dollop of solipsism

♦ hallelujah! i am finally done with teaching until september 1st.  yesterday was my last gifted class for middle school students until a month from now, when i come back from vacation. speaking of which, i will depart from seoul on august 7th aboard korean airlines, excellence in flight. i hate flying, but at least i’m flying in style.

♦ this next week will be spent buying gifts and packing my luggage. my older sister has given me a list of things to buy (all from daiso because she loves inexpensive, decorative trinkets), and my friends will totally resent me (not really) for not bringing stuff back for them. the problem is, i don’t like purchasing korean-themed souvenirs like fans and chopsticks and andong masks. my gift motto has always been, “if it’s not a perfect gift, don’t give it.” therefore, i usually think long and hard and shop for hours until i settle on a ‘perfect’ gift.

♦ went to the immigration office yesterday to get an extension on my e-2 visa. it was kind of a headache to gather all the paperwork, but ms. shin was kind enough to help me communicate with the school’s administrators in getting the proper documents. this year, i decided to get the regular single re-entry permit because i never (never!) use the expensive multi re-entry permit. grand hopes of “oh, maybe i’ll visit singapore in the winter” never get fulfilled.

most people don’t do this, but it is so much easier if you make an appointment online a day or two before your visit so that you don’t have to take a number and wait an hour for a government agent to assist you. register with ‘hi korea’ here; it is easy.

♦ having spent the past several days with tristan have been great. i feel revitalized. though she and i hadn’t seen each other in a year, we fell into sync real quick. i’ll blog about her visit, which was brimming with gluttony (yet again), soon.

since the release of their 1996 independent feature, bound, the wachowski brothers (andy and larry) have risen to superstardom with the matrix trilogy, and also, according to the dozens of people who bought tickets to it, sullied the good name of speed racer. i have personally seen only the first matrix film (i think it’s a bit overhyped, don’t you think?) and bound, the brothers’ directorial debut.

bound is amazingly stylish, a movie filmed in the same vein as the noir pictures of the 40s and 50s. the wachowski brothers cite writer-director billy wilder as a major influence for this film, and there are numerous similarities between bound and wilder’s double indemnity—except for the fact that there’s a lesbian affair at the heart of the neo-noir heist thriller.

gina gershon plays corky, an ex-convict intent on living an honest life as a handywoman. she starts work on a suite in a fancy apartment complex where, in the elevator, she briefly encounters jennifer tilly’s violet and joe pantoliano’s caesar. he’s in the mob, and she’s his girlfriend; they live in the apartment next door.

palpable sparks fly between the butch corky and the femme violet, and they eventually have a dangerous liaison. first, conversations between them center around what did you do to get put in the slammer and are you a real bisexual or just a pretend bisexual? but then violet admits to feeling trapped and wanting to escape. and then there’s that bit about stealing $2.0 million from the mob…which is where we realize that the wachowski brothers aren’t only elegant visionaries, but also deft scriptwriters.

in literature or cinema, whenever a character has a plan (like a plan to steal money), and divulges the scheme in elaborate detail before anything actually happens, then you know that plan is going to hell in a handbasket (that’s dramatic writing 101). consequently, the second and third acts of bound are devoted to how the pair’s stratagem unravels and unravels. and unravels. predictable? somewhat. formulaic? maybe so. but the film is so fun to watch.

you can tell gershon and tilly love their characters because every line-read is perfection (and there are a lot of great lines in the script). you can also tell that they kind of relish in being cohorts because the chemistry between them is off the charts hot. the third lead, pantoliano, is both likable and menacing as the man who gets stuck in a really (really) bad situation. it’s seems to me that all three actors know how cheesy and ‘b-movie’ the content is, but still sink their teeth deep into their roles. in short, they are fantastic.

a combination of resourceful filmmakers (working with a budget of $6 million), a tight script and daring actors make bound a classic in indepedent films. though the picture received near universal praise from the critics (almost 90% ‘fresh’ on rotten tomatoes) upon its release in 1996, it only made a mediocre $3.8 million throughout its 12-week run.

