Enough Already!!!

Being an American living abroad poses a problem. Most people hate us and they let you know that at every possible opportunity.
I always try to be very careful when meeting new people. I'm aware of how Americans are generalized and perceived and the majority of it is warranted. If someone actually gets to the point of asking me where I'm from I try to tell them quietly and calmly; Americans are perceived as loud and in-your-face. I also try to say I'm from the U.S., rather than America. I think saying I'm from "America" is kind of pompous because there's also Central and South America, not just North America.
I only have a couple of friends from the U.S. in Korea, most of my friends are from South Africa and Ireland. I get crap ALL the time for being a "Yank" (a term I completely despise and doesn't even make any sense. I'm from Montana for God's sake, not the East Coast!!) Whenever I'm with my friends they tease me relentlessly and incessantly about being from the U.S. It's getting quite old.
"Oh Erika," they say. "We're just teasing you. We love you. We know not all American's are assholes."
But, honestly, I get crap ALL THE TIME from them and it's really starting to irritate me. I know the U.S. has A LOT of problems and the country's leaders and many of its citizens are pompous, arrogant, bullying assholes. I know this. The U.S. has many faults and it's done many bad things and will continue to do many bad things motivated by power, money and greed. But not all of us are bad people.
One of my friends told me I was "the least American American" he'd ever met. Ummm, thanks? I know he meant it as a compliment, but I wasn't entirely sure how to take it.
I've had a couple other friends tell me that when they first heard I was from the U.S. they weren't too excited about meeting me, but they said they actually really like me, which I just think is funny. It's so unfortunate that there are so many U.S. assholes out there giving the rest of us a bad name.
I love my country. I know it's not always a great place, but it's still my home and I don't want to hear how terrible it is, and how terrible I am because I happened to be born there, seven days a week.

A "Shocking" Lesson

There is a Korean pop (K-Pop) music band called Twenty-One. Apparently their little gang or "call" sign is some sort of crazy hand action.
The action is extending one's forefinger, middle finger and pinky finger, while keeping the ring finger down. This, if you try it, is called "The Shocker" and if you're a junior high boy, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
However, it's supposed to depict a "2" and a "1" for the band.
All my students were doing it in class yesterday. They have no idea what the hand action means. I kept trying to get their focus onto something else so they'd stop throwing the shocker around in the classroom while I was trying to teach them about adjectives.
I love that Korean children are incredibly innocent, but sometimes their innocence makes me blush.

What's in a Name?

I absolutely love some of the names of the students I see every day. Everyone is given an English name when they begin learning the language. Some of them are chosen for them and some of them choose their own names.
I've heard quite a few crazy ones since landing in the ROK five months ago. Here is a snippet of my favorites thus far (and yes, I actually have to call them by these names):

Prize
Lion
Princess
Shiny
Rolly
Elmo
Joon
Bee
Cherry
Ravi (I think it's supposed to be Robby, but Koreans get confused with "v's" and "b's")
Sugar

I think they are absolutely hilarious and when I have to call out roll in class, it's all I can do to keep from cracking up. If they misbehave in class, it's even more ridiculous.
Most of the students I teach have "normal" names like Robert and Alice, but these ones take the cake. I just wonder what will happen if they eventually end up studying English at a Western university. They will no doubt get a few looks and the poor kids will have no idea what is so funny.

Black Day

Keeping up with this blog would be so much easier if I actually had a computer of my own.
Heavy sigh.
Oh well.

So the couples of South Korea recently celebrated "White Day." This is much like Valentine's Day, except the man in a relationship must shower gifts upon the woman in the relationship on White Day. It's celebrated on March 14th. Valentine's Day is still celebrated on February 14th, however just the women are responsible for bestowing gifts upon the men in the land of coupledom on February 14th.
One of the Korean teachers I work with was all bent out of shape because her boyfriend's birthday is on March 14th and so she was STILL responsible for giving a gift on White Day, the day that was reserved for her! However, she still got an embarrassingly large basket of chocolates on White Day (which she did NOT share, I might add).
I've heard that there is also something known as "Black Day," which is a holiday for singles in Korea. ("Singles Apprection Day", I would assume?) I don't know if this holiday does, in fact, exist but I'm certainly interested in that particular day. I would think it's on April 14th to stay consistent with the mid-month theme? And who exactly buys you candy and gifts of love and affection? Is it much like the Tooth Fairy where small tokens of monetary goodness (or chocolate) suddenly appear while I slumber?
One does not know the answer to such burning questions, but as April continues to come ever closer I will wait with bated breath...

Practice Makes for a Bit of VD

Being exotic has such an intoxicating magnetism to it. There is nothing exotic about me except when I'm traveling abroad -- especially in Asia.
It is such a drug, one where you can only feel high when far away from home and all those who know you. In a far-away land you can, essentially, be whomever you want to be. You can be reborn, you can choose a different path, pursue interests you never had the chance to before or never knew you wanted to.
I have a friend here who I will not name because he would be deeply embarrassed. He was never much of a ladies man back home, quite the contrary, he would tell me. But in Korea, he is utterly fascinating and exotic and he completely relishes it. Who wouldn't? It's only human nature to want to be desired so intensely.
When he came to this country he wasn't even attracted to Asian women. Now he can't get enough of them and he has eyes for no other.
He doesn't want to leave this country. Ever. He goes from social event to social event desperately trying to meet as many women as he possibly can, hoping to make enough of a connection. He has a personality that is charming when he wants it to be and, given his "exotic-nes," the Korean women lap it up. It is quite something to watch.
He actually has books on how to talk and interact with women - and he studies them. He will purposely put himself in certain situations with the intent to practice specific techniques. He actually told me all this. I had no idea men went through so much work and effort to get laid. Amazing.

Highway to Hell

Uggg. I'm so behind on my updates...

In my fruitless efforts to make my students prolific writers, I am constantly making them write sentences. Literally every class I give them words and make them form their own sentences with the words.
One of the words in a recent class was "welcome." Easy enough and a very common word used in the English language.
One of my students wrote, "Welcome to Hell."
I could not stop laughing. It doesn't happen very often, but sometimes I'm knocked off-kilter by my students' brazen humor and honesty.