End of 'Come see the Monkeys' (Week one).

Wednesday

Today the lucky students had Sports English. This was a bit of a lie, as there was no English involved. Big friendly American nutter Pete took 24 of the 36 kids outside, and took a thick, long rope with him. I was to follow and observe, as I was supposed to be doing this jointly with Pete next week. The rope was laid out on the ground. Nothing was explained to the kids as they were divided into 2 groups, told to pick up each end, and pull. Nobody had told them this is what they would do...and they looked a bit uneasy with the task. The group with had far more boys than the other group won it, surprisingly. They were told to do it again...and the result was the same.

The next game Pete got them to play was Dodge Ball. Here, students launched the ball at each other as hard as they could throw it. I watched the looks of terror on all but one of the girls' faces. Pete tells me that the rule is to throw it below waist height...just as one girl was blasted on the head. Once again, the boys dominated and most of the girls became lemmings, running towards the person with the ball and asking to be hit gently. They would help each other get eliminated without being obliterated. Pete seemed oblivious to this, as once the game was over he told them to play it twice more. The girls had so much fun.

Later that day I watched Pete lesson, which was about the clinic and pharmacy (as they have real-life mock-ups of these as well here). Before the lesson began he sat at his desk with a water gun, and fired it at unsuspecting students. None were amused at getting soaked, but Pete found it funny. He got one girl full in the face and, humiliated in front of her classmates, was almost in tears. But jolly ole Pete was once again oblivious. In his world, everyone was havin' fun.

For 40 minutes he lectured them about a whole load of medical stuff completely irrelevant to 15 year old Korean kids. They hardly understood him as he used many words they have never heard of. One kid, obviously bored, started talking to his friend...and Pete humiliated him by yelling at him for about a minute...asking if he would like to take over the lesson. For Korean kids to lose face in that way is really bad. It was embarrassing to watch. I was asked to explain all about medical insurance to the class. I did this, but as it was boring and irrelevant to the kids I tried to elicit a lot instead of lecture them. Unfortunately, Pete shouted out the answers, as if to tell me not to do it this way. I ignored him and carried on. He continued to shout out answers before the kids had a chance. What an annoying tit. I did snap at him after a while and he shut up. Afterwards, he said I did ok. He asked me:

'Is this the first time you have taught here?'

'No'

'Did you feel nervous?'

'No - you arse. But I AM nervous watching you!' (didn't say the bit after 'no')




Ear Doctor...

Went back to see this nice chap, as was still almost deaf in one ear. He told me the ear drum is still badly infected. Great. Then he got some long tweezer type things and said 'this will be very painful'. It's so nice to be warned in such an honest way. I was sweating before he was anywhere near me. As it turned out, it wasn't painful at all. He pulled something out...and I could hear a little better. He then said he would dress the infection, and that this time it would be 'very painful', and I was 'not to move at all'. Wonderful words again...which I heard very loud and clear, and the sweat began again...but this time much more so. But it didn't hurt at all! Either the Koreans have a very low pain threshold, or this chap is very good. Well, whichever it is, when he had finished I was very happy, and was very nice to him. I would describe my feeling of relief similar to that displayed by a dog when the vet has finished making it suffer; it is suddenly full of beans, wagging it's tail real fast and giving excited licks to everyone, jumping all over the place. I think I looked a bit like that. I also told him I thought his English was very good, and that it is harsh he has to work a 6 day week. I believe I may have made a slight tit of myself. Well anyway, at least I could hear a better now..and that did make me feel more awake. So much so, in fact, I suddenly realised what a nightmare this teaching experience might be. I could think clearly now, and I wished I had taken any one of the other positions I had been offered. I was 95% sure I would hand in my notice by the end of the week...and by the end of the evening was really depressed! Didn't last though, as...

...Thursday

was an ok day. The kids were all happy, and no one had called me Ron Wealsey since Tuesday (cause I am not ginger). I took my own classes and made them fun. In the early evening I continued to train two groups (out of 6) that I had been helping all week with 'skit practice' - they were to act out a couple of short plays (Handel and Gretel, and something else I had never heard of). The competition between students is fierce in Korean schools, and is continued here. All the performances would be judged. My group was due to be taken over by Pete today...but he was needed by another teacher who wanted his advice (?!). I had seen him try to teach them how to act before...and they didn't seem to follow his hugely exaggerated expressions, loud booming voice and impressive theatrics, maybe because these were 15 year old Korean kids who are, compared to American kids anyway, the shyest in the world. This didn't stop Pete from criticizing them continuously. 'Why can't they just do what I do?!' he said. He will never get it I think...his mind has never left America.

Friday

Competition day. Before the performances began Pete came over to have a word:

'Hey Dave, what kind of acting have you done?'

'Umm...none'

'No? Me – two years on Broadway.'

I think I was supposed to be really impressed and go 'WOW', so I said:

'WOW! Really?? That's amazing!' (he believed me!).

'Yeah. Could have been there a long time - if it weren't for the drink.'

'Hmm. Oh well...'

Now the result is not important to me, but as it happens my two groups came 1st and 2nd. I was happy for the kids, naturally, and said nothing to Pete, who said nothing to me. Sometimes silence is great. I could feel the uneasiness in the air. Oh well, never mind.

The kids were released at lunchtime, and taken back to their schools. They actually seemed sad to be going, as they took a long time to leave.

There was a 'review' meeting that followed, and I was asked to say what I thought of it all. I was very diplomatic, but sort of get across I the fact I thought it wasn't very good. I made some suggestions, and to my surprise they didn't bite my head off...and even agreed with me! I was expecting to decide to leave after this meeting, but I might give it a bit longer now. Another reason to stay is that a bit later on, they were shouting and yelling at each other, but were being very nice to me. That I don't mind so much, cause it was funny to watch.

36 more fortuate kids will arrive on Monday...that is unless word has got out that this place is %#&!@.