Final Fulbright Dinner Tonight

I'm leaving for Seoul in 3 hours. The final Fulbright dinner is tonight, so I'll say goodbye the other Fulbright English teachers and we'll reminisce about the year. I'll miss the people on the program, especially my close friends. We'll always have this crazy year in Korea as a deep bond.

Each one of us had such a unique experience. After the six week orientation, we all went off to different corners of Korea, with different schools and homestay families, not to mention we are all so different ourselves. So while we haven't really been together as a group very much, we've developed our own unity in a land where everyone is one.

Soon we'll be back in America where everyone is an individual, and there will be no more questions like:
1. Is it (hot, cold, rainy, etc) in America?
2. Does it snow in America?
3. Do American people like (mayonnaise, green tea, soccer, hamburgers, etc)

I'll miss those occasionally. They remind me of several things. One, just how deep the language barrier has been this year; man do I wish I communicate with people over here. Two, the high degree of unity (sometimes blind, fervent nationalism) that all Koreans seem to share. Three, that not everyone in the world hates America.

I think one thing all the American Fulbright teachers will share is that we're all sad to be leaving Korea, but happy to move on to other things in life, and extremely thankful for our time here.

A Happiness Equation

I don't remember when I first made this analogy or if I heard it from a teacher somewhere. It may have been when I was bored in a high school math class. And maybe by posting this on my blog it's proof that I've been around my math crazy Korean students. But the idea is that you can make yourself happier and positive (or any emotion) over time if you want.

First think of a sin or cosin graph or any wave function. The line rises and falls over time. The highest points on the line can represent happiness or really good feelings. The low points, depression, sadness, etc. Instead of y=sin(x), y being a function of x, we could say happiness=life(time), happiness is a function of life around you (and internal things too) at that point in time. This is overly simplistic, as not all highs and lows are even nearly close, and they don't occur at regular intervals. But it's good enough for the analogy.

Now some people try to remain at the high points. Cocaine addicts, for example. But staying at the high points is impossible. Life happens. And chemically, our brains can't naturally be do that. So what to do? If you can't stay at the high points what can you do? You have to shift the graph up. The highs will be higher and the lows not as low. This isn't a quick fix, only over time is it possible. It's taken me more than 5 years to get to the point I am at now. It happens gradually, but when it does, life is great.

How to do this? I've found:
1. That just being aware that's it's possible helps.
2. Being around more positive people
3. Recognizing that the lows (and highs) won't last forever
4. Just by wanting to be happier and thinking positive. It's all about the attitude. Try to catch yourself when you're slipping into a negative pattern of thinking. Over time, you can get better.
5. Live in the present, seize the day, etc. The list could go on and on...
Good luck!

Love of the Game

When I got my placement this year, I was pretty worried that I wasn't going to be able to play basketball with anyone. Not as many people play, so the competition isn't as good as the states. I was also moving to one of the smallest cities in Korea. I didn't want to go a year without playing against anyone good.

My fears were realized. It turned out that I couldn't play against many good people. I won't really know how much my game has suffered until I go back to America. Yesterday I went to the good (okay) court to practice by myself, as I do occasionally. I realized I've played real games about 8 or 9 times since early August last year.

But I've been okay with that fact (I kind of have to be). I realized that while I'm probably a little rusty for the American speed of the game, my love of the game hasn't diminished at all. I realized this when I was proofreading an article for my middle school's English newspaper, and came across goodbyes from my basketball club students. It was hard to read because I know I have to leave them soon.

Last semester I sometimes played during lunch and after school with the students. This semester I was able to start an official basketball club every Thursday afternoon. All we do is drills and work to improve individual and team skills. In the school newspaper article I'm quoted as saying "If you just want to play games, you had better find a different club." And it's true. But the students (most of them) have loved it, and so have I.

There's a huge communication barrier, especially between me and the lower grades. I can get my point across well enough to the 3rd graders because one of the students won the English speaking contest. Despite that barrier, the students are very coachable and all seem to genuinely love the game and want to get better. I'm pretty confident that I could take almost any four of my 3rd grade students in the club into Daejeon with me, go to one of the colleges, and beat most teams in pickup.

I wish I could teach the students more, but time has run out. I'm just thankful I got to teach them at all, since I learned more about my love of the game in the process. (Today's the NBA draft by the way)

School Assemblies

This morning as I approached school, there were clusters of students gathering on the dirt field in front of the building. That can mean only one thing. It was school assembly time. I didn't attend this particular assembly. My co teacher told me its main purpose was to inform students that they can't use cell phones at school at all between 8am and 4pm. Which I tend to agree with. But I had bigger things to think about.

Yesterday the English department head asked me what I thought about giving a speech to students and teachers on my last day. I said it sounds fantastic. So I will be giving a going away speech to the school on my last day. I'll get my chance to finally ascend to the podium. I'll be able to deliver my wisdom to the middle school crowd. I will give two short speeches, the first in English and the second in Korean. It'll be sad for me and the students, but it's going to be a good way to say goodbye.

English Expressions/Idioms

I'm going to Seoul tonight to watch the World Cup game at city hall with 400,000 to million other Korean fans. It will be a crazy time. I also recently looked up a lot of English expressions online and thought it would be fun to slip them into conversations the game. Here are some possibilities. I think I know what most of them mean. They're good for soccer, no?

