What is rice?

Did you know Americans don’t eat rice? We’ve only ever seen it in Asian movies. Before I came to Korea, it was just some white, fluffy looking stuff in pictures. In English speaking countries, we only eat fattening bread, meat, and potatoes.

Yep… this is what the majority of my middle school students believe. My co-teachers told me they thought that too before visiting America. My students were utterly shocked by how many rice dishes I could find on Google Images. One student later commented that America seems to have more rice dishes than Korea… I’d bet that is true. Korea is homogeneous country  and many people here are very hesitant to try new foods. When cultures blend, you can blend the best from everyone.

Interesting fact: According to the United Nations, America produces more rice than Korea annually. In 2008, the U.S. produced 9.2 million tons of rice compared to Korea’s 6.9 million tons.

Glad I could shed light on this false assumption. Oh, Korea…

Singing like a singer.

When you read the title of this post, how did your pronounce the word singer? Did you say 1) sing-er OR 2)seen-er? Perhaps you said#1 ( sing-er). If you did, Koreans will say you are 100% WRONG.

I thought this might just be what one co-teacher learned. Nope. All four of my CTs were taught to say seen-er. They learned and currently teach that the ‘g’ in singer is silent. However, this doesn’t seem to apply to other words like finger, hanger, and linger. Surprisingly, they could even back it up with the pronunciation key in the school’s English-Korean dictionaries.

Looks like I don’t know how to speak my native language well enough.

Oh, Korea…

Classroom Marriage Proposal.

Imagine this: You’re teaching class. During the middle of class, a student randomly stands up and confidently says, “Teacher, will you marry me?”

What would you do? Without hesitation, I looked at my co-teacher and immediately started laughing uncontrollably. The 9th grade girl who popped the question looked was surprised by my reaction. Based on her reaction and tears, my co-teacher and I think she was serious. Most of the other students in class (all girls class) laughed at her too. Initially, I thought she was dared to say this. However, it seems like she meant it. Some of the other girls said she frequently says she loves me.

Does this kind of thing happen in the middle of class in other places?

Awkward… Oh, Korea…

Pronunciation – Part 2

Seoul ≠ soul. There are two syllables. If you say ‘soul,’ most people will understand. However, there are many who will try to correct you until you’re both blue in the face.

No matter how good my pronunciation is (after 2 years of learning Korean and 7 months of living here), I still get people who feel the need to correct my pronunciation of city (even American city/state) names. You could record what we’re saying and it could sound identical. My fault: I’m not Korean. Therefore, I must be saying it wrong.

On a few occasions, my pronunciation of my own hometown was corrected. Go figure.

Did you know…? Pronunciation Guide

Dallas = dal-luhs-soo

Texas = tek-sah-soo

Seattle = she-eh-tool

Florida = Pool-lo-ee-dah

 

That would almost be like me telling them they are NOT from “Hanguk” (the Korean word for Korea), but specifically from “Korea” (the western name for the country).

If I’m expected to say Korean names correctly, is it too much to ask that Koreans at least try to say American names correctly (without feeling the need to correct my pronunciation)? I do love this country, but the hypocrisy can be irritating sometimes.

Oh, Korea…

Birthday in Korea

Mmm… I love celebrating my birthday with tasteless and extra dry pastries & cakes. Don’t you?

My coworkers, students, and many of my friends always say Koreans love sweets. Really? Most bakeries and pastry shops have a surplus of not-so-delicious, but pretty looking treats. I’ve tried them from different places all over the country and there is generally no difference. The best part: many of these same people will say that it is just like in America, France, etc… Aside from packaged candy, I am willing to say that the majority of Koreans in Korea are obviously unaware of the fact that what they believe is “like” or “similar” to desserts of Europe and America is really an epic culinary fail. Strangely, random things are always over sweetened (pasta sauce, bread, juices, etc…).