if you are up for a suspenseful caper film with lots of wit, and you don’t mind violence and lesbian sex scenes (i think there is, like, one), then give bound a try. trust me, it is much better than the matrix.

it is stress central at my house. when stressed out, i am a horrible person to be around. my temper flares, i am impatient, i curse, i sulk, the emotions take control, and i don’t care who’s head i bite off.

what’s causing such stress? well, my friend tristan is visiting daegu this week and she’s staying with me for a couple of days. don’t get me wrong, i love it when she visits, but the ‘perfect host’ side of me comes out and each bread crumb on the floor needs to be swept away. also, i have to make a visit to the immigration office to get my e-2 visa renewed. the last time i was at the immigration office, bad things happened. hopefully, tomorrow’s visit will be quick and smooth. plus, i haven’t blogged in like a week. and i hate not blogging (especially when i have things to blog about!).

oh yeah, i leave for the states in a week and a half; i have to get to packing.

and you know what didn’t help? seeing disney/pixar’s latest feature, up, this evening. i started crying, oh, about five minutes into the film. review to come.

so it is safer that i just sign out for a few more days. give me a couple of days to get my shit together. sorry.

♦ we’ll be off to jeonju (전주) sometime tomorrow afternoon for our 2 nights, 2 days trip. i believe most of our time in jeonju will be spent in hanok maeul (한옥마을, hanok folk village), which is a sprawling neighborhood of hanoks, or korean traditional houses. there are several things to see in that area, including the first korean catholic church, a well-known paper museum and the remains of a fortress. the slogan for the city is “asiart jeonju,” and i hope it doesn’t disappoint on the art front, especially in the field of cuisine. we’ll see.

♦ i have to grade about 30 reading journals (on lois lowry’s the giver) by the end of next week. so far, it’s taking me about an hour, an hour and a half to get through one journal. these kids in the gifted classes are insanely detailed and verbose, and i want to acknowledge their hard work by reading every comment, question, drawing, insight…it’s only fair. i’m not complaining (i mean, i assigned the darned thing, after all), i’m just…still working.

♦ i bank with daegu bank. there’s a daegu bank ten minutes from my house, right in front of keimyung university. there, one of the tellers is mr. lee, who graduated from the high school i work at currently. because of this coincidence, this link between us, he, a friendly fellow, makes sure that i get the lowest exchange rate possible whenever i transfer money home. even when another teller is helping me, he’ll walk on over to that person and ask him/her to give me a discount on the rate. because tellers have that kind of power. anywho, i think i should bring him back something from the US.

♦ ate out a lot this past week: monday at outback with some teachers from school, mr. pizza with ms. shin and ms. lim in the office on thursday, blueberry yogurt shakes with ms. shin afterwards, and on thursday, ms. shin and i went to a gorgeous restaurant called “tuesday morning” (they serve overpriced, mediocre food). the interesting thing about dining with teachers outside of school is listening to and talking about office politics. which teachers hate who, what did she say about what, what do they honestly think of something, etc.

apparently, there’s a teacher at school who imagines it would be stressful to co-teach with me because every lesson is like an “open class” (a demonstration/model class). i reacted by saying, “so, this teacher would prefer that i work less? how does that make sense?”

♦ my friend tristan is visiting daegu next week. she works in seoul at a hagwon currently, but they’re giving her a week off (for some reason). anyway, i suppose she’ll crash on my floor for a day or two. i haven’t seen her since last summer, so it should be fun. we’ve already promised to have “no-calorie” days.

♦ i’m on the fence about purchasing a new digital camcorder when i get back home. on the one hand, i don’t have a pile of cash lying around waiting for me to spend it. on the other hand, what i want to do with the digital camcorder is work-related (and will benefit the universe). i want to record everything i do in the states—shopping at the mall, killing time at wal-mart, pumping gas, watching movies, mowing the lawn, walking the dogs—so that i can make informative mini-movies to show my students in class. “look here, this is suburbia. see all the little boxes?”

