Winter vacation officially ends Friday and the students are back in school for the closing ceremonies starting next Monday so today a vast majority of the teachers were back in school preparing for the next two weeks. It was also the first day I had seen another soul in the school besides the security guard. I wish somebody had warned me.
For the past two weeks because I have been alone on campus and just sitting at my desk for 8 hours, I took that as an okay for me to dress comfortably. Comfortably = sweatpants, spandex pants, t-shirts, sweatshirts, pretty much anything that could be considered gym attire. Today I assumed that once again I would be alone in my office, surfing the web, watching Korean dramas, Facebook chatting anybody possible and doing other mindless tasks to help pass the time, so I wore what I would later wear to the gym, black spandex pants and a black under armor long sleeve. Both of which look as if the are PAINTED on my body.
I get to school and begin my routine of web surfing and nonsense when there is a knock at my office door. In walks in one of my coworkers, Mr. Nice Guy. I was very surprised to see him but grateful that I had somebody to chit chat with for a while to help pass the time. He informed me that today the teachers and Principals would be eating lunch together and I was to join. I did not think anything of it at the time and when noon came around, I joined the staff in the short walk to the restaurant.
I arrive at the place first with Mr. Nice Guy. He is the sole coworker who was confident enough in his English to speak to me, let alone sit with me. We take a seat (on the floor) in the middle of 1 of 3 tables. As the rest of the other teachers file in they all sit eventually leaving us alone at our table. I wasn't surprised or offended, being stuck sitting next to me probably sucks as much as it does when I am stuck seated between people who do not speak English. Last to walk in was the Principal, Vice Principal and two other male staff members. They all took seats at my table.
The restaurant has the floor heating on so I quickly get to the point where my coat was making me uncomfortably warm. I get up, take off my coat and hang it on the coat rack. As I am making my way back to my seat I then realize what I was wearing but it was too late, I could feel the eyes on me. If my coworkers didn't know I was blessed with a chest and plenty of butt, they do now. I sat down and attempted to avoid making eye contact with the men at my table, hoping that nobody would say anything. Of course that didn't happen.
Mr. Nice Guy: "You go to the gym?"
Me: "Yes, everyday"
*he translates to everybody else*
MaleS (in unison) : "AHHHHHHH"
I sit there with the worst posture I could manage, my shoulders are thrown as far forward as they could possible go in an attempt to push my boobs back. Until till today, my school attire has always been body minimizing. Of course I can't hide all of what I got, but I have been able to tone it down quite a bit. The food arrives and the men go around teaching me the names of the different side dishes and what I should eat what with ( they made a sincere effort to include me in the conversation the entire meal). The main dish is a beef soup. Everybody begins to eat.
All staff members: "SLURP, SLURP, SLURPPPPPP."
Me:
Slurping is a common practice in Korea. I have heard it enhances the flavor of soups. I have also heard when people slurp it means what they are eating is delicious. I do not slurp. I wasn't allowed to slurp growing up, I was raised on very strict Western table manners. No slurping, no chewing with my mouth open, no smacking, no slouching. You name it, my Mom enforced it. My first few months in Korea were especially hard when I ate out. I was irked by the mannerism, it was something I wasn't used to. Now I am not bothered at all. I am used to the slurping and smacking, they no longer bother me, I just continue on eating in silence. Today my silence drew unwanted attention my way.
Principal: "You don't like?"
Me: "I love it, it is very good."
I continue to eat, quietly.
Mr. Nice Guy: "Do you want something different?"
Me: "No I like this."
I continue to eat and realize that they are all watching me with worried looks on their faces. The soup really was good and I did really like it, but I don't think they believed me. The looks were making me uncomfortable. The normal conversation came to a halt, I was being eyed from every corner and I was getting nervous. Remembering all of the things I learned about slurping told me to do it. But I wasn't sure how, I was afraid I'd slurp too hard and choke or slurp too softly and have it dribble down my chin. Eventually the silence and the looks got under my skin so tried to slurp. My first attempt did nothing, I didn't even make a noise. So I tried again this time sucking a bit harder.
It was quiet but I had did it, I slurped.
I only did it to see if it would make them stop worrying about me and it did. Once I did it, they seemed to relax, so I did it again and again, eventually perfecting my slurp. Soon after they stopped the looks and the normal conversation picked up. Slurping, didn't enhance the flavor of my soup but it did apparently communicate that my soup was delicious.
Towards the end of the meal the men started to speak about me in Korean. I knew they were talking about me because I could pick out a few words they were saying and they were openly looking at me as they spoke. I sat there waiting for the translation, hoping there would be one. Finally there was a break in the conversation and I was served a very nice compliment.
