students think yours is the tallest building? I don't know.

The definition of hope

This week, I saw the following quote used as a theme for a notebook. That means it appeared on the cover and as a watermark as each page.

"What is hope? It the dream of a waking man."

Your guess is as good as mine as to what that means.

Piss Team

My last class with my students before the end of the year, fell on Valentine's Day. So, I did a game where I taught them so Valentine's Day words (romantic, love, kiss, hug, Cupid) and then they had to play an Outburst/charades hybrid game.

Before, my games, I ask the students for a team name. The first team chose "Dirty." Okay, whatever. Then, the next team said, "Team Piss." I got a confused look on my face. What? "Team Piss."

I turned to my co-teacher to see if she understood. She had no weird look on her face. "Team Peace," she said.

For what may be the first time in history, a Korean has used a short "i" sound in a wrong place. The short "i" (big, twig, jig) doesn't exist in Korean. So, short "i" sounds are often pronounced "ee" (beeg, tweeg, jeeg). In this case, the student took long ee sound (tree, peace, neice) inverted it with the short i. So, peace became piss.

I had a fun time explaining the difference between those two words.

Taiwan

I am back from my trip to Taiwan. I've been silent for some time on the blog, but am planning a flurry of updates over the next few days. I will simultaneously be telling of my trip while offering tips to future travelers.

I finished my teacher's seminars and English camps on the 25th and had a week off before starting school again on February 5th. It was great to leave Korea behind for a bit, enjoy the great weather that Taiwan had to offer, and to experience a different culture for a bit.

While away from Korea, there were some things that I missed about Korea:

The Won: The S. Korean won is roughly 1,000 South Korean Won to $1 USD. This makes it easy to convert a Korean sticker price into something my brain understands. In Taiwan, the exchange was roughly 30 New Taiwanese Dollars per $1 USD. So, I had to divide everything by 30 to get a comprehendable price. This made my brain tired.

Kimchi: I have tried some crazy foods while here in Korea: dog meat, whale meat, things that were still moving when I ate them. However, nothing could prepare me for some of the smells coming from the street vendors in Taiwan. Lets just say that I missed Korean food greatly.

PC Bangs: PC Bangs (pronounced "bahng") are internet/gaming computer rooms that can be found in just about every block. Makes it very easy to check e-mail or whatever. While in Taiwan, I had to visit three 7-11s to find directions to an internet cafe. These internet cafes just aren't as widespread as they are in Korea.

Some things I did NOT miss about Korea:

Konglish: Frankly, it can be exauhsting listening to broken English all day, and to try to constantly decipher Konglish phrases into meaningful English. I made a couple observations about English in Taiwan.

First, it is not just used for the sake of using English. In Korea, every business and brand likes to have some English along side the Korea. At best, this English is quirky--"Well-being Food"--and at its worst, it's down right nonsense--"Fresh Bank, Fresh Fish." In Taiwan, English was relatively proper in grammar and used only for effective communication--not some attempt at "glam appeal."

Second, I found that English speakers were MUCH better than those I've encountered in Korea. Enough said. Despite, nearly ten years of English education, I have a hard time communicating with most Korean high school graduates. In Taiwan, I found that when I walked into a 7-11, if one clerk didn't know English, the other did.

The Korean Winter: when I left Korea, the high was about 25 F, while in Taiwan, it was 70 F. The temperature was that perfect temperature where it isn't hot at all, and isn't chilly. Absolutely perfect.

The Ugly High-Rise Apartments: Korea's solution to its high population density is to build en mass huge ugly high-rise apartments. These buildings can be found from Seoul down to the smallest farming/fishing village and lack any architectural aesthetics. The apartments in Taiwan seemed to have been designed by someone who actually appreciates the way buildings look.

The Pushy People: Whether its on the Seoul metro or walking down the streets on Geoje, Koreans run into each other and me. All the time. When I go to get off an elevator or a metro train when in Seoul, they crowd the opening making it necessary to push your way through the crowd. I went for days with no one running into me while in Taipei. When exiting the metro, people waited to the side for those exiting to leave before getting on the train. The two times I remember getting shoved aside were waiting in line at Taipei 101 and then at the airport to leave. Both times, it was Koreans doing the shoving.


Despite all the "negatives" about Korea, it is my home for now, and I missed it. I definitely am glad that I am living here and not in Taiwan.

I'll be updating the blog daily for at least the next week about my Taiwan trip. Hope you enjoy and let the comments come!

Sclabbre

A couple days ago, one of my classes was playing Scrabble--or "Sclabbre" as they kept saying it. I got some interesting words:

• ahn (I still have no idea what they thought this meant)
  
• sexyback (thanks Justin Timberlake)
• ET (every single group of students came up wit this one)
• hapy
  

In addition, I found one group in the corner that had abandoned the game and were just putting taboo words down. They had come up with:

• sexysexy
• Marbro (they were going for the cigarette brand I think )
• then, all the four letter words they had vowels for

I have to admit that I was very thankful, that no one had put down well-being, story, or crazy.

