Thanksgiving has once again come and (here in Korea) gone. It's hard to be away from my closest friends and family during the holidays, but I still have a lot to be thankful for. As always, I'm grateful for my wonderful family, who supported me at the beginning of the year when my money ran out and helped me deal with the crushing stress and self-doubt that goes along with having no money. I'm grateful that I'll always have that home to go back to if things get too rough, and to hopefully bring someone special to sometime in the future :)
I'm grateful for having a steady job that I enjoy doing and can see myself doing for at least a couple years. My bosses are good-natured and helpful (if extremely busy), my coworkers are great, (most of) the students and my classes are good and frequently entertaining, and the general atmosphere of the school is overwhelming positive. I still work a pretty busy schedule, but it's fewer hours and considerably less hectic than my schedule at AEON. It's also nice that my bosses are American, mostly because it means I don't have to deal with conflicts between American and Korean work culture or having a boss who sees me as some disposal, English-spewing foreigner. My salary, combined with Korea's surprisingly low cost of living, allows me to live quite comfortably while also saving a large percentage of my earnings. Despite a rocky start, my apartment is also quite comfortable now. I have a great view of the surrounding area from the 10th floor, and I've never had any problems with my neighbors (nor do I have to worry about disturbing them).
I'm grateful for all the friends I've made here and the communities I've become a part of. I'm especially glad I took up my coworker Michelle's offer to check out Hwagyesa Temple in Seoul - I don't expect to ever call myself a Buddhist, but a lot of the Zen philosophy has helped me greatly and has become a part of my daily life and how I look at the world. Plus, I've met a ton of great people there, including some of my best friends over here. I'm also glad that I joined the Global Expats meetup group, which has let me participate in some very interesting activities and meet more great people. Between Hwagyesa and the meetup group, I'm socializing way more than I ever did in Japan, and overall I'm a lot more relaxed and less stressed out.
It's a small thing, but I'm also grateful for being an hour away from Seoul by train, which only costs about $7 round-trip. Compared to the time and expense of taking a train to Tokyo, it's practically nothing! I can easily go into Seoul every weekend (sometimes both Saturday and Sunday) to meet friends, do Korean things or get excellent (though often pricy) food from all over the world in Itaewon or other parts of the city. I don't know about the price of taking the KTX (the cross-country train), but I know I could get to the other side of the country in a few hours if I wanted to travel. I'm also grateful that the awful summer heat is finally over, and that we got our first tiny bit of snow this week! That might not mean much to many of you, but we Bay Area folks don't get to see snow very often. We'll see if I still like snow when spring comes again!
I may not get to celebrate Thanksgiving with everyone back home, but at least I won't be going without turkey and mashed potatoes this year - we're having a Thanksgiving lunch at school tomorrow with the kindergartens and the Korean staff. It won't be as good as Mom's, of course, but I'm still looking forward to it. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Halloween at Baron's English Academy
This year's Halloween was a blast, with me thoroughly creeping out most of the kids (and some of the adults) and leaving them with questions that will never be answered. How did I do that with such a simple costume? Let me elaborate...
Every year at Baron's English Academy, we invite the kids to come to a haunted house and Halloween party. The students helped decorate the classrooms and halls with paper skeletons and other Halloween art during the week to get them ready for the big day on Friday.
We came in early at 1 pm to set up the haunted house, and spent the next three and a half hours blacking out all the windows, hanging up balloon spiders, webs and ghosts, putting up sheets of plastic to section off the hallways, and setting up other spooky decorations. We had to work really fast, but we got it all done just in time and got into our costumes.
I don't usually dress up for Halloween, so I'd had no idea what to do for the party. I eventually found a Halloween store in Seoul, where I bought a jester/Mardi Gras/masquerade sort of mask and a black cape. I also picked up a pair of cheap white gloves to complete the ensemble, and wore it all with my black suit and a white shirt. The full-face mask (with a kinda creepy smile) gave me the idea to be silent and only communicate with gestures. The mask also had bells on top (which are cut off in the picture), and I worked out a slow head-tilt that would make the bells jingle.
Unfortunately, I only got a picture of one of my coworker's costumes. Mike ordered a roll of LEDs on a strip and sewed fasteners on a hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants, and with the help of our boss hooked it up to an on/off switch that he kept in his pocket. The end result was this:
Another coworker, Dominic, used a hardhat and construction paper to dress up as Pororo, a popular children's cartoon character.
My last coworker, Michelle, who teaches kindergarten, went as a frog. Mrs. Dugger put on a long white robe and a floor-length black wig for a ghost woman costume, and Mr. Dugger went in drag with a blonde, pigtailed wig.
At 4:30 pm the kindergarten kids came in for the first run-through. We turned off all the lights and each took a classroom, where we had a candle for a little light and some candy to give to the kids. We had spooky ambient effects playing on the office computer as well, courtesy of halloweenradio.net. The kindergarteners came through with their mothers, and although we kept the scares light, I think we scared their parents more than the kids! After the haunted house, they all got food and we got a breather until the rest of the students came at 5:30 pm.