♦ i’m sick of trying to be clever with those facebook status updates. i swear, i’m going to leave my status permanently blank. starting now.

i didn’t jump on the harry potter bandwagon until after the fifth novel was published. it’s one of those things i kinda sorta regret, but not for the reasons you suspect (or don’t suspect).

in tenth grade, i belonged to my high school’s literary criticism club (i use the term “club” very loosely). basically, my ninth grade english teacher ms. berner invited a few of her “favorite” (i use that term presumptuously) students to take the UIL (one of those state-run academic/athletics organizations) literary criticism exam, which tested one’s knowledge of the handbook to literature, a book (different every year), and the poems of a single poet (different every year). after the exam, we’d have lunch, which was pretty much the purpose of the invitation. she (and we) didn’t care about the test; we just wanted to have lunch together.

that year, the chosen book was harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone. because ms. berner had such strong, negative reactions to that “novel” having been chosen, i didn’t read it (did not even bother to watch the movie). instead, the night before the exam, i focused all my energy on cramming the entirety of the handbook to literature into my spongy brain. let it be known that i am an insanely good crammer, and i missed all of two friggin questions on the handbook to literature section (which is awesome). and i did really well on the poetry section (i think that year was the poems of william wordsworth). however, i completely bombed the book section and did not place among the top students.

my friend kate, who was and has always been a big harry potter fan, scored higher than i did (which is not to say that she should’ve have…i mean, the girl is brilliant). no one from our school’s team went past the first round of testing and we all went to lunch. i think we had tex-mex that day, which makes me feel better in retrospect.

point is, had i read the first of the harry potter series, or had watched the film, i would’ve done really well on that exam, and i would’ve been able to put that on my college application, which wouldn’t have mattered anyway because i got into the college of my choice, but still, i’m just saying…

anyway. last friday night, the significant other and i saw harry potter and the half-blood prince, which i thought was quite good. in light of the revitalized harry potter mania, i think it’s time that i rank the books in order, according to my preference (of course). as you know, i love making lists (maybe after the last two movies come out, i’ll rank the films, too).

spoiler warning: if you haven’t read the books, step away from the computer. and go read the books.

7. harry potter and the half-blood prince: i can see why the sixth novel in the series is well-liked by some people. for me, though, it’s a boggy mess. there isn’t enough structure to the storylines; they kind of just meander, that is, until we learn about the horcruxes. then the last 100 pages go at full-speed and are, admittedly, amazing. however, the last couple of action-filled chapters do not make up for harry being at his most annoying, sulking about in the halls of hogwarts, obsessing over draco malfoy’s every move. seriously, those first hundreds of pages are agonizing…yeah, i’ll say it: nothing. happens!

6. harry potter and the chamber of secrets: i read in an interview with j.k. rowling, right before the release of the final installment of the heptalogy, that the second novel held some keys to the conclusion of the series. of course, she was referring to tom riddle’s diary (and the basilisk venom), which we later find out is the second horcrux. and though i find chamber of secrets to be heavy-handed and didactic at times, i cannot deny the importance of this book in the series. here, we get some of lord voldemort’s backstory, which is endlessly fascinating (tom marvolo riddle=”i am lord voldemort”!).

5. harry potter and the sorcerer’s stone: the novel that started the craze, sorcerer’s stone is our generation’s lord of the rings, charlie and the chocolate factory, alice in wonderland, even. who didn’t want to attend hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry after reading the first book? who didn’t imagine what house they would’ve been sorted into (i think of myself as a wizard in the house of ravenclaw)? who was disappointed to find himself/herself a mere muggle?

