Like a Native Speaker

At the beginning of my last class today, one of my students (who was quite shy and at a very low level when I first met her, but who has since then become quite proficient and has moved up in level) was struggling with her backpack and dropped it. The moment she dropped it, without an instant of hesitation, she quite loudly, clearly and without an accent said, "Shit!" The other students in the class (which is supposed to be a fairly high level) were completely oblivious to the meaning of that word. I instantly started scolding her on how she should not use that language. She smiled sheepishly and said she understood, but at the same time I could tell that there was a smirk underneath that smile.

I felt quite torn while I was scolding her. She was certainly not supposed to use that kind of language, but (internally) I was impressed with how readily and proficiently she used it. She swore exactly like a native speaker and while I certainly did not teach her how to do that (or any profane language), I couldn't help but be a little proud of her proficiency and confidence.

Original Student Work

Here is a direct quote from an essay that one of my students wrote. The topic is: If you could make one change to the Korean educational system, what change would you make.

"If I sleep with my friends or live together we can friendlier."

"Heading for Nowhere" - Jets Overhead

Korean Speedskating Upset

I tip my hat to Lee Sang-Hwa for her gold metal win.

Sausage

Yeah, this is weird and very Korean.

"Lost" - Coldplay

"Lost"

South Korea: The Land of Texting?

Here is an article about texting in Korea. Did you know there is a Mobile World Cup? (I didn't).

(The article mentions "English-language cram school," better known here as English-language Camps. The former seems like a more appropriate name.)

Little Mermaids and Leopards

In 400 level (3rd or 4th grade students) listening classes, students are required to listen to different childrens movies, follow along in their book and fill in any missing words from the dialogue. Currently, my 400 level students are listening to The Little Mermaid. I walked into 404 today and my students kept talking about how Sebastian's song "Under the Sea" was so fast.

"Teacha, he is like a leppa."

"He is so fast teacha, like a leppa."

They kept saying that he was fast like a "leppa." I was really confused. I asked them if they meant "leopard" (thinking they were comparing how fast leopards run to how fast Sebastian sings. In retrospect this was a stupid assumption since these kids are 9 or 10 years old, Korean age).

"No teacha!"

"No, no. Leppa, like a leppa."

I was even more confused.

"Do you mean leper, like a sick person?"

"No, teacha, leppa! He sing so fast, like blah-blah-blah."

It dawned on me.

"OH! A rapper!"

"YES TEACHA!"

"Leppa! Leppa!"

We then proceeded to have a 5 minute lesson on pronouncing "l" and "r" sounds. They still need some work.

I present to you: Sebastian the Rapper.

Tombstone

Tombstone is a "Western Bar" here in Jeonju. This basically means it has beer and liquor instead of beer and soju. It's not a bad spot, the drinks are reasonably priced and strong, they can download any song you want and play it for you, and they have a dart board. We go there fairly regularly and most of the staff know who we are now. After several rounds of free shots and many games of darts with one of the bartenders, Khan, Megan somehow communicated to him that I used to be a bar tender and that I wanted to make a drink. He said okay, grabbed me by the hand and led me behind the bar. All of a sudden I realized that I wasn't sure how well stocked the bar was or what drink to make. My mind raced and I realized that I had to fall back on an old favorite. With the help of Khan and some serious Konglish, I located all the ingredients I needed; Southern Comfort, Peach Schnapps, Jagermeister, Sloe Gin (I am amazed that he knew what I was talking about and more amazed that the bar had it) and orange juice. I mixed them and voila: a Slow Comfortable Screw Against the Wall with Satin Pillows (thanks Mike McCain for teaching me that one). Khan thought it was delicious, and so did everybody else. It was so much fun and made for a great night.

The Wife and Kids

Here is a picture one of my students drew for me.

That's me, my wife and our thirteen children.

Less and Less Surprises

Today I saw a small Korean boy (one of my students), without a jacket, roller blading down the sidewalk at top speed. I should also mention that the sidewalk was speckled with large patches of ice and snow. Korea, you surprise me less and less every day.

Holiday in Tokyo

Taking my New Years holiday in Tokyo was awesome. We simultaneously picked a great and terrible time to go. The city was full of people and the neighborhoods were jammed packed, it was great. Unfortunately, we went during a national holiday, so many of the museums and government run sites were closed. In spite of this we found plenty of ways to have fun.

We spent a good deal of time walking around and just looking at the neighborhoods. Some highlights include:

• Shibuya, full of young people. We saw some sort of protest with lots of yelling, Japanese flags and fliers of some political figure photoshopped up as Hitler.
• Electric Town, with tons of towering buildings and neon signs. We checked out a huge arcade full of young men and boys sitting at video game consuls mashing buttons.
• Asakusa was the part of town our hostel was in. Near our hostel was the Senso Temple. In Japan, it is customary to visit temples on/around New Years, make offerings and have your fortune read. Surrounding the temple was a whole lot of small shopping booths and food vendors (imagine the International Bazaar at the MN State Fair, but 157 times cooler). On New Years day, Laura, Ryan and I went to the temple to take pictures and see what it was all about. There were huge masses of people visiting the temple, but we still made it through the crowds and saw the temple. Laura and I also had our fortunes read. Her fortune predicts "good fortune" in many facets of her life in the coming year, where as I will have "regular fortune."
• Harajuku is the hip shopping district in central Tokyo. We decided to go on what was considered the "Black Friday" of Japan. The streets were packed with hordes of people shopping and store employees in the streets yelling about the great sales they were having. We went to Meinji-Dori, a street famous for shopping in Harajuku, and there were so many people on that one street that you didn't walk, you were carried with the crowd.
• Ginza is the 5th Avenue of Tokyo. Lots of upscale stores and oddly enough there was a 5 story Abercrombie and Fitch with a queue almost 100 people long waiting to get in. We visited a really cool toy store (4 stories tall) that was full of action figures, dolls, stuffed animals and Legos. On the top floor there was a really big slot car track that you could race cars around. I challenged Laura to a race and I hate to say it but I don't think there was a clear winner, it seemed to me that we both were pretty terrible at it and kept crashing our cars.
• Roppongi. "Since the end of WWII, Roppongi has garnered a notorious reputation as a den of sin." Or so says Lonely Planet. I'm not sure that Roppongi was a "den of sin" but it was the part of town we spent New Years Eve in. It was our night to go all out and live it up. No meal was too expensive, no bar to classy, and what did we decide to eat that night? Mexican food and it was awesome! Drinks were not cheap, but luckily after midnight, at the bar we were in, there was free sake. Overall a great place to be on New Years.

One last thing that I will mention about my trip to Tokyo was something I noticed after New Years Eve. As we were walking around or near temples I saw all kinds of people standing around with tall signs in Japanese. These people also had speakers strapped to their backs blaring something in Japanese. My suspicion was that it was some sort of Christian evangelism. I wasn't positive and when I tried to talk to one of these people, she looked around and blinked (apparently the Word could not be transmitted between a native English speaker and a native Japanese speaker who could only communicate through pantomime). I did get a Japanese-English copy of the New Testament from this woman. I was later told on the plane by someone that they were indeed proselytizing.

While my trip to Tokyo was short, it was amazing. Good food, cool places, great people to travel with, and a sweet version of the New Testament to put on my shelf, I could not have asked for more.

"Sunday" - Bloc Party