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| Day 3: Korea University and Daeil High School! |
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We met very early this morning to head to Korea University and were really quite a comical site. We are all dressed professionally for our university seminars and also for our guest teaching sessions this afternoon. But, we are also all hauling all of our presents, trinkets, teaching materials, etc in various travel bags for our epically long day. We also have gift bags/wrapped presents that we are carrying for the family that will be hosting us tonight.
Korea University is beautiful! Really, absolutely beautiful. The campus reminds me of Duke if the stones were a different color. Korea University is one of the “SKY” universities. These are the three dream universities for Korean students; SNU is the best. (Seoul National University). The two rival contenders after that are KU and YU; Korea University and Yonsei University (So S-K-Y…get it?). Annually 870,000 students apply to these three schools, 15,000 attend. To be accepted the most crucial element of your application is an extremely high pressure content based test that they say is most easily translated as “Korea SAT”. A university student told me today that each question you miss on the test could be the difference between getting into a really great school or a not so great school, and to miss five questions or more would be a disaster. Pressure is incredibly high.
For us, the honor of attending lectures at KU is amazing. We pulled up to the campus and our jaws dropped, it was beautiful. Then, we entered the International Studies Hall and were shown to our seminar room, and again, we were very impressed. The seminar room that we were assigned was a beautiful, formal conference room with long tables, individual mics, and executive chairs. We also were given a packet full of books, lecture notes, pens, a name tag, and a formal placard to identify us at our seat. We were then told that we would be the only people in the room over the next two weeks, so our work area is our own. Very awesome!
We had a lecture with a very dynamic, expressive professor named Mikyung Chang that was entitled “Easy Korean.” I regret to inform you that Korean is not easy. …Not at all. There are 28 characters, but it is based on sounds. …Only you combine the characters to combine sounds. Consonants can’t be alone. You can combine up to three different characters and then have to throw the phonetic sounds together. …It’s very difficult. My name basically has to be Beh-tuh Hallsah…or something like that. You can check the picture for what it actually looks like. I had to get some help. Luckily she ended the lecture with lessons on how to say some basic, essential phrases. I still have a fear of butchering them, but I am going to continue to try to get it right!
Our next lecture was on North-South Korean relations. There were a few nuggets I found especially intriguing. According to Dr. Seongwhun, North Koreans make about 50 dollars a month and 40,000 people are working to provide for 200,000 people. The total population of North Korea is unknown. The South Korean government actually provides assistance for infants and children in North Korea in terms of milk/formula and medical support (like anti-malarial medication, vaccinations, etc). Industrial workers receive basic living goods as payment; rice coupons, clothes coupon, etc. and one of the benefits of being an industrial worker is that in some of the factories you have a better chance of getting a regular warm, regular shower (at work after their shift). North Korea does not have air conditioning in the summer or heat in the winter. These were just a few things, but were some that I thought you might find especially interesting. We also discussed possibilities of unification, which the professor said he believes is feasible in time, especially because he believes North Koreans are becoming more globally aware, which makes them more aware of the disparity between the quality of life in North and South Korea and more likely to demand change.
When we pulled up to the school and there was a full out banner welcoming us as honored guests at Daeil Foreign Language High School and my stomach sunk just a little bit as I had the thought, what have I gotten myself into? The nerves started kicking in. We took the elevator and were greeted by students holding signs to individually greet all 35 of us! How awesome! Then, we were told that these were the students were from the classes we would be momentarily teaching and that this was also the student who would be taking us to their homes!
Our classroom experience went very well. We were very warmly greeted by a group of energetic students and dove in! I had two MCC foam bees that went to the two students who won the map challenge we posed. That broke the ice. After that we put them in groups and my partner and I gave out our gifts. Greg had brightly colored bracelets with a note and a pin (like the one Obama wears) and I passed out the postcards my students brought in this spring. The postcards each had messages on them from my students. The Korea students were very excited! The postcards were a huge hit and I used them as a conversation piece for a while, as I shared different things about Florida and got them to speak up and participate. I asked them if anyone had special locations on their postcards and used that to cue my transition to the Kennedy Space Center. I polled the students on what they knew about NASA, shared some fun facts with them, and talked about what kinds of food astronauts eat and then I got to share my freeze-dried ice cream with them – they loved it! The kids were very excited and enthusiastic. My partner Greg then dove in and did a quick lesson on Einstein and his quest as a historian to discover whether Einstein had lived in Greg’s home in NJ or not. (He did!)
The class period was over before we knew it and soon we found ourselves heading to a gift giving ceremony and then met with a teacher from the high school and had the opportunity to pepper him with questions. When we asked about discipline, while he said it is not normally an issue, he informed us that they use corporal punishment. He also explained that to become a teacher you have to pass a government exam to be a public teacher.
After that we met up with our students and they took us home. Taeyeon was very shy at first, but opened up quickly. She showed me her room and pictures and continually asked me questions – especially about my travels. Her mom was very very sweet and her dad worked for Samsung and was very gracious as well. They lived in a Samsung apartment with a beautiful view of the Han River. Dinner was excellent - beef, romaine leaves, hot noodles, kim (seaweed) which you would wrap with rice, and other delicious dishes. I was so flattered that they had gone through so much trouble! They even had a gift for me, a beautiful Korean mirror set. The mirror is supposed to reflect hope of a beautiful life, or something along those lines, I think some of the meaning was lost in translation. I gave them a Wynton Marsalis CD, a favorite of mine and my husband – I really hope they like it!
To end the evening, we went for a walk along the Han River in a beautiful public park. There were many families strolling through the park and young couples picnicking on blankets in the grass. It was a perfect end to the day as Taeyeon, her mother, and myself walked and talked about travel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, marriage, the strength of Korean women, and many other things. They dropped me back at the hotel and many of us (teachers) gathered in the lobby to relax and share our experiences. We all had fantastic times! It really was an incredible experience – the Kims welcomed me so warmly. I was truly touched.
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