Why Korea is awesome

Despite the tone of my last blog, I'm not at all unhappy or enraged by my life here. It's actually amazing! That one was more of a rant inspired by perceptions of myself and my progression as a teacher and person.

Now I would like to share something pretty amazing; which is the epitome of why Korea is an awesome place.

While I was eating dinner durning my break today, I went to my normal 킴밥 (kimbab - the Korean fastfood), to get some dinner. I've been going there for a while now, off and on, depending on schedules and occasionally I talk to the owners. But today, I guess I went at the right time or it was just my lucky day, but while there a group of about 8 high school boys walked in. At first they went about their business, ordering what they wanted to eat and talking amongst themselves. As I sat eating and watching TV, I could hear the boys talking and encouraging each other to be brave enough to talk to me. Finally one boy swallowed his pride and choked out "Hi". When I responded with a kind, but strong "Hello", I washed away a nervousness that was filling the room and I was bombarded by the two stronger English speaking boys.

The first question was the one that is always on the front of the minds here, "Where are you from?" Normally, after some time here, that question gets redundant and irritating. But when used in proper context and when asked if its okay to be asked that question, its not so bad. Upon telling them "America" I was again bombarded with shouts of "OBAMA!" "NEW YORK CITY!!" "MICHAEL JACKSON!!" and so on. But it was all in good fun. We talked for a while about different things, but the majority of it was them asking if Korean companies were popular in America and how their Japanese competition compared. I let them know that Samsung was losing to Sony for electronics, at which they were sad and expressed it with elaborate hand gestures. When I told them that Korea was becoming better in the car industry, namely Hyundai and Kia, they went apeshit. It was hilarious.

One of the bigger, shyer boys brought me water three times in the midst of all this.

Turns out that they are about to head to America in a few short months time and were wanting to know about things to look for and what not to do. The "middle finger" was the main one, I told them that they wouldn't die from it, but it would draw unnecessary attention. These two boys were like the comedians that you can see here. They played off each other perfectly, making fun of each other and correcting each others sentences as we talked. Sometimes I threw in some advice for them, mostly when they neglected the verb. In the meantime of these two boys talking up a storm there was third quietly eating. At one lull in the comedy, he leans over and in perfect English asks "Are umbrella's gay in America?" When I told him that "no, they weren't", he nodded silently and went back to his meal not to say a word again. But one of the first two boys caught some of it and went on to ask about wearing pink shirts and white pants. I sadly had to leave to go back to work but they quickly jumped up and asked it was okay to take my picture, when I said "sure" they surrounded me and took multiple pictures changing between their cellphones every shot.

Whenever I spoke they would practically jump the table in order to get closer and listened with the utmost intent. I just wish that my own students cared as much as they did. They cared so much about their English that any little piece of advice that I gave them they quickly absorbed it and practically learned it right then and there. It's these little rare occasions that can make the stay here worth all the time and stress.