Sirens, stories and Miguks...
Hello there all,
Yes I am still alive and well in Mokpo. I was going to write at the weekend but if I am honest about the whole thing I was far too drunk and hung over for most of the time. Which in this crazy world I live in seems to be a reasonable excuse to me- don't you agree??
So what has been going on in Mokpo that I can tell you about? I am fully recovered from the Traveller's Disease which is a good thing. I had to take a multitude of tablets several times a day and have only now stopped rattling when I walk. But it is a relief to be better and have energy again. And to be able to go out drinking too of course. So I have spent quite some time in the soju tents and nori-bangs these last couple of weeks. And Korean classes have resumed which is a good thing though my poor brain begged to differ after a two hour work out last Saturday.
Just when I think that I am getting an idea on how this country works strange things happen which prove to me over and over that I will never figure this country out. Example, I was down town last week with a friend having coffee. We could hear a siren go off but chose to ignore it. As we stood to leave the shop the woman spoke to us but we didn't understand what she was saying and so smiled, nodded and walked out. Wandering down the street my friend suddenly noticed that all the cars were standing still and that there was no noise- odd. Then a guy in the middle of the road, looking all kind of official, motioned for us to stop. And we saw him do the same to other people. He also explained to us, in Korean, exactly why we should stop so we were none the wiser really. It was a bit eerie really as streets in Korea, in my experience, are ALWAYS filled with the noise of car horns being used to punctuate driving. After about five minutes another siren went off and everyone started moving again. We never did find out why!
This kind of thing happens to us all the time over here. There was a group of us in the nori bang the other night and another group rang to find out where we were and I had to give the phone to the Korean guy working there so he could explain to the Korean in the other group where we were. I wish that they would use street names here sometimes!
Last Saturday we saw an anti-Miguk (America) demonstration down town. they seemed to be a fairly friendly smiley bunch so we pushed our miguk into their midst and took a photo of them. Once they realised what was going on they obligingly handed her a banner to hold and insisted that we take another photo. As we left they asked where we were from- America we yelled and walked away laughing. There is a lot of anti-American feeling here at times while at the same time there is a great love of American culture. Witness the fact that they only really want North Americans as teachers here and those of us without the desired accent are advised to try putting one on. They know more about baseball than soccer here- though the World Cup is slowly changing that I am sure that it won't last. They don't really seem to know their soccer teams (see how American am I- I mean footie teams of course!) and most of my students insist that Korea will be winning the World Cup. Yes, of course they are.....! They seem to love and hate America all at the same time. The only time when feelings were clear cut was during the recent Winter Olympics when they all hated the US for winning the medal for speed skating that should have been Korea's. Some of my students have told me that they think that the US deserved September 11th but most just seem to hate Bush (or Busy as they call him!) personally rather than the country as a whole. I just explain what a tragedy that day was and talk about the people involved.
But even though I don't have the 'correct' accent I still get quite a bit of attention- mostly by kids asking me if I am a miguk. But the other week Tim and I were asked to judge a story telling competition in Mokpo. It was a lot of fun. There was 14 groups of kids who had all been practising and memorizing their lines ready for the day. I was judging them on Intonation and Pronunciation and Tim had two other categories that I can't remember right now. They were very sweet even if their little chipmunk voices rather pounded my poor hung over head (the boss had taken us out for soju the night before and it had been a long one). Some of them were very good and some of them weren't. But the funniest thing was some of the groups had obviously rehearsed without microphones and the leads on these ones were very short- hence a hare and tortoise race being prematurely won by the tortoise as the hare was yanked back the way she had come by the mike lead. But this didn't just happen once- it happened over and over again. It was hard to keep a straight face as one kid was yelling at another one to 'come here' while the other one was firmly reined in by the mike lead. Or the kid who got tied up in a knot as his fellow group members ran round and round him twisting the lead, unknowingly, round his legs. It was so hard to keep a straight face that at times I turned round to see Tim shamelessly laughing and I had to join in. Poor kids and after they had given us a real Hollywood star welcome too- applause and welcoming yells before we were even introduced. but it was a good afternoon and the best group won- the one that did their piece on England!!
I don't have anything to tell you right now that I can think of so I will try and write again soon when I think of what it is I have to say!
