Everyone Listen and Repeat: Cockroach

For months now, you've heard me talk about volleyball and its importance to the elementary school teachers of Busan, especially at my school. If you remember, one of the first things I was asked by a few teachers upon initially meeting them was if I played volleyball. Also of note was the redemption my school was seeking after falling in last year's finals. And redemption is absolutely the right word here, because like the Lakers losing to the Celtics last year, these guys took it hard, and winning this year was very important. VERY important. So after months of practice and putting volleyball ahead of their students' education (I'm only slightly joking here.), Deokdu Elementary School made it back to the finals. But unlike the mighty Los Angeles Lakers, my fellow teachers were unable to close the deal this year, getting beat in two straight sets to end the 2009 volleyball season.

I'm not going to lie, I did take some satisfaction in watching them lose, but only because I truly believed it was just so ridiculous how serious they were about it. I mean, for crying out loud, the day of the final game, they started and ended school early, and cut break times and lunch short, so they could get in a last practice before departing for the venue of the final. Now with that said, it was sad to see them hanging their heads after the loss. The truth is they did put in a lot of hours and hard work to win, and I know how much it sucks when you sacrifice like that only to come up empty. After the game, we all went out for another traditional Korean meal where everyone was able to drink away their feelings with soju and beer. At this dinner I actually got into some more amusing (for me) conversations about Korea and Japan relations, but nothing new that I haven't already blogged about. Let's just say there are some serious trust issues between the two. Anyway, by the time dinner was over, everyone had drinken enough to feel better about everything and decided it was time to go to ... you're never going to guess ... wait for it ... NORIBONG!!! Yes, my old nemesis was back, but unlike the Joker who loved his encounters with Batman, I was not happy about the battle that lay ahead.

At some point when Brent and I were talking about our noribong experiences, I jokingly mentioned that the next time I ended up in one of those places, the song I was going to sing would be "California Love" by 2Pac and Dr. Dre. Well, when we arrived at the noribong place I thought "hmm, maybe that's not such a bad idea." Don't get me wrong, my first course of action was to avoid having to sing altogether. Which I did try. After it was apparent that wasn't going to be allowed and I was handed the book to search for a song, I immediately started searching for the classic rap song from the deceased Shakur. As I kind of expected though, it wasn't there. Great. The last thing I wanted was another "Superfreak" disaster. It was at this point that I noticed that everyone in the room seemed to be distracted. Either they were singing, dancing or talking in a corner, not paying attention. Now, before I get into what I did next, I should mention that when Brent and I were training in Cheonan when we first got here, we were told that it's okay to sneak out of events when you're ready to leave. In fact, I remember the instructor telling us it's usually better that way, because if you announce you're leaving, everyone will try and get you to stay. So, with this in mind, I put my backpack on, gestured over to my co-teacher that I was out of there, and made a b-line for the door. Success! I walked out of that building like I was being chased, and luckily for me the subway entrance was right outside. Chances are that I was halfway home before someone realized I was gone. You have no idea how happy I was to be able to escape without being subjected to any sort of the humilation I felt last time. The best part was that the next day at school it was never brought up. Oh and below you will find video of the most recent noribong experience, since the last noribong video was such a hit.

So, before I could really even begin to celebrate that volleyball season was over, my co-teacher hit me with this nice little piece of info on the way to school a couple of days after the finals defeat. Starting sometime soon, a volleyball coach will be coming to the school one day a week to start getting us ready for next year. What?! Are you kidding me?! Next year?! Oh yes ladies and gentlemen, it's that freakin serious at my school. Upon hearing this news I quickly reminded my co-teacher that I may not be here next year, so I thought it would be pointless for me to participate. On a side note, the chances of me staying another year are about like the chances of Vin Diesel being nominated for Best Actor for his performance in Fast and Furious. Actually, there's probably a greater chance that I would stay than that happening, but you get the picture. Anyway, I'm not telling anyone at my school that yet, because I'm not interested in being a lame-duck English teacher for the next eight months. Hence the reason I told her I might not be here next year, and hence the reason I'll be participating in weekly volleyball practice with a coach, because as she told me, "Since you might be here, you need to practice with us." Great!

One school sport that I can get on board with, however, is soccer. I've been told that the teachers will eventually have a team, but I'm not sure when. As for now, our students are actually playing and have done fairly well. They are playing in a big tournament right now that will last about a month if they make it all the way through, I believe. So far, they have won every game and have yet to surrender a goal. Unlike the volleyball matches, watching these kids go out there and play soccer is way more enjoyable. They even play weekly scrimmages with us teachers and I absolutely love that. Even though I'm playing against fifth and sixth graders, I really do just enjoy playing the game. Please don't think they're push-overs though. Those kids come at me tough. The first time I played with them, I ended up with a bruised shin and what I can only think was a deep muscle bruise in my chest, because it hurt for like two weeks. Anyway, their next games are this weekend at a school near my place, so I'm looking forward to watching them play again. They will be without the goalkeeper that has posted all those clean sheets though, because he just moved to Seoul this week. Hopefully they can keep up the success.

