Expect the Unexpected

When I first arrived for orientation everyone kept saying “Korea is dynamic.” I was never certain about what this meant, so whenever I heard the phrase I would simply smile and nod. However, as time continues to pass by I think I understand what the EPIK veterans and orientation leaders where trying to tell me. At my school, the translation for this phrase is “plans change frequently and fast, so expect the unexpected.” Plans can change within minutes, and being an English speaker often means I am not told about such changes in advance. Case and point my 8th grade speaking lesson today:

Class started as normal, with the usual squeals and daily greetings. I asked all of my students how they were and spent a good five minutes urging them to think of another adjective to use as a response other than ‘fine’. This is something we have been working on for a few weeks, and they are now comfortable coming up with a response on the spot. Each day, after the daily greetings, my co-teacher, Sue, and I jump into a listening activity followed by a speaking activity. Just as we had our students’ attention there was a knock at the door.

In walks one of the science teachers with a plastic bottle in her hand. As she is making her announcement, which I have no idea what about, she opens her bottle and begins handing out a small plastic strip to each girl. I have no idea what is going on, but the strips she is handing out resemble PH strips used to test pool water. Wanting to know exactly why our class has stopped, I ask Sue:

“What are those for?”
“They have to take a urine test.” Sue responds nonchalantly.
“What for?”
“To see if our students have diseases.”

What the heck! I have lines of students coming and going with their unused and used urine strips. What makes the situation all the more funny is I have a class of 39 girls, but the bathroom down the hall only has two stalls. So, as you can imagine, this testing of diseases is a slow process! By the time all the girls return, twenty minutes have passed by and I know I have to scrap my original plans for the day. We work on the listening activity and finish with four minutes left of class. To help pass the time, I decide I will tell them what we will do next class. Before I can get a word out, a hand shoots up and asks, “How do you call what we did earlier in English?” I know they are not talking about the listening activity.

“It is called a urine or pee test in English.” I write down the new words on the board to aid understanding. What makes this situation odd is that my response isn’t met with laughter or giggles, but rather all of my students are nodding and writing down the new vocabulary they just learned. Well at least now I know what “Korea is dynamic” means!