School field day

Today was no ordinary Friday at the office, and boy am I glad! We had a sports day at school. The students had teams organized by home room class, so there were about thirty teams (of about thirty students each, yeah, my school’s huge), and they spent the morning running around our huge field which was set up with dozens of “stations” with various competitions. It was hilarious to watch the students and some teachers (myself included) joust atop a balance beam, or hula hoop with five hoops, or do the limbo, or the many other things. For a short time I posted up at the “kangaroo race” station where burlap sacks were used to hop across the court and back.

The students have been excited all week about this day, they made colorful signs and coordinated their goofy outfits and face paint. Some even had t-shirts made for the occasion! The energy was all good out there on this bright warm fall morning, happy screams from young teenagers and smiles all around. I was amongst those delighted to be out of the confines of the indoors and into the sun for the morning.

After a killer lunch of  yellow curry, daikon kimchi, chicken wings (yes, chicken wings) and a big fruit salad, the students had races. So from the warmth of my office I could hear mostly silence, then the pop of the track gun followed by thunderous roaring and screaming for about ten seconds, until someone won. Finally there was a teachers’ relay race (which I somehow missed the sign up for) and a giant game of tug-of-war before I was summoned up to the podium to call out some of the many the raffle winnings, and then…. it was over.

My school is quite shabby, it resembles more of a prison than an educational facility, with bars on the windows and steel grating that locks off hallways or stairwells, cement floors and the chill from year round open windows. In fact the school is the shabbiest in the district, and it’s getting demolished after the school year ends in February. However my school grounds are really pretty, and in a city this dense it is such a treat to have the big open space of the field and the walkways that surround it. Mature foliage and trees of all shapes and sizes surround the giant field, with benches tucked here and there to lounge on during mellow school days. Fall is upon us and the leaves are all kinds of warm colors, making the school grounds that much more pleasant.

brief synopsis

Coming to Korea, an unexpected direction that my life took.  Here, I am on vacation with the type of easiness you have when you know something is temporal, when you know there is a contract, and (in this case) when that contract is up, you already have airfare out.  This temporality is a point in case of my life on this planet really, but I’d digress…in this city, for but a time, I am free.  

(nicole scaring Nathan who is coming out of the washroom)

yes, those are pink ears

I am free to let my mouth gape, to exert myself in the privacy you get in big crowds of strangers, to plunder the oddities I like form this culture for personal integration.  I am free to create myself.  I am free to look past the imperfections, I don’t have to fix anything here, just observe and often, look beyond negativities to what I can use to make my day a day worth living.  My job has my mind thinking about communication, about grammar, about language, about how to learn, and how to package learning as fun.

I find myself engaged in small talk with middle schoolers all day, and co-teachers.  It is ridiculous, yet there is a satisfaction and pure moment when communication happens.  Just basic transactions become an adventure; small talk becomes enough.  What is lost in translation is gained in glee.  It is a special time in my life, as far from the US as it can be, but blowing the ceiling of my mind away to a new focus, new experiences, and a global way of thinking.  The important part is opening myself to the trip, as each day lived becomes my life                        

October weather

I like to talk about the weather. Some people believe that we talk about the weather when there is nothing else to say, to fill those awkward quiet moments, but I don’t! I just really like to take note of the elements. The way the clouds are shaped just like a scene from the Simpsons trailer, or the warm wind that lifts my hair gently off my shoulders to swish in front of my face, or the way the light is filtered through yellowish leaves and the corresponding long shadows of the tree trunks. How was the weather yesterday, last year at this time, or when I woke up? I like to discuss it, remember it, be present in it, whatever…. It’s not conversation filler.

After a day of walking around Hanamdong enjoying the perfect fall afternoon, catching up with friends and family the sad and unbelievable happened: 

The loss of my favorite toy! We had a good last go with it, though.  And it’s come at a somewhat acceptable time, because Nathan is going to the States soon and I’ll have him fetch a new one for us.

Happy October to all of you.

Ramblings... an update:

Rain in the city! It has returned today, for a quick hello. To clean the air and cool things down a bit more. I would really never complain about the past month of blue skies and 75 degrees, but I will admit that this morning when I looked out to see the sprinkling of raindrops and that bright light gray sky I smiled. And as I donned my knee high rain boots and my red trench coat that I’ve loved for so many years, I felt this warmth in my heart and I felt like ME. The me I have been for so many years, so many rainy Portland years, and it felt good. I will be happy as pie when that sunny and 75 returns, and it will soon, but for now I’m the opposite of all my coworkers and students, who are gloomy and feeling depressed and openly talking about it (huh!?).

So what has this Portland lady been up to in this big city of Seoul lately? Well, aside from my new awesome gym that is literally one minute away, my work has settled into a busy season, requiring my attention and my mental energy, which is good! I like to grow and become a better teacher, although I still don’t think this is my ultimate calling in life. If it weren’t for the whole office and desk thing I might like it better. So if I could stand at a counter or a bar it would be better? Haha… nevermind.

 Josh made us the most incredible batch of Borscht the other day (will definitely stay in our usual dinner rotation now), what a treat it is to have found beets in this country! It took a few months, and just yesterday we stumbled accidently upon a grocery store a few subway stations away and it felt like Zupans! So nice and big and organized, what the…? And they had limes, oh I was happy as can be so I bought a pack of eight miniature ones, nicely packaged in their plastic case (as with all other produce here… ugh). That evening I made the tastiest gin and tonic I’ve had since I moved here. Yesssss.

I’m still flying through books at a pace I can’t hardly keep up with, good thing there is not a shortage of titles out there to educate and entertain myself. I just finished reading myself through an epic 600 page journey through the Congo in the 60’s and beyond…. I am anxiously awaiting a shipment of books that should have been here um… weeks ago (should I worry yet?). Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, Rachel Carson….. here I come!

Okay all you beautiful people out there, this is me, signing off for the day, and I hope to bring you more photos next time, until then… don’t forget to close your bank account and open a credit union account instead!!

Love love love. Nicole.

PS: after I wrote this, but before I published it I had to teach my last class of the week. A group of thirty-five 16 year olds. They are good kids, really, and they aren’t like some of the really deviant students I have, it’s just Friday afternoon, last class of the day, so it’s no surprise that they are little hellians all the time. It is notoriously my worst class of the whole week and I actually dread it, but for some reason, I don’t know what, it went so well! I kept their attention, they listened and stayed entertained, the activities went well, and somewhere in the middle of it all they likely learned some things too! This feeling is rare, and one of the highs of teaching. 

all photos courtesy we heart it