4. harry potter and the deathy hallows: the final installment of the heptalogy is thrilling, heart-stopping, tragic, triumphant, and ultimately, quite satisfying. it’s a perfect novel up until the end, when i get the impression that rowling wrote the last eight or nine chapters with a gun to her head. i recently reread the book, and i liked it less than the first read. the final battle is interrupted twice—twice!—by long, expository passages: snape’s past and redemption, harry’s meeting with dumbledore at king’s cross station (blah blah blah). though the book is not the best in the series, there are numerous brilliant moments: the chapter “malfoy manor” is genius, kreacher’s story arc is wonderful, the chapter with the silver doe is haunting…i can go on and on. moreover, the writing here is top-notch.

3. harry potter and the order of the phoenix: i read this behemoth of a book (it’s the longest in the series, coming in at 870 pages) in like, two days. i even called in sick to work just so i could finish the giant novel in peace. i love so many things about this installment: the first dementors attack, the introduction of dolores umbridge (that character is so divine, so deliciously evil), dumbledore’s army, the O.W.L.s, the centaurs, luna lovegood, the death of sirius black (sad, i know). i find that order of the phoenix really takes the series into a deep, dark place only hinted at with books three and four. speaking of which…

2. harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban: the ingenious sequence with hermione’s time turner is enough to catapult this installment into the top three. with the introduction of escaped convict sirius black, the soul-sucking dementors, the werewolf remus lupin, and the prophecies of sybill trelawney, prisoner of azkaban marks a considerable departure from the first two books in its tone. dark and ominous is the atmosphere at hogwarts, and harry must learn how to defend himself. one of my favorite spells of the series is the patronus charm, and when harry performs it successfully at the end of the book, i actually weep because i’m so overwhelmed (the stag, his father, the words ”expecto patronum”).

1. harry potter and the goblet of fire: the middle installment is the best structured, the most complete, the most imaginative, the most fun of the seven-part series. written around the framework of the triwizard tournament, goblet of fire is the only book with a specific beginning and end—and what an end. harry finally comes face to face with present-day lord voldemort, and blood is spilled (not just harry’s, but cedric diggory’s too!). what’s most fascinating about that graveyard showdown is the reverse spell effect, priori incantatem, which occurs when the two opponents’ wands connect. that, ladies and gents, is horrific and magical stuff.

in book four, not only do we meet a slew of new characters (including international ones), but we also follow harry in a number of contest-related adventures: capture a golden egg guarded by a dragon, save a loved one at the bottom of the black lake, secure the triwizard cup in a magical (and dangerous) maze (my favorite of the three obstacles—it features a sphinx!). rowling juggles the quest for the championship (an adventure story) and the dark stuff (more of a mystery) deftly. she kinda makes you forget that the teenage wizard has to save the world eventually…sprinkled about the novel are significant clues to lord voldemort’s impending arrival: the unforgivable curses are introduced, the dark mark in the sky at the quidditch world cup, the missing barty crouch. oh, and there’s a yule ball, where hermione gets pissy. it’s all here, in harry potter and the goblet of fire.

agree? disagree? what, you think i’m too old to be writing about this? i know many of you will defend half-blood prince. perhaps i’ll give it a reread when i return home in two weeks. it’s probaby a better read second time around and plus, i know it’ll probably enlighten me.

it’s kind of sad that there are no more harry potter books coming out. the series is over. and i am not going to read twilight.

i have long been movie-deprived. in the past six months, i think i’ve seen…four movies on the big screen: angels & demons, harry potter and the half-blood prince, transformers: revenge of the fallen and the curious case of benjamin button. and i’m the kind of person who loves movies. i even lurve movies. during my high school and college days, i used to see every film that received positive reviews from the critics (i usually avoid mainstream fare). i save movie stubs. i have a ton of movie stubs.

it’s been difficult seeing films in korea. let me explain. the movie-viewing experience is fantastic, actually, because koreans know how to behave in movie theaters (and there’s assigned seating!). however, most of the english-language films that make it over here are big, studio films (most of which are crapola). there’s nothing wrong with korean films, but you know, i can’t understand them.

