China Series Introduction

Okay, here is my first writing goal for the next year.

Every Monday, I will post a China-centered article. I have a lot of China study and experience to process, and writing is my best hope.

I have been trying to figure out who I am as a traveler (I am almost resigned to the fact that I will be fervently trying to figure out who I am for the rest of my life, in one way or another). I am often unsure of how to talk about my experiences to others-- to Chinese people, to other foreigners in China, and especially to other Americans who haven't traveled, or have traveled only as tourists. I am realizing that much of the time what an outsider says about a country is about 90% a reflection of themselves and only 10% a reflection of the country they are describing.

I come back to the quote in "84, Charing Cross Road" (which I don't remember precisely and can't look up from the dorm room in Korea where I'm writing this) in which Helene Hanff tells Frank Doel that when she comes to London, she will be looking for the London of Classic English literature. Of Shakespeare and Austen and Dickens. He replies that if she looks for it, it is there.

This is a lovely moment in a sweet story, but outside of Helene's story, I am torn about what to think of it. It is very true, for just about any version of any country. If you go to China expecting to see a country ravaged by the evils of socialism, you will find evidence to support that and could easily come away with a renewed love for capitalism. If you go to China expecting to find a country where people value community and avoid the isolation and greed of the West, you will find it. If you come to China looking for an economic wonder, the next global superpower in the making, it is there.

Of course, if a traveler in China has meaningful conversation with anyone while in China, they will have some of their horizons broaden and some of there understandings deepened, but I don't think it's by any means necessary that they will come away with even the beginning of an accurate view of what China is, or what it feels like to live there.

I am hoping to put down on paper (or, well, the internet) what I experienced studying about and living in the Middle Kingdom, and in doing so begin to sort out what's me and what is China. I will choose a topic a week- a place, a concept, a tradition, a historical change.

Bonus Picture Saturday

First, here is a photo of one view from the westernmost beach in Hamdeok (a 15-20 minute walk from my place):

Next, here's one of the best shots I've taken so far. It's a picture of sunset over Jeju taken from Udo-- a very small island to the east of Jeju itself.
And last, here is the cereal I have been eating. I was drawn to it because it is 1) Cheap and 2) Terrifying. It is also Italian.


(If you click on the pictures, they'll get bigger)

It's the room the sun and the sky

Writing goal number three* for this year is the most informal. It's basically just to keep my pen on paper; not to let things I need to express pile up because I'm not sure how or when to say them. I've journaled to keep myself sane since I was about ten years old, I think. I have a paper journal for which this might often be more appropriate, but I'm going to try to just write down something about HOW my life is every week. This will also allow me to keep titling entries with song lyrics that probably only relate to the post's content in my head. Win all around, really.

To begin with, here's a bit about what it feels like to teach afterschool English at Hado Elementary School on Jeju Island:

The fifth and sixth grades are often the easiest to relate to, but also the classes where power struggles are most likely. I'm hoping this will continue getting better as I figure out what games they like and they feel they can trust me to have a point to what I want them to do ("point" here probably also being a game). Sixth grade was excited about the game "four corners" for about two solid weeks. I haven't played it in a little while because I want it to still be exciting. The only thing I've gotten the fifth grade excited about so far is telling scary stories. Which was awesome-- I said "What is a scary story?" and they immediately listed about twenty possible characters, starting with Dracula and kumiho. I've been using them to teach the past tense, and am hoping I can find some more things they'll be interested in so they don't get tired of them. They are the class that chose names like "Valkyrie," "Black Hole," and "Dark Knight," for which I can do nothing but congratulate them, but they are clearly too cool for school most of the time. There's hope for a future full of English practice involving video game characters and tales of violent death, but there will be rocks along the way.

Fourth grade is my smallest class and third grade is my largest (with 5 and 11 students, respectively. All my classes are beautifully small). Fourth grade has been the easiest so far-- they've been happy with the activities I've planned for them-- they've been feeling the power of being able to spell things by sounding them out phonetically, I think, and really like playing Uno even if they have to describe their cards in English to play each turn. The range of language level in my third grade class is challenging. There is one girl who has complained a number of times to my co-teacher that she ALWAYS raises her hand and ALWAYS knows the answer and I NEVER call on her. I do call on her, sometimes, but I know that she really does always know the answer very fast, and a few of her classmates generally need the question repeated and/or re-explained.

