1/6 Day 1

Only just catching up with yesterday:

In the morning we woke up with some toast and tangerines from Lotte Mart, then headed up the steep incline to Yeomyung. There was some hurried unpacking of suitcases and organizing of materials before the students started trickling in. I was relieved to see that the preserved frogs for Day  7: Forensics were indeed preserved, and that despite some mishaps with computers, technology came through and we were able to start off the lessons!

The first half of the day was focused on ice breakers and learning English words, which had mixed results. Some of the students were very into it and were excited to learn words such as “question” and “please,” while other students (especially those who had done the program before, or were not comfortable in either English or Korean) were not as engaged. It’s always hard to gauge the pace when students come from such different levels of familiarity. At least everyone got to learn each other’s names! Sarah really helped out with the Korean (this really surprised the students), Lulu’s Chinese came in clutch when explaining to the students who were Chinese speakers, and Lexi was always there to reach out to students and help make things happen.

Today’s science lesson was a modified repeat of last year’s Day 7: Remote Sensing. The idea is to follow the path of light from the sun, to the atmosphere, to the surface of the Earth, to the satellite’s sensor, and then to the user’s computer where it becomes a picture that contains information. I was afraid that I might lose some of the students in the more physics-y topics, or that the returning students might get bored—but was pleasantly surprised to find that the students were engaged and even asking questions! One of the students, Hank, wanted to know why the sky was blue—I was slightly caught off guard, but then somehow managed to cobble together an explanation in Korean about different wavelengths of light scattering at different points in the atmosphere. When we went down to the computer lab, we did the map activity where people guessed the place we are from and looked for it on Google Earth.  As I expected, when it came to their turn, many students decided to look for their old homes in North Korea or China, and some of them volunteered information on what the landmarks were. I found it to be a nice way to share our backgrounds in a way that is visual but also not too invasive.

I wanted to focus on one student in particular, who goes by the name of George Washington. As one of the older students (and older than all of us), I thought he would be more reserved, but he is among the most engaged and lively students. He was the first student to ask a question, and asked me to repeat words in English so that he could get the pronunciation. I haven’t had a chance to have a long conversation with him yet, but he told me that he had come directly from North Korea. Looking back at the pre-workshop survey, he had put down that he doesn’t have money but doesn’t let it get to him, and wrote that he was interested in all the subjects that we were planning on teaching. George inspires me with his tenaciousness, zest for life, and genuine wonder.

I look forward to getting to know him and everyone else better. 

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After Day 1, we all went on a mad hunt to find some hydrogen peroxide for Day 2: Chemistry (more about that later). The first place we had gone to turned out to be a dead end in a sketchy alley, after which Lulu and I went off towards Dongdaemun to the chemical store we had gone to before. Unfortunately they weren’t selling manageable quantities of hydrogen peroxide, so we went to Jungbu Market, which apparently had a sizable number of chemical, paint, and epoxy stores. We happened across a hole in the wall that sold a variety of soap making products, and the man there was kind enough to offer us traditional tea (ginger, jujube, sugar, and something called a 감초) while we waited for our 35% H2O2 solution. The owner also gave me an umbrella because I was only wearing a rain jacket. He told us that he had been operating the store for 50 years, and that we should come back should we need any sort of chemical supplies.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that any of these things have actually happened.

UPDATE: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE WEAR PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT (PPEs) WHEN WORKING WITH CHEMICALS! While we were fortunate in being able to obtain these substances for teaching purposes, we weren’t the wisest when handling them (and have had to deal with the consequences). Make sure to have gloves, goggles, lab coats, and a well-ventilated area. Please don’t try these experiments at home!