Old Age Home:
Was not able to stay to do actual work because I had to go to Korean class (I was disappointed). The only thing I did note, however, was that whereas in the States I would have envisioned the nursing home asking the kids to simply be with the elderly- talk to them, ask them questions or entertain them. But the work the Digitech students were given had no connection to the elderly at all- cleaning the bathrooms, washing the tables, sweeping the outside and cleaning the car were not usually acts I associated with volunteering for the elderly. It did make me realize, however, that volunteer work shouldn't always be about the "fun" or "easy" stuff, helping out with the nitty-gritty work is still much needed help.
Soup Kitchen:
- Peeled garlic outside (manil)
- Cut vegetables (look up word for the green vegetables usually eaten as a side dish with the kimchi)
- Ate scorched rice (nurunji)
- Gave massages to old people while they waited for the food to be ready.
- conversation I had with old man sitting across from the person I was giving a neck massage to:
- Him: Thank you.
- Me: Why are you thanking me? He pointed his index finger and thumb out and contracted all his other fingers in order to make his hand look like a gun. Then he said
- Him: Miguk (America) Pukhan (North Korea), pew pew pew. Thank you.
- Serving: food train, passed food from one volunteer to the next to the next until all people had been given food. Then as they finished, they got up, handed their plates back to me, and the next person who had been waiting outside, came inside and sat down to get a new plate of food.
Hongpo:
Hongpo is essentially a school's promotion to prospective students in middle school. I wasn't invited by the school persé, but I asked to come and they were completely alright with that. We would go into the classroom and stand at the front. As I walked in the entire class would go, "wooooowwww" and I heard "dehhhpak (this is awesome!)" I would say, "Digitech Kodonghakyo hongpo wassumnida" and then the class would applaud fanatically. These happened over and over and over again in each classroom we went into. Once, we were waiting in the hallway and the bell went off and as the kids filed out of their classrooms, they saw me and stopped dead in their tracks. Then we would turn away and hear screams and giggles in the background. Jonghwan wouldn't stop chuckling and kept calling me, "Gadi superstar. Gadi superstar."
Unfortunately, today I heard that my soccer game that was planned for this Friday was being cancelled because it would be too cold. Instead my school is going hiking. Then for the weekend, I'm going camping with another American friend on the program and their host family!
Hwehsa (company):
Today students had to go to a company in a field they were intending to work in, and if not work in, then have some interest in. I went with Hyesong to his father's mechanic shop. I didn't see much of the father in the twenty minutes I was there (I expected it to be longer and to get my hands greasy working on the machines, but it was not like that. We just walked around and looked at the different machines processing some metals and oils; Hyesong didn't know exactly what). I was able to speak to one of the workers there:
I asked him how long he had been working there?
He laughed and said eight years.
He usually works at the mechanic shop from 9-5 on the weekdays, but does handyman jobs on the weekend to make more money.
He said he was impressed by my Korean pronunciation and said I was smart. As I said thank you-Hyesong interrupted and says, "Well, he is Jewish, you know." The man nodded his head.
I took this time to teach Hyesong and this man that, although there were lots of scientists that were Jews, just like in any people, there is a huge range of aptitude.
We stayed for a little while and drank bitter coffee from the vending machine, but it was it warm.
We went to get some tteokbokki (rice cakes) for brunch.
I went to a kinko's in Hongdae afterwards and printed out some copies of a English-roots study guide I made for my class. The English portion of the Korean SAT is extraordinarily difficult and so I wants to make a worksheet showing then that the meaning of many English words can be derived from its roots.
After class today, Kelsi and Elizabeth went to a sweet sauce tteokbokki place Grace had introduced me to. It is nothing more than an ahjumma (elderly woman) selling arguably the best sweet sauce deep friend tteokbokki we had ever tasted. As we sat and ate our cups of tteokbokki, a woman comes up to us with a huge bowl of the tteok and hands it to us, saying only, "seonmul." Present. And then walked away.
Called Mom for her birthday.