Mr. Nice Guy: "We think you will find a husband very very quickly. You have wonderful face, you good teacher, very very kind and good S-line(S-Line means I am curvy). Remember, Korean men are good men so find Korean man. Please invite us to your wedding party."
I was a tad uncomfortable hearing from my bosses that I had a nice body but I was extremely flattered they felt me good enough to find and marry a good Korean man and taint the "pure" Korean society.
#CHEERS2SLURPINGANDTAINTING
Showing posts with label funny. Show all posts
Showing posts with label funny. Show all posts
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Friday, January 18, 2013
Surviving Winter Camp Week 1.
January 7th
I woke up excited. Today was the first day of my first Winter Camp and I was going to be able to work with the 2nd grade students, who are a group of children I hadn't had the opportunity to work with before. 2nd graders have always been described to me as adorable, fun and easy to work with. I had planned a very active and hands on winter camp for my students so I was expecting this to be an enjoyable week long walk in the park. But instead today marked the beginning of a week long walk through hell.
I had arrived at school early to set up my classroom. Today we were going to introduce ourselves, create little posters about our favorite things and learn some new emotion words. ( I am on a crusade against the response "I'm fine thank you" that EVERY SINGLE student in ALL OF SOUTH KOREA responds with when asked how they are doing). I had Mr. Bean clip to show, 5 different games for the kids to play and a arts and crafts project planned.
I sat in the classroom going over the materials for the day when I heard a rumble. It was a ways away so I ignored it at first thinking that some unfortunate teacher got stuck teaching the animal-like 6th graders over the winter. But the rumbling got louder and louder and louder until finally my classroom door swung open as if it were bashed in by the SWAT team. Tumbling over one another were a group of boys screaming and shouting back and forth in Korean. They all loitered at the back of the class, some wrestling, some hitting, some watching but they had one thing in common, they ALL were shouting. I sat there waiting for them to notice me sitting at the desk thinking that it would make them quiet down. I gave up after the chatter didn't die down and rang my bell. Nothing. Rang it again. Nothing. Once more. Nothing. It was like they were immune to it's sound. My other classes responded to my bell like well bred dogs, if I rang the bell they knew to shut up. Finally I stood up and yelled SIT DOWN!!!!
They didn't stop.
It took me physically placing myself in the center of their mayhem to get them to cut it out. To get them to sit down was another 5 minutes of me having to guide them to the chairs by their shoulders. The rest of the period with them 0 learning was done. I spent the majority of my time in failed attempts in trying to discipline the boys who were throwing anything they could get their hands on, tormenting each other and the girls, screaming, refusing to do work and anything else they are expected NOT to do in a classroom. By the time the day was over I was beat and at a loss.
January 8th
Day 2 was worse than day one. I had planned on briefly teaching the students the phases "You should" and "You should not" followed by games and an arts and crafts project. None of that happened. 10 minutes in to my 80 minute period with them one of the girls slapped a boy. The boy was sitting behind the girl and was tormenting her, pulling her hair, throwing papers, ext.. I was one more disruption before I was going to move his seat but apparently the girl I didn't believe I was acting quick enough. Midway through a demonstration I was giving the girl turned around and slapped the boy. I was stunned. This was a grown woman "I just found out you were cheating on me" or "you grabbed my behind in the club," slap. She slapped him full palm to the face with follow through, his head snapped back and he let out a cry of pain. For the first time the entire class was silent and then as if they were all on cue, all eyes then turned to me. My first thought was to pretend I didn't see it but the students caught me staring right at the situation. To top it off the boy began to cry. I didn't know what to do, the boy deserved it. If he were my child I would have told him "suck it up, that's what you get." But he wasn't my child and I had to be a "teacher." I looked at the girl and pointed to my office. Her and I both walked so slow we could have been walking backwards. I was trying to figure out what to do, I didn't want to punish her, if it were me (and I were 8 years old) I would have slapped him too. If she were my daughter, I would have bought her ice cream. She was walking as if I was taking her to the guillotine, her eyes were welling up with tears, the girls all grabbing her hands as if it were the last time they were going to see her alive. The boys were laughing and chanting "TROUBLE, TROUBLE, TROUBLE." We finally made it to my office. I closed the door, handed her a tissue and said "Pleaseeeee don't cry." She wiped her eyes and looked up at me, waiting for a punishment.... and then I said, "it's okay."
I know, I won't be winning any teacher of the year awards.
