I’M SO TIRED OF SAYING THIS

But I’ve said it before and I’ll say I it again and I’m sure I’ll say it even more times but I don’t understand Koreans. It’s not the language. I’m convinced of that. I’m talking about all Koreans, even those that majored in English in University. I can’t possibly be as dense as I feel at times. Here is today’s latest example.

Before summer vacation, I said to Mankee (the science teacher who majored in chemistry and English at university) to give me a call if he wanted to get together over the holidays. I was hoping he would call, because I’ve enjoyed my conversations with him, and I think he truly is a nice person. (Although he has said that he’s hit kids in class. Why can’t the world be in black and white?)

Last week he said to me, “see you on Thursday or Friday” when I was leaving. I said to him, “are you working next week” and he gave the typical Korean answer to a yes/no question. “Maybe”. Okay, whatever. Today when I left my afternoon camp classroom at 5PM, Mankee was there with his girlfriend. I don’t do this camp at the school we work at, it’s at another school. It was a nice surprise to see him and meet his girlfriend. He excused himself to use his phone and I chatted with his girlfriend. She teaches English at an Academy and is studying for her exam in December to become a public school teacher. I really enjoyed our brief conversation and would enjoy talking more with her. Mankee comes back and says, “let’s go”. Pardon me? What if I had plans? I had no idea he was coming. He never made arrangements with me. Maybe his “see you on Thursday or Friday” was an indication that he would show up at my camp to go out. I don’t know. I don’t understand. Fortunately I had no plans so it was a nice, unexpected surprise. He lives in Ilsan so he drove in specially to go out (I think). I said I just have to go upstairs and get my stuff which I did.

I come back and Mankee and his girlfriend are outside. He says to me, “I thought we would have coffee but I can’t because I have to work at 7.” Huh? I said, “did you just find this out?” and guess what he said? You’re right if you guessed, “maybe.” He said that we will get together another time.

Why was he at the school to meet me? I don’t understand anything. I just shake my head in bewilderment. I mean, sometimes it’s frustrating to not understand things when it’s important for my work or personal relationships, and sometimes I’m just speechless. I DON’T GET IT!!!!! Maybe there really is a cabal of Koreans whose purpose it is to drive me crazy. I have news for them. It’s working.

Will I see Mankee again? Beats me. I hope so. I hope he calls and sets a firm time and date. I hope him, his girlfriend, and me have coffee together. I could say “I don’t get it” a million times, and I wouldn’t have said it enough. But enough of this.

A woman teacher at the camp said to me today, “can I ask you a personal question?” Usually Koreans just ask the question without the polite preamble. I told her, “yes, of course.” First she asked me about my earring and if I can buy just one or do I have to buy a pair and just use one. That’s pretty personal. I told her that I buy just one. She was surprised by that. Then she said that she had heard that if a man wears an earring in a certain ear it means he’s gay. I told her about right ear/left ear and that I didn’t know if that was still true. Those were her personal questions.

Today at camp this morning we started to shoot our movie. We had to make some location changes as it was pouring rain outside. I thought it was a hoot. The kids were having fun and I was laughing. Unfortunately the camera battery ran out so we will have to do the rest tomorrow.

The first person to do the filming was this boy who knows no English and I’m not crazy about. It’s not because he knows no English, it’s because he doesn’t pay any attention and just talks and wastes my time. The second person to film was terrific. It was a girl and she took charge. It was quite something to see. She wasn’t bossy, but she was in total control. She was very adult and almost professional. I hadn’t really noticed her before because she’s in the middle and you tend to notice the best and worst students the most. I really enjoyed watching her work.

I have a few outtakes to share from today’s shooting. They’re short and if you listen carefully, they really are pronouncing the words correctly behind the thick accents.







We also watched “The Wizard of Oz” today. I asked some kids if they liked it and they said yes, but they didn’t understand very much. They thought it was funny. I was amazed once again just how good it is. As usual, I felt like crying at all the corny sayings that I love like, “a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.” I was able to limit myself to only wet eyes. I was so proud of myself.

Tomorrow we finish the movie. I have no idea how the editing will go. I haven’t tried editing anything from this camera yet. I hope it turns out well enough that the kids get a laugh out of it. We also make oatmeal raisin cookies. “Mashee-soy-yo”, I hope. (That’s delicious in Korean.)