Namchang and Prolangs

I arrived in Ulsan Sunday night after a decent 5 hour train ride from Seoul. My friend Suzie, Sujin Korean name, met me at the station and we came back to her apartment. We ate a snack of ramyon (which is similar to ramen only MUCH better than the crappy noodles American college students feast on at 3 a.m.) along with some of Suzie's mom's homemade morsels.

Yesterday I spent in the town I lived in for 8 months. Namchang is essentially a suburb of Ulsan, but it was initially a farming community. These days a lot of people live there and commute to Ulsan, which is a highly industrial city.

I arrived via bus and met one of the Korean teachers from the hakwan I used to teach for. The next 7 hours I spent at the hakwan, and I was quite the celebrity. IN fact, when I came up the stairs I was moved to tears when I saw the welcome board that boasted photos of all the foreign teachers who have worked at the school. There I was, and also there was the email I'd sent Jenny, the hakwan director, a few months ago. She'd never responded so I didn't know if she got the email, but there it was for all to see. There were little pink hearts drawn around my picture.

I was asked to pop into all the classes to say hi and let the kids ask me questions, and I even taught a reading book lesson to one of the really young classes. Their Korean teacher, Dean, was very impressed, apparently, though for me it was like nothing at all. The older kids weren't so easy to engage. They are more shy and afraid to speak English with a native speaker they don't know. But a few of them did open up. It's much easier with the little kids because you can "get to know them" by asking "What's your favorite color? What's your favorite animal? What's your favorite month?"

I was roped into a more advanced conversation class later in the day. Typical Korean hakwan style: I was informed that I would be doing thus-and-such in 20 minutes! And I don't even work there! Later on when I told Suzie about it she shook her head and said, "Did they pay you?" But I didn't mind. It was easy enough and I figured they should have an American perspective on the article, which was about the terror alert in America.

That article came from an English newspaper for kids, clearly written from a Western perspective. There was only one article pertaining to Korea, the rest was about the U.S. or heavily reflecting U.S. presence. For instance, there was a dialogue between two students discussing how to spend your money and why you should give to charity. Fine, except that the image of money used for the spread wasn't the Korean won, it was the U.S. dollar. All the images in the paper were of white people.

Unfortunately, I left that paper in the car last night when I got a ride back to Suzie's apartment. I will try to get another copy and perhaps use it as a graphic. We'll see.

The best part of yesterday was reuniting with my old students, the adult class I taught in the evenings. They were all so happy to see me and we went out for dinner (kalbi, of course). These guys were so kind to me when I first came to Korea, and we had many good and often humorous memories to share last night.

I'm hoping to return to Namchang again before I leave Korea. I'm sure I'll have a chance. Right now I need a shower and get my day on. Suzie made her delicious Chumchi Kimchi Chigae (tuna and kimchi soup) for breakfast, and the spiciness has opened every pore in my body!