Actually, today I witnessed a whole other form of discipline that I never thought existed. So far I have seen pinching of the ear and between the eyes, pulling of the hair and slapping on the wrists and behind the calves... but today i literally witnessed a Korean teacher try and BITE a students fist. The student was laughing though, so I don't think she was in any pain, but it was the most bizarre thing i have seen yet!
This weekend is the Chinese new year so our school has given us Monday and Tuesday off!! I feel like I should take advantage of having this (extra) long weekend, but I leave for Vietnam in 3 weeks, so I really want to save my money. My friend Laura and I are thinking of going Skiing Sunday to Monday (if there is enough snow that is... the weather has been so mild and beautiful the past 2 weeks). If not, then our other option is going to the bus terminal Sunday night and getting on the first bus going...WHEREVER?! It's always fun to go on a trip, and not having any plans makes it that much more exciting!
This past Tuesday our Principal/Director of my school decided to take the foreign teachers out for lunch. Apparently this is the first time he has done anything like this! He picked us all up from our apartments and took us to a delicious all you can eat Korean/Japanese restaurant called Alaska. Never really thought I would be the only Caucasian person in Alaska......... haha.
The lunch was great and I was stuffed!! My boss kept encouraging us to eat as he (more than once) noted that the restaurant was very expensive. After lunch Mr. Ryu invited us to his HOUSE for dinner this Saturday night. It was an extremely nice gesture and I am definitely considering it! That should be interesting... I'll let you know how it goes!
Speaking of good food, last night I went to a seafood restaurant (in a tent) but you really can't judge a book by its cover. All you can eat FRESH oysters for 6,000 won!!! Now when I say "fresh" I literally mean... the restaurant owner removed these huge oyster shells from a tank, put them on a plate and we grilled them on the table ourselves. Each of us were given a thick white glove to wear (so when you remove the oyster from the burner you don't burn yourself), and waited until the oyster shells popped open-- that's how you know they're ready to be devoured! The only thing that creeped me out a little were all the little sea creatures attached to the outside of the shells... we pretty much had every character from the little mermaid being grilled along with our oysters. I might have also eaten a worm or 2 AND the bathrooms of this restaurant are outhouses, but hey, you are eating shell fish in a tent, what can you really expect? I would recommend it to anyone!!
While we are still on the topic of food, I should tell you that I tried to explain to one of my classes today what a bagel is. They do have bagels in Korea, they just do them very wrong. I ordered a bagel and cream cheese the other day and was given a bagel cut into 4 pieces with a side of cream cheese and no utensil to spread it. I guess they use cream cheese here like a dip? Still not sure how I was supposed to eat it, and I have never seen a Korean eat a bagel so I had nothing to base it on. Anyways, my kids did not understand what a bagel was for the life of me! I even tried to draw it on the board but all I got was "Teacha buy us donuts"!
I had another class today that I was teaching about different towers around the world. Naturally, I began explaining my history at the CN Tower and they were dying to see a picture of it. Each classroom I teach in has a huge flat screen monitor attached to a computer, so we can go on Google and YouTube if we want to further a discussion, etc. Anyways, I went on google and typed in "CN Tower" images, only to reveal a picture of a blond woman with HUGE breasts! Obviously my grade 6 students started laughing and one of them yells out "Gillian teachas sista"! haha... yeah right. Whenever they see a picture of a Caucasian person (no matter the breast size) I am apparently related to them. Moral of the story...stay away from google when around small children.
My last classroom experience this week still makes me laugh just thinking about it. I guess it would have more of an effect if you were in the class and could hear these children speak, but nevertheless, I was teaching them about different animals in the Zoo and asked them what they thought about Zoo's or if they have ever been to one before. Now for some reason, Koreans have a very hard time pronouncing the letters "R" and "Z". "R" usually ends up sounding like an "L" and a "Z" ends up sounding almost exactly like a "J". So... this is what I was hearing all class:
"I hate Joos". "Joos smell bad". "I want to see a Joo". "Joo's are mean to animals". "I never want to see a Joo". "Lots of Joos have smelly animals, I don't like Joos". "I am allergic to Joos".....lol.. I'm sure you could only imagine my facial reactions in class. Cracked me up a couple times.
Anyways, I felt reallllly stupid this week because I just found out (2.5 months in) that I have my own personal mailbox. I know you might think that is common sense, but firstly, I never noticed a mailbox around my apartment complex and secondly, when I asked my Korean co worker where I should have my family send mail/packages, she gave me the address to the school. So I never really thought about it?! Well for the past 2 weeks I have had someone knock on my door at exactly 8am every morning without fail! Assuming that it was the Mormons trying to convert me (I will get more into this later), I simply ignored the invitation and fell back asleep. I have heard that the Mormons here who hope to convert you are pretty aggressive, but I did think it was a little strange how insistent they were, knocking on my door every single morning. When I asked my co worker (who lives in the same apartment complex as me) if he was receiving consistent thumps on his door as well, he shook his head and laughed at me. I told him my theory about the persistent Mormons, and he didn't dismiss it either. It was then, that Ryan pointed out all the junk mail he has received from religious groups in his "mailbox" and needs to go through it all to make sure there are no unpaid bills. So apparently the "Mormons" were really my bill collectors and my utilities bill is waaayyyy overdue. Shit.
Now I don't mean to generalize, but thus far, I have observed 3 types of people in Korea...
1. Koreans who stay true to their Korean culture and speak absolutely not a word of English,
2. Koreans who see foreigners on the street and try hard to use their minimal English skills to try and get a free English lesson out of us, and
3. Koreans who fearlessly approach us foreigners speaking close to perfect English. These are the ones we are told to be wary of as they are 94% of the time striking a conversation only to hook you in unknowingly, turning it into a speech about whether or not you will be fortunate enough to pass through the white gates of heaven and be with Jesus.
Personally, I wouldn't even bother getting into the whole Jewish thing, so I politely smile and say "Bonjour"--French REALLY throws them off! Haha..
Well before I finish this entry, I thought I would leave you with a picture contrast of my first few hours in my new home, to what it has become.
Just settling in...arrived 5 hours earlier
Picture taken Feb. 11th 2010
Side note: the 3 piece leather chair/sofa you see was picked up in a garbage dump down the street from my apartment! I thought it was a pretty good steal...!
Well that's the update for this week! Miss you all and will be updating you again soon!
Signing off,
Gillian xx
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