First and second grade have the most trouble finding value in sitting in a chair for forty minutes at a time, but they might still be my favorites. They are all young enough to just "know" that all adults understand everything they are saying all the time, so they speak to me in Korean all the time. I have them kind of fooled so far, by luck. I always have a Korean co-teacher in class who fields their relevant questions, and thus far the only questions they've asked me outside of class concern where I'm going-- one of the ten or so things I understand. Thus far they still believe that I respond in English to challenge them and make them keep practicing, and not because I only speak about twenty words of Korean.

Only a couple of the other teachers in my school have had real conversations with me. Most don't speak English well enough (or aren't confident, at least). But a couple of teachers who don't really speak English have brought me coffee a couple of friday afternoons while I lesson plan in the library, so overall it's nice to be there.

*er, goals one and two start next week. They're more scheduled. You'll be seeing them. Transmission ended.

Title is from "Lazy Eye" by the Silversun Pickups

Beginnings on Jeju Island

I am safe on Jeju, and apologize for not updating here sooner! Our first five days on the island were spent finishing out orientation at a hotel with no wifi, and my evenings were spent wandering around Jeju-si or sleeping.

I stayed with Christian for about a week, as his room at our "pension"* was open way before mine. First, though, he had to fly to Osaka at the last minute to get a new visa because of some poorly worded forms at the Consulate in Chicago.

Our rooms are right next to each other, the only ones in the building on this side of the cluster of structures that our landlord (who was introduced to us as "the Master") owns. There is a waterwheel and a gazebo in the middle, and a bench swing to the side of my window, next to the hole in the wall that houses our washing machine. My place consists of one large room-- kitchen, bedroom, and living room in one-- and a small bathroom. There are plenty of windows and we get a lovely breeze, so when it's not crazy hot outside they're open.

I've only taught one day so far, and will head to my second day of classes in a couple of hours. My intended first day was canceled by a typhoon, which in the end turned out to be just spotty gusts of wind and a few downpours. I definitely haven't gotten a good handle on my students' abilities yet. We've just made namecards (and picked English names!) and gone over class rules. My first graders think I'm super cool, my fourth graders may stage a revolt before too long.

It feels SO GOOD to have my own place, and now a cellphone and internet, and soon a desk and chair. I'm calming down from last year in China and from traveling all over the place this summer. I think it's gonna be a really good year.


*this is the first time I've heard the word 'pension' used to describe something not to do with money after retirement. Here it means "vacation house," something like "bed and breakfast" which is rented out by the day during tourist season, and much cheaper by the month in the off season.

Korea!

So, I know that I told friends and family about Korea and Jeju island, and confused them and myself about how big each population is.

There are a lot of people. Everywhere.

Korea is about the same size as the state of Indiana (100,000 square kilometers), with a population of 50 million. 50 million is one sixth of the population of the united states. Jeju itself is about 1.5 times the size of story county (an average sized county in Iowa), with a population of 565,000 people. It's a lot.

... more on other things later. I am getting a bit more nervous and much more excited about teaching with each lecture that we have during orientation.

Here safe!

Hello all!

I am safe in Korea-- I flew into Seoul (the Incheon airport) this afternoon, where I met TaLK program folks and was painlessly placed on a bus to Jochiwon, our orientation site. We'll be busing back up to Seoul tomorrow for the opening ceremony, which is apparently going to be on national Korean television.

Further bulletins as events warrant.

:P

in transit announcement, hope of actually catching up.

I am in the Detroit airport with a couple more hours to wait before I can check in for the next leg of my journey. I am far less stressed than I was moving to China last year; I have a much better idea of what I'm getting myself into in Korea. This is a foolishly long layover, but changing it would have changed the ticket price from Awesomely Cheap, so here I am anyway.

I had a lovely whirlwind of visits in my 3.5 weeks in the USA, and am looking forward to living here again, eventually.