FRIDAY:
End of my short work week. I arrive at the school and continue with what I was doing the day before...absolutely nothing! :) I did manage to finish up my introduction powerpoint presentation that I planned on using for next week's lesson. The highlight of my day was getting to go into the "English Zone" and play with the technology. My female co-teacher showed me how to use the computer (it's in Korean of course!) and how to use the touch screen board. Not sure why my computer in the teacher's lounge can be in English and this one can't. Also, what confuses me is there are white boards to the left and right of this touch screen that I am not able to use because she says they do not have markers and I should write with the touch pen on the screen. Well, what if I want two things to be shown at the same time? I like to write on the board in marker. My solution to this is to find my own markers and erasers eventually. They still use chalkboards in the regular classrooms...I'd take that too if I could!
So during this "play time" I notice a crap load of teaching materials in cupboards and on shelves. However, most of them are upopened, which seems like a waste to me! I plan to eventually put use to some of them. Since I was going to use my PPT as my introduction to my students, I wanted to test it out on the big touch screen. I plug it in, everything works perfectly! I am excited about this & return to my desk looking forward to Monday's lesson. (I will explain more on that later, lol, you can guess what happens I'm sure).
SCHOOL LUNCHES:
Perhaps I should mention my daily situation of eating lunch in a Korean school. The first day we had lunch provided in the office from the Vice Principal as a gift. It was the infamous "bibimbap" which as I've said before I'm not a big fan of! I force it down & continue with my day.
The next day I ate in the cafeteria with Mr. Bahn. I could tell by the look on his face he was worried I would not like the food. Turns out it was a fish soup, rice, and a meat patty. Of course they had veggies as a side dish and kimchi. I opted to just take the main course and walk to a table. Of course, the principal spots me and pulls out a seat for me beside of him. I nervously sit down & he stares at my plate, then looks at Mr. Bahn and says something in Korean. I look at Mr. Bahn and he explains that the principal told him "it is Korean tradition to eat vegetables with your meal"...whoops, my bad Mr. Principal! haha! Shortly after the principal completes his meal and leaves. I then force myself to eat the fish soup...just the broth, nothing else floating around in it. I had no problem with the rice and meat. I actually wish I had the option to get seconds on those two things. As we leave the cafeteria Mr. Bahn says that I may want to bring my own lunch from now on so that I do not starve every day, lol. Guess I didn't hide the fact that I didn't care for Korean food too well.
From his advice, I bring a ham & cheese sandwich the next day, along with some korean style pringles and a couple other snacks..fruits and such. I enter the break room to retrieve my sandwich from the fridge and notice all of the female teachers are sitting at the main table with a million side dishes. They prompt me to join them. I could feel the stares as I brought out my sandwich to eat. They immediately search the room for some chopsticks for me and start pushing their side dishes towards me. While this is generous of them, I am sort of bothered because I am perfectly happy with the food that I brought. Plus, I didn't have anything to share with them in return, so I felt bad! To top off things...I didn't like half of the stuff they forced me to eat. I couldn't even identify it!! I could tell this would be a daily problem, which I have yet to figure out a solution to! They also all go the bathroom to brush their teeth together after lunch. I do not find the need to do this, but I figure I will bring those supplies from now on so I do not offend their custom.
SCHOOL MEETING:
Back to my Friday. Mr. Bahn tells me that there is a school meeting at 6PM and that I should attend it with him. Being that the "meeting" was taking place in downtown Gumi in the evening, it was safe to assume it would be more of a eat food & drink beer & soju type of ordeal. I was correct in my assumption! At 5PM Mr. Bahn and I leave the school to head downtown. On the way he says we are going to be eating seafood. I figured it wouldn't be too bad...atleast I could eat some shrimp or crab. He asked me if I liked seafood and I told him I liked fried shrimp the most.