January 9th&10th
By the middle of the week I was exhausted. I couldn't handle another day like the 2 before so I enlisted some help. My favorite 5th grader is the class bully. She is one of the smallest girls in the class but she packs more spunk than any other student. I asked her to come to my winter camp, translate a few threats for me and hang around to help me for a bit. Before we started the activities for the day we went over a few rules and punishments. I am 100 percent sure what she translated to the kids was A LOT more harsh and vulgar than what I originally. The 2nd graders kept gasping and looked terrified. Did I ask her what she said? No. Did I care? No. They finally were in line and when they even toed slightly out of line she would say something to them that would get them back on track. Unfortunately she was only available those two days. But those two days were very much appreciated and went smoothly.
January 11th
I knew I had to come up with a game plan if I were going to survive my last and final day with the devil's spawn alone. Mr. Bean it was. If you have never heard of Mr. Bean and you are a teacher, thank me now. Mr. Bean never fails to captivate students. They find him absolutely hilarious and he is a guaranteed 40 minutes of entertainment for students of all ages. After Mr. Bean all I had was 40 minutes until I was free from this torture. I couldn't lose to 2nd graders, I'm better than that. So I devised the perfect plan. A word search. I told the kids this was a competition and the student who completed the word search the fastest would get a chocolate. They all got right to it, racing to complete the puzzle faster than the next, shielding their puzzles from the person next to them. But this was not just ANY word search. This was a word search that couldn't be solved. In the list of words that the students had to find, there was a word I didn't put in the puzzle. Judge me, I don't care. I HAD WON. The students spent the entire 40 minutes searching forwards, backwards, up and down trying to solve this puzzle. They even started making bargains to help each other and split the chocolate. I just sat back, sipped my coffee and waited. 20 minutes to freedom. 10 minutes to freedom. 5 minutes to freedom. By this time the students were begging for my help. "TEE-CHA PUUUUUH-LEEEEEZE, pleeeeezeee, pleeeeeze." 3 minutes. 2 minutes. 1 minute. When I finally announced that time was up you would have thought the world was ending. They all begged for more time, unwilling to accept defeat. But that was it. I was finally finished. I had survived hell week.
#CHEERS2BULLYINGCHILDREN
I woke up excited. Today was the first day of my first Winter Camp and I was going to be able to work with the 2nd grade students, who are a group of children I hadn't had the opportunity to work with before. 2nd graders have always been described to me as adorable, fun and easy to work with. I had planned a very active and hands on winter camp for my students so I was expecting this to be an enjoyable week long walk in the park. But instead today marked the beginning of a week long walk through hell.
I had arrived at school early to set up my classroom. Today we were going to introduce ourselves, create little posters about our favorite things and learn some new emotion words. ( I am on a crusade against the response "I'm fine thank you" that EVERY SINGLE student in ALL OF SOUTH KOREA responds with when asked how they are doing). I had Mr. Bean clip to show, 5 different games for the kids to play and a arts and crafts project planned.
I sat in the classroom going over the materials for the day when I heard a rumble. It was a ways away so I ignored it at first thinking that some unfortunate teacher got stuck teaching the animal-like 6th graders over the winter. But the rumbling got louder and louder and louder until finally my classroom door swung open as if it were bashed in by the SWAT team. Tumbling over one another were a group of boys screaming and shouting back and forth in Korean. They all loitered at the back of the class, some wrestling, some hitting, some watching but they had one thing in common, they ALL were shouting. I sat there waiting for them to notice me sitting at the desk thinking that it would make them quiet down. I gave up after the chatter didn't die down and rang my bell. Nothing. Rang it again. Nothing. Once more. Nothing. It was like they were immune to it's sound. My other classes responded to my bell like well bred dogs, if I rang the bell they knew to shut up. Finally I stood up and yelled SIT DOWN!!!!
They didn't stop.
It took me physically placing myself in the center of their mayhem to get them to cut it out. To get them to sit down was another 5 minutes of me having to guide them to the chairs by their shoulders. The rest of the period with them 0 learning was done. I spent the majority of my time in failed attempts in trying to discipline the boys who were throwing anything they could get their hands on, tormenting each other and the girls, screaming, refusing to do work and anything else they are expected NOT to do in a classroom. By the time the day was over I was beat and at a loss.
