Wow - I left the country just in time, apparently. I don't have any English language TV channels here (I don't even get AFN on my cable service), and I've been pretty lax about reading the news online. It was only this morning that I learned from Gwen about this latest attempted terrorist attack and the subsequent bans on various carry-ons and numerous travel delays. I'm glad I left when I did. It boggles the mind, seriously. I simply cannot fathom what drives people to such acts. Perhaps the fact that I don't have any sort of religious faith is the reason for my inability to comprehend such fanaticism. I also don't understand how one is supposed to fly without water. I am incredibly obsessive with regards to carrying water with me everywhere I go - especially on long dehydrating flights to places like Korea.
But, since I'm in Korea and not likely to be flying anywhere for at least a year, I suppose I don't really have to concern myself with airborne terrorists or airborne water-shortages. So instead, I'll tell you about my first week in Daegu working at the Ansim Oedae Language Institute. My schedule and class-types are quite different from the American Home, but even though it's different, it's very easy to adapt to, and I'm quite enjoying myself. I teach Monday through Friday (woohoo - free weekends!), and I teach from 2:30 to 9:05 (with breaks, no worries!) on MWF and from 2:30 to 7:30 on TT. I've got one class with some little ones (not kindergarten, but definitely younger elementary), and right now pretty much everyone else is in middle school. Eventually I'll have high schoolers too. I've been asked if the kids are anything like the ones Melissa and I "taught" at Wonderland (ie, unholy terrors) - and the anser is no, they aren't. Most of them are quite well behaved. There are some who are rowdy (one class in particular - 13 middle-school boys), but they are all rowdy in the fun-well-meaning-but-noisy kind of way, not in the evil-lets-terrorize-teacher kind of way. Classes are divided into reading, grammar and speaking sections. Students have a different teacher for each section... and I teach speaking! This means that for the time being I do very little in the way of grammar explanations. Hooray :-) Of course, occasionally I do have to explain bits of grammar - but after three semesters at the American Home teaching ONLY the lower levels, I can teach basic English grammar with my eyes closed. (Well, except for the parts that I used to explain in Russian... the fact that my spoken Korean amounts to little more than where is the bathroom limits me a lot in this field!)
The school has two short vacation periods during the course of the year... and oddly enough, the first one is next week. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, after my first week at work I am embarking on a fabulous five-day weekend! (On the one hand this is awesome, as it means I'll get to do some sight-seeing early on; on the other hand, it's going to be a long time before my next vacation. Sigh.) I don't really have any plans for tomorrow, other than cleaning my kitchen and doing some shopping, but Gwen and I are planning on heading off to a cave full of aliens and the beach on Sunday. I'll keep you posted!
2 comments:
One thing you can take to the bank is that the majority of the "people" who commit acts of terrorism do NOT do it with their religion in the forefront of their minds. Rather, they selectively use what they want to legitimize their barbarity, similar to the way a Southern Baptist Televangelist will pick and choose the points in the Bible that make his points and ignore those that tend to refute them. Islamofascist terrorists really are looking for ways to a) demonstrably reject and punish the West, and b) bring attention to themselves and their tribe/family/clan/nation/etc. Actual religious conviction and fervor has very little to do with it.
Man, that cave looks awesome, in a really campy, very Roswell sort of way. I hope you enjoy it and I can't wait to hear your takes.
Don't forget to NOT swim in the water!
~Matt~
Well, I think religiou *does* have a lot to do with it. I mean, whether it's the Southern Baptist Televangelist picking and choosing from the Bible to justify hisper sonal beliefs/actions or the Islamic fundamentalist terrorist picking and choosing from the Koran to justify their actions or their need to "punish the west" - either way, they're motivated a lot by religion. Meanwhile, I simply cannot comprehend wanting to kill lots of people or punish any group or even individual (whether a religion, a social group, or a country/region). In trying to understand their behavior the only thing I can see as a linkage is religious fundamentalism...
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