Oz

I used to look forward to field trips.  I looked forward to them because I had this idea in my head that they were a free day - a day where I didn’t have to lesson plan or do any actual teaching.  As i’ve come to learn these day ventures outside of Reggio are the most exhausting days, far worse then normal days.  Days in which I come home with out a nerve left, having nearly walked into traffic numerous times on the way to my apartment.  The night of this this last expedition, I came home and watched the greater part of a Steven Seagal movie because downloading something decent required too much effort - not kidding.

We were going to watch a production of The Wizard of Oz, the Korean rendition of the classic.  When I heard the plan for this field trip, I once again grew hopeful, letting my mind wonder to a calm couple hours where my kids would watch a lovely theatrical performance about Dorothy and Toto, skipping down yellow brick roads, with helium hopped up munchkins giving them some nice soprano music to keep them on pace.  Unfortunately, the Koreans favor a darker interpretation - that or my memory of the storyline is completely wrong.  The bottom line is that once again, my dream of a happy effortless couple  of hours was dashed before we even sat down.

The backdrop looked as if someone on an acid trip had gotten ahold of neon paint, and while in the heat of their hallucinations, there was a loud angry song playing about flowers.  It was intense.  It was erratic.     It reminded me somewhat of Alice in Wonderland.  I wouldn’t be surprised if some wires got crossed there. When the cast came out singing with whistles and drums, I realized that they must have purchased all the costumes at a halloween shop’s going out of business sale.  There was pieces from a snow white dress, some mini mouse ears, a mad hatter costume, and various other mish mashed disney outfits.  Dorothy herself didn’t channel the original in the slightest.

The whole thing was in Korean, which was ok with me because any sort of incessant background noise gives me the chance to space out.  We’d sat the kids according to behavior and I had Ryan and JiAhn on either side of me and Daniel just one seat away.  Maybe 10 minutes in my co-teacher decided to explore the venue, or take a trip down the Han River, or go do some Christmas shopping, or participate in a telethon for children with cancer, or maybe she went to go get corn rows and a weave, I really can’t be sure where in gods name she vanished to for the greater part of this field trip, but I do know that the amount of anger I had inside me when I did see her again, gave me thoughts of her getting a house dropped on her head.

This play was scary.  It creeped me out and i’m a 24 years old.  This was the stuff that creates lifetime phobias and fears for a 4 year old.  At one point during the play I had a crying child on my lap, 2 beside me in tears, 2 children begging to go to the bathroom, but I had no way of taking them without uprooting my whole class (which looking back wouldn’t have been such a bad idea) there were maybe 3 paying attention and i’d completely given up on controlling the children i’d strategically placed beside me, allowing them to more or less wrestle each other and make all the noise they wanted.  I was playing hot potato with kids, shuffling them depending on how hysterical they were.  Trying to calm them down saying, “No no it’s not scary! Look happy Dorothy!”  All the while thinking; This is one fucked up play. Christ this is a fucked up play to show kids.  Who penned this out and decided it’d be good to show children? Hmm?


They ended the performance with this really aggressive drum sequence that more or less put my kids over the top.  Poor little WoongJay couldn’t stop crying, he just kept saying “Scary Lydia teacher. Many scary.” I thought about writing a letter to his mom, apologizing for the nightmares he surely had for the next few nights.

This field trip was once again one for the books.  I’ve learned my lesson though, our next outing is a couple weeks after Christmas break, we’re going to an indoor sledding venue.  I don’t even have a fraction of a thought of that being an easy day.

The class. Even Lena. 

Sweet Melody

Some of the kiddies singing the classic “I Can Sing a Rainbow”.  They hit a beautiful harmony in the middle, but Heather falters a bit with the lyrics towards the end...i’ve got confidence in them though...if they can clean it up there at in the home stretch, I think we might have a hit on our hands.