January 8th
Day 2 was worse than day one. I had planned on briefly teaching the students the phases "You should" and "You should not" followed by games and an arts and crafts project. None of that happened. 10 minutes in to my 80 minute period with them one of the girls slapped a boy. The boy was sitting behind the girl and was tormenting her, pulling her hair, throwing papers, ext.. I was one more disruption before I was going to move his seat but apparently the girl I didn't believe I was acting quick enough. Midway through a demonstration I was giving the girl turned around and slapped the boy. I was stunned. This was a grown woman "I just found out you were cheating on me" or "you grabbed my behind in the club," slap. She slapped him full palm to the face with follow through, his head snapped back and he let out a cry of pain. For the first time the entire class was silent and then as if they were all on cue, all eyes then turned to me. My first thought was to pretend I didn't see it but the students caught me staring right at the situation. To top it off the boy began to cry. I didn't know what to do, the boy deserved it. If he were my child I would have told him "suck it up, that's what you get." But he wasn't my child and I had to be a "teacher." I looked at the girl and pointed to my office. Her and I both walked so slow we could have been walking backwards. I was trying to figure out what to do, I didn't want to punish her, if it were me (and I were 8 years old) I would have slapped him too. If she were my daughter, I would have bought her ice cream. She was walking as if I was taking her to the guillotine, her eyes were welling up with tears, the girls all grabbing her hands as if it were the last time they were going to see her alive. The boys were laughing and chanting "TROUBLE, TROUBLE, TROUBLE." We finally made it to my office. I closed the door, handed her a tissue and said "Pleaseeeee don't cry." She wiped her eyes and looked up at me, waiting for a punishment.... and then I said, "it's okay."
I know, I won't be winning any teacher of the year awards.
January 9th&10th
By the middle of the week I was exhausted. I couldn't handle another day like the 2 before so I enlisted some help. My favorite 5th grader is the class bully. She is one of the smallest girls in the class but she packs more spunk than any other student. I asked her to come to my winter camp, translate a few threats for me and hang around to help me for a bit. Before we started the activities for the day we went over a few rules and punishments. I am 100 percent sure what she translated to the kids was A LOT more harsh and vulgar than what I originally. The 2nd graders kept gasping and looked terrified. Did I ask her what she said? No. Did I care? No. They finally were in line and when they even toed slightly out of line she would say something to them that would get them back on track. Unfortunately she was only available those two days. But those two days were very much appreciated and went smoothly.
January 11th
I knew I had to come up with a game plan if I were going to survive my last and final day with the devil's spawn alone. Mr. Bean it was. If you have never heard of Mr. Bean and you are a teacher, thank me now. Mr. Bean never fails to captivate students. They find him absolutely hilarious and he is a guaranteed 40 minutes of entertainment for students of all ages. After Mr. Bean all I had was 40 minutes until I was free from this torture. I couldn't lose to 2nd graders, I'm better than that. So I devised the perfect plan. A word search. I told the kids this was a competition and the student who completed the word search the fastest would get a chocolate. They all got right to it, racing to complete the puzzle faster than the next, shielding their puzzles from the person next to them. But this was not just ANY word search. This was a word search that couldn't be solved. In the list of words that the students had to find, there was a word I didn't put in the puzzle. Judge me, I don't care. I HAD WON. The students spent the entire 40 minutes searching forwards, backwards, up and down trying to solve this puzzle. They even started making bargains to help each other and split the chocolate. I just sat back, sipped my coffee and waited. 20 minutes to freedom. 10 minutes to freedom. 5 minutes to freedom. By this time the students were begging for my help. "TEE-CHA PUUUUUH-LEEEEEZE, pleeeeezeee, pleeeeeze." 3 minutes. 2 minutes. 1 minute. When I finally announced that time was up you would have thought the world was ending. They all begged for more time, unwilling to accept defeat. But that was it. I was finally finished. I had survived hell week.
#CHEERS2BULLYINGCHILDREN
Monday, December 24, 2012
Korean Men
Anybody that has lived in Korea knows that I could conclude this blog with one word, BEAUTIFUL.
Up until probably the day that I left San Diego to move here I was still torn on whether Korea was really the country that I wanted to teach in. I was debating between Thailand and Korea for months on end but the moment I was set to board my plane in San Francisco on a direct flight to Seoul I knew I had made the right decision because standing at the gates checking tickets was the most attractive man I had ever seen, (He has been trumped quite a few times since I have been here). He was none other than of Korean decent and the beginning of my slight obsession.
I have a natural attraction to Asian men. I am not sure exactly why, it could be because I grew up in a community highly concentrated with Asians or maybe I was influenced by all of the Asian cartoons and Asian martial arts movies I watched as a child but something has drawn me to favor them over other races. And upon moving here, Korean men have quickly ascended to the top as my specific flavor of choice.
In my eyes Korean men have the advantage over other Asian races for 3 reasons.
1- they are on average, taller.