Pan's Labyrinth Follow-up

Today, I was talking to one of my classes about what they did over the weekend. A girl said, "I wen to the movies!" Then, I asked which one. She said the name in Korean and I recognized the Korean name for Pan's Labyrinth. Then, in broken English, she explained the movie was in French! I corrected her of course, but if you read the previous entry, you'll recall that this wasn't the first time the language of the movie was misidentified by a Korean.

I began to consider how prior to coming to Asia, most Asian languages looked the same to me. I could sometimes distinguish between Japanese and Chinese, but beyond that I was ignorant. Now of course, I can easily distinguish both written and orally between the three major Northern Asian languages.

I can understand how someone who is not used to the romance languages can get them mixed up. Italian and Spanish are so similar to me that I can't often distinguish when they are both spoken fast. However, the more I think about it, those theater employees yesterday, with their eight years of English education, had no excuse to mistake Spanish for English.

Maybe I can make a lesson out that: distinguishing between the major languages of the Americas and Europe.

Other Links:
My Pan's Labyrinth post.

Seriously, what does this mean?

I bought two glasses at Home Plus tonight. Along with leaf, there is an inscription on both glasses that reads:

"Without love and laugher there is no joy.
Love abounds in honey and poison
Where there is no jealousy there is no love."

What!? Love abounds in honey and poison? I'm sure that there's a deep thought here, I just think that the author of this inscription was insane--insane enough to kill the person he loved?

A few Konglish examples

This is the wrapper of a microwaveable sandwich. "Enjoy your sweet dream and life?" What, is this sandwich going to kill me?

This is the packaging from a gift luxury towel. Hey, who says I have a simple mind?

Finally, are a couple examples with no picture. They both come from notebook covers--they are printed on every one of these notebooks! Warning, these may cause internal brain hemorrhaging!

• "Hamster baby. For the sang to my heart. Oh look at my, look at my [sic]"
• "Dreaming with true friends happy."

Konglish: Well-being

The phrase already made my wish list, but today I found a perfect example of what is wrong. The phrase is often used as an adjective. Sometimes there is a big title that just says: Well-being!

Culture Shock: The Big One

Today, I had a pretty good day at Dong Bu Middle School. I was a little surprised when I showed up and was told my my co-teachers that we would be teaching out of the book. I had brought some lessons I prepared. I went with the flow and taught out of the book, and I think I did a pretty good job. i learned some more Korean--my co-teachers at Dong Bu have been very good teachers for me. They take time between classes to help me with my reading and conversation. I still couldn't say anything in Korean "out in the wild" but in the classroom-like setting I can do okay (I guess its kind of like most of my students).

Funny thing: In Korean, the USA is called "meegook" (Friel Romanization) and literally means "beautiful country." Mee is beautiful and gook means country in Chinese--the language from which much of Korean vocabulary is borrowed. My rudimentary Korean knowledge also tells me that in Korean, gook means soup. So, in Koreanese (Korean+Chinese), meegook, the word for the USA means: Beautiful Soup! The Koreans of course can switch between their Chinese and Korean words flawlessly, but it got a good laugh when I pointed this out. I dare say that it was my second pun in Korean!

With the exception of my towel, it was downhill from there. I got a ride home and got on my computer to check my bank account. Even though the English version of my Korean bank's internet site is a little buggy, it lets me check my balance with no problem. I had not been paid. I was very upset. I grabbed my things, threw my shoes on, and began my march to the bank. I was supposed to be paid on the 25th. Then, after I got home from school that day, I got a call from my co-teacher asking what my bank number was. I had already given it to them once, and since she was calling me after hours, it meant I obviously wasn't getting paid that day. Now, three days latter, I still hadn't been paid.

The English teachers that are in my program and scattered across the province keep in touch through a yahoo group. I have heard of a couple hiccups where the money was in the accounts, but not showing up right away. I went to the bank and found that the money just wasn't there. I indeed had not been paid. I have enough money to live on for awhile, but I had planned on going this afternoon to buy a train ticket to Seoul. I'm going there next week with my group of English teachers during Chusok, the Korean thanksgiving. I then called my co-teacher, but she is on an overnight field trip with all of Seong Po Middle School, and they won't be back in the office until Saturday. The banks are closed Saturday.

So, I felt the most isolated I've felt yet. I was alone on this island with no one to talk to. I felt completely helpless. I had been working for a month, and trying to adapt but I was also looking to spend time with other Americans (and Canadians) and getting away for a bit. I thought about trying to talk to the bank manager. We made friends after my visit on Monday. He spent his compulsory military service in the special forces with an American unit and speaks good English. The other day, after helping me setup my online banking (after hours), he took me outside and offered me a cigarette. Not only had he visited Missouri, but he had been to St. Louis, and even Hannibal. It was great to talk to someone who knew my home state. He wasn't to be seen today, so I began a march to Home Plus.