We get to the parking lot outside the restaurant & Mr. Bahn says we must linger outside because he saw the principal enter the restaurant and didn't want to be stuck sitting next to him. LOL, another reason I love Mr. Bahn...he knows how to have fun! We enter the room with some other teachers and sit at a table (on the floor) together. I am immediately offered beer & soju, so I accept. Then one of the teachers takes the beer glasses and shots of soju and stacks them on top of each other, like a "bomb" shot. He then hands me a spoon and tells me to tap the first shot glass for our "bombs." Well, I definately bombed that assignment! lol. The soju shot made it into the beer glasses, but I still managed to make a mess! It provided the table with laughs atleast! :)
Dinner was actually really good! They had a big pot of seafood mixed together with a broth at each table. I was informed that our meal was very expensive, about 50,000 WON for each pot of food, with about 10 or more pots. Good thing the school was paying! :) As we begin the "meeting" Mr. Bahn tells me that he special ordered a dish of fried shrimp for me! Not necessary, but super thoughtful of him! When it got to the table another teacher took a piece and Mr. Bahn informed him that it was only for me, lol. I ended up sharing the rest after I assured him I had eaten enough.
The meeting part was basically the principal standing up & talking about who the hell knows what...well atleast in my ears. I noticed that when he speaks, or anyone speaking to a group speaks, the rest of the audience looks down in respect. Complete opposite in America...that would be considered rude to not show them you are paying attention. So, after realizing I was the only one staring at the prinicipal, I also looked down.
After eating, the shots of soju began! That is when I also made the realization that alot more teachers could speak English than I thought! I guess it takes some liquid confidence, but I had alot of great conversations with the teachers whom I did not have a chance to talk with at school. I also notice that the principal is walking around the room holding a bottle of soju. Mr. Bahn tells me that it is custom for the new teachers to receive a drink from the principal. I prepare myself for some soju, but when the principal gets to my table, another male teacher says something along the lines of, no soju, she wants beer. I dunno why he thought this, seeing as I took a soju beer bomb with him, but whatever. So I pick up a beer glass (using two hands, as it is required in Korean culture) and he pours me a glass of beer. I say "kamsamida," take a drink, and he walks on. Mr. Bahn then says, "bottoms up" and encourages me to chug the beer. This was his form of a joke, but I took him seriously and drank it all. He seemed happy by this and I discovered he just really likes the term "bottoms up!"
Just as I was enjoying myself, they announced that the meeting was over. Everyone stood up and left. Bummer! I felt sorry for one of the new young male teachers (my age, 25) because I was telling him that I was going out with some friends that night. He said he had to work the next day (as most Korean teachers do on Saturdays), and wished that he could join me.
CORONA:
After dinner I took a taxi to the bar we had discovered that week, Corona. It was ony 8PM but I knew that my friends were going to be there soon, and I was pretty sure I could find someone to talk to in the mean time. I walk in and immediately recognize the guys that Alex & Paul had played pool with on Wednesday night. They let me join their game, which I suck at pool & don't care too much for it, but it was something to do. I was already a bit tipsy from the teacher's dinner so I didn't even drink alot at the bar. I hang out with them for a bit until Sue, Robin, Willem, Alex, Ali, and Paul arrived. Around 11:30 I begin to feel tired & decide to head home. I was planning on making a day trip to Daegu in the morning so I wanted to get some sleep.
As I head out to the streets towards home, I spot a group of about 6 girls, who appear to be English teachers as well. Turns out they are all teachers and have been living in Korea for awhile. Some atleast one year, the others 2 or 3 years! We meet, talk a bit, and they insist I join them for atleast one drink. I explain I'm tired but end of going with them to a place down the street. They were very entertaining in the fact that they were scoping out potential Korean boyfriends, haha! I guess after you've been in Korea awhile you might change your "type" or "preference" of guys lol. I ended the night by getting their names to add them on facebook. Without a cell phone you feel ridiculous asking for facebook names, but oh well :) I will soon have one!
I return to my apartment, check the train times for Daegu and finally go to sleep!
XOXO,
Amanda
No comments:
Post a Comment