Hump day of the final week is complete.

I can't tell if this week is genuinely awesome, or if I'm just over the hump of worrying about everything.

As I mentioned before, I have high school kids this week, and they've been fantastic. Today was especially fun. In the afternoon they had time to work on two different projects I'd assigned, and I went from group to group, answering questions about papers they had found, questions about the paper I'd assigned, and general questions about life at American universities, the American educational system, and being a research scientist. These kids are just so cool. I walked out an hour later than usual, feeling like I was falling in love. I couldn't stop smiling, just wondering how I was having this much fun. The idea of leaving with my masters to teach high school just got a lot more realistic. I haven't had this much fun "working" since I don't know when.

One of the boys is really excited to be paying devil's advocate in the whole climate debate, constantly looking for alternate explanations for rising temperatures than increased CO2 emissions. He isn't stubborn, he just wants to see the other side explored, and see why alternate explanations do or don't satisfy him. So more power to him. His parents want him to go into business, because he's a "people person," but he thinks science is fun. I pointed out there was always science education or science policy work. He wants to go to an American liberal arts school, because he hears it's very different from Korean schools, where it's all lecture based. He loves the idea of project and discussion based learning. But he's worried about whether that kind of education will really serve him well if he wants to get a job in Korea when he's done. And I don't know. But it was a really interesting conversation to have.

Another girl told me when I sat down that she loved my lecture today, and she was really interested in today's topics. This was the same girl who chatted with me yesterday for a long while about wanting to go to American schools, and wanting to know the difference between big public universities and private colleges, and whether any financial aid was available for international students. She had great questions about her paper today, and really latched on to everything I could explain about how Spitzer and Hubble work. And she told me I should go talk to her shy friend, who had a really good question that morning, but was too scared to ask. Such a cool kid.

I went over, and the first girl says something to her friend in Korean, who immediately ducks her head and shakes her head at me. I told her I wanted to answer her question, so she finally asked how we know whether life on Earth is a good representative of life in the universe; what if we're a really weird, unusual example? Are we even looking for the right kids of things? It's SUCH A GOOD QUESTION!! So I told her no, we're not sure at all, but if we're going to look for life, the only kind we're likely to recognize from lightyears away is life like us. So we look for life like us, and planets reasonably like ours. But that we could be totally wrong. She said she's had this question since the third grade, but she remembered it today, and she'd never had an answer before. Cool teacher moment, or coolest teacher moment ever?

Seriously, I'm smiling again just thinking about it. And tomorrow I'm doing a lab about penguin colonies in Antarctica, and they have to piece together a flowchart of climate change and the ecosystem, from a bunch of information about penguin and krill populations, snowfall, and sea temperature. I'm really excited. I think we're going to have a lot of fun. 

I got dinner at this place called Eat2Heal next to the cafeteria, and maybe it's the lack of fresh vegetables in general over here, but the salad I got, and the sandwich with tomatoes and caramelized onions tasted like the best salad and sandwich I've ever had. Then Sara and Neil and I went to the jim jil bong in town. It's a spa/hang out joint. There's a spa on one floor for the women, another for the men, a floor with games and karaoke rooms and a little theater and food, an exercise floor, a patio on the ceiling, and little caves where you can sleep if you stay the night (but it's just a pad on the floor). Apparently a lot of dates happen there, and a lot of family hang out time. There are people who walk around the sleeping areas to make sure no hanky-panky is happening, and the single sex spas are totally naked, like the other one I went to. It's $7 for most of that, but food and massages cost extra. The exercise room, the basic spa, and the games are all included though, as far as I could tell, which means you can get quite a lot for your money.

On Sara's recommendation, since she'd gotten one at the other spa, I got a scrub while I was in the spa. They put this exfoliating lotion on and then rub you all over. And, as Sara said before, it is ALL over. She didn't care where her hands went. Not as weird as I expected it to be, maybe because she was so straightforward about it. And everything smelled nice. Not too strong, just mineral or herb scents, even the halls of the buildings.

We had a crazy cab driver on the way over. Neil and Sara were chatting pretty loudly, and he basically told us, with miming, that we should shut up, because he couldn't concentrate on his driving. His driving was absolutely terrifying. And I should say here that I think most Korean drivers' reputations in the US are unearned here in Korea. None but the biggest roads have stoplights, so you just cross at crosswalks everywhere, with no guarantee the traffic will stop. And they don't stop way back like they do in the US, but they've never come close to hitting anyone. I think the drivers here mostly pay attention a lot more. And a lot of the sidestreets don't have sidewalks, and are only wide enough for one-way traffic, so you have to crowd way to the side when a car wants to go by. But anyway, this first driver was actually nuts. I don't care if it's Korea, that had to be illegal. And he flat out refused to try to communicate with us, just snapped in Korean and mimed that he spoke no English. Which: fair enough. But others have at least tried to understand us.