i’m going back home for a little over three weeks in august. august 7th~29th, to be exact. during that time, i plan to see as many films as i can. true, i’ll have to deal with american audiences (in suburbia), but movies—they feed my soul. late summer / early fall isn’t the best time to catch movies (it’s usually the time of the year studios release leftovers), but beggars can’t be choosers. if only my vacation was in the winter time…then i’d get to see all the oscar-bait films. oh well.

here is a list of some of the films i plan / hope to see (granted that they are playing in houston, texas during my visit):

• the hurt locker (late june release): has gotten tons of praise; a contender for best picture at next year’s oscars. and it’s directed by a woman!
• funny people (late july release): i didn’t think i’d like superbad, and i did. and i’m a fan of judd apatow, believe it or not.
• the cove (late july release): it’s a documentary about dolphin-fishing.
• thirst (late july release): kinda dumb that i want to see a korean film in the states, especially when the film was released in korea three months ago! hey, i need the english subtitles.
• julie & julia (early august release): meryl streep as julia child. i want to go to there.
• inglourious basterds (late august release): i sat through pulp fiction, jackie brown, kill bill: vol. 1, kill bill: vol. 2…as painful as it is for me to admit, i don’t hate quentin tarantino.
• (500) days of summer (mid-july release): this little romance is getting a lot of buzz.
• food, inc. (early june release): a documentary about how food is grown and processed.
• the hangover (early june release): comedies that get high praise from the critics are rare—very rare.
• ponyo (mid-august release): um, miyazaki!

the weekend edition of maeil shinmun (매일신문) has an article about our school’s english theater festival, which took place last week. for those of you who can read korean, awesome—please read the article. for those of you can only read a little (like myself), you can get the gist of the event from the article. for those of you who cannot read korean at all? hmm, the picture of me turned out okay, right?

it basically says the stuff i say here, in addition to things ’said’ by me i don’t remember saying. i assume the staff reporter took a few liberties. i was at my wits’ end at the time of the interview.

영어 연극축제 기획 대구외국어고 원어민 교사들

 - 2009년 07월 18일 -

	1학년 학생들의 영어 연극하는 장면.
	※월리엄은. 1982년생. 미국 텍사스 휴스턴 출생. 미국 뉴욕대 졸업. 대구에서 3년간 원어민 교사 생활. 덕원중 2년, 대구외고 1년.
	※다이애나는. 1981년생. 미국 워싱턴 D.C 출생. 노스이스턴 대학 졸업. 세인트마리 대학 석사. 영어교사 3년. 대구에서 영어학원 강사 1년, 대구외고에서 지난해 9월부터 원어민 교사로 재직 중.

고교 1, 2학년들의 영어 연극축제. 이틀간 그들만의 깔깔 대축제다. 동급생 친구들의 유창한 영어실력에 놀라기도, 멀쩡한 친구들의 엉뚱한 발음과 슬랩스틱 코미디(연기와 동작이 과장되고 소란스러운 희극)에 웃음은 그치질 않는다. 기자의 눈으로 이들의 연극축제를 보니 ‘따로 영어회화를 공부할 필요가 있을까’라는 생각이 들었다. 한국말은 어디서도 들을 수 없었다. 영어로 사회를 보는 MC들(1학년 신원영-김다은)도 능수능란하게 진행을 했다.대구외국어고등학교에서 8, 9일 이틀간 열린 이 원어 연극축제는 두 외국인 원어민 영어교사가 있었기에 가능했다. 물론 한국 영어교사들의 적극적인 동참이 있었기에 학생들의 호응은 더 컸다. 3개월간 준비기간을 거쳐 학생들의 적극적인 참여를 이끌어 내 두 원어민 교사. 다이애나 이켈맨(29·여·미국)과 윌리엄 치앙(28·중국계 미국). 둘은 미혼인 청춘남녀로 호흡도 척척, 학생들로부터 인기도 짱이다. 이 둘이 힘을 합쳐 대구외고 설립 12년 만에 처음으로 ‘영어 연극축제’라는 새로운 시도를 했으며 첫 테이프를 잘 끊었다. 이제 2회, 3회 더 발전된 모습의 축제가 기다리고 있을 것이다.