Given free rein to scare the kids out of their wits, I took up position in the last room before the exit, with Mike in the room before mine. He hid in the storage room across the hall from his room and would wait until the kids slowly, uncertainly crept into the room, seeing only the candle and the bags of candy. Once they were inside, he would flick on the lights on his costume and jump out at them from behind. All I could hear were the screams of terror, but he told me that he got quite a few kids to jump and fall to the ground. Mrs. Dugger lurked in her office, grabbing anyone who came in, and a couple high school girls who helped set up also hid in the hallways to grab at hands and feet of passing children.
I wasn't going for jump scares like many of the others, but rather disturbing creepiness. I was the stranger you should never take candy from. The kids came to my room with calls of "Trick or treat!", but would only get a masked stare or a slow head-tilt in response. I beckoned them inside and gave them some candy, but never said a word. Some of the kids were creeped out enough that they were reluctant to enter; in one case, a kid was pushed forward by his braver companions. If they got a good look at the board, they found it covered with dark writing:
I did have a frustrating hiccup that forced me to adapt on the fly. With the second group of kids to come through, some dumb kid turned on the lights and blew out the candle, making the room totally dark when the lights were off. I couldn't relight the candle because there was a nearly constant stream of kids, and I couldn't predict when the next group would come. A couple groups went past me before I realized that they didn't know I was in there (I could see okay because my eyes were adjusted), so I moved from the back of the room to the doorway so that they would be able to see me. I then had them follow me into the room, which many of them were extra-reluctant to do because it was so dark. A few groups turned on the lights, which let them get a good view of the board as they entered. It was hardly ideal, but it worked out well enough. My best scare was, amusingly enough, totally accidental - one of the high school helpers passed by me and wasn't expecting me in the doorway, and she actually fell down in shock. It was pretty sweet :)
After everyone went through the haunted house, we turned on the lights, took down the plastic in the hallways and served food for the party. I stayed in character until all the kids left, gliding from room to room in total silence. Most of the kids were both unnerved by my refusal to speak and insanely curious. Any questions about who I was or why I wouldn't say anything were met with stony silence, though I did shake my head if they tried to guess who I was. One of my first-graders got so worked up that anytime he saw me he would demand that I talk, and when I didn't he would jump up and down and scream, "Why aren't you talking?!" (He was smiling, so I at least knew I wasn't making him really upset.) Later in the evening I got a bit sillier and let the younger students lead me around by the arm, as well as playing a lot of games of rock-paper-scissors (which they also say as "Rock, scissors, paper!" for some reason), but I still wouldn't talk. When they couldn't get answers out of me, they would go pester another teacher about who I was; the usual response was, "Go ask Mr. Perrett!"
We started cleaning up around 8 pm and I finally took the costume off (I was sweating bullets in the jacket even with the AC on), though I continued to avoid speaking any time one of the students was nearby. I promised a few kids (with nods) to give them answers on Monday, and we finished the bulk of the cleaning around 8:30 pm. I hadn't gotten anything to eat because I didn't want to break character, so I was eager to take some food with me and get home. I did, however, accept an invitation to get a post-party drink, so I went back to my apartment and dropped off my stuff before heading back to the bar on the seventh floor of the building.
I was the only teacher to come - Michelle had left to meet a friend at 8:30 pm, and Dominic, Mike and Mike's girlfriend had turned down the offer because they were tired. I was also the only man and the one who didn't speak Korean, as the group was made up of myself, Mrs. Dugger and six of the female Korean staff members. I mostly sat around and enjoyed the energy (if not the meaning) of the conversation, occasionally saying a few words in English or extremely limited Korean. We did order food, thankfully, so I got plenty to eat, as well as a couple glasses of mixed soju and maekju (two kinds of popular Korean alcohol) from a beer tower the place set up for us:
It was surprisingly smooth and had really good flavor, making it the best drink I've had so far (which isn't saying much, considering how little I've had to drink). It was pretty potent, though, and I was also beat, so I went home about 11 pm and unwound for a couple hours. A very successful night, I have to say.
Oh, and I already have my answer planned out for the kids on Monday: "Some mysteries don't have answers, and those are the scariest mysteries of all." Happy Halloween!
Every year at Baron's English Academy, we invite the kids to come to a haunted house and Halloween party. The students helped decorate the classrooms and halls with paper skeletons and other Halloween art during the week to get them ready for the big day on Friday.
We came in early at 1 pm to set up the haunted house, and spent the next three and a half hours blacking out all the windows, hanging up balloon spiders, webs and ghosts, putting up sheets of plastic to section off the hallways, and setting up other spooky decorations. We had to work really fast, but we got it all done just in time and got into our costumes.
I don't usually dress up for Halloween, so I'd had no idea what to do for the party. I eventually found a Halloween store in Seoul, where I bought a jester/Mardi Gras/masquerade sort of mask and a black cape. I also picked up a pair of cheap white gloves to complete the ensemble, and wore it all with my black suit and a white shirt. The full-face mask (with a kinda creepy smile) gave me the idea to be silent and only communicate with gestures. The mask also had bells on top (which are cut off in the picture), and I worked out a slow head-tilt that would make the bells jingle.
