Random acts of simple kindness define this country on a frequent basis. It's nothing extraordinary, it's just a bunch of small gestures that have the ability to make your day a smidge brighter. I was at a bus stop on one side of the road the other day, and an old farmer at the bus stop on the other side of the road comes running over to me with a handful of candy and gestures for me to take one. Another example is that I was walking across the soccer field at one of my schools and a student (maybe 2 or 3rd grade) that was not my student comes running up to me with a tupper ware full of candy and gives me one. Today I was in the office and my vice principal comes over to me w/ a half eaten banana, and is trying to get me to eat the rest. Other kindnesses are when I am on a bus with my arms full of groceries people will get out of their seats for me or times I will be standing with my over sized book bag, and someone who is sitting will take it off my shoulder and hold it in their lap for the duration of the bus ride. I know I complain some about all the pushing, crowding and bumping, but that is truly a small price to pay for the general courtesies and random acts of kindnesses.
Shopping here can be an odd experience. The clerks here are incredibly helpful. Actually beyond helpful. They often stand about 1 to 2 feet from you and follow you around the entire store. It can be a little unsettling. I hate to make a blanket statement about Korean sales clerks, but so far I have not been proven otherwise, so here goes: They have the WORST taste in clothing, or else, they think I have the worst taste in clothing, as the case may be. The entire interaction is bizarrely backwards. Here is an example: Me, minding my own business, trying to ignore the person following me around, picking up a few shirts I like and examining them. I have pretty basic taste in clothing, generally conservative neutrals, however, the clerk will disappear and come back with something completely hideous and flashy. What's worse is that it is never anywhere NEAR the ballpark of what I was originally looking at. So I can never figure out how they made the leap from what I was looking at to what they show me. I have a fresh example from earlier this evening. I was looking at a pair of conservative navy blue shorts and a pair of khaki cargos. The clerk disappears and comes back with a HOT Pink dress with glitter detailing on the neck line (huh?). This particular clerk I really like, and have had multiple encounters with her, so I did laugh out loud and told her, Noooooo. She then disappears and comes back with an animal print tank top instead. :) A couple of weeks ago, I was looking at a basic white & tan dress, and the clerk starts helping me by showing me some black and purple spandex pants. Anyway, if nothing else, there is never a dull moment when shopping in Korea. This weekend I am going up to Seoul, so I get to experience Seoul Shopping. Can't wait.
At one of my schools the other day there was a bird that was flying around in the hallway. It was spooked by me and flew into a closed window and knocked himself to the ground. So I took my cardigan off and put it over it to catch it and take it outside (I thought it was going to die). So I go back into my class room and tell the coteacher I have a bird and was going to take it downstairs. She is not so concerned about the bird, but more concerned about the fact that I am no longer wearing my cardigan and my arms are showing. You must know I had a SUPER conservative tanktop on underneath. It had a high collar (almost up to my collar bone) and thick straps and it also came away from my body, so it was not at all revealing. So, she puts me in our little room just off the classroom so that I can put the bird in a bag and then put my cardigan back on, before scandal strikes AND then go outside with the damn bird. By this time, the bird had awoken from it's coma and managed to fly out of the bag during the exchange. Now it is loose in our small room about ready to fly into another window. Long story short, I managed to close a few blinds and open one window and the bird flew out and Korea was spared the humiliation of having a foreign teacher run about in a tank top rescuing birds.
The other day I had, what they call an "Open Class" where the parents, other teachers, the principal and vice principal all sit in on your class. This is a very nerve-racking experience. Fortunately my class was pretty successful and I got a lot of positive feed-back and a bit of constructive criticism as well (both very beneficial). I was given the video tape of my class the other day and I was very pleased with it. I did not look or sound nearly as nervous and freaked out as I felt. It's pretty intimidating having a panel of people in the back of your class taking notes on you. Anyway, it is now over and fortunately I won't have to deal with that again until next semester. I tried to upload this to You-Tube so you could get a pretty accurate picture into my day to day life here, but unfortunately it was too long for You-Tube. I am not sure how to edit it into a 15 minute bit, but once I do, I'll post it.
Tid Bits:
One of my 5th graders had on a shirt that said, "Make Love, not Abies"