2-they have AMAZING hair (if i have a Korean baby that child will be blessed)
3- and many of them have thick thighs (this is the icing on the cake).
Sometimes when I am out I feel as if I am dreaming. Everywhere I turn I am surrounded by K-POP star look-a-likes (photo examples are the end of the blog). Not only are they endowed with flawless faces and messy but yet some how perfectly styled hair, Korean men have impeccable style. From the tailored business suit wearing men who go against the traditional black shiny shoes and wear matte brown to the "I just threw this together but somehow STILL look runway ready" to the "I wear bright colored Nikes with every outfit and yet STILL make it fashionable" or whatever their style may be, someway or another they always look good. I am constantly getting caught by my friends eye raping every Korean male in my vicinity or getting left behind because I was distracted by a man who we had just walked passed. But even after all the admiration I have yet and probably will never make a move.
If somebody was asked to describe me, the last word out of their mouth would be shy. Before coming to Korea I had not been shy a single day in my life, especially when it came to men. That was easy, being turned down did not frighten me, I knew it wouldn't kill me so I didn't fear it. But here in Korea, I still know it won't kill me but I am complete incapable of functioning. Around Korean men I am like a school girl, the simplest things out of their mouths make me blush furiously. I don't care if it is just our waiter taking an order or somebody ringing me up at the convenience store, my brain goes to mush. Maybe its the perfect swoop in their hair or the disappearing eyes when they smile or the fact that they may or may not speak English, whatever it is something there intimidates me.
So here I am living in my ideal world, in my ideal situation (surrounded by men who I am attracted to) unable to gather enough guts to do anything.
#CHEERS2BEINGCHICKENSHIT
PS: after a little liquid courage I was finally able to make a move ^^
Up until probably the day that I left San Diego to move here I was still torn on whether Korea was really the country that I wanted to teach in. I was debating between Thailand and Korea for months on end but the moment I was set to board my plane in San Francisco on a direct flight to Seoul I knew I had made the right decision because standing at the gates checking tickets was the most attractive man I had ever seen, (He has been trumped quite a few times since I have been here). He was none other than of Korean decent and the beginning of my slight obsession.
I have a natural attraction to Asian men. I am not sure exactly why, it could be because I grew up in a community highly concentrated with Asians or maybe I was influenced by all of the Asian cartoons and Asian martial arts movies I watched as a child but something has drawn me to favor them over other races. And upon moving here, Korean men have quickly ascended to the top as my specific flavor of choice.
In my eyes Korean men have the advantage over other Asian races for 3 reasons.
1- they are on average, taller.
2-they have AMAZING hair (if i have a Korean baby that child will be blessed)
3- and many of them have thick thighs (this is the icing on the cake).
Sometimes when I am out I feel as if I am dreaming. Everywhere I turn I am surrounded by K-POP star look-a-likes (photo examples are the end of the blog). Not only are they endowed with flawless faces and messy but yet some how perfectly styled hair, Korean men have impeccable style. From the tailored business suit wearing men who go against the traditional black shiny shoes and wear matte brown to the "I just threw this together but somehow STILL look runway ready" to the "I wear bright colored Nikes with every outfit and yet STILL make it fashionable" or whatever their style may be, someway or another they always look good. I am constantly getting caught by my friends eye raping every Korean male in my vicinity or getting left behind because I was distracted by a man who we had just walked passed. But even after all the admiration I have yet and probably will never make a move.
If somebody was asked to describe me, the last word out of their mouth would be shy. Before coming to Korea I had not been shy a single day in my life, especially when it came to men. That was easy, being turned down did not frighten me, I knew it wouldn't kill me so I didn't fear it. But here in Korea, I still know it won't kill me but I am complete incapable of functioning. Around Korean men I am like a school girl, the simplest things out of their mouths make me blush furiously. I don't care if it is just our waiter taking an order or somebody ringing me up at the convenience store, my brain goes to mush. Maybe its the perfect swoop in their hair or the disappearing eyes when they smile or the fact that they may or may not speak English, whatever it is something there intimidates me.
So here I am living in my ideal world, in my ideal situation (surrounded by men who I am attracted to) unable to gather enough guts to do anything.
#CHEERS2BEINGCHICKENSHIT
PS: after a little liquid courage I was finally able to make a move ^^
Friday, November 30, 2012
What the h**l did I just eat?
Yesterday was a day I will never forget, ever.