◆정말 웃긴 ‘다이애나’

“Why the child study in the airplane?(왜 아이는 비행기에서 공부를 했을까요?)”, “Because he wants higher education(그는 더 높은 수준의 교육을 원했으니까요.)”. 그랬다. 한발 늦었지만 학생들의 웃음은 터졌다. 다이애나는 이런 식의 재밌는 영어질문과 답을 계속 이어나갔고 학생들은 어이없지만 재밌다며 박장대소다. 영어 유머를 빨리빨리 이해하고 반응할 수 있다는 건 학생들의 영어실력이 그만큼 수준이 있다는 얘기. 그는 학생들을 자연스럽게 영어에 빠지도록 만들었다.

다이애나는 학생들을 즐겁게 하고 맘껏 영어를 하며 뛰놀고 자유롭게 질문할 수 있도록 마음을 열어줬다. 그 자체가 열린 교육. 그는 대학 때 클럽활동(동아리)으로 연극을 했으며 이후에도 영화와 연극에 관한 공부를 해 이를 학교교육에 적극 반영하고 싶은 욕망이 있었다. 하지만 정규교육 만을 중시하는 학교에서 이를 실행하기는 쉽지 않았을 터.

하지만 그는 용기를 내 이를 제안했고, 같은 처지에 있는 윌리엄의 협조와 함께 주변 영어강사로부터 적극적인 도움을 이끌어냈다. 이미 연극축제는 시작된 것. 미국과 같이 상을 받은 학생에겐 큰 영예를 주기 위해 트로피도 주문하고 동급생 전체의 축제가 되도록 분위기도 만들어갔다.

각 학급별로는 팀을 정해서 어떤 10분짜리 연극을 할 것인지 결정했다. 원어 연극 연습시간은 원어 영어강의시간과 또 방가후 팀별로 대본연습을 더 하는 것.

다이애나는 학생들이 어떤 작품을 선택한 뒤, 영어로 어떻게 대사를 더 잘 전달하느냐 또 표정은 어떻게 하면 좋을 것 같다는 조언까지 해줬다. 그는 연극축제가 끝난 뒤 기자에게 “열심히 임해준 학생들이 자랑스럽고 너무 뿌듯하다”며 “첫 해는 이 정도 수준이었지만 다음해엔 더 좋은 축제가 될 것”이라고 흐뭇해했다.

동료 임은주 교사는 “이번 Theater Day를 원어민 선생님들과 함께 기획해 새로운 시도가 주는 즐거움을 느꼈다”며 “한 사람의 힘이 많은 사람들에게 긍정의 힘을 준다는 것을 체험했다”고 다이애나 씨를 칭찬했다.

◆준수한 외모의 ‘윌리엄’

윌리엄은 여학생들에게 인기가 좋은 잘 생긴 매력남. 하지만 그는 이보다 학생들의 영어실력을 향상시키는데 더 관심이 크다. 또 학생들과 함께 동참해 축제를 하는데 푹 빠져들었다. 다이애나와는 호흡을 잘 맞춰, 이번 연극축제도 성공적으로 이끄는데 쌍두마차 역할을 했다.

그는 “기본적인 콘셉트는 학생들이 자기주도하에 작품을 선정하고 대본을 충분히 숙지해 이를 10분짜리 연극으로 만들어가는 것”이라며 “무엇보다 학생들이 이처럼 크게 호응하며 축제를 즐기는 모습을 보니 제일 보람되다”고 밝혔다. 또 그는 “생각보다 학생들의 영어실력이나 팀워크, 표현능력이 뛰어났다”고 칭찬했다.