Take care Helen
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes I am still alive and well in Mokpo. I was going to write at the weekend but if I am honest about the whole thing I was far too drunk and hung over for most of the time. Which in this crazy world I live in seems to be a reasonable excuse to me- don't you agree??
So what has been going on in Mokpo that I can tell you about? I am fully recovered from the Traveller's Disease which is a good thing. I had to take a multitude of tablets several times a day and have only now stopped rattling when I walk. But it is a relief to be better and have energy again. And to be able to go out drinking too of course. So I have spent quite some time in the soju tents and nori-bangs these last couple of weeks. And Korean classes have resumed which is a good thing though my poor brain begged to differ after a two hour work out last Saturday.
Just when I think that I am getting an idea on how this country works strange things happen which prove to me over and over that I will never figure this country out. Example, I was down town last week with a friend having coffee. We could hear a siren go off but chose to ignore it. As we stood to leave the shop the woman spoke to us but we didn't understand what she was saying and so smiled, nodded and walked out. Wandering down the street my friend suddenly noticed that all the cars were standing still and that there was no noise- odd. Then a guy in the middle of the road, looking all kind of official, motioned for us to stop. And we saw him do the same to other people. He also explained to us, in Korean, exactly why we should stop so we were none the wiser really. It was a bit eerie really as streets in Korea, in my experience, are ALWAYS filled with the noise of car horns being used to punctuate driving. After about five minutes another siren went off and everyone started moving again. We never did find out why!
This kind of thing happens to us all the time over here. There was a group of us in the nori bang the other night and another group rang to find out where we were and I had to give the phone to the Korean guy working there so he could explain to the Korean in the other group where we were. I wish that they would use street names here sometimes!
Last Saturday we saw an anti-Miguk (America) demonstration down town. they seemed to be a fairly friendly smiley bunch so we pushed our miguk into their midst and took a photo of them. Once they realised what was going on they obligingly handed her a banner to hold and insisted that we take another photo. As we left they asked where we were from- America we yelled and walked away laughing. There is a lot of anti-American feeling here at times while at the same time there is a great love of American culture. Witness the fact that they only really want North Americans as teachers here and those of us without the desired accent are advised to try putting one on. They know more about baseball than soccer here- though the World Cup is slowly changing that I am sure that it won't last. They don't really seem to know their soccer teams (see how American am I- I mean footie teams of course!) and most of my students insist that Korea will be winning the World Cup. Yes, of course they are.....! They seem to love and hate America all at the same time. The only time when feelings were clear cut was during the recent Winter Olympics when they all hated the US for winning the medal for speed skating that should have been Korea's. Some of my students have told me that they think that the US deserved September 11th but most just seem to hate Bush (or Busy as they call him!) personally rather than the country as a whole. I just explain what a tragedy that day was and talk about the people involved.
But even though I don't have the 'correct' accent I still get quite a bit of attention- mostly by kids asking me if I am a miguk. But the other week Tim and I were asked to judge a story telling competition in Mokpo. It was a lot of fun. There was 14 groups of kids who had all been practising and memorizing their lines ready for the day. I was judging them on Intonation and Pronunciation and Tim had two other categories that I can't remember right now. They were very sweet even if their little chipmunk voices rather pounded my poor hung over head (the boss had taken us out for soju the night before and it had been a long one). Some of them were very good and some of them weren't. But the funniest thing was some of the groups had obviously rehearsed without microphones and the leads on these ones were very short- hence a hare and tortoise race being prematurely won by the tortoise as the hare was yanked back the way she had come by the mike lead. But this didn't just happen once- it happened over and over again. It was hard to keep a straight face as one kid was yelling at another one to 'come here' while the other one was firmly reined in by the mike lead. Or the kid who got tied up in a knot as his fellow group members ran round and round him twisting the lead, unknowingly, round his legs. It was so hard to keep a straight face that at times I turned round to see Tim shamelessly laughing and I had to join in. Poor kids and after they had given us a real Hollywood star welcome too- applause and welcoming yells before we were even introduced. but it was a good afternoon and the best group won- the one that did their piece on England!!
I don't have anything to tell you right now that I can think of so I will try and write again soon when I think of what it is I have to say!
Take care Helen
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posted by Helen @ 5:00 PM
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