Since they know limited English, and Korean is no longer allowed in the classroom, they sing.  All throughout playtime, like the 7 dwarfs, they sing.  They also don’t realize the concept of song endings, so they just continue with the beginning whenever a song ends, or they just keep singing the same verse and chores over and over and over again...as you can see in the video.   They sang the exact same thing for at least 5 minutes after the camera stopped rolling.  It’s like the song that never ends...christ, I just got nauseous at the thought of them learning that jingle....Well! At least it keeps them occupied and out of the timeout chair.  And no one can deny that Jessica (little one in the white) has got some pipes.

Oh THAT North Korea situation...

I guess it’s time to address the North Korean elephant in the room.  I’ve received a pretty substantial amount of communication from people back home, obviously worried about the situation they’ve been hearing so much about on the news.  I wouldn’t dare say that this is being blown out of proportion by the American media, no never, but i’m going to go ahead and say that there is not a “state of crisis” and no one feels like they’re “under attack”.  Without outright saying that a lot of this is overreaction, because it is something that should be taken seriously, i’m gonna go head and say that things are going alright over here, and hopefully it stays that way.

My co-teacher, Lena, and I were in a GS 25.  I was perusing the cookies and crackers when I heard gasps coming from the counter.  I didn’t break stride because sounds of shock and disbelief coming from Koreans don’t phase me anymore, but as I walked up I saw stress and concern on Lena’s face - wide eyed, hands over her mouth, listening to the cashier.  I put my crackers on the counter and asked what was wrong.  It took her a few moments to answer, but she simply said “North Korea attacked.”  My stomach dropped, thought about it for a moment, grew skeptical, paid for my snack and headed back up to Reggio.  As we walked, we discussed the probability of this being true, all the while assuring one another that it was most likely nothing.  It was then that we decided we’d get the real story before panicking.  With the Reggio gate maybe 4 yards away, we see an ajuma running down the street and yelling.  I asked Lena what she said and she replied, “she say we at war.”

I’m happy to report that this was the most dramatic this situation’s gotten so far - on my end at least.  Initially learning about the attack, and the walk up to Reggio, was the most public display of worry i’ve seen from any Korean in the past week. Clearly i’m only speaking for myself, but it’s as if nothing has changed here.  I walk to work and the biggest concern for a lot of the Koreans still seems to be finding a wind free zone so they can light their glamor cigarette.  I’m not the Korean news stations primary audience, thus my news comes second hand, but from what i’ve heard from the locals, they seem to feel relatively ok.  And by ‘ok’ I mean they’re not petrified with fear, ordering portable bomb shelters, stocking up on bottled water and snack packs.  Maybe it’s because they’ve lived their entire lives with the threat of North Korea.  Maybe it’s because they’ve got complete confidence in the Korean military.  Maybe they’re delusional.  Honestly, I don’t know.  All I can say is i’m happy that things have maintained a sense of normalcy amongst “brink of war” comments and the amount of media attention being hurled at this thing.

This is not to say that there haven’t been a couple moments, since the incident on Yeonpyeong Island, where my mind hasn’t wondered to mushroom clouds, shrapnel, and wide spread meyham - because there surely have been.  For the past week Seoul’s been getting some very strange weather.  Weather that’s caused some late night thunder and lightening storms.  Nothing jolts you out of bed at night quite like a bright flash, followed by a loud thunderous sound, when there’s a psychopath in control of nuclear and chemical weapons, less than 100 kilometers to the north.  That has most definitely messed with my sleep, but in no way are all the foreigners tracing out the best routes to the embassy, with regards to distance from the military bases.

Maybe i’m being ignorant to the severity of this.  I do not have any sort of stock pile if something were to go down.  My cupboard is filled with chocolates and my fridge has a block of cheese, that might last me 2 days.  I don’t have a bag packed, ready to go on a moments notice, but I like to think that we’ve seen the worst and until I see a herd of ajumas running down the street screaming, i’m going to continue to live the day to day, where my biggest concern is lesson planning and figuring out how to keep Cat Class from turning into a WWE tournament.