어려운 점도 적잖았다. 그는 축제 준비를 하면서 예산이 적어 트로피를 제작해야 했는데 한국에서 너무 비싸 미국 웹사이트에서 가장 가격이 싼 것으로 주문했는데 이도 문제가 생겨 다시 국내에서 주문하는 해프닝을 겪기고 했다는 것. 이뿐 아니라 학교 차원에서 넉넉한 재정적 지원을 받는 것도 어려운 일. 학생들도 의상, 소품 등에 신경을 많이 썼지만 비용이 많은 드는 쪽을 포기해야 했다. 음향시설 때문에 에어컨을 켤 수 없었던 것도 더운 날씨에 더 힘들게 만든 요소.

윌리엄 씨는 “같은 외고지만 학생들마다 수준이 다르다보니 당연 어떻게 지도해야 할 지 어려움이 따를 수 밖에 없었다”며 “하지만 본선에 오른 학생들이 보여준 열정과 열의는 정말 높이 평가하며 수상한 학생들에게 큰 박수를 보낸다”고 말했다.

그는 더불어 이번 축제는 12명의 한국 영어교사의 협조가 큰 도움이 됐으며 1학년 연극 콘테스트에선 2학년 교사들이 심사위원이 되어주시고 반대로 2학년 연극에선 1학년 교사들이 심사를 해주셔서 더 공정한 심사가 이뤄졌다고 설명했다. 하지만 심사위원들과 두 원어민 교사가 바라보는 관점은 조금씩 달라는가 보다. 윌리엄은 “제가 볼 때는 수상자 선정에서 조금 다른 의견이 있는데 심사위원들의 의견과 심사결과를 절대적으로 존중한다”며 한 발 뺐다.

윌리엄과 다이애나와 함께 영어축제를 성공적으로 이끈 서정은 동료교사는 “두 분이 찰떡궁합으로 학생들의 폭발적인 반응을 이끌어냈다”며 “이틀간 축제기간 동안 학생들은 젊음을 바탕으로 한 열정가 도전정신을 내뿜을 수 있은 좋은 무대였다”고 만족했다.

권성훈기자 cdrom@msnet.co.kr

사진·정운철기자 woon@msnet.co.kr

♦ school’s. out. for. summer! today was the last day of school for my students. at 12:30pm, all the kids dragged their little rolling carry-on bags off-campus and headed home (yes, we are a boarding school). you’d think that they’d get a long-ass summer break like we do in the states, but you would be wrong. all of them are coming back in a week or two to attend summer classes (mostly core subjects like math, korean, english). our students don’t get much of a break; in the winter, we have a winter session as well.

for me, though, it’s good. i don’t have to instruct any classes but i do have random duties to fulfill. for instance, i have to be at school 9am sharp to do some voice-recording for a listening exam. actually, those recording sessions are kind of fun.

♦ my gifted students classes had their first evaluation (exam) this past tuesday. the test was difficult (35 multiple choice questions, 15 vocabulary questions, 20 short answer questions, 2 essay questions—to be completed over a 1.5-hour period) and it covered poetry, 2 short stories and lois lowry’s the giver. after the exam, i asked the kids what they thought. “it was so difficult,” they complained. “which part?” i asked. “all of it.”

since i made and gave the test, i have to grade the sucker. and i also have to grade the 30+ reading journals the students were assigned to do over the giver. this weekend is all about grading.

♦ the significant other and i are catching the midnight showing of the sixth harry potter film. i am so. excited. half-blood prince is my least favorite book  of the series (nothing. happens!), but i know this movie is gonna be good. i expect there to be lots of foreigners in the theater who will try to ruin my viewing experience, but i’m hoping for the best.

♦ a couple of daring second grade boys have recently gotten their hair permed. that’s what kids do during the summer; they go to the salon and get their hair dyed or permed (because during the school year, they have to follow hairstyle restrictions). i am thinking about doing this, even though one of my previous hair stylists specifically told me that my hair is too stubborn (and straight) to hold a perm. i would like to prove her wrong. so now, i’m growing out my hair (which is a gross process).