On the way back, Sarah and I were saying to each other that we really needed to learn left, right, and straight in Korean. And the driver points ahead and goes, "Straight! Jigjin!" So we repeat it a few times, and then he points left, and that's oenjjog, and right is oleunjjog (I was spelling it my way, but google has told me this is the better way to spell them). It was the most helpful cab ride ever, and of course we get this lesson now, three days before we leave. Oh, well. So worst cab ride over, and best cab ride back. I guess it evens out. The second cabbie, and all the people in the spa, drove home for me once again how nice everyone is here.

I'm pretty sure if a Korean traveler came to America and wandered into a spa, or a cab or bus, or a hotel, and tried to mime things and speak Korean at the Americans, they would get cussed out, ignored, and flipped off. And here, our cab driver this evening is the only person I can think of who has flat out dismissed us. Everyone else has tried very hard to understand what we were asking or saying, whether that involved pantomime, their attempts at English, or asking passersby if anyone else could translate. I realize the immigration histories of our countries are totally different, and there are lot of reasons you can't just invert the situation and compare it, but I'm really grateful that even if people here think we're idiots, at least they're trying really hard to help the dumb Americans.

Anyway. Two teaching days left, and one day to go to the airport and get on a plane. I am looking forward to everything.

Last week!

Oh, thank God. I have high school kids this week. It's such a great change. They ask interesting questions, they can do real labs (most of them), and I don't have to talk down to them at all. We can have normal conversations! One kid wants to play devil's advocate for saying increased CO2 levels don't cause increased temperatures! I mean, I disagree, but he's asking good questions, and I want to see him explore the problem. It's really exciting. Another girl is interested in ocean currents, but also worried about how her imaginary testing would hurt imaginary ocean life. It's so great.

Of course, I'm also changing classrooms again, because we're not actually allowed in the building I used yesterday and today. The working lab people here are getting annoyed, because there are high school and middle school aged kids clogging up the building and slowing down their wireless connections. And the internet is slow, so I believe them that it's our fault.

Having smart kids is really making this week a lot better than it could be. I was super stressed this past weekend. Teachers were snapping at each other, and I was trying to keep cool and keep peace when I could, I was planning a three hour lecture for kids outside my age range, and I was planning new lecture material for high school kids out of what I had. But I found a bunch of cool labs for my kids, they're good English speakers who are interested in the stuff we're learning, and I only have three and a half days left here.

On Sunday, Sara and I were being lazy, and didn't want cafeteria food, so we went to the Burger King on campus. It was wonderful. They use real sugar, not corn syrup, in their soda here, so the coke was amazing. No salt on the fries, but ketchup, and you could ask for salt separately, so it was just like home, only with better soda. Mmmm, America. They also had spaghetti for lunch on Monday. I've been here long enough that eating American food has become novel again. But when I get home, I'm totally making my friends go to a Korean barbeque. They're a ton of fun.

Fast food: a taste of home.

The awesome side

So I left the presentations early last night. My kids weren't going to present, because no one told me that all the teachers were supposed to pick a group (last week we were supposed to pick 3 out of the 9 classes), so I didn't tell them to bring their flash drives or computers or anything. And if I had to make a 3 hour presentation and a 10 page handout, I wasn't going to sit through 9 classes worth of presentations.

So I came home, put on some angry music, and set about making slides that elementary kids with little English could understand. Luckily, astronomy is full of awesome pictures.

Well over an hour after I got home (and when I left, the presentations were already at the two hour mark), my first roommate came home, and was like, "I know exactly why you left, and I understand." A few minutes later, more people come in, but they brought the TAs, who are all awesome, and we sat around while I added more slides and chatted about the week, about Korea in general, about the Korean language and what the TAs think about the North Korea situation (they hope the people will overthrow their own government, which does seem like it would be a nice solution, and it's nice to know the feeling here is, "Those poor North Koreans, run by an evil dictator," and not, "I hate North Koreans").

So it ended up being a good night. Now it's the next morning, and I'm sitting here drinking some tea and eating an orange, and in a few minutes, we're going to get on a bus and head up to the DMZ and Seoul for the day. At least, I think we're doing both. I'll let you know later. But it sounds like a few of the TAs are coming with us, so now I'm looking forward to it even more. It helps to have translators around who are our age and share a sense of humor.

The awful side of things

You wanna know how to make me completely enraged? Tell me at lunch on Friday that I need to make a 3 hour lecture for underprivileged elementary school kids for Monday morning, when I have slides intended for gifted and talented high schoolers. After I've taught for three more hours, had dinner, and sat through two hours of student presentations so it's 9pm, tell me you need the study guide for that lecture by tonight. Also, I'm supposed to be in Seoul all day tomorrow. And don't apologize. Oh, you weren't planning to? Well that's just par for the course.

I walked out of presentations when I got this news whispered to me in between groups.

I've been as positive as I can be about all this, but the lack of organization and communication here is beyond belief.

