It's been a fun and exciting three weeks. First and most importantly, we celebrated Mike's birthday on July 29th! We actually celebrated it on July 30th because he was in China for his birthday, but nonetheless we had a great time. My Las Vegas friends will appreciate that we purchased a CostCo birthday cake and it is as delicious here as it is in the states. CostCo must use a universal recipe for their baked goods. Michaela picked out the cake theme and flavor. (picture to follow) We spent the evening with our good friends the Lowrys and the Chadwicks. This was the first time each family had a chance to meet one another and after several bottles of wine and some empty beer bottles, the party was a rip roaring success!
We also celebrated the loss of Michaela's first top front tooth this past week with another loose tooth on it's way to the Tooth Fairy. Here in Korea, they do not observe the "Tooth Fairy" concept and some of Mike's colleagues told that to Michaela when she went into the office with Mike last week. Instead they shared with her how they pull teeth in Korea and it has to do with string, a blow to the head, and then a missing tooth and after all of that no money for the little one. Michaela was pretty horrified at this custom and equally as concerned that the Tooth Fairy would not know to come to Korea and deliver her money under the pillow. Thankfully, the special nymph came to UN Village and even delivered the goods in the form of kwon, which Michaela can actually spend here.
Life has begun to gather a rhythm here for our family. Today Michaela started her first grade year at YISS (Yongsan International School of Seoul). She is one of 19 children and I'm not sure how many countries are represented in her class. She shares a desk pod with four other Korean children, but there are many more other nationalities represented in her room and throughout the school. All of the children in Michaela's class have to be able to learn in english as their primary language although most of them have secondary languages they speak at home. Michaela told me tonight that she met one little boy from Mexico in her first grade class who is eight years old because his parents held him back for two years in pre-school because he wasn't learning english appropriately to attend foreign school.
This leads me to my main topic today and that is the absolute desire by parents to have their Korean children speak english fluently. I never really understood fully this issue before living in Korea. In Korea, specifically, english has only been taught as a second language in the public schools over the last fifteen years; prior to that, chinese was the second language. This makes complete sense since the chinese alphabet is the basis for many words and letters in the hangeul alphabet. From a practical standpoint, it also makes sense to teach chinese because, let's face it, China dominates this part of the world and frankly is rapidly starting to dominate the western half of the globe too. However, english is still the recognized business language and in order for this generation of Koreans to move their country forward to the next tier they need to know and speak english fluently.
Affluent Korean parents will go to many ends to ensure their children are being taught and exposed to english and western culture (as a learning experience primarily). Many Koreans will leave Korea to study in the United States. Many earn their upper level degrees in the universities there and may stay on afterwards for a professorship post or another job in the private sector. In the meantime, they may have started a family and those children born in the U.S. have dual citizenship. In some instances, mom or dad may be a second generation Korean-American who is planning on coming back to Korea, but also has American citizenship. This allows their children to attend foreign schools with other english speaking children from around the world. Please put in context that compared to other industrialized nations, Korea has some of the lowest english speaking rates - I've heard figures of around 40% of the population speaks english, but I'm unclear how accurate that truly is. Suffice it to say, many Koreans understand english, but do not feel comfortable speaking.
I have become friendly with several well-to-do Korean mom's at Michaela's taekwando studio and all of them are planning on leaving Seoul by the time their children are around middle school aged to come to the US or Canada to live so that their children can be educated in an english speaking environment and understand western cultures so that when that child is ready to go to college and then join the workforce s/he will be able to compete at the highest levels within society. As my friend Robert recently told me, a mark of a successful Korean child is one who only gets four hours of sleep at night. An unsuccessful child will get five hours of sleep. There is obviously some tongue in cheek to this statement, but behind it lies much truth in the work ethic and drive that is instilled in these children from infants upward. (P.S. If you ever desired to take in an exchange student, a Korean student would be a warm and welcome addition to your family.)
Since I'm studying hangeul, I am often very eager to speak to native Koreans to practice my phrases and vocabulary. They are as interested in talking to me to learn english phrases and make sure they are using the proper vocabulary. I am often spent at the end of a day because I feel like I have been in an intense learning environment from the moment I leave my home until I retreat back at night. My senses are overwhelmed with trying to read and learn and speak the native tongue all the while sharing and cross educating with my Korean friends. Selfishly, I so desire a Korean chat buddy that will solely help me to improve my pronunciation and grammar, although I know that a one-sided relationship like that is really not possible; the desire is too great to learn english proficiently. Even the most fluent english speaking Koreans will not believe you when you tell them how wonderfully they speak. I read not long ago in a local expat magazine that english in Korea is bought and sold like a product and I have to say that is a true statement. I know I feel it conversely in my desire to master hangeul.
Speaking of that, I am still plugging along with my language classes. I have learned many conversational phrases, I can read about 50% by slowly sounding words out, I'm starting to pick-up vocabulary and my Korean friends tell me my pronunciation is spot-on. I take that as a high compliment because to learn to speak this language is difficult because sounds for words are formed more in the back of the throat and mouth then when speaking a "roman" language. I'm proud of the fact that Mike is beginning to rely upon me a bit now to find our way about the city and I'm taking the lead with taxis and basic conversations. I have found a new and true love, and that is learning languages. I wish I could study it every day and speed up my learning process. I would love nothing more then to be able to become conversational in hangeul and then start with chinese. My personal goal is to be fully conversational here within nine months. We'll see how I do...
I've uploaded some pictures from over the past few weeks. I hope you enjoy them and the blog. I promise I will talk back at you sooner then three weeks next time!
Peace,
Stephanie
First lost top tooth! Woo hoo! Way to go Michaela!
Just looking cute with Dad. Michaela said this would be a good FB photo! Too Funny!
When you order pizza in Korea - as with most other western foods - you always, always get pickles and honey mustard as a side and of course pickled radishes both yellow and white (which by the way, I LOVE!) Koreans love pickles and honey mustard so they think you should always eat it with everything - even pizza and fried chicken.
On the left is my new friend Jenn - Just Kidding!!!! My friend Jenn is on the right! But dig that visor! Look closely ladies because you're all getting one for Christmas! I can buy them cheap here! You have been forewarned!
Choco CostCo birthday cake - need I say more...
Heading out to dinner with Mr. Sung, Director of Operations at SKT and V.P. Ahn, SKT
One more time - standing up and looking good!! Whoop Whoop
Here comes the Mom unit in front of the camera this time...
The Diva wanted us to take a billion photos of her all dressed-up - of course our cab is waiting outside the whole time - meter running - oops!
First day of 1st Grade at YISS! Yay!!!
Sassy pants in her school uniform. It's a Christian school with strict uniform guidelines - skirts have to be at the knee. Of course I purchased Michaela's uniforms in the states about 2 sizes too big, so I think we'll be good with the whole knee length thing for awhile.
One more - a little less sassy
One more time - here's the Mom unit in front of the camera
Robert with the kiddos - Michaela would like to "keep Pierce" as her little brother. Lucky us, Conrad and Michaela are in the same class this year.
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