I just remembered what one of dear friends once said. My tongue is not their tongue. As for the kind birthday gifts, it definitely is the thought that counts. Don’t be offended if I gag, I just wasn’t expected to bite into a pretty piece of grossness.

Oh, Korea… Thanks for the birthday adventures and love.

 

Pronunciation – Part 1

After seven months of living in Korea, I’ve come to another realization. Many Koreans are funny about language and pronunciation. Yes, they have the right to be very proud of their language. Their writing system is quite efficient too.

However…

Visit Korea. Tell a native Korean (usually a taxi driver or co-worker) something like “I want to go Costco/Home Plus,” “I want McDonald’s or Baskin-Robbins,” or “I want to visit Seoul.” Even if they know English, you might get a puzzled look. Why? You (the native English speaker) didn’t pronounce the name of a business/city correctly. Ironically, aside from city names, the vast majority of businesses have English-based names (or are even based out of English speaking countries). You would assume a native English speaker could pronounce McDonald’s, Baskin-Robbins, or Costco correctly. You’re wrong.

Pronunciation Guide:

• Baskin-Robbins = bas-soo-kin-rob-been-soo
• McDonald’s = mek-do-nahl-doo
• Costco (Wholesale) = Cos-soo-too-co Mar-ket-too
• The list goes on and on…

After a few moments of back and forth (possibly with the Koreans insistently trying to correct your pronunciation of an English name), you will hear, “Oh, you’re trying to say…!”

No, I wasn’t “trying.” I succeeded at properly pronouncing the name of the company as it was originally intended.

 

Oh, Korea…

Deskwarming assignment.

My co-teacher told me what to do for the next two weeks during the school’s Spring break. True conversation:

Co-teacher: “Use the next two weeks to plan future lessons from the new books.”

Me: “When do we get the new books?”

Co-teacher: “March 4th.”

Me: “Um…… OK….”

 

Today is February 11th and school starts back on Wednesday, March 2nd.

Oh, Korea…

Vacation. Not.

The Korean school year is opposite of the American school year. It runs from March-December/January instead of August/September-May/June.  Their vacations are switched too. Summer vacation is 1 month and winter vacation is 2 months. Well, winter vacations is strange actually. You have 4 weeks in January and 2-3 weeks in February. For some odd reason, they have one or two weeks of school (depending on the school) in the middle of February.

My school only has one bizarre week of school. So, essentially there are 5 weeks of Winter vacation, 1 week of school, and 2 weeks of Spring vacation.

HOWEVER, this is only true for students and Korean teachers. Native English teachers (like myself) are typically forced to teach at least 3 weeks of Winter vacation English camp and then take your 10 days paid vacation. Then, many of us (including myself) are forced to “deskwarm” during Spring break. Basically, I will be sitting at my desk in an empty school for two weeks… doing nothing productive. They are paying me to sit here. This is all because our contracts say we must week 8 hours per day Monday-Friday.

Some people are lucky though. Some Native English (aka Guest English) teachers are told to “work from home.” It all depends on the principal and your main co-teacher.

Oh, Korea…

beautiful eyelids.

I went up to Seoul for two days earlier this week for a mini vacation. While crammed into the subway like a sardine, I had a very random conversation. It went like this:

Lady – “Your eye is beautiful.”

Me – “Thank you? (Pointing at my eyes) My eye?”

Lady – (Almost touching my eyelid) “The skin on top of eye.”

Me – “Oh, my eyelid. Oh, um… thank you. I think…”

She giggled and carried on with her own business after that. After that encounter, I was curious to learn more about why she made that comment. I had heard about double eyelid surgery in the past. However, this was the first time I’d actually thought about it. The official name for this is East Asian blepharoplasty. It is supposedly one of the most performed plastic surgeries in this country.

Oh, Korea…

Insensitive or ignorant?

 

Black Face — Insensitive or ignorant?

Oh, Korea…

(Check out my post on my personal blog.)