Summer Daze

Yo,


Its the middle of summer here in Incheon. You might thinking, "ahh yea, Mark's on his summer break." Sike!


I'm still teaching. In fact, most of the kids here in Yeonsu High School are still learning, even though the semester is over. This sounds ridiculous, but they take "summer classes." Not because all 1300 students failed classes, they just have to. Or in the words of my co-teacher Mrs. Park, "they are encouraged to, by us and their parents." Let me translate: "to succeed on a ridiculously difficult college exam that is dooming on them, they are forced to take classes that do not count for a grade, and they forced to take these classes not by their parents, but by their mothers." (Remember, the Korean mother is the supreme being in a child's educational policy, the Korean father is the breadwinner)



So, I too am teaching classes, in the form of "English Camps." I am teaching two consecutive English camps, one for freshmen and one for juniors in consecutive weeks. Everyday, from 2-5PM, which by my count, is kind of a cool deal. I get into work around 9AM, and I have four hours to chill out and prepare lesson plans, or sleep. Sike. I spend most of my mornings usually working out in our little gym downstairs, then get a nice hot shower, and come back to relax.



For camp, I am teaching them alot of goofy games to get them to practice their English. Games like "Simon Says," "Build a Group Sentence," and I actually pulled off a mini-version of the "Price is Right," with me as Bob Barker and my co-teacher as my model assistant to hold up the items. I taught lessons on the nations of England and America, and for my last day, I'm going to top it off with a film called "Freedom Writers" with Hilary Swank, to teach them the importance of diversity and the struggle us Americans have to go through to get along as colored people.



Other than that...where's my vacation? The kids are going to get at least two weeks off where they can go home and do nothing, but as for me, where is little Mr. Mark going to do for his first summer vacation outside of college?



Japan.


Yes!


After some ambitious planning, my friend James and I are going to head to the Land of the Rising Sun. We're both excited to trek to this mysterious land of haunted history and renowned innovation. Japan, even though infamous in East Asia and America for its role in World War 2, has risen up to be one of the top economic powers in the world today. Creating and innovating new products for world export, their renowned work ethics and imagination have taken the world by storm. Not just on an economic level, where they produced the best in automobiles, electronics, and most recently, robotics (their androids are amazing! Go to youtube.com and type "Japan androids") But on an entertainment and cultural level, Japan's infuence is everywhere: food, anime, Samurai culture, cartoons, house design, and language.


So one of our goals on this trip is to compare the differences between Japanese and Korean societies. Korea and Japan are right next to each other, so their influence on one another, even though they are intense rivals in many respects and don't like to admit their influence on each other, are at times mutual. Korea was the conduit for Japan's exposure to Chinese culture in the olden days, and Korean celadon pottery and architecture were direct influences on Japanese culture.


In turn, Japan has had an influence on Korea jumpstarted its economy after the disastrous Korean war, where Korea adopted some measures of how the Japanese government maintained close business ties with the private companies (Korean, "Chaebol," in Japanese, "Zaibatsu), to provide them contracts and fundings to keep their industries afloat.

But our main goal is to answe the question: "Are Japanese different from the Koreans?" Their societies are similar, but we know the answer is, "yes, they are different." Our main question is then..."how?"

So for one week, my friend James and I are going to explore the Kansai region, which consists of two major cities in the area: Osaka and Kyoto. Osaka is the third biggest city in Japan, and Kyoto is the old imperial capital of old.

I can't wait.