It started out as any other normal night, 2 friends of mine (and Englishman and a South African) and I decided to grab dinner and drinks. Somehow or another one of the two gentlemen brilliantly (this is complete sarcasm) suggests that we "try something new." We headed in a direction that we have not ventured before to discover a new restaurant and came upon 2 neighboring places. One was a typical Galbi place that only had one table seated and the other was another meat (unknown to us at the time what kind of meat) restaurant that was quite busy. My English friend made the ultimate decision that it was in our best interest to eat at the more popular place, his first bad decision of the night and my South African friend and I willingly agreed, our first bad decision of the night.
Walking through the restaurant all of the tables are eating and enjoying the same unidentified dish. None of us have any idea what it is that they are eating but this doesn't stop us from allowing ourselves to be seated. The EM (Englishman) and myself were left to decide what to order, the SA (South African) left briefly and before he left he said (this is not a direct quote) "Go ahead and order, just no seafood" his second bad decision.
I read Hangeul (Korean) at about the same rate a Kindergartner does, as I am attempting to read the menu on the wall a lady comes over to take our order. She starts speaking in Korean, I assume giving us dinner choices. I was in over my head, I did not catch a single word she was saying so I let the EM deal with it, my second bad decision. The entire time she was speaking when she would pause the EM was reply with "ye" (means yes in Korean) so I assumed he knew what the heck was going on. Finally our order was complete and she left.
Me: "Did you understand all of that?"
EM: "Nope"
Me: "Do you know what you just ordered?"
EM: "Nope, but I am positive it wasn't seafood."
The SA returned and our adventure began.
First came the Soju and beer which were the only two things that would be served to us that we were familiar with. Two completely fine and consumable things.
Then, came the side dishes, our first clue that we had made a terrible dinner choice. The normal side of lettuce, dipping sauces and kimchi were served but then there was this plate of ....stuff. On the plate two different things were served. The first was what looked like snake skin. It was silvery/grey scaly strips of something. Next to it is what I would guess as some type of raw organ, maybe a heart or a chopped up liver. We all looked at each other asking one another if we knew what either of them were, none of us did, but we decided to give it a go anyways. When in Korea, why not does as the Koreans do right? I myself could only work up the guts to try the snake skin look alike, it was chewy and tasted what I imagine earth tastes like. The SA tasted the raw organ and I would bet quite a lot of money that he won't be eating it again.(Later he decided that it tasted better than our main course)
Our main dish came out and was set upon the grill in the center of the table. On it was onions, sweet potato slices and this unidentified meat. We all sat there trying to figure out what exactly it was as it cooked between us. The lady working would come by and flip our meat since none of us made the attempt to even touch it. Finally she gave us the go to eat it. All of us gathered the courage to try it.
Imagine eating the chewiest bubble gum, stuffed with chunky mashed potatoes. That was its consistency.
The flavor... I can't describe. It was, strange for a lack of a better word. For me, at first it was tasteless but as I continued to chew this thick, bland, moldy flavor coated my taste buds.. No matter the size of the gulp of soju/beer I couldn't get it out of my mouth.
We all were pretty horrified. We were fine with eating the onions and the sweet potatoes but after eating one piece of the meat like concoction each and realizing that it was disgusting we still had an ENTIRE grill filled with it.
The SA gf happens to be Korean and she informed us that it tasted good when crispy. This gave us some hope. We all used our chopsticks to hold down pieces of this meat to get them as crispy as possible with out burning them and then gave it another go...
Still disgusting.
We all picked at the vegetables a bit longer before deciding that we needed to finish our drinks and find real food. We left our table, grill still hardly touched and went to cash out. Food in Korea is very inexpensive, well most food. For our dinner if I had to guess the price BEFORE we paid, I would have guessed around 32,000 KRW, boy was i wrong. I handed over my debit card to pay (dinner wasn't on me they paid me their parts) and went to sign... 49,000 KRW. 49,000 KRW for some unidentifiable meat that we didn't even eat. We basically just paid to eat onions.. the most expensive damn onions I have ever eaten.
We eventually figured out that we had dined at an entrails restaurant. I told my COTeachers and other Co Workers about my experience and they all laughed hysterically at our surprise and reaction. I suppose this is something us westerners just do not understand.
#CHEERS2TRYINGEVERYTHINGONCE
Photos of the Meal:
I don't ever use people's names.. that is why I distinguished my two friends by their countries of origin.
It started out as any other normal night, 2 friends of mine (and Englishman and a South African) and I decided to grab dinner and drinks. Somehow or another one of the two gentlemen brilliantly (this is complete sarcasm) suggests that we "try something new." We headed in a direction that we have not ventured before to discover a new restaurant and came upon 2 neighboring places. One was a typical Galbi place that only had one table seated and the other was another meat (unknown to us at the time what kind of meat) restaurant that was quite busy. My English friend made the ultimate decision that it was in our best interest to eat at the more popular place, his first bad decision of the night and my South African friend and I willingly agreed, our first bad decision of the night.
