SATs in South Korea

Today was an interesting day at my school. First, I learned that they have a special day each year on November 11th. It is a day similar to Valentine's Day, where kids and adults will receive "pepperosticks" from their loved ones or crushes. When holding up the sticks you can see the number 11 for the date. Pepperosticks are a type of chocolate or vanilla covered prezle/cracker with chocolate sprinkles or nuts on it. Teachers will also get these from their students sometimes (especially in elementary school) and teachers will bring them to share with their office:) I was given one by someone in my office and it was delicious! YUM:) Supposedly it is also a hallmark holiday, except that instead of cards, the company who makes the pepperosticks uses this holiday for their business to advertise.

Another reason today was special was because it was the day before the big SAT for the high-school students. During their final year (3rd yr) in high-school, students must take the SAT in order to find out which university they will be placed at. Unlike the SAT or ACT in America, Korean students can only take this test once. It is a HUGE deal and I think a lot of pressure for the students. The airports even close on this day all throughout Korea!!! Can you believe that??! WOW. Since parents care deeply for their students' education here in Korea, parents, especially mothers, are very very nervous for their child the day before the test. For this reason, Koreans will give gifts of candy/chocolate and money to the parents of the child who is about to take the test the day before (today). Parents will also give chocolate and money...sometimes $100 (100,000 won) to their child in order to motivate them to do well. Lucky kids! Mothers will also go to church and do 108 bows the entire week or sometimes the entire month of the test date if their religion is Buddhism. Mrs. Hyun even told me that some mothers will go to church the entire day and bow 108 times each hr! Again WOW! Parents really care for their kids' education here. Mrs. Hyun, an English teacher in my department, received a bunch of treats today from other teachers because her daughter will be taking the SAT tomorrow. Mrs. Hyun also told me she has been going to church to do the 108 bows meditation each day for the past month. Her daughter who stays in the dorms at the high school will be coming home tonight where she will receive the gifts and go to bed early. Her test will be all day tomorrow...from 8:30 am to 7pm!!! OMG Poor girl! Well, I wished Mrs. Hyun luck to her daughter and hope both of them can relax after the test!

Just learned some more interesting information. One Friday every other month the students will be served a piece of cake (it was vanilla with vanilla frosting) to celebrate all of the students' birthdays. Neat idea!

I have some depressing news as well. Keith and I had a favorite tea place that served this amazing dish....thick green tea pasta in this very hearty seaweed soup (with tons of secret ingredients/ spices). The dish is one of a kind and probably my favorite dish here, plus the lil shop has so many unique teas. But our third time going, we invited a bunch of friends and there probably ended up being maybe around 15 of us in this little tea place. We thought the two ladies that worked there would love the business. However, they must not have liked all of us there (I don't think they like or need business maybe?) because ever since, we have tried going back and ordering the soup and there is always confusion and we never are able to get it. It's so confusing and frusterating to us that at least 3 times we have gone there trying to order the soup again and for some reason it is out, they are confused and give us something else, or they tell us it isn't on the menu anymore. Most of this information is through hand gestures, by the way. Well, I wrote the name of the soup in my little notebook the first time we went there, so we knew what it was called, plus there is only one other food item on the menu...a spicy bibimbop so it really shouldn't be that confusing! Then just last week I heard that our two friends have been there a few times since our last bad experience and was able to order the soup! So it has been the mystery of the green tea soup for me and Keith. I have been craving the delicious soup though, so our plan was to go with our friends and have them order before entering! ha well, we just went in with them and we were able to get the soup; however, I think that will be the last time Keith and I go to our old favorite tea place because they always change the prices on us and overcharge us and the lady we order from is always just so confused which makes us confused why it has to be so confsusing to order the same dish every single time! ahh just thought that was a funny story. Besides that restaurant, everyone else at different restaurants have been super friendly to us foreigners. So we will just have to look for a new favorite tea place.

Yesterday, as I entered my first class of all-boys, my co-teacher and I found there to be no students in the classroom which was very out of the ordinary. While I was asking my co-teacher where the boys were, I saw her peeking out the window then having a very upset look on her face. So I also looked out the window and there they were...my entire 1-10 (the name of their class) 40 boys outside with the gym teacher all being punished. They were all in the pushup position while being yelled at and would probably spend the rest of the day, maybe even week, cleaning the school. Later I found out that two of the students were fighting in the classroom and the rest of the class locked them in and stood right outside watching the fight through the windows. My oh my! So I was thinking bad boys...but I was also thinking..now I dont have a class to teach. hmmm But I only had to wait 2 minutes to hear my co-teacher tell me we were in the wrong classroom. She had forgotten that there was a schedule change (which happens A LOT, but I don't mind) so we had to rush on to a different boys' class to teach. This is common to have kids fighting, but I always just hear about it and see them getting punished. I never actually see the fights. My friend who teaches elementary school also tells me about fights amongst the boys all the time and how they have even punched a hole in the wall! I guess wherever you are in the world, you always have those kids that misbehave and are troublemakers! Don't get me wrong though, many students are very very studious, well-behaved and polite....boys and girls. And I find that my boys tend to like more interactive lessons and competitive games, while my girls usually love crafts and studying from the book, as well as following directions (they are very very shy sometimes when playing the games I prepare which can make it difficult).

One more random note (which I may have already mentioned in an early blog)...while number 13 is unlucky in the western countries (today is friday the 13th by the way and Koreans know this day as unlucky too because of us foreigners), but the number 4 is very very unlucky in Korea and is known as "death". Therefore, there is never a number 4 in elevators, for apartment numbers/ floors, etc. Instead, they will have a F for the 4th floor in the elevator and different numbers or symbols to represent that number. Koreans take the unlucky number to a new level! :) But my co-teacher told me on airplanes they do not have the seat number, 13, because it is a western custom....is this true?? If so, I never knew it!