주말 잘 보내세요 (or "Have a nice weekend")

We had a relaxed weekend, in happy anticipation of the downhill stretch before us. We have a two-day teaching week, with a light inservice and turkey feast on Wednesday, then a long weekend – after that, only two teaching weeks and final exams before the three-week winter break extravaganza. This is cause for celebration and relaxation.

Friday night we went to see the school play (A Midsummer Night's Dream), then Saturday we undertook the much-anticipated hike between the Woomi apartments and wherever fate and bumbling led us. The hike was a success; we started off a little after ten with Tommy Toms, Ryan and Chola (our neighbors Ryan and Jolene’s dog). Ryan turned back after about an hour and a half, and we hiked a total of five hours before popping out in a university area in Suwon, the next city over. From there, an easy bus ride took us back home. The hike turned out to be gentle, pretty ridge-walking after the exercise oasis summit we had already hiked to several times. We had sunshine mixed with cold wind and foggy clouds, all in all perfect hiking weather, and the Koreans all paused to marvel at Chris’ and Tommy’s shorts. We are now very familiar with the various expressions that translate to, “Aren’t you cold (you crazy white people)?” It is definitely beginning to feel like winter, and snow flurries appear more than once in the forecast for the coming week.

Saturday night we bailed on the opportunity to meet up with James and Elizabeth in Hongdae, a happening university district in Seoul, in favor of lazing around the house, and having a nice dinner at John’s restaurant, our tried-and-true Suji favorite (no experimentation for a while after the tripe-fest last weekend). John, true to form, invited us to eat with his good friend, who was entertaining a visiting co-worker from Holland, and the five of us downed some soju, maekju (beer), and sweet Korean wine. The food and company were excellent. Sunday morning was reserved for Skype time with Jen, Geoff, and their new webcam, and Mom and Rob a little later. At 2:30 the bus picked us up and took us to the Seoul Hyatt for the YBM teacher banquet.

YBM is our parent company – they own Korea International School, where we work, but their primary business is in the wildly successful English hagwons. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Korean education madness, hagwons are private academies that supplement students’ daytime education with extra tutoring in a variety of subjects. The most popular are English, SAT prep, and math hagwons, but non-academic hagwons exist as well. On our runs and bike rides home in the river basin, we see rollerblading and even jump-rope hagwon students, dutifully emulating their earnest instructors, sometimes even in the absence of the actual rollerblades (actually, I fully support the idea of learning how to rollerblade before you put the skates on and wobble precariously back and forth across the bike trail). Anyway, teachers at regular daytime schools like ours have a major complaint about hagwons: students attend them for a few hours in the evenings, meaning that they have very little time to complete the homework we assign them. Lazy students deal with this by not doing their homework or copying it from their classmates on the bus on the way to school, while their diligent peers stay up until 3 a.m. finishing their work, and catch up on sleep in our classes. But many Koreans – particularly Korean mothers – are obsessed with the hagwons and will do anything to ensure that their children get ahead and maximize their college options. From what we hear, the moms whose kids are enrolled in the most hagwons earn serious bragging rights, and nothing our school says or does seems to convince the bulk of them that their children need time to rest, relax, enjoy themselves and prepare for their regular high school classes.

Anyway, YBM hosts a magnificent holiday feast for all of its teachers, from KIS and their many English hagwons. Tonight was the night, and the party included a talent show with some great acts (notably our co-worker Krystal and her husband, who have some remarkable bluegrass skills – and they told us that one of Seoul’s three bluegrass clubs is located at Miguem station, only 5 minutes by bus from our home) and an ear-splitting Mariah Carey cover, as well as two Korean celebrity performers: an impressive a-capella group and a crew of b-boys. The breakdancing from the latter was very good, and I’m eager for the opportunity to go to a full-length b-boy concert. Korean-style breakdancing involves some hard-core athleticism, with many flips, upside-down moves and weird contortions as well as the more familiar spinning on the floor.

During the meal, YBM raffles off various items, beginning with cakes and USB drive memory sticks, and culminating in digital cameras and the grand prize, a laptop computer. Rumor had it that the grand prize was a flight to Thailand, so Chris and I were listening attentively before it was announced. When we realized it was a laptop, we joked about how ridiculous it would be if we won, since we already have a total of four laptops – one each for work, and the ones we brought from home. Well, who do you think won the grand prize? You guessed it . . . now we are trying to decide whether to sell the new toy to the highest bidder and pocket the cash, or do the charitable thing and give it to someone who needs one and can’t afford it. At any rate, YBM was generous to treat us all to a nice evening out, not to mention the lavish prize that I really don’t feel that I deserve.

Well, Chris is hanging the laundry alone right now, and I should really do something to contribute to the housekeeping. Thursday morning we depart for a short road trip to the city of Jeonju, three hours south of Seoul, and a couple of mountain parks nearby. We will doubtless take more pictures than anything we see merits, and half of them will be posted here next week. Happy Thanksgiving to all –

Jess