Who's a Fan of the Amputated Hand?
The Korean Educational System!

Brighton found the clock in my classroom very funny because the brand was RAGE. “What time is it, kids?” “It’s RAGE time!!”

Here’s a new picture of my classroom with the “new” bulletin board. It was changed at the start of this semester by my new co-teacher. She put everything up and then told me to write a story to go with it. So I had to try and write a story that was simple to understand and was in the correct order of the pictures and made sense. It was not that easy, and the story is very dumb. It’s actually not really a story, but the mice all saying something. Also, the mice on the end are supposed to be carrying strawberries (according to my co-teacher), but she never made the strawberries. So what they’re saying on the end currently makes no sense. Here is what they’re saying:

1: He’s not saying anything because he’s playing an instrument.
2: “Hey! Who turned off the lights? I can’t see anything!”
3: “Yay! It’s Spring! I love Spring!”
4: “Look up there, Grandpa! It’s Brother Mouse. He is very happy.”
5: “Wow! He jumps very high! I like Spring, too.”
6: “Look at the pretty flowers! You are wearing a flower hat. It is very funny.”
7: “Thank you. It’s my purple flower hat. Purple is my favorite color.”
8: “Help me! These strawberries are very heavy!”
9: “I like strawberries. They are delicious! I will help you.”
10: “Wait for me! I want a strawberry! Wah! Wah!” [she’s crying]


Should I be a children’s book writer, or what? Also, there’s a picture of me at my (newish) desk with my (newish) computer. You can see a portion of the (newish) gigantic printer on the left.



Students are allowed to do things in Korean schools that would never happen in US schools. I’m worried that I’ll become so accustomed to these things that I’ll start teaching in the US and let things happen and end up getting sued or fired. For instance, There are ceiling fans in our room. They were covered over the winter, but now that it’s getting hot they were uncovered. My co-teacher took them apart and washed them. Between a few of the classes she enlisted some of the boys to put the fans back together. See pictures. These fans get turned on by a set of switches that are grouped together with the light switches that are located right next to the door. I kept imagining a student running in and hitting the switches…then having 4 boys’ hands get amputated by fan blades. It was all a very sketchy situation. Oh, and here’s a picture of my class while I’m teaching. You can see my co-teacher (Mrs. Yi, not Ms. Kwan who wanted to live with me). It’s a 6th grade class. You can’t tell in this picture, but I’m wearing pants that don’t match my shirt. But being as I’m in Korea, I figured it didn’t matter. Because it doesn’t. In Korea. I don’t think I could get them to understand the term “matching.”


Here are 4 of my students. They are 5th graders posing for Brighton. 99% of all pictures taken of Koreans (if it’s a posed picture) involve them doing the peace sign with their fingers. But I don’t think it means peace for them. I don’t know what it does mean, however. They also say “kimchi” before a picture instead of “cheese.” Here’s a picture of Brighton becoming Koreanized.

When Brighton was here, we went out with my Pyeongtaek friends one night. First we had dinner (samgyeobsal). It’s pork. Grilled with veggies that you then wrap in lettuce leaves. It’s a Korean food I don’t mind, but sometimes it can get really fatty which grosses me out. ‘Sam’ in Korean means 3…so the ‘sam’ in samgyeobsal symbolizes the 3-layers of the pork—meat, fat, and…more fat? Honestly, sometimes it’s 2/3 fat. And you eat it, not cut it off. Meat here is very fatty.

Then we went to what we call the “Swing Café.” You go there and order juice, tea, or coffee. The seats are all swingy benches. And it’s decorated all frilly and girly. Only boys have no issue coming here. In the US, guys would not be caught dead in here, especially middle school boys. Here: totally acceptable. That’s one thing I like about Korea—guys can look, act, and dress in ways that to Americans would prompt ridicule about their sexuality. Officially, there are no gay Koreans (really, that’s the stance of Korea). When foreigners come here they may think, “Wow, there are lots of gay men in Korea.” Really, neither is the case. I’m sure the percentage of gay men is proportional to other countries’ gay men. There’s just a lot less taboo on what constitutes acceptable behavior for guys. Guy friends walk around holding hands here. My boy students are always hugging and hanging on each other. It’s very cute. Anyway, then we went to a bar called “Do & Be” and had chocolate shakes and a potato platter. Here I am, striking a Korean pose.


The night before Brighton left we went to a noraebang together. You can’t come to Korea and not go to a noraebang. So, those of you who know Brighton know that she is not the most musically inclined. We found it hysterical that in every picture of her singing she looks like she’s either very sad, terrified, or being tortured. See following picture montage. Apparently singing is not the most enjoyable activity for her. :D

I’ve determined that I had/have whooping cough which then caused me to strain/crack my ribs which for whatever reason didn’t show up in my x-ray. Because I definitely made whooping noises while attempting to breath while coughing spasmodically. I don’t cough often anymore, but when I do, it’s bad. And when it happens I feel like I have asthma…sometimes I’m not even coughing but I’m incapable of sucking air into my lungs and I think, “What if I asphyxiate and die right now?” But then I’m ok. But hey, I’m no doctor, so what do I know?

A nice picture of the church near my apartment (taken by Brighton). It really gives a nice feeling of what the glowing red crosses look like. Imagine looking out and seeing like 5 of them at one time. Lots of chuches here. Lots of glowing red crosses here. Ironically, I think they look slightly satanic.

Here's a video of us at the Swing Cafe:

Here's a video of dancing soju bottles in the streets of Suwon: