So Jennifer and I went to Seoul this weekend--I know, we've been going there a lot lately, but it is the heart and soul (groan) of the country. We had heard that Seoul had a great Swing dance scene, but we were more than a little surprised to see how big that scene was once we got into town. Jen went ahead early to secure our Chinese visas so that we could visit there in December, and I came into town a bit later with our shoes.
We got to the Big Apple, on the outskirts of Seoul at Bangbae station. The station was a bit creepy actually, since there was a town of exposed vents and walls--apparently, they were cleaning out Asbestos (yikes!). Anyway, we trumped up the hill to the dance hall. There, we discovered that Korean swing involves especially big dance rooms and great floors. No, seriously, it was equal to the size of the new Cat's Corner back home in Montreal, and they've got a pretty huge floor, too!
The Korean dancers were quite something, and it was a bit intimidating at first for us--we didn't know if it was kosher to just walk up and grab a partner for a dance like back home. It was after Jen and I, as well as Rebecca, another dancer from North America who had just recently arrived in Korea, started dancing together that *we* got grabbed for dances by some rather friendly Koreans. More than half of them spoke very good English, too, so it was easy to communicate, and our Korean, while terrible, is good enough to enable us to ask the other person's name and if they wouldn't mind us cutting in.
All told, it was a lot of fun, and we're likely to do it again this weekend.
We also got together for a big US Thanksgiving get-together with our co-workers in Suwon. We bought chicken, since there wasn't any turkey on hand, and others brought lasagna, pasta, chili, and a ton of dessert. Jen also made Candy Apples, which went over well--I'm still cleaning the sugar from my teeth, though.
It was, overall, a bit of an up-and-down week. It started out with an odd Monday night, when Sumi, Ashley, and myself went out to Tae Kwon Do after class, and witnessed our Korean Dojang instructors arguing over who had to teach the foreigners. The regular instructor, Master Cha, wasn't there, and I'm aware that it's embarrassing trying to teach someone if they don't speak your language and vice versa, but still--I've had to teach Spanish, Korean, and other non-English speakers back home in Canada. I may moan about it on occasion, but never *in front of* the students in question.
Oh well. We had some student issues this week, too: several of my kids left due to the financial crisis and its effects on their families, while others migrated to other schools or are just taking December off. It's unfortunate, because if they choose to return in January, they're going to have missed a month's worth of work, especially in classes where we're teaching out of a grammar book. That's a lot of data to lose, and if you can't use verbs properly to begin with...
I understand the Korean desire to learn and use English, but I'm beginning to wonder if it's helpful for some of my kids. Well, that's not true, I've wondered about this for a long time, but you get the point: if a child does not want to learn English, but is being forced to, why is the child's parents forcing them to do it and spend money that could be put elsewhere into an education that child does not want or sometimes need? Don't get me wrong, I want as many kids in my class as I can, that's how I stay employed! But still, I know I've got one student or two who want to go to an art hagwon instead. Let 'em. I'll even subtly encourage her--I don't demand she put away her art book in class, since I know that's what she wants to do with the rest of her life.
I digress.
If you're reading all this and want to find a Swing spot for yourself, check out the link I put up above for the Big Apple. There's about 12-14 other spots in Seoul, and apparently, more in Busan in Suwon, if you can find them. Key word, there: it's a bit like an in-crowd, so if you don't know where to go in those cities, you have to find the right people to ask, which is a bit of a challenge.
The other option is to check out a meet-up group, like this one , or facebook.
We did, and it worked out fine.
Best regards,
Chris
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