That actually leads me right into my next little bit of news here. Like I just mentioned, one of my students, Kevin, moved away this week, because his dad is in the military and he was transfered to Seoul. Kevin is a sixth grader and was without a doubt the best English student in the school. I often would have him translate things I said to his fellow students, because he was that proficient. Anyway, on his last day he came into the English classroom after school had ended, because he wanted to say goodbye and asked me for my contact information so we could keep in touch. Of course I obliged and was honestly so touched that he came to say goodbye to me and wanted to keep in contact. While he was there his parents actually came in the room and told me how much Kevin enjoyed English class and how he will always have great memories of being in my class. Wow. I was floored. Saying goodbye to Kevin was honestly so sad for me and it got me to thinking about how attached to these kids I've become in the three and half months I've been with them. I can't even imagine what it's going to be like come February when I have to say goodbye to all of them.

I recently started teaching first graders, meaning that now every student in the school is officially one of my students. That's a pretty cool thing I think. So, on the first day with the first graders, I really expected them to know the bare minimum in English. I'm talking "hi" and "bye" here. To find out, the first thing I asked them was to share what English words they knew. One girl raised her hand and proudly said, "cockroach!" I lost it. I'm not sure anything could have been funnier or cuter than a little six-year-old Korean girl saying cockroach, but I had no idea what was coming out of her mouth next. As I'm literally laughing to the point where class has stopped, she belts out, "My mom don't like cockroach." I swear to you, if it weren't for the Korean Dehydration Factor, I may have peed my pants a little bit. That's easily one of the best moments of my time here so far. After I got it together and continued to find out what other English words the first graders knew, I found that they were a lot more advanced than I thought. They all knew their ABCs and could count to at least 10. That really ruined my lesson for the day, so I played a game with them instead. The next week when they came to class, I had planned a lesson to teach them the basic colors and pet animals. Things like blue, red, cat, dog, etc. Once again, they made me look like a fool, because the majority of them already knew these words. I will see them again this Friday and am still trying to figure out what the lesson will be that day. I can't keep having these first graders show me up!

I have one more quick student story for you that I think is pretty funny. Last week in computer class, I was sitting at one of the computers trying to fix an issue with Internet Explorer. Well, as I was waiting for something to download, I just involuntarily started drumming on the desk. You know nothing too loud or noisy, but just little tapping. That's probably a better word for it actually. Anyway, like I said it was involuntary, so I didn't even really realize I was doing it. I was just waiting for the thing to download. All of sudden the student next to me says very sternly, "Son-seng-nim!" That's Korean for teacher. She then taps on the desk and gives me the same "X" that Alvin received when he tried to ride that roller coaster at Tokyo Disney Sea. For those of you not familiar, Asian cultures cross their arms and form an "X" when they disagree or want to say no, and use their arms to form an "O" when they agree or want to say yes. Anyway, this may be one of those things that doesn't translate just by reading it, but please trust that it was funny.

I guess the biggest news I have to share is that I've officially started taking piano lessons. I'll go ahead and explain for those of you who are really confused right now. I've always had the desire to learn how to play an instrument. Well maybe not always, but I can tell you it goes back to eighth grade when I asked for and got a drum set for Christmas. After 13 years of having those things, I can still only play that little number Slater did when he entered the Miss. Bayside pageant on Saved by the Bell. Anyway, from then it's been "Maybe I'll learn the guitar" or "Maybe I'll learn the piano" or "Maybe I'll finally really learn the drums." Well, I've found myself with extra time on my hands here. See, I'm home from work by about 5 or 5:15 everyday and because I can't possibly afford to be going out every night, I'll find myself in my apartment until the next morning. Now, I know some of you are thinking, "Well why don't you use that extra time to study Korean?" The truth is I'm lazy about it and it gets boring, but I also have time at school everyday to do that, so it's still getting done. So, add up my "always" wanting to learn an instrument and my extra time, and you get Robert taking piano lessons for an hour a day Monday to Friday. I've had two lessons thus far and it's going well as of now. I think learning to read the music is the hardest part at this point, but I'm sure it will get easier. There's also a slight language problem, because my teacher doesn't speak English, but like I told Brent, I'm not going to let that be an excuse. Blind and deaf people have learned to play the piano, so there's no reason why our communication issues should stop me from learning.

I've attached some funny photos below and, as promised, the noribong video along with some video of my students playing soccer. They are the ones in the white jerseys. Enjoy!

Ouch!

Obama socks. A good buy for Democrats and Republicans. Democrats can proudly show their support of our new president, while Republicans can wear them with his face on the bottom of their feet and walk on him all day.

Hines Ward socks. Being part Korean earned the NFL star this nice little piece of memorabilia.

One of the many Korean traditional dinners I have been to.

Those green bottles you see are soju; empty at this point.