Holidays are a funny thing. Most of our holidays are unique to our country and our culture. Halloween is a wonderful holiday and I have always loved it, but telling Korean kids and even my co-workers from England and Australia about it absolutely made me sound nuts. My students completely refused to believe that you could knock on a strangers door and get candy. They flat out called me a liar. To them, you would never talk to a stranger.
You would never go to a strangers house. And even your parents are not likely to give you candy because they are a very health-conscious culture. So there I was, trying to defend grown adults wearing costumes, taking candy from strangers, and putting up skulls all over your house. It made me realize that yes, Halloween does sound crazy from the outside. And yet, when you take those things out of context, they can actually seem really strange to others.
I found myself defending my culture a lot. Not in a bad way, exactly, but just in the way that you would expect. Their questions, however difficult, demanded answers. I did my best to be a good ambassador for my country and my culture, and I hope I proved equal to the task. A tip for teachers: Going as a witch is fine. But if you teach small children, do not go for a scary costume. I moved to South Korea is , in January.
It was a challenge beyond what I had expected and required all new clothes. I had to learn about waterproof boots, long underwear, and insulated parkas. The bigger challenge was learning to teach. I had to develop incentive programs to ensure maximum participation in class, and I had to figure out how to get the textbook material to come alive for the kids.
Later on, I even got the freedom to develop my own classes. The kids love to play games where they acquire items. So, I was able to use Dungeon and Dragons to teach them new vocabulary while feeling like they were playing a game. It was hard to adjust to the culture and the job, but I think that I was able to do this very well. In South Korea they have a custom where you are expected to go out for meals and drinks with your coworkers, and occasionally take vacations together. Some nights my boss kept us out so late that she ended up buying us breakfast and cabs home.
