I received a text message from my co-teacher in the EPIK Program yesterday saying that he had business to take care of and that I would be teaching by myself today. "Sure. No problem," I told him. I asked him to leave the textbook, CD-ROM, and a copy of the schedule on my desk. I have been working here for a month and have been too lazy to learn my class schedules. When I arrived to work I saw the teaching materials and class schedule on my desk...6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, 6-5. At first look it probably seems easy to remember but it is actually quite intellectually challenging.
So, I went to my first class and as I passed through the sixth-grade corridor I began to notice something...namely, a lack of sixth-graders. I got to 6-2 and though the class was full of students, they were leaving the room and were all putting on shoes (they don't where shoes in school in Korea). Slightly puzzled but ever increasingly curious, I walked into the 6-1 classroom and was greeted by darkness and empty desks. Hmmm...I am no rocket surgeon but I had a feeling that something was up.
I went to the closest teacher's lounge/office and said, "Annyeong haseyo. Today...class...where....students?" This was, of course, all done with expressions and gestures of extreme bewilderment. My Korean counterpart explained, "Today...students...camping." Of course, the students are going camping on a Tuesday morning. Why didn't I think of that!
To make a long story short, my co-teacher forgot that the sixth grade class was going on their fall camping trip and there were, in fact, no classes. I went back to my desk in a room that has only one other desk in it, which belongs to my co-teacher who was out on business. I have a whole day to do whatever I want in a room to myself...the options, the options!
After spending the morning doing nothing, I got very tired in the afternoon. Just as I had come to the conclusion that the best remedy would be to take a nap on the couch, a teacher that I had spoke to at the last kalbi party entered the room. There goes that plan.
His English is a million times better than the 73 words I know in Korean and we were able to have 2 hours of very interesting conversation. After learning about Korean history and how many times Korea has been invaded in the past 4000 years (996), the teacher asked me if I heard about the nuclear test in North Korea. I told him that I had and he asked me what I thought about it. I explained to him that I was not worried, but that some friend's parents were afraid and wanted their son to come home. "What do you think about it?" I asked.
He told me that after he heard the news he got a bad headache that stayed with him all day. He told his elementary school students that morning that they will all die if North Korea sends bombs. Then, he laughed. He said that North Korea is stupid and we just have to wait and see what happens.
"I like some Americans very much but I don't like America," he said. I don't like America, China, and Japan because they are strong and Korea has no power."
"What do you mean Korea has no power?" I asked. "Do you mean economically, politically, or what? What do you want Korea to be able to do that it can't do now? Korea is not the richest country in the world but it is very wealthy. Some teachers make 4.5 million won ($4,600) per month. There are not many countries where teachers make that much."
Basically, it seems that he wants Korea to once again be a powerful country like it was when it expanded deep into China during the Tang Dynasty. When he heard about North Korea's nuclear tests he felt like his country was powerless. Japan, China, and the US have more sway with the UN and the sentiments of the South Korean people do not really matter.
After talking about Korean history again and how Korea has been invaded so many times (996) because it is a weak country, I tried to console him by explaining that there were more almost three times as many people in Japan as in South Korea, more than twice as many people in the US as in Japan, and China is....well, China. Korea has done a great job for only having 40 something million people.
After our talk about history and politics the teacher asked me if the conversation was interest. Was our conversation interest or not? Good question.
"Do you mean interesting?" I asked.
"Ye...interesting...enjoyable."
I asked him if he meant jemi, which means fun and is part of my 73-word Korean vocabulary.
"Ye. Jemi...heungmi."
We looked up the Hanja (chinese characters) for heungmi and I said, "Yeah...kyoumi."
"WHAT?" he said. "Animal fu@#ing?"
"No, I am not interested in animal fu@#ing," I explained. "Kyoumi is the Japanese pronunciation of the Hanja for heungmi in Korean.
"In Korean, gyoumi means animal fu@#ing," he replied.
Just then I thought to myself, "what the hell is he talking about and more importantly, where did he learn the word animal fu@#ing?" He explained to me that gyoumi in Korean is when two animals fu@k. I soon realized that he was talking about mating or copulation. I explained that we call this mating and looked it up in the Korean-English dictionary. Of course, the first Korean word that came up in the definition for mating was friend (ie mate) and he told me that friends don't do that in Korea.
"No, no," I told him. "Not that word, one of the other ones. I don't know what they mean so I can't tell you which one it is but one of the other Korean words should say something in about animals having sex. We call it mating or copulating and use these words for talking about animals having sex. For humans, we say making love or fu@king, depending on if you are a man or a woman."
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