Walking through the restaurant all of the tables are eating and enjoying the same unidentified dish. None of us have any idea what it is that they are eating but this doesn't stop us from allowing ourselves to be seated. The EM (Englishman) and myself were left to decide what to order, the SA (South African) left briefly and before he left he said (this is not a direct quote) "Go ahead and order, just no seafood" his second bad decision.
I read Hangeul (Korean) at about the same rate a Kindergartner does, as I am attempting to read the menu on the wall a lady comes over to take our order. She starts speaking in Korean, I assume giving us dinner choices. I was in over my head, I did not catch a single word she was saying so I let the EM deal with it, my second bad decision. The entire time she was speaking when she would pause the EM was reply with "ye" (means yes in Korean) so I assumed he knew what the heck was going on. Finally our order was complete and she left.
Me: "Did you understand all of that?"
EM: "Nope"
Me: "Do you know what you just ordered?"
EM: "Nope, but I am positive it wasn't seafood."
The SA returned and our adventure began.
First came the Soju and beer which were the only two things that would be served to us that we were familiar with. Two completely fine and consumable things.
Then, came the side dishes, our first clue that we had made a terrible dinner choice. The normal side of lettuce, dipping sauces and kimchi were served but then there was this plate of ....stuff. On the plate two different things were served. The first was what looked like snake skin. It was silvery/grey scaly strips of something. Next to it is what I would guess as some type of raw organ, maybe a heart or a chopped up liver. We all looked at each other asking one another if we knew what either of them were, none of us did, but we decided to give it a go anyways. When in Korea, why not does as the Koreans do right? I myself could only work up the guts to try the snake skin look alike, it was chewy and tasted what I imagine earth tastes like. The SA tasted the raw organ and I would bet quite a lot of money that he won't be eating it again.(Later he decided that it tasted better than our main course)
Our main dish came out and was set upon the grill in the center of the table. On it was onions, sweet potato slices and this unidentified meat. We all sat there trying to figure out what exactly it was as it cooked between us. The lady working would come by and flip our meat since none of us made the attempt to even touch it. Finally she gave us the go to eat it. All of us gathered the courage to try it.
Imagine eating the chewiest bubble gum, stuffed with chunky mashed potatoes. That was its consistency.
The flavor... I can't describe. It was, strange for a lack of a better word. For me, at first it was tasteless but as I continued to chew this thick, bland, moldy flavor coated my taste buds.. No matter the size of the gulp of soju/beer I couldn't get it out of my mouth.
We all were pretty horrified. We were fine with eating the onions and the sweet potatoes but after eating one piece of the meat like concoction each and realizing that it was disgusting we still had an ENTIRE grill filled with it.
The SA gf happens to be Korean and she informed us that it tasted good when crispy. This gave us some hope. We all used our chopsticks to hold down pieces of this meat to get them as crispy as possible with out burning them and then gave it another go...
Still disgusting.
We all picked at the vegetables a bit longer before deciding that we needed to finish our drinks and find real food. We left our table, grill still hardly touched and went to cash out. Food in Korea is very inexpensive, well most food. For our dinner if I had to guess the price BEFORE we paid, I would have guessed around 32,000 KRW, boy was i wrong. I handed over my debit card to pay (dinner wasn't on me they paid me their parts) and went to sign... 49,000 KRW. 49,000 KRW for some unidentifiable meat that we didn't even eat. We basically just paid to eat onions.. the most expensive damn onions I have ever eaten.
We eventually figured out that we had dined at an entrails restaurant. I told my COTeachers and other Co Workers about my experience and they all laughed hysterically at our surprise and reaction. I suppose this is something us westerners just do not understand.
#CHEERS2TRYINGEVERYTHINGONCE
Photos of the Meal:
 |
| Main Course |
 |
| Side Dishes |
I don't ever use people's names.. that is why I distinguished my two friends by their countries of origin.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Why you must have thick skin to be a teacher.