Hanged, drawn and quartered
Pull one's chestnuts out of the fire
Have a few tricks up one's sleeve
Baptism of fire
Bark up the wrong tree
Right as ninepence
Believe that all one's geese are swans
Bring home the bacon
Burn the candle at both ends
Kill the goose that lays the golden egg
Chew the fat
Chickens will come home to roost, one's
Chinese fire drill
Circle the wagons
Law of the jungle
Like a cat on hot bricks
Steal someone's thunder
Stick to one's guns
Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey
Cook one's goose
Loose cannon
Mad as a March hare
Straw that broke the camel's back
Strike while the iron is hot
Take the wind out of one's sails
Talk the hind legs off a donkey
There's more than one way to skin a cat
Enter the lion's den
Until the cows come home
Firing on all cylinders
Wash one's dirty linen in public
Out of the frying pan into the fire
Paint the town red (this will be the best one, the Korean fans in red shirts will literally paint the sidewalks red)

All of a sudden

I have only 11 days of class left!

I just taught 1-4 for the last time and had to say goodbye at the end of class!

Wake up and take back America

I just saw the trailer for the new movie, America: From Freedom to Fascism. I can't wait to see the movie. I hope it comes to Boston. According to Nick Nolte (hey, he was in Blue Chips), “The information in this film is something everybody has to know."

World Cup - Time to Represent

America lost (badly) their first game in the World Cup to the Czech Republic. That's okay, America doesn't care about soccer. But wow, Korea sure does. Almost the entire country watched the game last night, with malls and stores closing early.

To watch the game, I went to our city hall with my host brother and some old students. It was nuts. During halftime and before the game, music so loud you couldn't really talk was playing. There was a weird dance team with middle aged women and children. Anytime there was a lull in the game, cheer leaders would start one of the three Korean cheers. During inappropriate times, such as the Togo anthem and the time when a Togo player got hurt and had to be taken off the field on a stretcher, the DAE HAN MIN GUK (Korea in Korean) cheer would start. It would also start at any other quiet moment. Korea won, 2-1. For now, the dream stays alive.

Min Gyu, Ji Hyun (my host brother), Seung Li, and me. We are ready to rock

Me with Mrs. E. She wanted to turn sideways so we would look very thin in the picture. Only 4 teachers wore Korean red tshirts to express their "Fighting Korea!" attitude. I was one of them. This only increased my legend status with the first grade.

Why it's hard to practice my Korean language skills

First of all, I'm in Korea mainly to teach English. And my host family decided to host me because I'm a native speaker. But it's more than that. I really wish Korean people wouldn't continuously tell me how good my Korean is. It's not very good. After anything more than a 30 second hello with any teacher at school, the conversation topic usually switches to how good my Korean is. If I was Korean American and didn't know any Korean when I arrived in America, the conversation would usually be about why my Korean sucks.

Yesterday was classic. It was the Korean memorial day, so there was no school. The halmoni (grandmother) cooked meals for me and my host siblings because the parents were out playing golf. Anytime I asked the halmoni something, or we said something, there would always be [oh, he speaks Korean very well] at the end. But then she would talk to my host sister about me like I couldn't understand.

Me: [halmoni, did you finish dinner?]
Halmoni: [yes]
Me: [was it good?]
Halmoni (to host sister): [he speaks Korean so well! How long has he been here?]
Me: [11 months]
Halmoni (to host sister): [he understood! he eats Korean food so well too. Ask him if the meal was delicious.]
My host sister Ji sawn: Was it delicious?
Me: Yes
My host sister Ji sawn (to halmoni): [he said it was delicious]
You just can't stop the halmonis in Korea.

And an example from running into one of my host mother's friends on the street:
Me: [hello!]
Her: [Ben, hello]
Me: [how have you been?]
Her: [oh you speak Korean too well!]
She hits me on the arm and then keeps walking.

Was the 2004 Election Stolen?

If you care about America then you should read the article in Rolling Stone, titled Was the 2004 Election Stolen?

It's about how "Republicans prevented more than 350,000 voters in Ohio from casting ballots or having their votes counted -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House."

It makes me upset. You should be upset too. Try to avoid outrage fatigue, although at this point I know it's difficult. Oh America. There is a way to get better - hopefully we can do that.

In the meantime there is one thing that could help, now. We need the Democratic Party to invite an international delegation of observers, with the credentials and authority to investigate, demand and subpoena information when necessary, and witness the entire federal electoral process in 2006 and again in 2008. Their job should be to be report, objectively and on a timely basis, abuses of power and processes, technologies and acts that subvert democracy, and to recommend immediate actions to rectify them. The 2006 elections would be a trial run, providing enough time for this year's abuses to be fixed by the crucial 2008 election. The UN has experience in doing this, and their reports have had dramatic effect in reducing electoral corruption and fraud in other countries.

"Voting, as Thomas Paine said, 'is the right upon which all other rights depend.' Unless we ensure that right, everything else we hold dear is in jeopardy."

This is one reason why I don't like the two party system.

Another way Korea is cuter than America

Yesterday was provincial election day in Korea. I didn't have to go to school because it's a holiday. It's too bad America doesn't have election day holidays, or at least half day holidays yet. In addition to improving our lackluster democracy, it's just nice to celebrate freedom.

Leading up to the elections there was a lot of campaigning by the candidates, just as in America. But in Korea the campaigning is different. Like other parts of Korean culture, it's much cuter.

Every candidate hires trucks to drive around with a huge picture of their face, their name, and their number (ballot number I think). The trucks also have music and campaign slogans blasting, which sometimes start driving around at 8am in the morning. Common sense says not to do this in case you wake people up and they decide not to vote for you. But common sense doesn't stop people in Korea.

The biggest part of the campaigns seemed to be the intersection gangs, as I liked to call them. At crowded intersections supporters of the candidate (or the candidate's office staff), almost always women, would wear the same shirt and sash supporting their number candidate, and perform choreographed motions to get people to notice the number. For example, number 2 women could wave the peace sign and pretend they're posing for a picture. Number 3 women could do a bow and then flash the three peat sign.