Although I've had trouble falling asleep both Monday and Tuesday nights (Monday I was up until at least five just lying in bed), I managed to drag myself out of bed this morning at ten in order to hit the pavement. Feeling quite a bit better, probably from my day off, I decided to head back down to the canal to do a 'long run.' I had reservations about whether or not I'd make it the whole way as I tend to get bored running the same path and find myself giving up to just walk and enjoy the scenery. This turned out not to be the case however today!
On my way down to the canal from Dootaville I simply run straight, past Save Zone (a big discount department store), through the crowds at Hagye Station and right over the Dangbu Expressway interchange where I veer sharply to the right and down an incline to the river path. The run to the trail is rather relaxing as I am forced to pause for a brief moment every kilometer or so for a traffic light. In America I would most likely look both ways and bolt across the street here however I don't have my health card yet for Korea and in no way trust Korean drivers to care about a racing foreigner. Furthermore, the short breaks allow me to stretch as I gradually warm up versus static stretching before I run, which I have grown accustomed to. Recently I read somewhere that the former is much better for your muscles and, from the two times I've done it, I would have to agree! Of course I still take ten minutes or so to static stretch after running, but then again my body would hate me if I didn't!
Running down the canal today I noticed that it really was starting to look like fall, even if it didn't feel like it quite yet. I'm sure those of you in D.C., E.L. and C.O. know what I'm talking about and wish you had the same experience. While leaves are starting to turn, and more so fall here, the weather remains comfortably in the high 60's if not warmer during mid day. As for the foliage, it really isn't much to speak of as of yet. The only trees that seem to have started changing colors are the small, skinny fanned leaf ones that line all the roads. Even these aren't really that interesting as their leaves turn from a dull green to a dull yellow and then seemingly drop the second they have completed their transition.
I guess we'll just have to wait a few more week until we can really tell what fall's like in Seoul. I've heard in some places is absolutely beautiful but as of now we're stuck in a rather urban part of this ridiculous metropolis. I do anticipate a great view from our Native room however once the trees on the mountain start to make their transition! I'll be sure to share pictures if it's as beautiful as I imagine it could be! Once the fall thing really gets into full swing we plan on visiting some of the more historical sites around town, meaning the temples that we have thus far ignored. Figure it'll make for some great photo ops, right!?
As for work/school I really have nothing to complain about the last two days, surprised? Everything's been going okay and I really am starting to enjoy Moon Young's classes more and more each time. The students, or at least a few of them, have really started to warm up to me and show an interest in the material. . . of course this means only about half of the students in two of five classes but. . .hey, it's a start. My first class on Tuesday still refuses to talk and I just wish that they would check in on my later class to see how fun it can be if everyone participates. Some kids were literally rolling on the floor laughing last evening as I impersonated an American girl trying to decide what to wear to school in a discussion about school uniforms (this was prompted by their suggestion that it is convenient to wear uniforms because one does not have to decide what to wear to school each day).
In talking about school uniforms, and reading a current events article about educational authorities administering an additional proficiency test beginning this year, I had a great opportunity to engage in a little cultural exchange, not often possible during our highly structured lessons. After reading the article, I asked the kids what they thought about their educational system in terms of its rigour and the demands placed on students. While a few kids expressed opinions suggesting they knew of an easier life, many simply agreed that how hard they worked was good and necessary. Others even suggested that it would be beneficial to best tested more often and more rigorously: no joke!
The absurdity of this just blew me away and I felt obliged to let them know of an easier way! I explained my pre-University education to them in which I attended school for six hours a day, five days a week, no more but sometimes less! This first of all astounded them that I did not ever have to attend academy. Oh, but I did have soccer practice and piano lessons every now and then I explained. Yeah, well those are fun they agreed.
They then asked what I did after school and I explained that I would hang out with friends, read, ride bikes or pretty much do whatever I pleased until my dinner time which would probably be no earlier than seven o'clock and was considered by many of my friends to be late! This too shocked them as many of my students will return home to eat dinner after their lesson concludes at 10:30pm. Only then do they begin to do their homework! I asked just how long they did homework every night and got answers ranging from one hour (and it shows) to four or more hours a night, every night of the week. This of course prompted me to share with them the fact that I don't recall spending more than an hour on homework in any particular night and many I would get by without doing any at all. We further discussed tests for which they begin studying for anywhere from one to two weeks in advance, sometimes pulling all-nighters the days preceding the test just to get extra studying in. This, well, I don't need to tell you that it's not really my style!
Even after contrasting their schooling with my own, it surprised me to hear that many of the kids thought that nothing should be changed about their education system. To them, such rigid demands are not only accepted but necessary for Koreans. Two of my classes explained this by developing a visual model (that I prompted) explaining the unending high level of competition in Korea that predicates such a strenuous system. My students pointed out that due to Korea's small size, jobs, especially good ones, are inherently limited. We then discussed that the entry point for these jobs is also limited as the "good" universities in Korea number only three! Furthermore, the competition for a spot at one of the SKY (Seoul National, Korea, Yonsei) Universities and subsequently in a good job (LG, Hyundai, Samsung) is extremely high as the number of students in Korea is well into the millions!
