Loose Feet

Thursday brought the completion to one of my business classes here in Seoul. A group of middle-aged, married, and fairly conservative businessmen working for a major Korean corporation who want to learn English from....me? Oh yes, it was true, and even better, it was one of the mot fun classes I had over the past year and a half.

I mean, who can resist a student who calls himself E.T, despite being over 30?

They were great. In the beginning, some of them were nervous, and didn't feel like giving me the time of day. But over the past five months (that's it, five months, I can't believe it) we've built up a Tuesday Thursday relationship that has been quite nice, quite comforting. These men have come to be some of my greatest supporters here in Korea, reminding me what's right and what's wrong with adults, and what should and should not fly with my students in the classroom. We talk and they tell me who deserves pizza, and who deserves detention. They dole out Korean culture and I return with Western culture and together we learn. It's amazing, fascinating, and hilarious all in one. Because I never expected to see myself doing this.

At one point, one of the students, Yoon, tried to get me to go for an interview on the Korean show "Beauties", or "Beauty Chatter". Is it what you think it is?

Let's see...it's a show all in Korean, with foreign women who are (often) dressed up like Korean dolls. A panel of male Korean judges sit in front of the women and ask them all sorts of questions -- everything from, what is your favorite Korean food, to what is your most embarassing moment in Korea, and even, what do you like most about Korean men...Now the show recently got into a bout of trouble, because they recently had a guest female student on the show from Hongik University who said that men who are short -- under 180 cm, or 5'9 -- are losers. (Short Men Are Losers) One man is suing the show now for 10,000,000 won because of 'emotional damage'. Anyway, that being said, I don't really want to be on the show. My Korean's not good enough, I don't want my students hearing about my boyfriends, and in general, I'm just not Korean enough, I think. Still, it was funny to watch Yoon try to get me to go on the show. Lots of text messages there. At the end, though, he just said -- "I want to see you do well". It was so kind.

One student, T.S, had told me a story a month or so back about how he has a persimmon tree in his front yard (which, in Korea, is like having a blinking sign on your front door that says 'wealth grows here'). In case you are unfamiliar with persimmons -- they look like this:


They're sweet - though they look like a strange mix between oranges and tomatoes. Ancient Greeks used to refer to persimmons as 'the fruit of the gods'. In Korean history, it was persimmons and pears that were used as sugar when people wanted to sweeten things up. I've heard everything in the book as to how to eat these things -- bite into them, chop them into pieces, peel them and eat it with a spoon. T.S, the man who brought in the persimmons, offered a new take on it though. Apparently, I am to let the persimmons sit out for a few more days until they turn to jelly inside. Then I put them in the fridge for a day. The next day I have to take it out, core it, and then eat the rest with a spoon. More or less, it's supposed to be like a persimmon jelly. Sounds delicious. I'm going to try it and see how it goes. Though in the kitchen, I tend to have bad luck.

Anyway it was sad to say goodbye to those students. And strange to think about them having a new teacher. I keep forgetting about how rotational education really is. Students come and go, teachers come and go. I'm not quite comfortable with that aspect of the educational position I have come into for the time being -- but I think I'll have to get with it or get out sometime in the near future. Either that, or I'll become another emotional bag on the street that noone wants to hang out with.

Tomorrow, though, they're taking me out for dinner - Nepalese food in Dongdaemun, which I'm quite excited for. It should be interesting to watch their English disintegrate with the beer, while I somehow in my head convince myself that my Korean is getting better...which it most definitely, willl not be.