July 21st Cultural Disparities

The day started off in a haze. I shared a bed with one of the guys on a trip- purely platonic- I assure you. It was either get a little bit close, or sleep on the grimy floor. And from what I heard, was that English teachers don’t necessarily sleep on the floor. We drove back down the mountain from the Retreat Center toward Iksan, where the English camp was being held. And like always in Korea, we were tardy. Classes came much too soon.
I introduced myself to my class of twelve students and had them make a Team sign. I have begun to implement discipline into the classroom to keep them under control. I had a student wall sit for thirty seconds to teach him not to trash talk his teacher. Even though my teaching started out with a slight hiccup from a reluctant student, we pressed forward and created the sign. Our team name ended up being, “the Silly snakes”/. We then proceeded to the games, which conviently there was a microphone handy, and I used my low baritone voice to speak into.

Cultural Clash- Korean culture is very different from American culture. And though there may be vivid differences, it is most evident in myself. Since I am studying English Literature and western thought portrayed within major works, my thought processes are doused with western ideologies. I find myself not truly desiring to adapt or blend in the culture, since tolerance must be felt on both sides. Headaches are the new normal during the day trying to silence my western spirit, and replaced it with the repressive Eastern mysticism. I do not think I will ever shake my western core ideologies, and quite honestly, I am not sympathetic towards a culture that still believes blowing ones nose in public is disgraceful. If the prefix dis, is stable onto disgraceful, then they should allocate some amount of grace towards my undesire to adapt to every inch of their archaic standards. I realize fully the implications of this speech, and the weight that hangs above my shoulders on acting according to tradition, however, I am a westerner, and no guise will ever truly veil the luminescence that is true. Whether I am stubborn or calloused is irrelevant, what is relevant is my relevance toward myself, and my beliefs. Transparency begets truth, and adaptation obscures it. Not to mention my partiality towards the writings of the great minds of western culture. The value of the individual over the whole I am piously western. And until proven obstinate through Eastern facets, I will remain.

The night at the retreat center is comfortable. After a tactical assault on the students with pillows, the teachers and myself were puckered out. I am in love with children and serving their needs. We had “shower time” with the kids tonight, where we would yelp at high decibels until they all ran headlong into the steaming showers that awaited their anxious skin. I love being a teacher, and through that intrinsic love, I hope above all things to change the lives of children for the better