Unfortunately, I only got a picture of one of my coworker's costumes. Mike ordered a roll of LEDs on a strip and sewed fasteners on a hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants, and with the help of our boss hooked it up to an on/off switch that he kept in his pocket. The end result was this:
Another coworker, Dominic, used a hardhat and construction paper to dress up as Pororo, a popular children's cartoon character.
My last coworker, Michelle, who teaches kindergarten, went as a frog. Mrs. Dugger put on a long white robe and a floor-length black wig for a ghost woman costume, and Mr. Dugger went in drag with a blonde, pigtailed wig.
At 4:30 pm the kindergarten kids came in for the first run-through. We turned off all the lights and each took a classroom, where we had a candle for a little light and some candy to give to the kids. We had spooky ambient effects playing on the office computer as well, courtesy of halloweenradio.net. The kindergarteners came through with their mothers, and although we kept the scares light, I think we scared their parents more than the kids! After the haunted house, they all got food and we got a breather until the rest of the students came at 5:30 pm.
Given free rein to scare the kids out of their wits, I took up position in the last room before the exit, with Mike in the room before mine. He hid in the storage room across the hall from his room and would wait until the kids slowly, uncertainly crept into the room, seeing only the candle and the bags of candy. Once they were inside, he would flick on the lights on his costume and jump out at them from behind. All I could hear were the screams of terror, but he told me that he got quite a few kids to jump and fall to the ground. Mrs. Dugger lurked in her office, grabbing anyone who came in, and a couple high school girls who helped set up also hid in the hallways to grab at hands and feet of passing children.
I wasn't going for jump scares like many of the others, but rather disturbing creepiness. I was the stranger you should never take candy from. The kids came to my room with calls of "Trick or treat!", but would only get a masked stare or a slow head-tilt in response. I beckoned them inside and gave them some candy, but never said a word. Some of the kids were creeped out enough that they were reluctant to enter; in one case, a kid was pushed forward by his braver companions. If they got a good look at the board, they found it covered with dark writing:
I did have a frustrating hiccup that forced me to adapt on the fly. With the second group of kids to come through, some dumb kid turned on the lights and blew out the candle, making the room totally dark when the lights were off. I couldn't relight the candle because there was a nearly constant stream of kids, and I couldn't predict when the next group would come. A couple groups went past me before I realized that they didn't know I was in there (I could see okay because my eyes were adjusted), so I moved from the back of the room to the doorway so that they would be able to see me. I then had them follow me into the room, which many of them were extra-reluctant to do because it was so dark. A few groups turned on the lights, which let them get a good view of the board as they entered. It was hardly ideal, but it worked out well enough. My best scare was, amusingly enough, totally accidental - one of the high school helpers passed by me and wasn't expecting me in the doorway, and she actually fell down in shock. It was pretty sweet :)
After everyone went through the haunted house, we turned on the lights, took down the plastic in the hallways and served food for the party. I stayed in character until all the kids left, gliding from room to room in total silence. Most of the kids were both unnerved by my refusal to speak and insanely curious. Any questions about who I was or why I wouldn't say anything were met with stony silence, though I did shake my head if they tried to guess who I was. One of my first-graders got so worked up that anytime he saw me he would demand that I talk, and when I didn't he would jump up and down and scream, "Why aren't you talking?!" (He was smiling, so I at least knew I wasn't making him really upset.) Later in the evening I got a bit sillier and let the younger students lead me around by the arm, as well as playing a lot of games of rock-paper-scissors (which they also say as "Rock, scissors, paper!" for some reason), but I still wouldn't talk. When they couldn't get answers out of me, they would go pester another teacher about who I was; the usual response was, "Go ask Mr. Perrett!"
We started cleaning up around 8 pm and I finally took the costume off (I was sweating bullets in the jacket even with the AC on), though I continued to avoid speaking any time one of the students was nearby. I promised a few kids (with nods) to give them answers on Monday, and we finished the bulk of the cleaning around 8:30 pm. I hadn't gotten anything to eat because I didn't want to break character, so I was eager to take some food with me and get home. I did, however, accept an invitation to get a post-party drink, so I went back to my apartment and dropped off my stuff before heading back to the bar on the seventh floor of the building.
I was the only teacher to come - Michelle had left to meet a friend at 8:30 pm, and Dominic, Mike and Mike's girlfriend had turned down the offer because they were tired. I was also the only man and the one who didn't speak Korean, as the group was made up of myself, Mrs. Dugger and six of the female Korean staff members. I mostly sat around and enjoyed the energy (if not the meaning) of the conversation, occasionally saying a few words in English or extremely limited Korean. We did order food, thankfully, so I got plenty to eat, as well as a couple glasses of mixed soju and maekju (two kinds of popular Korean alcohol) from a beer tower the place set up for us:
It was surprisingly smooth and had really good flavor, making it the best drink I've had so far (which isn't saying much, considering how little I've had to drink). It was pretty potent, though, and I was also beat, so I went home about 11 pm and unwound for a couple hours. A very successful night, I have to say.
Oh, and I already have my answer planned out for the kids on Monday: "Some mysteries don't have answers, and those are the scariest mysteries of all." Happy Halloween!
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