Let me sing the praises of TAs

Here's the first set of pictures my friend took of us running around Korea: Mahmoud's photos.

The young Korean woman who has a big profile picture in the set is my TA, Hana. She wanted to go out to eat last night, but it turned into a big thing with all of the professors and most of the TAs. We had amazing food and a really good time. Afterwards, she took a much smaller group of TAs and professors to a cocktail bar. All the cocktail names are English, but good luck with your order. Hana recommended something called a Scarlett O'Hara, which was very fruity. I tried ordering an amaretto sour, but the bartender and Hana got into a discussion, and apparently he was explaining that there are three different ways to make an amaretto sour. I don't remember the third, but I chose something with citron, and the TA next to me chose the melon one. I have no idea what was in our drinks. It was not an amaretto sour, but it was tasty anyway.

That's me with my "amaretto sour" and Rebekah with her Scarlett O'Hara

Tonight we went out again, with some of the professors and TAs, to get sushi. We all ordered the same thing, to make it easier, meaning I got some good sushi, and some things I didn't like, but it was a good time. The TAs are all amazing people. We keep paying for them when we go out. Some of them are happy to accept it, but Sara's TA, Hosanna, was saying she felt bad about it. We explained that in America, TAs make very poor money, and professors make more, so they treat their students.

Hana is next to me, and the other TAs are scattered around.

The TAs are the best thing about this trip, I think. They've been giving us tours of stores and the area near campus, explaining Korean language, culture, and food, and generally being the nicest people we know in Korea. Hosanna said it's fun, and I'm glad she thinks so, because this trip might have sucked a lot if they hadn't been around to shepherd us and be our friends.

At the cocktail bar, the TAs were telling us how to write our names in Korean, and how the Korean alphabet works, drinking games in Korean, music, and so on. And we taught them about Never Have I Ever, and we all enjoyed American music, hate writing Greek letters, and like eating the crunchy stuff they give you in bowls at bars. It was everything I wanted out of my Korean trip.

Monday, Take 2

Ah, new week, new class, new TA. I switched TAs with my friend, so now Hana is my TA, and Sundong is Mahmoud's. I'm not even sure how this happened, but I'm happy with it. Sundong was great, but Hana and I are much more chatty and friendly, and I think that's true with the guys as well, considering when I ran into them after class today, they were going off to play pool. Speaking of other teachers, here's a picture of most of us!

From left to right: Me, Greg, Rebekah, Peter, Sara, John, Mahmoud, and Neil.
David, the last teacher, is somewhere else.

This was taken at this week's opening ceremony, which is why we look all nice. I room with the other two girls (obviously). I suspect Sara would be horrified by this picture - she's not nearly as frumpy or old as she looks here. Greg is Russian, but did his degree somewhere in Canada, and is currently post-doccing at Stanford. Peter is originally from Hungary, via a long list of places, and teaches in Virginia, as do the next two, Sara and John. Mahmoud is my colleague from GMU, and Neil is from New York, as are David and Rebekah. And yes, Greg is trying to look like a Russian mobster, but maybe comes across as Russian pop star instead in this picture. If you think he looks tall next to me and Rebekah, you should see the pictures of him next to our tiny Korean waitress one night.

My new class is so much more fluent than my last class. They understand me much better, they read better, and most of them can speak better. They were also extremely quick to grasp all of the concepts I gave to them. I'm excited about this week, in spite of the climate change theme. Here's hoping it goes a little smoother than last week. Now, off to check my lessons plans.

And for anyone who wants to talk to me on skype, I'm generally online sometime between about 5:30 and 7pm EST. That's my time to be online and go over the day's lessons before I go to breakfast and class. The other option is to stay up until 4am EST when I get home from work, or get up early before you start your day. But I usually go to bed by 10am your time, so if you're not online by 8 or 9am, I've probably already closed my computer and gone to get ready for bed. I'd love to talk to people if you're around, but those are pretty much my only windows of availability.

Success!

Hee! So I mentioned that one of the TA's names is Hana, and she likes Doctor Who. I've been wanting to spend more time hanging out with people who really live here, and a Korean girl only a few years younger than me who also likes Doctor Who is exactly my speed. The director of the program has come out with us, and toured the Korean Folk Village with us, and has had meals with us, but he's sort of our boss, and also he's my parents' age. Some of the other teachers have gone out to parties, but I'm not a huge fan of dance clubs in the states, so I've been hesitant to go along.

But Hana and I were talking after the opening ceremony yesterday, and she asked what I was doing after I left, even though she had work all evening. So I gave her my email, and we decided we should hang out some night, because I guess nerds need to stick together. She said she tutors until 11 pm half the week, and that's on top of her responsibilities as TA/camp counselor for the KAIST program. But I had an email when I got up this morning, saying which days she was free, if we wanted to go get dinner. And she ended with "let's make an appointment for a fantastic and joyful memory in Korea." So cute.

I made a Korean friend!