This week was "Comparisons Week" in my 6th grade classes. I (along with my co-teacher) taught the kids how to properly use adjectives to make comparisons between people, objects and animals. For example, I am faster than you or an elephant is bigger than a rabbit. We had various activities and games that emphasized the use of comparisons in reading, writing and the most memorable, speaking. After a quick PowerPoint review of the last lesson with my students I asked them to compare my co-teacher and myself which turned out to be a big mistake. My co-teacher is small for a Korean women, who are already small people. To put it simply she is VERY, VERY petite. Back at home I am of average height/weight but here I am something similar to Godzilla. So my co-teacher and myself stood in front of the each class together to allow the students to see us side by side. The activity went very well in most of my classes, they enjoyed applying what they had learned in an on the spot situation. But then came THE class. Every teacher has the class. What is the class one who is not a teacher might ask? Well it is a class that just might have been spawned from the devil himself. The class could have a number of the following traits
1-Sometimes they are so quiet you question if they are even alive
2- They look through you not at you
3-They feel as if they have something better to do than sit through your lecture
4- The kids can be just BONKERS, like they ate a box of Frosted Flakes with chocolate milk type of BONKERS
5- Manners do not exist. Neither do inside voices, shouting is the only form of communication
6- Rules? you couldn't be sure if they have ever even heard of them
7- Smart-mouths are more common than not
8- The fact that you have a college degree and many years on them means nothing, they still know more.
9- They consciously attempt to test your patience in every way possible
10- Being difficult is all they know
The class is the reason new discipline and participation strategies are conceived and where they are tested.
Well during the class in the beginning I wasn't sure if they were even awake. But as soon as I asked them to compare ____ teacher and myself they suddenly came to life, so eager to give their comparisons you might have believed I shot them up with pure sugar, they were climbing all over each other falling out of their chairs in desperation to be called on. The first comparisons were similar to those in all my classes.....
"Kala teacher is taller than ___ teacher."
"Kala teacher is stronger than ___ teacher."
"____teacher is shorter than Kala teacher."
"____teacher has longer hair than Kala teacher."
But then the students got creative and more excited, hand raising went out of the window and yelling began..
"____teacher is WHITER than Kala teacher."
"Kala teacher is BLACKER than ___ teacher."
"____ teacher is OLDER than Kala teacher."
and the icing on the cake and the loudest shout...
"Kala teacher is MORE FAT than ___ teacher."
First, I went bell ringing crazy to regain order in the class, after I managed to settle everybody down I corrected his English, "Kala teacher is FATTER than ___ teacher," and moved on. Were my feelings hurt? Not at all, but I didn't want to see what else these little demons could come up with. They weren't speaking out of malice, their vocabulary only goes so far and fat just happens to be apart of it. But even at the sake of our feelings my co-teacher and I could not really complain because at least they were speaking English.
#CHEERS2HAVINGTHICKSKIN
****follow up: After speaking to other teachers of the same grades I am pleased to say my students are angels in comparison to the stories that they have told me.
1-Sometimes they are so quiet you question if they are even alive
2- They look through you not at you
3-They feel as if they have something better to do than sit through your lecture
4- The kids can be just BONKERS, like they ate a box of Frosted Flakes with chocolate milk type of BONKERS
5- Manners do not exist. Neither do inside voices, shouting is the only form of communication
6- Rules? you couldn't be sure if they have ever even heard of them
7- Smart-mouths are more common than not
8- The fact that you have a college degree and many years on them means nothing, they still know more.
9- They consciously attempt to test your patience in every way possible
10- Being difficult is all they know
The class is the reason new discipline and participation strategies are conceived and where they are tested.
Well during the class in the beginning I wasn't sure if they were even awake. But as soon as I asked them to compare ____ teacher and myself they suddenly came to life, so eager to give their comparisons you might have believed I shot them up with pure sugar, they were climbing all over each other falling out of their chairs in desperation to be called on. The first comparisons were similar to those in all my classes.....
"Kala teacher is taller than ___ teacher."
"Kala teacher is stronger than ___ teacher."
"____teacher is shorter than Kala teacher."
"____teacher has longer hair than Kala teacher."
But then the students got creative and more excited, hand raising went out of the window and yelling began..
"____teacher is WHITER than Kala teacher."
"Kala teacher is BLACKER than ___ teacher."
"____ teacher is OLDER than Kala teacher."
and the icing on the cake and the loudest shout...
"Kala teacher is MORE FAT than ___ teacher."
First, I went bell ringing crazy to regain order in the class, after I managed to settle everybody down I corrected his English, "Kala teacher is FATTER than ___ teacher," and moved on. Were my feelings hurt? Not at all, but I didn't want to see what else these little demons could come up with. They weren't speaking out of malice, their vocabulary only goes so far and fat just happens to be apart of it. But even at the sake of our feelings my co-teacher and I could not really complain because at least they were speaking English.
#CHEERS2HAVINGTHICKSKIN
****follow up: After speaking to other teachers of the same grades I am pleased to say my students are angels in comparison to the stories that they have told me.
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