Hines Ward & North Korea

Today I had to take a group faculty photo for the graduation album. None of the other teachers wanted to stand next to me because they said I have a small face. This is actually a compliment. I get comments all the time about how thin or how small my face is. This is because most Korean women hate their round faces and always wish they were thin. I find this really amusing because I think all of the women who tell me this are absolutely beautiful. I kind of secretly wish I was Asian.

Today in my one teachers' class I was talking about American football, which they knew absolutely nothing about. I started naming famous quarterbacks hoping it would spark some sort of recognition. I wasn't getting anywhere so I gave up, until one of the teachers (who knows nothing about football) asked me if I knew Hines Ward (he is part Korean). I thought the Walko's and McGlynns would really enjoy that little tidbit. A lot of the Koreans I've spoken too also know the Phillies because one of the players is Korean. What a small world.

I had another of those moments today where I thought to myself, "Wow. Is this really my life right now?" I was in my evening teachers class, which is my favorite of all of the classes I teach. They are the nicest group of people, and we have some pretty interesting and eye opening discussions in those classes. Today I had the teachers read an article on Korean military service. For those of you who don't know, all Korean men are required by law to serve in the military for 2 years. Most of them do it in their 20's. I am absolutely fascinated by this and I try to ask as many Korean guys my age about their experiences as possible, without being rude. I just can't imagine growing up knowing that you have to dedicate 2 years of your life to the military, especially since its done during what are supposed to be some of the best years of your life. Anyway, I had the teachers read an article about it and then split them up into two debate teams. One team wanted to reduce the required time spent in the army, and the other team wanted to keep it the same. We ended up having a really intense debate about the topic. They started talking about their feelings on the threat North Korea poses, and about their brothers' and sons' negative experiences in the military. I thought to myself: Wow. I mean who knows what will happen with North Korea in the future. Regardless of what happens, I will always have this memory of sitting in a classroom in South Korea with these intelligent women discussing (in English) about politics with North Korea. It was a pretty amazing feeling.
After the discussion I asked the women to tell me how they really felt about mandatory military service since I made them argue certain sides, and every single one of them said that they hated the idea. They wish their service could be voluntary like America's. They the shared some of the things their male relatives told them about their experiences in the military, and it sounds really depressing. I think of some of the really sweet Korean guys I've met here and I can't imagine them in an army uniform carrying weapons and doing monotonous exercises everyday for two years. It's crazy.

Sometimes I can't believe this is actually my life.