A somewhat frustrating day.....

So today my school was being evaluated, so they pulled out all the stops: there were fresh flowers everywhere in the school, students picking up trash that should have been picked up ages ago, and trying to polish our dirty as hell school to make it look good at the last minute. I am really frustrated at Korea and all the energy it puts into saving face.

I started my lesson on elections today which went pretty good. We played a type of game show at the end of class to add an element of competition to the lesson (I got most of this lesson plan from another ETA). Some of the answers shocked the hell out of me: Who was the president before Bush? Soo may people said Kennedy, and I even got one Carter and one George Washington! WTF? And all the students think Bush's name is "Georgi Bushi" --> I HATE KONGLISH SO MUCH! Konglish is basically the Koreans trying to take English words but messing up the pronunciation AND the meaning. For example, they call markers "sign pens". Yes those are English words, but nobody that speaks English would understand WTF you are saying.

I had a teachers' workshop today and I decided to do it about the Elections (I was planning on doing this next week since we were supposed to have the picnic this week and they all canceled). Anyway, the teachers were super lame! I don't understand -- US Election coverage is everywhere -- I see it on the news and in the newspapers everyday. Every Korean person knows who they want to win, be in McCain or Obama. But when I asked the teachers today at the beginning of the workshop what they knew about the candidates already, they literally just sat there with blank stares on their faces with the most apathetic expression on their faces. It was so frustrating to me! And then finally they started talking, but they were just giving bullshit answers about why they think the Bush administration is bad. I said, you all know who you want for President, why do you want that person? And they still had troubles explaining it. Some of the things they said were disturbing:
1. People want Obama because they are "curious" about how a black person would be President. What is this supposed to mean? Is America their laboratory? It's not a science experiment, it's talking about one of the most influential (for good or bad) positions in the world! And they are "curious"?! come on...
2. They want the democrats to win, because historically when a democrat has been in office there has been more peace on the korean peninsula. This also doesn't make sense to me. I understand that they are mainly focused on the effects of this election on their country, but that doesn't mean that they should only focus on that one aspect. There are many other aspects of the new President's policies that will affect them besides just direct US policy towards N Korea.

Anyway, I was really confused by the apathy of the teachers today. The Korean elections aren't even important on a worldwide scale, and I would still be super interested to learn more about the different political parties and their candidates here. I guess that is why I am living in a foreign country and have already lived in 2 other foreign countries -- I am interested in learning about other parts of the world. I would think as English teachers (the new world language, as some would claim), they would also be interested in other countries, or at least America, whose policies affect the rest of the world. But, I guess that assumption would be wrong.

Dance tonight was pretty good. I haven't been able to go to the Korean dance class for awhile, so it was difficult to get back into it. But at one point in the class the teacher was having us practice this pretty basic walk (which even that isn't easy for me) but she thought the girls were looking like robots and wanted them to move their head. (at least that's what I gathered from the body lingo, it was all in Korean, so of course I didn't understand the words) Anyway, after practicing this, I guess the teacher told them I was all doing a good job moving my head or something because they all stopped and applauded me! HAHA! And then after class she said "You have a real talent for dance." and I said "Oh, but Korean dance is so hard for me!" (I know I look like a complete fool trying to follow all the moves in class) And the teacher said "No, you are wonderful at Korean dance! I look at you and think WOW!" Heehee, oh my. I know she is exaggerating to be nice and polite, but maybe she really is impressed? I mean, hell, this was only my 4th Korean dance class. And I had been thinking about stopping Korean dance class because I feel/look like such a fool. I guess maybe I don't look quite as bad as I thought?

Anyway, class got done about 5 minutes late, which caused me to miss my normal bus. So, I had to wait about 15 minutes for the next bus. This meant I got home at 9:25pm instead of 9:10ish like normal. So I walk in and my host father says "Bethany?" me: "yes?" him: "you're late!" Oh my, I wanted to freaking lose it right there. First off, I am an adult -- they do not need to talk to me or treat me like I am an elementary student, like their own children. Secondly, I have been super respectful and always come home early, etc, so why would they not just assume my class had finished late? Did they think I went to a whore house to make a few extra bux or what? I mean, really. Thirdly, I know other ETAs are out until 2am sometimes on SCHOOL NIGHTS. I don't even do that on weekends. They should cut me some slack. It makes me not feel bad that I am gone so much on the weekends. Let me have some breathing room for crying out loud.

On a brighter note, I finally asked my family about the swimming schedule (yes, this was the third time I had to ask them) and my host mother just got a piece of paper out of the bedroom. I guess they had looked it up earlier and just not informed me? How convenient. Anyway, I think I'm gonig to stop dance at the end of this month since I'll be busy traveling throughout winter break and don't want to keep paying a monthly fee when I can only go a couple times each month. Instead I'll start swimming which I can pay on a daily basis, and I can go in the afternoons so my dearest host family won't be worried sick about me getting home past 9:15pm, oh my. (Excuse my sarcasm, but try being 22 years old and having people worry if you can get leftovers out of the fridge for yourself) I am also going to see if the gym complex has any sort of aerobics class in the afternoons, or maybe even in the evenings. I could go after dinner if necessary. I enjoy dance class but don't feel that I am getting the cardio exercise that I need, so I might be switching (at least temporarily). I could easily see myself going back to dance classes after winter break, in March.

Anyway, that's enough ranting for now. I'm still doing great, so don't worry about me. It's just I find Korean culture to be a big mystery and I wish I could understand it more. I am sure I am learning everyday, but it's a slow and confusing process.