This we compared to their conception of America's educational model, which is relatively correct in theory. In America, a country that is nearly boundless and home to a plethora of natural resources, job opportunities are endless as one can always expand or create a new business for themselves if current jobs are scarce (I know, tell that to 10% of the people in Michigan, I didn't say it was completely accurate, that's why its a model, not a representative chart). Furthermore, the number of "good" or accredited universities in the States is just about endless. I explained that each of our fifty States has at least two major public universities with a number of small public ones and an almost infinite amount of other, perhaps more specialized private schools. In turn, even though the U.S. has a ridiculous number of students, the ubiquity of Universities and in turn boundless job opportunities leads to a very low level of competition amongst students. . .therefore I can get away with building forts in the woods for five hours a day while Korean students are hustled from one academy to the next.
It is not uncommon, and in fact would be strange, if any of my students were to be in bed before 1 a.m. on any given night. At around 10:15pm yesterday I informed my class that there was a good chance that my brother, a senior in high school, would most likely be getting ready to go to bed and might even be asleep by the time that they left school. Now I realize that this might be a bit of an exaggeration (though if it were me I would probably be forced in to bed, Jay I'm sure is out playing a concert in Guadalajara only to return the next morning at six. . .no problem, right!?), but even so it just blew my students' minds! Shouldn't he be studying they asked!? Um, sure, but for what? The SAT? I don't recall doing that, not sure if Jay is. His high school tests? Um, maybe for math, but what else do you really have to study for? Even then don't we get formula sheets? It is just absurd that these poor middle schoolers (or too-cool-for-schoolers as they often appear) work so much harder on seemingly meaningless tasks then I ever did at any point in my education, even in receiving two Bachelors degrees. . . .ha, Korea!
On the flip side of things, not everyone appears well equipped to handle such a difficult burden. This is something that I had actually wondered about for some time since being here. Doesn't working that hard have profound physical and psychological effects on these poor* kids?! Well, the physiological effects are actually pretty apparent. I know we work with just middle schoolers, who are growing and stretching out but the majority of the young people we meet simply appear to be so frail. I can't imagine anyone gets a good deal of exercises and there is a very noticeable difference between the shape of the Koreans on my soccer team (a few of which who were never admitted to University, I'm assuming because they rejected overexerting themselves) and many others that I encounter. What's funny about this is that we recently read an article about computer games being bad for your health because they limit your exercise time. . . guess what, so does studying for four or more hours a day!!
As for the psychological effects, well, I cannot honestly be too sure. I see these kids come and go every day, the majority of them in a complete daze which simply cannot by good for their psyche. But, to what degree they would admit or acknowledge the breadth of their burden? I'm just not sure. It seems as though it would be very un-Korean to speak out against the system and complain, even if one's schedule were causing extreme distress. My kids were shocked that in the article 188 (of how many Korean students?) objected to taking the recently implemented exams. I know little about mental health in Korea but I fear that the rigor of the system and extreme pressure put on students to succeed is not only too much be can be suffocating to dissent.
Yesterday after work Nate told me about how a girl in her class blurted out that another student, a 13 year old girl, launched her self off the top of her apartment building the other day because she "had too much stress." 13 years old. Most people aren't even fully conscious of the world around them by the time they're 13 (this is actually 12 in normal years). A pre-teen doesn't even have the stress of adolescence yet! No boy problems, no pimples really. Korean children, as I noted, don't have to pick out outfits or get made fun of for what they wear. What could possibly cause a 12 year old girl to become so stressed that she took her own life in a shockingly deliberate manner. . . I'll let the Korean Educational Authority decide. . .for now, I just try to assign as little homework as possible!
On a happier note. . .here's a picture of the kindergarten students outside my window that wake me up every morning with their singing. Sometimes its cute, most of the time it's just annoying, but then again, Sunday mornings I do kind of miss it when everything is a little too quiet! But anyways, I woke up the other morning and looked out to see these little guys sitting in a toppled circle that more resembled a heart than anything. . .awwwww! *tear! Enjoy!
*Note on the word "poor." Poverty in Korea is not viewed sympathetically as a problem of the masses. This is not a socialist country. You earn your money, for yourself, to get ahead. No sharing, no mercy, no nothing. The majority of my students, during a lesson on charity, expressed the point of view that charity is not only not necessary but a waste of time and money because giving away what you have earned is against the point of earning it. Mom, yes, I tried my best to explain otherwise, and might have even gotten through to a few kids, but for the most part, that's just Korea. . .okay, that's the background, here's the anecdote.
The other night Nate and I were playing the "thesaurus game" where we pick a word from my little pocket thesaurus and try and guess all the listed synonyms. Now either we've been in Korea too long, didn't pay attention in Ms. Hoppe's class or this is actually a really challenging and thought provoking game. Either way, Joseph came along and decided to give it a shot. He flips through a few pages and then all of a sudden starts cracking up wildly. . ."HA, it says poor people are 'moneyless' hahahahaha. That means they don't have money, haha!"
Now by no means does he mean this in a bad way, it was just a perfect example of how Koreans view material wealth and that it's simply absurd to not have any!
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