♦ yes, it is still raining. when will it stop? ㅠㅠ

received this email in my mailbox today:

Good afternoon,

I hope everyone is well and not too busy preparing for summer camp. Unfortunately,  this email is once again in regards to swine flu.

This week someone from Chilgok tested positive for SI (swine influenza). This person came to downtown Daegu and took a private bus along with other people from Daegu in order to attend mud fest last weekend (7.11 – 7.12).

The DMOE is taking precautionary measures to avoid any possible contagion. So, if you attended mudfest last weekend notify your co-teacher. Your co-teacher will instruct you to stay home until the 19th of July, consider this an observation period. During this period if you have a fever accompanied by either a cough, runny nose, or sore throat call your co-teacher and ask him/her to contact your nearest public hospital and the DMOE (606-6567 or 757-8323). Resume your normal routine, most likely going to summer camp, on Monday if you are not showing any flu-like symptoms or tested negative for SI.

If you have any questions or concerns about this matter, please feel free to email or call me. 

Best regards,

             xxxx

there’s like a great big pink elephantine (or hoggish) message in the email above. the implications go something like this: apparently, only foreigners can get swine flu; all foreigners hang out with each other; koreans are immune to swine flu; if you’re a foreigner, you must have been at the friggin mud festival. i know you can’t glean all that from the one email, but if you take into account the way swine flu has been dealt with in korea, you’ll understand where i’m coming from.

a great big hex on the person from chilgok that got swine flu. i mean, i’m a foreigner, and i don’t like to bitch about a) someone i don’t know and b) someone who i’m grouped with, but why did he/she have to go and contract the h1n1? it’s just so…i dunno, what’s the word…typical. it’s so typical that one of us foreign teachers in daegu gets the flu and spreads it all across town. next thing you know, all the kids will get it and we (as in foreigners) will all get quarantined.

okay, i’m imagining things. it’s really not a big deal, but i’m annoyed. not only at the foreigners but at the koreans who think of us as one person. they just assume that we all hang out with each other, and if one of us gets it, then all of us will get it. i’m all like, the only foreigner i see is diana, and that’s because she sits across from me in the office. oh, that’s right, she went to boryeong last weekend to play in the mud. oh, but she claims she didn’t hang out with other foreigners. what? she has a slight fever? fuck.

now maybe i have swine flu (except i know i don’t (and neither does diana)). better put myself under house arrest until july 19th. does that mean i can stop going to school and be lazy like a foreigner?

there were only three types of banknotes in circulation in korea—the blue 1,000 won, the red 5,000 won, the green 10,000 won. that’s like having only one, five, and ten US dollar bills to work with. it is a bit inconvenient, especially for someone like me, who doesn’t have a debit or credit card. but lo and behold, the 50,000 won banknote has arrived!

the new ₩50,000 bill features yet another korean historic figure on the front—but—it is the first note to feature a woman. shin saimdang (1504-1551) was a renowned artist, writer and calligrapher during the joseon dynasty, and her presence on the new bill marks the improved status of females in a ‘once’ (i use that term somewhat loosely) male-dominated society. funnily enough, she is also the mother of the man on the ₩5,000 banknote, yi yulgok, a famous scholar.

i hadn’t known that a new bill was going to be released into circulation. late last week, upon seeing the yellow-tinted banknote, my jaw dropped to the floor. the man holding the new bill, a friend of the significant other’s, pulled out a ₩5,000 bill from his wallet, held both notes in the air and proceeded to explain, “you see she. she is his…mother!”

i am now in possession of a brand new, crisp, ₩50,000 banknote. i do not intend to spend it. instead, i will keep it as a souvenir. well, my dad will keep it as a souvenir. he likes to collect things like stamps and commemorative items. i suppose he thinks one day his collection will increase in value. i also like to save things (i’m somewhat of a packrat), but they’re pretty useless: movie tickets, receipts, post-it notes, postcards…sentimental me.