Home Plus is about two miles from my bank. Along the way, I forced myself to do a half-smile even though I didn't feel like it. I found no relief at Home Plus. It was the first night the new theater was open and it was swarming with middle school students. Oh, and no American movies. The entire setup was so foreign I had no idea what to do--this is coming from a former manager at a movie theater back in America. So, I gave up the movie idea, and decided to return for a matinée on Friday (I have no school since all my students are on that overnight field trip).

I got my towel, and gave in to buy that broom. Then, I went to get some cheese--hoping the large store would have something real. The only thing they had was processed cheese slices, or brie. I bought a package of "Cheddar Process Cheese" even though it can't really be called cheddar (or cheese for that matter). I ended up in the meat aisle, where two enthusiastic employees bugged me until I tried their "steak" samples. "Beef steak, try steak. Beef steak good!" They shouted. I tried a sample from the end of a toothpick. Still frustrated about the money, and the broom, and my isolation, I said plainly, "That is not steak." The price they had on the fist-sized raw meat-product was $10.00--discounted from $13! It didn't taste bad, it just wasn't steak.

So, I headed out from the store after bowing to the alarm clock lady to the side of the check stands and paying for my broom, towel, and "cheese product." I was still pretty upset. I headed to the escalator, where an employee is stationed just to usher people onto the escalator. I didn't need to be "ushered." On the wall next to the escalator are various ads and pictures. Most of them have horribly translated English phrases.

Then, a picture of a cute baby caught my eyes. The baby had his mouth open and had the bottom of a glass bottle in his mouth. I strained my eyes to see what the bottle had in it. The label read, "Vodka!" The huge picture was of a baby sucking on a bottle of vodka! I laughed out loud. It made my walk home a little more bearable.

When I got home, I e-mailed the "Junior Supervisor" for the school district (the American equivalent would be assistant superintendent) and cc'd the English program's supervisor at the provincial office of education. Hopefully, my pay thing can get sorted out tomorrow. If not, I'm not sure what I'll do. Today, if I learned anything, it was that the normal "life problems" are amplified when immersed in a foreign country.

You Went Where?

Wednesdays, I am at Seong Po M.S. teaching the conversation and listening sections out of the textbooks. In preparation for class, I was looking over the book. I came to this part and rolled my eyes. These poor kids. No wonder they are having a hard time with English. This conversation is all over the book with different places filled in: "I went to ___," "You went where?" "I went to ____."

There is absolutely no explanation for why they repeat themselves every single time. I find these kids are stumped if you deviate from the standard script. For example, when greeting, if you say, "How are you?" they will ALWAYS respond either "Fine thanks, and you?" or "So so." Even though my three schools all use different textbooks, the student script seems to be very similar. I try to mix it up by saying, "How's it going?" or "What's up?" Or, I ask the big one; they say "Fine..." and I say, "Why just fine?" or "Why so so?"

Last week, at Jisepo, I taught them about twenty different things they could say when asked, "How are you." I was excited to get in there and have them be using these compound, complex sentences telling me how their weeks had been. Today when I asked, almost all of the responses were, "Fine thanks."

My first Korean joke...

Back in February/March of 2005, I was in Odessa, Ukraine and was immersed with Ukrainians. More so than when I spent a whole summer there, I was forced to learn some Russian. Below is an account of my first Russian pun.

I live with a guy who speaks no more than maybe twenty
English words, and cannot make a complete sentence. I am learning
just enough Russian to make puns!!! Yeah!!! I'll teach you one. The
word for "it is going" is idyut (very similar to idiot). Snow is
"sneg." The Russian word for idiot is "dura." So instead of "Sneg
idyut" for "It is snowing," I said, "Sneg dura."

--e-mail to friends, February 2005

Okay, so I'm learning a bit of Korean, and actually made this joke back on Thursday when I learned how to read. Warning, this is a preschool-level joke, so please remember that I am at an infant's speaking level for Korean. The Korean word for "cow" is soo (that is based on the Friel Romanization of Korean). When my co-teacher was helping me review through my workbook, I said "Moo soo" when I came to cow. She laughed and then repeated the phrase. Although the onomatopoeia for cows is the same in American and Korea, I guess they don't usually combine them like we do in America for little kids "moo cow." So, I guess you know some Korean now, and at least one--albeit a bad one--bilingual joke.

Also this weekend, I was rewatching my collection of Arrested Development. I had almost forgot about this storlyine. The mother in the show adopts a Korean boy. He says, "Annyong," which is short for hello. However, they think its his name, so they go around calling him annyong. Quite funny.

Diner-saur

Today, when teaching my ill-fated lesson on words that end with "er" I had a funny response shouted by a student. I asked the students which words they didn't understand. One student said, "dinner." I only had "diner" on the sheet. I wrote both dinner and diner on the board to explain. When one student, who was barely paying attention, saw "diner" on the board, he immediately shouted, "Dinersaur!." He was so sure that he had the correct answer (even though I hadn't yet asked a question.) I had to chuckle.